02. May 2013 · Comments Off · Categories: Fiction, Jane, Mystery, Thriller/Suspense

Eyes Wide Open by Andrew Gross, read by Jane on 04/25/2013

A horrible family tragedy that may not be what it seems . . A past encounter with an infamous killer turns deadly today . . . An ordinary man must risk his own family to find the truth. Jay Erlich’s nephew has been found at the bottom of a cliff at Morrow Bay. It’s all just a tragic suicide, until secrets from the past begin to rear up again. Did a notorious killer, jailed for many decades, have his hand in this? Years ago, Jay Erlich’s older brother, Charlie, a wayward child of the sixties, set out for California, where he fell under the sway of a charismatic but deeply disturbed cultlike figure. Tragedy ensued and lives were destroyed, but as the decades passed, Charlie married and raised a family and lived a quiet, secluded life under the radar. Yet the demons that nearly destroyed him never completely disappeared. When Jay heads out west to help his grieving brother, he is pulled back into Charlie’s past-and begins to suspect that his nephew’s suicide may not have been that at all. With eyes wide open, Jay puts his own life at risk to uncover the truth, a quest that goes beyond the edge of madness and a family haunted by a secret past . . . and into the depths of evil. Drawing on two real-life experiences from his own past, Gross has crafted a richly personal, yet utterly terrifying tale of two brothers, one successful, one wayward, trying to bridge the gap of what tore them apart.

02. May 2013 · Comments Off · Categories: Fiction, Jane, Thriller/Suspense

15 Seconds by Andrew Gross, read by Jane on 04/11/2013

15 seconds can tear your life apart . . .

Henry Steadman didnt know what was about to hit him when he pulled up to a red light. A successful Florida plastic surgeon, he is in town to deliver a keynote address at a conference when suddenly his life becomes an unrelenting chase to stay alive.

Stopped by the police for a minor traffic violation, the situation escalates and he is pulled from his vehicle, handcuffed and told he is under arrest. Several other police cars arrive and the questioning turns scary, but just as Henry is released and about to move on, a blue sedan pulls up and the officer is suddenly killed. As the car speeds away, there is only one suspect left behind-Henry. In that moment, his idyllic life becomes a free fall into hell as he becomes the target of a police manhunt, as well as being pursued by a cunning, unnamed perpetrator bent on some kind of vengeance.

When Henry turns to a close friend for help, and he, too, ends up dead, Henry realizes hes being elaborately framed. But in a chilling twist, the stakes grow even darker, and he is unable to go to the police to clear his name, without bringing on dire and deadly consequences.

With breakneck pacing and nonstop action, 15 Seconds shows what can happen when even the best life is turned upside down in an instant. It is also the story of an innocent man, framed for murder, who has to save the person he loves the most, all while being drawn closer and closer to an inevitable face-to-face standoff with a man determined to destroy his life.

02. May 2013 · Comments Off · Categories: Fiction, Jane, Thriller/Suspense

Blue Zone by Andrew Gross, read by Jane on 04/04/2013

Kate Raab’s life seems almost perfect: her boyfriend, her job, her family . . . until her father runs into trouble with the law. His only recourse is to testify against his former accomplices in exchange for his family’s placement in the Witness Protection Program. But one of them gets cold feet. In a flash, everything Kate can count on is gone. Now, a year later, her worst fears have happened: Her father has disappeared-into what the WITSEC agency calls “the blue zone”-and someone close to him is found brutally murdered. With her family under surveillance, the FBI untrustworthy, and her father’s menacing “friends” circling with increasing intensity, Kate sets off to find her father-and uncover the secrets someone will kill to keep buried.

28. February 2013 · Comments Off · Categories: Contemporary Fiction, Fiction, Jane, Mystery, Teen Books

by , read by Jane on 02/28/2013

  Low Pressure by Sandra Brown 467 pages
Basing her bestselling novel on the night her older sister Susan was murdered on a stormy Memorial Day eighteen years earlier, Bellamy Lyston Price, writing under a pseudonym, becomes the target of an unnamed assailant who either wants the truth about Susan’s murder to remain unknown or, even more threatening, is determined to get vengeance for a man wrongfully accused and punished.
  Alex Cross, Run by James Patterson 499 pages
Detective Alex Cross arrests renowned plastic surgeon Elijah Creem for sleeping with teenage girls. Now, his life ruined, Creem is out of jail, and he has made sure that no one will recognize him by giving himself a new face. A young woman is found hanging from a sixth floor window, and Alex is called to the scene. The victim recently gave birth, but the baby is nowhere to be found. Before Alex can begin searching for the missing newborn and killer, he is called to investigate a second crime. All of Washington, D.C. is in a panic, and when a third body is discovered, rumours of three serial killers send the city into an all out frenzy. Alex’s investigations are going nowhere, and he is too focused on the cases to notice that someone has been watching him and will stop at nothing until he is dead.
  The Girl in the Park by Mariah Fredericks 217 pages
When a teenaged girl with a bad reputation is murdered in New York City’s Central Park after a party, her childhood friend is determined to solve the mystery of who caused her death.
31. January 2013 · Comments Off · Categories: Fiction, Jane, Mystery

by , read by Jane on 01/30/2013

  Dead Wrong by JA Jance, 362 pages
Juggling a family and a career is never easy-and it’s becoming a real challenge for Sheriff Joanna Brady. Coping with the impending delivery of her second child as well as a staff shortage, the last things Joanna needs are two serious crimes. First, the body of an unidentified man is found in the desert, all of his fingers savagely severed. Following the scant clues, Joanna learns that the victim was an ex-con who had served twenty years in prison after confessing to the murder of his pregnant wife. During his last days he was seen following and photographing a young woman. Then one of Joanna’s officers is brutally attacked and left for dead while on an unauthorized stakeout. Because the officer is one of its own, the department throws its resources into finding her attacker. But the murder haunts Joanna. Being a sheriff is no longer an empty position she wants to hold-somehow it has become what she is. Her job is to avenge man’s inhumanity toward man, and finding out who the victim was and why he is dead is what she has been summoned to do with her life. Strapping on a bulletproof vest, she’ll risk everything to see that justice is done.
Rattlesnake Crossing by JA Jance, 374 pages
The militia movement has invaded Arizona’s Cochise County. And, after a local gun dealer dies unnaturally and his stock of high-powered weapons is cleaned out, it’s up to Sheriff Joanna Brady to stem the ensuing tide of murder and mayhem.
 Judgment Call  by JA Jance, 387 pages
When her daughter, Jenny, stumbles across the dead body of her high school principal, Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady’s personal and professional worlds collide, putting her in the difficult middle ground between being an officer of the law and a mother. While investigating murders means discovering unpleasant facts, Joanna is not prepared for the knowledge she is about to uncover. Though she has tried to protect her children from the dangers of the grown-up world, the search for justice leads straight to her own door and forces her to face the possibility that her beloved daughter may be less perfect than she seems, especially when a photo from the crime scene ends up on Facebook. A photo only one person close to the crime scene could have taken. For Joanna, the line between justice and family has never been so blurred, and never so close.
  Private Berlin by James Patterson, 429 pages
The Berlin office of the world’s most renowned investigation firm looks into the disappearance of an agent, Chris Schneider, whose last case involved an unfaithful billionaire, a cheating soccer player and a seedy nightclub owner.
  Heart of a Killer by Jaci Burton, 407 pages
Before the Special Forces hero has even unpacked his bags from twelve years of active duty, he’s embroiled in murder – corpses bearing the brutal trademark he’s seen only once before – on the worst night of his life. The last time Detective Anna Pallino saw Dante Renaldi, they were in love. Now, he’s part of the connection to a string of fresh homicides and a horrible assault Anna only survived thanks to him. More than anything, Anna wants to trust Dante. But as the bodies and the coincidences stack up, Anna will have to decide, and fast: Is the man she owes her life to the very same one who wants her dead?