Audible RSS Feeds - Best-Sellers

The Lazarus Child

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

It takes just a moment for a family's life to be changed forever. For a 12-year-old boy to dash across the street for a pack of peppermints. For his 7-year-old sister to follow him into traffic. For a bus to swerve out of control. And with that terrible moment, a family's search begins for the unlikely miracle that will put together their shattered lives - and bring their daughter back to life... In a small hospital room little Frankie Heywood lies in a coma so deep, no one - not even those who love her the most - can reach her. It is a parent's worst nightmare. For months the Heywoods have kept an uneasy vigil at their daughter's bedside, waiting in vain for the least sign of hope. Now the experts are telling them that prolonging Frankie's existence may be damaging to their son Ben, who is slipping deeper and deeper into a dangerous emotional isolation. Their marriage already strained to the breaking point, the Heywoods are desperate. Against the expert judgment of all around them, they grasp at their last chance: the brilliant neurologist Elizabeth Chase. Lizzie Chase knows what it's like to lose a loved one to the darkness. She has dedicated her life to coaxing children back from the brink of oblivion. Her revolutionary work offers the only hope to families like the Heywoods. It has also drawn the unwanted attention of those who, through ignorance, greed, or fear, would do anything to stop her. But Lizzie and the Heywoods refuse to be stopped. They are certain that somewhere, just beyond their reach, Frankie is waiting for the lifeline that will lead her back to them.

Toby Tyler (Unabridged)

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

Who hasn't dreamed of running away to a more exciting life? Toby Tyler is one boy who did just that, spending 10 weeks working for the circus as it toured New England in the 1870s. But was this great adventure everything he dreamed it would be? Toby Tyler or, Ten Weeks with a Circus is a classic story beloved by generation after generation of children. Author James Otis Kaler actually traveled with the Phineas T. Barnum Circus as a young reporter, and he used his firsthand knowledge to acquaint children with the behind-the-scenes details of what the circus is really like, while introducing the unforgettable character of Toby Tyler.

A Part of the Sky (Unabridged)

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

"I had choices to make. And made them." This is the voice of Rob Peck, a boy determined to fill a man's shoes after the death of his father, Haven Peck. Young Rob discovers that responsibility can be filled with sacrifice, pain, and heartbreaking loss. Yet in Robert Newton Peck's long-awaited sequel to A Day No Pigs Would Die, we never doubt for a moment that the fiber of hope threading its way through family, friends, and community in this small Vermont town will somehow prevail. Together with his mother and Aunt Carrie, Rob travels the road to mature understanding, fighting to survive against incredible odds.

The Horse Whisperer

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

His name is Tom Booker. His voice can calm wild horses. His touch can heal broken spirits. And Annie Graves has traveled across a continent to the Booker ranch in Montana, desperate to heal her injured daughter, the girl's savage horse, and her own wounded heart. She comes for hope. She comes for her child. And beneath the wide Montana sky, she comes to him for what no one else can give her: a reason to believe...

A White Heron (Unabridged)

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

Sarah Orne Jewett's stories have been hailed as "nearly perfect" and "A White Heron" itself was described by a reviewer as "a tiny classic." Taking place in 19th-century New England, "A White Heron" showcases Jewett's eye for regional detail and subtle symbolism, as she writes about a lonely 9-year-old girl named Sylvia. One day, while walking her cow home, Sylvia meets an exotic man searching for birds for his collection. The man offers her 10 dollars if she can find the heron's nest, forcing young Sylvia to decide between helping her new friend or saving the rare bird. Beautifully interpreted by narrator Sandra Piechocki, this special collection also includes 6 more of Jewett's best-loved tales, "Miss Tempy's Watchers," "An Autumn Holiday," "William's Wedding," "The Dulham Ladies," "The Only Rose," and "Miss Esther's Guest," all of which confirm that human nature is truly timeless.

May Sarton

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

May Sarton has sought Truth in every avenue of her brilliant, long life - which she has kept careful record of as a poet, novelist, journalist, and memoirist. Excerpts from a Life presents the essence of that remarkable life in her own words, as masterfully performed by Andrea Itkin. These readings showcase Sarton as daughter, friend, solitary, success, failure, gardener, lover, and, through it all, a uniquely gifted writer. Among the standout selections are excerpts from I Knew a Phoenix, A World of Light, and The House by the Sea. This program also features Sarton herself, reading her famous poem, "The Phoenix Again," and thoughtfully discussing her life and work.

Willa Cather: Stories (Unabridged)

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

Think of Willa Cather and think of Nebraska - its Divide, its plains, its colors, and awesome horizon lines. Her stories and novels embrace life there in the early 1900s as no other author's works have done, helping to forge her reputation as a major 20th-century writer. "Write what you know," advised Cather's mentor Sarah Orne Jewett, and Cather responded by writing such masterpieces as the novels O Pioneers, My Antonia, and Alexander's Bridge, as well as the short fiction in this collection. Willa Cather: Stories includes "Peter," "On the Divide," "The Sculptor's Funeral," "The Sentimentality of William Tavener," "A Wagner Matinie," and "Eric Hermannson's Soul," and, like all of Cather's writing, is unforgettable in its renderings of the darker tones of American life and the often confounding tenacity of the human spirit.

Maggie (Unabridged)

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

Although his most famous work, The Red Badge of Courage, was created almost entirely from his imagination, Stephen Crane didn't hesitate to seek out life's most demanding lessons for himself. During his lifetime, he was exposed to poverty, hopelessness, violence, shipwrecks, and countless other tragedies. The 4 short stories in this collection, "An Experiment in Misery," "The Reluctant Voyagers," "A Desertion," and "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets," show Crane's skillful prose, rich imagery, and deft exposure of the human condition, including a vivid picture of life in New York City at the turn of the century.

Stories of New England (Unabridged)

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

From John Updike to Sarah Orne Jewett to James Thurber, New England has been home and muse to many of America's finest writers. Stories of New England: Then and Now gathers 12 classic pieces that span the generations, painting a distinctive portrait of the last 2 centuries of the historic region and its people. In addition to Updike, Jewett, and Thurber, this one-of-a-kind collection includes short stories by Susan Glaspell, H.P. Lovecraft, Rebecca Cummings, Howard Frank Mosher, Rebecca Rule, Susan M. Dodd, Rowland E. Robinson, Mary Wilkins Freeman, and Lawrence Sargent Hall. All of these authors lend their unique talents and perspectives to this varied, ambitious compendium of great New England fiction.

A Table for Two (Unabridged)

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

The mysteries of life and death underlie this true story of a family losing its youngest member, Kelly, to cancer. Her mother feels torn, as part of her wants to quickly end the unbearably tortuous interim, and part keeps longing to hold her again, to apprehend with eyes and heart for all of time, to pin her down, bring the child safely to her side, keep enough of her before the looming, incomprehensible departure. Just as bewildering is the child's extraordinary perception and her character, which takes on shining power as her body loses strength. Poignant are Kelly's diary entries, her Christian family's efforts to live as normally as possible, and, through it all, her mother's persistent hope, faith, and love.

The Chancellor Manuscript

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

Inver Brass, a group of high-minded and high-placed intellectuals, sees a monstrous threat to the country in Hoover's unscrupulous use of his scandal-ridden personal files from his half-century in office. They decide to discreetly eliminate him. Then bestselling thriller writer Peter Chancellor stumbles onto a staggering secret that makes his previous books seem like harmless fairy tales...and Chancellor and Inver Brass are on a deadly collision course, spiraling across the country in an ever-widening arc of violence and terror. Chancellor does not know how close his newest novel comes to the shocking truth...or that it will make him live bait in an explosive game...or that it may be the one damning document to survive a showdown that shatters Washington's intelligence community. Plus, hear a preview of Ludlum's riveting thriller The Bourne Ultimatum.

A Time to Kill

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

Clanton, Mississippi. The life of a 10-year-old black girl is shattered by 2 drunken and remorseless young men. The mostly white town reacts with shock and horror at the inhuman crime. Until her father acquires an assault riffle - and takes justice into his own outraged hands. For 10 days, with burning crosses and the crack of sniper fire spreading through the streets of Clanton, the nation sits spellbound as young defense attorney Jake Brigance struggles to save his client's life...and then his own...

Winesburg, Ohio (Unabridged)

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

Winesburg, Ohio, a collection of stories set in a fictitious town in the 1890s, has long been considered Sherwood Anderson's masterpiece. This groundbreaking work set the stage for a new era in writing, greatly influencing Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, and John Steinbeck, among many others. Anderson wrote simply, brilliantly crafting a work that dared to examine the darker impulses of human nature. Considered by many at the time of publication (1919) to be a scandalous work, Winesburg, Ohio has nonetheless survived through the decades as one of the forerunners of modern fiction. Haunting and powerful, it draws readers into the streets and houses of Winesburg - and into the darkly complex lives of each of Anderson's unforgettable "grotesques."

The Rainmaker

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

It's summer in Memphis. The sweat is sticking to Rudy Baylor's shirt and creditors are nipping at his heels. Once he had aspirations of breezing through law school and punching his ticket to the good life. Now he doesn't have a joy or a prayer...except for one: an insurance dispute that leaves a family devastated and opens the door for a lawsuit, if Rudy can find a way to file it. By the time Rudy gets to court, a heavyweight corporate defense team is there to meet him. And suddenly he's in over his head, plunged into a nightmare of lies and legal maneuverings. A case that started small is exploding into a thunderous million-dollar war of nerves, skill, and outright violence - a fight that could cost one young lawyer his life, or turn him into the biggest rainmaker in the land...

Into Thin Air

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

Into Thin Air is the definitive, personal account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest by the acclaimed journalist and author of Eiger Dreams and Into the Wild. On assignment for Outside magazine, Krakauer, an accomplished climber, went to the Himalayas to report on the growing commercialization of the planet's highest mountain. Everest has always been a dangerous mountain. From the first British expeditions in the 1920s until 1996, one climber has died for ever 4 who have attained the summit. This shocking death toll has not put a damper on the burgeoning business of guided ascents, however, in which amateur alpinists with alarmingly disparate skills are ushered up the mountain for a $65,000 fee. To ascend into the thin, frigid air above 26,000 feet - the cruising altitude of a commercial jetliner - is an inherently irrational act. The environment is unimaginably harsh, the margin for error miniscule. Krakauer examines what it is about Everest that has compelled so many people - including himself - to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concern of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense. Written with emotional clarity and supported by his unimpeachable reporting, Krakauer's frank eyewitness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement.

God Is My Broker

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

This is an incredible story. The author, a failed, alcoholic Wall Street trader, had retreated to a monastery. It, too, was failing. The walls were crumbling. The roof was leaking. The monks were on food stamps. An ancient order was about to go belly-up. Then, one fateful day, Brother Ty decided to let God be his broker - and not only saved the monastery, but discovered the Seven and a Half Laws™ of spiritual and financial growth. Brother Ty's remarkable success has been studied at the nation's leading business schools and scrutinized by Wall Street's greatest minds, but the secret to the miracle is not to be found in any management analysis. The answer lies in the ancient texts used by the monks. Now, for the first time, Brother Ty reveals the secrets he found in those texts - complete with chapter and verse citations - and tells you how you can get God to be your broker. But even more important than the money you'll make is the inner peace that you will achieve.

A Day No Pigs Would Die (Unabridged)

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

Robert Newton Peck's most touching and famous book is a story so filled with light that once you hear it, you'll never forget it. It is the true story of a young boy growing up on a Vermont farm with the warmth of his Shaker faith and father's love. He must learn from his father, who slaughters pigs for a living, about "doing what's got to be done" when his own pig cannot produce a litter. A Day No Pigs Would Die deals with the cycles of nature, birth, and death with straightforward honesty and heartbreaking poignancy.

The Chamber

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

In the corridors of Chicago's top law firm: 26-year-old Adam Hall stands on the brink of a brilliant legal career. Now he is risking it all for a death-row killer and an impossible case. Maximum Security Unit, Mississippi State Prison: Sam Cayhall is a former Klansman and unrepentant racist now facing the death penalty for a fatal bombing in 1967. He has run out of chances - except for one: the young, liberal Chicago lawyer who just happens to be his grandson. While the executioners prepare the gas chamber, while the protesters gather and the TV cameras wait, Adam has only days, hours, minutes, to save his client. For between the 2 men is a chasm of shame, family lies and secrets - including one secret that could save Sam Cayhall's life...or cost Adam his.

Couplehood (Unabridged)

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

Okay, you've decided to pick up my program, but you're not ready to commit. You're reading this copy, hoping to get a preview - a taste of what's to come before you plunk down actual cash. I respect that. I would do the same thing myself.

But here's the problem: it's a screen. You can't describe a whole 3-hour long program on this screen - look how little space there is. I will tell you this, though: Couplehood is about all the stuff that's good and bad about being part of a couple. It's pretty funny. My wife laughed. You'll understand it because I wrote it specifically for you. (And I'm not just saying that.) The price is reasonable, especially if you compare it to what it would cost you to take time off from work and produce your own audiobook. Worse comes to worst, after you've listened you can say, "Well, it was kind of tedious, but I certainly enjoyed that copy on the screen." There does that help?

Babyhood (Unabridged)

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

I'm going to be totally honest. This is not the kind of audiobook that can help you. It's not a "how-to," a "when-to," or a "what-to-expect." It's not even endorsed by anyone remotely connected to the medical profession. (Although a cousin of mine who sells carpeting to doctors' offices not only found it "insightful" and "informative," but also felt that, "if properly vacuumed, it should last a lifetime.")

"A fine endorsement," you say. "But if I have only one audiobook to buy, shouldn't I go for the helpful one?" Let's compare. Those "know-it-all" books tell you how to have a happy, healthy pregnancy. My book mentions a squirrel. Those books tell you how to care for a newborn child. My book describes how tired I am. Those books give you essential information you can use in a life-threatening emergency. My book has some very amusing anecdotes about poop. So really, it's up to you. If you want to be prepared and well-informed, I understand. But if you enjoy hearing the words "pterodactyl" and "uterus" in the same book, you've come to the right place.

The Partner

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

They watched Danilo Silva for days before they finally grabbed him. He was living alone, a quiet life on a shady street in a small town in Brazil; a simple life in a modest home, certainly not one of luxury. Certainly no evidence of the fortune they thought he had stolen. He was much thinner and his face had been altered. He spoke a different language, and spoke it very well. But Danilo had a past with many chapters. Four years earlier he had been Patrick Lanigan, a young partner in a prominent Biloxi law firm. He had a pretty wife, a new daughter, and a bright future. Then one cold winter night Patrick was trapped in a burning car and died a horrible death. When he was buried his casket held nothing more than his ashes. From a short distance away, Patrick watched his own burial. Then he fled. Six weeks later, a fortune was stolen from his ex-law firm's offshore account. And Patrick fled some more. But they found him.

The Mercy Rule

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

What Spenser is to Robert B. Parker, or Alex Cross is to James Patterson, Dismas Hardy is to New York Times best selling author John Lescroart. Hardy, the former bartender, loving husband and father, and reluctant defense attorney of Lescroart's blockbuster novel 13th Juror, returns in The Mercy Rule to face the most challenging case of his career.

Vowing to spend more time with his wife and kids, Dismas Hardy is hesitant to take on the case of Graham Russo, a could-have-been-great baseball player turned lawyer indicted for the murder of his father, Sal. Everyone close to the Russos knew Sal was dying of cancer and Alzheimer's disease, and that he needed morphine injections to ease his suffering. Graham freely admits to administering those injections, but insists he wasn't there the night of Sal's overdose and resultant death. Was it suicide, murder, or mercy? With personal and professional tensions mounting, can Dismas save both his client and his marriage?

The Street Lawyer

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

Michael was in a hurry. He was scrambling up the ladder at Drake & Sweeney, a giant D.C. firm with 800 lawyers. The money was good and getting better; a partnership was 3 years away. He was a rising star with no time to waste, no time to stop, no time to toss a few coins into the cups of panhandlers. No time for a conscience. But a violent encounter with a homeless man stopped him cold. Michael survived; his assailant did not. Who was this man? Michael did some digging, and learned that he was a mentally ill veteran who'd been in and out of shelters for many years. Then Michael dug a little deeper, and found a dirty secret, and the secret involved Drake & Sweeney. The fast track derailed; the ladder collapsed. Michael bolted from the firm and took a top-secret file with him. He landed in the streets, an advocate for the homeless, a street-lawyer. And a thief.

Trouble in Paradise

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

Stiles Island is a wealthy and exclusive enclave separated by a bridge from the Massachusetts coast town of Paradise. James Macklin sees Stiles Island as the ultimate investment opportunity: all he needs to do is invade the island, blow the bridge, and loot the island. To realize his investment, Macklin, along with his devoted girlfriend, Faye, assembles a crew of fellow ex-cons - all experts in their fields - including Wilson Cromartie, a fearsome Apache. James Macklin is a bad man - a very bad man. And Wilson Cromartie, known as Crow, is even worse.

As Macklin plans his crime, Paradise Police Chief Jesse Stone has his hands full. He faces romantic entanglements in triplicate: his ex-wife Jenn, is in the Paradise jail for assault, he's begun a new relationship with a Stiles Island realtor named Marcy Campbell, and he's still sorting out his feelings for attorney Abby Taylor. When Macklin's attack on Stiles Island is set in motion, both Marcy and Abby are put in jeopardy. As the casualties mount, it's up to Jesse to keep both women from harm.

Zora Neale Hurston: Stories (Unabridged)

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

As powerful as Zora Neale Hurston is in print, hearing her as narrated by Renee Joshua-Porter makes her work dance and soar with an unfettered vigor. Hurston's best known work is the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, but her short stories are a sort of spontaneous combustion of energy, emotion, and provocation - like the author herself. A pillar of the Harlem Renaissance and an authority on African-American folklore, her award-winning career reached its peak in the early 1940s, but she died in obscure poverty in 1960. Out of print for decades, Hurston's works are again receiving the attention they deserve, and this collection, which includes "Drenched in Light," "The Conscience of the Court," "Muttsy," "The Gilded Six-Bits," John Redding Goes to Sea," and "Sweat," is part of her legacy - a gift to the listener, and a celebration of the rich African-American culture.

Don't Know Much About Geography

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

Don't Know Much About® Geography: Everything You Need to Know About the World but Never Learned. Was there an Atlantis? What's the smallest country in the world? What's the difference between a jungle and a rain forest? Kenneth C. Davis, author of Don't Know Much About® History, Don't Know Much About® the Civil War, and Don't Know Much About® the Bible, turns his inimitable wit and wide-ranging knowledge to the subject of geography, and proves once and for all that there is a lot more to it than labeling countries on a map.

From often amusing perceptions people have had through the ages about the world and the universe to the changing map of today, Davis shows how geography is really a great crossroads of many fields: biology, meteorology, astronomy, history, economics, and even politics. In this lively, entertaining, and endlessly fascinating presentation, you'll hear about the personalities that helped shape the world and learn the answers to questions that have vexed most of us since grade school. Along the way, Davis offers an affectionate ode to the earth: a celebration of the earth, a searching investigation of the destruction of our habitat, and a practical guide to saving our home planet.

The Rants

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

Dennis Miller is here, folks, and he takes no prisoners. Whether the subject is dope-addled baseball players, do-nothing politicians, or the nation's resigned acceptance of violence as a way of American life, Miller's monologues are funny and angry. More significantly, they shatter the conventions of comedy by simultaneously making us laugh, think, and seethe. Here at last is a collection of 35 of Miller's favorite invigorating and thought-provoking rants, showcasing his singular point of view. Of course, they're just his opinions. He could be wrong.

The Pelican Brief

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

Late one October night, Justice Abe Rosenberg, at 91 the Supreme Court's liberal legend, is shot to death in his Georgetown home. Two hours later Glenn Jensen, the Court's youngest and most conservative justice, is strangled. The country is stunned; the FBI has no clues. But Darby Shaw, a brilliant law student at Tulane, thinks she has the answer. Days of digging through the law library's computers have led her to draft a brief speculating on an obscure connection between the 2 justices - and a most unlikely suspect. Her suspect has powerful friends: one evening, outside a New Orleans restaurant, Darby narrowly escapes an assassin's car bomb. Someone has read her brief - someone who wants her dead. Alone and frightened, Darby disappears into the anonymous shadows of the French Quarter, where she contacts investigative reporter Gray Grantham and convinces him that Washington's position on the killings amounts to the biggest cover-up since Watergate. Together they go underground, on the run, trying to stay alive long enough to expose the real truth contained in the Pelican Brief.

The Firm

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

Mitchell McDeere, raised in the coal-mining region of rural Kentucky, has worked hard to get where he is: third in his class at Harvard Law. He's young. He's bright. He's ambitious. Mitch could have his pick of the big firms in New York and Chicago, but he's chosen the Memphis tax firm Bendini, Lambert, & Locke. They're selective. They pay outrageous salaries. They have a turnover rate of zero. And Mitch is about to find out why. Several events fuel Mitch's suspicions: 2 of the partners die in a suspicious diving accident off Grand Cayman; the senior partners seem unduly proud of the fact that no one has ever resigned; and security measures at the office are, even for a company with billionaire clients, more than a little extreme. Then Mitch makes an explosive discovery: The firm is owned and operated by the most powerful organized crime family in Chicago. Even as Mitch discovers the truth, he finds himself caught between the FBI, who wants an informant inside the firm, and the firm itself, which will make him a very rich man - or a very dead one.

Thank You for Smoking

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

Nick Naylor, chief spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies is the hero of Christopher Buckley's wickedly funny Thank You for Smoking. Nick likes his job. In the neo-puritanical nineties, it's a challenge to defend the rights of smokers and a privilege to promote their liberty. Sure, it hurts a little when you're compared to Nazi war criminals, but Nick's just doing what it takes to pay the mortgage and put his son through Washington's elite private school St. Euthanasius.

Nick can handle the pressure from the anti-smoking zealots, but he's less certain about his new boss, who questions whether Nick is worth $150,000 a year to fight a losing war. Nick seeks inspiration and solace from 2 sympathetic souls who work for the firearms and alcohol lobbies. They call themselves the Merchants of Death, and together, they bemoan their plight and argue over which of them has the most deadly job.

Under pressure to produce results, Nick goes on a PR offensive, turning appearances on Oprah and Larry King Live into national events. But Nick's heightened notoriety makes him a nice target for someone who wants to prove just how hazardous smoking can be. If Nick isn't careful, he'll be stubbed out.

Night Passage

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

After a busted marriage kicks his drinking problem into overdrive and the LAPD unceremoniously dumps him, 35-year-old Jesse Stone's future looks bleak. So he's shocked when a small Massachusetts town called Paradise recruits him as police chief. He can't help wondering if this job is a genuine chance to start over, the kind of offer he can't refuse.

Once on board, Jesse doesn't have to look for trouble in Paradise: it comes to him. For what is on the surface a quiet New England community quickly proves to be a crucible of political and moral corruption - replete with triple homicide, tight Boston mob ties, flamboyantly errant spouses, maddened militiamen, and a psychopath-about-town who has fixed his violent sights on the new lawman. Against all this, Jesse stands utterly alone, with no one to trust; even he and the woman he's seeing are like ships that pass in the night. He finds he must test his mettle and powers of command to emerge a local hero - or the deadest of dupes.

The Matarese Circle

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

In this gripping best seller, Robert Ludlum spins a web of suspense and high-stakes intrigue as 2 men who are sworn mortal enemies must cooperate in order to foil a sinister plot to topple the world's governments. From opposite sides of the Iron Curtain, these 2 hard-bitten professionals are the best at what they do. And they do whatever is necessary. The Matarese Circle - a shadowy grouping of the most ruthless terrorists in history. They have been responsible for countless assassinations and massacres throughout the 20th century, but none as horrifying as their plan to throw the superpowers into chaos before making their boldest move...

The Client

WED, 21 MAY 2008 10:01:15 EST

This is the story of 11-year-old Mark Sway, who witnessed the bizarre suicide of a New Orleans attorney. Just before he dies, the lawyer tells Mark a deadly secret concerning the recent murder of a Louisiana senator whose accused killer, Mafia thug Barry Muldanno, is about to go to trial. The police, the federal prosecutor, and the FBI pressure Mark to tell them the attorney's last words, but Mark knows that with the mob watching his every move, revealing his secret will almost surely get him killed. So Mark, streetwise and old beyond his years, hires a lawyer: Reggie Love, a 52-year-old divorcee who's been through more than anyone could imagine and survived, basically because she's tough. And feisty. And loves helping kids overlooked or abused by the system. When Mark's life is threatened, and Reggie discovers her office has been bugged, and even the juvenile court judge says Mark has no choice but to talk, she realizes that this time she's in way over her head. But then Mark comes up with a plan...a crazy plan, in Reggie's opinion, but it's their only hope. And it just might work.