In The Distance Between Us, Noah Bly presents a blistering portrait of a troubled family, of bonds that can be battered but never broken, and of the friendships that can make us whole again. Hester Parker resides in an elegant Victorian house in the town of Bolton, Illinois. She spends her evenings listening to the lush tones of Mahler and Chopin, drinking sub-par Merlot, and reflecting on a life that has suddenly fallen apart. At seventy-one, Hester is as brilliant and sharp-tongued as ever, capable of inspiring her music students to soaring heights or reducing them to tears with a single comment. But her wit can’t hide the bitterness that comes with loss—the loss of her renowned violinist husband, Arthur Donovan, who left her for another woman, and the loss of her career as a concert pianist after injuring her wrist. In this home that holds so many memories, Hester and Arthur raised three volatile children—Paul, a talented and neurotic cellist, Caitlin, an accomplished literary professor who inspires both dread and worship among her students, and Jeremy, sweet, spirited, and as musically gifted as his parents. Though Caitlin and Paul still live in Bolton, both have taken Arthur’s side in the divorce and rarely see their mother. When Hester decides to rent out the attic apartment to Alex, a young college student, she has no idea of the impact he will have on her life and her family. Good-natured and awkward, with secrets of his own, Alex becomes an unlikely confidant and a means of reconnecting with the world outside Hester’s window. But his presence also exposes old memories and grief that Hester has tried to bury. Over the course of one remarkable month, Hester will confront angry accusations, long-hidden jealousies, and the inescapable truth that tore her family apart and might, against all odds, help reconcile them again. And her brief friendship with Alex will leave each with a surprising legacy—acceptance of the past, a seed of comfort in the present, and hope for the future, wherever it may lead. Tender and funny, heartbreaking and wise, The Distance Between Us is a masterful evocation of family and friendship, of the pain that goes hand-in-hand with love, and of the grace and wisdom that remain when heartbreak finally subsides.
To read the mind of your enemy, to turn his psyche to your own purpose, and to claim victory without ever landing a blow, these are the secrets of I-Hsing. Masters of I-Hsing's greatest weapon, the Mind-Fist, gain more than an advantage over their foes, they gain control of them.Dr. Haha Lung adds to his canon of easy-to-understand, relevant martial arts instruction with this indispensable guide to dominating your enemy's mind. In his previous classics, Mind Control and Mind Manipulation, he laid the groundwork for smashing your enemy's mental defenses. In Mind Penetration, Dr. Lung teaches the skills and techniques behind this seemingly supernatural ability to bend anyone to your will. In this comprehensive guide to I-Hsing you will: • Explore the origin and history of mind manipulation • Discover its practice in the ancient Far East and in the modern West • Learn how to control the minds of your enemies • Gain confidence and knowledge through clear descriptions and helpful illustrations Dr. Haha Lung is the author of more than a dozen books on martial arts, including The Nine Halls of Death, Assassin!, Mind Manipulation, Ninja Shadowland, Knights of Darkness, Mind Control: The Ancient Art of Psychological Warfare, and The Lost Fighting Arts of Vietnam. [FOR ACADEMIC STUDY ONLY]
Thomas Soria appeared to be a devoted single parent to his son Thomas Sorea, Jr. known as «T.J.» – even as he seduced the youngster, turning him into a sex slave. When T.J. reached dating age, he pimped his girlfriends to his dad and watched while they had sex. But it wasn't enough. Soria Sr's fantasies turned increasingly violent, culminating in an obsession with cutting and torturing young females while sexually assaulting them. On March 19 2000, in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, T.J., 19, lured 9-year-old Krystal Steadman into the family apartment. 40-year-old Soria Sr brutally raped the girl, then stabbed her to death. He wasn't worried – he knew T.J. would get rid of the body for him.
The first in a gritty new series featuring sheriff’s detective Katrina Williams, as she investigates moonshine, murder, and the ghosts of her own past… BODY OF PROOF Katrina Williams left the Army ten years ago disillusioned and damaged. Now a sheriff’s detective at home in the Missouri Ozarks, Katrina is living her life one case at a time—between mandated therapy sessions—until she learns that she’s a suspect in a military investigation with ties to her painful past. The disappearance of a local girl is far from the routine distraction, however. Brutally murdered, the girl’s corpse is found by a bottlegger whose information leads Katrina into a tangled web of teenagers, moonshiners, motorcycle clubs, and a fellow veteran battling illness and his own personal demons. Unraveling each thread will take time Katrina might not have as the Army investigator turns his searchlight on the devastating incident that ended her military career. Now Katrina will need to dig deep for the truth—before she’s found buried…
They were born in the shadows. Schooled in espionage. Taught to kill and trained to disappear. In this captivating masterwork from bestselling author Taylor Stevens, elusive twins Jack and Jill take the global spy game to electric levels.   The assassin broker is dead. The power void has left the network he controlled without restraints, and the world’s deadliest killers free to pursue their own vendettas and political agendas. The United States government, unwilling to risk upheaval and global chaos, has mobilized killers of its own to preemptively hunt down and destroy each potential threat.   Among the most dangerous on that list are Jack and Jill.   Often estranged—always connected by a legacy they can’t escape—the siblings have eluded many who want them dead. As they board a flight to Berlin hoping to meet the father they’ve never known, they suspect a trap. What they can’t predict is how far a high-level Russian operation will go to secure their skills, or how hard the U.S. operatives sent to stop them will fight to assassinate them first.    For the twins, resistance and cooperation both mean death. Caught between two superpowers with unlimited resources and unable to trust each other, brother and sister will match wit against skill in a life-threatening chase across Europe, back to the United States, and into an unholy alliance that could change the balance of global power forever. Filled with pulse-pounding tension, blistering action, and intense human drama, Liars’ Legacy is world-class intrigue at its best.  
In July 1861, just months after the Battle of Fort Sumter plunges the young nation into civil war, President Lincoln’s top priority is to unite the country, while Adam Quinn finds himself on the trail of a murderer . . .  On Independence Day, the citizens of Washington, DC, are celebrating as if there isn’t a war. But the city is teeming with green Union recruits while President Lincoln and his War Department are focused on military strategy to take Richmond in Secessionist Virginia in order to bring the conflict to a swift end. Manassas, Virginia, near Bull Run Creek, is in their sights.   The very next morning, as Congress convenes once more, a dead body is found hanging from the crane beneath the unfinished dome of the Capitol. Lincoln’s close confidant, Adam Speed Quinn, is called upon to determine whether the man had taken his own life, or if someone had helped him.   With the assistance of Dr. George Hilton and journalist Sophie Gates, Quinn investigates what turns out to be murder. But the former scout is about to be blindsided, for a Southern sympathizer in the city is running a female spy network reporting to the Confederacy, and she has an insidious plot to foil the Union Army’s march to Manassas by employing the charms of one Constance Lemagne to get as close to Adam as possible . . .  
In the third Santero and Rein thriller, Carrie and Jacob must stop a lunatic who calls himself The Master, as he sends out letters to his potential victims. Fifteen years ago, Herbert Presley Tanner abducted teenager Brenda Drake in order to commit a ritual purification of the flesh demanded by his fanatical beliefs. He doused her in gasoline and was about to light a match when detectives Jacob Rein and Bill Waylon intercepted him and brought him to justice.Now Brenda Drake has been reported as a suicide. Arriving at the death scene, detective Carrie Santero finds a letter Brenda had received from someone who signed himself as «The Master.» Bill Waylon, Carrie's boss, calls on her help after receiving a letter threatening the lives of his two daughters. Again, the signature is «The Master.»Waylon recognizes the demented signature. Herbert Presley Tanner, he explains, was sentenced as a juvenile and committed to a mental health facility where he has been held indefinitely. Now, the state is trying to offload him. He has a hearing coming up. Bill needs Carrie to make sure Tanner isn't released.But when Tanner comes before the court, with the support of his parents and his prison doctor, the judge releases him. A woman who has been close to Rein is murdered, as is a female cousin whom Tanner had tortured as a teen. The threats intensify to include Carrie, Rein, and all who are dear to them. Carrie must delve into the deep secrets of Jacob Rein's past – and into the dark abyss of a psychopath's homicidal impulses – to stop «The Master» from destroying more lives.
“The most engaging pair of detectives I’ve seen in a long while.” —David Morrell SOME SECRETS WILL NOT DIE   For three agonizing decades, seasoned manhunter Jacob Rein has been consumed by one case—a missing girl never found and two cops dead, one murdered, the other a suicide.      Rein’s protégé, Detective Carrie Santero, shares an equal fascination with the twisted patterns of murder. But when the discovery of a small human foot unearthed in the Pennsylvania woods leads her to a decades-old cold case, she is not prepared for the secrets she will unravel—and their connection to her mentor’s dark and buried past . . .  Praise for Berard Schaffer’s The Thief of All Light   “Tense, fast, and excellent—I loved this book.” —Lee Child   “Schaffer writes about cops with the assurance of a seasoned police veteran.”  —Lisa Scottoline  “Schaffer presents a thriller that is both gruesome in content and honest in its portrayal of police procedures.” —Booklist  “Schaffer is the real deal. His writing will knock you out.”—J.A. Konrath
April 13, 1861: Rebel troops are across the Potomac River, only 800 feet from the White House and President Lincoln—but a murderer is even closer . . . With the Confederate Army firing on Fort Sumter, the Civil War has begun—and an invasion of Washington, DC, from Secessionist Virginia seems imminent. As the population evacuates, the President is in desperate need of men to defend the capital. Lincoln’s trusted aide, Adam Speed Quinn, and Quinn’s old friend from the Bloody Kansas conflict, Senator Jim Lane, hastily assemble a motley crew of just over a hundred men and garrison them in the East Room at the White House. Dubbed the Frontier Guard, these rough-and-tumble patriots steel themselves for the inevitable attack. But even as dawn breaks with no Rebel strike, a single act of violence intrudes within the White House. One of the Frontier Guard lies dead in the oval library, throat slit ear to ear. There is a murderer among them. Lincoln promptly assigns Quinn to deal with the matter, who is in turn aided by journalist Sophie Gates and Dr. George Hilton. And to Quinn’s chagrin, the Southern belle Constance Lemagne insists on being involved in the investigation as well. But when Dr. Hilton examines the body, he makes a startling discovery that overturns all Quinn’s assumptions about the murder. With his president at grave risk from without and within, Quinn must act quickly to catch the White House killer . . .[b][/b]
March 4, 1861: On the day of Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration, the last thing anyone wants is any sort of hitch in the proceedings—let alone murder! Fortunately the president has young Adam Quinn by his side . . . Lincoln’s trusted entourage is on their guard. Allan Pinkerton, head of the president’s security team, is wary of potential assassins. And Lincoln’s oldest friend, Joshua Speed, is by his side, along with Speed’s nephew, Adam Quinn—called back from the Kansas frontier to serve as the president’s assistant and jack-of-all-trades. Despite the tight security, trouble comes nonetheless. A man is found stabbed to death in a nearby room, only yards from the president. Not wishing to cause alarm, Lincoln dispatches young Quinn to discreetly investigate. Though he is new to Washington, DC, he must navigate through high society, political personages, and a city preparing for war in order to solve the crime. He finds unexpected allies in a determined female journalist named Sophie Gates, and Dr. Hilton, a free man of color. Together they must make haste to apprehend a killer. Nothing less than the fate of the nation is at stake . . .