Simon & Schuster

Two years after the day that her son, Matthew, was kidnapped in broad daylight in Central Park, Alexandra Moreland still finds herself torn between hope and despair. As no trace of Matthew was ever found, she has never been able to give him up for dead. But now, on what would have been Matthew's fifth birthday, photos surface that seem to show Alexandra kidnapping her own child. Then, as her bank accounts are suddenly drained, and her reputation as a successful architect comes under immense pressure, Alexandra begins to suspect that someone is using her credit cards to steal her identity. But who would want to ruin her so completely? Hounded by the press, under investigation by the police, attacked by both her angry ex-husband and a vindictive business rival, Alexandra, sustained only by her belief that Matthew is still alive, sets out to discover who is behind this cruel hoax. Little does she realize that with every step she takes toward the truth, she is putting herself — and those she loves most — in mortal danger.

An exclusive short story for World Book Day from bestselling author Lynda La Plante. This spooky tale will make you want to sleep with the light on. Barbara needs a story. A struggling journalist, she tricks her way into the home of former soap star Margaret Reynolds. Desperate for a scoop on the actress and her return to stardom, she finds instead a terrified woman living alone in a creepy manor house. A piano plays in the night, footsteps run overhead, doors slam in dark corners. The nights are full of strange noises. Barbara thinks there may be a child living upstairs, unseen. Who looks after her? And why is she kept out of sight? Little by little, actress Margaret's haunting story of broken promises is revealed, and Barbara is left with a chilling discovery.

A BELIEF IN FREE WILL touches nearly everything that human beings value. It is difficult to think about law, politics, religion, public policy, intimate relationships, morality — as well as feelings of remorse or personal achievement — without first imagining that every person is the true source of his or her thoughts and actions. And yet the facts tell us that free will is an illusion. In this enlightening book, Sam Harris argues that this truth about the human mind does not undermine morality or diminish the importance of social and political freedom, but it can and should change the way we think about some of the most important questions in life.

In The Magic a great mystery from a sacred text is revealed, and with this life-changing knowledge Rhonda Byrne will take you on an unforgettable journey for 28 days. Step by step, day by day, secret teachings, revelations, and scientific law are brought together into one breathtaking book-a book that will lead you to a life and a level of happiness beyond your wildest dreams.

Heiress to the red rose of Lancaster, Margaret Beaufort never surrenders her belief that her house is the true ruler of England and that she has a great destiny before her. Her ambitions are disappointed when her sainted cousin Henry VI fails to recognize her as a kindred spirit, and she is even more dismayed when he sinks into madness. Her mother mocks her plans, revealing that Margaret will always be burdened with the reputation of her father, one of the most famously incompetent English commanders in France. But worst of all for Margaret is when she discovers that her mother is sending her to a loveless marriage in remote Wales. Married to a man twice her age, quickly widowed, and a mother at only fourteen, Margaret is determined to turn her lonely life into a triumph. She sets her heart on putting her son on the throne of England regardless of the cost to herself, to England, and even to the little boy. Disregarding rival heirs and the overwhelming power of the York dynasty, she names him Henry, like the king; sends him into exile; and pledges him in marriage to her enemy Elizabeth of York's daughter. As the political tides constantly move and shift, Margaret charts her own way through another loveless marriage, treacherous alliances, and secret plots. She feigns loyalty to the usurper Richard III and even carries his wife's train at her coronation. Widowed a second time, Margaret marries the ruthless, deceitful Thomas, Lord Stanley, and her fate stands on the knife edge of his will. Gambling her life that he will support her, she then masterminds one of the greatest rebellions of the time — all the while knowing that her son has grown to manhood, recruited an army, and now waits for his opportunity to win the greatest prize. In a novel of conspiracy, passion, and cold-hearted ambition, number one bestselling author Philippa Gregory has brought to life the story of a proud and determined woman who believes that she alone is destined, by her piety and lineage, to shape the course of history.

Saba has spent her whole life in Silverlake, a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. The Wrecker civilization has long been destroyed, leaving only landfills for Saba and her family to scavenge from. That's fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother Lugh is around. But when a monster sandstorm arrives bearing four cloaked horsemen, Saba's world is shattered. Lugh is captured, and Saba embarks on a quest to get him back. Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the world outside of desolate Silverlake, Saba is lost without Lugh to guide her. So perhaps the most surprising thing of all is what Saba learns about herself: she's a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. And she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. Teamed up with a handsome daredevil named Jack and a gang of girl revolutionaries called the Free Hawks, Saba stages a showdown that will change the course of her own civilization. Blood Red Road has a searing pace, a poetically minimal writing style, violent action, and an epic love story. Moira Young is one of the most promising and startling new voices in teen fiction.

Ray Bradbury's internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 is a masterwork of twentieth-century literature set in a bleak, dystopian future. Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television «family». But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn't live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television. When Mildred attempts suicide and Clarisse suddenly disappears, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known. He starts hiding books in his home, and when his pilfering is discovered, the fireman has to run for his life.

In Kathy Reichs's high-stakes fourteenth novel, a body is found in a barrel of asphalt in a landfill next to Lowes Motor Speedway near Charlotte just before Raceweek when 200,000 fans are pouring into town. The next day a NASCAR crew member visits Temperance Brennan at the MCME and tells his story. His sister, Cyndi Gamble, then a high school senior who wanted to be a NASCAR diver, disappeared twelve years before along with her boyfriend, Cale Lovett. Lovette has hung with a group of right wing extremists known as the Patriot Posse. Is the body Cyndi's? Or Cale's? Kathy Reichs, a producer of the «Fox hit Bones», now entering its sixth season, is back with her fourteenth riveting novel featuring North America's favorite forensic anthropologist, Tempe Brennan.

Number 1 bestselling author Philippa Gregory continues her series «The Cousins' War» with Jacquetta Woodville, mother of the White Queen. A number 1 hardback bestseller, this tells the story of the daughter of the Count of Luxembourg and kinswoman to half the royalty of Europe, who was married to the great Englishman John, Duke of Bedford, uncle to Henry VI. Of all the little-known but important women of the period, her dramatic story is the most neglected. A surprising fact considering she had a reputation for making magic.

P.I. Regan Reilly and her husband Jack of the NYPD Major Case Squad find themselves up to their necks in a case that takes them from the beautifully preserved Victorian resort town of Cape May at the southern tip of the Garden State, to the casinos, shops, and boardwalks of Atlantic City, and to the music halls and restaurants of Asbury Park. Since she grew up in Summit, New Jersey, Regan has many old friends who frequent the sandy beaches that line The Shore, and she runs into many of them while working this case. But there's one friend in particular she almost doesn't recognize — and there's a good reason for that...

New York City, Accord's latest innovation, is a dimensional die-cut book is packed with fun facts about New York's most iconic landmarks, all on stylishly designed pages. A gatefold map and 3 postcards round out the perfect souvenir package.

It is a question that has long been debated (well, since 2007): Which is better, the zombie or the unicorn? Finally, this argument will be decided. Zombies are lovers and fierce warriors, hunters of the living and just plain cool. Unicorns are sparkly, pastel, and fart rainbows. But they're also arbiters of justice, healers and vicious man-killers. Ultimately, the decision rests with you — which side are you on?

Bradbury's Mars is a place of hope, dreams and metaphor — of crystal pillars and fossil seas — where a fine dust settles on the great, empty cities of a silently destroyed civilization. It is here the invaders have come to despoil and commercialize, to grow and to learn — first a trickle, then a torrent, rushing from a world with no future toward a promise of tomorrow. The Earthman conquers Mars... and then is conquered by it, lulled by dangerous lies of comfort and familiarity, and enchanted by the lingering glamour of an ancient, mysterious native race.

Meet DCI John Luther. He's brilliant. He's intense. He's obsessional. HE'S DANGEROUS. DCI John Luther has an extraordinary clearance rate. He commands outstanding loyalty from friends and colleagues. Nobody who ever stood at his side has a bad word to say about him. But Luther seethes with a hidden fury that at times he can barely control. Sometimes it sends him to the brink of madness, making him do things he shouldn't; things way beyond the limits of the law. Luther: The Calling, the first in a new series of novels featuring DCI John Luther, takes us into Luther's past and into his mind. It is the story of the case that tore his personal and professional relationships apart and propelled him over the precipice. Beyond fury, beyond vengeance. All the way to murder...

Tap into the magic of gratitude with Rhonda Byrne's latest book — and change your life in just 33 days. No matter who you are, no matter where you are, gratitude can dissolve all negativity in your life, no matter what form it has taken. In this book, find the way to change your life by using gratitude to shift your energy. When you put all of your energy into gratitude, see how miracles can take place in your life.

The noise between Patch and Nora has gone. They've overcome the secrets riddled in Patch's dark past, bridged two irreconcilable worlds and faced heart-wrenching tests of betrayal, loyalty and trust... and all for a love that will transcend the boundary between heaven and earth. Armed with nothing but their absolute faith in one another, Patch and Nora enter a desperate fight to stop a villain who holds the power to shatter everything they've worked for — and their love — forever.

There are many methods of conflict resolution, but most involve compromise, a low-level accommodation that stops the fight without breaking through to amazing new results. The 3rd Alternative introduces a breakthrough approach to conflict resolution and creative problem solving, transcending traditional solutions to conflict by forging a path toward a third option, a 3rd Alternative that moves beyond your way or my way to a higher and better way — one that allows both parties to emerge from debate or even heated conflict in a far better place than either had envisioned. With the 3rd Alternative, nobody has to give up anything, and everyone wins.

The secrets in a woman's heart are deeper than the ocean... For May Smith, travelling with her husband and baby girl Ellen, stepping foot on the Titanic marks the start of an incredible journey, one which is destined to take her from the back streets of Bolton to the land of opportunity: the United States. But when the 'unsinkable' Titanic hits an iceberg one cold dark night, May's dreams are instantly shattered. Jumping from the sinking ship at the last minute, May loses sight of Joe and Ellen. Distraught, she is pulled into a lifeboat. Minutes later, the real-life Captain Smith swims to the lifeboat and hands May a baby swaddled in blankets. Beside herself, and in virtual darkness, May believes the baby to be Ellen. This rescue is witnessed by fellow survivor, Celeste Parkes, married to an American industrialist who is on her way back to Ohio after her mother's funeral. In horror, they both watch the death throes of the mighty ship; May traumatised, knowing her husband has drowned, Celeste wishing her bully of a husband had been on board and out of her life. As the dawn comes up, and the two women are rescued by the Carpathia, a friendship is formed, one which is destined to transcend the Atlantic and social differences between them and last a lifetime. Then May makes a shocking discovery and a split-second decision which will change the lives of so many.

In the eleventh century, a vast Christian army, summoned to holy war by the pope, rampaged through the Muslim world of the eastern Mediterranean, seizing possession of Jerusalem, a city revered by both faiths. Over the two hundred years that followed this First Crusade, Islam and the West fought for dominion of the Holy Land, clashing in a succession of chillingly brutal wars, both firm in the belief that they were at God's work. For the first time, this book tells the story of this epic struggle from the perspective of both Christians and Muslims, reconstructing the experiences and attitudes of those on either side of the conflict. Mixing pulsing narrative and piercing insight, it exposes the full horror, passion and barbaric grandeur of the crusading era. One of the world's foremost authorities on the subject, Thomas Asbridge offers a vivid and penetrating history of the crusades, setting a new standard for modern scholarship. Drawing upon painstaking original research and an intimate knowledge of the Near East, he uncovers what drove Muslims and Christians alike to embrace the ideals of jihad and crusade, revealing how these holy wars reshaped the medieval world and why they continue to echo in human memory to this day.

Shadow Harold, master thief, is in over his head. When he accepted the King's commission (not that he had any choice in the matter) he did not think that it would be to retrieve a legendary artefact from Hrad Spein, the many-layered resting place of ogres, elves and wizards; a place of dread, awe and immeasurable power, sealed up for centuries. Unless Harold finds the long-lost Horn, the Nameless One will overrun the realm of Valiostr, the northernmost kingdom of Siala. But that was just the beginning of Harold's troubles. Magically bound to the Key with which the dark elves sealed Hrad Spein, and which his enemies are determined to obtain at any cost, treachery, subterfuge and death follow Harold and his companions as they fight to reach their goal. On one side is the threat of the Nameless One; on the other, the servants of the mysterious Master. A long-dead mage is living in Harold's head, and his dreams are haunted by terrible visions. What is the meaning of the House of Power, not to mention the House of Pain, the House of Love, and the House of Fear? Resolutely denying his destiny as the mystical Dancer in the Shadows, Harold's journey takes him to the Forest of Zagraba, 'the land where the gods had walked at the dawn of time'...

The New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments continues — and so do the thrills and danger for Jace, Clary, and Simon. What price is too high to pay, even for love? When Jace and Clary meet again, Clary is horrified to discover that the demon Lilith's magic has bound her beloved Jace together with her evil brother Sebastian, and that Jace has become a servant of evil. The Clave is out to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. As Alec, Magnus, Simon, and Isabelle wheedle and bargain with Seelies, demons, and the merciless Iron Sisters to try to save Jace, Clary plays a dangerous game of her own. The price of losing is not just her own life, but Jace’s soul. She's willing to do anything for Jace, but can she still trust him? Or is he truly lost? Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. Darkness threatens to claim the Shadowhunters in the harrowing fifth book of the Mortal Instruments series.

Darkly brilliant and intuitive private detective Charlie Parker returns in a thrilling story of unspeakable horrors — past and present — from internationally bestselling author John Connolly. Randall Haight has a secret: He is a convicted murderer, a man with the blood of a young girl on his hands. He has built a new life for himself in the small Maine town of Pastor's Bay, but someone has discovered the truth about him. He is being tormented by haunting, anonymously mailed images reminding him of his crime. He wants private detective Charlie Parker to make them go away. But another girl has gone missing, this time from Pastor's Bay itself, and her family has its own secrets to protect. Now, in a town built on blood and shadowed by old ghosts, Parker must unravel a twisted history of violence and deceit involving the police and the FBI, a doomed mobster and his enemies, and Randall Haight himself. Because Randall is telling lies...

#1 New York Times bestselling author Brad Thor brings readers his darkest and most intriguing thriller yet — a terrifying story of espionage and betrayal — brilliantly paced with superb nonstop action. Born in the shadows and kept from heads of state, there are some missions so deadly, so sensitive, that they simply don't exist. When one such mission goes horribly wrong, a wave of dramatic terrorist attacks is set in motion. Their goal: the complete and total collapse of the United States. With the CIA's intelligence abilities hobbled, former Navy SEAL Team 6 member turned covert counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath launches an audacious plan to infiltrate the terrorists' network and prevent one of the biggest threats the United States has ever faced. Simultaneously, a foreign wet work team has been sent to California. Their target: one of Hollywood's most famous filmmakers. While working on a secret documentary project, movie producer Larry Salomon has unknowingly exposed one of the world's wealthiest and most politically connected powerbrokers — a man with a radical anti-American agenda poised to plunge the nation into deadly, irreversible chaos. As the plots rocket to their pulse-pounding conclusion and the identities of the perpetrators are laid stunningly bare, Harvath will be left with only one means to save America. Unable to trust anyone, he will be forced to go Full Black. Intense and frighteningly realistic, FULL BLACK is, hands down, Brad Thor's most riveting thriller to date.

The Illustrated Man is classic Bradbury — a collection of tales that breathe and move, animated by sharp, intaken breath and flexing muscle. Here are eighteen startling visions of humankind's destiny, unfolding across a canvas of decorated skin — visions as keen as the tattooist's needle and as colorful as the inks that indelibly stain the body. The images, ideas, sounds and scents that abound in this phantasmagoric sideshow are provocative and powerful: the mournful cries of celestial travelers cast out cruelly into a vast, empty space of stars and blackness... the sight of gray dust selling over a forgotten outpost on a road that leads nowhere... the pungent odor of Jupiter on a returning father's clothing. Here living cities take their vengeance, technology awakens the most primal natural instincts, Martian invasions are foiled by the good life and the glad hand, and dreams are carried aloft in junkyard rockets. Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man is a kaleidoscopic blending of magic, imagination, and truth, widely believed to be one of the Grandmaster's premier accomplishments: as exhilarating as interplanetary travel, as maddening as a walk in a million-year rain, and as comforting as simple, familiar rituals on the last night of the world.