Academic Thrillers

THE POSTHUMOUS MASTERWORK FROM "ONE OF THE GREATEST AND MOST INFLUENTIAL MODERN WRITERS" (JAMES WOOD, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW) Composed in the last years of Roberto Bolaño's life, 2666 was greeted across Europe and Latin America as his highest achievement, surpassing even his previous...

James Rollins’s shocking thriller is now an Earphones Award Winner! Acclaimed narrator Simon Vance gives voice to a wide cast of characters and pulls the listener into this desperate chase to unlock one of the world’s greatest mysteries. From the #1 New York Times bestselling master of...

Who’s killing the cancer researchers? A leading clinical investigator is butchered in his hotel room hours after receiving a prestigious award for cancer research. Weeks later, a second researcher is the victim of an apparently random mugging in a parking garage. Unexpectedly, crime scene DNA establishes that the two men were killed by the same woman. But her identity remains unknown, her motive is mysterious, and the connections between the victims are scant—except that they were both collaborating with Professor Brad Parker at the Maine Translational Research Institute. When the ...

Brad Parker and Karen Richmond Book 3 What can go wrong when a scientist’s career hinges on the results of a clinical trial? When Professor Brad Parker is asked to serve as interim director of the Maine Translational Research Institute, he thinks he’ll have nothing more on his hands than a messy dispute between two faculty members. But what awaits him is far worse. Rather than an ordinary academic conflict, Brad finds himself dealing with sabotage, blackmail, and the mysterious deaths of patients in a clinical trial. As Brad and his partner—FBI agent Karen Richmond—race to unravel a...

Brad Parker and Karen Richmond Book 1. Sexual harassment, murder, and a multi-institutional cover-up. When a leading professor at a top-ranked medical research institute accuses a colleague of drugging and sexually assaulting a student, department chair Brad Parker and university detective Karen Richmond join forces to investigate, only to be stymied by a victim who can't remember what happened. But as fragments of memory resurface, she's brutally attacked and murdered. The conclusion is obvious, but in the absence of forensic evidence, police hit a wall―until Brad and Karen's inquiries ...

“Espionage, perilous international affairs, and cynicism can all be found in the chilling novel Forever. Cooper has delivered another riveting novel to keep you on the edge of your seat!” Manhattan Book Review Will medical research unravel the secret to immortality? Or will it be stolen by a master of manipulation, deceit, and murder? Professor Brad Parker is enjoying his sabbatical in one of Harvard’s leading genomic engineering labs, focused on altering the human genome to meet challenges like treating cancer and increasing longevity. Then he’s interrupted by a surprise request ...

"The magic and violence of 'Hell Bent' comes to life in audiobook form." - USA Today "This fervently delivered audiobook engrosses the listener through every twist and turn, making this sequel nearly impossible to pause."- AudioFile Magazine (Earphones Award) Wealth. Power. Murder. Magic. The...

Brad Parker and Karen Richmond Book 4 A terminally ill scientist leaves a letter to be delivered to his niece upon his death. A letter revealing a forty-year-old secret so damning that she’s killed to keep it from seeing the light of day. As Brad Parker, director of the Maine Translational Research Institute, and his partner, FBI agent Karen Richmond, investigate, the death toll mounts. And their own lives and careers are threatened.

2022 Edgar Award Nominee for Best Novel “A fantastic novel. . . . You are going to like this a lot.”—Stephen King “What’s more thrilling than a fictional character speaking to us in a voice we haven’t heard before, a voice so authentic and immediate—think Huck Finn, Holden...

In this “sinister, jaw-dropping” (Sarah Penner, author of The Lost Apothecary) debut novel from the author of Saltwater, a circle of researchers uncovers a mysterious deck of tarot cards and shocking secrets in New York’s famed Met Cloisters. When Ann Stilwell arrives in New York City, she...

The traffic made her late. The temple made her history.Dr. Garrick Kestler is a man of footnotes, not feelings. A sixty-three-year-old retired professor of archaic dialects, he has spent his life decoding the past while ignoring the present. Now, standing under the stifling white preservation tent of the Temple of Apollo in Greece, he has one last chance to fix his relationship with his estranged daughter, Maren.But Maren never arrives.Instead, the modern world simply… stops. The cicadas go silent. The construction lights die. And in the suffocating heat, Garrick finds a backpack lying in...

Internationally praised for her Commissario Guido Brunetti series, Donna Leon’s first standalone novel features a widely different but equally compelling sleuth, Caterina Pellegrini. Caterina is a native Venetian, and like so many of them, she’s had to leave home to pursue her career. With a...

Doctor Rowena Halley was really hoping that a summer in California would help her heal from the previous semester’s injuries, mental and physical. Instead, it might throw her into the greatest danger she’s faced yet. Spending the summer working in Monterey and living with her boyfriend, Alex, was supposed to prove to both of them that they were ready to take their relationship to the next level. But what it’s really shown is that they’re still clinging to old flames.

When knowledge becomes an invitation to the abyss… Professor Alistair Ward has spent decades buried in dust-laden tomes and forgotten maps, chasing anomalies other scholars dismiss as myth. But when he uncovers a nameless, alien codex and a desperate journal filled with chilling warnings, his quiet world of study fractures. The whispers point to a place absent from modern charts but etched deep in ancient folklore: Valus Peak. Drawn to its desolate slopes by a compulsion he cannot resist, Ward abandons reason for obsession. Each step into the Adirondack wilderness leads him closer to ...

The Furies is a psychologically complex, dark and twisting novel about loss, obsession and the deep tragedies that can connect us to each other even as they blind us to our fate, from the bestselling author of A Thousand Ships After losing her fiancé in a shocking tragedy, Alex Morris moves...

In a place of holy sanctuary, reason is the deadliest trap. England, 12th Century. Master Ranulf is a scholar of absolute empirical certainty. Summoned to the isolated, sinking fenland Abbey of St. Jude to investigate a series of terrifying manifestations, he brings the weapons of the Oxford lecture halls: physics, logic, and a fierce disdain for superstition. He expects to find frightened monks, ergot poisoning, and mundane sabotage. He finds an ontological nightmare. The Spectre of Eadwulf is no mere phantom. It is a localized vacuum that feeds exclusively on structured thought. Every ...

"Linwood Barclay's I Will Ruin You is a page-turner that also has important things to say. You'll get your money's worth out of this one." –Stephen King In the latest novel from New York Times bestselling author Linwood Barclay, a teacher’s act of heroism inadvertently makes him the target...

Noah Taylor is a gifted physician and a brilliant researcher. His talent and compassion allow him to help his patients in unique ways, with marvelous results. But in the harsh new world of corporate medicine, such qualities have no value. Those qualities are threats to the status quo of an unyielding leadership. Conformity, group-thought, and loyalty to the organization trump integrity and individuality. It's a world gone mad. Lockstep compliance with those in power is a must, whether their ideas are right or wrong. Being oneself is no longer a safe option. The rush to mindless conformity ...

An unsettling, immersive, and wildly entertaining debut novel from an exciting new voice in horror for fans of Paul Tremblay and Stephen Graham Jones. "Edenville is a delightfully gooey blend of gothic, cosmic, folk and body horror churned by a sharp-bladed critique of academia."— Lucy A...

A luxury island. A buried secret. A killer no one noticed. Dr. Phillip Diaz came to Isla Corazón for a quiet vacation which included sun, sea, and a break from history. Instead, he witnesses a murder no one wants to acknowledge. When a wealthy antiquities “consultant” is found dead on a jungle path and an ancient Egyptian artifact vanishes, resort management is quick to insist it was an unfortunate accident. But Phillip knows better. The lights failed at the wrong moment. The cover-up was too clean. And the artifact that disappeared wasn’t decorative it was a funerary marker linked ...