English books

When I was fifteen, I was struck by a bolt of lightning through an open window of the trailer where we lived...I recovered, mostly. I have a strange spiderweb pattern of red on my torso and right leg, which has episodes of weakness. Sometimes my right hand shakes. I have headaches. I have many fears. And I can find dead people. That was the part that interested the professor... At the request of anthropology professor Dr. Clyde Nunley, Harper Connelly and her stepbrother Tolliver come to Memphis to give a demonstration of Harper's unique talent. And what better place to have that demonstration than in a very old cemetery? Dr. Nunley doesn't bother to hide his skepticism, especially when Harper stands atop a grave and senses two bodies beneath her - one of a centuries-dead man and the other of a young girl, recently deceased. When the grave is opened, Harper's claim is proven true. The dead girl is Tabitha Morgenstern, an eleven-year-old abducted from Nashville two years previously - a child whom Harper had tried, and failed, to find. The coincidence raises suspicions about her among the police - so she and Tolliver undertake their own hunt to find the killer. They make a nocturnal visit to the cemetery, hoping that Harper can sense something further about the murder. And then, the next morning, a third dead body is found in the grave...

It has been said that the natural state of science fiction is the short story. If that is so, you won't find a better exploration of that state than Charles Stross's new collection. Centred around an original and previously unpublished novella, 'Palimpsest', WIRELESS is a showcase of some of the best short SF of the 21st century. With an introduction from the author and containing hitherto uncollected works such as 'Missile Gap', 'Trunk and Disorderly' and 'Rogue Farm', and some gems previously available only in small press publications, such as 'A Colder War' and 'Antibodies', WIRELESS will illustrate perfectly why award-winning editor and anthologist, Gardner Dozois, once declared: 'Where Charles Stross goes today, the rest of science fiction will follow tomorrow.'

'There' says Alice Hayward to Reverend Stephen Drew, when she come up out of the water after her baptism. Just a few short hours later, Alice is dead, shot by her abusive husband who turned the gun on himself soon after. Tortured by the cryptic finality of that short utterance, Reverend Drew feels his faith in God slipping away as he tries to unearth the truth behind Alice's death. Only new arrival Heather Laurent -- the enigmatic author of wildly successful books about angels -- seems able to save him from slipping into the depths of despair. Heather has her own story. She survived a childhood that culminated in her own parents' murder-suicide, so she identifies deeply with Alice's daughter, Katie, offering herself as a mentor to the girl and a shoulder for Stephen. But then the state's attorney begins to suspect that Alice's husband may not have killed himself . . . and finds out that Alice had secrets only her minister knew. Related through the eyes of four different narrators, Secrets of Edenis both a haunting literary thriller and a deeply evocative testament to the inner complexities that mark all of our lives. Once again, Chris Bohjalian has given us a riveting page-turner in which nothing is precisely what it seems.

A gripping spy thriller from a new Le Carre Boundless wealth hides the deepest secrets . . . When a charismatic billionaire asks Ben Webster to investigate his personal affairs it isn’t long before the private spy is convinced that there is something very wrong with his new client. What is Darius Qazai’s real motive for contacting Webster? And what – beneath his generous, honourable image – does he have to hide? Soon Webster will discover that the tycoon's secret is far bigger and more dangerous than he could have imagined, and that his new enemy will think nothing of destroying him, or his family . . . In a heart-pounding journey which will take readers from London to Marrakech, from Italy to Dubai, Chris Morgan Jones once again asserts himself as the spy thriller writer for a new generation. Also in the Ben Webster series: An Agent of Deceit Praise for Chris Morgan Jones' Ben Webster series: ‘The best spy adventure I’ve read in a long time’ The Times ‘The Jackal's Share reunites us with corporate spy Ben Webster from his debut An Agent of Deceit. Morgan Jones does invite comparisons with Le Carre, and never more so than in this elegant novel about the dark, amoral charisma of the super-rich. Murky, mesmerising stuff’ Guardian ‘Moves at tremendous pace and teems with exciting moments . . . such a clever and entertaining novel’ The Times ‘Chris Morgan Jones's debut novel, An Agent of Deceit, was rightly praised for continuing the reconfiguration of the spy novel begun by such terrific authors as Charles Cumming after the Berlin Wall came down and east versus west became too simplistic an analysis of world politics. But with The Jackal's Share it becomes clear that, actually, Morgan Jones is writing detective as well as spy fiction. The novel is as much Raymond Chandler as John le Carré; as much The Big Sleep as The Spy Who Came in From the Cold . . . Morgan Jones has more than equalled his powerful debut ’ Observer ‘Accomplished and believable’ Sunday Times ‘An elegant, tense thriller’ Grazia 'Morgan Jones's prose is clean and cold, crisp and ominous . . . this is a world Morgan Jones knows, and it shows’ Observer