Herbert's latest novel begins as a rather taut political thriller/horror hybrid, but it begins to deteriorate about halfway through, becoming increasingly poorly paced and confused. The story concerns Liam Holloran, a mercenary and the veteran of many violent encounters, who is hired as a bodyguard for Fritz Kline, a psychic who has become aware that his life is threatened but doesn't know by whom. Kline's psychic abilities, it is eventually revealed, are partly the result of an alliance he made long ago with Bel-Marduk, a Sumerian deity who also shows up in Christian theology as the Fallen Angel, Lucifer.
Psychic investigator David Ash delves into the mysterious events terrorizing the community of Sleath, and as each dark secret is unveiled, evil forces are unleashed, and Ash fears for his own sanity as well as that of the village people. This one of the best ghost stories ever written, scary, compelling and very well written. One of Herbert's best.
Mad Max meets dystopian London bloodsuckers three years after the Allies lose WW II, in a what-if tale by the author of (among 18 others) the much richer, or at least completely different, Portent (1996). Hitler hits London with his V1 rockets but still finds himself losing the war. So he fires off V2 rockets, which hold a deadly virus that freezes human blood and causes fast death, although some rare victims die more slowly.
Bestseller Cornwell's solid 17th thriller to feature Dr. Kay Scarpetta (after Scarpetta) finds Scarpetta—who's the senior forensic analyst for CNN—probing the murder of a Central Park jogger as well as looking into the disappearance of Hannah Starr, a wealthy financial planner. Quizzed on-air about previously undisclosed details of the perplexing Starr case, Scarpetta realizes that the tentacles of the case reach further than she imagined.
When Molly's father returns from the war a broken man, the whole family is forced to move into the slums of Liverpool. Despite many difficulties, Molly is determined to make a better life for herself, hoping that one day she'll find love. But, abused by a man she trusted, Molly wonders if this dream will ever come true. When her father is killed at work and her mother turns to drink in her sorrow, Molly finds herself the only wage-earner. She tries to take care of her mother and younger sister, Jodie. But when a fire destroys their home, they find themselves homeless and with a bleak future ahead of them...
