On the damp leaf-strewn ground a gruesome trophy is displayed. Its a young woman. Although her battered body has been buried her head is propped on a stone like an offering her mouth & eyes glued shut her eardrums destroyed. This killer has struck this peaceful town before
- & the savagery he inflicts on his victims is increasing. Vince Leone a pioneering FBI profiler is called in to try to unlock the mind of the killer
- a strategy that pulls him deep into the devastated community. Suspicions thicken secrets spill out & reputations shatter as Vince draws ever nearer to evil

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The sixth Odd Thomas thriller from the master storyteller. Our reluctant hero is drawn once more into a strange encounter with the lingering dead. Later that morning when I walked downtown to buy blue jeans & a few pairs of socks I met a guy who offered to neuter me with a. 45 pistol. In a sinister encounter with a rogue truck driver Odd
- who has the gift of seeing the dead & the soon-to-be dead
- has a disturbing vision of the slaughter of three innocent children. Across California into Nevada & back again Odd embarks on a road chase to prevent the tragedy. But he is to discover that he is not up against a single twisted sociopath but a mysterious network of evil men & women whose resources appear supernatural. Luckily in this world that Odd finds so beautiful & full of wonders & deeply odd as well he meets a collection of like-minded eccentrics who will help him to take the next giant step towards his destiny.

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Field Marshal William Slim stands alongside Montgomery as the outstanding British field commander of World War II. Defeat Into Victory" is his classic account of the Burma campaign: a story of retreat attrition & final hard-fought victory over the Japanese. Told by a commander always at the centre of events this is a narrative which captures both the high drama & the harsh reality of war." ...

In 53BC the Proconsul Marcus Crassus & 36 000 of his legionaries were crushed by the Parthians at Carrhae in what is now eastern Turkey. Crassus' defeat & death & the 20 000 casualties his army suffered were an extraordinary disaster for Rome. The event intensified the bitter destructive struggle for power in the Roman republic curtailed the empire's eastward expansion & had a lasting impact on the history of the Mediterranean & the Middle East. It was also the first clash between two of the greatest civilizations of the ancient world. Yet this critical episode has often been neglected by writers on the period who have concentrated on the civil war between Pompey & Caesar. Gareth Sampson in this challenging & original study reconstructs the Carrhae campaign in fine detail reconsiders the policy of imperial expansion & gives a fascinating insight into the opponents the Romans confronted in the East
- the Parthians.
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After a vicious attack Paladin Hunter Fitzsimon is no longer the warrior he once was. So when hes offered a transfer to the small Pacific Northwest town of Justice Point he takes it. Tate Justice needs a tenant for the apartment above her garage but when Hunter shows up something about him unsettles her
- & its not just his sexy grin. When he doesnt return home one evening & Tate finds him left for dead after another Kalith attack she realizes how much he means to her. & as the Kalith & the Paladins battle it out Hunter begins to realize hed do anything to keep her too.
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To mark the centenary of its foundation the British Security Service MI5 has opened its archives to an independent historian. The Defence of the Realm" the book which results is an unprecedented publication. It reveals the precise role of the Service in twentieth-century British history from its foundation by Captain Kell of the British Army in October 1909 to root out the spies of the Kaiser up to its present role in countering Islamic terrorism. It describes the distinctive ethos of MI5 how the organization has been managed its relationship with the government where it has triumphed & where it has failed. In all of this no restriction has been placed on the judgements made by the author. The book also casts new light on many events & periods in British history showing for example that though well-placed sources MI5 was probably the pre-war department with the best understanding of Hitlers objectives & had a remarkable willingness to speak truth to power; how it was so astonishingly successful in turning German agents during the Second World War; & that it had much greater roles than has hitherto been realized during the end of the Empire & in responding to the recurrent fears of successive governments (both Conservative & Labour) & or Cold War Communist subversion. It has new information about the Profumo affair & its aftermath about the Magnificent Five & about a range of formerly unconfirmed Soviet contacts. It reveals that though MI5 had a file on Harold Wilson it did not plot against him & it describes what really happened during the failed IRA attack in Gibraltar in March 1988." ...

Gaius Valerius Verrens returns to Rome from the successful campaign against Boudicca in Britain. Now hailed a Hero of Rome Valerius is not the man he once was
- scarred both physically & emotionally by the battles he has fought his sister is mortally ill his father in self-imposed exile. & neither is Rome the same city as the one he left. The Emperor Nero grows increasingly paranoid. Those who seek power for themselves whisper darkly in the emperors ears. They speak of a new threat one found within the walls of Rome itself. A new religious sect the followers of Christus deny Neros divinity & are rumoured to be spreading sedition. Nero calls on his Hero of Rome to become a Defender of Rome to seek out this rebel sect to capture their leader a man known as Petrus. Failure would be to forfeit his life & the lives of twenty thousands Judaeans living in Rome. But as Valerius begins his search a quest which will take him to the edge of the empire he will discover that success may cost him nearly as much as failure.
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Following work recently brought into sharper focus by the Defence of Britain Project this is the first extensive overview of the military structures of the twentieth century combining both documentary & fieldwork research. The book presents details of all those elements of the landscape both urban & rural which have resulted from the need to defend against conflict
- actual or threatened. Defending Britain" explains both the form & purpose of structures such as anti-invasion defences airfields naval installations & barracks munitions dumps & firing ranges Cold War bunkers & radar sites factories & stores all of which are well illustrated. The final section provides the reader with a comprehensive gazetteer of surviving examples to visit throughout Britain."
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When a teenaged boy is discovered stabbed to death in the woods adjoining the local high school a wave of shock ripples through the suburban community of Newton outside of Boston. Assistant district attorney Andy Barber is used to dealing with murder & its after-effects but with his own son Jacob also a student at the school he too is anxious for a swift arrest & conviction. But as the kids appear to be stonewalling the cops & the investigation stalls evidence emerges that ties Jacob to the crime
- & suddenly Andy faces a very different challenge: preventing his son from being convicted of murder. Together with his wife Laurie the family closes ranks in the midst of an increasingly hostile community as Andy prepares for the trial of his life the one trial he cannot afford to lose. Especially when the emergence of his own dark family secrets threatens to undermine Jacobs defence. & as the drama reaches its climax Andy & Laurie have to face every parents toughest questions: how well do you really know your own child & how far would you go to save them?
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Andy Barber's job is to put killers behind bars. & when a boy from his son Jacob's school is found stabbed to death Andy is doubly determined to find & prosecute the perpetrator. Until a crucial piece of evidence turns up linking Jacob to the murder. & suddenly Andy & his wife find their son accused of being a cold-blooded killer. In the face of every parent's worst nightmare they will do anything to defend their child. Because deep down they know him better than anyone. Don't they? ...