Adult

Set in 1994, THE COAST ROAD tells the story of two women --- Izzy Keaveney, a housewife, and Colette Crowley, a poet. Colette has left her husband and sons for a married man in Dublin. When she returns to her home in County Donegal to try to pick up the pieces of her old life, her husband, Shaun, a successful businessman, denies her access to her children. The only way she can see them is with the help of neighbor Izzy, who is acting as a go-between. Izzy also feels caught in a troubled marriage. The friendship that develops between them ultimately will lead to tragedy for one, and freedom for the other.

A Russian diplomat disappears while Doc Ford is tagging great white sharks in South Africa, and members of a criminal brotherhood, Bratva, don’t think it’s a coincidence. They track the biologist to Dinkin’s Bay Marina on the west coast of Florida, where Brotherhood mercenaries have already deployed, prepared to pillage and kill in the wake of an approaching hurricane. No one, however, is prepared for a cataclysmic event that will forever change the island and leaves Doc to deal with escapees from Russia’s most dangerous prison, including a serial killer --- the Vulture Monk --- who has a taste for blood. His only ally is an enigmatic British inventor whose decision to ride out the storm might have more to do with revenge than protecting a priceless art collection.

Nashquitten, MA, is a decaying coastal enclave that not even tourist season can revive, full of locals who have run the town’s industries for generations. When a young woman dies at a house party, the circumstances around her death suspiciously unclear, the tight-knit community is shaken. As a mother grieves her daughter, a teacher her student, a best friend her confidante, the events around the tragedy become a lightning rod: blame is cast, secrets are buried deeper. Some are left to pick up the pieces, while others turn their backs. And all the while, a truth about that dreadful night begins to emerge.

In 1938, a dead whale washes up on the shores of remote Welsh island. For Manod, who has spent her whole life on the island, it feels like both a portent of doom and a symbol of what may lie beyond the island's shores. A young woman living with her father and her sister (to whom she has reluctantly but devotedly become a mother following the death of their own mother years prior), Manod can't shake her welling desire to explore life beyond the beautiful yet blisteringly harsh islands that her hardscrabble family has called home for generations. So the arrival of two English ethnographers who hope to study the island culture feels like a boon to her. The longer the ethnographers stay, the more she feels herself pulled towards them, reckoning with a sensual awakening inside herself, despite her misgivings that her community is being misconstrued and exoticized.

Following the loss of her husband and son, Helen Cartwright returns to the village of her childhood after living abroad for six decades. Her only wish is to die quickly and without fuss. She retreats into her home on Westminster Crescent, becoming a creature of routine and habit: “Each day was an impersonation of the one before with only a slight shuffle --- as though even for death there is a queue.” Then, one cold winter night, a chance encounter with a mouse sets Helen on a surprising journey. SIPSWORTH is a reminder that there can be second chances. No matter what we have planned for ourselves, sometimes life has plans of its own.

Manhattan psychiatrist Bill Madrian takes pride in the level of trust he establishes with his patients. For a patient to open up, they must truly believe that everything said in a therapy session remains confidential. But Bill has never realized the complications this confidentiality could present --- until he treats Alex Bronzi. One day, in a session with Alex, the young man asks, “Hey Doc, ya wanna know who clipped Boris Levenko?” Boris Levenko was a major crime boss who had been executed a few days prior. The question gives Bill information he desperately did not want to hear. With this knowledge, Bill’s life is upended, and he begins a fight for survival that takes him and his loved ones on a nightmarish journey far beyond the realm of anything he ever could have imagined.

In 1948, civil war ravages the Chinese countryside, but in rural Shandong, the wealthy, landowning Angs are more concerned with their lack of an heir. Hai is the eldest of four girls and spends her days looking after her sisters. Headstrong Di learns to hide in plain sight, and their mother --- abused by the family for failing to birth a boy --- finds her own small acts of rebellion in the kitchen. As the Communist army closes in on their town, the rest of the prosperous household flees, leaving behind the girls and their mother because they view them as useless mouths to feed. Without an Ang male to punish, the land-seizing cadres choose Hai to stand trial for her family’s crimes. She barely survives their brutality. Realizing the worst is yet to come, the women plan their escape, embarking on a thousand-mile journey to confront the family that abandoned them.

Ever since that night, twin sisters Cassie and Lenora have been inseparable. As the sole permanent residents of Cabin Two, their refuge on an isolated Tennessee campground, they manage to stay away from prying eyes, probing questions and true crime junkies. The peace and quiet is almost enough to make them forget what happened all those years ago. Almost. Until a teenage girl camping at the neighboring cabin goes missing, and the memories come rushing back. As the crime becomes ever more recognizable, each sister suspects the other knows more than she's letting on. Trapped in the isolating, claustrophobic wilderness, Cassie and Lenora must piece together the truth of what happened --- and the sinister truth lurking in their own pasts --- before it's too late.

Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Linda Haley has no idea that her husband has been living a secret life. Now Guy is the prime suspect in a brutal murder that could derail Linda’s high-powered career and may be connected to a cold case. And Guy has disappeared. With a warrant out for her husband’s arrest, Linda sets out to prove his innocence accompanied by an ex-cop who harbors a secret affection for her. Together, they travel to the scene of a 40-year-old unsolved murder and a night of violence that shattered the serenity of a small fishing hamlet just past the Hamptons. But as the manhunt intensifies and she begins to uncover the shocking truth --- and the past Guy has buried deep --- Linda must decide if the stranger she married is innocent or guilty. And if he truly deserves to be saved.

Sam and Elena dream of another life. On the island off the coast of Washington where they were born and raised, they and their mother struggle to survive. Sam works on the ferry that delivers wealthy mainlanders to their vacation homes, while Elena bartends at the local golf club. But even together they can’t earn enough to get by, stirring their frustration about the limits that shape their existence. Then one night on the boat, Sam spots a bear swimming the dark waters of the channel. Where is it going? What does it want? When the bear turns up by their home, a terrified Sam is more convinced than ever that it’s time to leave the island. But Elena responds differently to the massive beast. Enchanted by its presence, she throws into doubt the desire to escape and puts their long-held dream in danger.