Before He Wakes

Before He Wakes
Author: Jerry Bledsoe
Publisher: Onyx
Total Pages: 462
Release: 1996
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780451406095

The case of a wealthy North Carolina woman who, after leading a life of deceit, is finally brought to trial for murdering her husband.

Before He Wakes

Before He Wakes
Author: Jerry Bledsoe
Publisher: Diversion Books
Total Pages: 507
Release: 2014-05-18
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 1626812896

New York Times–bestselling author: “In the art of true-crime reportage, Jerry Bledsoe is the best in the country . . . Before He Wakes has the suspense of a novel” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Barbara Stager was known as a devoted mother, loving wife, and dedicated church leader in her Durham, North Carolina, community. When she “accidentally” shot her husband, popular high school coach, Russ, the police were inclined to believe her—until they learned that ten years earlier, her first husband had died in a strangely similar way. Sgt. Rick Buchanan’s relentless investigation into Stager’s life revealed a stunning vortex of compulsive lying, obsessive spending, and sexual promiscuity. With every new discovery, more of Barbara’s impeccable image unraveled. But the greatest shock—a damning piece of evidence Russ Stager left behind—revealed the nightmare truth about Barbara. With “the fine-toothed-comb reporting of [an] ace crime journalist,” this book takes us deep into a spellbinding case of double life, lethal lust, and almost perfect murder (Kirkus Reviews). “A shocking and well-written portrait of a dangerous woman.” —The New York Times “Mesmerizing.” —Ann Rule, New York Times–bestselling author of The Stranger Beside Me “This account of manipulation, compulsive spending, lying, promiscuity, and murder is made even more chilling by the fact that appearances are often deceiving.” —Library Journal “A profile of evil . . . Fascinating.” —The Baltimore Sun “Jerry Bledsoe is the master of true crime, the conclusion to what Truman Capote began. . . . Another stunning success.” —Patricia Cornwell, New York Times–bestselling author of Chaos

If He Wakes

If He Wakes
Author: Zoe Lea
Publisher: Canelo
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2018-04-30
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 178863098X

You can always trust your best friend... can’t you? When Rachel discovers a Twitter message arranging a romantic liaison she assumes her husband is having an affair, and follows him. What she witnesses is so much worse: a hit and run using his car. Meanwhile, Rachel’s friend and business partner Suzie is increasingly worried about her fiancé, who’s not been in touch for days. When Suzie learns of huge debts racked up in her name she fears he has run out on her, but then the threatening calls start and she thinks something terrible has happened. Rachel and Suzie are both about to learn shocking things about the men they love, worse than they could ever imagine... Can their friendship survive? Praise for If He Wakes: 'A tense, pulse-quickening tale. If you read the first chapter, you can’t help but read the second. I flew through this perfect summer read of best friends in turmoil in one feverish session.' Paula Daly 'I loved this book. So well written. I found this book unputdownable!!' Reader review ‘Fan Flipping tastic thriller! I was completely hooked from page 1 and could not put this book down!’ 4* Reader review ‘What can I say about this book?!!!!... it was so good. I read it in one day... I couldn't put it down.’ Reader review ‘Amazing book!!!!’ Reader review ‘I raced through this book in a desperate attempt to discover the answers which became darker and more horrific than I could imagine’ Reader review 'I really enjoyed this book from the off!... A real page turner with a twist that will keep you hooked.' Reader review ‘12 stars is possible... This was a brilliant debut novel that had be shocked, surprised, and dumbfounded page after page’ Reader review ‘It was a great storyline and I loved the way that it developed, it was fast flowing and I soon discovered that I was at the end. Well worth a read’ My Love of Reading ‘What a great debut novel and totally great main characters’ 4* Reader review ‘This book needs to be read’ BRMaycock Blog

If She Wakes

If She Wakes
Author: Michael Koryta
Publisher: Little, Brown
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2019-05-14
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0316293954

Two women fight for their lives against an enigmatic killer in this electrifying novel from a New York Times bestselling author and "master" of thriller writing (Stephen King). Tara Beckley is a senior at idyllic Hammel College in Maine. As she drives to deliver a visiting professor to a conference, a horrific car accident kills the professor and leaves Tara in a vegetative state. At least, so her doctors think. In fact, she's a prisoner of locked-in syndrome: fully alert but unable to move a muscle. Trapped in her body, she learns that someone powerful wants her dead -- but why? And what can she do, lying in a hospital bed, to stop them? Abby Kaplan, an insurance investigator, is hired by the college to look in to Tara's case. A former stunt driver, Abby returned home after a disaster in Hollywood left an actor dead and her own reputation -- and nerves -- shattered. Despite the fog of trauma, she can tell that Tara's car crash was no accident. When she starts asking questions, things quickly spin out of control, leaving Abby on the run and a mysterious young hit man named Dax Blackwell hard on her heels. Full of pulse-pounding tension, If She Wakes is a searing, breakneck thriller from the genre's "best of the best" (Michael Connelly).

Death Sentence

Death Sentence
Author: Jerry Bledsoe
Publisher: Diversion Books
Total Pages: 546
Release: 2014-05-18
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 1626812888

In this “true story that reads like a novel,” the #1 New York Times–bestselling author reveals the facts behind a notorious Southern murder case (Library Journal). When North Carolina farmer Stuart Taylor died after a sudden illness, his forty-six-year-old fiancée, Velma Barfield, was overcome with grief. Taylor’s family grieved with her—until the autopsy revealed traces of arsenic poisoning. Turned over to the authorities by her own son, Velma stunned her family with more revelations. This wasn’t the first time she had committed cold-blooded murder, and she would eventually be tried by the “world’s deadliest prosecutor” and sentenced to death. This book probes Velma’s stark descent into madness, her prescription drug addiction, and her effort to turn her life around through Christianity. From her harrowing childhood to the crimes that incited a national debate over the death penalty, to the final moments of her execution, Velma Barfield’s life of crime and punishment, revenge and redemption, this is crime reporting at its most gripping and profound. “A painfully intimate, moving story about the life and death of the only woman executed in the U.S. between 1962–1998 . . . With graceful writing and thorough reporting, it makes the reader look hard at something dark and sad in the human soul . . . Breathes new life into the true crime genre.” —The News & Observer “Undertakes to answer the questions about the justice system and the motives that drive women to kill.” —The Washington Post Book World “An extraordinary piece of writing . . . The most chilling description of a legal execution that we are ever likely to get.” —Citizen-Times “Taut and engrossing on the nature of justice and the death penalty as well as on guilt and responsibility.” —Booklist

Before I Fall

Before I Fall
Author: Lauren Oliver
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 487
Release: 2010-03-02
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0061987492

Like Adam Silvera's They Both Die at the End and Colleen Hoover's It Ends with Us, Before I Fall raises thought-provoking questions about love, death, and how one person's life can affect so many others. With this stunning debut novel, New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver emerged as one of today's foremost authors of young adult fiction. For popular high school senior Samantha Kingston, February 12—"Cupid Day"—should be one big party, a day of valentines and roses and the privileges that come with being at the top of the social pyramid. And it is…until she dies in a terrible accident that night. However, she still wakes up the next morning. In fact, Sam lives the last day of her life seven times, until she realizes that by making even the slightest changes, she may hold more power than she ever imagined. Before I Fall is now a major motion picture Zoey Deutch, Halston Sage, and Kian Lawley. Named to numerous state reading lists, the novel was also recognized as a Best Book of the Year by Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Daily Beast, NPR, and Publishers Weekly.

She Wakes

She Wakes
Author: Jack Ketchum
Publisher: 47north
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013-09-26
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781477840535

The revised edition of the Bram Stoker Award-winning author's first supernatural thriller is the story of a seductive evil that stalks the Greek islands, hunting and feeding on the living. "Ketchum does here for Greece what Stoker did for Transylvania."--"Publishers Weekly."

Leviathan Wakes

Leviathan Wakes
Author: James S. A. Corey
Publisher: Orbit
Total Pages: 621
Release: 2011-06-15
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0316134678

From a New York Times bestselling and Hugo award-winning author comes a modern masterwork of science fiction, introducing a captain, his crew, and a detective as they unravel a horrifying solar system wide conspiracy that begins with a single missing girl. Now a Prime Original series. Humanity has colonized the solar system—Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond—but the stars are still out of our reach. Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, the Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for—and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why. Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to the Scopuli and rebel sympathizer Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything. Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations—and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe. "Interplanetary adventure the way it ought to be written." —George R. R. Martin The Expanse Leviathan Wakes Caliban's War Abaddon's Gate Cibola Burn Nemesis Games Babylon's Ashes Persepolis Rising Tiamat's Wrath ​Leviathan Falls Memory's Legion The Expanse Short Fiction Drive The Butcher of Anderson Station Gods of Risk The Churn The Vital Abyss Strange Dogs Auberon The Sins of Our Fathers

Blood Games

Blood Games
Author: Jerry Bledsoe
Publisher: Diversion Books
Total Pages: 631
Release: 2014-05-18
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 162681287X

The New York Times–bestselling author of Bitter Blood weaves “a powerful account” of greed that led to an unspeakable crime (The New York Times Book Review). As they slept in their North Carolina home, wealthy Lieth Von Stein and his wife Bonnie suffered a vicious assault with a knife and a baseball bat. Bonnie barely survived. Lieth did not. The crime seemed totally baffling until police followed a trail that led to the charming stepson, Chris Pritchard, and his brilliant, drug-using, Dungeons and Dragons–playing friends at North Carolina State University. “Haunting . . . Addictive, chilling and a masterpiece of reportage,” Blood Games is the true story of depraved young minds and a son’s gruesome greed turned to horrifyingly tragedy (Patricia Cornwell). Jerry Bledsoe masterfully reconstructs the bloody crime and its aftermath as he takes us into the secret twisted hearts of three young murderers. “Mr. Bledsoe goes straight to the bigger issues.” —The New York Times Book Review “In Mr. Bledsoe’s hands, a mega-load of inert facts becomes a human story of hurricane force.” —The News & Observer “Devastating . . . A brilliant account.” —Publishers Weekly

Things Not Seen

Things Not Seen
Author: Andrew Clements
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2006-04-20
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1101200456

Winner of American Library Association Schneider Family Book Award! Bobby Phillips is an average fifteen-year-old-boy. Until the morning he wakes up and can't see himself in the mirror. Not blind, not dreaming-Bobby is just plain invisible. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to Bobby's new condition; even his dad the physicist can't figure it out. For Bobby that means no school, no friends, no life. He's a missing person. Then he meets Alicia. She's blind, and Bobby can't resist talking to her, trusting her. But people are starting to wonder where Bobby is. Bobby knows that his invisibility could have dangerous consequences for his family and that time is running out. He has to find out how to be seen again-before it's too late.