| Thrillers and Suspense November 2006 |
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"Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks."
~ Doug Larson, aka Senator Soaper, a United Media columnist |
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| New and Recently Released! |
| A Corpse in the Koryo - by James Church |
| Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books |
| Pub Date: 10/17/2006 |
Check library catalog |
| ISBN: 0312352085 |
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Political Thriller. Inspector O works for North Korea's Ministry of People's Security; he's been told to photograph a certain car as it passes a hilltop at dawn, but the camera doesn't work. Although he realizes he's been set up to fail, he doesn't know why--or by whom--but it's quite clear that he's in danger. To learn why, he must find a small boy's killer and negotiate shifting alliances. The setting of a totalitarian regime closed to Western eyes and a strong mystery element come together to create a highly-praised debut that may appeal to fans of Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko novels. | |
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| Sharp Objects: A Novel - by Gillian Flynn |
| Publisher: Shaye Areheart Books |
| Pub Date: 09/26/2006 |
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| ISBN: 0307341542 |
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Psychological Thriller. After eight years away, reporter Camille Preaker has returned to her hometown to investigate the murders of two young girls. Haunted by memories of her long-dead sister, she must also deal with a Lolita-like half sister and their mother, who likes to inflict illness on loved ones in order to nurse them back to health. As Camille investigates, she relives the childhood that led her to self-mutilation, uncovering horrible family secrets. Kirkus Reviews calls this debut by Entertainment Weekly TV critic Gillian Flynn "piercingly effective and genuinely terrifying." | |
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| Act of Treason - by Vince Flynn |
| Publisher: Atria Books |
| Pub Date: 10/10/2006 |
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| ISBN: 0743270371 |
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Political Thriller. Less than a month after an al-Qaeda bomb kills his wife and several Secret Service agents, Democratic presidential candidate Josh Alexander wins the election in a sympathy-led landslide. In response to claims made by a discredited security agent and information considered so threatening to the U.S. government that the CIA director considers destroying it, CIA agent Mitch Rapp investigates dangerous allegations about the attack's hidden agenda. Another page-turner, this is the 8th in the series starring maverick CIA operative Mitch Rapp. | |
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| Stripped - by Brian Freeman |
| Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur |
| Pub Date: 10/03/2006 |
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| ISBN: 0312340443 |
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Police Thriller. In this sequel to the Edgar-nominated Immoral, Las Vegas detective Jonathan Stride and Serena Dial discover that two seemingly unrelated deaths--a hit-and-run "accident" and a celebrity killed during a fling with a prostitute--have a bizarre connection to a 40-year-old murder. With a full complement of secrets, money, murder, sex, and violence, author Brian Freeman has created an action-packed and tension-filled thriller; Booklist praised Stripped for its "compelling cast and sinuous plot," and there's a 3rd Stride/Dial book planned for next fall. | |
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| The Wrong Man: A Novel - by John Katzenbach |
| Publisher: Ballantine Books |
| Pub Date: 09/26/2006 |
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| ISBN: 0345464834 |
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Thriller. Ashley Freeman is an intelligent, dedicated art history student with a promising life ahead of her, but a one-night stand with Michael O'Connell leads to frightening consequences. A psychopath, he stalks her for the fun of it, destroying her father's professional reputation and almost ending her mother's career. When pleas, bribes, and scare tactics do not serve to get rid of O'Connell, and a PI assigned to the case dies, the Freemans are forced to come up with an ingenious, no-holds-barred plan to outwit her dangerous stalker. | |
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| Waiting for the new Vince Flynn? Try one of these... |
| International intrigue, political crises, technical details, complex missions full of fast-paced action--these are things that Vince Flynn is known for. While Flynn tends to focus more on plot than on character, his hero, CIA agent Mitch Rapp, is independent, heedless of danger, and moral. Along with many books by Tom Clancy or Robert Ludlum, each of the books selected here meld two or more of the characteristics you'd find in a Vince Flynn book, making them appropriate choices while awaiting your turn with Act of Treason. |
| The President's Assassin - by Brian Haig |
| Publisher: Warner Books |
| Pub Date: 02/23/2005 |
Check library catalog |
| ISBN: 0446576670 |
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Political Thriller. In his 5th appearance, military lawyer Sean Drummond has just accepted a post within the CIA, where he gets involved with the investigation into the assassination of the White House Chief of Staff. If that weren't bad enough, the unknown killer has threatened to kill the President in just three days. Like Flynn's Rapp, lawyer Sean Drummond marches to the beat of his own drummer, and the fast-paced action and behind-the-scenes atmosphere make for a rousing ride as the clock winds inexorably down. | |
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| Free Fall - by Kyle Mills |
| Publisher: Avon Books |
| Pub Date: 01/01/2001 |
Check library catalog |
| ISBN: 0061098027 |
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Political Thriller. FBI agent Mark Beamon is in trouble--suspended from duty and perhaps about to be prosecuted by the bureau itself, his only chance to redeem himself is to find a girl who does not want to be found. An explosive, top-secret file (containing information pertinent to the presidential candidates now running for office) has disappeared--the young man who unearthed it has been killed, and his ex-girlfriend, a world-class rock climber, is on the run from the killers. Beamon's legal troubles necessitate accepting payment to find the girl, but even if he does, who can he trust with the file? 3rd in the Mark Beamon series. | |
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| State of the Union: A Thriller - by Brad Thor |
| Publisher: Atria Books |
| Pub Date: 01/01/2004 |
Check library catalog |
| ISBN: 0743436776 |
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Spy Thriller. Special agent Scot Harvath has seven days to find and disarm at least 19 suitcase nuclear devices that are hidden in cities around the U.S.; if the U.S. does not immediately remove itself from world affairs, Russian sleeper agents will set off the bombs in a plan that formed 20 years earlier, during the Cold War. In addition, Harvath's mentor, Gary Lawlor, has disappeared. Fast-paced and full of international political intrigue, this 3rd in the Scot Harvath series will appeal to fans of action-packed political thrillers like those by Vince Flynn. | |
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| White: A Novel - by Christopher Whitcomb |
| Publisher: Little, Brown and Co. |
| Pub Date: 07/26/2005 |
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| ISBN: 0316600806 |
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Political Thriller. In this sequel to Whitcomb's debut, Black, the U.S. is threatened once again, this time from the inside. Like Vince Flynn, Whitcomb imparts a lot of behind-the-scenes information, and employs a high level of technical detail, which is always explained for those who may not know what, say, stochastic wave generation theory is. In White, he also keeps up a high level of suspense as Islamic and Christian fundamentalists attack multiple U.S. targets (goodbye, Disney World). With multiple plot points and a wide cast of characters, this is a thriller that Publishers Weekly calls "absorbing." | |
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| Focus on: Survival |
| In the Forest of Harm - by Sallie Bissell |
| Publisher: Bantam Books (Mm) |
| Pub Date: 10/01/2001 |
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| ISBN: 0553582704 |
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Thriller. You're not going to want to read this one right before a camping trip. Prosecutor Mary Crow has just won her 6th murder case, and to celebrate she joins two female friends on camping trip through the North Carolina wilderness near her hometown. She is unaware that a desperate someone, seeking retaliation for Mary's recent court victory and wanting to keep a dark secret hidden, is stalking her and her friends. With not one but two murderous madmen, this debut novel contains a lot of graphic violence--as well as beautiful mountain scenery and strong writing and characterizations. | |
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| Getting Back - by William Dietrich |
| Publisher: Warner Books |
| Pub Date: 06/01/2002 |
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| ISBN: 0446524573 |
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Futuristic Thriller. If you identify with the movie Office Space and don't mind a tinge of science fiction in your thrillers, Getting Back might be for you. It's the late 21st century, and now that the entire planet is run by a single super-efficient corporation, everything runs smoothly. Too smoothly, perhaps--freethinkers like Daniel Dyson are scammed into signing up for a wilderness adventure in the last wild place on Earth--Australia. These "tourists" are not, however, expected to return--not when Australia, recently depopulated by plague, is also the world's largest free-range penal colony, and they've been dumped in the center of it. But don't doubt Daniel's ability to survive--he's got imagination, remember? | |
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| The Devil You Know: A Novel - by Wayne Johnson |
| Publisher: Three Rivers Press |
| Pub Date: 05/24/2005 |
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| ISBN: 1400082277 |
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Psychological Thriller. Fifteen-year-old David is intelligent, athletic, and protective of his seven-year-old sister--when their estranged father returns and proposes a camping trip in northern Minnesota, David agrees to go. But a group of meat-packers have planned a similar trip in order to kill a supervisor they not only resent but suspect may know about their profitable beef-stealing activities. When they attack David's father and rape his sister, it falls to David to protect them as they make their slow way to safety, pursued by those who want to prevent exactly that. | |
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| The Wall: A Thriller - by Jeff Long |
| Publisher: Atria Books |
| Pub Date: 01/03/2006 |
Check library catalog |
| ISBN: 0743266161 |
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Adventure Thriller. In what Publishers Weekly calls a "hurtling, gripping read," two old friends reunite to scale Yosemite's El Capitan more than 30 years after their first success there. An eerie omen (the body of a fallen climber) augurs poorly for the rest of their climb--dogged by the creepy lunatic who stole the fallen climber's body, the two men are eventually caught up in a dangerous rescue effort. Driven by doubt, fear, and memories of their pasts, one man eventually descends, while the other continues on, into an oncoming storm, accompanied by personal demons and a rescue worker who may be more dangerous than the storm. | |
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| Still looking for the right book? Contact your librarian. |
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