Annamaria Raffo Books

Dru Rayne and her uncle are Louisiana refugees who relocated to Los Angeles after Hurricane Katrina. Now, five years after the storm, their struggling restaurant faces a different danger. When Joe Pike witnesses Dru's uncle beaten by a neighbourhood gang intent on extorting protection money, he offers his own brand of protection. But neither Dru nor her uncle want his help - and neither do the federal agents mysteriously watching their store -- agents who seem more than willing to let the gang have their way. But Pike is falling for Dru, and won't back away whether she wants his help or not. As the violence escalates, the gang targets Pike, who, with Elvis Cole's help, learns that Dru and her uncle are not who they seem. It soon emerges that everything Pike thought he knew about them, their relationship to the gang, and the reasons they fled New Orleans have been lies. Now, a vengeful and murderous force from their past is catching up with them, pitting Pike and Cole against the combined forces of South American crime lords, rogue federal agents, and contract assassins on the bloody hunt for twelve million dollars in missing stolen cash.

Struggling to reclaim his career after the devastating murder of his partner eight months earlier, LAPD cop Max Kent is teamed with a traumatized military canine named Maggie who assists Max in an effort to track down his late partner's killer.

In 1558, Kingsbridge Cathedral witnesses a city divided by religious conflict as England's power shifts between Catholics and Protestants. Amidst this turmoil, Ned Willard aspires to marry Margery Fitzgerald, but their love is tested when they find themselves on opposing sides of the conflict. Ned joins Princess Elizabeth's service, and when she ascends to the throne, England faces hostility from all of Europe. Determined to protect her reign, Elizabeth establishes the first secret service to thwart assassination plots and invasions. Over the next fifty years, Ned and Margery's love appears doomed as extremism leads to violence across the continent. Elizabeth's commitment to her principles is upheld by a small group of spies and agents who navigate the treacherous landscape. The true conflict lies not in the rival religions but between those who champion tolerance and those who impose their beliefs by force. Set against a backdrop of revolutionary change, this narrative is one of Ken Follett's most ambitious works, captivating both long-time fans and newcomers alike.

The grand master of gripping fiction is back. International No.1 bestseller Ken Follett returns to Kingsbridge with an epic tale of revolution and a cast of unforgettable characters.Revolution is in the air1792. A tyrannical government is determined to make England a mighty commercial empire. In France, Napoleon Bonaparte begins his rise to power, and with dissent rife, France’s neighbours are on high alert.Kingsbridge is on the edgeUnprecedented industrial change sweeps the land, making the lives of the workers in Kingbridge’s prosperous cloth mills a misery. Rampant modernization and dangerous new machinery are rendering jobs obsolete and tearing families apart.Tyranny is on the horizonNow, as international conflict nears, a story of a small group of Kingsbridge people - including spinner Sal Clitheroe, weaver David Shoveller and Kit, Sal’s inventive and headstrong son - will come to define the struggle of a generation as they seek enlightenment and fight for a future free from oppression. . .Taking the reader straight into the heart of history with the fifth novel in the ground-breaking Kingsbridge series, The Armour of Light is master storyteller Ken Follett’s most ambitious novel to date.

PRE-ORDER PRECIPICE, THE THRILLING NEW NOVEL FROM ROBERT HARRIS, NOW - PUBLISHING AUGUST 2024 FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING AUTHOR 'His best since Fatherland' The Times 'A master storyteller' Observer 'An important book for our particular historical moment' Guardian 'From what is it they flee?' He took a while to reply. By the time he spoke the men had gone inside. He said quietly, 'They killed the King.' 1660. Colonel Edward Whalley and his son-in-law, Colonel William Goffe, cross the Atlantic. They are on the run and wanted for the murder of Charles I. Under the provisions of the Act of Oblivion, they have been found guilty in absentia of high treason. In London, Richard Nayler, secretary of the regicide committee of the Privy Council, is tasked with tracking down the fugitives. He'll stop at nothing until the two men are brought to justice. A reward hangs over their heads - for their capture, dead or alive. Act of Oblivion is an epic journey across continents, and a chase like no other. It is the thrilling new novel by Robert Harris. 'The king of the page-turning thriller' i Paper 'Harris's cleverness, judgment and eye for detail are second to none' Sunday Times 'Harris writes with a skill and ingenuity that few other novelists can match' Financial Times 'Harris is a master of historical fiction, a compelling author who brings to life the recent and ancient past' TLS Sunday Times bestseller, June 2023

After his acclaimed stand-alone bestseller, THE TWO MINUTE RULE, Robert Crais returns with the eagerly awaited new Elvis Cole and Joe Pike novel. For Elvis and Joe, two of the most beloved characters in crime fiction, the action is getting a little close to home. The dangerous and enigmatic Joe Pike has always defied close examination, but in this breathtaking new thriller, that's all about to change... Joe Pike owes a bad man a big favour. And the favor is to protect the life of Larkin Conner Barkley, a spoiled rich girl who happens to be a federal witness in a case against the mob. When Pike and the girl come under intense fire, he hatches a plan: disappear into the anonymous underbelly of Los Angeles, turn the table, and hunt down the hunters. Enlisting the help of Elvis Cole, Pike uncovers a web of lies and betrayals; even the cops aren't who they seem. But as the body count rises, it becomes clear that Pike's biggest threat may be the girl herself - a vapid soul determined to destroy herself, unless Joe can fill the void in her bruised heart.

Detective Michael Bennett and FBI Abduction Specialist Emily Parker reluctantly team up to stop a killer targeting not only the children of New York's wealthiest families--but the entire city of New York.

A brand new thriller from the master storyteller set against the menacing backdrop of the Second World War and crackling with suspense and action. It is May, 1944 - a time of international tension where nothing is certain... Two weeks before D-Day, the French Resistance attack a chateau containing a telephone exchange vital to German communications - but the building is heavily guarded and the attack fails disastrously. Flick Clairet, a young British secret agent, proposes a daring new plan: she will parachute into France with an all-woman team known as the 'Jackdaws' and they will penetrate the chateau in disguise. But, unknown to Flick, Rommel has assigned a brilliant, ruthless intelligence colonel, Dieter Franck, to crush the Resistance. And Dieter is on Flick's trail...

"A weapon of unspeakable power... A madman holds the world

Two minutes can be a lifetime. But break the two minute rule and it's a lifetime in jail. Ask anyone on the wrong side of the law about the two minute rule and they'll tell you that's as long as you can hope for at a robbery before the cops show up. But not everyone plays by the rules. When an aging ex-con finally gets out of jail, freedom doesn't taste too sweet. His son is gunned down in a drive-by shooting. It seems like a random crime, but when the victim is a cop - especially a cop with a con for a father - the motives are never simple. When the hit is exposed as a revenge killing, and the question of police corruption is raised, it becomes a father's last duty to clear his son's name and catch the killer.

Private detective Isaac Bell returns in Clive Cussler's The Wrecker. 1907: train wrecks, fires, and explosions sabotage the Southern Pacific Railroad's new express line ...The desperate railroad hires the fabled Van Dorn Detective Agency, who send their best man, Isaac Bell. He quickly discovers that a saboteur calling himself the Wrecker is attacking the Southern Pacific with accomplices recruited from down-and-outs - who are killed afterward. The Wrecker strikes wherever he pleases, causing untold damage and loss of human life. Who is he? What does he want? Is he an anarchist? A revolutionary? A criminal mastermind? Whoever he is, whatever his motives, the Wrecker knows how to create havoc. And Bell is convinced he is building up to a grand act unlike anything he has committed before. If the Wrecker isn't stopped in time, more than a railroad is at risk - the future of the entire country is on the line ...Bestseller Clive Cussler - author of the Dirk Pitt novels Black Wind and Trojan Odyssey - and co-author Justin Scott pit legendary detective Isaac Bell against a mysterious murderer and railroad saboteur in the second novel of historical thriller series The Isaac Bell Adventures, The Wrecker. Praise for Clive Cussler: 'The guy I read' Tom Clancy 'Cussler is hard to beat' Daily Mail

April 1950 - The rusting hulk of a steam locomotive rises from the deep waters of a Montana lake. Inside is all that remains of three men who died forty-four years before. But it is not the engine or its grisly contents that interest the people watching nearby. It is what is about to come next 1906 - For two years, the western states of America have been suffering an extraordinary crime spree - a string of bank robberies by a single man who cold- bloodedly murders any and all witnesses and then vanishes without a trace. Fed up by the depredations of the 'Butcher Bandit', the U.S. government brings in the best man they can find - a tall, lean, no-nonsense detective named Isaac Bell, who has caught thieves and killers coast to coast. But Bell has never had a challenge like this one. From Arizona to Colorado to the streets of San Francisco during its calamitous earthquake and fire, he pursues what is quickly becoming clear to him is the sharpest criminal mind he has ever encountered, and the woman who seems to hold the key to the bandit's identity.

TICK... A KILLER'S COUNTDOWN BEGINS. A rash of horrifying crimes tears through New York City, throwing it into complete chaos. TICK... CAN MICHAEL BENNETT CATCH HIM? The city calls on Detective Michael Bennett, pulling him away from a seaside retreat with his ten adopted children, his grandfather, and their beloved nanny, Mary Catherine. Bennett enlists the help of a former colleague, FBI Agent Emily Parker. But as his affection for Emily grows into something stronger, his relationship with Mary Catherine takes an unexpected turn. TOCK... BEFORE HIS TIME IS UP? All too soon, another appalling crime leads Bennett to a shocking discovery that exposes the killer's pattern and the earth-shattering enormity of his plan.

Rebecca Bloomwood is now happily married to Luke Brandon, and all her problems seem to be at an end. But suddenly into her life steps ... a sister, of whose existence Becky had hitherto been completely unaware. Becky is only too anxious to welcome her into the bosom of the family. But there is only one snag - she Hates shopping. She is the antithesis of the shopaholic. It all makes for some very difficult family relationships ...

In Italy, Harvard professor Robert Langdon is drawn into a world centered on one of history's most mysterious literary masterpieces--Dante's "Inferno"--As he battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle.

Nati e cresciuti nel South Side di Chicago, Danny Carter e il suo migliore amico Evan si sono guadagnati una piccola reputazione criminale rapinando banchi dei pegni e negozi di liquori. I due vivono alla giornata e nulla sembra poterli rimettere sulla retta via, almeno fino a quando qualcosa va storto e tutto cambia, veloce come un colpo di pistola. Passano gli anni, e Danny ha smesso di pensare al proprio passato. Si è costruito un mondo nuovo, a sua misura: una carriera rispettabile, una fidanzata stabile e la coscienza pulita. È come tutti gli altri: normale, sereno, felice. Questo finché, capitato per caso in un bar fumoso, si accorge che in un angolo c'è il suo vecchio socio che lo fissa. Indurito dalla prigione, quasi irriconoscibile, Evan non ha mai fatto il nome dell'amico e pensa di meritare una grossa ricompensa, anzi, la più grossa delle ricompense: riavere tutto il tempo e le occasioni sprecate dietro lo sbarre. Per ottenerla non si farà alcuno scrupolo. Con la sua nuova vita in gioco e un passato così scomodo e doloroso alle porte, Danny dovrà fare una scelta... Riuscirà a proteggere il proprio futuro?

The irresistible heroine of Confessions of a Shopaholic and Shopaholic Ties the Knot is back! And this time Becky Bloomwood and her credit cards are headed across the Atlantic.... With her shopping excesses (somewhat) in check and her career as a TV financial guru thriving, Becky's biggest problem seems to be tearing her entrepreneur boyfriend, Luke, away from work for a romantic country weekend. And worse, figuring out how to pack light. But packing takes on a whole new meaning when Luke announces he's moving to New York for business--and he asks Becky to go with him! Before you can say "Prada sample sale," Becky has landed in the Big Apple, home of Park Avenue penthouses and luxury boutiques. Surely it's only a matter of time until she becomes an American TV celebrity, and she and Luke are the toast of Gotham society. Nothing can stand in their way, especially with Becky's bills miles away in London. But then an unexpected disaster threatens her career prospects, her relationship with Luke, and her available credit line! Shopaholic Takes Manhattan--but will she have to return it?

As Peter Carlyle waves his wife, children and brother-in-law off on a sailing holiday, all they have in mind is lying back and relaxing. But as a violent storm breaks out, an explosion causes the boat to vanish without a trace and the family are lost, presumed dead. Until now. When a message in a bottle is washed up on a shore, it becomes apparent that there must have been at least one survivor. Peter is a broken man, he appears to struggle to contain his grief as he holds a heartfelt TV interview about his loss. But all is not as it seems, beneath the grief lies a more sinister side, Peter is involved with a beautiful - and dangerous - younger woman and it soon transpires that he knows more about his family's disappearance than he is letting on. He seeks to find whatever remains of his family, but is he really looking for a happy reunion? And could it be that it isn't just Peter who is hot on the Dunne family's trail? The race is on to rescue any survivors and discover what happened aboard the luxury yacht.

A man wakes up terrified, cold, aching and not knowing where he his. He picks up a newspaper and finds it is 29 January 1958, and the US is about to launch Explorer - if the launch fails the Russians will dominate space for the foreseeable future.

Meet Rebecca Bloomwood. She’s a journalist. She spends her working life telling others how to manage their money. She spends her leisure time … shopping. Retail therapy is the answer to all her problems. She knows she should stop, but she can’t. She tries Cutting Back, she tries Making More Money. But neither seems to work. The stories she concocts become more and more fantastic as she tries to untangle her increasingly dire financial difficulties. Her only comfort is to buy herself something – just a little something… Can Becky ever escape from this dream world, find true love, and regain the use of her Switch card?

'The best thriller writer alive' - Ken Follett I'm not a typical lawyer. I don't maintain a pretty office filled with mahogany and leather. I don't belong to a big firm, prestigious or otherwise. I don't do good works through the bar association. I'm a lone gunman, a rogue who fights bad systems and hates injustice . . . Sebastian Rudd takes the cases no one else wants to take: the drug-addled punk accused of murdering two little girls; a crime lord on death row; a homeowner who shot at a SWAT team. Rudd believes that every person accused of a crime is entitled to a fair trial - even if he has to cheat to get one. He antagonises people from both sides of the law: his last office was firebombed, either by drug dealers or cops. He doesn't know or care which. But things are about to get even more complicated for Sebastian. Arch Swanger is the prime suspect in the abduction and presumed murder of 21-year-old Jiliana Kemp, the daughter of the assistant chief of police. When Swanger asks Sebastian to represent him, he lets Sebastian in on a terrible secret . . . one that will threaten everything Sebastian holds dear. Gritty, witty, and impossible to put down, Rogue Lawyer is the master of the legal thriller at his very best.

Most weapons do what you tell them. Most weapons you can control. But what if the most dangerous weapon in the world isn't a smart missile or a stealth submarine or even an AI computer programme? What if it's a 17-year-old boy with a blisteringly brilliant mind, who can run rings around the most sophisticated security services across the globe, who can manipulate that weaponry and turn it against the superpowers themselves? How valuable would he be? And what wouldn't you do to get hold of him?

When a lawyer friend and his client are murdered outside the San Diego courthouse, attorney Paul Madriani fears he may have been the actual target and takes the case of a suspect he believes may hold the answers

Master storyteller Patrick McGrath, acclaimed for his novel Asylum, weaves a hypnotic tale of psychological suspense and haunting beauty. Set against the backdrop of Hogarth's London and the volatile Massachusetts Bay colony, the story introduces a flame-haired heroine whose journey lingers in the imagination long after the last page. Our narrator recounts the life of Harry Peake, a poet and smuggler who tragically lost his wife, Grace, in a fire that left him disfigured. He resorts to displaying his deformed spine in London alehouses, finding solace only in his devoted daughter, Martha, who inherits his fiery spirit but not his passion for gin. As Harry succumbs to alcoholism, he commits a final act of brutality, forcing Martha to flee to the American colonies. There, she becomes entangled in the fervor of rebellion, yet the shadows of her past loom large. Amidst betrayals, she seeks redemption through an unforgettable act of courage. Superbly plotted and absorbing, this novel showcases McGrath's psychological precision and imaginative prowess on a broad historical canvas. It tells the poignant tale of a child escaping a father's twisted love and the colonists' struggle for freedom from their homeland, marking McGrath's finest work to date.

Katie Wallace had her heart broken once - never again. So she decides to becomes a Love Trainer, a unique service provider who can answer the following 1 Should I call him even though he hasn't called me? 2 When he turns up in the middle of the night drunk and wanting a shag, should I say yes? 3 Why is it so hard when I'm not even sure he's the man I want to marry? Is Katie right? Can you train men to be better boyfriends? Or is she playing the game of love with the wrong set of rules - a game which can only lead to her and those she helps getting hurt ...?