Closer ​than Blood

Chris Carter - The ​Crucifix Killer
When ​the body of a young woman is discovered in a derelict cottage in the middle of Los Angeles National Forest, Homicide Detective Robert Hunter finds himself entering a horrific and recurring nightmare. Naked, strung from two wooden posts, the victim was sadistically tortured before meeting an excruciatingly painful death. All the skin has been ripped from her face - while she was still alive. On the nape of her neck has been carved a strange double-cross: the signature of a psychopath known as the Crucifix Killer. But that's impossible. Because two years ago, the Crucifix Killer was caught and executed. Could this therefore be a copycat killer? Or could the unthinkable be true? Is the real killer still out there, ready to embark once again on a vicious and violent killing spree, selecting his victims seemingly at random, taunting Robert Hunter with his inability to catch him? Hunter and his rookie partner are about to enter a nightmare beyond imagining.

Arthur Ransome - Pigeon ​Post
The ​crew's on holiday, and they turn their energies to mining for gold, aided by pigeon messengers Homer, Sophocles, and Sappho. The adventurers comb the nearby hills for a fabled lost claim, while being shadowed by a mysterious figure they dub "squashy hat." Undeterred by drought, sudden brushfires, and the continuing presence of Squashy Hat, the young prospectors persevere in their quest - with surprising results. Full of the dangers and dark adventures of old mines and forgotten claims, Pigeon Post has an irresistible appeal to the persistent explorer in every child.

Damon Galgut - In ​a Strange Room
A ​young man takes three journeys, through Greece, India and Africa. He travels lightly, simply. To those who travel with him and those whom he meets on the way - including a handsome, enigmatic stranger, a group of careless backpackers and a woman on the edge - he is the Follower, the Lover and the Guardian. Yet, despite the man's best intentions, each journey ends in disaster. Together, these three journeys will change his whole life. A novel of longing and thwarted desire, rage and compassion, "In a Strange Room" is the hauntingly beautiful evocation of one man's search for love, and a place to call home.

Hester Browne - The ​Runaway Princess
Amy ​Wilde is tired of the idiots her glamorous flatmate Jo tries to set her up with – she’d much rather be landscaping a garden with her dog Badger at her side than trying to find the man of her dreams. That is, until she meets Leo Wolfsburg. Handsome, polite, funny, intriguing – Leo is everything Amy could want in a man. Best of all, the attraction seems mutual. But Leo’s lifestyle is a world away from her own. Private planes, charity balls, exclusive members’ clubs – Amy begins to realise that her simple existence has been turned upside down. And just where is Leo’s home country of Nirona, anyway? Is this all too good to be true?

Catherine Ryan Hyde - Walk ​Me Home
Since ​their mother’s sudden death, sixteen-year-old Carly and her eleven-year-old sister, Jen, have been walking and hitchhiking across the Southwest trying to find Teddy, the closest thing they have to a family. Carly desperately hopes Teddy will take them in and save them from going into foster care—and forgive them for the lies told by their mother. But when the starving girls get caught stealing food on a Native American reservation, their journey gets put on hold. While the girls work off their debt, Carly becomes determined to travel onward—until Jen confesses a terrible secret that leaves both sisters wondering if they can ever trust again. Set against the backdrop of the American Southwest, Walk Me Home and its resilient heroines will inspire readers and renew their faith in recovery and redemption.

Marie Darrieussecq - Pig ​Tales
A ​bizarre tale encompassing feminism, politics and social hypocrisy. A stunning young woman employed in the sex industry enjoys extraordinary success at bringing home the bacon (in part due to her increasingly rosy and irresistible backside) until she slowly metamorphoses into a pig.

Rhonda Nelson - The ​Renegade
Ranger ​Security expert Tanner Crawford is lethally sexy. With his hair-trigger temper, smart-ass mouth and lady-charmer ways, he's no stranger to trouble. And it turns out that trouble's no stranger to him, either. Because Mia Hawthorne, the only woman who ever rocked his world, just tumbled back into his life. As a client he must protect "Ah, hell. Anybody but her..." When Mia sees Tanner, her carefully ordered world screeches to a halt. It starts right up again though-- in his bed Sex with Tanner is still incredible. But he's a bad boy destined to break her heart once more... and she craves stable and predictable. Doesn't she? Well, maybe. But first, she's going to find out "exactly" what she's been missing. And this time, she'll be the one to walk away. "If she can..."

Rhonda Nelson - The ​Rebel
Subject: ​Finn O'Connor, Army Ranger.Current Status: In between tours of duty. Oddly discontent with the way his life is going... Mission: Getting his act together before the next assignment. Obstacle: Sunny Ledbetter. The girl he's never managed to forget... Finn has never questioned his life's purpose--to serve and protect, no matter how unorthodox the means. But since the unexpected deaths of his parents, he feels lost.... Until he runs into Sunny, the first girl he'd ever loved. Sunny's now all woman...and very interested in fanning the banked flames between them into blistering adult heat And his libido is definitely game. But once again, their timing is off. He'd like nothing more than to spend every waking moment in her bed...but he's leaving in a week Unfortunately, the overwhelming chemistry between them isn't giving him a choice. And every soldier knows there are some battles you just can't win....

Kimberly McCreight - Reconstructing ​Amelia
Single ​mother and lawyer Kate Baron is in the meeting of her career when she is interrupted by a telephone call. Her daughter Amelia has just been suspended from her exclusive prep school. When Kate eventually arrives at Grace Hall an hour later, she is greeted by the news that no mother ever wants to hear. A grieving Kate can't accept that her daughter would kill herself. But she soon discovers she didn't know Amelia quite as well as she thought. Who are the friends she kept, what are the secrets she hid? And so begins an investigation which takes her deep into Amelia's private world - and into the mind of a troubled young girl. Then Kate receives an anonymous text: _Amelia didn't jump._ Is someone toying with her or has she been right all along? To find the truth about her daughter, Kate must now face a darker reality than she could ever have imagined.

Anya Allyn - Dollhouse
_An ​abandoned mansion, deep in the woods. A dollhouse, filled with life-sized toys. A doorway into other realms. And girls who keep disappearing…_ When Cassie’s best friend, Aisha, vanishes during a school hike, Cassie sets off with Aisha’s boyfriend and their friend Lacey, determined to find her. Instead, the three teens fall into a carefully-laid trap—deep into the surreal nightmare and dark secrets of the Dollhouse. Now, Cassie must uncover the mysteries of the Dollhouse and her own connection to it— before it’s too late. With the horror and otherworldliness of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and the gothic romance of A Great and Terrible Beauty, Dollhouse is the tantalizing start to The Dark Carousel series.

Rose Tremain - The ​Colour
Newlyweds ​Joseph and Harriet Blackstone emigrate from England to New Zealand, along with Joseph's mother Lilian, in search of new beginnings and prosperity. But the harsh land near Christchurch where they settle threatens to destroy them almost before they begin. When Joseph finds gold in a creek bed, he hides the discovery from both his wife and mother, and becomes obsessed with the riches awaiting him deep in the earth. Abandoning his farm and family, he sets off alone for the new goldfields over the Southern Alps, a moral wilderness where many others, under the seductive dreams of the "colour," rush to their destinies and doom.

Ben Elton - Blind ​Faith
Imagine ​a world where everyone knows everything about everybody. Where 'sharing' is valued above all, and privacy is considered a dangerous perversion. Trafford wouldn't call himself a rebel, but he's daring to be different, to stand out from the crowd. In his own small ways, he wants to push against the system. But in this world, uniformity is everything. And even tiny defiances won't go unnoticed. Ben Elton's dark, savagely comic novel imagines a post-apocalyptic society where religious intolarence combines with a sex-obsessed, utterly egocentric culture. In this world, nakedness is modesty, independent thought is subversive, and ignorance is wisdom. A chilling vision of what's to come? Or something rather close to home?

Jennifer E. Smith - This ​Is What Happy Looks Like
When ​teenage movie star Graham Larkin accidentally sends small town girl Ellie O'Neill an email about his pet pig, the two seventeen-year-olds strike up a witty and unforgettable correspondence, discussing everything under the sun, except for their names or backgrounds. Then Graham finds out that Ellie's Maine hometown is the perfect location for his latest film, and he decides to take their relationship from online to in-person. But can a star as famous as Graham really start a relationship with an ordinary girl like Ellie? And why does Ellie want to avoid the media's spotlight at all costs?

Lawrence Block - The ​Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling
Bernie ​Rhodenbarr has gone legit -- almost -- as the new owner of a used bookstore in New York's Greenwich Village. Of course, dusty old tomes don't always turn a profit, so to make ends meet, Bernie's forced, on occasion, to indulge in his previous occupation: burglary. Besides which, he likes it. Now a collector is offering Bernie an opportunity to combine his twin passions by stealing a very rare and very bad book-length poem from a rich man's library. The heist goes off without a hitch. The delivery of the ill-gotten volume, however, is a different story. Drugged by the client's female go-between, Bernie wakes up in her apartment to find the book gone, the lady dead, a smoking gun in his hand, and the cops at the door. And suddenly he's got to extricate himself from a rather sticky real-life murder mystery and find a killer -- before he's booked for Murder One.

Marianne de Pierres - Shine ​Light
Ixion. ​The island of ever-night. If she had a choice, Naif wouldn’t go back. But her friends will die if she doesn’t find a cure for the badges that are slowly killing them, and her brother is there, fighting against the Ripers who hold everyone in thrall. And Naif has knowledge that might save them all. First she must solve the mystery of Ixion’s eternal night. Then she must convince everyone – rebels and revellers alike – to join her cause. And all the while, she must fight the urge to go to Lenoir – her greatest love, her mortal enemy. The secrets of Ixion must be revealed. The evils must be stopped. A new dawn will come.

Odette Beane - Reawakened
Emma ​Swan's life has been anything but a fairy tale. She's been on her own since she was abandoned as a baby--that is, until the night of her twenty-eighth birthday, when Henry, a ten-year-old boy, shows up on her doorstep. He's the son Emma gave up for adoption, and this surprise visit turns her life upside down. Henry takes Emma back to his home in Storybrooke, Maine, where, Henry claims, all the residents are actually fairy tale characters who can't remember their true identities. And if Henry's right, that means that his sweet-natured, lonely schoolteacher Mary Margaret Blanchard is really Snow White, the iconic princess ... and also Emma's long-lost mother. In Fairy Tale Land, we meet Snow White as a bandit on the run, forced into exile by her stepmother, the Evil Queen. Snow's a young woman learning to become a hero, who will do anything to live happily ever after with her one true love, Prince Charming. The closer Emma comes to Henry in Storybrooke, the harder it is for her to ignore the dark curse that haunts this small New England town and binds her to Mary Margaret. If Emma can learn to accept her destiny as Storybrooke's savior and break the curse, she just might get the family reunion she's dreamed about her entire life. ABC's "ONCE UPON A TIME" is a modern adventure with thrilling twists and hints of darkness, brimming with wonder, and filled with the magic of our most beloved fairy tales

Vince Flynn - Kill ​Shot
Vince ​Flynn delivers the young, hungry, and lethal Mitch Rapp at the onset of his career as a CIA superagent. In the year since the CIA trained and then unleashed him, Mitch Rapp has been steadily working his way through a list of men, bullet by bullet. With each swift and untraceable kill, the tangled network of monsters responsible for the slaughter of 270 civilians in the Pan Am Lockerbie attack become increasingly aware that someone is hunting them. Rapp is given his next target, and finds the man asleep in his bed in Paris. In the split second it takes the bullet to leave Rapp’s silenced pistol, the trap is sprung and he finds himself in the fight of his life. The next morning, nine bodies are discovered in one of Paris’s finest hotels—among them the Libyan oil minister. Back in Washington the finger-pointing begins in earnest as no one wants any part in what has become an international crisis and potential embarrassment for the CIA. Rapp’s handlers have only one choice—deny any responsibility for the incident and pray that their newest secret weapon stays that way. Rapp must avoid capture or die quietly. One person in the group, however, is not prone to leaving such important things to chance. Rapp has become a liability, and Stan Hurley will not allow Rapp to be taken alive by the French authorities, even if it means killing him. Operating on his own and outside the control of his handlers, it will soon become clear that nothing is more dangerous than a wounded and cornered Mitch Rapp. In Flynn’s newest page-turner, the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been as Mitch Rapp embarks on the journey that will turn him into America’s most deadly asset. The nonstop action in this shockingly realistic political thriller will keep your pulse pounding till the very end.

Vince Flynn - Extreme ​Measures
With ​Mitch Rapp away on assignment in Pakistan, CIA Director Irene Kennedy turns to his protege, Mike Nash. Nash has served his government honourably for sixteen years, first as an officer in the Marine Corps, then as an operative in an elite counterterrorism team run by Mitch Rapp, never wavering in his fight against the jihads and their culture of death. Fighting the War on Terror in secret, he has been forced to lie to everyone he cares about, including his wife and children. He has soldiered on secure in the knowledge that his hard work and lethal tactics have saved the lives of thousands. But the one thing he never saw coming was that his own government was about to turn on him...

Vince Flynn - Executive ​Power
Returning ​from a covert mission, Mitch Rapp was publicly hailed by the president for his role in the fight against terrorism. After years of working in the shadows, Rapp was caught in the media spotlight—and marked for death by virtually every terrorist in the world. Now a CIA advisor, Rapp is ready to battle terror far from the front lines. But when a Navy SEAL team in the Philippines is ambushed, all evidence points to a leak within the U.S. State Department. And a greater threat lurks—a ruthless assassin working for the most powerful men in the Middle East, who are bent on igniting a world war. With the world watching, Rapp must hold back the flames of Armageddon...

Vince Flynn - American ​Assassin
Six ​months ago, Mitch Rapp was just an ordinary college student. Then the Pan Am Lockerbie terrorist attack stole the lives of two hundred and seventy passengers, leaving thousands grieving. And Mitch Rapp hungry for revenge. Just the man CIA Director Irene Kennedy needs for her new group of clandestine operatives. Now, after months of intense training, Mitch finds himself in Istanbul, where he tracks down the arms dealer who sold the explosives used in the attack. Rapp then moves on to Europe, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. But his final destination is Beirut where, unwittingly, he will walk into a trap - and straight into his enemy's clutches. The hunter is about to become the hunted, and Rapp will need every ounce of skill and cunning if he is to survive...