“An enthralling narrative of shifting identity juxtaposed with New York in crisis…a wickedly unnerving thriller.”—Caro Ramsay, author of Absolution Lucie married young. Her husband has become abusive, controlling and violent. Having lost everything as a result of the marriage, Lucie decides it is time to walk away. As she leaves the house on the morning of September 11, heading to a job interview at the World Trade Center and the promise of a new life, the unthinkable happens. On a street in New York, choking on the dust, Lucie stumbles upon an unexpected opportunity to start anew. She thought the grass would be greener, but beginning again is never that simple. And what lies ahead may be even more deadly than what she left behind…

The follow-up to the critically acclaimed Till the Dust Settles. “A heart wrenching and tense read that drew me in right from the start.” —By the Letter Book Reviews Penny seizes the chance of a new life for her family when her husband is offered a job in Europe. At the airport, they meet charming Sophie, fluent in French and looking for work as an au pair. Penny, struggling to cope in France, offers Sophie a job and she soon becomes an important part of the family’s life. But Sophie is hiding something. Then Penny’s toddler son, Ethan, is abducted and an international hunt for the child begins. The police beg Penny and her husband to take part in a television appeal but the couple refuse. Unknown to the police, Penny and Seth have new identities and are determined to lay low and protect them. But it may be too late for that. Who has taken Ethan and why? Are the couple’s true identities linked to the abduction? And who has been watching them? To save her son Penny may have to put her own life on the line. Praise for Till the Dust Settles “A tale of conspiracy, abuse and how one wrong decision can alter the course of your life . . . the author does a fantastic job of setting up the story line, plot twisting and bringing everything together.” —Where the Reader Grows “Pat Young recreates events with so much grace and compassion in her EXCEPTIONAL debut novel . . . Phew! What a scorching read . . . Absolutely superb!” —The Book Magnet

The Slayer #1 The Slayer is a contractor (mercenary) tired of military politics, tired of watching wrongs not being corrected. He accepts a contract from a retired commanding officer from his old regiment as a favor and a respectable sum of nontaxable funds. That is the beginning of a new career. Now a seasoned contractor, a new challenge arises. This contract takes him and a small select team into the African continent in search of kidnapped children, kidnapped for sale to the highest bidder for whatever purpose they chose. Their time is limited. The kidnappers must be stopped before they reach their destination and the children are sold and dispersed throughout the world. If that happens, the mission is futile. With a small select team, the impossible is attempted. The Slayer #2 Select senior businessmen are disappearing from around the world, and their families are being approached for exorbitant ransoms by a terrorist cell to fund their onslaught of the civilized world. A contract accepted by the Slayer: at all costs, seek, extract, and destroy. The right man for the right job, the Slayer.

Collection of ten stories of science fiction, fantasy, and horror and the start of five series. 1. Shades of Gray #0 Aadea's Reawakening 2. Shades of Gray #1 Noir, City Shrouded By Darkness 3. Shades of Gray #2 From Moscow, With Love 4. AabiLynn's Dragon Rite #0 Dragon's Brood 5. Monster of Monsters #1 Part One: Mortem's Opening 6. Monster of Monsters #1 Part Two: Mortem's Contestant 7. Beauty of the Beast #0 Alba 8. Beauty of the Beast #1 The Mystic Rose: Part A: The Flower, The Sword, And The Kiss 9. AaBack's Grimm: Dark Fantasy Fairy Tale #1 Tale Of Two Worlds: The Wizard, The Battlemage, And The Werewolf 10. AaBack's Grimm: Dark Fantasy Fairy Tale #2 Friends Reunited: The Janus Beast, The Rose Beauty, And The Cursed Duckling Shades of Gray series: A doom was looming over the planet, a great darkness that could bring about the Closing of Days. Two women would be brought together... One was a legal assassin or Life Closer known as the Phoenix and the other was an experiment known as the Pandora Project who would either bring about a Twilight that would be the first rays of dawn or a Twilight that would usher in the darkness forever. Follow these women as their paths cross. Dragon Rite: Travel where dragons have been part of the world for millenniums. Enter a realm where riders are paired with dragon hatchlings to raise and care for them and to form a bond like no other. In the first story... Useless... Unwanted... Unloved... When those closest to you see you only as a useless crippled child with no hope of a future, where do you find the strength to prove them wrong? In the first story, candidates assemble to participate in the Dragon Rite, a ceremony to bond with a dragon hatchling. Cara has a chance to break free from her harsh life and bond with one of the dragon hatchlings only if fate will allow her. Monster of Monsters: Light and darkness... All Kein wanted was to be devoured. As an orphan, she had been told since joining her school that it was very important that a house or clan devour her so when she met a creature promising to devour her, she was confused at first but then she was consoled that someone wanted her. A world of monsters and a world of humans... Loneliness can be a very strong emotion but it can also be a very strong motivator so even when a creature of the darkness invited her to come to her, innocence heeded the call. Kein began an adventure of heartache and joy as she walked the paths of shadow and light. She would discover what it was to be devoured as a dangerous game drew her into a deadly realm of wishes, revenge, hope, desire, love, and horror. Beauty of the Beast: A new approach to the classic fairy tale. The story of Beauty and the Beast with a twist. What if the woman was the one turned into the creature? A realm of adventure and peril mingled with romance, friendship, and sword and sorcery. Join Pluck in this novella series as she travels through a strange land of danger and intrigue as she finds allies and foes alike in her search to lift her monstrous curse. A story like Beauty and the Beast but with more action and menacing darkness. AaBack's Grimm: The fairy tales you know with a wicked twist. Start this novella fantasy action adventure series with a short story and enter a deadly world that could use a little hope and love. A woman, Jane, who seems out of place in her own world is transported to a world of fairy tales. All is not happy endings for the world of AaBack's Grimm holds a dark and deadly secret for Jane. In our world, Jane has lived life as if a curse has been on her, her entire life. As an artist, she has created artwork of many fairy tale characters, but her favorite is the Beast from Beauty and the Beast. When she enters the World of Grimm, Jane comes across the Beast, and she's instantly struck with a need to help him. What Jane doesn't understand is that his curse is nothing like the ones in the fairy tales.

Marc Dauphin, an experienced ER physician, and 54 at the time of his deployment, introduces us to some of the injured and their caretakers: the nurses, physicians, and medics who leave behind home, family, and country, to put their lives on the line for their fellow men.

"Without question this is an important new addition to World War II and Cold War historiography.... Highly recommended." -- Douglas Brinkley, author of Dean Acheson: The Cold War Years and The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter's Journey beyond the White House "A remarkably objective, yet sympathetic, study of Louis Johnson's life and career. Now only half-remembered,... Johnson was a major national figure. Colorful, aggressive, independent-minded, egotistical, his strong views and conflicts with Dean Acheson proved to be his undoing. All in all, a fascinating tale." -- James R. Schlesinger, former Secretary of Defense "McFarland and Roll have performed a real service in rescuing from obscurity this Democratic mover and shaker. Their account of the rise and fall of Louis Johnson provides us with the fullest depiction yet of an important Washington figure employed for better or worse as a blunt instrument of policy change by both Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman." -- Alonzo L. Hamby, author of Man of the People: A Life of Harry S. Truman and For the Survival of Democracy: Franklin Roosevelt and the World Crisis of the 1930s "[Johnson's] career is a cautionary tale of how even the most ruthlessly effective men can become pawns in the Washington power game. McFarland and Roll bring Johnson to life in this thorough and well-told history." -- Evan Thomas, Newsweek, author of Robert Kennedy: His Life and The Very Best Men: The Early Years of the CIA Louis Johnson was FDR's Assistant Secretary of War and the architect of the industrial mobilization plans that put the nation on a war footing prior to its entry into World War II. Later, as Truman's Secretary of Defense, Johnson was given the difficult job of unifying the armed forces and carrying out Truman's orders to dramatically reduce defense expenditures. In both administrations, he was asked to confront and carry out extremely unpopular initiatives -- massive undertakings that each president believed were vital to the nation's security and economic welfare. Johnson's conflicts with Henry Morganthau, Secretary of War Harry H. Woodring, Winston Churchill, Harry Hopkins, Dean Acheson, Averell Harriman, and Paul Nitze find contemporary parallels in the recent disagreements between the national defense establishment and the State Department.