From Publishers WeeklyBritish journalist Beckett's first novel is a chilling tale of sexual predation. Celibate, aging art dealer Donald Ramsey returns to his London gallery for forgotten papers and comes upon his beautiful assistant, Anna, changing clothes in his office. Secretly watching from the hallway, Ramsey is transfixed by a rare sexual spark and inflamed with voyeuristic desire. Accepting his own romantic shortcomings, he lives for imagined pleasures with Anna until he learns that her brilliant but ugly American boyfriend, Marty, will be taking her back to New York. Because the pair "were very obviously in love, and when I decided to end their relationship I knew I would need help," Ramsey pays sexual athlete Zeppo Marks a fortune to seduce the young woman while he himself poses as the couple's champion. Anna and Marty remain faithful to one another, however, rebuffing every onslaught that Ramsey and Zeppo devise and forcing a desperate plan to remove Marty permanently. But even this act of murder seems less abhorrent than the evil inflicted on Anna by the two conspirators, an evil made all the more horrific by her ignorance of their role in ensuing events. Beckett skillfully brings matters to their logically sadistic conclusion, then twists his tale around by ironically echoing Freud's tenet that desire lies just the other side of repugnance-two emotions that readers are likely to feel simultaneously as they speed through this clever yet brazenly sleazy story. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. From BooklistBeckett's debut novel is defined by a chilling vision of sexual obsession, personified by London art dealer Donald Ramsey. When this meek aesthete's comfortably asexual lifestyle is upended by his impetuous fixation on a gallery assistant, Anna, the wheels are set in motion for a deadly scheme aimed at satisfying Ramsey's voyeuristic urges. He easily enlists Zeppo, a male model whose most notable credentials are his sexual exploits, to play a pivotal role. Zeppo is drawn to the large sum of money being offered and, moreover, to the challenge of seducing Anna. Beckett sustains an element of mystery, as cold-blooded murder becomes essential to Ramsey's unyielding plan. It is only in the book's final pages that the persistent pace of Beckett's terse prose subsides, deflating the spell cast by this intriguing young English writer. Alice Joyce

Content warning: This story contains fictional depictions of domestic violence.Nothing tears two women apart like the men who want and take indiscriminately. In this retelling of "The Crane Wife", a makeup artist and her actress lover struggle to stay together as the glitz and glamour of old Hollywood transforms into a cruel and manipulative beast that threatens to pluck them apart.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Everly Fairhope is desperate. When threats against her mother's life escalate, there's only one man she can turn to. But he's as likely to slam the door in her face as he is to help her. Special Ops soldier Jax "Gem" Stone didn't think he'd see Everly again after the abrupt way she walked out of his life and got engaged to someone else. So when she turns up at his front door, begging for help, the answer is no. Until someone takes a shot at them both. Gem doesn't want to get involved for good reasons, but there's no turning back. He'll protect Everly and end the threat, then he wants her gone. Some things are easier said than done, though. Saving Everly from danger could be harder than expected when powerful forces work against him. But letting her go a second time? Impossible. She's his, and he intends to prove it to her. If they survive what's coming... **Start reading the Hostile Operations Team Series - Strike Team 2...

Ellen Gulden leaves her life as a successful New York journalist, to return home and care for her mother Kate diagnosed with cancer. In the short time they have left, the relationship between mother and daughter - tender, awkward and revealing - deepens, and Ellen is forced to confront painful truths about her adored father. After Kate's death, Ellen goes from devoted daughter to prime suspect, accused of the mercy killing.

Hugo Rune returns. And just in time, for the evil fairies of Brentford are planning to conquer the world. To publicise his mission, Hugo plans to kidnap the Queen while she addresses the world before a gig by the greatest rock band on earth, Gandhi's Hairdryer.

Jules Verne's classic Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea-Vingt mille lieues sous les mers is presented in English-French parallel text, complete and unabridged. The story concludes in Volume Two as Aronnax and harpoonist Ned Land, imprisoned on the Nautilus, explore sunken ships, battle exotic creatures and face the misanthropic recluse, Captain Nemo. Featuring illustrations by Alphonse de Neuville and . . .douard Riou. This edition uses the 1991 translation by Frederick Paul Walter. The Bilingual Library presents the world's classics in parallel text. Each page in the original language is mirrored by its English translation on the facing page. Series editor D. Bannon is a member of the American Translators Association (ATA).

Southwest Arizona, a century ago. An uneasy true exists between the remote frontier community of Picture City and the neighboring Apaches. That delicate peace is shredded when the bodies of two white men are found hideously mutilated. The angry townspeople are certain the "savages" have broken the treaty, but Billjohn Finley, the local Indian agent, fears that darker, more unholy forces may be at work. There's a tall, dark stranger in town, who rode in wearing the dead men's clothes. A stranger who may not be entirely human . . . . Originally published as a mass-market Western in 1994, Shadow on the Sun has been out of print for years and was largely overlooked by horror fans and general readers. Now at last this forgotten tale of supernatural terror returns to chill the blood of Matheson's many fans.

**A darkly comic and ambitious sequel to the American classic *Catch-22*.** In *Closing Time,* Joseph Heller returns to the characters of *Catch-22,* now coming to the end of their lives and the century, as is the entire generation that fought in World War II: Yossarian and Milo Minderbinder, the chaplain, and such newcomers as little Sammy Singer and giant Lew, all linked, in an uneasy peace and old age, fighting not the Germans this time, but The End. *Closing Time* deftly satirizes the realities and the myths of America in the half century since WWII: the absurdity of our politics, the decline of our society and our great cities, the greed and hypocrisy of our business and culture -- with the same ferocious humor as *Catch-22.* *Closing Time* is outrageously funny and totally serious, and as brilliant and successful as *Catch-22* itself, a fun-house mirror that captures, at once grotesquely and accurately, the truth about ourselves.

From "China's foremost literary satirist" (Financial Times) comes a captivating new novel set at a religious training center in Beijing, focusing on the unlikely love story of a Buddhist nun and a Daoist priestAt the Religious Training Center on the campus of Beijing's National Politics University, disciples of China's five main religions—Buddhism, Daoism, Protestantism, Catholicism, and Islam—gather for a year of intensive study and training. In this hallowed yet jovial atmosphere, the institute's two youngest disciples—Yahui, a Buddhist jade nun, and Gu Mingzheng, a Daoist master—fall into a fast friendship that might bloom into something more.This year, however, the worldly Director Gong has an exciting new plan: he has organized tug-of-war competitions between the religions. The fervor of competition offers excitement for the disciples, as well as a lucrative source of fundraising, but Yahui looks on the games with...

Four collections of some of Ruth Rendell's greatest original crime thrillers.

Providence is Quinn's fascinating memoir of his life-long spiritual voyage. His journey takes him from a childhood dream in Omaha setting him on a search for fulfillment, to his time as a postulant in the Trappist order under the guidance of eminent theologian Thomas Merton.  Later, his quest took him through the deep self-discovery of psychoanalysis, through a failed marriage during the turbulent and exciting 60s, to finding fulfillment with his wife Rennie and a career as a writer. In Providence Quinn also details his rejection of organized religion and his personal rediscovery of what he says is humankind's first and only universal religion, the theology that forms the basis for Ishmael. Providence is an insightful book that address issues of education, psychology, religion, science, marriage, and self-understanding, and will give insight to anyone who has ever struggled to forge and enact a personal spirituality. From the Trade Paperback edition.

SUMMARY: The delightful seventh adventure for popular heroine Amelia Peabody. The 19th-century Egyptologist and her dashing husband, Emerson, return to Amarna, where they first fell in love. When Emerson is kidnapped, Amelia must rescue her husband, find the culprit, and save her marriage.