Nonfiction Thrillers

Serial killer Gary Heidnik's name will live on in infamy, and his home, 3520 North Marshall Street in Philadelphia, is a house tainted with the memory of unbelievable horrors. What police found there was an incredible nightmare made real. Four young women had been held captive - some for four months - half-naked and chained. They had been tortured, starved, and repeatedly raped. But more grotesque discoveries lay in the kitchen: human limbs frozen, a torso burned to cinders, an empty pot suspiciously scorched....

Jack the Ripper is one of the most notorious serial killers in history—and yet over one hundred years later, his identity remains cloaked in mystery. Or does it? There’s only ever been one man who could solve this crime: the inimitable Sherlock Holmes. When news of the first murder hits the paper, the story immediately catches Holmes’ attention—and he’s determined to be involved in the case. Soon, Holmes has entered a dangerous cat-and-mouse game with the Ripper, trying to unmask the murderer before being framed for the crimes himself. As he wanders the dark, seedy streets of ...

Short Stories by Texas Authors – Volume 10 (2025) showcases the range and punch of contemporary Texas storytelling—gritty realism, luminous literary work, and bold imagination—curated by Texas Authors Press, a division of the Texas Authors Museum & Institute of History. Drawn from the annual short story contest and arranged by score, this limited 2025 edition moves from a motel-room survival in Cheryl King’s “A Wonderful Horrible Life” to myth-forged courage in Emeryl Williams’s “Guardian of the High Reaches: The Story of Jul and Ari,” then roots itself in place with B. ...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER An enormously engaging portrait of a most beguiling Southern city: “Elegant and wicked.... [This] might be the first true-crime book that makes the reader want to book a bed and breakfast for an extended weekend at the scene of the crime." —The New York Times Book...

'They are walking parallel to our position. I close my eyes tight and start to pray again. I believe in God with all of my heart and soul, but I know that it is time for Chuck and me to go to heaven tonight.' 'I look at Chuck, my best friend, and notice that he is praying also. He finishes his prayer and looks at me. His eyes tell the story. He knows that this will be our last night on earth. Chuck also knows that he and I will be in Heaven soon. He glances at me again and tilts his head as if to say, “We just said the same prayer, and thank you for being my friend.” ' SYNOPSIS SERGEANT...

In February 1959, a group of nine experienced hikers in the Russian Ural Mountains died mysteriously on an elevation known as Dead Mountain. Eerie aspects of the incident—unexplained violent injuries, signs that they cut open and fled the tent without proper clothing or shoes, a strange final photograph taken by one of the hikers, and elevated levels of radiation found on some of their clothes—have led to decades of speculation over what really happened.

After more than a decade, when sisters Nikki, Sami, and Tori Knotek hear the word mom, it claws like an eagle’s talons, triggering memories that have been their secret since childhood. Until now. For years, behind the closed doors of their farmhouse in Raymond, Washington, their sadistic mother, Shelly, subjected her girls to unimaginable abuse, degradation, torture, and psychic terrors. Through it all, Nikki, Sami, and Tori developed a defiant bond that made them far less vulnerable than Shelly imagined.

Dive into the mysterious world of 'Deceit in Denver,' where Tim's journey is more than just a struggle for financial stability. In this enthralling tale, After losing his cleaning business Tim and his family move to Denver, seeking a new beginning. Tim starts a new job but finds himself tangled in a web of lies and deceit. But Tim's reality is turned upside down when he encounters supernatural elements. Guided by Sheena, a ghostly presence, Tim navigates through unethical business practices and personal dilemmas. As he grapples with the challenges of his new job and the complex dynamics of ...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The true tale of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and the cunning serial killer who used the magic and majesty of the fair to lure his victims to their death. A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Century Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his...

Genovese, Gambino, Bonnano, Colombo, and Lucchese. For decades these Five Families ruled New York and built the American Mafia (or Cosa Nostra) into an underworld empire. Today, the Mafia is an endangered species, battered and beleaguered by aggressive investigators, incompetent leadership, betrayals, and generational changes that produced violent, unreliable leaders and recruits.

THE BOY THEY WIRED TO A CHAIR. Fall 1959. A room on Divinity Avenue with a one-way mirror. Harvard asks a seventeen-year-old boy to write an essay — his deepest beliefs, his understanding of the purpose of human life. Then they hand his words to a trained adversary and tell him to take the boy apart. The experiment ran for three years. Twenty-two subjects. More than two hundred hours of filmed psychological destruction. The youngest subject was given a code name. The code name was LAWFUL. His name was Theodore John Kaczynski. File 007 of The Unsealed Archives traces the full arc — from ...

When Misty was six years old, her family started to live and dress like the Amish. Misty and her sister were kept as slaves on a mountain ranch where they were subjected to almost complete isolation, sexual abuse, and extreme physical violence. When Misty reached her teens, her parents feared she and her sister would escape and took them to an Amish community where they were adopted and became baptized members. Misty was devastated to once again find herself in a world of fear, animal cruelty, and sexual abuse.

THE GENERAL THEY COULDN'T LET COME HOME. December 9, 1945. Three weeks before flying home. A staff car on a quiet German road is struck by an Army truck at fifteen miles per hour. Everyone walks away except the passenger in the back. He had survived North Africa. Sicily. Normandy. The Bulge. Three years of open warfare and not one of the German divisions sent to stop him had managed it. A slow turn in a parking lot broke his neck. Twelve days later, Patton is dead. No autopsy requested. No investigation opened. No one asks about the leather ledger. No one asks about the congressional ...

The space between the human world and the wild has collapsed. This gripping non-fiction collection chronicles the terrifying, true accounts of when the ancient covenant is broken and predators begin to hunt people. Spanning the continent of Africa, from the outskirts of Nairobi to the remote highlands of Ethiopia and the crowded IDP camps of Tigray , this book details a chilling new war. Read the harrowing stories of: A university student killed just yards from his campus in Kenya . The terrifying rampage of rabid "Terror Beasts" in Malawi, leaving dozens dead or maimed. Dedicated mothers ...

A top negotiator in countless high-stakes missions to free Americans captured abroad and held in the world's scariest prisons takes readers inside the dramatic and shadowy world of international hostage rescue. Who else are their desperate loved ones supposed to call? Mickey and his tight team...

From Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen, the untold USA Today bestselling story of the CIA's secret paramilitary units. Surprise . . . your target. Kill . . . your enemy. Vanish . . . without a trace. When diplomacy fails, and war is unwise, the president calls on the CIA's Special...

"This isn’t a myth—it’s a predator." In the secluded woodlands of Northern Michigan, the Harwood family finds their peaceful life shattered when they encounter a creature of legend—the Dogman. Recently settled into their new home, the Harwoods are unprepared for the terror that stalks them under the cover of night. Annette Harwood, a determined mother and wildlife biologist, becomes obsessed with proving the creature’s existence as her husband, Michael, grapples with protecting their two children from a threat he cannot understand. The tension builds with each passing night, ...

They went into the woods to celebrate. They didn’t plan to be hunted. Fresh out of college, six friends set off on a camping trip deep in the remote wilderness of the Pacific Northwest — a final escape before adulthood sinks its teeth in. Laughter, booze, and the freedom of the wild promise a weekend they’ll never forget. But the forest has something else in store. On their first night, strange sounds echo through the trees. The second night, one of them vanishes. By the time they realize they’re being watched, it’s already too late. Cut off from help and miles from civilization, ...

What begins as a rescue mission quickly turns into a harrowing fight for survival. When renowned cryptozoologist John Hadley disappears while investigating a series of caves deep in the Sierra Nevada mountains, his daughter, Emil*, is thrust into a desperate search to find him. Teaming up with Evan Morgan, a local deputy and former flame, Emily uncovers disturbing clues that suggest her father was onto something far more dangerous than she ever imagined. As they push deeper into the wilderness, they soon realize they are not alone. Something ancient and powerful lurks in the caves—...

The U.S. Navy was among the first responders on 9/11. Entrusted with the iconic Ground Zero flag, the Roosevelt battlegroup took to the seas searching out those responsible, and to bring justice to a nation in mourning. 1145 September 2001, the U.S.S. Leyte Gulf deployed within hours of the attack on the W.T.C. with orders to shoot down and destroy any "birds not squawking" over New York City. We were entrusted with the Ground Zero flag raised by the NYFD. We flew that flag with pride and determination from our mast on our important mission. After two days we were then redirected to the ...