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Orion Books
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A mysterious toymaker who lives as a recluse in an old mansion, surrounded by the mechanical beings he has created... an enigma surrounding strange lights that shine through the mists that envelop the small island on which the old lighthouse stands... a shadowy creature that hides deep in the woods... these are the elements of a mystery that bind will bind 14-year-old Irene to Ismael during one magical summer spent in the Blue Bay. He mother has taken a job as a housekeeper for the toymaker, Lazarus, but his house contains more secrets than Irene and Ishmael have bargained for. |
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Shannon Fairchild's life has spectacularly derailed. Shelving her PhD to clean the homes of the rich and famous, and spending her evenings in low-rent bars, Shannon rebels against everything her academic family stands for. But when her parents are tortured and murdered, Shannon is consumed by guilt and vows to find out who was responsible. With her mother's enigmatic dying words of Find them and warn them still echoing in her ears, Shannon is left to wonder who she is supposed to warn, and of what? Delving into her parents' past, she discovers a history of radical political activism linking them to a fatal bombing in the 1960s. And still at large are the two masterminds behind the attack, who have been deep underground and evading the FBI ever since. But Shannon is not the only one in pursuit of answers and, after being attacked by someone also determined to track down the notorious fugitives, and interrogated by the FBI, Shannon sets out alone to find the pair. What they reveal leaves her stunned and makes clear that Shannon's past — and future — is irrevocably linked with theirs. And so begins a race against the clock to find her parents' killers — before the killers find her... |
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Don't all kids think there's a haunted house in their neighbourhood? Can you remember yours? What if, as a child, you knew something bad really had happened in that house? What if you actually saw it? Then you tried to forget it for the next thirty years. And then, one day, you had to go back inside that house? Andrew Pyper's THE GUARDIANS is a ghost story for grown-ups. Prepare to enter the Thurman House on Caledonia Street. You have been warned... |
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For ex-FBI profiler Pierce Quincy, it's the beginning of his worst nightmare: a car abandoned on a desolate stretch of Oregon highway, engine running, purse on the driver's seat. And his estranged wife, Rainie Conner, gone, leaving no clue to her fate. Did one of the ghosts from her troubled past finally catch up with Rainie? Or could her disappearance be the result of one of the cases they'd been working — a particularly vicious double homicide or the possible abuse of a deeply disturbed child Rainie took too close to heart? Together with his FBI agent daughter, Pierce is racing against time, frantically searching for answers to all the questions he's been afraid to ask. One man knows what happened that night — and he's already contacted the press. He wants money, he wants power, he wants celebrity. As the clock ticks, Pierce plunges headlong into the most desperate hunt of his life, into the shattering search for a killer, a lethal truth, and for the love of his life who may forever be gone. |
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Mercenaries are a wonderful thing: they fight as you tell them, whom you tell them, and when you tell them, for nothing more precious or complicated than money. And Monzcarro Mercatto, and her brother (and lover) Benna Mercatto, are the two most successful, most popular, and most wealthy mercenaries in Styria... but wealthy, popular mercenaries are not such a good thing. In fact they're a downright dangerous thing. Which is why Grand Duke Orso of Styria arranges to have them dealt with. Permanently. With hindsight, he may come to consider this a tactical error. Through sheer good luck — which her brother doesn't share — Monzcarro survives the long and fatal drop Orso arranged for her, and staggers away from her encounter with a ruined right hand, an opium addiction... and a plan to come back with a fortune, plenty of bladed weapons, and a single-minded determination to kill the seven men in the room when her brother was murdered. Preferably in as gruesome a manner as she can... |
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The political upheaval of the mid-seventeenth century has no parallel in English history. Other events have changed the occupancy and the powers of the throne, but the conflict of 1640-60 was more dramatic: the monarchy and the House of Lords were abolished, to be replaced by a republic and military rule. In this wonderfully readable account, Blair Worden explores the events of this period and their origins — the war between King and Parliament, the execution of Charles I, Cromwell's rule and the Restoration — while aiming to reveal something more elusive: the motivations of contemporaries on both sides and the concerns of later generations. |
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«A celebration of the Queen and her reign which will appeal to children, or souvenir hunters, as it's presented in an appealing style and format. Irreverent but always affectionate, the book reveals quirky facts alongside solid history, and is in the same highly illustrated style as the author's «Nessie The Loch Ness Monster» and «Greyfriars Bobby».» |
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'Joe Abercrombie is doing some terrific work' George R. R. Martin, author of GAME OF THRONES. They burned her home. They stole her brother and sister. But vengeance is following. Shy South hoped to bury her bloody past and ride away smiling, but she'll have to sharpen up some bad old ways to get her family back, and she's not a woman to flinch from what needs doing. She sets off in pursuit with only a pair of oxen and her cowardly old stepfather Lamb for company. But it turns out Lamb's buried a bloody past of his own, and out in the lawless Far Country, the past never stays buried. Their journey will take them across the barren plains to a frontier town gripped by gold fever, through feud, duel and massacre, high into the unmapped mountains to a reckoning with the Ghosts. Even worse, it will force them into alliance with Nicomo Cosca, infamous soldier of fortune, and his feckless lawyer Temple, two men no one should ever have to trust... The past never stays buried... |
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From mediaeval times to modern day, people have been endlessly fascinated by tales of the famous outlaw who allegedly robbed the rich to give to the poor. But who was Robin Hood really — aristocrat or commoner; hero or villain? Where did he really come from? Sheffield and Yorkshire claim him as their own son as much as Nottinghamshire ever did. Myths abound and in this book, with all the humour, affection and gently mocking criticism of the bestselling NESSIE, Richard Brassey gently pokes fun at the falsehoods while pursuing what appears to be the truth. |
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A series of seemingly random disappearances — stretching back to the millennium. A mother determined to find the truth. A retired cop desperate to get his old life back... It's been some time since Rebus was forced to retire, and now works as a civilian in a cold case unit. So when a long-dead case bursts back to life, he can't resist the opportunity to get his feet under the CID desk once more. But Rebus is as stubborn and anarchic as ever, and he quickly finds himself in deep with pretty much everyone, including DS Siobhan Clarke. All Rebus wants to do is uncover the truth. The big question is: can he be the man he once was and still stay on the right side of the law? |
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Thomas is a map-obsessed schizophrenic who spends his days and nights on a website called Whirl360, believing he's employed by the CIA to store the details of every town and city in the world in his head. Then one day, he sees something that shouldn't be there: a woman being murdered behind a window on a New York street. When Thomas tells his brother Ray what he has witnessed, Ray humours him with a half-hearted investigation — until he realises Thomas may have stumbled onto a deadly conspiracy, which puts them both in danger... |
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World War Terminus had left the Earth devastated. Through its ruins, bounty hunter Rick Deckard stalked, in search of the renegade replicants who were his prey. When he wasn't 'retiring' them with his laser weapon, he dreamed of owning a live animal — the ultimate status symbol in a world all but bereft of animal life. Then Rick got his chance: the assignment to kill six Nexus-6 targets, for a huge reward. But in Deckard's world things were never that simple, and his assignment quickly turned into a nightmare kaleidoscope of subterfuge and deceit — and the threat of death for the hunter rather than the hunted... |
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In the year 2100, mankind on Earth, settlers in a lunar colony and aliens from the para-universe, a strange universe parallel in time to our own, are faced with a race against time to prevent total destruction of the Earth. The invention of the Inter-Universe Electron Pump has threatened the rate of hydrogen fusion in the sun, leading, inevitably, to the possibilty of a vast explosion — and the vapourisation of the Earth exactly eight minutes later... |
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Ten-year-old Jamie Matthews has just moved to the Lake District with his Dad and his teenage sister, Jasmine for a Fresh New Start. Five years ago his sister's twin, Rose, was blown up by a terrorist bomb. His parents are wrecked by their grief, Jasmine turns to piercing, pink hair and stops eating. The family falls apart. But Jamie hasn't cried in all that time. To him Rose is just a distant memory. Jamie is far more interested in his cat, Roger, his birthday Spiderman T-shirt, and in keeping his new friend Sunya a secret from his dad. And in his deep longing and unshakeable belief that his Mum will come back to the family she walked out on months ago. When he sees a TV advert for a talent show, he feels certain that this will change everything and bring them all back together once and for all. |
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Beautiful Alyshia D'Cruz has grown up in London and Mumbai wanting for nothing. But one night she takes the wrong cab home. Charles Boxer, expert in high-stakes kidnap resolution, teams up with his ex-partner, investigative cop Mercy Danquah, who's battling with their rebellious teenage daughter. Alyshia's father hires Boxer, who knows all about the tycoon's colourful career, which has made him plenty of enemies. But despite the vast D'Cruz fortune, the kidnappers don't want cash, instead favouring a cruel and lethal game... To save Alyshia, Boxer must dodge religious fanatics, Indian mobsters and London's homegrown crimelords. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT is a journey to the dark side of people and places that lie just out of view, waiting for the moment to tear a life apart. |
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The first deadly walking of the hollow man took place when the side streets of London were quiet with snow and the three coffins of the prophecy were filled at last... The murderer of Dr Grimauld walked through a locked door, shot his victim and vanished. He killed his second victim in the middle of an empty street, with watchers at each end, yet nobody saw him, and he left no footprints in the snow. And so it is up to the irrepressible, larger-than-life Dr Gideon Fell to solve this most famous and taxing of locked-room mysteries. |
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In 1946, an alien virus that rewrites human DNA was accidentally unleashed in the skies over New York City. It killed ninety percent of those it infected. Nine percent of those who survived mutated into tragically deformed creatures. And one percent gained superpowers. The Wild Cards shared-universe series, created and edited since 1987 by NEW YORK TIMES No.1 bestseller George R.R. Martin along with Melinda Snodgrass, is the tale of the history of the world since then — and of the heroes among that one percent. Now it is time for a new generation of heroes — and writers — to pick up the baton. Twenty-eight extraordinary people — Aces, people who have contracted the deadly Wild Cards virus and lived — sign onto a reality TV show. These young heroes have never really been heroic, but each has a superhuman skill. Initially divided up into four suits while competing in staged contests as only LA-LA land could dream up, the losers are voted off the show until, at last, the greatest American Hero will be left standing. As the weeks go by, those remaining in the competition are stunned by sickening events in the Middle East. Their inane challenges look silly when compared to those unpowered people risking their lives. Will this group of over-privileged and under-informed 'celebrities' be able to make a real difference to the world? And how many of them really care? |
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Bernadette Fox is notorious. To Elgie Branch, a Microsoft wunderkind, she's his hilarious, volatile, talented, troubled wife. To fellow mothers at the school gate, she's a menace. To design experts, she's a revolutionary architect. And to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, quite simply, mum. Then Bernadette disappears. And Bee must take a trip to the end of the earth to find her. Where'd You Go, Bernadette is a compulsively readable, irresistibly written, deeply touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's place in the world. |
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In the six decades since the alien plague known as the Wild Card virus spread a wave of mutations around the globe, humanity has begun to come to terms with its consequences. Grotesque half-human creatures known as 'jokers' inhabit an underworld of their own, while the legendary prodigies known as 'aces' have become real-world superheroes, complete with colourful names and costumes. Now a new generation of aces has taken its place on the world stage, becoming crucial players in international events. At the United Nations, veteran ace John Fortune has assembled a team of young heroes, known as The Committee, to assist at trouble spots around the world — including an invasion of zombies in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, a freak nuclear explosion in a small Texas town, and a fateful showdown with the forces of the oil-rich Islamic caliphate in the Middle East. But The Committee's opponents have their own aces and jokers ready to do battle, including a Marxist revolutionary, a brutal mercenary, a young boy with apocalyptic powers and — most terrifyingly of all — a sinister arm of the FBI known as SCARE. |
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It is 1920, central Russia. The Red Terror tightens its hold. Kolya has deserted his Red Army unit and returns home to bury his brother and reunite with his wife and sons. But he finds the village silent and empty. The men have been massacred in the forest. The women and children have disappeared. In this remote, rural Russian community the folk tales mothers tell their children by candlelight take on powerful significance and the terrifying legend of Koschei, The Deathless One, begins to feel very real. Kolya sets out on a journey through dense, haunting forests and across vast plains as bitter winter sets in, in the desperate hope he will find his wife and two boys, and find them alive. But there are very dark things in Kolya's past. And, as he strives to find his family, there's someone or something on his trail... |
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