[Book suggestions from Margo Kelly, author of the thrillers Who R U Really? and Unlocked. Descriptions below are from the publishers.]
It
was a beautiful day. It was a beautiful field. Except for the body. Jazz is a
likable teenager. A charmer, some might say. But he's also the son of the
world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, "Take Your Son
to Work Day" was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops
wish they could--from the criminals' point of view. And now, even though Dad
has been in jail for years, bodies are piling up in the sleepy town of Lobo's
Nod. Again. In an effort to prove murder doesn't run in the family, Jazz joins
the police in the hunt for this new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret--could
he be more like his father than anyone knows? From acclaimed author Barry Lyga
comes a riveting thriller about a teenager trying to control his own destiny in
the face of overwhelming odds.
When
fourteen-year-old Jace Wilson witnesses a brutal murder, he's plunged into a
new life, issued a false identity and hidden in a wilderness skills program for
troubled teens. The plan is to get Jace off the grid while police find the two
killers. The result is the start of a nightmare. The killers, known as the
Blackwell Brothers, are slaughtering anyone who gets in their way in a
methodical quest to reach him. Now all that remains between them and the boy
are Ethan and Allison Serbin, who run the wilderness survival program; Hannah
Faber, who occupies a lonely fire lookout tower; and endless miles of desolate
Montana mountains. The clock is ticking, the mountains are burning, and those
who wish Jace Wilson dead are no longer far behind.
Grace
Mae is already familiar with madness when family secrets and the bulge in her
belly send her to an insane asylum—but it is in the darkness that she finds a
new lease on life. When a visiting doctor interested in criminal psychology
recognizes Grace's brilliant mind beneath her rage, he recruits her as his
assistant. Continuing to operate under the cloak of madness at crime scenes
allows her to gather clues from bystanders who believe her less than human. Now
comfortable in an ethical asylum, Grace finds friends—and hope. But gruesome
nights bring Grace and the doctor into the circle of a killer who will bring
her shaky sanity and the demons in her past dangerously close to the surface.
“The
dead don’t talk. I don’t know why.” But they do try to communicate, with a
short-order cook in a small desert town serving as their reluctant confidant.
Meet Odd Thomas, the unassuming young hero of Dean Koontz’s dazzling New York
Times bestseller, a gallant sentinel at the crossroads of life and death who
offers up his heart in these pages and will forever capture yours. Sometimes
the silent souls who seek out Odd want justice. Occasionally their otherworldly
tips help him prevent a crime. But this time it’s different. A stranger comes
to Pico Mundo, accompanied by a horde of hyena-like shades who herald an
imminent catastrophe. Aided by his soul mate, Stormy Llewellyn, and an unlikely
community of allies that includes the King of Rock ’n’ Roll, Odd will race
against time to thwart the gathering evil. His account of these shattering
hours, in which past and present, fate and destiny, converge, is a testament by
which to live—an unforgettable fable for our time destined to rank among Dean
Koontz’s most enduring works.
Trapped
in the Mexican jungle, a group of friends stumble upon a creeping horror unlike
anything they could ever imagine.Two young couples are on a lazy Mexican
vacation–sun-drenched days, drunken nights, making friends with fellow
tourists. When the brother of one of those friends disappears, they decide to
venture into the jungle to look for him. What started out as a fun day-trip
slowly spirals into a nightmare when they find an ancient ruins site . . . and
the terrifying presence that lurks there.
Mia
has spent half her life rebelling against the iron-fisted fundamentalist
preacher who brainwashed her mom into joining a compound of fanatics deep in
the South American jungle. When Gabriel, a new boy, turns up, Mia sees the
chance to run. But then Mia and Gabriel discover how the paranoid reverend is
using faithful church members for his own gain, and how he has big plans to
free his whole flock from this evil world while keeping their money to fund his
way to a new "paradise" for himself. Love must take a back seat as
Mia and Gabriel fight back against a criminal mastermind, because if they can't
get the truth in time and live to tell it, hundreds of innocent people,
including their own families, face certain death.
Sometimes
it’s the little lies that turn out to be the most lethal...
A
murder…a tragic accident…or just parents behaving badly?
What’s
indisputable is that someone is dead. But who did what?
Big
Little Lies follows three women, each at a crossroads:
Madeline
is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny and biting, passionate, she
remembers everything and forgives no one. Her ex-husband and his yogi new wife
have moved into her beloved beachside community, and their daughter is in the
same kindergarten class as Madeline’s youngest (how is this possible?). And to
top it all off, Madeline’s teenage daughter seems to be choosing Madeline’s
ex-husband over her. (How. Is. This. Possible?). Celeste is the kind of
beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare. While she may seem a bit
flustered at times, who wouldn’t be, with those rambunctious twin boys? Now
that the boys are starting school, Celeste and her husband look set to become
the king and queen of the school parent body. But royalty often comes at a
price, and Celeste is grappling with how much more she is willing to pay. New
to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for the
nanny. Jane is sad beyond her years and harbors secret doubts about her son.
But why? While Madeline and Celeste soon take Jane under their wing, none of
them realizes how the arrival of Jane and her inscrutable little boy will
affect them all. Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second
wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the dangerous little lies
we tell ourselves just to survive.
