When Hannah Powers sustains a head injury, her prom queen world turns from white to black. During her best friend, Emily's funeral, she sees a white-gray ghost image radiating around Emily's casket, but no outline around Emily. This convinces Hannah that she is brain damaged even though her neuropsychologist tells her she is not. Then, she is plunged into a terrifying world of being able to predict death before it happens without being able to do anything about it.
"Morbid and illuminating" (Entertainment Weekly)—a young mortician goes behind the scenes of her curious profession. Armed with a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre, Caitlin Doughty took a job at a crematory and turned morbid curiosity into her life’s work. She cared for bodies of every color, shape, and affliction, and became an intrepid explorer in the world of the dead. In this best-selling memoir, brimming with gallows humor and vivid characters, she marvels at the gruesome history of undertaking and relates her unique coming-of-age story with bold curiosity and mordant wit. By turns hilarious, dark, and uplifting, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes reveals how the fear of dying warps our society and "will make you reconsider how our culture treats the dead" (San Francisco Chronicle).
The twenty-nine year-round inhabitants of Fawn Island located off the coast of Cape Cod shrink to twenty-eight as a local handyman is found dead in mid-winter off season. Murdered? Maybe. But the area DA goes out of his way to keep the Cape Cod and island reputation as clean as possible, especially since it is the home of the famous Kennedy family. He hires a local reporter to interview all the remaining residents and prove that the death was an accident.
In this “gripping story of resistance and the triumph of human will” (Senator Elizabeth Warren), activist and subject of the documentary Not Going Quietly Ady Barkan explores his life with ALS and how his diagnosis gave him a profound new understanding of his commitment to social justice for all. Ady Barkan loved taking afternoon runs on the California coast and holding his newborn son, Carl. But one day, he noticed a troubling weakness in his hand. At first, he brushed it off as carpal tunnel syndrome, but after a week of neurological exams and two MRIs, he learned the cause of the problem: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. At age thirty-two, Ady was given just three to four years to live. Yet despite the devastating diagnosis, he refused to let his remaining days go to waste. Eyes to the Wind is a rousing memoir featuring intertwining storylines about determination, perseverance, and how to live a life filled with purpose and intention. The first traces Ady’s battle with ALS: how he turned the initial shock and panic from his diagnosis into a renewed commitment to social justice—not despite his disability but because of it. The second, told in flashbacks, illustrates Ady’s journey from a goofy political nerd to a prominent figure in the enduring fight for equity and justice whose “selfless activism fighting to make health care a right should be an inspiration to us all” (Senator Bernie Sanders). From one of the most vocal advocates for social justice, Eyes to the Wind’s “primary question is existential: how to live when you are dying? Barkan’s answer is to share, open up, act, and capital-R Resist, and his memoir, clearly and candidly written, establishes a legacy” (Booklist).
Since she was four, Elle's life has been nothing but pain and death, so it's not surprising she ended up jaded. When Elle's absentee father kidnaps her from her own mother's funeral, Elle is forcefully enrolled into Fallen Academy, a school for nephilim. Mind readers, seers, and elementals? Finally, Elle is with other freaks like herself. Except, Elle soon finds that even surrounded by her own kind, she might just be too different to fit in. Will Elle find her place among the other children of the fallen? Or does her father have plans of his own?
Ancient mythical evil haunts the modern world… Marcus Mortlake has dedicated his life to battling evil. And in doing so, the paranormal investigator has ignored his professional responsibilities for far too long. When his college brings him to task, the weary professor finds himself facing an enemy he had no chance at defeating… The college bursar. Before he can face the music, both the troublesome administrator and one of Mortlake’s disgruntled students disappear, leaving only a pile of crumbling dust behind. Mortlake suspects supernatural forces are to blame. But even he is shocked to discover that the culprit may be a mythological terror, whose very name is synonymous with fear… Mortlake struggles to track down the malevolent entity while dodging inquisitive college officials and law enforcement out for his hide. And upon realization that someone close to him has become possessed by the ancient spirit, he must call upon every ounce of his supernatural knowledge to bring an end to their reign of terror, before more blood is spilled. But a shadowy figure is manipulating events behind the scenes. And they’re determined to make sure their existence stays hidden.… Until it’s time to reveal their cause.
'This is the most cheerful book about murder I've ever read. If the writings of Agatha Christie and Peter Kay ever had a baby, I like to think it would read something like this' The Bookbag Welcome to Castle Kidbury - a pretty town in a green West Country valley. It's home to all sorts of people, with all the stresses and joys of modern life, but with a town square and a proper butcher's. It also has, for our purposes, a rash of gory murders ... Fast-paced and funny, this is a must-read for all fans of a classic murder mystery - think The Vicar of Dibley meets Midsomer Murders meets MC Beaton’s Agatha Raisin meets Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club! Jess Castle is running away. Again. This time she's running back home, like she swore she never would. Castle Kidbury, like all small towns, hums with gossip but now it's plagued with murder of the most gruesome kind. Jess instinctively believes that the hippyish cult camped out on the edge of town are not responsible for the spate of crucifixions that blights the pretty landscape. Her father, a respected judge, despairs of Jess as she infiltrates the cult and manages, not for the first time, to get herself arrested. Rupert Lawson, a schooldays crush who's now a barrister, bails her out. Jess ropes in a reluctant Rupert as she gatecrashes the murder investigation of DS Eden. A by-the-book copper, Eden has to admit that intuitive, eccentric Jess has the nose of a detective. As the gory murders pile up, there’s nothing to connect the victims. And yet, the clues are there if you look hard enough. Fast-paced and funny, this is a must-read for all fans of a classic murder mystery - think The Vicar of Dibley meets Midsomer Murders meets MC Beaton’s Agatha Raisin meets Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club!
A mother’s greatest wish—or worst nightmare—comes true in this chilling novel by #1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz. Tina Evans has spent a year suffering from incredible heartache since her son Danny's tragic death. But now, with her Vegas show about to premiere, Tina can think of no better time for a fresh start. Maybe she can finally move on and put her grief behind her. Only there is a message for Tina, scrawled on the chalkboard in Danny's room: NOT DEAD. Two words that send her on a terrifying journey from the bright lights of Las Vegas to the cold shadows of the High Sierras, where she uncovers a terrible secret...
