"Ascendant novelist J.B. Blackwood is on a cruise with her husband, Patrick, to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Patrick is older than J.B., formerly her professor, now a film director and cult figure. But now his success is starting to wane and J.B. is on the cusp of winning a major literary prize. Her art has been forever overseen by him; now it may overshadow his. For days they sail in the sun, nothing but dark water all around them. Then a...

Amanda Cole is a brilliant young CIA agent, following in the footsteps of her father, Charlie. But Amanda's posting in Rome is a sleepy one. She's listless and looking for action when, on a hot summer day, it walks right through the door of her office. A lowly Russian operative is desperate, begging to speak to her. He tells her that a US Senator is about to be assassinated on an overseas trip to Cairo. Amanda believes he's telling the truth, but...

"In the seaside village of Kinlough, on Ireland's west coast, three old friends meet for the first time in years. They--Helen, Joe and Mush--were part of an original group of six inseparable teenagers in the summer of 2003, with motherless, reckless Kala Lannan at its white-hot center. But later that year, Kala disappeared without a trace. Now remains have been discovered in the woods--including a skull with a polaroid photo tucked inside--and the...

"In her small hometown, librarian Ruth Cornier has always felt like an outsider, even as her beloved father rains fire-and-brimstone warnings from the pulpit at Holy Fire Baptist. Unfortunately for Ruth, the only things the townspeople fear more than the God and the Devil are the myths that haunt the area, like the story of the Low Man, a vampiric figure said to steal into sinners' bedrooms and kill them on moonless nights. When a skull is found deep...

"Aidan Thomas is a hard-working family man and a somewhat beloved figure in the small upstate town where he lives. He's the kind of man who always lends a hand and has a good word for everyone. But Aidan has a dark secret he's been keeping from everyone in town and those closest to him. He's a kidnapper and serial killer. Aidan has murdered eight women and there's a ninth he has earmarked for death: Rachel, imprisoned in a backyard shed, fearing for...

"Anisa Ellahi dreams of being a translator of "great works of literature," but mostly spends her days subtitling Bollywood movies and living off her parents' generous allowance. Adding to her growing sense of inadequacy, her mediocre white boyfriend, Adam, has successfully leveraged his savant-level aptitude for languages into an enviable career. But when Adam learns to speak Urdu practically overnight, Anisa forces him to reveal his secret. Adam...

"Lucy Sharpe is larger than life. Magnetic, addictive. Bold and dangerous. Especially for Margot, who meets Lucy at the end of their freshman year at a liberal arts college in South Carolina. Margot is the shy one, the careful one, always the sidekick and never the center of attention. But when Lucy singles her out at the end of the year, a year Margot spent studying and playing it safe, and asks her to room together, something in Margot can't say...

"Catherine Sterling thinks she knows her mother. Ruth Sterling is quiet, hardworking, and lives for her daughter. All her life, it's been just the two of them against the world. But now, Catherine is ready to spread her wings, move from home, and begin a new career. And Ruth Sterling will do anything to prevent that from happening. Ruth Sterling thinks she knows her daughter. Catherine would never rebel, would never question anything about her mother's...

"“I’ll be dead in three months. Come tell my story.” So writes Sebastian Trapp, reclusive mystery novelist, to his longtime correspondent Nicky Hunter, an expert in detective fiction. With mere months to live, Trapp invites Nicky to his spectacular San Francisco mansion to help draft his life story . . . while living alongside his beautiful second wife, Diana; his wayward nephew, Freddy; and his protective daughter, Madeleine. Soon Nicky finds...

"Justine Poole provides security for wealthy and high-profile Hollywood stars, but that all changes when a job puts her in the limelight. When she prevents a brazen robbery at the Beverly Hills home of two of her clients--killing two of the five armed robbers in the process--she is initially lauded in the media as a local hero. But the spotlight soon puts her in the crosshairs of the crime kingpin behind the burglaries. Unable to stand the embarrassment...