Showing results by author "Simon Wood" in All Categories

Former reporter Scott Fleetwood and his family are still recovering after tangling with a notorious kidnapper, the Piper, when another kidnapper grips the city. The Shepherd has snatched a young girl from a vacationing family. Other than money, he has one demand: he'll talk only to Scott.

Graduate students Zoë and Holli only mean to blow off some steam on their road trip to Las Vegas. But something goes terribly wrong on their way home, and the last time Zoë sees her, Holli is in the clutches of a sadistic killer. Zoë flees with her life, changed forever.

Marcus Slater decides to forgo the cold, wet, wintry weather of England to join a walking party in the sunny climes of Morocco. There, against a backdrop of the curious, ancient towns of southern Morocco he meets the enigmatic Sylvia and finds himself embroiled in a game he cannot possibly afford to lose.

Terry lands at San Francisco International Airport ready to start his new life with Sarah, the American journalist he married after a transatlantic love affair. But Sarah’s a no show. Convinced something terrible has happened, Terry reports Sarah’s disappearance to the sheriff, who shrugs it off as a case of a new bride with cold feet. But then dead women start turning up, all with two things in common: each victim had exposed a scandal just before her death...and all of their names appear on a list written by Sarah.

Todd Collins has failed in every job he's ever undertaken, but that all changes when he backs his jalopy in a shiny, new Porsche belonging to a drug dealer. When the police stop the drug dealer for a broken taillight that Todd has caused and discover a cocaine shipment, a West Coast kingpin holds Todd responsible. On the run from organized crime, Todd discovers his true calling.

A young magician in a pub opens his hands to release a cloud of tropical butterflies; a female bookseller is forced to attend a dance in drag to atone for a misdemeanor; a lonely man searches for a mysterious woman on a cruise; four school friends experience terror on a caravan holiday, and a macabre stranger wanders the streets at midnight, stealing dreams. Ranging from just 100 up to 4000 words, these and 106 other memorable little stories are found in this eclectic and tantalizing collection by Simon J. Wood, an exciting new voice in the Flash Fiction genre.

A serial kidnapper known as the Piper spent years snatching children from San Francisco’s wealthiest families. When crime reporter Scott Fleetwood got himself involved in one of the cases, the Piper went from kidnapper to murderer…and vanished. Now, after Fleetwood has languished under crippling guilt and public scorn for eight years, the Piper emerges from hiding to kidnap Fleetwood’s son. He’s demanding $2 million, but it’s not really about the money: the Piper wants blood - and he’ll use Fleetwood to get it.

People spend their entire lives staving off the dark - but no matter the measures taken, black paths and shadowy pits lurk in the unlikeliest of places, waiting to pull the unwary into the depths of despair. These 11 tales offer a morbid sampling of the many forms and fashions of terror - from the subtle prickling of neck hairs at the kiss of a ghostly breeze to the raw-throated screams and feverish clawing of a desperate fight for survival.

Seventeen skilled and diverse writers, united by their experience of chronic post-infectious illness, offer their thoughts on everything from gaslighting and grieving to birds and baking. Funny, poignant, desperate or reflective: this collection has it all. Dip into it occasionally or read it from cover-to-cover - whatever you choose you’ll find it rewarding.

Somebody’s gunning for Josh Michaels. They must be. There’s no other reason why a stranger would run him off the road, taunt him with a “thumbs-down”, and leave him to die. Josh may have made some messy mistakes in the past, but who’s suddenly decided that he’s worth more dead than alive? As more and more near-fatal accidents befall him, there can be no denying it: he’s got a bull’s-eye on his back. But why? Is it revenge? Mistaken identity? Or is it something far more insidious?

Olivia Shaw grew up poor on the wrong side of the tracks, but with her thriving real estate business and a solid marriage, her life finally feels stable...until she discovers her husband is cheating. Enraged, her sister offers a solution: Infidelity Limited, a firm that promises to rough up her husband and scare him straight. Overnight, Olivia's life is upended as she, like all of Infidelity Limited's clients, is drawn into a dark web of blackmail and murder.

Not every crime is committed with intent, but each has one thing in common: The guilty party was asking for trouble. In "Making Ends Meet", Richard can’t stand the idea of supporting his deadbeat in-laws anymore, so he decides to remove them from his life - permanently. Matt is ready to reform his brawling ways, but the group he joins doesn’t turn out to be a typical 12-step program, in "The Taskmasters". "Protecting the Innocent" features Nick, who fails to heed the warnings of his girlfriend’s possessive brother....

Hayden Duke has the naive ambition to make some money and prove to his family that he can take care of himself, so he accepts a short-term contract working for his old college friend, Shane Fallon. All seems like a dream come true…until Shane kills himself. Right in front of Hayden. Detective Santiago has seen it all before. Shane had narcotics in his system when he hanged himself, and the dope had to come from somewhere - like an old college buddy. Case closed. But only a week before Shane’s suicide, another employee from the same office walked straight into the ocean. Both men’s last words are the same....

James Straley might think his life is cursed, but it doesn't compare to what lies ahead of him on life's highway. He's on the run with the proceeds of a botched bank robbery. It's all he has. His crew is dead and his getaway car just died on him. He's on foot with the cash when he comes across a two-car pileup. There's no saving the drivers, but he can save himself by stealing one of the wrecked cars. Unfortunately, he boosts the wrong set of wheels.

For Gwen Farris, the nightmare commences with the flash of a knife in a darkened parking lot.… That’s where Stephen Tarbell begins to exact his revenge against her for giving him a poor performance evaluation, for getting the promotion he believed was rightly his, and for being the woman who finally drove him over the edge. The threat escalates to an onslaught of physical and psychological intimidation so relentless that it threatens to destroy everything Gwen holds dear. And with the authorities unable - or unwilling - to help, Gwen has to take on Tarbell herself. But how do you stop a madman whose hatred knows no limit?

A husband, trying to rekindle his marriage in a lonely seaside village, meets a strange young woman from his forgotten past; a man taking a garden gnome to a museum gets an unexpected surprise; a lonely widow encounters an enigmatic character from an embryonic pop group; a group of scientists make an horrific discovery at a big cat conservation centre; and a baby hare comes of age with a momentous idea.

The first book in the Aidy Westlake mystery series set in the high-octane world of motor racing... When Derek Deacon threatens to kill Alex Fanning, his championship rival, rookie driver Aidy Westlake doesn’t put much stock in it - it’s typical of the intense competitiveness and aggression in their world. But when Fanning dies after making contact with Deacon’s car during a race, a conspiracy ensues: The TV coverage is edited and the police wind up the investigation without interviewing witnesses. Compelled to prove Deacon is the murderer, Aidy pushes for the truth and is drawn into a world of fraud, organized crime and murder.

Things are looking good for Aidy Westlake. He’s Pit Lane magazine’s Young Driver of the Year, which has earned him a drive in the European Saloon Car Championship. But his good fortune ends at a race car show when he discovers Jason Gates, a mechanic from a rival team, with his throat cut. The murder sets off a disturbing chain reaction - someone is breaking the rules in the ranks of saloon car racing, on and off the track.

In this short crime story, Childs is a son of a bitch and a bastard - literally as well as figuratively - but what he really is, is a small time con man. He's about to upgrade to the big time and go after the score of his life by bilking the software mogul, Charles Reston, out of every penny he can get. He's going to do it by convincing Reston that he's his illegitimate son, which shouldn't be too hard as the billionaire is his father.

San Francisco Detective Larry Hayes thinks he's hit bottom when he wakes up in an alley after a bad trip with no memory of the last four hours. This is only the beginning of his problems. Two blocks away, Hayes' informant, a homeless man named Noble Jon, lies dead, beaten, and stabbed. The eerie pangs of guilt seep into Hayes. Is he Jon's killer?