Split Second

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Alex Berenson

From the #1 New York Times– bestselling author comes another remarkable novel of espionage today— and right around the corner.Alex Berenson's The Faithful Spy was declared "one of the best spy stories ever told" (The Wall Street Journal), and The Ghost War "mesmerizing . . . an extraordinary achievement. Wells is a complex blend of smarts, scars, cynicism and wile. And the book's imaginings seem not so much ‘ripped from the headlines' as eerily destined to be set in type for tomorrow's" (The News & Observer). Berenson's third novel, however, is his most masterful yet.It isn't easy to steal warheads from the heart of Russia's nuclear complex in Mayak. It requires a great deal of money, coordination, ingenuity, and sleight-of-hand, and just a touch of luck. But if you're determined enough, anything is possible.It's been a rough few years for CIA agent John Wells. The undercover work in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the attack on the United States, the Chinese plot that could have led to war. Wells is exhausted, and his nights filled with disturbing dreams. But he knows he has no time for that. He has made many enemies, and the world won't stay quiet for long.Nevertheless, Wells is not prepared for what is about to happen. He and his colleague—and fiancee—Jennifer Exley are driving into work when traffic comes to a standstill, due to accidents on both bridges into Washington. A pretty big coincidence, he thinks, beginning to get a bad feeling—a feeling that only gets worse when he spots the red motorcycle zooming up between cars toward him. Before the day is over, several people will be dead or severely injured, Exley among them, and Wells will be a man possessed.The attackers are Russian, and it is to Russia that Wells must follow the trail. He finds what he's looking for—but also a great deal more. A plan of almost unimaginable consequences is in motion, and Wells has no idea if he has discovered it in time. The last few years have been rough indeed, but the next few weeks will be much, much worse.Real-world threats, authentic details, a scenario as dramatic as it is chillingly plausible, Alex Berenson's new novel is another "timely reminder of the extremely precarious way we live now" (The Washington Post).

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Chelsea Cain

Kick Lannigan, abducted at age six, goes into a tailspin when a second Amber Alert in a month signals the disappearance of a child in the Portland area.That's when the enigmatic Bishop approaches her with a proposition. He made a fortune as a weapons dealer and now wants to make good by using his resources to rescue abducted children. And he is convinced Kick's experiences and expertise can be mined to help rescue the abductees. Little does Kick know the case will lead directly into her terrifying past.

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Matthew F. Jones

When eight-year-old Jennifer Follett doesn't return home from school one day, the rigidly ordered lives of Edmund and Caroline Follett - a power couple with an expensive house outside Albany, New York - are suddenly upended. First comes the waiting; next comes the dread; finally, they are forced to think the unthinkable, as a wayward twelve-year-old boy admits that he watched from the woods as their daughter, whom they expected to board the school bus at the bottom of the driveway, got into a black sedan instead. Although the Folletts' eccentric young nanny, Hannah, is less than forthcoming about why she let Jennifer out of her sight, police investigators soon begin to suspect another husband-and-wife pair: Gerald and Claire Sandoval, casual acquaintances of the Folletts who own a black LTD. But why would this model churchgoing couple kidnap a young girl? While they grow more and more convinced that the Sandovals are involved, the police are unable to find much evidence to back up their suspicions. Frustrated by the law's presumed-innocent safeguards, the Folletts determine to do whatever is necessary to get Jennifer back. Meanwhile, the well-meaning but incautious investigators go far beyond the call of duty in their desire to solve the crime. In their "blind pursuit," the search for Jennifer draws them deep into the upstate New York woods and into a chilling physical and psychological confrontation with evil.

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John Hart

> Thirteen year-old Johnny Merrimon had the perfect life: a warm home and loving parents; a twin sister, Alyssa, with whom he shared an irreplaceable bond. He knew nothing of loss, until the day Alyssa vanished from the side of a lonely street. Now, a year later, Johnny finds himself isolated and alone, failed by the people he’d been taught since birth to trust. No one else believes that Alyssa is still alive, but Johnny is certain that she is---confident in a way that he can never fully explain. [More][1] [1]: