He's a real Nowhere Man,
Sitting in his Nowhere Land,
Making all his nowhere plans
For nobody.
(From "Nowhere Man"
by The Beatles)

James Patterson - Maximum Ride series 01 - "The Angel Experiment" 2005

Themes from Patterson's popular adult titles When the Wind Blows and The Lake House waft through this YA thriller, the author's first in the genre. Wood stars as Maximum Ride, 14-year-old leader of a band of kids who have escaped the lab where they were bred as 98% human and 2% bird (wings being a key component) and developed a variety of other-worldly talents. In Patterson's unusual universe, Max and her young cohorts are soon forced to rescue one of their own—a girl named Angel—from a pack of mutant wolf-humans called Erasers. Wood nails Patterson's often adult-beyond-their-years dialogue with a jaded tone. But the result of this pairing makes Max sound more off-putting than cool or intriguing. The listening experience is stalled in the starting gate, keeping the action-adventure earthbound rather than high-flying.

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Greg Iles

• "24 Hours" (2000)
• "Spandau Phoenix" (1992)

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David Baldacci

• The Winner (1997)
  
  
  When LuAnn Tyler is asked to take part in a crooked lottery scheme she refuses, even though it could bring her millions of dollars. However, when she is framed for murder, the frightened single mother is forced to participate.
• Hour Game (2004)
  
  
  As a series of brutal murders darkens the Wrightsburg, Virginia countryside, the killer taunts police by leaving watches on the victims set to the hour corresponding with their position on his hit list. What's more, he strives to replicate notorious murders of the past, improving on them through savage attention to detail. Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are already investigating a crime involving an aristocratic and dysfunctional Southern family, but when they're deputized to help in the serial killer hunt they realize the two cases may be connected. Adding to the tension is the appearance of a second killer, this one imitating the murders of the first. Soon, the two killers are playing a game of cat and mouse, with King and Maxwell racing to solve the intricate puzzle of their identities-before the body count escalates.
  
  
• Split Second (2003)
  
  
  From #1 bestseller David Baldacci comes a new thriller reminiscent of his phenomenal bestselling debut, Absolute Power.It was only a split second--but that's all it took for Secret Service agent Sean King's attention to wander and his "protectee," third-party presidential candidate Clyde Ritter, to die. King retired from the Service in disgrace, and now, eight years later, balances careers as a lawyer and a part-time deputy sheriff in a small Virginia town. Then he hears the news: Once again, a third-party candidate has been taken out of the presidential race--abducted right under the nose of Secret Service agent Michelle Maxwell. King and Maxwell form an uneasy alliance, and their search for answers becomes a bid for redemption as they delve into the government's Witness Protection Program and the mysterious past of Clyde Ritter's dead assassin. But the truth is never quite what it seems, and these two agents have learned that even one moment looking in the wrong direction can be deadly. Full of shocking twists and turns, and introducing a villian to rival Jackson in Baldacci's The Winner, SPLIT SECOND is pure, mind-numbing adrenaline to the last page.

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• Nora Roberts - "Morrigans Cross" (2006)
• Robin Cook - "Vector" (1999)
• Mary Jo Putney - One Perfect Rose (1997)

"Goosebumps" Series - 29 novels

1. Welcome to Dead House
2. Stay Out of the Basement
3. Monster Blood
4. Say Cheese and Die!
5. Curse of the Mummy's Tomb
6. Night of the Living Dummy
7. The Girl Who Cried Monster
8. Welcome To Camp Nightmare
9. The Ghost Next Door
10. The Haunted Mask
11. Piano Lessons Can Be Murder
12. Werewolf of Fever Swamp
13. You Can't Scare Me
14. One Day at Horrorland
15. Why I'm Afraid of Bees
16. Monster Blood II
17. The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight
18. Go Eat Worms!
19. Ghost Beach
20. Phantom of the Auditorium
21. Attack of the Mutant
22. Monster Blood III
23. Night of the Living Dummy
24. The Barking Ghost
25. Horro at Camp Jellyjam
26. The Haunted Mask II
27. Egg Monsters From Mars
28. The Beast from the East
29. 99 Fear Street: The House of Evil #1 - The First Horror
    

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Mary Higgins Clark - 13 novels

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John Grisham - "The Innocent Man" (2006)

Ronald Keith Williamson's early life appeared charmed. A successful school and college baseball player, he seemed to have a world of opportunity at his feet. But, after injury put paid to his sporting career, he slowly began to show signs of mental illness, and drifted into a life of petty crime and misdemeanour. When in 1982 a local girl was found raped and murdered, he was in prison serving time for kiting cheques. Whilst there, another prisoner, looking for release, alleged he had overheard him confessing to the killing, and Williamson was arrested for the crime. What followed was one of the most appalling cases of a miscarriage of justice America has ever seen...

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April posts on our forum:

• Lawrence Block
• George Pelecanos
• Sam Bourne
• Robin Cook
• Mary Higgins Clark
• James Ellroy
• James Grippando
• Joe Hill
• Lisa Gardner
• Ken Follett
• David Baldacci
• Daniel Silva
• Stephen White
• Umberto Eko
• Harlan Coben

and many others.

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Rudolf J. Rummel - "Never Again" series (6 books)

Praise for books by Nobel Peace Prize finalist R. J. Rummel

"26th in a Random House poll on the best nonfiction book of the 20th Century."
Random House (Modern Library)

"We all walk a little taller by climbing on the shoulders of Rummel's work."
Irving Louis Horowitz, Professor Of Sociology.

". . . everyone in leadership should read and understand . . . ."
DivinePrinciple.com

" . . . world's foremost authority on the phenomenon of 'democide.'" American Opinion Publishing

". . . should be required reading . . .shocking and sobering . . . . "
Sugi Sorensen

From the Author
It's as though President George Bush was sent back in time. The mission of these lovers in these novels in the Never Again Series is the same as that of Bush's foreign policy -- to promote freedom and end democide and war. But, starting in 1906 and not 2001. To read these novels and their supplement, therefore, is not only to be entertained, but also to get a better understanding of American foreign policy The six novels in this series are a what-if, alternative history. Foremost, these novels are character driven entertainment, filled with strong action, humor, pathos, high emotion, sex, conflict, and maybe even tears. There are a large number of docudramas in the books that provide background or context for the action and conflicts, such as Pol Pot's killing fields, the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the Holocaust, Stalin's starvation of the Ukraine, Turkey's genocide of the Armenians, Rwanda's genocide of the Tutu, the Russian abortive 1905 communist uprising, the Battle of the Somme in World War I, the Vietnam War and defeat of the South and resulting communist transformation of the country, and finally the Boat People. These docudramas, with description of events and characterization of the victims. are true to the facts, as published in refugee and autobiographical materials.

Above all, these books are a story about love versus power -- the love of dedicated warriors for each other and for humanity and who risk their lives in their struggle against power, unaware that:

Unseen, loves dark foe Power, like a deadly plague, Infests, corrupts, kills.

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