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Burn you twice

Mary Burton
Fire can destroy the past. It can also uncover secrets in this novel of searing suspense by New York Times bestselling author Mary Burton. Ten years ago as an undergrad, Joan Mason escaped an arsonist’s fire. Shaken, she fled the small collegiate Montana town, leaving behind friends and not looking back. Now a Philadelphia homicide detective, Joan’s trying to put her traumas to rest.

It’s not easy. Elijah Weston, the classmate who torched her house, is out of prison and returning to Missoula. Gut instinct tells Joan he’ll strike again. To stop him, she must return to the past as well. To face not only the man she fears but Detective Gideon Bailey, too. The man she loved and left behind.

When a local woman dies tragically in another fire, it can’t be a coincidence. Can it be Elijah? He has a solid alibi for the night of the blaze. Reunited by the tragedy, Joan and Gideon have their doubts. So does Gideon’s sister, Ann—Joan’s old college roommate.

The investigation draws Joan and Gideon together, but it also sends them down a dangerous path—into a troubling history that Joan, Elijah, and Ann all share. As more lives go up in flames in Missoula, this town’s secrets are just beginning to rise from the ashes.

City of the dead (Alex Delaware #37)

Jonathan Kellerman
The past comes back to haunt psychologist Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis when they investigate a grisly double homicide and uncover an even more unspeakable motive in this riveting thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense.

Los Angeles is a city of sunlight, celebrity, and possibility. The L.A. often experienced by Homicide Lt. Detective Milo Sturgis and psychologist Alex Delaware, is a city of the dead.

Early one morning, the two of them find themselves in a neighborhood of pretty houses, pretty cars, and pretty people. The scene they encounter is anything but. A naked young man lies dead in the street, the apparent victim of a collision with a moving van hurtling through suburbia in the darkness. But any thoughts of accidental death vanish when a blood trail leads to a nearby home.

Inside, a young woman lies butchered. The identity of the male victim and his role in the horror remain elusive, but that of the woman creates additional questions. And adding to the shock, Alex has met her while working a convoluted child custody case. Cordelia Gannett was a self-styled internet influencer who’d gotten into legal troubles by palming herself off as a psychologist. Even after promising to desist, she’s found a loophole and has continued her online career, aiming to amass clicks and ads by cyber-coaching and cyber-counseling people plagued with relationship issues.

But upon closer examination, Alex and Milo discover that her own relationships are troublesome, including a tortured family history and a dubious personal past. Has that come back to haunt her in the worst way? Is the mystery man out in the street collateral damage or will he turn out to be the key to solving a grisly double homicide? As the psychologist and the detective explore L.A.’s meanest streets, they peel back layer after layer of secrets and encounter a savage, psychologically twisted, almost unthinkable motive for violence and bloodshed.

This is classic Delaware: Alex, a man Milo has come to see as irreplaceable, at his most insightful and brilliant.

Dark horse

Gregg Andrew Hurwitz
Evan Smoak is a man with many identities and a challenging past. As Orphan X, he was a government assassin for the off-the-books Orphan Program. After he broke with the Program, he adopted a new name and a new mission—The Nowhere Man, helping the most desperate in their times of trouble. Having just survived an attack on his life and the complete devastation of his base of operations, as well as his complicated (and deepening) relationship with his neighbor Mia Hall, Evan isn’t interested in taking on a new mission. But one finds him anyway.

Aragon Urrea is a kingpin of a major drug-dealing operation in South Texas. He’s also the patron of the local area—supplying employment in legitimate operations, providing help to the helpless, rough justice to the downtrodden, and a future to a people normally with little hope. He’s complicated—a not completely good man, who does bad things for often good reasons. However, for all his money and power, he is helpless when one of the most vicious cartels kidnaps his innocent eighteen year old daughter, spiriting her away into the armored complex that is their headquarters in Mexico. With no other way to rescue his daughter, he turns to The Nowhere Man.

Now not only must Evan figure out how to get into the impregnable fortress of a heavily armed, deeply paranoid cartel leader, but he must decide if he should help a very bad man—no matter how just the cause.

The colonial’s son

Peter Watt
As the son of ‘the Colonial’, legendary Queen’s Captain Ian Steele, Josiah Steele has big shoes to fill. Although his home in New South Wales is a world away, he dreams of one day travelling to England to study to be a commissioned officer in the Scottish Regiment.

After cutting his teeth in business on the rough and ready goldfields of Far North Queensland’s Palmer River, he finally realises his dream and travels to England, where he is accepted into the Sandhurst military academy. While in London he makes surprising new acquaintances – and runs into a few old ones he’d rather have left behind.

From the Australian bush to the glittering palaces of London, from the arid lands of Afghanistan and the horrors of war to the newly established Germany dominated by Prussian ideas of militarism, Josiah Steele must now forge his own path.

Invisible

Danielle Steel
In this riveting novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Danielle Steel, a gifted young woman must grapple with the legacy of a troubled childhood in order to pursue her dreams. Antonia Adams is the product of a loveless marriage between a beautiful young model and an aristocrat.

As a child, she is abandoned in the abyss that yawns between them, blamed by her mother, ignored by her father, and neglected by both.

Unprotected and unloved, she learns that the only way to feel safe is to hide from the dangers around her, drawing as little attention as possible to herself, to be “invisible.”

In her isolation, books are her refuge and movies her escape. A day spent being carried away by an unforgettable film in a dark theater is her greatest thrill. Her love of the movies turns into a dream to become a screenwriter, and a summer job at a Hollywood studio. There, a famous British filmmaker notices her, and suddenly she can remain invisible no longer. He wants to put her in a movie and make her a star. It is a dazzling opportunity but a terrifying one, as it strips her of the camouflage that made her feel safe. She is suddenly thrust into the public eye–and even more so when they fall in love.

She will never let go of her true dream of becoming a filmmaker, though, and if she wants to make that leap, she will have to expose herself in ways she never has before. When tragedy strikes, she must decide whether she will remain center stage or become invisible again, where she feels safest. Will she face her demons, or run and hide?

The long weekend

Fiona Palmer
Four perfect strangers. Three days. Can one weekend away change your life? The unputdownable new drama by one of Australia’s most beloved storytellers.

Coming together for a writing workshop with bestselling author Jan Goldstein, four strangers converge upon a luxury forest retreat. But along with their notepads and laptops, each of the participants has brought some emotional baggage.

Beth is a solo parent and busy career woman haunted by a tragic car accident. Simone, the youngest at 26, is a successful Instagram star but she’s hiding behind a facade. Jamie is the only man. He’s a handsome personal trainer – but he looks out of place with a pen in his hand. Finally, Alice is a wife and mum recovering from postnatal depression. She and Jamie soon realise they are not such perfect strangers after all.

Only one thing is for sure: on this creative getaway, nothing will go according to script.

Again, Rachel

Marian Keyes
In her twenties, Rachel Walsh was a mess. Since her spell in rehab, though, she’s come a long way on the road to recovery – and now, she’s ready to go back to where it all began.

But this time, the student has become the teacher. She used to hate the staff in charge of treating her addiction. Now, she’s one of them.

Rachel’s finally got herself on track – but life never stops being messy.

And when an old flame resurfaces, will she go back to who she once was? Or nearing fifty, can she find herself all over again?

The very last list of Vivian Walker


Megan Albany
Vivian Walker is dying. This is not on her list of things to do. A darkly funny debut that proves even the most imperfect of lives is worth celebrating.

Now that I’ve got cancer, I know I should be letting go and just being in the moment with my child but, seriously, what mother has got time to spend with their kids?

Vivian Walker’s life is exceptionally ordinary. Average husband, check. Darling son, check. Refrigerator in a state of permanent disarray, check. Everything is thoroughly and frustratingly routine, even being terminally ill.

After receiving her diagnosis, Viv’s family won’t let her lift a finger . . . for at least a week. But once the novelty wears off, she’s lucky to get a cup of tea for her trouble. In preparation for D-day, self-professed control freak Viv has made a list of essential things to do, such as decluttering the playroom and preparing her taxes. She doesn’t expect to become spiritually enlightened or have any outlandish last-minute successes. All she wants is to finish her unfinished business.

As her final days unfold, Viv realises her life has become a love letter to the mundane but she still manages to keep her wicked sense of humour and cynical take on life unapologetically intact. The Very Last List of Vivian Walker will make you ugly cry, snort tea out your nose with laughter and want to embrace humanity in all its selfishness, beauty and awkwardness.

The eagle’s prophecy (#6)


Simon Scarrow
It is AD 45, and Macro and Cato are in Rome, waiting for their involvement in a fellow officer’s death to be investigated. But is is not just their future that hangs in the balance.

Ruthless pirates have captured three scrolls vital to the future of Rome. The devious Imperial Secretary, Narcissus, orders Macro, Cato and their old enemy Vitellius to set sail with the imperial fleet to crush the pirates. But the pirates have been forewarned and the Romans pay a heavy price. Amidst all the chaos one thing is certain: the Empire will fall if Macro and Cato fail.

The eagle’s prey (#5)

Simon Scarrow
It is over a year since the Roman army landed on the shores of Britain. The savage warriors of the barbarian leader Caratacus continue to torment the legions. Emperor Claudius needs a victory to make his position secure.

As the Romans gather on the eve of the battle they are confident that a final, decisive, blow will surely annihilate Caratacus, but the battle does not follow the expected course. The most ruthless army in the known world prepares to inflict dreadful punishment on the very men who could bring the long campaign in Britain to a triumphant conclusion.

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