English books

LONDON, CHRISTMAS MORNING. 09:13am. Disgraced hedge fund manager Graham Poynter hides shamefully in his Belgravia mansion. All that separates him from the media hounds baying for his blood are wrought iron railings and an elite security team. 10:16am. A masked intruder stands over Poynter and his terrified family, while the last remaining security guard hangs impaled on a railing spike outside the house - a message of intent beamed to the watching world. 10:38am. Surrounding the scene are police helicopters, special forces teams, and Ed Mallory - blind hostage negotiator - who must stop this faceless adversary whose sights are set on exacting twisted retribution.

A bestselling European psychological thriller set around the Italian lakes Gabriel Tretjak is The Fixer, hired by rich clients to fix their lives, to change fate on their behalf. He does so without moral limitations or scruples. His methods draw on experimental psychology and the latest research into the human brain. His fees are high, but his clients are always willing to pay. No matter how desperate their situation, they want a happy ending. But happy for whom? Soon the body of a famous brain surgeon is discovered in a horsebox: a murder made all the more gruesome by the fact that the victim s eyes have been removed by something resembling an ice-cream scoop. The surgeon is the first victim of a murderer who leaves tantalising clues behind, all pointing to Tretjak. While Tretjak tries to stay in control, a feeling begins to take hold, a feeling that he normally uses to his advantage when working on behalf of a client. That feeling is fear. It slowly dawns on him - and soon the police - that these murders are all linked to his past. The one thing he cannot fix.

One woman changes everything a man has ever known about dominance and desire in the final scintillating novel in the Breathless trilogy—now celebrating its 10th Anniversary! When it comes to sex, Ash McIntyre has always explored his wilder side—extreme and uncompromising. He demands control. And he prefers women who want it like that. Even the women he’s shared with his best friend, Jace. But Jace is involved with a woman he has no intention of sharing. And now even Gabe has settled into a relationship with a woman who gives him everything he needs, leaving Ash feeling restless and unfulfilled. Then Ash meets Josie, who seems immune to his charms and his wealth. Intrigued, he begins a relentless pursuit, determined she won’t be the one who got away. He never imagined the one woman to tell him no would be the only woman who’d ever drive him to the edge of desire.

HOW CAN SHE PERSUADE HIM TO LET HER GO?

The young, the fabulous and the fanged rule the upper echelons of Manhattan society in book four of this fantastically addictive series from bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz. With the stunning revelation surrounding Bliss's true identity comes the growing threat of the sinister Silver Bloods. Once left to live the glamorous life in New York City, the Blue Bloods now find themselves in an epic battle for survival. Not to worry, love is still in the air for the young vampires of the Upper East Side. Or is it? Jack and Schuyler are over. Oliver's brokenhearted. And only the cunning Mimi seems to be happily engaged. Young, fabulous and fanged, Melissa de la Cruz's vampires unite in this highly anticipated fourth instalment of the Blue Bloods series.

From the bestselling author of the Blue Bloods and The Descendants series comes the third installment in the fantastical Witches of East End series. Freya Beauchamp is trapped in 1692, in Salem of all places, with no recollection of her past. A powerful enemy spell has sent her spiraling away so that she is separated by centuries from her mother, Joanna, and sister, Ingrid. This is not good news for a twenty-first-century witch. Not to mention the immediate threat she faces from the wealthy and influential Putnam family. When little Annie Putnam is one of the first to make accusations of witchcraft, her landowner father jumps at the opportunity to consolidate his power and expand his holdings in Puritan Salem Town. If Freya is caught using magic, she will be forced to relive the witch trials, and this time, her immortality will be in question. Meanwhile, twenty-first-century North Hampton has its own snares. Joanna and Norm consult the Oracle for advice, and Freddie and his pixie allies search for a missing totem that could reopen the passages of time and help bring his sister home. When Ingrid bumps into an old flame, she finds that her new love for Detective Matt Noble is in doubt. Moving between past and present, with dizzying plot twists and page-turning suspense, Winds of Salem is sure to bewitch fans old and new.

It's been one year since all the adults disappeared. Gone. Despite the hunger and the lies, even despite the plague, the kids of Perdido Beach are determined to survive. Creeping into the tenuous new world they've built, though, is perhaps the worst incarnation yet of the enemy known as the Darkness: fear. Within the FAYZ, life breaks down while the Darkness takes over, literally—turning the dome-world of the FAYZ entirely black. In darkness, the worst fears of all emerge, and the cruelest of intentions are carried out. But even in their darkest moments, the inhabitants of the FAYZ maintain a will to survive and a desire to take care of the others in their ravaged band that endures, no matter what the cost. Fear, Michael Grant's fifth book in the bestselling dystopian Gone series, will thrill readers . . . even as it terrifies them.

Welcome back to the FAYZ! This is Book 2 in the series that Stephen King calls a "driving, torrential narrative." An uneasy calm has settled over Perdido Beach. But soon, fear explodes into desperation as food supplies dwindle and starvation sets in. More and more kids are developing strange powers and, just as frighteningly, so are the animals in the FAYZ: talking coyotes, swimming bats and deadly worms with razor-sharp teeth are just the beginning. For Sam Temple the strain of leadership is beginning to show and he's got more than just dwindling rations and in-fighting to worry about – Caine is back with the psychotic whiphand, Drake, by his side. And deep in the ground, the biggest danger of all is getting hungry . . . The GONE series is Lord of the Flies for the 21st century. In turns breathtaking, harrowing, and utterly terrifying. Its complex characters and moral dilemmas will delight fans of The Hunger Games, Divergent and The Maze Runner. This is dystopian fiction at its best.