Invited to participate in an escape room as a team-building exercise, four ferociously competitive co-workers crowd into the elevator of a high-rise building, eager to prove themselves. But when the lights go off and the doors stay shut, it quickly becomes clear that this is no ordinary competition: they’re caught in a dangerous game of survival. Trapped in the dark, the colleagues must put aside their bitter rivalries and work together to solve cryptic clues to break free. But as the game begins to reveal the team’s darkest secrets, they realize there’s a price to be paid for the terrible deeds they committed in their ruthless climb up the corporate ladder.
Weeks before NYPD Detective Michael Bennett is to marry his longtime love, Mary Catherine, an assassin announces his presence in the city with a string of grisly murders. Each victim is a young woman. And each has been killed in a manner as precise as it was gruesome. Tasked with working alongside the FBI, Bennett and his gung-ho new partner uncover multiple cold-case homicides across the country that fit the same distinctive pattern --- proving the perpetrator they seek is as experienced at ending lives as he is at evading detection. Bennett promises Mary Catherine that the case won't affect their upcoming wedding. But as Bennett prepares to make a lifetime commitment, the killer has a lethal vow of his own to fulfill.
Truman, a healthy French bulldog, was dropped off at the veterinarian’s office days ago with instructions to be euthanized by a man everyone thought was his owner. But now the owner is nowhere to be found. Defense lawyer Andy Carpenter is furious. Who would want to euthanize a perfectly healthy dog with no explanation? He is willing to whisk Truman away to the Tara Foundation, the dog-rescue organization that is Andy’s true passion. They will find a home for Truman. But thanks to Truman’s chip, it’s discovered that the man wasn’t Truman’s owner at all. Truman's real owner has been murdered. It’s now up to Andy --- with help from his loyal sidekick Tara, Truman and the rest of the gang --- to solve this case.
For millennia, Lucifer --- the Sum of All Shadows --- has been rebuilding his influence. At long last, he is ready to enact his ultimate revenge against Heaven. To do that, he must first annihilate the world and its inhabitants. Standing in his way is the Shaws. To save the world, Bravo and Emma Shaw have recovered the lost Testament, battled across continents, and fought adversaries both powerful and terrifying. But nothing that has come before can prepare them for the Final Battle. As predicted centuries ago, the End Times has arrived. Lucifer intends to destroy the Shaws once and for all. Now, racing to find the lost treasure of King Solomon’s alchemical gold, Bravo and Emma must put their trust in strangers in strange lands.
Helen arrives in Appalachian Ohio full of love and her boyfriend’s ideas for living off the land. But with winter coming, he calls it quits. Helped by Rudy --- her government-questioning, wisdom-spouting, seasonal-affective-disordered boss --- and a neighbor couple, Helen makes it to spring. Those neighbors, Karen and Lily, are awaiting the arrival of their first child, which means their time at the Women’s Land Trust must end. So Helen invites the new family to throw in with her --- they’ll make a life that sustains them (if barely) for years. Then young Perley decides he wants to go to school. And Rudy sets up a fruit-tree nursery on the pipeline easement edging their land. The outside world is brought clamoring into their makeshift family.
Math-genius mercenary Cas Russell has decided to Fight Crime. After all, with her extraordinary mathematical ability, she can neuter bombs or out-shoot an army. And the recent outbreak of violence in the world’s cities is Cas’ fault --- she’s the one who crushed the organization of telepaths keeping the world’s worst offenders under control. But Cas’ own power also has a history, one she can’t remember --- or control. One that's creeping into her mind and fracturing her sanity...just when she’s gotten herself on the hit list of every crime lord on the West Coast. And her best, only, sociopathic friend. Cas won’t be able to save the world. She might not even be able to save herself.
A young woman arrives at the grand ancestral home of her husband’s family, hoping to fortify her cracking marriage. But what she finds is not what she expected: tragedy haunts the hallways, whispering of heartache and a past she never knew existed. Inspired by the true titans of the steel-boom era, BETHLEHEM is a story of temptation and regret, a story of secrets and the cost of keeping them, a story of forgiveness. It is the story of two complex women --- thrown together in the name of family --- who, in coming to understand each other, finally come to understand themselves.
Sloane, Ardie, Grace and Rosalita have worked at Truviv, Inc. for years. The sudden death of Truviv’s CEO means that their boss, Ames, will likely take over the entire company. Each of the women has a different relationship with Ames, who has always been surrounded by whispers about how he treats women. Those whispers have been ignored, but the world has changed, and the women are watching this promotion differently. This time, when they find out that Ames is making an inappropriate move on a colleague, they aren’t willing to let it go. Sloane and her colleagues’ decision to take a stand sets in motion a catastrophic shift in the office. Lies will be uncovered. Secrets will be exposed. And not everyone will survive.
When Elwood Curtis, a black boy growing up in 1960s Tallahassee, is unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, he finds himself trapped in a grotesque chamber of horrors. Elwood’s only salvation is his friendship with fellow “delinquent” Turner, which deepens despite Turner’s conviction that Elwood is hopelessly naive, that the world is crooked, and that the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble. As life at the Academy becomes ever more perilous, the tension between Elwood’s ideals and Turner’s skepticism leads to a decision whose repercussions will echo down the decades.
Renowned Scottish cookbook writer Paul Stuart is hard at work on his new book, The Philosophy of Food, but complicated domestic circumstances are making that difficult. So when Paul's eccentric cousin Chloe suggests that he join her at the house she's rented in the French countryside, he jumps at the chance. The two quickly befriend the locals, including their twin-sister landladies, who also own the infamous local restaurant known to be the second-worst eatery in all of France. With all kinds of local drama to deal with, Paul finds it next to impossible to focus on his writing, and that's before he learns that Chloe's past is far more complicated than he'd ever imagined.
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Coming Soon
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May's Books on Screen roundup includes the films The Devil Wears Prada 2,Remarkably Bright Creatures, Animal Farm and Best Served Cold: A Hannah Swensen Mystery; the series finales of "Outlander" on STARZ, "Margo's Got Money Troubles" on Apple TV, "The House of the Spirits" on Prime Video, and "Watson" on CBS; the season finales of CBS's "Tracker," ABC's "Will Trent," and Hulu's "The Testaments"; the series premiere of "Lord of the Flies" on Netflix; the season premieres of Netflix's "A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder" and "The Chestnut Man"; and the DVD/Blu-ray releases of Reminders of Him, “Wuthering Heights”, Dracula and Bambi: The Reckoning.