Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, Henry Lincoln Michael Baigent, Henry Lincoln, and Richard Leigh, authors of The Messianic Legacy, spent over 10 years on their own kind of quest for the Holy Grail, into the secretive history of early France. What they found, researched with the tenacity and attention to detail that befits any great quest, is a tangled and intricate story of politics and faith that reads like a mystery novel. It is the story of the Knights Templar, and a behind-the-scenes society called the Prieure de Sion, and its involvement in reinstating descendants of the Merovingian bloodline into political power. Why? The authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail assert that their explorations into early history ultimately reveal that Jesus may not have died on the cross, but lived to marry and father children whose bloodline continues today. The authors' point here is not to compromise or to demean Jesus, but to offer another, more complete perspective of Jesus as God's incarnation in man. The power of this secret, which has been carefully guarded for hundreds of years, has sparked much controversy. For all the sensationalism and hoopla surrounding Holy Blood, Holy Grail and the alternate history that it outlines, the authors are careful to keep their perspective and sense of skepticism alive in its pages, explaining carefully and clearly how they came to draw such combustible conclusions. —Jodie Buller

David Baldacci Annabelle is a beautiful stranger with a mysterious past, planning the heist of the century - two short cons to fund a long con, then a life of unashamed luxury, incognito in a foreign land. Jonathan DeHaven, the shy head of the Rare Books Division at the Library of Congress, is planning nothing more than an uneventful day amongst his cherished collection. But when Jonathan is found dead by Caleb Shaw, a member of the Camel Club, two conspiracies are destined to meet as the Club determines to track down the dead man's long-lost wife - and Annabelle decides to avenge the death of her beloved ex-husband. Unfortunately, the victim of Annabelle's long con has sworn eternal revenge and Jonathan's killers will stop at nothing to keep the truth about his death, and the code they have perfected over the years, from surfacing...

David Baldacci Following their collaboration in "Split Second", ex-Secret Service agents Sean King and Michelle Maxwell have gone into partnership and are investigating the robbery of some secret documents at the residence of the incredibly wealthy Battle family. It seems like a straightforward case of domestic burglary, but soon they begin to suspect links to larger, more terrifying events now shaking the prosperous town of Writghtsburg ...The unidentified corpse of an attractive young woman turns up in the woods; two high school kids, one shot in the back, the other in the face, are found dead in their car; a successful lawyer is discovered stabbed to death in her own home. A serial killer is on the loose. The murderer kills in the manner of famous killers of the past but takes care to leave a stopped watch at the scene of each crime - corresponding to the victim's position on his hit list. As the killing spree escalates it seems that the fractured Battle family are somehow involved and Maxwell and King suddenly find themselves racing to solve an intricate puzzle, one that is full of tantalizing clues but barren of solid evidence, and one that is leaving even the FBI confounded. And all the while, the body count is rising ...

David Baldacci

David Baldacci

David Baldacci 'He was the only one in the room who could see it. His attention stayed there for one beat, two beats, three beats, far too long. Yet who could blame him for not being able to pull his gaze away from that?' When something distracts Secret Agent Sean King for a split second, it costs him his career and presidential candidate Clyde Ritter, his life. But what stole his attention? And why was Ritter shot?Eight years later Michelle Maxwell is on the fast track through the ranks of the Secret Service when her career is stopped short: Presidential candidate John Bruno is abducted from a funeral home while under her protection. The similarity between the two cases drives Michelle to re-open investigations into the Ritter fiasco and join forces with attractive ex-agent King. The pair are determined to get to the bottom of what happened in those critical moments. Meanwhile, high-ranking members of the legal system and key witnesses from both cases are going missing. King is losing friends, colleagues and clients fast and his ex-lover, Joan Dillinger, is playing curious games - she wants Sean back, but she also owes him for something...

David Baldacci A novel from the author of "The Collectors" - a story of revenge, conspiracy, and murder.

Philip Ball Is there a 'physics of society'? Ranging from Hobbes and Adam Smith to modern work on traffic flow and market trading, and across economics, sociology and psychology, Philip Ball shows how much we can understand of human behaviour when we cease to try to predict and analyse the behaviour of individuals and look to the impact of hundreds, thousands or millions of individual human decisions, whether in circumstances in which human beings co-operate or conflict, when their aggregate behaviour is constructive and when it is destructive. By perhaps Britain's leading young science writer, this is a deeply thought-provoking book, causing us to examine our own behaviour, whether in buying the new "Harry Potter" book, voting for a particular party or responding to the lures of advertisers.

Dan Brown It takes guts to write a novel that combines an ancient secret brotherhood, the Swiss Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, a papal conclave, mysterious ambigrams, a plot against the Vatican, a mad scientist in a wheelchair, particles of antimatter, jets that can travel 15,000 miles per hour, crafty assassins, a beautiful Italian physicist, and a Harvard professor of religious iconology. It takes talent to make that novel anything but ridiculous. Kudos to Dan Brown (Digital Fortress) for achieving the nearly impossible. Angels & Demons is a no-holds-barred, pull-out-all-the-stops, breathless tangle of a thriller—think Katherine Neville's The Eight (but cleverer) or Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum (but more accessible).

Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is shocked to find proof that the legendary secret society, the Illuminati—dedicated since the time of Galileo to promoting the interests of science and condemning the blind faith of Catholicism—is alive, well, and murderously active. Brilliant physicist Leonardo Vetra has been murdered, his eyes plucked out, and the society's ancient symbol branded upon his chest. His final discovery, antimatter, the most powerful and dangerous energy source known to man, has disappeared—only to be hidden somewhere beneath Vatican City on the eve of the election of a new pope. Langdon and Vittoria, Vetra's daughter and colleague, embark on a frantic hunt through the streets, churches, and catacombs of Rome, following a 400-year-old trail to the lair of the Illuminati, to prevent the incineration of civilization.

Brown seems as much juggler as author—there are lots and lots of balls in the air in this novel, yet Brown manages to hurl the reader headlong into an almost surreal suspension of disbelief. While the reader might wish for a little more sardonic humor from Langdon, and a little less bombastic philosophizing on the eternal conflict between religion and science, these are less fatal flaws than niggling annoyances—readers should have no trouble skimming past them and immersing themselves in a heck of a good read. "Brain candy" it may be, but my! It's tasty. —Kelly Flynn

Dan Brown With The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown masterfully concocts an intelligent and lucid thriller that marries the gusto of an international murder mystery with a collection of fascinating esoteria culled from 2,000 years of Western history.

A murder in the silent after-hour halls of the Louvre museum reveals a sinister plot to uncover a secret that has been protected by a clandestine society since the days of Christ. The victim is a high-ranking agent of this ancient society who, in the moments before his death, manages to leave gruesome clues at the scene that only his granddaughter, noted cryptographer Sophie Neveu, and Robert Langdon, a famed symbologist, can untangle. The duo become both suspects and detectives searching for not only Neveu's grandfather's murderer but also the stunning secret of the ages he was charged to protect. Mere steps ahead of the authorities and the deadly competition, the mystery leads Neveu and Langdon on a breathless flight through France, England, and history itself. Brown (Angels and Demons) has created a page-turning thriller that also provides an amazing interpretation of Western history. Brown's hero and heroine embark on a lofty and intriguing exploration of some of Western culture's greatest mysteries—from the nature of the Mona Lisa's smile to the secret of the Holy Grail. Though some will quibble with the veracity of Brown's conjectures, therein lies the fun. The Da Vinci Code is an enthralling read that provides rich food for thought. —Jeremy Pugh

Dan Brown Penzler Pick, December 2001: In the world of page-turning thrillers, Dan Brown holds a special place in the hearts of many of us. After his first book, Digital Fortress, almost passed me by, he wrote Angels and Demons, which was probably one of the half-dozen most exciting thrillers of last year. It is a pleasure to report that his new book lives up to his reputation as a writer whose research and talent make his stories exciting, believable, and just plain unputdownable.

The time is now and President Zachary Herney is facing a very tough reelection. His opponent, Senator Sedgwick Sexton, is a powerful man with powerful friends and a mission: to reduce NASA's spending and move space exploration into the private sector. He has numerous supporters, including many beyond the businesses who will profit from this because of the embarrassment of 1996, when the Clinton administration was informed by NASA that proof existed of life on other planets. That information turned out to be premature, if not incorrect. (This story is true; I repeat, Dan Brown's research is very, very good.) The embattled president is assured that a rare object buried deep in the Arctic ice will prove to have far-reaching implications on America's space program. The find, however, needs to be verified.

Enter Rachel Sexton, a gister for the National Reconnaissance Office. Gisters reduce complex reports into single-page briefs, and in this case the president needs that confirmation before he broadcasts to the nation, probably ensuring his reelection. It's tricky because Rachel is the daughter of his opponent. Rachel is thrilled to be on the team traveling to the Arctic circle. She is a realist about her father's politics and has little respect for his stand on NASA, but Senator Sexton cannot help but have a problem with her involvement.

Adventure, romance, murder, skullduggery, and nail-biting tension ensue. By the end of Deception Point, the reader will be much better informed about how our space program works and how our politicians react to new information. Bring on the next Dan Brown thriller! —Otto Penzler

Caleb Carr In the wake of the attacks on New York and Washington many people believe we have entered a new world, but in this thought-provoking and thorough examination of the history of terrorism we can take comfort from the fact that we have been in this new world before - and survived. By drawing on the examples of history from the ancient, mediaeval and early modern worlds, Caleb Carr demonstrates how attempts to control civilian populations with the use of terror grew into a persistent problem in human history. Moving forward into more recent times he then demonstrates how and why such tactics have consistently failed their perpetrators - from the British scorched earth policy during the American War of Independence to terror at sea during WWI to the Japanese rape of China in WWII to the war in Vietnam and, ultimately, to the actions of Islamic extremists today. An important and timely book which throws much needed light on many of the questions being posed today.

Tracy Chevalier

STEVE PIECZENIK TOM CLANCY

Tom Clancy Tom Clancy goes to the White House in this thriller of political terror and global disaster. The American political situation takes a disturbing turn as the President, Congress, and Supreme Court are obliterated when a Japanese terrorist lands a 747 on the Capitol. Meanwhile the Iranians are unleashing an Ebola virus threat on the country. Jack Ryan, CIA agent, is cast in the middle of this maelstrom. Because of a recent sex scandal, Ryan was appointed vice president, a slot he doesn't hold for long when he lands in the Chief Executive's chair. He goes after the Iranians and then tries to piece together the country and his life the only way he knows how—with a fury that we've grown accustomed to in Clancy's intricate, detailed, and accurate stories of warfare and intrigue.

Tom Clancy

tom clancy

Tom Clancy, Steve Pieczenik A half-dead Singapore pirate is plucked from the Celebes Sea in the Western Pacific, setting off alarms halfway around the world in Washington DC. Traces of radiation are found on the man, causing Australian officials to call in Op-Centre for a top-secret investigation of nuclear disposal sights. When an empty drum from a recent drop-off is discovered near where the pirate's ship was destroyed, the Op-Centre team comes to a terrifying conclusion: a multi-national corporation that has been hired to dispose of nuclear waste is selling it instead - to a most unlikely terrorist.

Tom Clancy, Steve Pieczenik, Steve Perry In the year 2010, computers are the new superpowers. Those who control them control the world. To enforce the Net Laws, Congress creates the ultimate computer security agency within the FBP the Net Force.

When web service is disrupted across the world, a new nation makes its presence known. Terrorists from a virtual country called CyberNation have taken the web hostage. Their demands: worldwide recognition and rights for their "citizens." Though there are millions of CyberNation sympathizers, Net Force rallies its troops for an all-out war on three fronts — politically, physically, and electronically — because dealing with terrorists is never an option...

A powerful examination of America's defense and intelligence systems of the future, Tom Clancy's Net ForceTM is the creation of Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik.

Tom Clancy, Steve Pieczenik, Jeff Rovin The eighth volume in the fast-selling series of high-tech, high-action thrillers centred on Washington's National Crisis Management Centre. The National Crisis Management Centre in Washington DC - otherwise known as the Op-Centre - is a beating heart of defence, intelligence and crisis management technology, run by a crack team of operatives. When world peace is threatened by an international crisis that seems beyond the scope of normal forces, it is the one place the US government can turn. This time, it's a mission that only Striker - the military arm of Op-Centre - can handle: the capture of an Islamic cleric who is stirring up a rebellion against the Indian government. But when the border between India and Pakistan erupts, the Striker team gets caught in the crossfire. Now America's most proficient covert team is trapped in a fully-fledged war. Their fate rests in the hands of a devious double agent whose own agenda is unknown - a man who could just as easily sell them out as set them free!

Tom, and Steve Pieczenik Clancy

Mary Higgins Clark At just seven years old, Ellie Cavanaugh lost her sister Andrea to a brutal murderer. It was her testimony that put Robson Westerfield away, but now, twenty-two years on, he is about to be released. Ellie, now a writer and investigative reporter, senses trouble and travels to her hometown just as Westerfield arrives and begins a campaign to prove his innocence. Ellie still suspects him, as does her estranged father, and both are determined to thwart his attempts. But someone has other ideas...Someone who is picking up where Westerfield left off, commiting other dangerous acts that send Ellie spiralling into a whirlwind of secrets, lies and deceit. Can she uncover the truth before a desperate killer sets his sights on her? As events reach a head, Ellie realises she might be the only person who can seek vengenance for the past...

Michael Connelly

Robin Cook Perry Berg is president of Benthic Marine and a passenger aboard The Benthic Explorer, a 450-foot research ship endeavoring to drill into, and sample for the first time, the earth's magma core. Also onboard are the lovely Dr. Suzanne Newell; ex-navy commander and present submersible skipper Donald Fuller; and navy-cum-Neanderthal divers Richard Adams and Michael Donaghue. It is this cast of characters who, with the reluctant Perry, dive to the stilled drill site in order to make repairs. En route, they are sucked (or suckered) into a defunct undersea volcano and deposited into an otherworldly wonderland. That takes about 75 pages of fairly cogent spadework. The next 375 pages sprout some of the looniest, most derivative, made-for-TV-movie science fiction imaginable. Our heroes, you see, have been abducted to Interterra, an undersea world of staggering beauty and unheard of technologies—intergalactic travel and eternal life, for starters—populated by stunningly beautiful, toga-wearing, first-generation humans.

First-generation? They were here first, see, and had been doing very nicely until their scientists realized that the earth was about to be "showered with planetesimal collisions, just as had happened in its primordial state," and that they had better start digging. While the Interterrans prospered and thrived undersea, we, the second generation, began hauling our single-celled bodies up by our ooze-straps and started all over again.

And that's about it. People with names like Arak and Sufa speak strangely, giggle at the primitive second-generationists, recoil at the very thought of violence, press their palms together to have sex, and direct "worker clones" to do the dishes while the second generation does its stereotypical best to, in turns, exemplify, define, and defile humankind.

If you've yet to read Robin Cook's innumerable (and mostly successful) medical thrillers, start now. If you want to read about an alternative world, start off right with H.G. Wells's 1895 masterpiece, The Time Machine. —Michael Hudson

Robin Cook

Robin Cook

Michael Crichton MICHAEL CRICHTON NEXT FIRST EDITION 2006 HARDCOVER WITH DUST JACKET. BOOK = LIKE NEW DUST JACKET = VERY FINE - SLIGHT SIGNS OF WEAR.

Michael Crichton In Prey, bestselling author Michael Crichton introduces bad guys that are too small to be seen with the naked eye but no less deadly or intriguing than the runaway dinosaurs that made 1990's Jurassic Park such a blockbuster success.

High-tech whistle-blower Jack Forman used to specialize in programming computers to solve problems by mimicking the behavior of efficient wild animals—swarming bees or hunting hyena packs, for example. Now he's unemployed and is finally starting to enjoy his new role as stay-at-home dad. All would be domestic bliss if it were not for Jack's suspicions that his wife, who's been behaving strangely and working long hours at the top-secret research labs of Xymos Technology, is having an affair. When he's called in to help with her hush-hush project, it seems like the perfect opportunity to see what his wife's been doing, but Jack quickly finds there's a lot more going on in the lab than an illicit affair. Within hours of his arrival at the remote testing center, Jack discovers his wife's firm has created self-replicating nanotechnology—a literal swarm of microscopic machines. Originally meant to serve as a military eye in the sky, the swarm has now escaped into the environment and is seemingly intent on killing the scientists trapped in the facility. The reader realizes early, however, that Jack, his wife, and fellow scientists have more to fear from the hidden dangers within the lab than from the predators without.

The monsters may be smaller in this book, but Crichton's skill for suspense has grown, making Prey a scary read that's hard to set aside, though not without its minor flaws. The science in this novel requires more explanation than did the cloning of dinosaurs, leading to lengthy and sometimes dry academic lessons. And while the coincidence of Xymos's new technology running on the same program Jack created at his previous job keeps the plot moving, it may be more than some readers can swallow. But, thanks in part to a sobering foreword in which Crichton warns of the real dangers of technology that continues to evolve more quickly than common sense, Prey succeeds in gripping readers with a tense and frightening tale of scientific suspense. —Benjamin Reese

Michael Crichton When you step into a time machine, fax yourself through a "quantum foam wormhole," and step out in feudal France circa 1357, be very, very afraid. If you aren't strapped back in precisely 37 hours after your visit begins, you'll miss the quantum bus back to 1999 and be stranded in a civil war, caught between crafty abbots, mad lords, and peasant bandits all eager to cut your throat. You'll also have to dodge catapults that hurl sizzling pitch over castle battlements. On the social front, you should avoid provoking "the butcher of Crecy" or Sir Oliver may lop your head off with a swoosh of his broadsword or cage and immerse you in "Milady's Bath," a brackish dungeon pit into which live rats are tossed now and then for prisoners to eat.

This is the plight of the heroes of Timeline, Michael Crichton's thriller. They're historians in 1999 employed by a tech billionaire-genius with more than a few of Bill Gates's most unlovable quirks. Like the entrepreneur in Crichton's Jurassic Park, Doniger plans a theme park featuring artifacts from a lost world revived via cutting-edge science. When the project's chief historian sends a distress call to 1999 from 1357, the boss man doesn't tell the younger historians the risks they'll face trying to save him. At first, the interplay between eras is clever, but Timeline swiftly becomes a swashbuckling old-fashioned adventure, with just a dash of science and time paradox in the mix. Most of the cool facts are about the Middle Ages, and Crichton marvelously brings the past to life without ever letting the pulse-pounding action slow down. At one point, a time-tripper tries to enter the Chapel of Green Death. Unfortunately, its custodian, a crazed giant with terrible teeth and a bad case of lice, soon has her head on a block. "She saw a shadow move across the grass as he raised his ax into the air." I dare you not to turn the page!

Through the narrative can be glimpsed the glowing bones of the movie that may be made from Timeline and the cutting-edge computer game that should hit the market in 2000. Expect many clashing swords and chase scenes through secret castle passages. But the book stands alone, tall and scary as a knight in armor shining with blood. —Tim Appelo

Clive Cussler Classic Dirk Pitt adventure, where the adventurer is drawn to the burning African desert, and a secret that could destroy all life in the world's seas. Deep in the African desert, Pitt discovers that a top-scinetific installation is leaking a lethal chemical into the rivers, threatening to kill thousands of people — and to destroy all life in the world's seas. To warn the world of catastrophe, Pitt must escape capture and death at the hands of a ruthless West African dictator and French industrialist, and undertake a long, perilous journey across the merciless Sahara!

Clive Cussler

Philip K. Dick World War Terminus had left the Earth devastated. Through its ruins, bounty hunter Rick Deckard stalked, in search of the renegade replicants who were his prey. When he wasn’t ‘retiring’ them with his laser weapon, he dreamed of owning a live animal — the ultimate status symbol in a world all but bereft of animal life. Then Rick got his chance: the assignment to kill six Nexus-6 targets, for a huge reward. But in Deckard’s world things were never that simple, and his assignment quickly turned into a nightmare kaleidoscope of subterfuge and deceit — and the threat of death for the hunter rather than the hunted...

James F. Dunnigan

Janet Evanovich Never mind who did the deed with New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum at the end of High Five. Five months later, that night's only a dim, cherished memory, and Stephanie's freezing her butt off on a Trenton bridge trying to keep her friend Carol—caught shoplifting some crotchless panties she was too embarrassed to buy—from committing suicide.Truth is, I didn't for a minute think she'd jump. For one thing, she was wearing a four-hundred-dollar jacket from Wilson Leather. You just don't jump off a bridge in a four-hundred-dollar jacket. It isn't done. The jacket would get ruined. Carol was from the Chambersburg section of Trenton, just like me, and in the Burg you gave the jacket to your sister, then you jumped off the bridge. When Stephanie finally talks Carol down and makes it in to work at Vincent Plum Bail Bonds, it's only to find that her libido-boosting pal Ranger, the professional bounty hunter and sometime hit man, has disappeared. A building owned by black-market arms dealer Alexander Ramos has burned down, with Ramos's son Homer lying inside, dead from a gunshot wound. Ranger, who was caught on film there by video cameras, is wanted for questioning. Stephanie's boss Vinnie wants her to find him, but Stephanie, who knows she won't find Ranger if he doesn't want to be found, refuses. Soon everyone, from her cop boyfriend Joe Morelli to the two Laurel and Hardy wannabes who suddenly start following her around Trenton in a badass black Lincoln, thinks she's hot on Ranger's trail.

And Stephanie's got other things to worry about. For one thing, Grandma Mazur's moved in with her, and so has Bob, a golden retriever who's only partly house trained. Then Ranger starts popping up at odd times of the night, with instructions for Stephanie to keep an eye on another Ramos son, Hannibal. Add to that one homicidal maniac, a couple more dead bodies, Stephanie's usual bad car karma, and the zit from hell, and you've got yourself one fine Stephanie Plum adventure. Will Stephanie triumph? You can bet a jelly doughnut on it. And there's another great cliffhanger waiting at the end. —Barrie Trinkle

lion feuchtwanger The most famous of all books about the rise of Hitler's Nazis- the "novel" that caused the suppression of all Feuchtwanger's works during WW II

Ken Follett

Frederick Forsyth When British and American intelligence catch wind of a major Al Qaeda operation in the works, they are primed for action - but what can they do? They know nothing about the attack: the what, where or when. They have no sources in Al Qaeda, and it's impossible to plant someone. Impossible, unless...The Afghan is Izmat Khan, a five-year prisoner of Guantanamo Bay and a former senior commander of the Taliban. The Afghan is also Colonel Mike Martin, a 25-year veteran of war zones around the world, a dark, lean man born and raised in Iraq. In an attempt to stave off disaster, the intelligence agencies will try to do what no one has ever done before - pass off a Westerner as an Arab among Arabs - pass off Martin as the trusted Khan. It will require extraordinary preparation, and then extraordinary luck, for nothing can truly prepare Martin for the dark and shifting world he is about to enter. Or for the terrible things he will find there...

Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman A collection of short stories by Neil Gaiman, including: an elderly woman who finds the Holy Grail beneath an old fur coat in a second-hand store; and a stray cat who fights a terrible nightly battle to protect his unwary adoptive family from unimaginable evil.

Neil Gaiman Truth be told, Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean's picture book The Wolves in the Walls is terrifying. Sure, the story is fairytale-like and presented in a jaunty, casually nonsensical way, but it is absolutely the stuff of nightmares. Lucy hears wolves hustling, bustling, crinkling, and crackling in the walls of the old house where her family lives, but no one believes her. Her mother says it's mice, her brother says bats, and her father says what everyone seems to say, "If the wolves come out of the walls, it's all over." Lucy remains convinced, as is her beloved pig-puppet, and her worst fears are confirmed when the wolves actually do come out of the walls.

Up to this point, McKean's illustrations are spectacular, sinister collages awash in golden sepia tones evocative of the creepy beauty in The City of Lost Children. The wolves explode into the story in scratchy pen-and-ink, all jaws and eyes. The family flees to the cold, moonlit garden, where they ponder their future. (Her brother suggests, for example, that they escape to outer space where there's "nothing but foozles and squossucks for billions of miles.") Lucy wants to live in her own house...and she wants the pig-puppet she left behind.

Eventually she talks her family into moving back into the once-wolfish walls, where they peek out at the wolves who are watching their television and spilling popcorn on slices of toast and jam, dashing up the stairs, and wearing their clothes. When the family can't stand it anymore, they burst forth from the walls, scaring the wolves, who shout, "And when the people come out of the walls, it's all over!" The wolves flee and everything goes back to normal...until the tidy ending when Lucy hears "a noise that sounded exactly like an elephant trying not to sneeze." Adult fans of this talented pair will revel in the quirky story and its darkly gorgeous, deliciously shadowy trappings, but the young or faint of heart, beware! (Ages 9 and older) —Karin Snelson

William Gibson Turner, corporate mercenary, wakes in a reconstructed body, a beautiful woman by his side. Then Hosaka Corporation reactivates him for a mission more dangerous than the one he's recovering from: Maas-Neotek's chief of R&D is defecting. Turner is the one assigned to get him out intact, along with the biochip he's perfected. But this proves to be of supreme interest to certain other parties—some of whom aren't remotely human.

Bobby Newmark is entirely human: a rustbelt data-hustler totally unprepared for what comes his way when the defection triggers war in cyberspace. With voodoo on the Net and a price on his head, Newmark thinks he's only trying to get out alive. A stylish, streetsmart, frighteningly probable parable of the future and sequel to Neuromancer

William Gibson

Paul Graham This book provides an excellent introduction to Common Lisp. In addition to chapters covering the basic language concepts, there are sections discussing the Common Lisp object system (CLOS) and speed considerations in Lisp. Three fair-sized examples of nontrivial Lisp projects are also included. The book's clear and engaging format explains complicated constructs simply. This format makes ANSI Common Lisp accessible to a general audience—even those who have never programmed before. The book also provides an excellent perspective on the value of using Lisp.

Series Created By Tom Clancy And Martin Greenberg Like Politika, the first installment in the Tom Clancy's Power Plays series created with Martin Greenberg, ruthless.com offers the international scope and techno-thrills of the Jack Ryan-John Clark novels—but, importantly, without Jack Ryan and John Clark. For many Clancy fans, that means that ruthless.com will be a disappointment. The hero is again Roger Gordian, and Gordian's claim to fame is his ownership of UpLink Communications; he was also the man who struggled (with his Sword security team) to avert a global nuclear war in Politika. This time Gordian's concerns are slightly more modest. As a champion of encryption technology, Gordian has fought the shifting political winds that have tried to deregulate his industry. But now, he faces attacks from within: UpLink is the subject of a hostile takeover bid that threatens to put the highly sensitive codes that secure military communications into the hands of international terrorists. While it is more violent than the usual Jack Ryan fare, and Gordian and others in the cast are left underdeveloped in the complex shifts and turns of the plot, ruthless.com has many moments that recall the best of Clancy (Gordian, for example, maintains a highly ethical streak despite his corporate panache). —Patrick O'Kelley

John Grisham Before he was sent to federal prison for treason (among other things), Joel Backman was an extremely powerful man. Known as "the broker," Backman was a high roller—a lawyer making $10 million a year who could "open any door in Washington." That is, until he tried to broker a deal selling access to the world's most powerful satellite surveillance system to the highest bidder. When caught, Backman accepted prison as the one option that would keep him safe and alive, since the interested parties (the Israelis, the Saudis, the Russians, and the Chinese) were all itching to get their hands on his secrets at any cost. Little does he know that his own government has designs on accessing that information—or at least letting it die with him. Now, six years after his incarceration, the director of the CIA convinces a lame duck president to pardon Backman, and the broker becomes a free man—and an open target.

The Broker marries the best of John Grisham's many talents—his ability to immerse himself in the culture of small town life (in this case, Bologna, Italy), and his uncanny mastery of the chase. The first half of the book focuses on Backman's transformation from infamous power broker to helpless victim in his own game. Upon his release from prison, Backman is taken into "protective custody" and whisked off to Italy where he is assigned a new identity, and a tutor to help him blend in. Sure he is on the run, but some readers may feel that Backman's time spent in Bologna is a bit too leisurely—readers join him on an almost cinematic tour through the Italian town, complete with language and history lessons. Impatient readers will be happy to know that the final half of the novel is classic Grisham—a fast-paced, thrilling cat and mouse chase pitting Backman against the numerous agencies that want him dead—as the broker makes a move to take back his life. —Daphne Durham

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Grisham: The Books

A Time to Kill, 1989The Firm, 1991The Pelican Brief, 1992The Client, 1993The Chamber, 1994The Rainmaker, 1995The Runaway Jury, 1996The Partner, 1997The Street Lawyer, 1998The Testament, 1999The Brethren, 2000A Painted House, 2001Skipping Christmas, 2001The Summons, 2002The King of Torts, 2003Bleachers, 2003The Last Juror, 2004The Broker, 2005

Essential Grisham
Amazon Editor Favorites

A Time to Kill
The Firm
A Painted House
The Client
The Rainmaker
The Pelican Brief

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Bestselling Grisham
Amazon Customer Favorites

The Last Juror
Skipping Christmas
Bleachers
The Testament
The Partner
The King of Torts

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If You Like Grisham, You'll Love...

John LescroartRichard North PattersonDavid BaldacciLisa ScottolineRobert CraisMichael CrichtonHarlan CobenDennis LehaneKen Follett

Best Grisham Books on DVD

A Time to Kill
The Pelican Brief
The Client
The Firm
The Rainmaker
The Chamber

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John Grisham JOHN GRISHAM THE CHAMBER STATED FIRST EDITION JUNE 1994. HARDBACK WITH DUST JACKET. BOOK & JACKET IN LIKE NEW CONDITION. WE COMBINE SHIPPING ON MULTIPLE PURCHASES !!!

John Grisham John Grisham tackles nonfiction for the first time with The Innocent Man, a true tale about murder and injustice in a small town (that reads like one of his own bestselling novels). The Innocent Man chronicles the story of Ron Williamson, how he was arrested and charged with a crime he did not commit, how his case was (mis)handled and how an innocent man was sent to death row. Grisham's first work of nonfiction is shocking, disturbing, and enthralling—a must read for fiction and nonfiction fans. We had the opportunity to talk with John Grisham about the case and the book, read his responses below. —Daphne Durham 20 Second Interview: A Few Words with John Grisham

Q: After almost two decades of writing fiction, what compelled you to write non-fiction, particularly investigative journalism?
A: I was never tempted to write non-fiction, primarily because it's too much work. However, obviously, I love a good legal thriller, and the story of Ron Williamson has all the elements of a great suspenseful story.

Q: Why this case?
A: Ron Williamson and I are about the same age and we both grew up in small towns in the south. We both dreamed of being major league baseball players. Ron had the talent, I did not. When he left a small town in 1971 to pursue his dreams of major league glory, many thought he would be the next Mickey Mantle, the next great one from the state of Oklahoma. The story of Ron ending up on Death Row and almost being executed for a murder he did not commit was simply too good to pass up.

Q: How did you go about your research?
A: I started with his family. Ron is survived by two sisters who took care of him for most of his life. They gave me complete access to the family records, photographs, Ron's mental health records, and so on. There was also a truckload of trial transcripts, depositions, appeals, etc., that took about 18 months to organize and review. Many of the characters in the story are still alive and I traveled to Oklahoma countless times to interview them.

Q: Did your training as a lawyer help you?
A: Very much so. It enabled me to understand the legal issues involved in Ron's trial and his appeals. It also allowed me, as it always does, to be able to speak the language with lawyers and judges.

Q: Throughout your book you mention, The Dreams of Ada: A True Story of Murder, Obsession, and a Small Town. How did you come across that book, and how did it impact your writing The Innocent Man?
A: Several of the people in Oklahoma I met mentioned The Dreams of Ada to me, and I read it early on in the process. It is an astounding book, a great example of true crime writing, and I relied upon it heavily during my research. Robert Mayer, the author, was completely cooperative, and kept meticulous notes from his research 20 years earlier. Many of the same characters are involved in his story and mine.

Q: You take on some pretty controversial and heated topics in your book—the death penalty, prisoner’s rights, DNA analysis, police conduct, and more—were any of your own beliefs challenged by this story and its outcome?
A: None were challenged, but my eyes were open to the world of wrongful convictions. Even as a former criminal defense attorney, I had never spent much time worrying about wrongful convictions. But, unfortunately, they happen all the time in this country, and with increasing frequency.

Q: So many of the key players in this case are either still in office or practicing attorneys. Many family members and friends still live in the same small town. How do you think The Innocent Man will impact this community and other small rural towns as they struggle with the realities of the justice system?
A: Exonerations seem to be happening weekly. And with each one of them, the question is asked—how can an innocent man be convicted and kept in prison for 20 years? My book is the story of only one man, but it is a good example of how things can go terribly wrong with our judicial system. I have no idea how the book will be received in the small town of Ada, Oklahoma, or any other town.

Q: What do you hope your readers will take away from The Innocent Man?
A: A better understanding of how innocent people can be convicted, and a greater concern for the need to reimburse and rehabilitate innocent men after they have been released.

John Grisham In 1970, small town newspaper The Clanton Times went belly up. With financial assistance from a rich relative, it's purchased by 23-year-old Willie Traynor, formerly the paper's cub reporter. Soon afterward, his new business receives the readership boost it needs thanks to his editorial efforts and coverage of a particularly brutal rape and murder committed by the scion of the town's reclusive bootlegger family. Rather than shy from reporting on the subsequent open-and-shut trial (those who oppose the Padgitt family tend to turn up dead in the area's swampland), Traynor launches a crusade to ensure the unrepentant murderer is brought to justice. When a guilty verdict is returned, the town is relieved to find the Padgitt family's grip on the town did not sway the jury, though Danny Padgitt is sentenced to life in prison rather than death. But, when Padgitt is released after serving less than a decade in jail and members of the jury are murdered, Clanton once again finds itself at the mercy of its renegade family.

When it comes, the dénouement is no surprise; The Last Juror is less a story of suspense than a study of the often idyllic southern town of Clanton, Mississippi (the setting for Grisham's first novel, A Time to Kill). Throughout the nine years between Padgitt's trial and release, Traynor finds acceptance in Clanton, where the people "don't really trust you unless they trusted your grandfather." He grows from a long-haired idealist into another of the town's colorful characters—renovating an old house, sporting a bowtie, beloved on both sides of the color line, and the only person to have attended each of the town's 88 churches at least once. The Last Juror returns Grisham to the courtroom where he made his name, but those who enjoyed the warm sentiment of his recent novels (Bleachers, A Painted House) will still find much to love here. —Benjamin Reese

John Grisham Ever since he published The Firm in 1991, John Grisham has remained the undisputed champ of the legal thriller. With A Painted House, however, he strikes out in a new direction. As the author is quick to note, this novel includes "not a single lawyer, dead or alive," and readers will search in vain for the kind of lowlife machinations that have been his stock-in-trade. Instead, Grisham has delivered a quieter, more contemplative story, set in rural Arkansas in 1952. It's harvest time on the Chandler farm, and the family has hired a crew of migrant Mexicans and "hill people" to pick 80 acres of cotton. A certain camaraderie pervades this bucolic dream team. But it's backbreaking work, particularly for the 7-year-old narrator, Luke: "I would pick cotton, tearing the fluffy bolls from the stalks at a steady pace, stuffing them into the heavy sack, afraid to look down the row and be reminded of how endless it was, afraid to slow down because someone would notice."

What's more, tensions begin to simmer between the Mexicans and the hill people, one of whom has a penchant for bare-knuckles brawling. This leads to a brutal murder, which young Luke has the bad luck to witness. At this point—with secrets, lies, and at least one knife fight in the offing—the plot begins to take on that familiar, Grisham-style momentum. Still, such matters ultimately take a back seat in A Painted House to the author's evocation of time and place. This is, after all, the scene of his boyhood, and Grisham waxes nostalgic without ever succumbing to deep-fried sentimentality. Meanwhile, his account of Luke's Baptist upbringing occasions some sly (and telling) humor: I'd been taught in Sunday school from the day I could walk that lying would send you straight to hell. No detours. No second chances. Straight into the fiery pit, where Satan was waiting with the likes of Hitler and Judas Iscariot and General Grant. Thou shalt not bear false witness, which, of course, didn't sound exactly like a strict prohibition against lying, but that was the way the Baptists interpreted it. Whether Grisham will continue along these lines, or revert to the judicial shark tank for his next book, is anybody's guess. But A Painted House suggests that he's perfectly capable of telling an involving story with nary a subpoena in sight. —James Marcus

JOHN GRISHAM

John Grisham, Doubleday THE BRETHEREN BY JOHN GRISHAM STATED FIRST EDITION FEBRUARY 2000 HARDCOVER WITH DUST JACKET. BOOK IS VERY CLEAN, BINDING HAS SLIGHT LEAN AS IF IT GOT A BIT PUSHED TO ONE SIDE. VERY MINOR WEAR. S50 CENT SIZE LIGHT STAIN ON FRONT DUST JACKET, STICKER RESIDUE ON BACK OTHERWISE LIKE NEW !!! WE COMBINE SHIPPING ON MULTIPLE ORDERS. :-)

Laurell K. Hamilton Anita Blake makes a living raising the dead. She also executes rogue vampires and villains among the local were-folk. Marks bind her to Jean-Claude, the Master vampire of St. Louis and her lover, and to her ex-fiancé, a powerful werewolf who heads up the local pack. Anita shares some of their magic, and her own power over the dead keeps growing. But so does the body count and the situations that force Anita to bend or break her own rules.

In Blue Moon, Anita's ex Richard is jailed in Tennessee, accused of rape. When Anita arrives with a lawyer and an entourage of vampires and 'weres' supplied by Jean-Claude, it's clear that something is rotten in Myerton. The local cops are corrupt, and the trolls Richard was studying are threatened. But if she sticks around to investigate, the local Master vampire will attack her and her friends. The local werewolf clan isn't rushing to welcome her either, and her self-control is going to the, um, wolves.

Blue Moon is the eighth book in Hamilton's Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series; newcomers should start with earlier books. The protagonists' development and their relationships to each other and to the large cast of continuing secondary characters are what make these books so compelling. Be warned—there—there's steamy sex and graphic violence here, though Anita does reflect on her moral position. But if dark urban fantasy featuring those who hunt the night appeals, pounce on this series. —Nona Vero

Thomas Harris Horror lit's head chef Harris serves up another course in his Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter trilogy, and it's a pièce de résistance for those with strong stomachs. In the first book, Red Dragon (filmed as Manhunter), Hannibal diabolically helps the FBI track a fascinating serial killer. (Takes one to know one.) In The Silence of the Lambs, he advises fledgling FBI manhunter Clarice Starling, then makes a bloody, brilliant escape.

Years later, posing as scholarly Dr. Fell, curator of a grand family's palazzo, Hannibal lives the good life in Florence, playing lovely tunes by serial killer/composer Henry VIII and killing hardly anyone himself. Clarice is unluckier: in the novel's action-film-like opening scene, she survives an FBI shootout gone wrong, and her nemesis, Paul Krendler, makes her the fall guy. Clarice is suspended, so, unfortunately, the first cop who stumbles on Hannibal is an Italian named Pazzi, who takes after his ancestors, greedy betrayers depicted in Dante's Inferno.

Pazzi is on the take from a character as scary as Hannibal: Mason Verger. When Verger was a young man busted for raping children, his vast wealth saved him from jail. All he needed was psychotherapy—with Dr. Lecter. Thanks to the treatment, Verger is now on a respirator, paralyzed except for one crablike hand, watching his enormous, brutal moray eel swim figure eights and devour fish. His obsession is to feed Lecter to some other brutal pets.

What happens when the Italian cop gets alone with Hannibal? How does Clarice's reunion with Lecter go from macabre to worse? Suffice it to say that the plot is Harris's weirdest, but it still has his signature mastery of realistic detail. There are flaws: Hannibal's madness gets a motive, which is creepy but lessens his mystery. If you want an exact duplicate of The Silence of the Lambs's Clarice/Hannibal duel, you'll miss what's cool about this book—that Hannibal is actually upstaged at points by other monsters. And if you think it's all unprecedentedly horrible, you're right. But note that the horrors are described with exquisite taste. Harris's secret recipe for success is restraint. —Tim Appelo

Joseph; Matthieussent, Brice Heller

Thomas Hunter

Jonathan Kellerman When L.A. psychologist Alex Delaware receives an elaborate album filled with gruesome crime-scene police photos of a series of apparently unconnected killings, he's stymied. He's also in the midst of a personal crisis—Robin, his long-suffering partner, has made it clear that it's up to Alex to heal the breach in their relationship that's been caused by his over-involvement in criminal investigations. The pictures mean nothing to him, but one image gets his policeman pal Milo Sturgis's immediate attention—the victim was one of his rookie cases, and her murder was never solved, perhaps because someone much higher up in the department didn't want it to be. Was the anonymous mailer attempting to reach Milo through Alex? If so, the package has the desired effect, as the two men team up to find the connection between the cases highlighted in the murder book and whoever sent it. The trail leads to a retired cop, an old mentor of Alex's, and a wealthy, powerful family that will stop at nothing to keep its secrets and its victims buried forever. Kellerman pays more attention to Alex's midlife blues than he needs to, but his focus on Milo's experiences as a gay cop in a homophobic department fits seamlessly into both plot and narrative. —Jane Adams

Simon Kernick There is only one truth left in your world. They want you. And they want you dead — the new stand-alone thriller by crime-writing’s rising star.

John Meron, a happily married father of two, who’s never been in trouble, receives a phone call that will change his life forever. His friend, Jack Calley, a high-flying city lawyer, is screaming down the phone for help. As Meron listens, Calley is murdered. His last words, spoken to his killer, are the first two lines of Meron’s address.

Confused and terrified, Meron scoops up his children and hurries out of the house. Just in time. Within minutes a car pulls up outside and three men get out. It’s clear that they’re coming for him. He’s being hunted and he has no idea why. And with his wife missing, an unidentified corpse in her office, and the police after him for murder, his life’s about to get one hell of a lot worse.

From the Hardcover edition.

Stephen King, Peter Straub To coincide with the publication of Stephen King and Peter Straub's extraordinary new thriller, BLACK HOUSE, here is the story that started it all.

On a brisk autumn day, a twelve-year-old boy stands on the shores of the gray Atlantic, near a silent amusement park and a fading ocean resort called the Alhambra. The past has driven Jack Sawyer here: his father is gone, his mother is dying, and the world no longer makes sense. But for Jack everything is about to change. For he has been chosen to make a journey back across America—and into another realm.

One of the most influential and heralded works of fantasy ever written, The Talisman is an extraordinary novel of loyalty, awakening, terror, and mystery. Jack Sawyer, on a desperate quest to save his mother's life, must search for a prize across an epic landscape of innocents and monsters, of incredible dangers and even more incredible truths. The prize is essential, but the journey means even more. Let the quest begin. . . .

Stieg Larsson

John Lescroart Dismas Hardy, the dart-playing, saloon-keeping lawyer who is one of John Lescroart's most consistently interesting and appealing heroes, faces a dilemma: if he can prove to a jury that Graham Russo helped his father Sal kill himself because the sick old man asked him to, a liberal San Francisco jury will probably vote to acquit Graham of first-degree murder. Hardy would love to plead manslaughter to escape the wrath of the state's attorney general who wants to nail Graham. However, despite the evidence against him, Graham insists he didn't do it. What is a lawyer to do, and who can he believe?

Although Lescroart leads the reader up and down a few blind alleys before the truth comes out, the mystery's not the thing here. It's the characters and their back stories that make this such a good read. Foremost among them is Graham, who washed out of pro baseball and walked out of a promising law career before finding the father who once deserted him long ago. The core of the story is Graham's relationship with Sal, who's losing his mind to Alzheimer's but may still be a threat to a federal judge who was once his closest friend. Then there's Sarah Evans, the homicide cop who falls in love with her suspect. For good measure, there are some changes in the lives of those characters who are familiar to readers from other Dismas Hardy adventures—Abe Glitsky, the half Jewish, half black cop; Drysdale, the D.A. who's been beaten in court by Dismas in previous outings; Frannie, Dismas's wife; Moses, his brother-in-law; and Dismas himself, who becomes more interesting every time Lescroart brings him back. While the pacing is langorous and the denouement not as tight as it might be, The Mercy Rule provides a complex and satisfying reading experience. —Jane Adams

Robert Ludlum

Robert Ludlum

Robert Ludlum

Robert Ludlum

Robert Ludlum In the dead of night, December 1939, a train winds its way through Italy towards the Alps with a cargo too precious to destroy, too awful to reveal. On board is an iron box. Its sinister contents, documents concealed for centuries, could rip apart the Christian world and set religion against religion, an entire people against another. Now, as the Nazi threat marches inexorably closer, good men and evil are drawn into a violent and deadly hunt. The richest aristocrat in Italy is responsible for the documents' safety, but he's marked for death by the Nazis. Some people want the secrets told. Some people want to plunge the world into a catastrophic holy war ...

Robert Ludlum In Ludlum's most action-packed, powerfully told, suspenseful book yet, a murderous band of terrorist fanatics has seized the American embassy in the Arab city of Musqat, but an American congressman, working undercover, succeeds in lifting the deadly siege.

Robert Ludlum

Robert Ludlum

Robert Ludlum

Robert Ludlum

Robert Ludlum

Robert Ludlum, Patrick Larkin For the past three decades Robert Ludlum's bestselling novels have been enjoyed by hundreds of millions of readers worldwide and have set the standard against which all other thrillers are measured. His Covert-One series has been among his most beloved creations and now comes the latest thrilling novel in the series.

The Lazarus Movement, the dominant force in the eco-conscious, "anti-technology" protest movement, has sent rumblings down the halls of the world's intelligence agencies. Led by a mysterious, never-seen figure known only as Lazarus, this increasingly prominent group is believed by some to be preparing a bold strike.

When an attack on a nano-technology research facility leaves thousands dead—- protestors and scientists alike—-from what appears to be a cloud of inadvertently released but gruesomely deadly nanobots, pandemonium reigns. Lt. Col. Jon Smith is activated by Covert-One to find and uncover the truth about Lazarus where all others have failed. As Smith slowly uncovers the deadly underpinnings of the group, he soon learns that the Lazarus Movement is only the very tip of the iceberg in a deadly scheme that threatens billions of lives and will forever change the nature of the world itself.

Robert Ludlum, Eric Lustbader A man without a past is washed into the nets of a fishing boat with no idea of who he is or how he got there. All he has is a passport in the name of Jason Bourne. Over the course of three books, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, he gradually comes to realise who and what he really is - a strange amalgam of a man named David Webb, and a deadly killer: Jason Bourne. Now David Webb is living a peaceful life as a university professor in the backwoods of America with his wife and children. But someone is reaching out to take him out of the game forever. A deadly assassin is on his trail and his former handler has been brutally murdered already. It seems that David Webb must once again turn to Bourne to save his life and family.

Robert Ludlum, Gayle Lynds

Robert Ludlum, Gayle Lynds For thirty years, Robert Ludlum's novels have set the standard for the finest in international intrigue and suspense. With an unbroken string of bestsellers in almost every country in the world, his books have been enjoyed by hundreds of millions of readers and are widely acknowledged as classics in the field. Now, after the bestselling Covert-One novels The Hades Factor and The Cassandra Compact, comes the third thrilling novel in the series.

A fiery explosion in the dark of night shatters one of the laboratory buildings in Paris's esteemed Pasteur Institute. Among the dead is Emile Chambord, one of the leaders in the global race to create a molecular or DNA computer. Unfortunately, Professor Chambord kept the details of his work secret, and his notes were apparently destroyed in either the bomb blast or the raging fire that followed. Under the cover of visiting his friend Marty Zellerbach, who was severely injured when the Pasteur lab was destroyed, Covert-One agent Jon Smith flies to Paris to search for the connection between the Pasteur explosion and the forces now wielding the computer. Following a trail that leads him across two continents, Smith uncovers a web of deception that threatens to wreck havoc and forever reshape the world.

Robert; Lynds, Gayle Ludlum

Val McDermid

Val McDermid A killer is on the loose, blurring the line between fact and fiction. His prey - the writers of crime novels who have turned psychological profilers into the heroes of the nineties. But this killer shatters all conventional wisdom, and for one woman, Professor Fiona Cameron, the desperate hunt to uncover his identity becomes a matter of life and death.

Andy McNab The stunning new thriller from the master of the genre.

Nick Stone seems to be living his dream, not a care in the world as he steers his camper van round the surfing and parachuting centres of Australia, a board on the roof, freefall rig behind him, and a beautiful young backpacker at his side. But when he witnesses on TV the massacre of children in a terrorist siege on the other side of the world, long-suppressed memories are triggered and Nick finds himself catapulted once more into working for the American secret services — only this time, of his own free will.

As events unfold in the bleak, medieval villages of Azerbajhan, and the teeming streets of modern Istanbul, it isn’t long before Nick discovers the true objective of the mission on which he has embarked. His talents are being misused by those who stalk the corridors of power, and he is determined to make a stand.

Hurtled at breakneck pace through a deadly landscape of greed, violence and ever-shifting allegiances, the reader will be left in no doubt that McNab is the master of the genre — and Aggressor is McNab at his searing, blockbusting best.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Andy McNab

ANDY MCNAB

Edward Monkton Featuring animals as well as distinctly animalistic humans, Edward Monkton books are highly collectable and stylish gift books ? equally at home on a coffee table, in the bathroom, in quiet places or together places. They are perfect for giving to a loved one or for keeping for yourself. A Lovely Love Story describes a special kind of friendship between a fierce Lovely Dinosaur and a Lovely Other Dinosaur, who melts the heart of her clever but tough admirer. The two friends realise they fit together and complement each other perfectly ? and it's a reminder that our differences shouldn't be an obstacle to loving each other. Each book in this new series is an original story, charmingly illustrated, and created especially for this brand-new series of gift books. Hand-lettered in the same style as the Edward Monkton cards by the Really Good company, the books are wonderfully packaged with the utmost style and attention to detail to make these hugely desirable objects and perfect gifts for special occasions. These creations prove there is a universal and enduring audience for tales that inspire and touch hearts. Their philosophy is to heal, unite, amuse and delight in equal measure.

Felice Newman Cure for cancer? End to world hunger? What's left to do after the publication of Felice Newman's definitive guide to lesbian sex? Drawing on a wide range of published sources as well as her own notoriously graphic questionnaire circulated by e-mail—stunning mild-mannered office workers as it reeled across their computer screens—Newman has compiled an exhaustively thorough how-to guide for practices as exotic as play piercings and as pedestrian as oral sex. Along the way, she offers a primer in sexual politics and lesbian manners at the turn of the century. The S/M hanky code is laid out once and for all. There is even a (brief, happily brief) section on celibacy.

Highlights include descriptions of sex writer Tristan Taormino's private consultation with Betty Dodson, the author of Sex for One described as "the mother of masturbation": "I was so excited about this adventure that I nearly peed in my pants," recalled Taormino, "I was going to touch myself for Dr. Betty Dodson!" (In the end, Newman reports, "Tristan earned an A+ in pelvic thrusting, but got a big 'needs improvement' in the breathing department.") Although it sometimes skimps on the details, especially with regard to women's health, The Whole Lesbian Sex Book is so rich, inclusive, and authoritative that it invites challenge. Now inventive lovers can ask each other: "Is it in Whole Lesbian?" —Regina Marler

Eric S. Nylund Eric Nylund's fourth novel is touted by the publisher as "hyperpunk," but what is that, exactly? Is it the spastic child of cyberpunk? The willful offspring poking Father Gibson in the eye? While Signal to Noise introduces some fascinating virtual sleights of hand, the overall impression is of a continuation of the nano-techno-cyberpunk genre rather than a leap in evolution to a new form of fiction.

This latest offering from the former Microsoft employee will undoubtedly thrill writers of code and the romantics who call themselves hackers. Nylund's main characters are affixed with permanent implants allowing instant access to cyberspace; a virtuality so vivid that they often prefer the virtual over the reality. The trouble begins when Jack Potter, an encryption expert who's done some shady work for the NSO, finds and decodes a message buried in old astronomical data. Contact with the outreaching alien and information bartering result. Unfortunately, someone else is watching, too. "Down the hall, bars rattled. It was a nice touch. Cold churned in Jack's stomach, diffused down his legs and up his spine. It was synthetic fear generated by the bubble. He fought it. DeMitri took a set of keys from his pocket, picked one out, then opened a cell door ... 'Alcatraz'—he spread his arms in a grand gesture——'is a reflection of what's on your mind, Jack. Feeling guilty about something?'"

The brilliance of Signal to Noise is in the science: the idea of looking out into the swirling sea of the cosmos and finding patterns hidden amongst the static hiss of the births and deaths of stars. At times, the math itself has more depth than many of the characters, who tend to be reminiscent of stock figures in pulp fiction. Which isn't to say that there's no fun to be had here. As the novel progresses, the ante is upped until Jack is bartering the alien for Earth itself. An extra implant crammed into Jack's brain against his will is starting to burn out his optical nerve, and he's no longer sure who his friends are. Log on to Signal to Noise to find out who the bad guys are, and who, if anyone, is going to survive. —Jhana Bach

Stel Pavlou MANKIND HAS HAD 12,000 YEARS TO DECIPHER THE MESSAGE,
WE HAVE ONE WEEK LEFT....

There is a signal emanating from deep within the ice of Antarctica. Atlantis has awoken. Ancient monuments all over the worlds from the Pyramids of Giza, to Mexico to the ancient sites of China are reacting...to a brewing crisis not of this earth, but somewhere out in the solar system. Connecting to each other through the oceans. Using low frequency sound waves to create an ancient network. The earth is thrown into panic stations. For it seems that the signals emanating from Atlantis are a prelude to something much greater. Could it be that the entire city is in fact one giant ancient machine? And to what end? For what purpose?

It is the year 2012, the same year Mayan belief prophesised the end of the world. Two armies, American and Chinese stand on the brink of war for the control of the most potent force ever known to man. The secrets of Atlantis. Secrets which are encoded in crystal shards retrieved from the sunken city. Secrets which Mankind has had twelve thousand years to decipher...but which will now destroy it within one week.

John Pearson

Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik

R. J. Pineiro

TERRY PRATCHETT

Terry Pratchett Terry Pratchett's profoundly irreverent novels are consistent number one bestseller in England, where they have catapulted him into the highest echelons of parody next to Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, and Carl Hiaasen.

In this Discworld installment, Death comes to Mort with an offer he can't refuse — especially since being, well, dead isn't compulsory.As Death's apprentice, he'll have free board and lodging, use of the company horse, and he won't need time off for family funerals. The position is everything Mort thought he'd ever wanted, until he discovers that this perfect job can be a killer on his love life.

Douglas Preston A page-turning new thriller by the New York Times bestselling co-author of The Relic and Ice Limit reetings from the dead,' Maxwell Broadbent de-clared from the videotape he left behind after his mysterious disappearance. A notorious treasure hunter and tomb robber, Maxwell accumulated a priceless collection of rare art, gems, and artifacts before vanishing completely-along with all his riches. At first, robbery is suspected, but the truth proves far stranger: as a final challenge to his three sons, Maxwell has buried himself and his treasures somewhere in the world, hidden away like an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. If his sons wish to claim his inheritance, they must find their father's concealed tomb. Furthermore, Maxwell's priceless possessions include a codex-an ancient Mayan manuscript that contains all the lost arts of Mayan herbal medicine, secrets which will revolutionize pharmacology. The codex is worth billions, and one pharmaceutical company CEO has sent mercenaries after it with orders to kill anyone in their way, including the beautifully enigmatic woman accompanying one of them. Now the race is on, with more and more people competing for the treasure-and some of them will stop at nothing to succeed.

Kevin D. Randle, Russ Estes, William P. Cone Is alien abduction real, or are the answers to its legacy buried in the human psyche? Do we now have the knowledge to understand the forces behind abduction, or are we still stumbling in the dark? These authors have been breaking new ground in the study of UFOs for the past twenty five years. Between them, they have expertise in military aviation, a doctorate in psychology, and a first-hand alien contact. The pieces of the puzzle are finally falling into place. And the full picture is much more complex and incredible than anyone suspected.

M. RIDPATH

J. K. Rowling

J. K. Rowling

J. K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling This is an Urdu translation of the international best-seller Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling.

Chris Ryan

Chris Ryan

Chris Ryan

Chris Ryan The new blockbuster from the bestselling author of The Increment and Greed — a former SAS commander and the only member of his team to escape from Iraq during the Gulf War.

Three people. Three stories. And a dangerous struggle for survival in a country ravaged by war.

Nick Scott fought in the SAS during the first Gulf War. Captured and tortured, he was left a broken man. His daughter Sarah Scott is a beautiful young scientist who has cracked one of the scientific secrets of the age. Now, she has vanished.

Her lover Jed Bradley is one of the SAS’s toughest young agents, dropped behind enemy lines in the build-up to the Iraq War to find the truth about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction. Caught in the midst of a global power play, Nick and Jed must fight their way through a war-ravaged Iraq as the regime of Saddam Hussein collapses around them.

It is a desperate race to find the woman they both love . . . and to unlock the secret of the Ultimate Weapon.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Noam Chomsky; Peter Mitchell; Editor-John Schoeffel

Randal L. Schwartz, Tom Christiansen In this smooth, carefully paced course, a leading Perl trainer teaches you to program in the language that threatens to make C, sed, awk, and the Unix shell obsolete for many tasks. This book is the "official" guide for both formal (classroom) and informal learning. It is fully accessible to the novice programmer.

Alexander Shulgin

Alexander Shulgin, Ann Shulgin

Dan Simmons Genre-hopping Dan Simmons returns to science fiction with the vast and intricate masterpiece Ilium. Within, Simmons weaves three astounding story lines into one Earth-, Mars-, and Jupiter-shattering cliffhanger that will leave readers aching for the sequel.

On Earth, a post-technological group of humans, pampered by servant machines and easy travel via "faxing," begins to question its beginnings. Meanwhile, a team of sentient and Shakespeare-quoting robots from Jupiter's lunar system embark on a mission to Mars to investigate an increase in dangerous quantum fluctuations. On the Red Planet, they'll find a race of metahumans living out existence as the pantheon of classic Greek gods. These "gods" have recreated the Trojan War with reconstituted Greeks and Trojans and staffed it with scholars from throughout Earth's history who observe the events and report on the accuracy of Homer's Iliad. One of these scholars, Thomas Hockenberry, finds himself tangled in the midst of interplay between the gods and their playthings and sends the war reeling in a direction the blind poet could have never imagined.

Simmons creates an exciting and thrilling tale set in the thick of the Trojan War as seen through Hockenberry's 20th-century eyes. At the same time, Simmons's robots study Shakespeare and Proust and the origin-seeking Earthlings find themselves caught in a murderous retelling of The Tempest. Reading this highly literate novel does take more than a passing familiarity with at least The Iliad but readers who can dive into these heady waters and swim with the current will be amply rewarded. —Jeremy Pugh

SIMON SINGH

Neal Stephenson In the year 1689, a cabal of Barbary galley slaves — including one Jack Shaftoe, a.k.a. King of the Vagabonds, a.k.a. Half-Cocked Jack, lately and miraculously cured of the pox — devises a daring plan to win freedom and fortune. A great adventure ensues, rife with battles, chases, hairbreadth escapes, swashbuckling, bloodletting, and danger — a perilous race for an enormous prize of silver ... nay, gold ... nay, legendary gold that will place the intrepid band at odds with the mighty and the mad, with alchemists, Jesuits, great navies, pirate queens, and vengeful despots across vast oceans and around the globe.

Meanwhile, back in Europe ...

The exquisite and resourceful Eliza, Countess de la Zeur, master of markets, pawn and confidante of enemy kings, onetime Turkish harem virgin, is stripped of her immense personal fortune by France's most dashing privateer. Penniless and at risk from those who desire either her or her head (or both), she is caught up in a web of international intrigue, even as she desperately seeks the return of her most precious possession — her child.

While ...

Newton and Leibniz continue to propound their grand theories as their infamous rivalry intensifies, stubborn alchemy does battle with the natural sciences, nobles are beheaded, dastardly plots are set in motion, coins are newly minted (or not) in enemy strongholds, father and sons reunite in faraway lands, priests rise from the dead ... and Daniel Waterhouse seeks passage to the Massachusetts colony in hopes of escaping the madness into which his world has descended.

Neal Stephenson In Quicksilver, the first volume of the "Baroque Cycle," Neal Stephenson launches his most ambitious work to date. The novel, divided into three books, opens in 1713 with the ageless Enoch Root seeking Daniel Waterhouse on the campus of what passes for MIT in eighteenth-century Massachusetts. Daniel, Enoch's message conveys, is key to resolving an explosive scientific battle of preeminence between Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz over the development of calculus. As Daniel returns to London aboard the Minerva, readers are catapulted back half a century to recall his years at Cambridge with young Isaac. Daniel is a perfect historical witness. Privy to Robert Hooke's early drawings of microscope images and with associates among the English nobility, religious radicals, and the Royal Society, he also befriends Samuel Pepys, risks a cup of coffee, and enjoys a lecture on Belgian waffles and cleavage-—all before the year 1700.

In the second book, Stephenson introduces Jack Shaftoe and Eliza. "Half-Cocked" Jack (also know as the "King of the Vagabonds") recovers the English Eliza from a Turkish harem. Fleeing the siege of Vienna, the two journey across Europe driven by Eliza's lust for fame, fortune, and nobility. Gradually, their circle intertwines with that of Daniel in the third book of the novel.

The book courses with Stephenson's scholarship but is rarely bogged down in its historical detail. Stephenson is especially impressive in his ability to represent dialogue over the evolving worldview of seventeenth-century scientists and enliven the most abstruse explanation of theory. Though replete with science, the novel is as much about the complex struggles for political ascendancy and the workings of financial markets. Further, the novel's literary ambitions match its physical size. Stephenson narrates through epistolary chapters, fragments of plays and poems, journal entries, maps, drawings, genealogic tables, and copious contemporary epigrams. But, caught in this richness, the prose is occasionally neglected and wants editing. Further, anticipating a cycle, the book does not provide a satisfying conclusion to its 900 pages. These are minor quibbles, though. Stephenson has matched ambition to execution, and his faithful, durable readers will be both entertained and richly rewarded with a practicum in Baroque science, cypher, culture, and politics. —Patrick O'Kelley

Neal Stephenson From the opening line of his breakthrough cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson plunges the reader into a not-too-distant future. It is a world where the Mafia controls pizza delivery, the United States exists as a patchwork of corporate-franchise city-states, and the Internet—incarnate as the Metaverse—looks something like last year's hype would lead you to believe it should. Enter Hiro Protagonist—hacker, samurai swordsman, and pizza-delivery driver. When his best friend fries his brain on a new designer drug called Snow Crash and his beautiful, brainy ex-girlfriend asks for his help, what's a guy with a name like that to do? He rushes to the rescue. A breakneck-paced 21st-century novel, Snow Crash interweaves everything from Sumerian myth to visions of a postmodern civilization on the brink of collapse. Faster than the speed of television and a whole lot more fun, Snow Crash is the portrayal of a future that is bizarre enough to be plausible.

Jon Stewart, The Writers of The Daily Show Amazon.com Exclusives
Featuring a foreword by Thomas Jefferson, a Dress the Supreme Court layout, and, oddly enough, a profile of George "The Iceman" Gervin, America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction, from Jon Stewart and the writers of the Emmy Award-winning The Daily Show, is by far one the most irreverent and wittiest (and may we add smartest) political book you're likely to encounter. Amazon.com spoke with Jon Stewart a few days before the 2004 publication of America (The Book) and they discussed bald eagles, magical talking cats, Thor Heyerdahl, and much more

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Irvine Welsh With three wickedly funny and harrowing tales of love and its ups and downs, the ever-surprising Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting, virtually re-invents a new genre of fiction: the chemical romance. In "Lorraine goes to Livingston," a best-selling author of Regency romances, paralysed and bedridden, plans her revenge on a gambling, whoring husband with the aid of her nurse, Lorraine. In "Fortunes's Always Hiding," flawed beauty Samantha Worthington enlists a smitten young soccer thug to find the man who marketed the drug that crippled her from birth - in order to give him a taste of his own disastrous medicine. In the upbeat final tale, "The Undefeated," we experience the transfiguring passion of the miserably married young yuppie Heather and the raver Lloyd from Leith - a grand affair played out to a house music beat.

Michal Zalewski Author Michal Zalewski has long been known and respected in the hacking and security communities for his intelligence, curiosity and creativity, and this book is truly unlike anything else out there. In Silence on the Wire: A Field Guide to Passive Reconnaissance and Indirect Attacks, Zalewski shares his expertise and experience to explain how computers and networks work, how information is processed and delivered, and what security threats lurk in the shadows. No humdrum technical white paper or how-to manual for protecting one’s network, this book is a fascinating narrative that explores a variety of unique, uncommon and often quite elegant security challenges that defy classification and eschew the traditional attacker-victim model.