Product Description

An edge of the seat thriller written by one of the best new talents to come from the UK in years. The plot jumps from the past back to the present as it twists on a gritty rollercoaster ride from start to finish. Jones has a talent to write stories so current it is frightening. This novel is set around the 2012 London olympics and it is set in the UK. (As all his books are.) If you want a book that will keep you awake all night, read this. Superb.

Real Reviews

Author and biographer, Conrad Jones has produced nine excellent thriller novels, a vampire horror, and a biography (about his Thai-boxing instructor) since 2007! He is a prolific new thriller writer and one of the best to emerge from the UK for years. Florida based film maker, M.S. Snyder has turned Soft Target into a screenplay. The series has attracted over 200 five star reviews from his readers (12 one star reviews) If you are a thriller reader do not miss this series. London Book Reviews.
“Edge of the seat storylines. The series gets better with every novel.” Kindle writers` forum.

Abdullah was a young and not very prosperous carpet dealer. His father, who had been disappointed in him, had left him only enough money to open a modest booth in the Bazaar. When he was not selling carpets, Abdullah spent his time daydreaming. In his dreams he was not the son of his father, but the long-lost son of a prince. There was also a princess who had been betrothed to him at birth. He was content with his life and his daydreams until, one day, a stranger sold him a magic carpet.In this stunning sequel to Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones has again created a large-scale, fast-paced fantasy in which people and things are never quite what they seem. There are good and bad djinns, a genie in a bottle, wizards, witches, cats and dogs (but are they cats and dogs?), and a mysterious floating castle filled with kidnapped princesses, as well as two puzzling prophecies. The story speeds along with tantalizing twists and turns until the prophecies are fulfilled, true identities are revealed, and all is resolved in a totally satisfying, breathtaking, surprise-filled ending.

Product Description

A stand alone novel based on high profile child abductions, which have been followed by millions of concerned parents on the news. 5 year old twins are abducted from a tent in the Lake District and the hunt for a dangerous peadophile ring begins. Police procedure follows the premise that 60% of abducted children are murdered within the first four hours of being taken. The first hour is called "The golden hour" and the longer a child is missing, the less chance there is of them being recovered unharmed. The Child Taker follows the desperate search for the missing twins. Packed with action and twists, this is one of the best thriller novels around.
Guardian Reviews

BEST SELLING AUTHOR STEPHEN LEATHER`S REVIEW
Great fast-moving thriller, January 5, 2011
Stephen Leather - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
This review is from: Soft Target (Soft Target Series) (Kindle Edition)
This was one of the first Kindle books that I read, and it's a corker, up to the standards of Andy McNab and Chris Ryan. Fast-paced, tight prose, it kept me hooked from start to finish. I'll definitely be reading more from this author.

First Writers review; Conrad Jones began writing in 2007 and he is already a prolific thriller novelist of the highest order. As far as emerging UK authors go, he is up there with best of them. Readers Corner; I read the paperback version of this outstanding novel. There is mention in the authors notes which alludes to where the story came from. It was inspired by a high profile child abduction which had such an impact on the author that he crafted this novel. It is written well and the subject matter is handled with care. The book has his usual action packed storyline and is difficult to put down! This is a 10/10 thriller novel. Borders Books; An instant hit from a proven literary talent. A must read for thriller lovers. Author and biographer, Conrad Jones has produced nine excellent thriller novels, a vampire horror, and a biography (about his Thai-boxing instructor) since 2007! He is a prolific new thriller writer and one of the best to emerge from the UK for years. Florida based film maker, M.S. Snyder has turned Soft Target into a screenplay. The series has attracted over 200 five star reviews from his readers (12 one star reviews) If you are a thriller reader do not miss this series. London Book Reviews. “Edge of the seat storylines. The series gets better with every novel.” Kindle writers forum.

From Publishers Weekly

Sinister events conspire to defeat spirited 19-year-old Emily Hudson in Jones's (Cold in Earth) successful historical. Orphaned and kicked out of boarding school in Rochester, N.Y., for dubious behavior, Emily is sent to her joyless uncle and his equally somber family; only the solicitous attentions of her cousin William, an aspiring novelist, salvage her spirit. While the Civil War rages, Emily hopes for a marriage to wealthy Capt. James Lindsay, but must settle for William's offer to take her to London, where he plans to become a man of letters. The intricacies of navigating English social mores leave the carefree Emily at a loss. Her American ways attract the attention of the charismatic but married Lord Firle, whose reputation is likely to ruin Emily's and William's standing in society. Forbidden to see Lord Firle, Emily withers under William's increasing disapproval and soon becomes seriously ill with consumption. Emily's interactions with William are creepy fun as they toe the line between familial and incestuous affection. Jones skillfully moves her heroine from freewheeling and childlike to cautious and deceptive and back again, and when the happy ending comes, it feels organic and hard-won.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description

*Inspired by an episode in Henry James's life-the story of an independent young woman's flight from convention. *

After the start of the Civil War, Emily Hudson-an orphan who lost her family to consumption and fever-finds herself the begrudged guest at the home of her relatives in Newport. Emily's longing to be an artist is dismissed by her puritanical uncle, who wants nothing more than to rid himself of her through marriage. Her only friend is her aesthete cousin, William, an ailing young writer. When a promising engagement to the eligible Captain Lindsay is broken, William rescues Emily from an uncertain future by taking her to England. Lonely and desperate to escape her cousin-once her confidante, now her obsessively controlling patron-Emily sets out alone to meet her destiny in the eternal city of Rome.

Reminiscent of the novels of Edith Wharton, Emily Hudson is an exquisitely told tale about a heroine struggling to be true to herself, and also find love in a society where only marriage or an independent income guaranteed a woman the freedom to do as she pleased.

Amazon.com Review

First published in 1988, Horror: The 100 Best Books has remained the only book of its kind: a solid (and entertaining) annotated reading list spanning the range of horror fiction from the 16th to the 20th century. The device of asking 100 horror, fantasy,and science fiction writers to write about their favorite horror books might seem at first to capture an idiosyncratic sample, but through diplomacy and diligence, editors Stephen Jones and Kim Newman succeeded in obtaining short essays on most (if not all) of the well-known classics, as well as many more lesser-knowns that are well worth discovering. Readers who follow up on these recommendations will find tips about books by writers mostly known for other genres--such as Iain Banks, Robert Holdstock, Lisa Tuttle, and David Morrell.

Also valuable are write-ups on literary works not always acknowledged as horror, such as Kingsley Amis's The Green Man, Jerzy Kosinski's The Painted Bird, and John Gardner's Grendel. And the write-ups offer a fascinating peek into the minds of the contributors, who include just about all the top horror writers of the'60s-'80s. This 10th anniversary edition makes no changes in the list of 100 books, but updates the entries and includes a 9-page reading list of titles from 458 B.C. to 1997. --Fiona Webster

Review

The continuing growth in popularity of speculative fiction (an all-encompassing term for horror, fantasy, and science fiction) has resulted in a recent spate of suggested reading lists. Strangely enough, these two collections, while possessing corresponding publishers, titles, and concepts, utilize vastly different approaches to compile their "best of' lists.Of the two, Jones' and Newman's entry is more interesting, as they have imbued their book with a bit of novelty by garnering the opinions of 100 authors, editors, and others in the genre. Each contributor offers a personal essay on why they made their selection. Contributors include the field's current bestselling authors (such as Stephen King, Clive Barker, and Robert McCammon) as well as deceased luminaries (such as Edgar Allen Poe, Robert Howard, and H.P. Lovecaft). Chronologically, the selections range from The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus (Christopher Marlowe, 1592) to Dark Feasts (Ramsey Campbell, 1987). By soliciting the opinions of so many varied voices, Jones and Newman avoid overloading the list with personal bias, and they achieve an eclectic touch that makes the choices extremely interesting. Acknowledging the potential quirky nature of such a selection process, a further recommended reading list is appended, giving the reader enough material to keep him or her busy into the next century. Taking a somewhat converse approach, Cawthorn and Moorcock simply list their personal selections for the 100 best books in the field of fantasy. While the editors' credentials are clearly topnotch, the uniform viewpoint doesn't measure up the variety offered in Jones' and Newman's collection. To their credit, the picks of Cawthorn and Moorcock are wide-ranging, spanning from Gulliver's Travels (Jonathan Swift, 1726) to Expecting Sonteone Taller (Tom Holt~ 1987) chronologically, and encompassing commensurate ground thematically. Indicative of the narrow, sometimes imperceptible boundary between definitions of fantasy and horror is the fact that fourteen works have achieved mention in both of these lists. Regardless of the dissimilar methods used in compiling these two listings, there's no question that both offer plenty of interesting and provocative suggestions for future reading. -- From Independent Publisher

Charmain Baker is in over her head. Looking after Great-Uncle William's tiny cottage while he's ill should have been easy. But Great-Uncle William is better known as the Royal Wizard Norland, and his house bends space and time. Its single door leads to any number of places—the bedrooms, the kitchen, the caves under the mountains, the past, and the Royal Mansion, to name just a few. By opening that door, Charmain has become responsible for not only the house, but for an extremely magical stray dog, a muddled young apprentice wizard, and a box of the king's most treasured documents. She has encountered a terrifying beast called a lubbock, irritated a clan of small blue creatures, and wound up smack in the middle of an urgent search. The king and his daughter are desperate to find the lost, fabled Elfgift—so desperate that they've even called in an intimidating sorceress named Sophie to help. And where Sophie is, can the Wizard Howl and fire demon Calcifer be far behind? Of course, with that magical family involved, there's bound to be chaos—and unexpected revelations. No one will be more surprised than Charmain by what Howl and Sophie discover.

Sophie has the great misfortune of being the eldest of three daughters, destined to fail miserably should she ever leave home to seek her fate. But when she unwittingly attracts the ire of the Witch of the Waste, Sophie finds herself under a horrid spell that transforms her into an old lady. Her only chance at breaking it lies in the ever-moving castle in the hills: the Wizard Howl's castle. To untangle the enchantment, Sophie must handle the heartless Howl, strike a bargain with a fire demon, and meet the Witch of the Waste head-on. Along the way, she discovers that there's far more to Howl—and herself—than first meets the eye.

To save his kind, Meical Grabian agrees to participate in a dangerous experiment. One that takes his vampire's thirst for blood and leaves him hungering for something new. An incubus can be sated only with passion—but what woman could love what he's become? Yet when Caroline Bengal finds him abandoned in a snowy wood, she senses his emotional turmoil and brings him to her desolate cabin. Caroline's compassion and earthy beauty tempt the hunger Meical has desperately been keeping at bay. And soon Meical is visiting Caroline's dreams, seducing his prey while she sleeps. But another predator has set his sights on Caroline, with more sinister intentions. If Meical is ever to reveal his true nature to Caroline, he'll have to earn her trust...and keep her alive.