Editorial Content for The Compound
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Whether you’re staunchly against reality television and its vapid stars and plotlines, or you can’t stop tuning into the latest group of hotties paired in unusual and startling ways, you can’t deny the pull of the genre and how it highlights and amplifies our worst qualities. In THE COMPOUND by debut novelist Aisling Rawle, readers are invited into perhaps the most dystopian reality show yet: a remote desert compound inhabited by 19 of America’s sexiest men and women, and the increasingly depraved acts they must perform to win. Read More
Teaser
Lily --- a bored, beautiful twentysomething --- wakes up on a remote desert compound, alongside 19 other contestants competing on a massively popular reality show. To win, she must outlast her housemates to stay in the Compound the longest, while competing in challenges for luxury rewards, plus communal necessities to outfit their new home. Cameras are catching all her angles, good and bad, but Lily has no desire to leave. Why would she, when the world outside is falling apart? As the competition intensifies, intimacy between the players deepens, and it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between desire and desperation. When the unseen producers raise the stakes, forcing contestants into upsetting, even dangerous situations, the line between playing the game and surviving it begins to blur.
Promo
Lily --- a bored, beautiful twentysomething --- wakes up on a remote desert compound, alongside 19 other contestants competing on a massively popular reality show. To win, she must outlast her housemates to stay in the Compound the longest, while competing in challenges for luxury rewards, plus communal necessities to outfit their new home. Cameras are catching all her angles, good and bad, but Lily has no desire to leave. Why would she, when the world outside is falling apart? As the competition intensifies, intimacy between the players deepens, and it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between desire and desperation. When the unseen producers raise the stakes, forcing contestants into upsetting, even dangerous situations, the line between playing the game and surviving it begins to blur.
About the Book
Nothing to lose. Everything to gain. Winner takes all.
Lily --- a bored, beautiful twentysomething --- wakes up on a remote desert compound, alongside 19 other contestants competing on a massively popular reality show. To win, she must outlast her housemates to stay in the Compound the longest, while competing in challenges for luxury rewards like champagne and lipstick, plus communal necessities to outfit their new home, like food, appliances and a front door.
Cameras are catching all her angles, good and bad, but Lily has no desire to leave. Why would she, when the world outside is falling apart? As the competition intensifies, intimacy between the players deepens, and it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between desire and desperation. When the unseen producers raise the stakes, forcing contestants into upsetting, even dangerous situations, the line between playing the game and surviving it begins to blur. If Lily makes it to the end, she’ll receive prizes beyond her wildest dreams. But what will she have to do to win?
Addictive and prescient, THE COMPOUND is an explosive debut from a major new voice in fiction and will linger in your mind long after the game ends.
Audiobook available, read by Lucy Boynton
Editorial Content for Do Not Disturb
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
In Freida McFadden’s dedication at the beginning of DO NOT DISTURB, she thanks her parents, “who let me watch way too many scary movies when I was a child.” As such, you will see touches of Alfred Hitchcock’s adaptation of Robert Bloch’s novel, PSYCHO, among others. Read More
Teaser
Quinn Alexander has committed an unthinkable crime. To avoid spending her life in prison, Quinn makes a run for it. She leaves behind her home, her job and her family. She grabs her passport and heads for the northern border before the police can discover what she's done. But when an unexpected snowstorm forces her off the road, Quinn must take refuge at the broken-down, isolated Baxter Motel. The handsome and kindly owner, Nick Baxter, is only too happy to offer her a cheap room for the night. Unfortunately, the Baxter Motel isn't the quiet, safe haven it seemed to be. The motel has a dark and disturbing past. And in the dilapidated house across the way, the silhouette of Nick's ailing wife is always at the window. Always watching.
Promo
Quinn Alexander has committed an unthinkable crime. To avoid spending her life in prison, Quinn makes a run for it. She leaves behind her home, her job and her family. She grabs her passport and heads for the northern border before the police can discover what she's done. But when an unexpected snowstorm forces her off the road, Quinn must take refuge at the broken-down, isolated Baxter Motel. The handsome and kindly owner, Nick Baxter, is only too happy to offer her a cheap room for the night. Unfortunately, the Baxter Motel isn't the quiet, safe haven it seemed to be. The motel has a dark and disturbing past. And in the dilapidated house across the way, the silhouette of Nick's ailing wife is always at the window. Always watching.
About the Book
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden comes a story of sinister secrets.
Quinn Alexander has committed an unthinkable crime.
To avoid spending her life in prison, Quinn makes a run for it. She leaves behind her home, her job and her family. She grabs her passport and heads for the northern border before the police can discover what she's done.
But when an unexpected snowstorm forces her off the road, Quinn must take refuge at the broken-down, isolated Baxter Motel. The handsome and kindly owner, Nick Baxter, is only too happy to offer her a cheap room for the night.
Unfortunately, the Baxter Motel isn't the quiet, safe haven it seemed to be. The motel has a dark and disturbing past. And in the dilapidated house across the way, the silhouette of Nick's ailing wife is always at the window. Always watching.
In the morning, Quinn must leave the motel. She'll pack up her belongings and get back on the road to freedom.
Audiobook available, read by Holly Adams and Daniel Thomas May
Editorial Content for The Möbius Book
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Losing faith seems to be the most salient topic in our post-COVID world. The suffering of the pandemic and the isolation brought on by lockdown changed the lives of every human being on the planet. And the loss of faith came in so many different shapes and sizes --- religious faith, faith in people, and faith in the systems we thought could protect us and care for us. Read More
Teaser
Adrift in the winter of 2021 after a sudden breakup and the ensuing depression, the novelist Catherine Lacey began cataloguing the wreckage of her life and the beauty of her friendships, a practice that eventually propagated fiction both entirely imagined and strangely true. Betrayed by the mercurial partner she had trusted with a shared mortgage and suddenly catapulted into the unknown, Lacey’s appetite vanished completely, a visceral reminder of the teenage emaciation that came when she stopped believing in God. Through relationships, travel, reading and memories of her religious fanaticism, Lacey charts the contours of faith’s absence and reemergence. Bending form, she and her characters recall gnostic experiences with animals, close encounters with male anger, grief-driven lust, and the redemptive power of platonic love and narrative itself.
Promo
Adrift in the winter of 2021 after a sudden breakup and the ensuing depression, the novelist Catherine Lacey began cataloguing the wreckage of her life and the beauty of her friendships, a practice that eventually propagated fiction both entirely imagined and strangely true. Betrayed by the mercurial partner she had trusted with a shared mortgage and suddenly catapulted into the unknown, Lacey’s appetite vanished completely, a visceral reminder of the teenage emaciation that came when she stopped believing in God. Through relationships, travel, reading and memories of her religious fanaticism, Lacey charts the contours of faith’s absence and reemergence. Bending form, she and her characters recall gnostic experiences with animals, close encounters with male anger, grief-driven lust, and the redemptive power of platonic love and narrative itself.
About the Book
A genre-bending story about breaking --- both of the heart and form itself --- from the author of BIOGRAPHY OF X.
Adrift in the winter of 2021 after a sudden breakup and the ensuing depression, the novelist Catherine Lacey began cataloguing the wreckage of her life and the beauty of her friendships, a practice that eventually propagated fiction both entirely imagined and strangely true. Betrayed by the mercurial partner she had trusted with a shared mortgage and suddenly catapulted into the unknown, Lacey’s appetite vanished completely, a visceral reminder of the teenage emaciation that came when she stopped believing in God.
Through relationships, travel, reading and memories of her religious fanaticism, Lacey charts the contours of faith’s absence and reemergence. Bending form, she and her characters recall gnostic experiences with animals, close encounters with male anger, grief-driven lust, and the redemptive power of platonic love and narrative itself.
A hybrid work across fiction and nonfiction with no beginning or ending, THE MÖBIUS BOOK troubles the line between memory and fiction with an openhearted defense of faith’s inherent danger.
Audiobook available, read by Gabra Zackman
Editorial Content for Mrs. Plansky Goes Rogue
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Main characters who are senior citizens make novels attractive to, shall we say, readers of a certain age. Like me. With Loretta Plansky, Spencer Quinn has created a protagonist who not only is a senior citizen (she qualified for Medicare six years ago), but has some of the same aches and pains and elder problems that we face. However, unlike some other older characters in recent novels, Mrs. Plansky had not been an assassin or a CIA agent. Read More
Teaser
Mrs. Plansky is fresh off of winning a thrilling senior tennis championship with her doubles partner, Kev Dinardo, and is gearing up to celebrate with him on his yacht. That is, until the yacht is destroyed in a fire. Kev claims the fire was caused by a lightning strike, but there's one small problem --- Mrs. Plansky didn't see any lightning. Her curiosity turns to concern when Kev goes missing. Her suspicion gets the better of her and leads her to break into his house, only to find it ransacked. But Kev isn't the only person Mrs. Plansky has to worry about. A conversation with her dad reveals that not long ago, he'd introduced Kev to Jack, Mrs. Plansky's wayward tennis pro son. And now, her dad either can't remember or has no interest in divulging any details. Worse? Now Jack has gone missing, too.
Promo
Mrs. Plansky is fresh off of winning a thrilling senior tennis championship with her doubles partner, Kev Dinardo, and is gearing up to celebrate with him on his yacht. That is, until the yacht is destroyed in a fire. Kev claims the fire was caused by a lightning strike, but there's one small problem --- Mrs. Plansky didn't see any lightning. Her curiosity turns to concern when Kev goes missing. Her suspicion gets the better of her and leads her to break into his house, only to find it ransacked. But Kev isn't the only person Mrs. Plansky has to worry about. A conversation with her dad reveals that not long ago, he'd introduced Kev to Jack, Mrs. Plansky's wayward tennis pro son. And now, her dad either can't remember or has no interest in divulging any details. Worse? Now Jack has gone missing, too.
About the Book
This tale of the irresistible and unforgettable Mrs. Plansky will lead her up and down coastal Florida and beyond in a brand-new, whirlwind adventure, MRS. PLANSKY GOES ROGUE.
Mrs. Plansky is fresh off of winning a thrilling senior tennis championship with her doubles partner, Kev Dinardo, and is gearing up to celebrate with him on his yacht. That is, until the yacht is destroyed in a fire. Kev claims the fire was caused by a lightning strike, but there's one small problem --- Mrs. Plansky didn't see any lightning.
Already certain there's more going on than she's being told, Mrs. Plansky's curiosity turns to concern when Kev goes missing. Her suspicion gets the better of her and leads her to break into his house, only to find it ransacked.
But Kev isn't the only person Mrs. Plansky has to worry about. A conversation with her dad reveals that not long ago, he'd introduced Kev to Jack, Mrs. Plansky's wayward tennis pro son. And now, her dad --- distracted by arrangements for his upcoming wedding --- either can't remember or has no interest in divulging any details.
Worse? Now Jack has gone missing, too.
Audiobook available, read by Petrea Burchard
Editorial Content for Slow Burn Summer
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Once upon a time, Kate Elliott was a hot young actress on the verge of becoming a star. She was represented by talent agent Jojo Francisco, she had just landed a juicy role on a hit soap opera --- and then she chucked it all away to get married, move abroad and have a baby. Fast forward 20 years, and Kate is the mum of an increasingly distant 19-year-old daughter. She’s recently divorced, and thanks to the iron-clad prenup her ex-husband had her sign, she’s basically desperate to find a job. But the only career she’s ever pursued is that long-ago acting dream. Read More
Teaser
Talent agent Charlie Francisco has three problems: a divorce that ended his screenwriting career, a business he never planned to inherit, and a take-your-breath-away romance novel whose author wants nothing to do with its publication. The book is a surefire hit, if only his agency can find someone to “play” author on its summer book tour. Enter Kate Elliott, a former soap actress who’s miraculously right for the part at the very moment her life seems to be going all wrong. But she can’t know who really wrote the remarkable story --- the one so beautiful it’s made her believe in love again. When Kate and Charlie meet, they’re all friction and sparks. As the summer heat ups and the lies get bigger and bigger, can they stick to their lines…or will they go off-script?
Promo
Talent agent Charlie Francisco has three problems: a divorce that ended his screenwriting career, a business he never planned to inherit, and a take-your-breath-away romance novel whose author wants nothing to do with its publication. The book is a surefire hit, if only his agency can find someone to “play” author on its summer book tour. Enter Kate Elliott, a former soap actress who’s miraculously right for the part at the very moment her life seems to be going all wrong. But she can’t know who really wrote the remarkable story --- the one so beautiful it’s made her believe in love again. When Kate and Charlie meet, they’re all friction and sparks. As the summer heat ups and the lies get bigger and bigger, can they stick to their lines…or will they go off-script?
About the Book
A talent agent hires an actress to play the part of “novelist” on a book tour for his agency’s publicity-shy client in this delightful rom-com from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Reese’s Book Club Pick ONE DAY IN DECEMBER.
She’s playing the part of romance author, but has she found her own real life love story?
Talent agent Charlie Francisco has three problems: a divorce that ended his screenwriting career, a business he never planned to inherit, and a take-your-breath-away romance novel whose author wants nothing to do with its publication. The book is a surefire hit, if only his agency can find someone to “play” author on its summer book tour.
Enter Kate Elliott, a former soap actress who’s miraculously right for the part at the very moment her life seems to be going all wrong. Kate is still recovering from her own divorce, and Charlie’s job offer is a lifeline. She agrees to the pretense for all interviews, signings and appearances surrounding the novel’s publication. But she can’t know who really wrote the remarkable story --- the one so beautiful it’s made her believe in love again.
When Kate and Charlie meet they’re all friction and sparks --- the one thing they have in common is they’re determined to play their respective parts. But as the summer heat ups and the lies get bigger and bigger, can they stick to their lines...or will they go off-script?
Audiobook available, read by Anna Acton
Editorial Content for The House at Devil's Neck: A Joseph Spector Locked-Room Mystery
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Taking a page from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in a brief period of time British author Tom Mead has not so quietly become master of the locked-room mystery. Instead of Holmes and Lestrade, we have amateur sleuth Joseph Spector and Scotland Yard Inspector George Flint working the cases. THE HOUSE AT DEVIL’S NECK is indeed something special and destined to be a future classic of the genre. Read More
Teaser
An apparent suicide in a London townhouse uncannily mirrors a similar incident from 25 years ago, prompting Scotland Yard's George Flint to delve deep into the past in search of the solution to a long-forgotten mystery. Meanwhile, Joseph Spector travels with a coach party through the rainy English countryside to visit an allegedly haunted house on a lonely island called Devil’s Neck. The visitors hold a seance to conjure the spirit of a long-dead soldier, but a storm causes them to be stranded in the haunted house. Before long, the guests begin to die one by one, and it seems that the only possible culprit is the phantom soldier. Flint's and Spector's investigations are in fact closely linked, but it is only when the duo are reunited at the storm-lashed Devil's Neck that the truth is finally revealed.
Promo
An apparent suicide in a London townhouse uncannily mirrors a similar incident from 25 years ago, prompting Scotland Yard's George Flint to delve deep into the past in search of the solution to a long-forgotten mystery. Meanwhile, Joseph Spector travels with a coach party through the rainy English countryside to visit an allegedly haunted house on a lonely island called Devil’s Neck. The visitors hold a seance to conjure the spirit of a long-dead soldier, but a storm causes them to be stranded in the haunted house. Before long, the guests begin to die one by one, and it seems that the only possible culprit is the phantom soldier. Flint's and Spector's investigations are in fact closely linked, but it is only when the duo are reunited at the storm-lashed Devil's Neck that the truth is finally revealed.
About the Book
In this latest locked room mystery from the author of CABARET MACABRE, amateur sleuth Joseph Spector pits his knowledge of stage magic against the seemingly supernatural when a seance at an isolated old hospital turns deadly.
An apparent suicide in a London townhouse uncannily mirrors a similar incident from 25 years ago, prompting Scotland Yard's George Flint to delve deep into the past in search of the solution to a long-forgotten mystery.
Meanwhile, Joseph Spector travels with a coach party through the rainy English countryside to visit an allegedly haunted house on a lonely island called Devil’s Neck. The house, first built by a notorious alchemist and occultist, was later used as a field hospital in the First World War before falling into disrepair. The visitors hold a seance to conjure the spirit of a long-dead soldier. But when a storm floods the narrow causeway connecting Devil’s Neck to the mainland, they find themselves stranded in the haunted house. Before long, the guests begin to die one by one and it seems that the only possible culprit is the phantom soldier.
Flint's and Spector's investigations are in fact closely linked, but it is only when the duo are reunited at the storm-lashed Devil's Neck that the truth is finally revealed. Tom Mead once again creates a brilliant homage to John Dickson Carr and the Golden Age of mysteries with this intricately plotted puzzle.
Audiobook available, read by Philip Battley
Editorial Content for The Finer Things
Book
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Reviewer (text)
J.D. Barker’s work is undefinable. He has spanned the breadth of the horror and thriller genres with everything from the supernatural to serial killers to psychological suspense. Now, his latest release, written with Kyle Dunn, may be his most difficult novel to define. Read More
Teaser
In the shadows of 1950s New York, a brilliant mind teeters on the edge of madness. Edgar Maguire's sculptures are taking the art world by storm, but behind each masterpiece lies a horrifying secret. When Fiona, the object of Edgar's lifelong obsession, reenters his life, it ignites a passion that blurs the lines between creation and destruction. As his art evolves into something terrifyingly beautiful, a trail of bodies begins to surface across the city. Detective George Snyder is closing in, but can he unravel the connection between the murders and Edgar's rising star before it's too late?
Promo
In the shadows of 1950s New York, a brilliant mind teeters on the edge of madness. Edgar Maguire's sculptures are taking the art world by storm, but behind each masterpiece lies a horrifying secret. When Fiona, the object of Edgar's lifelong obsession, reenters his life, it ignites a passion that blurs the lines between creation and destruction. As his art evolves into something terrifyingly beautiful, a trail of bodies begins to surface across the city. Detective George Snyder is closing in, but can he unravel the connection between the murders and Edgar's rising star before it's too late?
About the Book
His art will take your breath away.
In the shadows of 1950s New York, a brilliant mind teeters on the edge of madness. Edgar Maguire's sculptures are taking the art world by storm, but behind each masterpiece lies a horrifying secret.
When Fiona, the object of Edgar's lifelong obsession, reenters his life, it ignites a passion that blurs the lines between creation and destruction. As his art evolves into something terrifyingly beautiful, a trail of bodies begins to surface across the city.
Detective George Snyder is closing in, but can he unravel the connection between the murders and Edgar's rising star before it's too late?
Audiobook available, read by Nick Mills and Piper Goodeve
Editorial Content for The Black Highway
Book
Reviewer (text)
» Click here to read L. Dean Murphy's review.
Review #1 by Philip Zozzaro Read More
Teaser
Forensic specialist Laughton Rees is not ashamed of her checkered past. After all, her youthful indiscretions led to the birth of her daughter, Gracie. But when Gracie’s father unexpectedly turns up in their lives again, Laughton is automatically wary. Shelby Facer is a dangerous man, formerly imprisoned for his involvement in an international drug trafficking ring. But when Shelby claims that he has information about an especially difficult murder case she is working, she can’t turn him down. A body with no head or hands has recently turned up in the river Thames, and the police are at a loss until Shelby identifies the man. The victim was part of a highly secretive smuggling ring Shelby was involved with during his and Laughton’s youth --- which Laughton’s father was investigating before he died.
Promo
Forensic specialist Laughton Rees is not ashamed of her checkered past. After all, her youthful indiscretions led to the birth of her daughter, Gracie. But when Gracie’s father unexpectedly turns up in their lives again, Laughton is automatically wary. Shelby Facer is a dangerous man, formerly imprisoned for his involvement in an international drug trafficking ring. But when Shelby claims that he has information about an especially difficult murder case she is working, she can’t turn him down. A body with no head or hands has recently turned up in the river Thames, and the police are at a loss until Shelby identifies the man. The victim was part of a highly secretive smuggling ring Shelby was involved with during his and Laughton’s youth --- which Laughton’s father was investigating before he died.
About the Book
Laughton Rees is back in the latest novel from the bestselling author of the Sanctus trilogy --- this time, with a case that hits uncomfortably close to home and threatens the thing Laughton values most: her daughter.
Forensic specialist Laughton Rees is not ashamed of her checkered past. After all, her youthful indiscretions led to the birth of her daughter, Gracie. But when Gracie’s father unexpectedly turns up in their lives again, Laughton is automatically wary.
Shelby Facer is a dangerous man, formerly imprisoned for his involvement in an international drug trafficking ring, and no matter what Laughton once felt for him, she doesn’t want him anywhere near Gracie. But when Shelby claims that he has information about an especially difficult murder case she is working, she can’t turn him down.
A body with no head or hands has recently turned up in the river Thames, and the police are at a loss until Shelby identifies the man. The victim was part of a highly secretive smuggling ring Shelby was involved with during his and Laughton’s youth --- which Laughton’s father, former commissioner for the Metropolitan police, was investigating before he died.
Laughton throws herself into her father’s old files to try to trace the connections between past and present, but as she and DCI Tannahill Khan circle closer to the truth, the case becomes dangerously personal. When another body turns up, mutilated just like the first, the victim is no stranger to Laughton. She’ll have to face the darkest parts of her past to find the man behind the murders --- before he takes away everything she loves.
Audiobook available, read by Shazia Nicholls






