LOUISE PENNY calls Peter Robinson's new novel In the Dark Places a "thrilling, brilliantly plotted, beautifully paced" read. Available August 11, 2015—preorder your copy today!On a warm summer night, an attractive woman hurtles north in a blue Peugeot with a hastily scrawled address in her pocket, while, back in London, a desperate man leaves an urgent late-night phone message on his brother's answering machine. By sunrise the next morning, the woman is found inside her car along an otherwise peaceful country lane, shot, execution-style, through the head.Welcome to the idyllic Yorkshire Dales, where Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot arrives on the scene and discovers, to her surprise, a slip of paper in the dead woman's pocket that bears the name of her colleague and erstwhile lover, Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks. Banks, meanwhile—already haunted and withdrawn after nearly dying in the fire that destroyed his home—has gone missing just when he's needed most, and has left plenty of questions behind.As Annie struggles to determine whether or not Banks is safe—and what role he may have played in the woman's murder—Banks himself investigates the mysterious disappearance of his estranged brother, Roy, whose late-night call for help brings Banks back to London. Working from Roy's swank apartment, Banks makes the rounds to Roy's old haunts and slowly inhabits the life of his younger brother—the black sheep of the family, who always seemed to sail a little too close to the wind. As the trail of clues about Roy's life and associations draws Banks into a dark circle of conspiracy and corruption, mobsters and murder, Banks suddenly realizes he's running out of time to save Roy, and by digging too deep, he may be exposing himself and his family to the same—possibly deadly—danger.

Though unalike as snowflakes, sisters Patricia Anne and Mary Alice share a sympathetic heart for their distraught cousin Luke -- known affectionately in his boyhood as "Pukey Lukey," because of his penchant for getting sick in moving vehicles. Luke is desperate to hunt down Virginia, his wife of forty years, who has run off with a housepainter/snake-handling preacher named "Monk." And the sisters have graciously agreed to accompany their stricken kinsman on his search...in Luke's car, of course.But, while practical "Mouse" and flamboyant "Sister" are unable to find their runaway cousin-in-law among the asp-loving faithful on Chandler Mountain, they do manage to stumble upon the corpse of a pretty young redhead who was prematurely sent to her eternal reward. And before you can say "anaconda," they are hot on the serpentine trail of a killer who'd like nothing better than to sink a pair of poisonous fangs into two meddling Southern sisters!

Patricia Anne can't imagine why Mary Alice is in such an uproar over her son Ray's new bride. Sunshine Dabbs is Ucute as can be," even if she is a bit unconventional, which should hardly come as a shock to Mary Alicc given that she's the one who raised her boy. But with all her motherly instincts, Mary Alice is sure that this sweet little blonde Barbie doll--who met her son in Bora Bora after she won the trip on Wheel of Fortune--thinks she's found herself a fortune in Ray's hefty wallet. The sisters can't wait to get a look at Sunshine's family, and quite a look it turns out to be. As soon as Meemaw Turkett invites Mary Alice and Patricia Anne into her cozy trailer on the family compound they stumble over a corpse, and Meemaw's best hog butchering knife is stuck in its chest. Meemaw, a Cabbage Patch look-alike and Sunshine's grandmother, guardian, and the family matriarch is shocked to pieces and immediately summons the family to her trailer. Pawpaw, a lovable bearded grump has his own trailer, and their grown kids each enjoy a private home-away-from-home on the five-trailer compound. The discovery of the mysterious body brings in Mary Alice's nemesis, good ol' boy Sheriff Reuse, who, she knows from her experience at the Skoot 'n' Boot, is nothing but trouble. Within minutes, the compound is strewn with a weird collection of friends, neighbors and relatives. There's Meemaw's spooky channeler, ready to give guidance as needed; Sunshine's jilted boyfriend skulking around; a bunch of dogs ready to attack...and Kerrigan, Sunshine's mostly absentee mama, who stars in the kind of video flicks that might even shock Mary Alice. Patricia Anne can't imagine why Mary Alice is in such an uproar over her son Ray's new bride. Sunshine Dabbs is Ucute as can be," even if she is a bit unconventional, which should hardly come as a shock to Mary Alicc given that she's the one who raised her boy. But with all her motherly instincts, Mary Alice is sure that this sweet little blonde Barbie doll--who met her son in Bora Bora after she won the trip on Wheel of Fortune--thinks she's found herself a fortune in Ray's hefty wallet. The sisters can't wait to get a look at Sunshine's family, and quite a look it turns out to be. As soon as Meemaw Turkett invites Mary Alice and Patricia Anne into her cozy trailer on the family compound they stumble over a corpse, and Meemaw's best hog butchering knife is stuck in its chest. Meemaw, a Cabbage Patch look-alike and Sunshine's grandmother, guardian, and the family matriarch is shocked to pieces and immediately summons the family to her trailer. Pawpaw, a lovable bearded grump has his own trailer, and their grown kids each enjoy a private home-away-from-home on the five-trailer compound. The discovery of the mysterious body brings in Mary Alice's nemesis, good ol' boy Sheriff Reuse, who, she knows from her experience at the Skoot 'n' Boot, is nothing but trouble. Within minutes, the compound is strewn with a weird collection of friends, neighbors and relatives. There's Meemaw's spooky channeler, ready to give guidance as needed; Sunshine's jilted boyfriend skulking around; a bunch of dogs ready to attack...and Kerrigan, Sunshine's mostly absentee mama, who stars in the kind of video flicks that might even shock Mary Alice.

After serving time for armed robbery, Ernest "Stick" Stickley is back on the outside and trying to stay legit. But it's tough staying straight in a crooked town -- and Miami is a pirate's paradise, where investment fat cats and lowlife drug dealers hold hands and dance. And when a crazed player chooses Stick at random to die for another man's sins, the struggling ex-con is left with no choice but to dive right back into the game. Besides, Stick knows a good thing when he sees it -- and a golden opportunity to run a very profitable sweet revenge scam seems much too tasty to pass up.

The year is 2011.An oil-hungry world is starving . . .. . . and Argentina, with Russia's help, is determined to brutally wrest the petroleum-rich Falkland Islands from British hands. Enraged over this brazen act of international piracy, Great Britain dispatches a battle fleet to the islands for the second time in thirty years—unaware that Viper K-157, a lethal Russian Akula-class submarine, lies in wait, stuffed to the gunwales with ship-killingtorpedoes.America cannot sit idle as hell explodes in the South Atlantic and, under the stern eye of Admiral Arnold Morgan, the military's most powerful weapon is unleashed to hammer Argentina into submission: the U.S. Navy SEALs. The outcome of the unforeseen war that's igniting in America's backyard ultimately depends upon her awesome "ghost force” and their successful execution of two remarkable clandestine missions—while the consequences of failure may be too terrible to consider.

"There are threads in our lives. You pull one, and everything else gets affected."When they were children, Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus, and Dave Boyle were friends. But then a strange car pulled tip to their street. One boy got into the car, two did not, and something terrible happened — something that ended their friendship and changed all three boys forever.Twenty-five years later, Sean Devine is a homicide detective. Jimmy Marcus is an ex-con who owns a corner store. And Dave Boyle is trying to hold his marriage together and keep his demons at bay — demons that urge him to do terrible things.When Jimmy Marcus's daughter is found murdered, Sean Devine is assigned to the case. His personal life unraveling, he must go back into a world he thought he'd left behind to confront not only the violence, of the present but the nightmares of his past. His investigation brings him into conflict with Jimmy Marcus, who finds that his old criminal impulses tempt him to solve the crime with brutal justice. And then there is Dave Boyle, who came home the night Jimmy's daughter died covered with someone else's blood.While Sean Devine attempts to use the law to return peace and order to the neighborhood, Jimmy Marcus finds his need for vengeance pushing him ever closer to a moral abyss from which lie wont be able to return, and Dave's wife, Celeste, sleeps at night with a man she fears may very well be a monster. a monster who fathered her child and hides his true nature from everyone, possibly even himself.A tense and unnerving psychological thriller, Mystic River is also an epic novel of love and loyalty, faith and family, in which people irrevocably marked by the past find themselves on a collision course with the darkest truths of their own hidden selves.

A delightful, witty, spirited collection of short pieces and essays by the inimitable E. B. White.

Will anyone take on Jake SempleJake Semple is notorious. Rumor has it he burned down his old school and got kicked out of every school in his home state. Only one place will take him now, and that's a home school run by the Applewhites, a chaotic and hilarious family of artists. The only one who doesn't fit the Applewhite mold is E.D. a smart, sensible girl who immediately clashes with the unruly Jake. Jake thinks surviving this one will be a breeze . . . but is he really as tough or as bad as he seems?

Contains the complete text of both Secret of the Clans and Code of the Clans . Welcome to the world of ThunderClan, RiverClan, ShadowClan, WindClan, and SkyClan. . . . Here, the secrets behind the Clans are revealed. Find out how apprentices learn to fight, hunt, and help their Clans. Explore the territories with an insiders-only tour. Discover the origins of the warrior code, which governs how Clan cats live side by side in times of war and peace.

Are you a guy who interested in building rock hard muscle, erasing your belly fat, boosting your testosterone, and having more mind-blowing sex than you thought possibleIf so, then Man 2.0: Engineering the Alpha was written specifically for you... In his new book, celebrity trainer and Men Health expert John 'Roman' Romaniello teams up with expert Adam Bornstein, former editor for both Men Health and LIVESTRONG. Together, they reveal the secrets they've discovered that will give any man no matter how old you are a chiseled body that will turn heads everywhere you go. You know the kind of body I'm talking about. The kind of body that women seem to drool and stare at when they're at the beach with their girlfriends... As a former 'fat guy,' Roman struggled for years to find a workout and diet that would give him the body he always wanted. By using the very secrets you'll find in this book techniques he spent 10 years perfecting he overcame his 'fat genes' and boasts a lean and ripped body the kind that could be (and has been) seen on the cover of magazines. And the best part is you don't have to kill yourself to get this body. Man 2.0: Engineering the Alpha will show you exactly how to get the body you've always wanted without starving yourself and without spending 2 hours in the gym every day. And for all of the guys out there wondering... YES! Man 2.0: Engineering the Alpha will even work for guys in their 30s, 40s, and 50s... Getting lean, ripped, and strong is not just for young guys! In Man 2.0: Engineering the Alpha , Romaniello and Adam Bornstein present proven, powerful ways for men to improve physical, emotional, sexual, and psychological health. From research in Olympic labs to real-life results with their clients, they are reinventing masculinity and showing every man how to become exactly who he wants to be... If you're ready to build strong, defined muscles, burn away your belly fat, boost your testosterone, and start experiencing more mind blowing sex than you ever thought was possible then grab your copy of Man 2.0: Engineering the Alpha now...

Illuminating and essential, Big Questions from Little People is a timeless gift, a handbook for curious children and their perplexed parents. Many of the questions children ask in the course of growing up can stump even the best educated adult: Why can't I tickle myselfAre we all relatedWho named all the citiesDo aliens existWhat makes me meIs it okay to eat a wormWho invented chocolateIf the universe started from nothing, how did it become somethingHow do you fall in loveWho is GodHow do chefs get ideas for recipesWhy are some people meanThis charming and informative collection has been compiled from schoolchildren's actual questions, which are answered by the world's greatest experts, including Mary Roach, Richard Dawkins, Philip Pullman, Bear Grylls, David Eagleman, Philippa Gregory, Noam Chomsky, and Mario Batali.

Wield the power of OpenStack Neutron networking to bring network infrastructure and capabilities to your cloud About This Book This completely up-to-date edition will show you how to deploy a cloud on OpenStack using community-driven processes. It includes rich examples that will help you understand complex networking topics with ease Understand every aspect of designing, creating, customizing, and maintaining the core network foundation of an OpenStack cloud using OpenStack Neutron all in one book Written by best-selling author James Denton, who has more than 15 years of experience in system administration and networking. James has experience of deploying, operating, and maintaining OpenStack clouds and has worked with top enterprises and organizations Who This Book Is For If you are an OpenStack-based cloud operator and administrator who is new to Neutron networking and wants to build your very own OpenStack cloud, then this book is for you. Prior networking experience and a physical server and network infrastructure is recommended to follow along with concepts demonstrated in the book. What You Will Learn Architect and install the latest release of OpenStack on Ubuntu Linux 14.04 LTS Review the components of OpenStack networking, including plugins, agents, and services, and learn how they work together to coordinate network operations Build a virtual switching infrastructure using reference architectures based on ML2 + Open vSwitch or ML2 + LinuxBridge Create networks, subnets, and routers that connect virtual machine instances to the network Deploy highly available routers using DVR or VRRP-based methods Scale your application with haproxy and Load Balancing as-a-Service Implement port and router-level security using Security Groups and Firewall as-a-Service Provide connectivity to tenant networks with Virtual Private Networking as-a-Service (VPNaaS) Find out how to manage OpenStack networking resources using CLI and GUI-driven methods In Detail OpenStack Neutron is an OpenStack component that provides networking as a service for other OpenStack services to architect networks and create virtual machines through its API. This API lets you define network connectivity in order to leverage network capabilities to cloud deployments. Through this practical book, you will build a strong foundational knowledge of Neutron, and will architect and build an OpenStack cloud using advanced networking features. We start with an introduction to OpenStack Neutron and its various components, including virtual switching, routing, FWaaS, VPNaaS, and LBaaS. You’ll also get hands-on by installing OpenStack and Neutron and its components, and use agents and plugins to orchestrate network connectivity and build a virtual switching infrastructure. Moving on, you’ll get to grips with the HA routing capabilities utilizing VRRP and distributed virtual routers in Neutron. You’ll also discover load balancing fundamentals, including the difference between nodes, pools, pool members, and virtual IPs. You’ll discover the purpose of security groups and learn how to apply the security concept to your cloud/tenant/instance. Finally, you'll configure virtual private networks that will allow you to avoid the use of SNAT and floating IPs when connecting to remote networks. Style and approach This easy-to-follow guide on networking in OpenStack follows a step-by-step process to installing OpenStack and configuring the base networking components. Each major networking component has a dedicated chapter that will build on your experience gained from prior chapters.

Brilliant, dedicated, and driven, archaeologist Emma Fielding finds things that have been lost for hundreds of years -- and she's very, very good at it. A soon-to-be-tenured professor, she has recently unearthed evidence of a seventeenth-century coastal Maine settlement that predates Jamestown, one of the most significant archaeological finds in years. But the dead body that accompanies it has embroiled Emma and her students in a different kind of exploration. With her reputation suddenly in jeopardy -- due to the ruthless machinations of a disgruntled rival -- and a second suspicious death, heartbreakingly close to home, Emma must unearth a killer among the relics. But that means digging deep to get to dark secrets buried in the heart of the archaeological community -- which, in turn, could bury Emma Fielding.

Top ten New York Times bestselling author J.A. Jance brings another stunning novel of passion, violence, and dreams turned deadly, featuring Seattle Homicide Detective J.P. Beaumont.There are many bizarre and terrible ways to die. Seattle Homicide Detective J.P. Beaumont thought he had seen them all—until he saw this body, its wounds, and the murder weapon: an elegant woman's shoe, its stiletto heel gruesomely caked with blood. The evidence is shocking and unsettling, even for a man who prowls the shadows for a living, for it suggests that savagery is not the exclusive domain of the predatory male. And the scent of a stylish killer is pulling Beaumont into a world of drugs, corruption, and murder to view close-up a cinematic dream at its most nightmarish...and lethal.

Top ten New York Times bestselling author J.A. Jance brings us another mesmerizing thriller featuring Arizona Sheriff Joanna Brady as she searches for the brutal killer of a young girl. Brianna "Bree" O'Brien never returned from Skeleton Canyon. Someone brutally murdered the pretty, popular teenager who had stolen away under cover of darkness to rendezvous with her boyfriend. Perhaps youthful rage, jealousy and savage passion cost young Bree her life. Or maybe she stumbled onto something too dangerous to know. Sheriff Joanna Brady of Cochise County knows only too well the pain of losing a loved one to violence. But she is disturbed by the O'Brien's insistence that Bree's boyfriend is responsible for their daughter's slaying. Joanna senses there are words not being spoken, and dark mysteries locked behind doors of the sprawling O'Brien family compound. But it is the strange disappearance of a good friend that is pulling Sheriff Brady ever closer to the lethal nest of lies, greed and secrets hiding in a desolate corner of the Arizona desert - where the next blood that feeds the parched, cracked earth could be her own.

If America had a royal family, the Taylor Winthrops would wear the crown. The popular, charismatic Winthrops have captured the imagination of the world with their public service, their enormous charity, and their glamorous lives. But in the period of one year., all five members of the family are killed in a series of accidents. Beautiful young anchor woman Dana Evans begins an investigation and starts unraveling compelling evidence that she can hardly believe.In her determined pursuit of the truth, Dana never anticipated the cat-and-mouse chase that leads her through a half dozen countries in search of a remorseless killer. As she closes in on her suspect, the shocking secrets she uncovers place Dana and her young son in dire jeopardy. Can Dana outwit her pursuers and expose the truth that will astound the world?A dynamite thriller filled with all the elements that have made his previous works phenomenal bestsellers) The Sky Is Falling is Sidney Sheldon at his sizzling best.

A lone rogue vampire mingles among his hunters in a blood bar, undetected…until a beautiful woman snares his attention. Suddenly, he's running, leading her on a chase until she corners him, stake dangling from her slender fingertips. Now he has two choices: play it sexy or safe?

There's snow place like homicideB&B hostess Judith McMonigle Flynn's ready to hang up her oven mitts, but irrepressible Cousin Renie needs help catering the telephone company's annual winter retreat at secluded Mountain Goat Lodge. The pay's good, the scenery's to die for -- but they never figured there'd be a killer cooking up mischief among this innocuous stew of corporate-climbing phone company ding-a-lings. Unfortunately, Judith and Renie's discovery of the frozen garroted remains of the previous company caterer -- missing since last year's shindig -- suggests no less, since the same cast of characters is present this time around. It's Dial "M" for Mountain Goat Murder, and a storm's blowing in to boot -- leaving Judith and Renie stranded with ten suspects and a corpses...and with nothing better to do than to reach out and touch a killer who's like nothing better than to put two inquisitive cousins in the Deep Freeze.

Hank Mallone knows he's in trouble when Maggie Toone agrees to pretend to be his wife in order to improve his rogue's reputation. Will his harebrained scheme to get a bank loan for his business backfire once Maggie arrives in his small Vermont town and lets the gossips take a look?Maggie never expected her employer to be drop-dead handsome, but she's too intrigued by his offer to say no . . . and too eager to escape a life that made her feel trapped. The deal is strictly business, both agree, until Hank turns out to be every fantasy she ever had.

The revelations on Mars -- a half-million year-old legacy of the vanished star-traveling Builders -- have fed the flames of catastrophic war. A beleaguered United States and its Russian and Japanese allies struggle to hold their own against the indomitable forces of the enemy United Nations. The bloody conflict that has swept over the home planet now rages across the blackness of space -- with the U.S. Marine Corps in the vanguard, leading the charge as always.But Mars is not the sole repository of alien wonders. The Earth's moon hides unsettling mysteries of its own-and dangerous secrets pointing toward an unstoppable threat advancing from somewhere beyond the solar system. And as scientists on both sides ract to utilize technology they have only barely begun to comprehend, the UN makes the opening move in a gambit that could end the hostilities quickly and decisively by bringing about the death of millions...without the aid of alien-inspired weaponry.A bad situation worsens by the nanosecond. And that means it's time to call in the Marines -- to make a life or death stand on the gray shores of Luna.

Seven years ago, Phillip Margolin seized the imagination of thriller readers everywhere with his chilling breakout bestseller, Gone, but Not Forgotten. After five subsequent New York Times bestsellers, Margolin now returns to the haunting terrain of Gone, but Not Forgotten with a mesmerizing tour de force of psychological suspense, an electrifying tale of revenge and retribution that shows a master storyteller at the very peak of his craft.Thursday: Subject is still combative after four days of applied pain, sleep deprivation and minimal food.Vice squad detective Bobby Vasquez, for months on the trail of a slippery underworld figure, receives an anonymous tip that directs him to a mountain cabin. He races through the idyllic Oregon woods, expecting to close the book on a long-standing vendetta. What he finds instead opens a Pandora's box of horror that will haunt him to his dying day.8:10: Subject bound and gaffed and placed in upstairs closet at end of hall. Turned out lights in house, drove off, then parked and doubled back. Watched from woods.Within hours, Vincent Cordoni -- a brilliant surgeon with a history of violence and drug abuse -- is arrested for a heinous crime. Facing a seemingly insurmountable wall of evidence, he turns to Portland's top criminal defense attorney, Frank Jaffe-who, along with his ambitious daughter, Amanda, must put on an inspired defense. Amanda's first taste of criminal defense work is as intoxicating as it is chilling, but it raises moral questions she's loath to address. Is she defending an innocent manOr is she using her considerable skills to set a monster freeThen Cardoni disappears under bizarre circumstances. Four years later, a second set of murders has begun ....8:55: Subject exits house, naked and barefoot, armed with kitchen knife. Remarkable strength of character. Breaking her will be a challenge.Has Cardoni resurfaced to ply his deadly trade anewIs there a copycat killerOr has the real killer been someone else all alongThe police will do everything they can to stop Cardoni -- but they have to find him first.Following a twisting trail of clues, including a harrowing diary that clinically records the killer's horrible deeds, Amanda Jaffe and Bobby Vasquez join the hunt-and themselves become targets of the twenty-first century's first genuinely monstrous psychopath. :