It’s the summer of 1976 and Alice and Tom set out on the remote Canadian highways in their new RV, hoping to heal their broken hearts after a devastating tragedy.
They’ve planned the trip perfectly, taken care of every detail. Then they meet two young hitchhikers down on their luck and offer them a ride. But Simon and Jenny aren’t what they seem. They’ve left a trail of blood, destruction, and madness behind them.
Now Alice and Tom are trapped, prisoners in a deadly game, with nowhere to turn. As the tension builds, the lines blur, and the question becomes, In whose heart does evil truly lie? What secrets are Jenny and Simon hiding? And who will live another day?
A chilling, twist-laden ride to the final page, THE HITCHHIKERS is that rare novel that will break your heart as well as hold you in suspense. The author of the classic thrillers STILL MISSING and THOSE GIRLS has delivered her next breathtaking novel.
I read this book pretty fast — partly because I couldn’t put it down, and partly because I wanted to get through the terrifying parts before my imagination got the best of me. At several points, I actually had to pause and catch my breath, but that’s what made it so captivating. The author does an incredible job building suspense while making the characters feel real, especially Simon. His development was so well-written that I found myself completely invested in what happened to him.
What really impressed me was how quickly the story took off — the “all hell breaks loose” moment hits early, and by about 20% in, you already know you’re in for a wild, chaotic ride that doesn’t slow down. The pacing was perfect, keeping me hooked from the first page all the way to the end.
From page one, it grabbed me and never let go. If you’re looking for something intense, fast-paced, and filled with unforgettable moments, this is a must-read.
CHEVY STEVENS lives on Vancouver Island with her husband and daughter. When she’s not working on her next book, she’s spending time with her family and their two dogs. Chevy’s debut novel, STILL MISSING, was a New York Times bestseller and won the International Thriller Writers Award for Best First Novel. Her books, including THOSE GIRLS which Stephen King called “incredibly scary” have been published in more than thirty countries. Her eighth novel is THE HITCHHIKERS
HAVE YOU RECOVERED ENOUGH FROM THE TRAUMA OF BOOK ONE, THE STORY OF US?
Because The Highly Anticipated Book 6 In The New York Times Best Selling Carnage Series Is Finally Here!
Brace yourself for some unexpected, emotional, and heartfelt revelations, as cameras follow the fiercely private Georgia McCarthy King.
For years, Georgia has shied away from the spotlight, carefully guarding her personal life.
So why has she finally agreed to a no holds barred interview and documentary that will reveal intimate details about her and her family, including her notorious brother and former Carnage band member, Marley Layton?
As the world eagerly awaits the release of the highly anticipated movie, Carnage: A Band. A Life, Georgia’s change of heart raises questions and stirs up curiosity.
Secrets and past trauma are soon laid bare as Lesley Jones delivers another raw, gritty and emotional read.
The tea is about to be spilled and if you’re a fan of The Emotionally Charged Carnage Series, you will want to be there for every drop!
Books 1-5 In The Carnage Series Should Be Read First.
Lesley Jones was born and raised in Essex, England but moved to Australia in 2006 with her family. Her first book, Saviour, was published in 2013 and she quickly gained a reputation as a writer of gritty, down to earth characters, involved in angsty and emotional plot lines. Carnage, her third novel, made a number of lists, and won a number of awards for ‘Best Ugly Cry’. Her readers love the fact that she can switch her stories from hot and steamy, to snot bubble ugly crying, followed by laugh out loud moments, in the space of a few sentences. She has declared that the very best part of her job is meeting her readers and has travelled the world a number of times over the past few years to do exactly that. Lesley is a big fan of wearing pyjamas at any time of day, but not a fan of wearing a bra, unless absolutely necessary.
When not writing, she has admitted to being a prolific reader, getting through around four or five books a week. She is a fan of trashy reality TV, listening to music, watching her son play football, spicy food and enjoys a glass of wine… or three.
Protecting Her Becomes His Mission; Resisting Her Becomes Impossible.
Secrets and lies collide in this upcoming explosive Romantic Thriller from New York Times bestselling author Toni Anderson.
Rowena Smith may be a top-shelf librarian, but solid investigative skills won’t keep her safe after her newest research project—tracking down her biological father—leads her to a brutally murdered body. The scene offers up one hope for assistance: the card of FBI Supervisory Special Agent Kurt Montana. Alone and terrified in a foreign country, Rowena places the call.
About to board a flight home after a failed mission, Kurt can’t ignore the plea in Rowena’s voice. She could be the killer or she could be an innocent bystander—either way, he senses she holds information vital to his case. When Kurt’s flight takes off without him—only to crash into the African savanna killing everyone onboard—he knows it’s no coincidence. Rowena saved his life.
Toni Anderson writes gritty, sexy, FBI Romantic Thrillers, and is a New York Times and a USA Today bestselling author. Her books have won the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery and Suspense, Readers’ Choice, Aspen Gold, Book Buyers’ Best, Golden Quill, National Excellence in Story Telling (NEST) Contest, and National Excellence in Romance Fiction awards. She’s been a finalist in both the Vivian Contest and the RITA. Her books have been translated into five different languages.
Best known for her “COLD JUSTICE®” novels, perhaps it’s not surprising to discover Toni lives in one of the most extreme climates on earth—Manitoba, Canada. Formerly a Marine Biologist (Ph.D.), she still misses the ocean. Her greatest achievements include raising two kids, mastering the Tokyo subway, climbing Ben Lomond, snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef, and surviving eighteen (and counting) Winnipeg winters.
Toni loves to travel for research and was lucky enough to visit the Strategic Information and Operations Center inside FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. She also got to shove another car off the road during pursuit training at the Writer’s Police Academy in Wisconsin. She hopes not to get arrested for her Google searches.
A dedicated journalist unearths a generations-old family secret—and a connection to a string of missing girls that hits way too close to home—in this gripping debut novel.
In the wake of her grandmother’s passing, Sydney Singleton finds a hidden photograph of a little girl who looks more like Sydney than her own sister or mother. She soon discovers the mystery girl in the photograph is her aunt, Carol, who was one of six North Carolina Black girls to go missing in the 1960s. For the last several decades, not a soul has talked about Carol or what really happened to her. But now, with her grandmother gone and Sydney looking to start a family of her own, she is determined to unravel the truth behind her long-lost aunt’s disappearance, and the sinister silence that surrounds her.
Unfortunately, this is familiar territory for Sydney: Years earlier, while she worked the crime beat as a journalist, her obsession with the case of another missing girl led to a psychotic break. And now, in the suffocating grip of fertility treatments and a marriage that’s beginning to crumble, Sydney’s relentless pursuit for answers might just lead her down the same path of self-destruction. As she delves deeper into Carol’s fate, her own troubled past reemerges, clawing its way to the surface with a vengeance. The web of secrets and lies entangling her family leaves Sydney questioning everything—her fixation on the missing girls, her future as a mom, and her trust in those she knows and loves.
Delving into family, community, secrets, and motherhood, We Don’t Talk About Carol is a gripping and deeply emotional story about overcoming the rot at the roots of our family trees—and what we’ll do for those we love.
Excellent Read from Page One
This book hooked me from the start. Though it’s a fictional story, it felt deeply personal—likely because I’ve been a longtime listener of the Black Girl Gone podcast, which made me especially excited for this read.
The story doesn’t waste time with a slow build—it dives in with purpose. We follow the intelligent and determined Sydney as she searches for girls who went missing 60 years ago. Her main focus? Aunt Carol, who vanished at just 16. Was she murdered like the six other girls believed to be? Through Carol’s story, we uncover a tale of young love, rebellion, and a mysterious man named Michael.
Beyond the mystery, the book explores rich emotional territory. There’s Sydney’s complex relationship with her sister Sasha—strained by an age gap—and their distant, emotionally unavailable mother, which adds even more depth to the narrative.
Sydney’s fertility struggles were especially moving. Her emotional and physical journey through treatments added a layer of vulnerability that made me root for her even more.
I genuinely want more from this author—this was an incredible debut. Bravo! Big thanks to NetGalley and the author for the ARC.
Kristen L. Berry is a writer and communications executive. Born and raised in Metro Detroit, Kristen graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor’s Degree in English Language & Literature. She has provided PR and communications expertise to leading consumer brands for nearly 20 years, all while writing in her spare time. Kristen co-founded a critique group that has gathered monthly since 2019. When she isn’t reading or writing, Kristen can be found lifting heavy at the gym, hiking in Malibu, eating her way through Los Angeles with her partner, or shouting at the latest Formula 1 race. WE DON’T TALK ABOUT CAROL is her debut novel.
“Pullen skillfully moves his characters around on a cleverly-crafted chessboard.” —STEVE BERRY, New York Times bestselling thriller author of The Bishop’s Pawn
REPORTER BECK RIKKI again confronts the deceptions and lies of the rich and powerful in America when he is invited to meet with the chief justice of the United States, only to have the jurist show up dead. As he did in his previous outing in Naked Ambition—the first in Rick Pullen’s compelling thriller series—Beck is relentless in pursuing the truth. Yet, as he peels back the layers, he is unaware of the sleight of hand diverting his path. After all, in the real world of power, how much of the iceberg of truth can really be uncovered?
Rick Pullen is the author of the best selling novel, NAKED AMBITION, about a reporter investigating a corrupt presidential candidate.
NAKED TRUTH, the long-waited sequel to NAKED AMBITION, is scheduled for release Sept. 24, 2018. It is a thriller about the mysterious death of a Supreme Court justice.
THE APPRENTICE, about a rookie reporter who unexpectedly finds herself investigating the president-elect, was published in late 2017.
Rick is an award-winning investigative reporter and magazine editor. He is a member of the FOLIO 100, the 100 most influential people in magazine publishing, and was a finalist for EDITOR OF THE YEAR. He is a member of the National Press Club, International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, the Royal Writers Secret Society and Old Town Sleuths. He has spent most of his journalism career working in the Washington swamp. He resides in historic Fredericksburg, Virginia where he tries not to get his feet wet.
The book does a past and present POV SO we go between the late 1800’s in young Maggie Delito’s childhood. She is exposed to a scandal. I really dont know how much Maggie actually understood. The time when this occurred she was like 13 so how much did she really understand or comprehend? Apparently enough WOW Back in this time period people who were troubled were essentially committed. Maggie was one.
Present time brings us to Laura Delito. Laura is timid and somewhat troubled while she inherits her family’s jewelry business. This part of the story I really enjoyed. There is talk of marketing, other brands of jewelry and stores where they are sold. The business is in trouble, Laura is a semi-reclusive person and the family has secrets!
What I liked was the business part. What I wasn’t a fan of was the character’s naive attitude towards friends and business. I DO understand that her upbringing was what caused her to have a small backbone, but there were times that I was yelling at her. Some of her so called friends joined in with business associates and family to make sure she did not succeed, so for me that was overkill.
Kathryn Orzech, a seasoned world traveler, writes mystery, suspense, and thrillers set in “New England and other exotic locations” with female protagonists who confront extraordinary situations, flirt with romance, and brush with the supernatural.
An avid film fan and self-proclaimed news nerd, her interests include history and geopolitics, society and culture, psychology, science, and parapsychology, leaving few subjects off her literary table. She created and maintains DreamWatch.com, a website where everyday people share true paranormal experiences. Online since the 1990s, DreamWatch has welcomed visitors from more than 50 countries and across the USA, it inspired her psychic thriller, Premonition of Terror.
ON AN INNOCENT DAY IN 1899 while her father travels abroad, twelve-year-old Maggie Delito unwittingly witnesses a shocking scandal. The next morning, she’s dragged from the family estate and locked in an asylum, along with the shameful secret she did not want to know. Beneath the asylum’s polish of respectability, a wicked villainy hides in dank shadows—and Maggie fears she might be its next victim.
SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS LATER, Laura Delito inherits more than ancestral assets when her prestigious family’s mysterious past comes knocking. After sacrificing an independent career at the brink of success, she assumes control of Delito’s failing jewelry business while daring to expose its ghosts—a strange old woman, cryptic messages, and a rare antique key that might unlock the truth. As she pursues clues from the Northeast to North Africa, she’s unaware of a vengeful rage that smolders close to home.
Kathryn Orzech, a seasoned world traveler, writes mystery, suspense, and thrillers set in “New England and other exotic locations” with female protagonists who confront extraordinary situations, flirt with romance, and brush with the supernatural.
An avid film fan and self-proclaimed news nerd, her interests include history and geopolitics, society and culture, psychology, science, and parapsychology, leaving few subjects off her literary table. She created and maintains DreamWatch.com, a website where everyday people share true paranormal experiences. Online since the 1990s, DreamWatch has welcomed visitors from more than 50 countries and across the USA, it inspired her psychic thriller, Premonition of Terror.
This was completely spellbinding. It totaled my weekend I couldn’t do anything but read read read WOW I’m so glad I did
The beginning of the book is a little cliche if you read the description but for me it was a great mystery immediately.
She wakes up in the back of a van, and her whole world changes.
The author sets up the character in a weak and semi-altered state. She is confused and has no memory. The part where she finds herself at Alex’s house is where it begins to really cook! The Texas Hill County is where the plot thickens. If you are a fans of a good intriguing mystery, then please grab this one. I was consumed with it. Injured and afraid—yes but it is not graphic, just good writing!
Personally the way the author wrote Rainy and Alex as best friends was the icing on my cupcake. While things can be moving in a way you like, here comes Rainy with the common sense attitude. Sometimes he annoyed me. I wanted Alex to grow and trust, so when he was all in right away, I was happy while the doubters started to come out of the woodwork.
Overall it is a worthwhile read. There is a lot of small town type characters for you to love. I am so anticipating more from the author and the series. Way to go Pamela!
Pamela Humphrey was inspired to write after researching her genealogy. Intending to create a booklet for her mom and immediate family, she set about gathering stories and pictures of the Ramirez family. She ended up writing her first book, Researching Ramirez: On the Trail of the Jesus Ramirez Family, a family history of her great great grandfather’s family. During that research, she found a christening record that ignited her imagination. Using the documentation she’d found as a backbone for the story, she imagined what life was like for her ancestors and wrote The Blue Rebozo, a fictional account of her great grand aunt’s life.
On a road trip, when driving through the Texas Hill Country, the landscape sparked the idea for her latest book. Weaving mystery, genealogy, and romance, she wrote Finding Claire. She is currently writing the next book in the Hill Country Secrets series.
She is a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom who enjoys many creative outlets: sewing, paper-crafting, jewelry-making, practicing her bass guitar, reading, and conversing with imaginary characters (what most call writing). She lives in San Antonio, Texas, with her husband, sons, black cats, and leopard gecko.
Publication Date: October 29 2014 by Story Merchant Books Genres: Historical, Thriller Book Links: Goodreads || Video Purchase: Amazon
The year is 2039, and Jack Fisher is the last living survivor of the Holocaust.
Set in a world that is abysmally ignorant and complacent about events of the last century, Jack is a 100-year-old man whose worst memories took place before he was 5. His story hearkens back to the Jewish ghetto of his birth and to Auschwitz where, as a little boy, he had to fend for himself to survive after losing all his family.
Jack becomes the central figure in a missing-person investigation when his granddaughter suddenly disappears. While assisting police, he finds himself in danger and must reach into the darkest corners of his memory to come out alive.
According to Goodreads…
“Parts of our history are ugly, brutal, but these stories must be told and remembered. Through fiction, Jerry Amernic has done just that with The Last Witness and done it with heart and respect for those who suffered.” –Dianne of Tome Tender
“Fictional reading at its best, with non-fiction story line. Fascinating look at what might happen and what is happening now.” –Kathy Craton
“This is a great read & I recommend it to EVERYONE!” –Lee Credle
I’ve worn many hats — newspaper reporter and columnist, feature writer for magazines, editor, teacher of journalism, and author of fiction and non-fiction books. But writing fiction is my passion. I’m a student of history and like to incorporate historical flashbacks into my novels.
Title: The Manhattan Puzzle Author: Laurence O’Bryan Genre: Thriller Publish Date: August 26, 2014 Publisher: HarperCollins ISBN: 9781847562906
Synopsis
An international cover-up that could change the course of history…
Sean has been tracking a symbol from another age. It provides a clue to a barbaric conspiracy. A puzzle with an answer feared for millenia.
When Isabel wakes to find Sean hasn’t come home she doesn’t worry. At first. But when the police turn up on her doorstep wanting to interview him, she has to make a decision.
Does she keep faith in him or does she believe the evidence? The symbol Sean and Isabel have been chasing will finally be revealed in Manhattan as one of the greatest banks in the world totters. Can Isobel uncover the truth before time runs out…or will she too be murdered?
A thrilling, high-octane race to save civilization that will engross fans of Dan Brown, David Baldacci and James Patterson.
Buy on Amazon
The Manhattan Puzzle Excerpt
1
‘Go for it. The rougher the better, girl.’ The man had a black silk blindfold tied around his head. He spoke slowly, his voice thick with desire.
Xena went to the door and unlocked it.
‘What’s that? Getting your toys out? Wow, this is even better than you promised.’
Lord Bidoner walked into the panic room. He closed the door behind him and pressed the button to turn on the air management system. The scrubber in the roof could remove the smoke from a blazing fire and turn the output into a vapour trail.
The man, spread-eagled and handcuffed to the stainless steel bed frame, had an expectant smile on his face.
‘Go on, do it,’ he said.
The navy Calvin Klein silk suit hanging from the stool beside the bed gave an indication of who he was. Lord Bidoner examined the man’s wallet. His bank ID card, a credit-card-sized piece of aluminium with an embedded proximity chip and his family name, Hare, embossed on it, confirmed what they already knew.
The head of global security at BXH, one of the world’s few truly global banks, was lying face-up and naked in front of him.
‘Don’t keep me waiting, girl.’
‘I won’t,’ purred Xena. She stroked his leg, then his inner thigh. He quivered in anticipation.
The man’s wife would surely appreciate photographs of this event, but Lord Bidoner had more pressing concerns.
He nodded at Xena.
She was dressed in a low-cut skin-tight black catsuit that fitted her thin frame perfectly. The man laid out in front of them was expecting something memorable from the woman he’d met in the champagne bar opposite Grand Central, two weeks before. Xena’s story, about being an Ethiopian diplomat’s daughter, and her eager smile, had captivated him.
She ran her finger down the man’s stomach. It trembled under her touch.
‘Don’t stop, honey. Don’t stop.’
With her other hand Xena clicked on the silver Turboflame blowtorch, the most expensive model in the world with its 1500C flame. She held the gently hissing blue, inch-long flame up and watched it glow brighter as her fingers moved slowly down his stomach.
‘What’s that?’ he said.
She didn’t reply.
Hare’s voice was still confident when he spoke. ‘Was that your sister who just came in? Is she gonna join us?’
‘We have a surprise for you,’ said Xena.
The man pulled on the handcuffs, which began to cut into his skin. It had taken a bit of persuasion, since this was their third meeting, for Xena to get him to go this far, but he trusted her now. And he’d made it clear that he wasn’t going to put up with any crap. He’d break the bed if she didn’t release him when he gave the password.
She’d smiled, hugged him and agreed.
They’d even laughed about making a written contract.
‘What’s the surprise?’ He shook the bed, testing its resilience and the strength of the handcuffs. He’d assumed they were easily breakable toys, like a previous pair she’d shown him. But he was wrong.
And he didn’t know that the bed was bolted to the reinforced slab of the panic room floor, either. Though he might have guessed that there was something wrong when it refused to move under him.
‘Just a friend of mine. We have a little question for you,’ said Xena.
‘Yeah?’ He was still curious, still expectant of further delights.
‘What is the password for the security system at BXH?’
The man didn’t reply verbally. He shook the bed from side to side, trying to break free. He didn’t know that his only hope was if his thrashing managed to separate his hands from his wrists, and his feet from his ankles. And very few people have strength enough to do that.
Xena waved the blue flame, raised it, as if offering it up. It flickered higher.
The odour of the burning butane gas filled the room like bad perfume. The sound of the blow torch was a threatening hissing now. Xena placed the tip of the flame against the top edge of the whiskey tumbler the man had been drinking from. The glass turned blue.
‘Wait until you feel this. Then you will tell me,’ said Xena. Her tone had changed. It was demanding now.
‘What? Fu . . .’ The end of that confident word was bitten off by the piercing scream that came from deep within his throat. Xena had touched the flame against the pale skin of his shoulder.
He began thrashing. Like a fish flailing. He moved from side to side, squirming away from the skin-blistering heat. But he couldn’t move fast enough. And his legs and arms were stretched out tight.
Easy targets.
The smell in the room changed and the atmosphere with it. Pain and whimpering, sizzling and guttural roars filled the air.
The man had become a dog.
Then Xena asked him again.
‘The password, please.’ She spoke softly, as if they were still playing a game.
‘If you give it up, I will release you. You can explain these little burns to your wife. But the ones I will inflict next will require hospital treatment. Or the services of a morgue.’ She clicked the flame off, then pressed the hot tip hard and fast into the biggest blister she had inflicted, near his ankle.
‘What do you say, Mr Hare?’
The man answered with a defiant, animal roar. He shook the bed under him. The last vestige of his pride in working at BXH bellowed out of him.
Xena lit the flame again. She reached forward, touched it to his chest, and ran it fast down the middle until smoke from his burning body hair filled the room with a sickly odour.
‘Stop, stop!’ he screamed. His body squirmed to escape the heat.
‘It’s #89*99,’ he shouted. ‘Please! Stop!’
Bidoner keyed the password into his phone and pressed send.
‘I hope you’re not lying,’ said Xena. ‘I want all this to have a happy ending.’
She squeezed his thigh with her hand, then stroked it.
Tears streamed from under his blindfold. His cheeks were red. It was good he couldn’t see the weals on his body, because he would know immediately that he wouldn’t be able to explain any of them to his wife.
‘Please, let me go. I promise not to tell anyone. I swear, on my children’s lives.’
Lord Bidoner’s mobile beeped as an incoming message came in. He nodded at Xena. The code had worked.
‘I believe you,’ she said. ‘But there is one more thing I must do for you.’
She put the Turboflame down and went to the fridge. She took out a six-inch-long serrated knife, honed with care to a perfect blade, from the freezer section.
She held it in the air, admiring its cold edge.
‘Now you will find release,’ she said.
The man’s body went still. His toes, which had scrunched up, half straightened. The only sound was his pain-filled whimpering.
The panic room in the apartment on Fifth Avenue, overlooking the skyscrapers of Manhattan, was soundproof. It was why they used the room.
Xena flicked the blade across the man’s pale skin, once, then twice, fascinated by how quickly blood gushed, how fast it flowed from a few simple cuts.
‘This is for my brothers,’ she said.
‘Don’t,’ he whimpered. Fear trembled in his voice. ‘I have two children, a wife.’
She growled, psyching herself up.
‘Prima quattuor invocare unum,’ she said, as she grabbed him, jerking him upwards and castrating him with one swinging motion.
She held the bloody remains up in the air.
His screams of terror and pain vibrated through the room as blood spurted two feet high. A foul smell followed and the man’s words became a babbling.
Lord Bidoner held his nose. He’d seen enough. He went out to the main room of the apartment, with its view towards the glittering Jazz-era spire of the Empire State Building.
‘You did good, my dear. The first offering has been done correctly,’ he said, when Xena joined him.
She was panting.
‘Come here.’
He pushed her up against the inch-thick glass of the window, as Manhattan glittered behind them.
Afterwards, he handed her a balloon glass containing a large shot of Asbach 21. She sipped the brandy, then downed it in one gulp.
Then she lay down on the sleek oak coffee table that dominated the room. The canyon of lights stretching into the velvet Manhattan night reflected all the way along the length of the table and onto her ebony skin.
He reached down and stroked her shoulder. It was trembling.
‘Three more before the moon rises again. That is what the book says. That is what we will do.’
She smiled up at him. Her white teeth shone as she leaned her head back and stretched.
Video Trailer
About the Author
Laurence was born in Dublin. He studied business, then IT at Oxford University.After going to England he paid for his own courses and began rising at 4AM so he could study and work at the same time. One early job was as a kitchen porter near the Bank of England cleaning the plates of the well connected. Laurence was first published by a school newspaper when he was ten, for a short story about aliens getting lost. Thirty-five years later, he attended an authonomy workshop and not long after was offered a publishing contract for three books. The Manhattan Puzzle is his third novel.
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