Scot Harvath’s battle against the terrorists that threaten our nation gets personal when he learns that an assassin has targeted his friends and family.  He approaches the President for help, but is told to stay out of it.  Of course, Harvath has never been a person to listen to orders...



Brad Thor’s sixth novel, THE FIRST COMMANDMENT, takes the reader on an extremely exciting and realistic look at the War on Terror.  Brad, right, took time out to talk to The Big Thrill about his canvas of thrillers.

What sparked the idea for The First Commandment? Did you intend the novel to be a personal journey of Harvath's life?



My wife and I were discussing ideas over a glass of wine and she said, “We always trumpet the fact that we don’t negotiate with terrorists.  But what if we did, just once?”



It was a brilliant idea and when I looked into it, I was amazed at what I discovered.  The exception to our nation’s number one rule in the war on terror, The First Commandment if you will, is absolutely chilling.



I focused a lot on making even more memorable characters in this book.  As readers hurtle along with the action and are held by the heights of suspense, I wanted them to know more about Harvath – who he was and what made him tick – than I had in previous books.  I wanted them to feel connected to him like they never have before.  I think I did that and did it without sacrificing one ounce of excitement in this novel.  You get shoved right to the edge of your seat and remain there all the way to the last page.



Does Scot Harvath share any of your characteristics?  How did he originate

in your mind?



There is a lot of Scot Harvath in me and a lot of me in Scot Harvath.  He’s named after my brother, who only spells his name with one “t” – a curiosity many of my readers have asked me about and which I answer in my new thriller, The First Commandment.



Harvath represents a lot of the idealism that I hold as a patriot.  I am very proud of my friends who are out there fighting the war on terror and who are giving everything so that we may be safe.  What drives Scot Harvath is the same thing that drives them – patriotism and love of country.



How do you conduct research for your novels?  Do you have connections in the intelligence community?



I am fortunate to have many contacts, both active and retired, who are/have been actively engaged in the Global War on Terror.  I also read anything I can get my hands on that has to do with the subject matters I write about.{mospagebreak}



Do you find it difficult to balance the entertainment with the reality of

terrorism?



It is a very fine line.  9/11 was six years ago and I know a lot of people who are holding their collective breath waiting for something else.  We’ve repeatedly been told that it isn’t a question of if, it’s only a question of when the next attack will happen.  We’ve been very lucky in the amount and scope of attacks we’ve foiled so far.



So, do I find it difficult to balance the entertainment with the reality of terrorism?  It’s a challenge, but that’s what I love about my work.  At the end of the day, I want to entertain my readers.  I also want to scare the hell out of them.  I want to drag them right up to the edge, pull out the biggest, ugliest enemy they have ever seen, knock the stuffing out of it and shove it back under the bed.  I think the catharsis that comes from seeing terror so up close and so real is what makes my novels so entertaining.



Is the War on Terror winnable?



No.  It is a war without end.  We are fighting an ideology, not a country with borders and infrastructure.  We cannot outspend and bankrupt radical Islam the way we did the Soviet Union.  For every plot we quash and would-be plotter we capture or kill, two more spring up to take their place.



Radical Islam has become the “cause” for every disenfranchised Muslim rebel without a cause.



The only way radical Islam can be defeated is by moderate Muslims to stand united and wage a powerful, unceasing campaign against it.



We also need to open our eyes to the equally devastating threat of “Legal” Islam being waged against us here at home, which like water against a stone, is using our legal system against us to chip away at our Constitution and rights as American citizens.



Is America doomed to fall like the Roman Empire?



In my opinion, one of the best voices on this subject is philosopher, Phillip Atkinson www.ourcivilisation.com.  Atkinson is extraordinarily capable of breaking this complex question down so that it is easy to understand.  In short, I believe one hundred percent in America’s ability to thrive and remain a potent force in the world for thousands of years to come.  The problem, though, is that our nation is being eaten away from within – much the way the Roman Empire was before its decline.



One of Atkinson’s questions that I like to pose is, “Who are right?  The people who believe a woman should have to cover herself with a head scarf or full length burka, or the people who say a woman should be able to wear whatever she wishes?”



The answer is quite surprising.  There are impassioned, no-room-for-doubt feelings on both sides of each issue.  But what history has taught is that the viewpoint that will be considered correct on this question belongs to the camp with both the might and the will to impose its beliefs on the other.



Many in America have trouble with this perspective.  We want our Starbucks, our iPods, and drive-through windows, but we don’t want our country to commit any acts of aggression against other peoples.  We have lost our stomach for war, just as many of the citizens of Rome did.{mospagebreak}



Could you talk about the Red Cell program?



I can talk a little about it.  The way I was invited to participate was straight out of a movie.  I was jogging in the mountains near my home in Park City, Utah when all of a sudden my cell phone rang and I was asked if I would be interested in joining.



The Department of Homeland Security’s Analytic Red Cell program was created to bring creative thinkers from outside the D.C. beltway to envision possible terrorist threats to America, both at home and abroad.  I liken it to a ship captain inviting a select handful of passengers on deck to help anticipate where icebergs might be.  It has been an honor for me to be involved with what I feel is one of the government’s most aggressive and forward thinking anti-terrorism programs post 9/11.



Thriller readers might be surprised to see that you have a cameo of another novelist's character in The First Commandment.  How did this come about?



Steve Berry and Jim Rollins started it.  Steve mentioned it to me while my wife and I were visiting with him in Georgia and it sounded like fun.  We all share a lot of the same readers and we thought it might be fun for them to see one of their favorite characters from another author mentioned.



As far as I know, the mention is as far as it has gone.  I wouldn’t feel comfortable writing dialogue for another author’s character.  The mention in my book worked perfectly for the plot.  If you aren’t familiar with Steve’s work, the reference will just zip by, but if you do know it, I think you’ll get a big kick out of seeing his character mentioned.



What can you tell us about Gather.com and The Big Thrill?



Gather.com is the adult social networking equivalent of MySpace.com.  It boasts over one million users a month – with more than 320,000 members.  I am going to be hosting a very special section called, The Big Thrill.  Each week, we will hold live chats with both well-known authors, as well as the up-and-coming authors, readers need to be on the lookout for.  These authors will also be giving us sneak peeks at their upcoming books as well as unique content that readers will see first at The Big Thrill.  I think it is going to be a lot of fun and is poised to be the premiere conduit for bringing readers and their favorite writers together.

Jeff Ayers is the author of Voyages of Imagination: The Star Trek Fiction Companion. (Pocket Books-November 2006). He frequently reviews thrillers for Library Journal and regularly interviews authors for LJ, the Seattle Post-Intellgencer, and Writer Magazine.

Richard Donovan, a professor of art history from Arizona, has come to Italy on sabbatical, bringing his two girls with him—Pam, eleven years old, and Claudia, just turned sixteen. While shopping in Rome, the family falls victim to a botched heist and Claudia is taken hostage. Working with Renzo Feroni, Italy’s top cop, and Sandra Patrizi, a journalist, Donovan learns that the heist is part of a much vaster conspiracy. At stake is the fate of the world’s major powers and—what matters most to Donovan—his daughter’s life.

“Ron Terpening is the next Ken Follett” — Suzy Smith, The Write Word

“A writer to watch!” — Barbara Conaty, Library Journal

“A fabulous writer” — Brad Thor, New York Times Bestselling author of The First Commandment

Ron Terpening lives in Tucson, where he teaches at the University of Arizona. He is the author of the thrillers STORM TRACK, LEAGUE OF SHADOWS, and TROPIC OF FEAR.

Political Imbroglio

In Killer Weekend, New York Times bestselling author, Ridley Pearson, delves into the not-so-glitzy underbelly of Sun Valley, Idaho, an exclusive ski resort where billionaires play, and townies struggle to get by.

Eight years ago, Sun Valley patrolman Walt Fleming saved Elizabeth Shaler from a crazed, knife-wielding killer. At the time, Shaler was Attorney General.

Now Shaler, a controversial political figure, has returned to Sun Valley to announcer her candidacy for president at Patrick Cutter's exclusive media conference. Only the world's most powerful business moguls are invited to Cutter's conference. It's a coup for Cutter but a security fiasco for Fleming, now county Sheriff, who must find a way to protect Shaler from the plans of a hired assassin.

Ridley, who divides his time between Missouri and Idaho, says he was fascinated by the idea of a place like Sun Valley that attracts high finance as well as ski bums with PhD's waiting on tables. "There are strange cases because of this influx of billions of dollars in what used to be a hick town," he says. "In recreational ski towns, everyone brings their problems and they infiltrate the school system where kids discuss whose parent has the bigger jet and townies can no longer afford to live in the place where they grew up."

When he's not writing thrillers, Pearson dabbles in 60's rock and roll music. One of the founding members of The Rock Bottom Remainders, Pearson—and a dozen bestselling authors including Stephen King, Mitch Albom, Scott Turow, Dave Barry, Amy Tan, Greg Iles and Roy Blount, Jr.—doesn't claim to be musically gifted but is serious about raising money for literacy initiatives.

"We suck for good causes," says Pearson.

Since their inaugural performance in 1987, the group, which plays one to four times a year, has raised 1.8 million dollars.

Ridley Pearson has published two dozen novels. His work for television and film includes a documentary for A& E and a two-hour Movie of the Week for ABC. He is the recipient of the Raymond Chandler Fulbright in Detective Fiction. Killer Weekend is the first in a new series of crime novels featuring Walt Fleming. Read an excerpt here.

Dangerous Reality

"I have a bizarre rolodex, full of navy seals, spies, and consultants I've met over the course of seven books," says thriller writer Gregg Hurwitz. "I have this weird experience to draw on and a weird set of friends.'

Thinking about this strange collection of people and circumstances in his life, he wondered: "What would happen if I woke up in my own thriller?"

Look for the answer in Hurwitz's newest book, The Crime Writer, featuring protagonist Drew Danner, a crime novelist who wakes up in a hospital bed with a head scar and no memory of committing a crime he is accused of committing. The night before, Danner was found convulsing over his ex-fianc's body, a knife in his hand and her blood under his fingernails.

Danner must reconstruct the truth and find his way back to sanity. In the process he discovers that many people around him are flawed. "The book deals with a lot of people who are damaged," says Hurwitz.

To piece together reality and figure out what's real and what's not, Tanner begins writing. The first paragraph he writes is the opening paragraph in The Crime Writer.

Hurwitz also wanted to explore how one's professional life and personal life overlap and warp reality. "When I was writing the book, I was on the phone with sheriffs and then I would take my wife-whose father is Robert Blake-to her father's murder trial."

Gregg Hurwitz is the critically acclaimed, #1 L.A. Times bestselling author. His novels have been feature selections for all four major literary book clubs, chosen as Book Sense Picks, and translated into thirteen languages. He has written screenplays for Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Paramount Studios, MGM, and ESPN, developed TV series for Warner Studios, and written comics for Marvel. Crime Writer is his eighth novel.

Karen Tintori, who with Jill Gregory co-authored THE BOOK OF NAMES, their internationally bestselling debut thriller, also has a solo hardcover release from St. Martin's this year. UNTO THE DAUGHTERS: The Legacy of an Honor Killing in a Sicilian-American Family comes out this July.



Part family memoir, part true-crime, it is chilling tale about family "honor." PW calls it "poignant ... a harrowing tale of sorrow and shame."



It is the story of a secret great-aunt, erased from the family for more than 80 years after she was brutally murdered in 1920s Detroit and all of her belongings were destroyed. Tintori discovered her in an obliterated entry on the family passport while exploring family genealogy, then spent over a decade ferreting out the truth of what had happened to Francesca.



"Switching back and forth between rural Sicily and early 20th century Detroit, UNTO THE DAUGHTERS reads like a nonfiction version of the film Godfather II - if it had been told from the point of view of a female Corleone. In exploring her own family's secret history, Karen Tintori gives voice not just to her victimized aunt but to all Italian-American daughters and wives silenced by the power of omerta. Half gripping true-crime story, half moving family memoir, UNTO THE DAUGHTERS is both fascinating and frightening, packed with telling details and obscure lklore that help bring the suffocating world of a Mafia family to life." --Eleni Gage, author of North of Ithaka: A Granddaughter Returns to Greece and Discovers Her Roots.



Karen Tintori is an internationally bestselling author of fiction and non-fiction whose novels, written with Jill Gregory, have been translated into eighteen languages. Their SOMETHING BORROWED, SOMETHING BLUE became a CBS-TV Movie-of-the-Week. Her critically acclaimed solo work, TRAPPED: The 1909 Cherry Mine Disaster, was among the Chicago Tribune's 2002 Favorite Books and has been optioned for film. TRAPPED, along with her July, 2007 release from St. Martin's, UNTO THE DAUGHTERS, will be taught in Italian American Studies at the Harvard Extension School. Tintori has a B.A. in journalism from Wayne State University, lives in Michigan, and holds dual U.S.-Italian citizenship. Visit her at www.karentintori.com.

Disappearing Act

How do you become a new person?

In Thomas Perry's newest thriller, Silence, private investigator and retired LAPD detective, Jack Till, helps Wendy Harper, a restaurant owner, start a new life after assailants beat her up with a baseball bat.

Harper doesn't know who assaulted her yet she refuses police protection. Instead, she takes on a new identity to escape danger. Using techniques Till learned as a police officer, he shows her how to disappear. Once she's gone, people assume she was murdered.

"The issue of identity is something I've been working on and writing about for the past 25 years," says Perry.

Turns out changing one's identity isn't a guarantee against future problems.

Six years later, someone is trying to frame Harper's business partner and occasional boyfriend. To prove his innocence, Till must bring Harper back and show that she's alive. He figures out how to find her-she's married with kids-then has to convince her to return, while eluding Paul and Sylvia Turner, who have been hired to kill her when she reappears.

Who do you become when you change the physical aspects of identity? asks Perry. What does an identity consist of? What is the huge freight of past, temperament and aspiration that makes people who they are? Says Perry: "I'm fascinated by the idea of taking people out of their lives and taking on new lives."

Thomas Perry won the Edgar award for his novel, The Butcher's Boy and its sequel, Sleeping Dogs. His novel, Metzger's Dog, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Born in Tonawanda, New York, he received a B.A. from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Rochester. He has worked as a park maintenance man, factory laborer, commercial fisherman, university administrator and teacher, and a writer and producer of prime time network television shows. You can read an excerpt of Silence here. Go to the link and scroll halfway down the page.

Haunted Halloween Surprises

"I'm a big fan of the werewolf," says thriller writer, Jonathan Maberry, whose Dead Man's Song, the second in a trilogy, is set in a fictional town of Pine Deep, Pennsylvania.

Pine Deep has the reputation of being the most haunted town in America, says Maberry. Because of this, the town has built its entire tourism industry around Halloween. Every year it produces a huge Halloween festival, which includes the nation's largest haunted hayride attraction, horror movie marathons, and a parade.

It's also the town where one man believes a serial killer-the one who nearly destroyed the town thirty years ago-is a werewolf.

Dead Man's Song takes place in early October and ends on Friday 13^th-and in Pine Deep, says Maberry, whenever a Friday 13th occurs in October they celebrate that as 'Little Halloween'.

Maberry grew up listening to his grandmother tell stories of vampires, werewolves and witches. His grandmother, born in Europe in the 1800's, had beliefs of another time and era. The stories she told differed from the stereotypical tales one hears about these creatures today. For example, facing a vampire with holy water or exposing a vampire to sunlight was never part of original vampire folklore, says Maberry. In Poland, if a werewolf is killed it comes back to life as a vampire-also not what you'd expect to see in today's fiction.

To keep his hero and his readers guessing, Maberry builds his stories on these older, original folktales.

"Pine Deep is a place where supernatural beings lunge out of the shadows," Maberry says. "But humans are among the most horrific beings in my books. I do a lot with human evil."

Jonathan Maberry is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Ghost Road Blues, the book that precedes Dead Man's Song. Since 1979 he has sold more than 1000 articles, seventeen nonfiction books, three novels, as well as short stories, poetry, song lyrics, video scripts, and two plays. His nonfiction works include Vampire Universe: The Dark World of Supernatural Beings That Hunt Us, Haunt Us and Hunger For Us, and The Cryptopedia: A Dictionary of the Weird, Strange and Downright Bizarre. In 2004 Jonathan was inducted into the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame.

Darker Forces

Adolescence is chaotic under normal circumstances but little is normal in Deborah LeBlanc's fourth novel, Morbid Curiosity, in which a set of teenage twin sisters believes that Chaos Magic will help them gain control over their liveslives that have fallen apart since their father died.

Their mother, unable to handle the father's death, has had a breakdown. With no one to care for them, the twins move to their grandparents' whom they hardly know to attend a new high school. The school is large and overwhelming. In this vulnerable state, Haley, one of the twins, falls under the influence of the popular girl who promises change if Haley performs certain dark rituals.

Nationwide, Chaos Magic is popular with older teens, LeBlanc says. For true Chaos Magic to happen you have to create a sigil, which is a picture that represents what the practitioner wants. A sigil is endowed with powers by charging it with an extreme act such as cutting or committing a sexual act.

"It's believed that if the conjurer doesn't know what he's doing, the sigil can turn back on you," says LeBlanc. "There are a lot of parents that don't have a clue their teens are involved in it. The book addresses an issue out there that most people aren't aware of."

Deborah LeBlanc was born in Lafayette, Louisiana. In addition to writing novels, she runs a fuel inventory management company and a consulting firm for funeral services. She is also a trained Cajun Treateur (healer). In 2004, Deborah created the LeBlanc Literacy Challenge, an annual national campaign designed to encourage more people to read.

How far would you go to seek justice for your sister? Would you lie on the witness stand? Maggie Fletcher does just that: sells her soul to put away a psychopathic killer. When he's convicted, she thinks she and her young son are safe. But she's dead wrong.

Check out my 7th annual Best First Line contest at my website: www.tinawainscott.com. Write the best first line of a story. Shocking, naughty, suspenseful…make us want more! Cash prizes! The contest will run throughout July and is open to everyone, writer or not. Even if you're not inclined to write a line, do check out the entries—they're a lot of fun!



My most exciting news is that I am doing a live-action book video for UNTIL THE DAY YOU DIE. It’s being made by William Olsen, a filmmaker who has made four movies released worldwide. Look for it at my website and all the usual video sites.

Tina has unforgettable female protagonists and action-packed, almost haunting plot lines." -- Janet Evanovich, New York Times bestselling author

Tina Wainscott is the author of seventeen books filled with wonderfully psychotic villains and the poor souls who are terrorized by them. She lives in Florida, which takes a little bit of insanity in itself.

Jill Gregory and Karen Tintori discuss their writing partnership and their decade-long quest to figure out how they might tell the story of the Lamed Vovniks -- the 36 anonymous righteous souls whose merit, according to Jewish legend, keeps the world in existence.

Only after they finally figured out how to identify them -- both for the bad guys to murder and the good guys to save --could these best friends begin work in earnest on THE BOOK OF NAMES, their internationally bestselling thriller published in January, 2007 by St. Martin's Press and sold to 18 foreign publishers.

Listen here to the bonus CD from their audio publisher, Brilliance.

{mp3remote}http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/5/3/1043529/bon_interview.mp3{/mp3remote} 

When Nora Camden's son is kidnapped, Sabriel Mercer is the only person she can trust to find him and bring him back to her.  Rescuing Scotty Camden will send Sabriel deep into the White Mountains of New Hampshire where he became a man on its trails a long time ago.

The tyrannical Colonel dispatches men more dangerous than the unforgiving terrain to ensure that he gets sole custody of the boy, his only heir.  Sabriel will have to put all of his Ranger skills to the test to reunite mother and son and see them safe.  But can even that put his restless soul at ease?

While flying an eight-hour solo cross-country, Sylvie Kurtz realized a pilot's life wasn't for her.  She traded in her wings for a keyboard, where she lets her imagination soar to create fictional adventures that explore the complexity of the human mind and the thrill of suspense.

I've just returned from Book Expo Canada in Toronto where my publishers there (HarperCollins Canada) revealed the new trailer for the release of this summer's book, THE JUDAS STRAIN (out July 2nd).  They are trying something new with this trailer.  They'll be broadcasting it on movie screens across Canada as a pre-screening advertisement.  Talk about merging book and film!

{youtube}nC4RYN1Lr84{/youtube}

All he wants is to be left alone, a normal existence away from the assorted creeps and lowlifes inherent to his former profession as a private investigator.  Unfortunately, peace and solitude are hard to find for Lee Oswald, a battle-hardened veteran of the first Gulf War, now weary after a decade as the fix-it man of last resort on the back streets of Dallas.

But when internationally-renowned medical researcher Anita Nazari begs him to help find the person threatening her daughter's life, Oswald reluctantly returns to the shadowy world he's tried so hard to leave behind.  Once there, he finds himself engaged in a high stakes battle against a man known only as the Professor, a former intelligence operative intent on destroying the results of the doctor's latest research, a seemingly innocuous discovery about the mystery illness dubbed the Gulf War Syndrome.

"Crosshairs delivers the goods:  Layered, intense, and rich with deadly characters.  Hunsicker is an emerging star." -- Robert Crais, New York Times bestselling author

Harry Hunsicker lives in Dallas where he writes crime thrillers about a private investigator named Lee Henry Oswald.  His debut, STILL RIVER (May,2005; St. Martin's Press), was nominated for a Shamus Award for Best First Novel.  His latest novel is entitled CROSSHAIRS and will be released in August 2007 by St. Martin's Press.  When not penning the next Oswald book, Hunsicker works as a commercial real estate appraiser and speaks on creative writing.

The world is more fragile than you think. Monday morning; global oil distribution is halted when several key pipelines are bombed. By friday evening the world is tearing itself apart, riots and anarchy in every major city. Against this turbulent end to the oil-age, Andy Sutherland, trapped in Iraq, his wife trapped in the north of England, and their children...trapped in a dante-esque vision of London, struggle to reunite. But, someone is zero-ing on them, for what Andy knows.

A terrifying Peak Oil thriller that will leave you unsettled.

{youtube}NvEwiUKAM4w{/youtube}

A Pentagon spy infiltrates a private military corporation suspected of selling seized arms caches to terrorist cells.  He's set up and the only one he can trust is his ex.  The problem is, the CIA has hired her to kill him.



"A terrific thriller that reads like the very best nonfiction."  -- James Patterson

"Sets the new standard for the 21st Century spy thriller.  Stunning and eyeopening."  -- Nelson DeMille

"To understand what's happening in our world, you need to read this book." -- David Morrell

R J Hillhouse is an expert on national security.  She earned her PhD at the University of Michigan in political science.  She blogs about the outsourcing of military and intelligence at

Alisha Barba's dreams of being a detective were shattered when a murder suspect broke her back across a wall. Now on her feet again, she receives an urgent plea from an old friend, Cate Elliot who is eight months pregnant and in trouble.

On the night they arrange to meet at a school reunion, Cate whispers that someone wants to take her baby. Before she can explain, a speeding car comes out of the darkness and runs her down. As the paramedics fight to save her life, they uncover an elaborate and bizarre deception. There is no baby. Her 'pregnancy' is merely padding and foam.

Determined to discover the truth, Alisha embarks a search for answers that will take her from the East End of London to Amsterdam's red light district and into a dangerous underworld of people trafficking and slavery, where anything is possible if the price is right.

"THE NIGHT FERRY is all about the human heart - heart-stopping, heart-breaking and heart-wrenching." Val McDermid



"With its tight pace, contemporary social themes and adrenaline packed narrative, Robotham has crafted an enduring and unusual thriller." Daily Express UK

Former journalist and ghostwriter Michael Robotham is the author of SUSPECT and LOST. He lives in Sydney, Australia.

Homeland Security troubleshooter Dr. Derek Stillwater is called to Detroit to investigate a sarin gas attack. Before he can even get started, the terrorist, calling himself The Serpent, contacts the media and demands a ransom or he will strike again.

With FBI Agent Jill Church, Derek is in a race against time to stop The Serpent from killing even more people. But The Serpent has a much larger agenda, and the first two attacks are only the tip of the iceberg. Derek and Jill must try to get a step ahead of a brilliant killer before he can commit the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

"I can't remember the last time a thriller made my heart pound and my hands sweat, but The Serpent's Kiss did all that and more. This is a tense, high-octane read!" -- Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author of The Bone Garden



"With the explosive power of a hollow-point bullet, The Serpent's Kiss by Mark Terry delivers lethal entertainment. From the FBI to Homeland Security and local cops, you'll enjoy a wealth of insider details of what happens when a brilliant young scientist uses cutting-edge terrorist scenarios to demoralize and terrify Detroit. This is thrills, chills, and high-octane adventure at its most memorable." -- Gayle Lynds, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Spymaster



"The Serpent's Kiss is relentless and Mark Terry writes with the bold authority of a storyteller who knows his subject. I'll never meet friends in a restaurant again without looking over my shoulder." -- John Ramsey Miller, bestselling author of Too Far Gone

Mark Terry is a fulltime novelist, writer and editor. He lives in Michigan with his wife, two sons and very spoiled Labrador retriever, Frodo.

Travel writer Poke Rafferty literally wrote the book on Bangkok – everything from its bright lights to its deepest shadows.  But now, as he builds a family with Rose, the former go-go dancer he wants to marry; and with Miaow, the wary street child he wants to adopt, everything begins to go wrong.

As Rafferty tries to cope with the unexpected consequences of a good deed, he is pulled into  dark, unfamiliar terrain. Gradually he comes to realize he's been gliding across the surface of a culture he doesn't really understand – and that what he doesn't know has the power to destroy him and everyone he loves.

"Don't miss your chance to read A NAIL THROUGH THE HEART before it starts winning all its awards. Timothy Hallinan deals in a profoundly serious way with important themes and terrible depravity, yet his touch is so sure, his humor so mordantly pungent, his dialogue so pitch-perfect, and his humanity and intelligence so self-evident that every page shimmers with life and light.  Hallinan's is a writer's writer, and this is great stuff!"  --John Lescroart

 "A Nail Through the Heart is a haunting novel that takes place way out on the fringe of the moral landscape.  It's fast, bold, disturbing and beautifully written.  Hallinan is terrific."  --T. Jefferson Parker

Timothy Hallinan has lived on and off in Southeast Asia for more than twenty years.  A NAIL THROUGH THE HEART is his seventh novel.

He has been called his generation’s finest writer of international intrigue, one of America’s most gifted spy novelists ever, and the successor to Graham Greene and John le Carré. But with his follow-up to the 2006 electrifying number one bestseller The Messenger, Daniel Silva has written his most compelling and entertaining novel to date.

When last we encountered Gabriel Allon, the master art restorer and sometime officer of Israeli intelligence, he had just prevailed in his blood-soaked duel with Saudi terrorist financier Zizi al-Bakari. Now Gabriel is summoned once more by his masters to undertake what appears to be a routine assignment: travel to Amsterdam to purge the archives of a murdered Dutch terrorism analyst who also happened to be an asset of Israeli intelligence. But once in Amsterdam, Gabriel soon discovers a conspiracy of terror festering in the city’s Islamic underground, a plot that is about to explode on the other side of the English Channel, in the middle of London.



The target of this plot is Elizabeth Halton, the daughter of the American ambassador to the Court of St. James’s, who is to be brutally kidnapped. Gabriel arrives seconds too late to save her. And by revealing his face to the plot’s masterminds, his fate is sealed as well. Drawn once more into the service of American intelligence, Gabriel hurls himself into a desperate search for the missing woman as the clock ticks steadily toward the hour of her execution. It will take him from Amsterdam to Germany to the very end of Denmark. It will thrust him into an unlikely alliance with a man who has lost everything because of his devotion to Islam. It will cause him to question the morality of the tactics of his trade. And it might very well cost him his life.



Filled with breathtaking double and triple turns of plot, and a final mind-bending sequence that will leave readers breathless, The Secret Servant is not only a work of supreme entertainment, but also an exploration of some of the most daunting issues of our times: the war on terrorism, the weapons the West uses to wage it, and the time bomb now ticking in the heart of Western Europe.

“A world class practitioner of spy fiction.”  -- The Washington Post



“Not one for cookie-cutter cheap thrills, Silva’s mastered the art of weaving provocative narrative, espionage and foreign intrigue.  His protagonists are always flawed, never invincible.  His bad guys are peppered with good qualities…  And history’s dark side—whether it’s tackling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the Holocaust—is meticulously researched, emotionally charged and hauntingly sexy, straddling the fine line between reality and fantasy.”  -- Chicago Sun Times



“Silva is the perfect guide to explain the passionate, complicated and often misinterpreted history of Arab-Israeli relations.”  -- Orlando Sentinel



“Silva writes with care and skill.  He has a knack for local color, and Allon, his main character, is refreshingly human—world-weary, given to self-doubt and seemingly always wrestling with an inner demon of some sort.” -- St. Louis Post Dispatch



The extraordinary new novel from the New York Times-bestselling writer “who brings new life to the international thriller” (Newsday)

Daniel Silva is the author of the bestselling novels THE UNLIKELY SPY, THE MARK OF THE ASSASSIN, THE MARCHING SEASON, THE KILL ARTIST, THE ENGLISH ASSASSIN, THE CONFESSOR, A DEATH IN VIENNA, PRINCE OF FIRE, and THE MESSENGER. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, NBC Today correspondent Jamie Gangel, and their two children.

A lawyer's identity is hijacked and misused by a ruthless partner of her Manhattan law firm who engages in email impersonation, political gamesmanship and electronic forgery to set her up as the mastermind of an illegal scheme that ultimately leads to murder.

She embarks on a clandestine investigation while dodging the FBI, risking her life as well as her career.

"The Devil Wears Prada in legal technicolor. A smart, thoroughly-enjoyable tale." -Liz Smith, New York Post Columnist



"Wow…a high-tech thriller that cracks open the inner workings of a large law firm and leaves one wondering just how often sexual harassment and hostile work environments are tolerated in the corporate world…I highly recommend Wearing the Spider." -Heather Froeschl, Book Review Journal



"I really, really enjoyed reading Wearing the Spider. It is one of those novels that one finds impossible to put down. If I could have given it a higher score than five stars, I would have. The author Susan Schaab has a writing talent that totally and immediately draws you into her story." -Paige Lovitt, Reader Views



"…the writing and editing is of the highest quality. The character and plot development is also masterfully done. This story is an awesome read, it draws you into a whirlpool of plot twists and intriguing characters." Simon Barrett, posted on http://zzsimonb.blogspot.com

Susan Schaab is a New York attorney who practiced technology and intellectual property law for more than eight years in New York, Texas and California. Prior to law school, she worked in the software development industry as a systems designer and consultant. While a law student, she spent a semester studying in London and a summer as an unpaid staigaire in a small international French firm.

When five bodies are unearthed beneath a parking lot on the Mississippi Gulf Coast (pre-Katrina), washed-up reporter Carson Lynch is given the story that could resurrect her career. 

The bodies have been buried for nearly twenty-five years, but as soon as the grisly remains are unearthed, a new series of murders begin--all targeting young, prospective brides. Carson, who has lost her daughter in an arson because of a previous investigation in Miami, can choose to chase the story--and the killer--or continue to drink.



"Haines's greatest strength is her powerful sense of place: here the miasmic swamp is as alive and as threatening as any villain."  Publisher's Weekly on FEVER MOON



"While suspenseful and violent, her literary thriller never loses sight of the poignant story at its heart. Transcending the usual mystery conventions, this is highly recommended." Library Journal on Penumbra (starred review)



Carolyn Haines is a multi-published author who writes both light and dark stories. PENUMBRA and HALLOWED BONES have been named in the top five mysteries of their respective years by LIBRARY JOURNAL. In REVENANT, Haines focuses her story on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Her latest thriller is FEVER MOON, released this past February.

Royal Lockdown, the first book in the Lights Out series, takes place during a night of panic in Boston. At a glittering international reception at the top of the John Hancock Tower, Princess Ariana of Beau Pays and security expert Shane Peters are mesmerized by each other.

Then terrorists invade the reception, capturing the guests and threatening to kill them one by one, starting with Princess Ariana, if they don't turn over the vice president of the United States (who has hidden in a closet).



Shane and Ariana escape, only to find themselves on the run from a man who will stop at nothing to kill them both. And at the same time, the passion smoldering between them reaches flash point.

“These books deliver what they promise: Excitement, mystery, romance.” -- Washington Post Book World



“Rebecca York delivers page-turning suspense." -- Nora Roberts

NEW YORK TIMES best-selling author, Rebecca York (aka Ruth Glick) has written more than sixty thrillers, many with paranormal elements.  She writes for Harlequin Intrigue and for Berkley Sensation.

The encirclement of Dunekirk is closed and its destruction by the German Air Force only a question of time. At least, Herman Göring announces this full-bodied. But while Guderians tanks stand still and have to watch deedless, the Royal Navy once more shows its abilities.

In the operation Dynamo 400,000 men shall be rescued from the beaches, a complete army which will bee urgently needed in the future. And the only thing between this army and the British coast is a handful of submarines gathered in all hurry to disturb Dynamo. For Lieutenant-Commander von Hassel's U-68 the channel is a life-threatening area, too shallow and too narrow for the big boat. While U-68 attacks nevertheless, on the skies circle permanently the vapor trails of fighting planes and once more the German Navy has to learn, there is no more dangerous enemy to them as the own air force.

Peter Brendt is the author of thrillers, naval fiction and historical non-fiction.  He is also a former soldier, former computer expert, now married and living is the USA.

DON'T TELL A SOUL

In a remote, heavily wooded area near a Berkshires college campus, Rachel Lorant died on her birthday. But she didn't die alone. That night, her four sorority sisters make a solemn, trembling pledge. They will never reveal what has just happened in those woods-ever. Instead, they will take their terrible secret to their graves.

DON'T THINK ABOUT THE PAST



Now, ten years later, their secret is coming back to haunt them as each receives a card in the mail from Rachel: "Happy Birthday to Me. xoxo R." It's clear that somebody knows what happened that night. Someone is stalking them, sending mysterious and chilling gifts that only they can understand-deadly warnings of what is to come. For the sins of the past have come back with a vengeance, and a killer will see that they all pay in blood.



AND WHATEVER YOU DO-DON'T SCREAM



Brynn Costello has never felt such pure fear. She didn't want any part in what happened so long ago, but now, the mother of two will do anything to stay alive and protect her family-even if it means matching wits with a killer she can't see.a twisted psychopath who is closer than she thinks and who is saving her death for last.

"Staub keeps things taut and unpredictable, changing perspective often and offering up a whole school of red herrings; capped with a gratifying conclusion, Staub's latest is a surprisingly effective thriller." -- Publishers Weekly

"DON'T SCREAM is an incredibly chilling novel that proves that Ms. Staub is a master of her craft! You are spooked, touched and want to jump inside the pages to help save lives. The characters are as real as you and I, so are their life stories. What got my undivided attention is that Ms. Staub takes us in the minds of both the victims and the psychopath killer and the story they tell will fascinate every reader." -- Nadine for Romance Junkies

The award-winning author of over sixty novels, Wendy Corsi Staub has written multiple New York Times bestselling thrillers, with her February release running four weeks in the top 6 on the NYT print list. As Wendy Markham, she’s a USA Today bestselling author of women’s fiction. Under contract with five publishers, she’ll release six new novels in the nine months leading up to the September launch of LILY DALE, her hardcover paranormal young adult series, just optioned for television by producer Jean Doumanian. To top things off, last year’s mom-in-jeopardy thriller, THE FINAL VICTIM, won the Washington Irving Prize for 2007. Wendy lives in suburban NYC with her husband and children.

After three years, the man who bought a lifetime subscription to Tivo without trying it finally committed to a lifetime subscription to Tracey Spadolini. All Tracey wants is to get hitched without a hitch--but as the calendar marches toward her late-October wedding date, suddenly she and her fiance can't agree on anything.

From where to get married (New York City or Buffalo?) to how many attendants they're going to have (she's already asked eight, he was thinking of just a best man). Meanwhile, Tracey's friends are caught up in their own dramas. There's newlywed Raphael, who just had his gay wedding; newly pregnant Kate, trying to adjust to impending motherhood; and Buckley, who is acting inexplicably strange. When Buckley unexpectedly calls off his own engagement, all but leaving his fiance at the altar, Tracey is stunned to discover that he might be in love with her.



With plenty of snafus to keep them distracted, is being Slightly Married the road to happily ever after, after all?

"In her comical tale about the trials and errors encountered along the road to the biggest day in a young woman's life, Markham successfully weaves together colorful characters--ranging from the fabulous gay friend to the uptight future sister-in-law to a bothersome old flame. Readers will delight in the main character's triumphs, share in her pain and overall enjoy the ride." -- Jennifer Madsen, RT BOOKreviews

The award-winning author of over sixty novels, Wendy Corsi Staub has written multiple New York Times bestselling thrillers, with her February release running four weeks in the top 6 on the NYT print list. As Wendy Markham, she’s a USA Today bestselling author of women’s fiction. Under contract with five publishers, she’ll release six new novels in the nine months leading up to the September launch of LILY DALE, her hardcover paranormal young adult series, just optioned for television by producer Jean Doumanian. To top things off, last year’s mom-in-jeopardy thriller, THE FINAL VICTIM, won the Washington Irving Prize for 2007. Wendy lives in suburban NYC with her husband and children.

 

Fed up with her moody teenage daughter, Meg Addams decides what they both need is a good dose of suburban wholesomeness. But when they leave Manhattan behind for Meg's humble blue-collar hometown, they find it crowded with wealthy strangers and upscale boutiques. 

Settling into a creaky fixer-upper, Meg finally spots a familiar face right next door--and it belongs to none other than Sam Rooney. The would-be love of Meg's high school life is now a single dad, her daughter's new soccer coach-and a neighborly ghost-buster whenever things go bump in the night. With three kids and an undeniable attraction between them, Meg and Sam are in for some heart-racing, wee-hour encounters that have nothing to do with spirits...but everything to do with hearts.

"LOVE, SUBURBAN STYLE is a highly enjoyable and uplifting love story, just made for summertime reading." -- Jane Bowers for Romance Reviews Today

"A vastly entertaining romance and a real standout laced with otherworldly intervention and a dash of social suburban commentary." - Booklist 

The award-winning author of over sixty novels, Wendy Corsi Staub has written multiple New York Times bestselling thrillers, with her February release running four weeks in the top 6 on the NYT print list. As Wendy Markham, she’s a USA Today bestselling author of women’s fiction. Under contract with five publishers, she’ll release six new novels in the nine months leading up to the September launch of LILY DALE, her hardcover paranormal young adult series, just optioned for television by producer Jean Doumanian. To top things off, last year’s mom-in-jeopardy thriller, THE FINAL VICTIM, won the Washington Irving Prize for 2007. Wendy lives in suburban NYC with her husband and children.