The bestselling author of "When The Bough Breaks," "BloodTest," and "Over The Edge" delivers the most stunning novel yet andfeaturing psychologist-detective Dr. Alex Delaware. At a party fora controversial Los Angeles sex therapist, Alex encounters a facefrom his own past--Sharon Ransom, an exquisite, alluring lover wholeft him abruptly more than a decade earlier. Sharon now hints thathe desperately needs help, but Alex evades her. The next day she isdead, an apparent suicide. Driven by guilt and sadness, Alexplunges into the maze of Sharon's life--a journey that will takehim through the pleasure palaces of California's ultra-rich, intothe dark closets of a family's disturbing past, and finally intothe alleyways of the mind, where childhood terrors still hold sway.Also available on BDD Audio Cassette.
Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson return to the vivid universeof Frank Herbert's Dune, bringing a vast array of rich and complexcharacters into conflict to shape the destiny of worlds....DUNEHOUSE HARKONNENAs Shaddam sits at last on the Golden Lion Throne,Baron Vladimir Harkonnen plots against the new Emperor and HouseAtreides -- and against the mysterious Sisterhood of the BeneGesserit. For Leto Atreides, grown complacent and comfortable asruler of his House, it is a time of momentous choice: betweenfriendship and duty, safety and destiny. But for the survival ofHouse Atreides, there is just one choice -- strive for greatness orbe crushed.
In 1975, the now defunct Laser Books issued Invasion byAaron Wolfe, aka Koontz (who later expanded that novel into Winter Moon , 1994), a breakneck tale of alien invasioncentered on an isolated farm. Koontz's new novel also concernsalien invasion, and a comparison of the two books offers insightinto the evolution of this megaselling author's work. Invasion was mostly speed and suspense—a brilliant ifsuperficial exercise in terror. The new novel also featuresabundant suspense, as a couple in an isolated California homeendure a phosphorescent rain and learn that, around the world, something is attacking humans and laying waste tocommunications. It's only when they drive to a nearby town thatthey learn of a global alien invasion; the tension ratchets as aweird fog descends and the aliens not only manifest physically butanimate the dead. For years, however, Koontz has aimed at more thanjust thrills; today he is a novelist of metaphysics and moralreflection. His aliens are inherently evil as well as scary;s
In the stillness of a golden September afternoon, deep in thewilderness of the Rockies, a solitary craftsman, Grady Adams, andhis magnificent Irish wolfhound, Merlin, step from shadow intolight...and into an encounter with mystery. That night, a pair ofsingular animals will watch Grady's isolated home, waiting to maketheir approach. A few miles away, Camillia Rivers, a local veterinarian, beginsto unravel the threads of a puzzle that will bring to her door allthe forces of a government in peril. At a nearby farm, long-estranged identical twins come togetherto begin a descent into darkness...In Las Vegas, a specialist inchaos theory probes the boundaries of the unknowable...On a Seattlegolf course, two men make matter-of-fact arrangements formurder...Along a highway by the sea, a vagrant scarred by the pastbegins a trek toward his destiny. In a novel that is at once wholly of our time and timeless,fearless and funny, Dean Koontz takes readers into the momentbetween one turn of the world and the next, acros
Innocence and beauty ignite with evil and terror as a younggirl exhibits signs of a wild and horrifying force.
His love was wild... his soul untamed... his touch forbidden....From acclaimed author Susan Krinard comes the second novel in amagnificent trilogy of a powerful clan whose sensual legacy iscloaked in secrecy-and a beautiful woman kidnapped by an outlawwhose forbidden embrace could reveal her true identity.... Once aWolf In the unspoiled expanses of the American West, Toma sAlejandro Randall was called El Lobo, the desperado and sworn enemyof powerful financier Cole MacLean. Few humans knew his trueidentity: heir to a wolf bloodline that made him as much an exoticbeast as a devastatingly attractive man. It was Toma s's plan tolure Cole MacLean's elegant fiance e, Lady Rowena Forster, from herNew York mansion to the wild frontier. There he planned to seducethe golden-haired beauty as revenge for the destruction of hisfamily at MacLean's hands. But once she was in his possession, ElLobo found himself unable to resist the call of his own untamedpassion-a passion that would claim the beauty for his own. As forLad
When two male and two female supremely sensual, unspeakablycerebral humans find themselves under attack from aliens who wanttheir awesome quantum breakthrough, they take to the skies -- andzoom into the cosmos on a rocket roller coaster ride of adventureand danger, ecstasy and peril.
Mining crimes of the past and politics, Truman ( Murder at thePentagon ) scants the basic plotting requirements of her 11thCapital Crimes case, which is marred by superfluous unsolvedmurders and an unconvincing conclusion. When the body of PaulineJuris, personal secretary of wealthy developer Wendell Tierney, isfound in the Potomac River, Tierney calls former attorney, now lawprofessor, Mackenzie Smith for advice. Mac, whose beloved wifeAnnabel wants him to stop dabbling in detection, agrees to seeWendell, but he refuses to ferret out the police line on the case,even though a former student of his heads the investigation team.Tierney, becoming chief suspect when love letters, purportedly fromhim, are found in the dead woman's apartment, again begs for Mac'shelp. Both Mac and Annabel are drawn into the case, which takes onanother twist when the suspect's adopted son, Sun Ben Cheong, isarrested for money laundering. Truman plumps up Mac's low-keysleuthing with the goings on of the fictitious Scarlet Sin
They were just kids when they stumbled upon the hidden horror oftheir hometown. Now, as adults, none of them can withstand theforce that has drawn them all back to Derry, Maine, to face thenightmare without end, and the evil without a name.
Book De*ion Dean Koontz’s uniquetalent for writing terrifying thrillers with a heart and soul isnowhere more evident than in this latest suspense masterpiece thatpits one man against the ultimate deadline. If there were speedlimits for the sheer pulse-racing excitement allowed in one novel,Velocity would break them all. Get ready for the ride of yourlife. From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. A diabolic killer plays a harrowing game of catand mouse with a reclusive bartender in Koontz's latest grippingsuspense thriller. Billy Wiles, a 30-something bartender and formerwriter, is content with his solitary Napa County existencelistening to "beer-based psychoanalysis" from tavern regulars;visiting his hospitalized, comatose fiancée, Barbara; and carvingwood sculptures. But the simple life gets mighty complicated whenhe finds a note with a deadly, time-sensitive ultimatum: he mustchoose between the death of a young schoolteacher or an elderlyhumanitarian in six hours. Reluctant local s
Hailed as "America's most popular suspense novelist"(RollingStone) Dean Koontz has entered a rich new phase of his writingcareer that is yielding his most imaginative, meaningful, andpopular work yet. At the height of his powers as a literary craftsman, he has won theacclaim of critics as well as the allegiance of millions of fansthe world over, transforming the greatest fears and hopes of ourtime into masterworks of dazzling originality and emotionalresonance. Now, with the stunning depth and virtuosity of his storytelling, hebrings to readers one of his most gripping and richly imaginednovels to date—an intoxicating story of adventure and suspense,mystery and revelation, told with humor, heart, and high art.
Revolution is in the air. The king's court sorcerer is beingeyed with suspicion. Not for dabbling in the black arts...not forconsorting with a demon...not for having a dragon as a pet...noteven for being mobbed up. But for the greatest crime of all:raising taxes. Who is this terrible tyrant? None other than Skeevethe Great. Oh, how the mighty have fallen...
His birth was marked by wonder and tragedy. He sees beauty and terror beyond our deepest dreams. His story will change the way you see the world. On the heels of his #1 bestseller False Memory, Dean Koontzbrings together his most compelling themes and an unforgettablecast of characters to create what is perhaps the most thrilling andemotionally powerful work of his critically acclaimed career. Bartholomew Lampion is born on a day of tragedy and terror thatwill mark his family forever. All agree that his unusual eyes arethe most beautiful they have ever seen. On this same day, athousand miles away, a ruthless man learns that he has a mortalenemy named Bartholomew. He embarks on a relentless search to findthis enemy, a search that will consume his life. And a girl is bornfrom a brutal rape, her destiny mysteriously linked to Barty andthe man who stalks him. At the age of three, Barty Lampion is blinded when surgeonsremove his eyes to save him from a fast-spreading cancer. As
Every so often a character so captures the hearts andimaginations of readers that he seems to take on a life of his ownlong after the final page is turned. For such a character, one bookis not enough--readers must know what happens next. Now Dean Koontzreturns with the novel his fans have been demanding. With theemotional power and sheer storytelling artistry that are histrademarks, Koontz takes up once more the story of a unique younghero and an eccentric little town in a tale that is equal partssuspense and terror, adventure and mystery--and altogetherirresistibly odd. We're all a little odd beneath the surface. He'sthe most unlikely hero you'll ever meet--an ordinary guy with amodest job you might never look at twice. But there's so much moreto any of us than meets the eye--and that goes triple for OddThomas. For Odd lives always between two worlds in the small deserttown of Pico Mundo, where the heroic and the harrowing are everydayevents. Odd never asked to communicate with the dead--it'ssomething
"In the small town of Innocence, Mississippi, days are long,nights are fragrant, and secrets are hard to keep. But when abrutal killer starts claiming the lives of the town's mostattractive women, lifelong neighbors are forced to wonder if theculprit is a stranger lurking in the bayou...or someone right nextdoor." Burned out by a whirlwind career, world-famous concertviolinist Caroline Waverly arrives in Innocence looking for alittle peace and some time to think. She hopes that a stay at herlate grandmother's house--the one with a covered porch just madefor soft summer nights--will provide the tranquillity she needs.But Innocence has something else to offer Caroline: handsome,charming Tucker Longstreet. Tucker is known for keeping hisromances short and shallow. But one look at Caroline, and Tuckerrealizes that she is unlike any other woman he's met. The coollyreserved Caroline feels an unexpected thrill at his ardentadvances. But when she discovers a third murder victim in the murkywaters behind her ho
They came by river and by wagon train, braving the endlessdistances of the Great Plains and the icy passes of the SierraNevada. They were men like Linus Rawlings, a restless survivor ofIndian country who'd headed east to see the ocean but left hisheart--and his home--in the West. They were women like LilithPrescott, a smart, spirited beauty who fled her family and fell fora gambling man in the midst of a frontier gold boom. Thesepioneering men and women sowed the seeds of a nation with theircourage--and with their blood. Here is the story of how their pathswould meet amid the epic struggle against fierce enemies andnature's cruelty, to win for all time the rich and untamedWest.
Con Vallian knew the best way to stay out of trouble was to mindhis own business. Then he stopped for a cup of coffee at astranger's campfire and found himself guiding a family ofgreenhorns across the prairie -- fighting a pack of rustlers on onehand and some mighty unpredictable Indians on the other!
One minute, down and out actor Lorenzo Smythe was -- as usual-- in a bar, drinking away his troubles as he watched his career godown the tubes. Then a space pilot bought him a drink, and the nextthing Smythe knew, he was shanghaied to Mars. Suddenly he foundhimself agreeing to the most difficult role of his career:impersonating an important politician who had been kidnapped. Peacewith the Martians was at stake -- failure to pull off the act couldresult in interplanetary war. And Smythe's own life was on the line-- for if he wasn't assassinated, there was always the possibilitythat he might be trapped in his new role forever!
"The Lonesome Gods" is Louis L'Amour's biggest and mostimportant historical novel to date, a sweeping adventure of theCalifornia frontier. Here is the fascinating story of JohannesVerne, a young man left to die by his vengeful grandfather, rescuedby outlaws and raised in part by the Indians of the desert.Strengthened by the love of two women--Miss Nesselrode, whosemysterious past fires her ambitions for the future and Meghan, awillful young beauty--Verne grows to become a rugged adventurer, aman strong enough to embrace the awesome power of the Palm Springsdesert, and bold enough to stake a claim in the bustling world ofopportunity that was early-day Los Angeles.
A plucky street boy who smokes, gambles, and speaksungrammatically, Dick is also honest and hardworking. Aquintessential novel of adventure, romance, and coming-of-age, itis also an exhilarating tale of one boy's metamorphosis from dirtystreet urchin to gentleman.
A writer is held hostage by his number-one fan in the novel that"demand[s] that we take King seriously as a writer with a deeplyfelt understanding of human psychology" ( Publishers Weekly ).His deeply felt understanding of what terrifies us doesn't hurteither.
