by
Sarnac is a scientist and a leading figure in the field of chemical reactions of cells. Plagued by a beautiful and terrifying dream he had when he was a young child, he reflects on his early years in an attempt to understand the dream’s roots. However, he finds that his dreams and the reality he has lived have become so entangled that he is no longer able to distinguish between them.
by
Fletcher Wyant and his wife Jane had been married for fifteen years. They had built the perfect marriage – two wonderful kids, a warm beautiful home, and their own private never-ending love affair.
Fletcher thought he knew Jane completely. No dark secrets. No hidden past. Then one hot summer week everything changed. And suddenly, brutally, Jane became a cold stranger.
by
Three men and a beautiful girl on a cross-country terror spree – a coast to coast rampage of stealing, kidnapping, rape and killing.
Who were they? Where did they come from? Why did they do it?
With chilling detail, John D. MacDonald unwraps the grotesque inner world of these four young psychopaths, and brings into terrifying focus the random, violent lusts that lie hidden between mischief and madness …
by
Unexpectedly sent to Moscow to manage his firm’s stand at a world fair, Cristopher Battle feels that he may not be up to the job. Then his chairman is murdered and, after the discovery of a second body, Battle is convinced that the Russian Security Police are trying to kill him.
Fearful of violence, Battle goes on the run – and becomes emotionally entangled with a beautiful Russian woman who creates an entirely fresh set of problems . . .
by
Cara, Gayda, Pearl: sizzling dames. Travis, Clemensky, Clansing: desperate men. A set of secret papers. Bring in FBI man Lemmy Caution to recover the papers, and we have all the ingredients for a fast-moving story of espionage, deception and double dealing.
Lemmy Caution once again steers his way round the bodies of dead men and beautiful, very much alive, women to a successful conclusion.
by
Rene Burg, one-time Chicago gunman, finds himself mixed up in the Norwegian underground movement during the war. As well as gunning for the German Army in general, Burg is out to get one person in particular: a beautiful deadly woman who has brought the technique of double-crossing to a fine art. And he doesn’t have much time, because they are both under sentence of death.
by
When Sergeant Devery is allotted a female police office to assist him on a plain-clothes prowl he is concerned it will cramp his style. He soon changes his tune when the woman in question turns out to be ‘unusually beautiful’.
The Devil Was Handsome is a fascinating portrait of drug-dealing, assault and murder against the backdrop of mid-twentieth-century CID methods, written by a serving police officer.
by
Held captive in a dark room in New York State, a young woman is at the mercy of a killer. As guide-dog trainer Joanna finds herself fighting her attraction to blind sculptor Jack Donovan she also begins to feel dangerously unwelcome. Meanwhile, another object of beauty is being stalked …
‘Hilary Norman specialises in creepy thrillers and this one is just as gripping as her previous work’ Woman’s Own
by
When J.R.R. Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings was published, reviewers saw that there was only one book with which it could legitimately be compared: E.R. Eddison’s classic fantasy adventure The Worm Ouroboros.
Set on a distant planet of spectacular beauty and peopled by Lords and Kings, mighty warriors and raven-haired temptresses, Eddison’s extravagant story, of a great war for total domination, is an unforgettable work of splendour.
by
He could see from above that this planet was inhabited. He emerged from the ship – to find himself lassoed and captured by a beautiful redhead mounted on a strange, bird-like creature. That was the first shock; the second was to realise that this world of women looked on him as a monster. For while the women of Atlantis had waited for the coming of the Men, they were certain that this creature who had landed on their planet could not possibly be a man.
by
For the beautiful young woman Ash, life has always been arquebuses and artillery, swords and armour and the true horrors of hand-to-hand combat. War is her job. She has fought her way to the command of a mercenary company, and on her unlikely shoulders lies the destiny of a Europe threatened by the depredations of an Infidel army more terrible than any nightmare.
Winner of the BSFA Award for best novel, 2000
by
‘This is a mystery readers’ mystery novel, and a beauty’ Anthony Boucher
Walt McLean, the proprietor of Walt’s Malt Shop, had been found dead by his niece. The attack did not appear to be motivated by robbery, but who would want to murder such a harmless and popular man? And what could the message in green really mean?
A detective story delectably tied up with one of the greatest of detective classics-Agatha Christie’s The ABC Murders
by
Agent Michael Kells is in pursuit of Nazi spies in London, who have been tasked with the job of pinpointing the actual landing places of V1 bombs to improve their accuracy.
Through the strange byways of Kells’s sinister errand flit the mysterious ‘Auntie’, the alluring Janine, the beautiful Mrs Vaile and the delightful and unfortunate Alison Fredericks.
‘Nobody eats or sleeps in the course of this tale. And you probably won’t either’ New Yorker
by
A brilliant but sadistic safe-breaker; a beautiful seductress; an expert young hunter and an ace pilot with a shady past – this is the team that undercover operator Armo Shalik assembles to steal the priceless Borgia ring from millionaire Max Kahlenberg’s closely guarded fortress in the remote and deadly African bush.
But when Kahlenberg finds out they are coming, the gang’s expedition turns into a strictly one-way safari – to slaughter …
‘Insanely readable’ Observer
by
Private detective Bart Anderson is hired by Russ Hamel, a millionaire author, to shadow his beautiful wife, Nancy. For Hamel has been receiving poison pen letters claiming that his wife has been having an affair.
But as Bart’s investigation progresses, he discovers that he has opened up a can of worms – for Nancy is not the faithful wife her husband assumes …
‘The thriller maestro of the generation’ Manchester Evening News
by
Dirk Barnevelt knew he wasn’t a hero, but somebody had to find the explorer who’d vanished on the low-tech planet, Krisha and to do that, somebody had to single-handedly rescue a beautiful princess from bloodthirsty pirates and to do that, somebody had to lead the fleet against an impregnable fortress, while fending off a superior navy. And whoever managed all that was going to be a hero – whether he knew it or not!
by
Jay Seward remembered a former life in a land of magic, gods, and goddesses…a time when he was Jason of Iolcus, sailing in the enchanted ship Argo to steal the Golden Fleece from the serpent-temples of Apollo. But one night the memories became startlingly real, as the Argo itself sailed out of the spectral mists and a hauntingly beautiful voice called: “Jason…come to me!” And suddenly he was on the deck of the Argo, sailing into danger and magic…
by
In Flower City, a sleepy resort town on Florida’s Gulf Coast, wealthy Elizabeth Stegman is murdered in a jewel heist gone bad – her missing jewels insured for £750,000.
It falls to hardboiled ex-cop Cliff Bartells to find the killer, retrieve the jewels and console the decedent’s niece and only heir, beautiful and headstrong Melody Chance. But complicating Bartell’s best efforts is a local police force that proves to be less than cooperative.
by
by
Following a civil war in 1971, England is a dystopia controlled by a ruthless dictator whose fiendish schemes include turning cadavers into robots with the help of Dr. Azimov of Vienna. But the dictator’s plans pale before those of Brenda Norcross, a brilliant and beautiful female industrialist – actually a bioengineered Martian super scientist in disguise – who plans to enslave the entire planet to provide breeding stock for the dying Martian race currently hiding out in the interior of Uranus.
by
The battle for Earth is on!
It was not an invasion from space.
It was four invasions – simultaneous but each task force led by an Adamite naval commander and a beautiful dark-haired girl. It’s the girls, Tomi, Verne, Gilen, and Pariss, who count most of all in the balance of power. For they are the Cosmic Spies.
Earth slept through the opening moves of the game. But when they awoke, battle was finally joined between the two great races of Man. To prove which was human.
by
The Wide syndrome
It is the not-too-distant future. The space colony Lagrangia, on the moon’s orbit, is an idyllic utopia of parks, mountains, streams and blue skies. Lulled by its beauty, citizens can sometimes forget that the ‘stream’ are recycled water, and the ‘blue skies’ are titanium strips bound together. But there are a few who can never forget. There are the victims of the Wide syndrome – a terrifying form of contagious, claustrophobic madness that can strike anyone – at any time – on Lagrange Five.
by
The corpse people of Planet Keela believe that life is an illusion. Earthman Jaimi Cooper finds their practices bizarre but is attracted by a beautiful tribeswoman. Cooper’s task on the planet Keela: offer the native Lukai fair price for their rare ore rhovium, but first convince the powerful Death Woman that he and the Lukai themselves are more than illusions in a world where everyone has already died. The fascinating story of one man confronting a totally alien culture.
by
There are seven billion-plus humans crowding the surface of 21st-century Earth. It is an age of intelligent computers, mass-market psychedelic drugs, politics conducted by assassination, scientists who burn incense to appease volcanoes … all the hysteria of a dangerously overcrowded world, portrayed in a dazzlingly inventive style.
Moving, sensory, impressionistic, as jagged as the times it portrays, this book is a real mind stretcher – and yet beautifully orchestrated to give a vivid picture of the whole.
by
‘No one writes a better crime novel than Charles Willeford’ Elmore Leonard
In this riveting novel of psychological suspense, Charles Willeford charts a duel trajectory of alcoholic desire and destruction that is at once poignant, terrifying and utterly authentic.
Prowling the grimy streets of San Francisco, Helen is a beautiful, sensuous drunk – and a pathetically easy pick-up. Harry just wants to help, but before long they are both adrift in a sea of alcohol – until Harry conceives the ultimate crime.