Michael Connelly - (Harry Bosch #14) - 9 Dragons

Harry Bosch is assigned a homicide call in South L.A. that takes him to Fortune Liquors, where the Chinese owner has been shot to death behind the counter in an apparent robbery.

Joined by members of the department's Asian Crime Unit, Bosch relentlessly investigates the killing and soon identifies a suspect, a Los Angeles member of a Hong Kong triad. But before Harry can close in, he gets the word that his young daughter Maddie, who lives in Hong Kong with her mother, is missing.

Bosch drops everything to journey across the Pacific to find his daughter. Could her disappearance and the case be connected? With the stakes of the investigation so high and so personal, Bosch is up against the clock in a new city, where nothing is at it seems.


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Dan Brown - The Lost Symbol

THE LOST SYMBOL is a heart-stopping race through a real-world labyrinth of codes, secrets, and unseen truths. Set within the hidden chambers, tunnels, and temples of Washington, D.C., this novel once again plunges Dan Brown's legions of fans into a world of ancient mysteries and secret societies that are signature Brown - this time in the heart of America's capital. As the story opens, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned unexpectedly to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building. Within minutes of his arrival, however, the night takes a bizarre turn. A disturbing object artfully encoded with five symbols is discovered in the Capitol. Langdon recognizes the object as an ancient invitation - one meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of esoteric wisdom. When Langdon's beloved mentor, Peter Solomon, a prominent Mason and philanthropist, is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes his only hope of saving Peter is to accept this mystical invitation and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon is instantly plunged into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and never-before-seen locations, all of which seem to be dragging him toward a single, inconceivable truth. With eye-opening revelations and mind-bending puzzles on every page, THE LOST SYMBOL moves at an exhilarating pace toward a truly unimaginable conclusion. Brown's fifth novel is a masterstroke of entertainment, reminding readers yet again that Dan Brown is one of the most ingenious and inventive authors writing today.

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Hard Rain, Barry Eisler

Barry Eisler's half-breed freelance assassin John Rain returns to Tokyo for a second outing in Hard Rain, the sequel to Eisler's stunning 2002 debut, Rain Fall. Once again Rain is working with, or at least parallel to, Tatsu, a wily veteran of Japan's FBI equivalent, who aims to cleanse the Japanese government of its systemic corruption. To further this goal, he's persuaded the ever-cautious Rain to take out Murakami, a brutal gangster and hitman who specializes in making his killings look like suicide, a specialty Rain thought was his alone. Liquidating the dangerous and elusive Murakami proves to be a difficult task, however, one that leads to personal loss for Rain, and sets the plot on course for a climax that hits with the power of a well-delivered roundhouse kick.

Eisler builds on Rain's self-enforced isolation and loneliness as he expertly shows the reader Tokyo as channeled by Chandler, transforming the burgeoning metropolis into a noir catacomb of dimly lit hostess bars, scheming bureaucrats, shadowy intelligence agents, and outlaw martial arts dojos where thugged-up yakuza train for illicit death matches.

While the plot becomes complicated toward the novel's conclusion, Rain is a refreshing and complex character whom readers will want to see return for another installment. If you've a yen for a thriller that mixes suspense, intrigue, and action with a Japanese flavor and a hardboiled American attitude, Eisler's Hard Rain is an excellent choice.

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Killing Rain, Barry Eisler

At the start of Eisler's taut and compelling fourth thriller to feature John Rain (after 2004's Rain Storm), the freelance assassin's latest employer, Israeli intelligence, has sent him and his longtime associate, Dox, to Manila to kill weapons dealer Manheim Levi. Just as Rain is about to make his move, however, Levi's young son suddenly appears on the scene; Levi's bodyguards wind up shot while Levi and his son escape. The dead bodyguards turn out to be ex-CIA; and Jim Hilger, the renegade Company man with whom they were also working, is upset enough to ask his own specialists to exact revenge. Trying to find a way to complete his mission, Rain contacts Delilah, a fellow intelligence agent with whom he's been involved. But her Mossad colleagues, who have lost their trust in Rain's reliability, are setting up their own plan to take care of him. The plot has enough twists and turns to satisfy, and Eisler is an adept hand at pacing and suspense. The dialogue generally rings true, though the switching back and forth between first- and third-person narrative can be distracting. Various exotic Asian locales add to the appeal.

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Rain Storm, Barry Eisler

Eisler adds a fine new entry to his standout series starring freelance assassin John Rain, who tracks quarry across the Asian capitals of the Pacific Rim. In the third installment (following last year's Hard Rain), Rain is lured out of self-imposed exile in Brazil, where he had hoped to find shelter from the killing business, when his old employer, the CIA, dangles $200,000 his way for the elimination of an Arab arms supplier known only as Belghazi. Rain takes the job, promising himself it will be his last, and travels to Macao, a Portuguese peninsula and islands off the coast of China, to begin tracking Belghazi. But Rain, a meticulous hit man equipped with all the latest gadgetry, hardly hits town before he discovers that not only is another assassin stalking Belghazi but somebody is stalking Rain himself. Rain, who specializes in fatal neck-snapping wrestling holds, makes quick work of all the intruders, but Belghazi, aided by a beautiful woman named Delilah (who knows a lot about killing too), eludes him. The action shifts back and forth between Macao, Hong Kong and Tokyo, each setting rendered in intimately warm detail, before catapulting to a chilling finale in which Rain narrowly escapes bleeding to death on a shipping dock. Along the way, the usually detached hero shows a new dimension—the possible seeds of a fascinating friendship with a fellow hit man, a life-of-the-party type named Dox. The two complement each other like black and white. Yet what truly sets Eisler's series apart is its near total absence of formula and stereotype. Rain is a wholly original, cliché-free character operating in a world created only for him, serving as both his folly and his foil.

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Rain Fall, Barry Eisler

John Rain, a Japanese American konketsu, or half-breed, learned his lethal trade as a member of the U.S. Special Forces. Although tortured by memories of atrocities he committed in Vietnam, he has become a paid assassin, a solitary man who lives in the shadows and trusts no one, even those who pay extraordinary sums for his ability to make murder look like natural death. But the aftermath of an otherwise routine hit on a government bureaucrat brings Rain to the attention of two men he knows from the old days in Vietnam: a friend who's now a Tokyo cop and an enemy who betrayed Rain long ago and is now the CIA's station chief in Japan. Like the gangster who hired Rain to kill Yasuhiro Kawamura, they want something the dead man had--a computer disk containing proof of high-level corruption, information that could destroy Japan's ruling political coalition. The search for the disk leads them to a woman Rain has come to love, a talented young jazz musician who also happens to be Kawamura's daughter. In this taut, brilliantly paced debut thriller, set in a vividly rendered Tokyo, the author manages an unlikely feat; he earns the reader's sympathy and concern for his protagonist, an amoral assassin who is one of most compelling characters in recent crime fiction.

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Requiem For An Assassin, Barry Eisler

For master assassin John Rain, getting out of 'the life' was never going to be easy. But with a new identity in Paris, and the help of his lover, Mossad agent Delilah, he was hoping to leave the killing business behind. Then he receives a message from rogue CIA operative Jim Hilger: We have your friend Dox. Do as we tell you, or the sniper dies. The choice ought to be easy: do the job - a series of three hits - and save his friend and partner.But how does Rain know Hilger won't just kill Dox once the assignment is complete? How does he know that each of the hits isn't also a setup for Rain himself? Most of all, how can he control the killing rage that Hilger's lethal game of extortion reignites inside him? From the deceptively tranquil beaches of Bali, to the boulevards of Paris, the urban chaos of New York, and finally to the old killing fields of Vietnam. Rain must grapple not only with his brutal enemies, but also with the latent killer inside himself! a battle that not even Rain can hope to survive intact.

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The Last Assassin, Barry Eisler

When John Rain learns that his former lover, Midori, has been raising their child in New York, he senses a chance for reconciliation, perhaps even redemption. But Midori is being watched by Rain's enemies, and his sudden appearance put mother and child in terrible danger. To save them, Rain is forced to use the same deadly talents he had been hoping to leave behind. With the help of Tatsu, his friendly nemesis in the Japanese FBI, and Dox, the ex-marine sniper whose laid-back style masks a killer as deadly as Rain himself, Rain races against time to bring his enemies into the open and eliminate them forever. But to finish the job, he'll need one more ally: Israeli intelligence agent Delilah, a woman who represents an altogether different kind of threat.

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Intervention

New York Times–bestselling author Robin Cook returns with another ripped-from-the-headlines medical thriller, where DNA science, biotechnology, and religion collide.It’s been more than thirty years since New York City medical examiner Jack Stapleton’s college graduation and almost as long since he’d been in touch with former classmates Shawn Doherty and Kevin Murray. Once a highly regarded ophthalmologist, Jack’s career took a dramatic turn after a tragic accident that destroyed his family. But that, too, is very much in the past: Jack has remarried—to longtime colleague and fellow medical examiner Laurie Montgomery—and is the father of a young child. But his renegade, activist personality can’t rest, and after performing a postmortem on a young college student who had recently been treated by a chiropractor, Jack decides to explore alternative medicine. What makes some people step outside the medical establishment to seek care from practitioners of Eastern philosophies and even faith healers?

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Saving Faith, David Baldacci

David Baldacci's high-impact novel tells of an embattled group of men and women fighting the forces of lethal corruption that operate at the heart of the Secret State. Danny Buchanan is a top Washington lobbyist who once earned a vast fortune serving the interests of giant corporations. Appalled by the desperate poverty he witnessed on his global travels, he decided to use his political genius to help the world's poor. With the loyal aid of his assistant, the attractive and committed Faith Lockhart, Danny works tirelessly and in secret to redress the balance of power. But Robert Thornhill has rather different ideas of public service. A ruthless top-ranking veteran of covert CIA activity, he discovers the secret of Danny's political influence and is determined to destroy him...

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Simple Genius, David Baldacci

Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are both haunted by their last case. Realizing that Michelle is teetering on the brink of self-destruction from long-buried demons, Sean arranges therapy for his reluctant partner. But instead of focusing on her recovery, Michelle unearths disturbing secrets in the hospital..

Sean accepts a much-needed job. A physicist, Monk Turing, has died in mysterious circumstances near Babbage Town - a secretive establishment populated by an eccentric group of scientists and cryptographers, funded by an anonymous but powerful group. Meanwhile the dead man's young daughter, piano-playing prodigy Viggie, has secrets of her own. But what is the significance of the phrase 'codes and blood'?

Directly across the York River from Babbage Town lies the sinister CIA training ground, Camp Peary, where Monk Turing's body was found. With both the FBI and CIA breathing down Sean's neck, can he discover the truth? And will he be in time to save Michelle from herself?

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Split Second, David Baldacci

When every law enforcement agency in the land is crawling with corruption where do you turn for justice? What is law anyway when determined by fidelity, envy and revenge? 'He was the only one in the room who could see it. His attention stayed there for one beat, two beats, three beats, far too long. Yet who could blame him for not being able to pull his gaze away from that?' When something distracts Secret Agent, Sean King, for a split second, it costs him his career and presidential candidate, Clyde Ritter, his life. What stole his attention? Why was Ritter shot? Where were the other detail leaders?Eight years later, Michelle Maxwell, is on the fast track through the ranks of the Secret Service when her career receives a lethal blow: presidential candidate, John Bruno is abducted from a funeral home while under her protection. The similarity between the two cases drives Michelle to re-open investigations into the Ritter fiasco and join forces with attractive ex-agent, King. The pair are determined to get to the bottom of what happened in those critical moments. Meanwhile, high-ranking members of the legal system and key witnesses from both cases are going missing. King is losing friends, colleagues and clients fast and his ex-lover. Joan Dillinger - a hard-biting, widely respected agent - is playing curious games. She wants Sean back and resents his growing relationship with Michelle - but - she also owes him for something...Baldacci never misses a beat. He has created a labyrinthine plot that winds its way through the dark passages of America's legal underworld.

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Stone Cold, David Baldacci

Oliver Stone and the Camel Club are back for their most dangerous adventure yet. Casino king and vicious thug Jerry Bagger is hunting Annabelle Conroy, who conned him out of millions. Stone and his colleagues must marshal all their resources to protect her. Yet their skills may not be enough when a deadly new opponent rips off the veneer of Stone's own mysterious past: Bagger's menace pales next to Harry Finn's lethality. As bodies and institutions topple, the story rockets toward a shattering finale that will leave the survivors of this explosive tale changed forever ...

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The Camel Club, David Baldacci

The man known as Oliver Stone has no official past. He spends most days camped opposite the White House, hoping to expose corruption wherever he finds it. But the stakes are raised when he and his friends, a group of conspiracy theorist misfits known as The Camel Club, accidentally witness the murder of an intelligence analyst. Especially when the authorities are seemingly happy to write it off as a suicide. For Secret Service agent Alex Ford, monitoring the 'investigation', the suicide verdict doesn't ring true. As punishment for sticking his nose where it doesn't belong, he is reassigned to bodyguard duties. His abilities are tested to the limit when he is sent to protect the President during a visit to his hometown, where a terrorist cell has spent months plotting an event that will shake the world. Meanwhile, America's powerful intelligence chief Carter Gray is unnerved when he glimpses the face of an old acquaintance in Arlington Cemetery - but it is the face of a man supposedly long dead ...And as "The Camel Club" is poised to expose a conspiracy that reaches into the heart of Washington's highly secretive corridors of power, Alex Ford finds out that his worst nightmare is about to happen .

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The Whole Truth David Baldacci

'I need a war ...' Nicolas Creel, a super-rich arms dealer, decides that the best way to boost his business is to start a new cold war - and he won't let anything or anyone get in his way. As international tensions rise and the superpowers line up against each other, the lives of three very different people will never be the same again. As intelligence agent Shaw, academic Anna Fischer and ambitious journalist Katie James are all drawn into Creel's games, can anything stop the world from spiralling out of control? This terrifying global thriller delivers all the twists and turns, emotional drama, unforgettable characters and can't-put-it-down pacing that Baldacci fans expect - and still goes beyond anything he's written before.

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Absolute Power, David Baldacci

"Accomplished and amazing - one of the hottest reads around" - "Daily Mail." Set in Washington D.C., this fascinating thriller of unparalleled suspense dares to explore an unthinkable abuse of power and criminal conspiracy: a vicious murder involving the US President and a cover-up orchestrared by his zealously loyal Chief of Staff and the Secret Service. But, unknown to the President and his lackeys, one unlikely witness saw everything. Trapped behind a two-way mirror in a country house in Maryland, Luther Whitney, a professional burglar, witnesses an event that destroys his faith in justice. By the time he escapes, pursued by two Secret Service agents, a young woman has been sexually assaulted, then shot dead. And a breathtaking cover-up has been set in motion. "Baldacci's prose is fluent and amazing ...this book is sure to make a killing"- "The Times." "A high-octane legal thriller. An almost Shakespearian study in the nature of evil - horror in its purest form" - "Spectator".

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First Family, David Baldacci

Camp David, USA. A birthday party turns into a nightmare when a child is snatched during the celebrations. The First Lady enlists the services of Sean King and Michelle Maxwell to bring the child home safely. But she and King share a past. Years ago he saved her then senator husband from an assassin's bullet. And this may not be all that passed between them...With Michelle still haunted by her own demons and forces from all sides aligning against them, soon the pair find themselves pushed to the limit. For who is it that they can really trust?

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Last Man Standing, David Baldacci

Seven seconds. That's all it took for Web London to lose everything: his friends, his team, his reputation. Point man of the FBI's super-elite Hostage rescue Team, Web roared into a blind alley towards a drug leader's lair, only to meet a high-tech, custom-designed ambush that killed everyone around him. Coping with the blame-filled words of anguished widows and the suspicions of colleagues, Web tries to put his life back together. To do so, he must discover why he was the one man who lived through the ambush - and find the only other person who came out of the alley alive ...a ten-year-old boy who has since disappeared. Acting on his instincts, Web believes he knows where the killer will strike next. Only this time, he may not survive the attack. In this extraordinary work, Baldacci uses his unsurpassed storytelling skills to explore the essence of survival itself, as a conspiracy of violence surrounds an FBI agent whose fate was to be the ..."Last Man Standing".

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The Crime Code (Previously Crime Zero), Michael Cordy

When the ultimate solution becomes the ultimate crime.

Violent crime has become a global epidemic, nowhere more so than in the United States. Everything from the death penalty to liberal reforms has failed. Nothing has been effective until now. Project Conscience promises to be the solution. It is a bold attempt by a powerful group of scientists, politicians and senior law-enforcement personnel to use gene therapy to treat male criminals and cure violent crime. But among their number are those with a more sinister agenda, who would go further and turn the dream of Project Conscience into the nightmare of Crime Zero.

Luke Decker, a criminal psychologist disillusioned with the growing dependence on genetic science, is on the verge of resigning from the FBI when a death-row killer's whispered revelation threatens everything he believes in and catapults him into the heart of the conspiracy. Decker's only ally is Dr. Kathy Kerr, an old flame and ideological adversary, and the geneticist behind the original Project Conscience. Together they must put aside their differences to fight against a scheme so ruthless in intent and so vast in scope that it will irrevocably change the evolution of mankind itself.

"Crime Zero" is a terrifyingly credible thriller based on technological developments that are already with us. At its core is the story of one man's desperate fight for self-determination and free will in a world where such qualities are in danger of imminent extinction ...

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The Lucifer Code (Previously Lucifer), Michael Cordy

What happens to us when we die? Oblivion.

Or so believes Dr Miles Fleming, a brilliant, young neuroscientist who has developed a device capable of reading human brainwaves. But when his own brother contacts him after being certified dead for six whole minutes, Fleming wonders if he's got it all wrong. His search for the truth uncovers a terrifying religious conspiracy to stage the most ambitious experiment the world has ever seen - to prove beyond doubt the existence of a heaven or a hell. As the world awaits the final judgment, Fleming must confront his own demons to save not only his own soul but that of all humanity.

"The Lucifer Code" pits the faith of religion against the certainty of science in a heart stopping thriller which explores our deepest fears.

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