Showing results by narrator "P.J. Ochlan" in All Categories

Prewitt Patry is an expert in European art and antiquities, and he used to be the best con artist in New York City. But fate has left him divorced and broke, with his glory days behind him. Then a golden opportunity falls into his lap. Ranger du Courtemanche is the aging patriarch of the centuries-old French aristocratic Courtemanche family. The family resides in their ancestral chateau, and they haven’t been outside the property in years. Enter Prewitt, who cozies up to the reclusive family and warns them that their chateau and wealth have been targeted by an obscure secret society.

On a secret assignment for MI-5, British SAS soldier Trevor Carswell is deep undercover with The Philosophy of Bedlam, a homegrown anarchist group responsible for several museum bombings. He's on the brink of unearthing their motives when Scotland Yard foils their latest attack. Desperate to escape, the Bedlamites take civilian hostages - among them, a woman Trevor never expected to see again.

Testosterone propels our drive for exploration and risk, for competition and creation, and even our survival. The effects of testosterone permeate the traditions, philosophy, and literature of every known culture - without it, the world would be a drastically different place. It also has a role in humanity's darker side, contributing to violence, hubris, poverty, crime, and selfishness. Recent revelations of the science of testosterone show that high levels will deplete compassion and generosity, and even reduce the affection we show our children.

A farang is dead and the Bangkok police have a confession the next morning from a young paint-thinner addict. He claims he killed Ben Hoadly, an expat Brit, but Calvino has his doubts when he sees heavy bruises on the kid's face. In no time, Calvino is working both sides, out to find the killer for Hoadly's wealthy father, and eager to clear the addict's name for a beautiful friend who runs a charity in the slums.

The Carson dynasty rules the ski resort town of Mammoth Lakes in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. Founded by patriarch Adam, the town is the site of the Mammoth Cup ski race - a qualifier for the Olympics. But when Wylie Welborn, Adam's illegitimate grandson, returns after a stint in Afghanistan, it reopens a dark moment in Carson family history: the murder of Wylie's father by his jealous and very pregnant wife, Cynthia.

A peace-seeking man must unravel the mystery that led to his former lover's death. Expat American journalist Sam Kramer is burned out: too many dead bodies, too many wars covered, too little meaning in it all. He's got a dead-end job at the Daily European as the correspondent for Vienna, where nothing happens now that the Cold War is over. And that is exactly how Kramer likes it. But his private neutral zone is shattered with news of the suicide of Reni Müller, a German left-wing firebrand and Kramer's long-estranged ex-girlfriend.

Savage Birthright is the plight of Princes, usurpers, and those who inherit the burdens of powerful fathers. When extortion draws Alerio Sisera to an Illyrian capital, the Legion officer finds an old adversary who needs his help, a poison kiss from a masked woman during a street festival, and a city full of people who want him dead.

Police Inspector Lu Fei has an unfortunate talent for getting himself into hot water with powerful and well-connected people. Which is why he's been assigned to a backwater town in a rural area of Northern China and quietly warned to keep his head down. But while running a sting operation on the sale and consumption of rare and endangered animals, Lu comes across the curious case of a waitress who has gone missing. Her last known whereabouts: a restaurant frequented by local elites, owned by smooth-talking gangster, and known for its exotic—and highly illegal—delicacies.

Instantly reminiscent of the work of Osamu Dazai and Patricia Highsmith, Fuminori Nakamura's latest novel is a dark and twisting house of mirrors that philosophically explores the violence of aesthetics and the horrors of identity. A young writer arrives at a prison to interview a convict. The writer has been commissioned to write a full account of the case, from its bizarre and grisly details to the nature of the man behind the crime.

In Asia Hand, the second novel in the series, Bangkok is celebrating Chinese New Year when Calvino's revels are cut short. The body of an American, an acquaintance of Calvino's, has been fished out of the lake in Lumpini Park. Around his neck are a string of wooden amulets, the kind upcountry Thais wear to protect themselves from evil spirits. Only rather than saving Hutton, these have killed him.

When Dr. Stephen Wallace, a fertility specialist from Sydney Australia, is approached by his brother and sister-in-law for help conceiving a child there is no way he can refuse. Since they have already exhausted all the possibilities modern medicine can provide, Stephen turns to his skills as a shaman for alternative solutions. His search leads him to Las Vegas, Nevada on a slim lead to capture a succubus who he hopes has the power to help.

Behold the Rolling Stones: run-ins with the law, chart-topping successes, and now the World's Greatest Continually Operating Rock and Roll Band. 50 Licks tells the story of the Stones, right from its very origins. On July 12, 1962, London's Marquee Club debuted a new act, a blues-inflected rock band named after a Muddy Waters song-the Rolling Stones. They were a hard-edged band with a flair for the dramatic, styling themselves as the devil's answer to the sainted Beatles.

The tide of soldiers washed over the Legion shields. Buried, the ranks of Legionaries sagged. "Push!" the Legion NCO yelled. Welcome to 264 B.C. Over the grunts and cries of men struggling against the mass of bodies pressing down on them, the Optio bellowed again, "Push!" And the Legion shields rose, rolling back the tide. The higher the shields, the more soldiers slid off, and the straighter the Legionaries stood. One shield tilted back, and a mercenary soldier tumbled behind the ranks. An infantryman stepped back and drove his blade between the soldier's ribs.

When a bout of food poisoning strikes a residence for lively seniors blessed with generous pensions and high-ranking political connections, Dr. Zol Szabo, public health doctor turned medical detective, assembles his investigative team. But the epidemic’s source proves elusive; the death count rises and when the scourge threatens someone close to Zol, he calls in his friend and colleague Hamish Wakefield, a microbe connoisseur with a nose for exotic diagnoses.

What can the massive protests that have roiled Hong Kong and the harsh repressive moves made against activists tell us about where this special metropolis is heading? And about how a resurgent China under strongman rule is challenging and reshaping the international order? Jeffrey Wasserstrom draws on his many visits to the city and his background as a specialist in the history of protests against authoritarianism to make a powerful and sobering case for the near inevitability of China’s imposing its model on Hong Kong.

Before Kendi learned to use his talent of navigating the plane of mental existence known as the Dream, he had to escape his physical existence as a slave.

When incidents of food supply contamination dominate the news media, two investigators - Zol Szabo, a public health doctor, and Hamish Wakefield, a young infectious diseases specialist - come under immense pressure to find the cause of a mysterious epidemic before more victims show up on the autopsy table. In a race against the clock, the two doctors must navigate the treacherous political minefields of the medical community and the media while the disease spreads.

A battlefield covered with dead Legionaries. An Empire encroaching on the Republic. A Senate in turmoil. Welcome to 265 B.C. Alerio Sisera will need all of his skills as a heavy infantryman, a scout and a weapon's instructor to survive. Standing with two gladii in a river of blood, the Legionary will battle for his life in the Reluctant Siege.

Welcome to 259 B.C. By law, all debts must be paid by the Ides of March. For men like them, sharp steel was the only acceptable currency. Unless something changed, one would emerge a winner and the other the guest of honor at a funeral. Blood payment might not have been the official objective. But it would not matter to an enraged Alerio Sisera as he clutched a gladius and held a temple voucher aloft.

Welcome to Toy Academy: Where toys learn to play. This is where action figures train to battle, stuffed animals study the art of the hug, and collectibles practice standing very, very still. Though Grumbolt isn't really any of those things, he's determined to fit in. But when the Evil Toy Academy threatens to bring down his school, it's up to Grumbolt to go where no good toy has gone before and prove he's truly a great toy after all.