Tom Sanders, the head of advanced products manufacturing at DigiCom, expects to be promoted to run the advanced products division after DigiCom''s merger with a publishing house. Instead, his ex-girlfriend, Meredith Johnson, who recently moved to Seattle from the company''s headquarters in Cupertino, California; is given the promotion. Later that day, Meredith calls Tom into her office, ostensibly to discuss an advanced CD-ROM drive. She aggressively tries to resume their relationship, despite Tom''s repeated attempts to resist. When he spurns her sexual advances, Meredith angrily vows to make him pay. The next morning, Tom discovers that Meredith has retaliated by falsely accusing him of sexual harassment. DigiCom president Bob Garvin, fearing that the incident could jeopardize the merger, tells the company''s general counsel, Phil Blackburn, to propose transferring Tom to the company''s Austin facility. However, Tom''s division is due to be spun off as a publicly traded company after the merger, and if he''s transferred, he will lose stock options which would make him a wealthy man. Seemingly out of options, Tom gets in touch with Seattle attorney Louise Fernandez, who agrees to take the case. Tom threatens to sue Meredith and DigiCom for sexual harassment unless Meredith is fired, throwing the merger and his future with the company in jeopardy. During a mediation, Tom discovers that when he called one of his colleagues, John Levin, about the problems with the drive, John''s answering machine recorded the whole incident with Meredith. He and Linda also discover that DigiCom officials have known for some time that Meredith has a history of unwelcome advances toward male coworkers, and yet did nothing to stop it. Confronted with this evidence, DigiCom is forced to agree to a settlement in which Meredith is quietly pushed out and Tom is restored to his former post. That night, Tom gets an email from "A Friend" warning him that all is not normal yet. Later, he overhears Meredith and Phil planning to make it look like Tom is responsible for defects in the CD-ROM project, thereby giving DigiCom an excuse to fire him for incompetence. Tom is unable to access information in the database that would prove his innocence since Meredith has locked him out of the system. Through a prototype of the company''s virtual reality machine, Tom discovers that Meredith changed the quality control specifications at the Malaysian plant manufacturing the drive. These changes, ostensibly to appease Malaysian government demands and cut costs, resulted in the defects. With the help of one of his Malaysian colleagues, Tom obtains enough evidence to turn the tables on Meredith, resulting in her getting fired instead.

Disclosure

The novel is told in two parts: the first is set in present-day Scotland where Amy Shone, a seemingly itinerant and illiterate drifter has just found work as the caretaker of a caravan site and camping ground. She lives with her nearly eight-year old daughter, Kate, and their patchwork lives are thrown into relief with glimpses of Amy''s more glamorous past, when she was a Cambridge scholar. When a random phone call for an interview brings mention of her one-time friendship with a young actress named Aisling (Ash) McCarthy, the mysteries of Amy''s unraveled life begin to settle. The second half of the book is a journal, written by Amy''s old friend and actress, Aisling McCarthy, found in a box of Amy''s old journals that her daughter Kate has read. Ash''s journal is a headlong rush through her relationship with Amy from its dizzy beginning to its fiery end. Ash''s journal highlights a tale of opposites - with twin desires as well as a subtle metaphor of Scotland and England themselves: two countries forever connected and forever apart.

Like

After being connected to the death of a woman in London, Bond is called in by M to aid the investigation. Returning from Hereford, a Sergeant Pearlman tags along by driving Bond back, during which they are attacked and involved in a high-speed chase on an English motorway. Upon safely returning to headquarters, Bond is briefed on the investigation by M and Chief Superintendent Bailey. The woman, whom Bond does not know, was found dead with Bond''s telephone number. She is a member of a cult society known as "The Meek Ones", operated by a Father Valentine. With additional information from the CIA, the British Secret Service learn that Valentine is an alias for Vladimir Scorpius, an arms dealer for several terrorist organisations. As the country''s general election approaches, by the use of brainwashed cult members, Scorpius has begun a "holy war" against every man, woman, and child. The cult members, thinking themselves to be pure, moral, and unsullied, sacrifice their lives for "the greater good of humanity" believing that by performing this "death task" that they will achieve paradise. Throughout the novel, The Meek Ones commit several acts of terrorism including multiple terrorist bombings and several assassinations of British politicians. Throughout the horror, Bond meets Harriett Horner, an IRS agent working undercover in England and investigating a credit card company run by Scorpius. The two work together along with Pearlman to attempt to track down Scorpius. After an interrogation of a captured cult member, Horner is taken captive by Scorpius'' men. Additionally, Pearlman confesses to Bond that he was secretly giving Scorpius information for the benefit of his daughter who had been brainwashed. Together the two set out for Scorpius'' base of operations in South Carolina, having Scorpius believe Pearlman was taking Bond captive. At Scorpius'' island, Bond meets up with Horner once again and the two actually marry at the behest of Scorpius. Knowing that the marriage is invalid, Bond agrees to go ahead with it thinking it would buy him time until he can escape. On the night the two decide to escape, Harriett is killed by a water moccasin. At the same time the FBI is conducting a raid of Scorpius'' island, which further angers Bond since her death was in vain. Bond returns to the island, finding Scorpius attempting to flee. After giving chase, Bond successfully gets the upper hand and forces Scorpius to die in a similar manner to that of Horner''s death.

Scorpius

Alan Grant, Scotland Yard Inspector (a character who also appears in five other novels by the same author) is confined to bed in hospital with a broken leg. Bored and of restless mind, he becomes intrigued by a reproduction of a portrait of King Richard III brought to him by a friend. He prides himself on being able to read a person''s character from his appearance, and King Richard seems to him a gentle and kind and wise man. Why is everyone so sure that he was a cruel murderer? With the help of friends and acquaintances, Alan Grant investigates the case of the Princes in the Tower. Grant spends weeks pondering historical information and documents with the help of an American researcher for the British Museum. Using his detective''s logic, he comes to the conclusion that the claim of Richard being a murderer is a fabrication of Tudor propaganda, as is the popular image of the King as a monstrous hunchback. The book points out the fact that there never was a Bill of Attainder, Coroner''s inquest, or any other legal proceeding that accused - much less convicted - Richard III of any foul play against the Princes in the Tower. Further, the book explores how history is constructed, and how certain versions of events come to be widely accepted as the truth, despite a lack of evidence. "The Daughter of Time" of the title is from a quote by Sir Francis Bacon: "Truth is the daughter of time, not of authority." Grant comes to understand the ways that great myths are constructed, and how in this case, the victorious Tudors saw to it that their version of history prevailed. Other alleged historical myths touched upon by the author, are the commonly believed (but false) story that troops fired on the public at the 1910 Tonypandy Riot, the traditional depiction of the Boston Massacre, the martyrdom of Margaret Wilson and the life and death of Mary, Queen of Scots. Grant adopts the term "Tonypandy" to describe widely believed historical myths, such as the Tonypandy Riot, or deliberately falsified history, such as the life of Richard III.

The Daughter of Time

Blood of the Fold resumes from the preceding novel, Stone of Tears, when Richard Rahl has just reunited with his future wife, Kahlan Amnell, the Mother Confessor, in a place between worlds. Upon returning to Aydindril in the real world he realizes that seizing power for himself is the only way to halt the continuous advance of the Imperial Order through the Midlands. Richard ends the Midlands alliance and the rule of the Confessors, taking control of Aydindril and issuing a demand for unconditional surrender of Midlands nations to D''haran rule. Meanwhile, in the Old World, trouble courses through the Palace of the Prophets. Sister Verna, the newly named Prelate, discovers the former Prelate, Annalina, isn''t really dead, but has fled with Nathan Rahl. The lands of the Midlands must decide whether to surrender to D''Hara or the Imperial Order. In his neverending search for banelings, what the Blood call those with some form of the gift, Tobias Brogan, the Lord General of the Blood of the Fold, captures Kahlan Amnell and Adie and takes them, following the instructions of the Creator, to the Palace of the Prophets. Richard, who finds out his wife-to-be is in the Old World, uses an ancient means of transportation, the Sliph, to travel to her almost immediately. There, fooled by the ability to become invisible, Richard releases the Mriswith Queen, who then flees to Aydindril back through the Sliph. Brought back to his senses, Richard then destroys the Palace of the Prophets to prevent Jagang from receiving the treasures inside, saves Kahlan, and hurries back to Aydindril in the New World, where He discovers the mriswith queen nesting in the Wizard''s keep preparing to hatch a new batch of mriswith in the new world. After smashing her eggs and a difficult battle with her, Richard and Kahlan defeat the Mriswith Queen. They then discover a battle in the City is being lost by Richard''s D''haran army but with his arrival he leads his soldiers to a victory over the Blood of the Fold and the mriswith.

Blood of the Fold

A relatively small oil company headed by the antagonist, Borjin, a Mongolian who is bent on taking control of the world oil market, and also determined to re-unite the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia with Mongolia, has stolen a machine which can create an earthquake. He has also found significant oil deposits buried at unusual depths in Inner Mongolia. He uses the machine to destroy major oil production facilities through the world, crippling China''s and the rest of the world''s oil supply in a matter of weeks. He then uses this shortage to make an offer to supply China all the oil it needs. He demands that Inner Mongolia be ceded to Mongolia, and China pay market price for the oil he will supply them, which he guarantees will meet the colossal demands of the Chinese economy. China accepts this deal, not knowing of the hidden oil deposits they are handing to him. Dirk Pitt intervenes to end the situation, and discovers that the grave of Genghis Khan has been located by Borjin. A subplot centers on Kublai Khan''s second invasion of Japan by Mongolia, and in its failure, inadvertently discovering what we now know as Hawaii. In the present, Dirk Pitt discovers Kublai Khan''s tomb is in a lava tube in Hawaii along with a great treasure. He does this after finding an ancient scroll which had been buried for centuries, was excavated during the early days of the War of Resistance. The pertinent clues were then quickly lost, and found again by Pitt. fr:Le Trésor du Khan (roman) it:Il tesoro di Gengis Khan

Treasure of Khan

The story is told from the perspective of Afanasi Ziukin, the majordomo of Grand Duke George Alexandrovich. Erast Fandorin investigates the abduction of Grand Duke Mikhail, the four-year-old youngest son of George Alexandrovitch, by criminal mastermind "Doctor Lind" whom Fandorin has been pursuing for several years. Their initial confrontation is briefly described in the novella "Dream Valley" from the Jade Rosary Beads collection. This time, Lind demands the Orlov diamond, a prerequisite for the upcoming coronation, as a ransom. Nicholas II is portrayed as dependent on his uncles Cyril and Simeon, the Governor-General of Moscow. Akunin distorts the Romanov family relations somewhat. The three uncles of Nicolas II (sons of Alexander II) are semi-fictitious: *George Alexandrovich, named after George Alexandrovitch, Nicholas'' younger brother, but probably based on Nicholas'' real uncle Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich; however, historical Alexei had no legitimate issue *Simeon Alexandrovich, the Governor General of Moscow is based on Nicholas'' real uncle Sergei Alexandrovich. *Cyril Alexandrovich is based on Nicholas'' real uncle Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, and named after Cyril, Vladimir''s son.

Coronation, or the Last of the Romanovs

En route to Nasse House, Poirot gives a lift to two female hitch-hikers – one Dutch and one Italian – who are staying at the youth hostel adjoining the Nasse House grounds. When he arrives, Mrs Oliver explains that she feels that her plans for the Murder Hunt have been, almost imperceptibly, influenced by the advice that she has been given by people in the house, until it is almost as though she is being pushed into staging a real murder. The owner of Nasse House is George Stubbs, a wealthy man who has seemingly adopted an unearned title of "Sir" in order to confirm his position in the local community. His much younger wife is the seemingly simple and impressionable Hattie, a young woman who has apparently been introduced to him by Amy Folliat, the surviving member of the family that once owned the house. Now that her sons have been supposedly killed during the War, she is living out her days in the Lodge House. Other visitors at Nasse House include an architect, Michael Weyman, who criticises the siting some years earlier of a folly in an inappropriate area of the grounds. On the day of the fête, Hattie learns that a cousin, Etienne de Sousa, is about to visit, and she seems upset by this, referring to him as a killer. At the fete, a local Girl Guide, Marlene Tucker, is to play the part of the victim, and she waits in the boathouse to play her role when someone approaches her. Poirot observes the movements of some of the visitors to the house. Later, in the company of Mrs Oliver, he discovers the corpse of Marlene in the boathouse. Moreover, Hattie is discovered to have gone missing. Both the police and Poirot himself are initially baffled. The investigation focuses on Etienne de Sousa, a wealthy young man who shows no apparent concern at Hattie’s disappearance and has arrived in perfect time to have committed the murder. Another suspect is Amanda Brewis, George''s secretary, who appears to be in love with Sir George and claims to have been sent down to the boathouse by Hattie with refreshments for Marlene at around the time that the girl was killed. This sounds very out of character for Hattie. Further confusion is added by the behaviour of the Legges, who appear to have some sort of shady connection with a young man in a turtle shirt who has been seen in the grounds. (It later comes to light that this red herring is connected with Legge''s career as a nuclear physicist.) Poirot’s attention is directed to Amy Folliat, who seems to know more than she is saying. After the boatman Merdell dies, Poirot discovers that he was Marlene’s grandfather. Now he puts together several stray clues: Marlene had said that her grandfather had seen someone burying a woman in the woods; Marlene was the type to blackmail, and had in fact received small sums of money prior to her murder; Merdell had commented significantly to Poirot that there would "always be Folliats at Nasse House". In the denouement Poirot reveals that "Sir" George Stubbs is none other than Amy Folliat''s younger son, James, who had deserted during WWI. Instead, Amy had paired him with the impressionable, but very wealthy, Hattie, hoping they would make a good couple. However, he fleeced her of her money and established his new identity, buying the family house and ensuring the continuity of Folliat possession. Unbeknownst to his mother, however, George/James was already married, and as soon as he had possession of Nasse he killed Hattie, and substituted his legal, first wife, a young Italian woman, in her place. The real Hattie was buried on the grounds where the Folly was built. Marlene Tucker had guessed the secret from hints dropped by her grandfather, and George and his real wife decided it would be safer to kill her than continue giving her hush money. The day before the day of the murder, "Hattie" began to establish another identity as an Italian hitch-hiker. On the day of the murder, she switched between the two roles, killing Marlene and leaving the grounds as the hitch-hiker, with Hattie''s clothes in her rucksack. The day of the murder had been selected to cast suspicion upon Etienne, who had actually notified them some weeks earlier of his visit, of whom the fake Hattie pretends to be afraid. As Hattie''s cousin, Etienne would not have been deceived and would have realized that the fake Hattie was not his cousin. The arrests of the culprits is not referenced in the novel, the end of which focuses on the despair of Amy Folliat, who does not appear to be facing legal charges, although that is never quite spelled out, in her allocution to Poirot.

Dead Man''s Folly

As hinted at the end of Nimitz Class, Ben Adnam is alive and well. Having returned to Iraq, he is awarded a medal, but also suffers a betrayal. He flees Iraq and offers his services to Iran. He devises a plan to cripple Transatlantic air travel. The plan first requires capturing HMS Unseen—the last of the "quietest subs in the world"—the Upholder Class. He combines this with a defunct missile system, and creates a weapon capable of knocking any aircraft out of the sky without detection. The plan works perfectly and several aircraft, including "Air Force Three" carrying the Vice President, are destroyed. However, Ben is abandoned by the Iranians and so left to fend for himself. He comes up with a scheme to meet the man who has hunted him for so long, Admiral Morgan, in order to offer his services to the US. During their confrontation, Adnam informs Morgan that Iraq was behind the terrorist attacks and suggests that the destruction of some dams in the country is sufficient retribution. The US destroy these dams and Baghdad ends up beneath four feet of water. In the Epilogue, Ben Adnam, having been given a permanent job and a US passport, decides to come clean and inform Morgan that it was actually under the flag of Iran that he had destroyed the airlines. A furious Morgan terminates Adnam''s employment but gives him the option of taking his own life, rather than have a SWAT team do it for him. With nowhere left to run, Adnam positions himself in the traditional east-facing position of Muslim prayer before shooting himself in the head. Ben Adnam is somewhat unique among techno thriller villains in that he is neither captured nor are any of his attacks thwarted by the "good guys"; even his death is at his own hands. This has led to claims that the books are actually a satire of the genre which often feature perfect heroes and despicable but one dimensional villains.

H.M.S. Unseen

Embassytown takes place mostly in the title city, on the planet Arieka. Embassytown exists on the very edge of the "Manchmal" (from the German for "sometimes"), which is suspected to be the third iteration of the known universe, and which, given its distance from everything else, is only accessible by sailing through the "Immer" (from the German for "always"), a permanent universe with differing concepts of time and space. Avice Benner Cho is an "Immerser", a traveller on the Immer, who has returned to her childhood home from her adventures in the "Out". Arieka is a planet on which humans and "exots", a term for exotic extra-terrestrials, co-exist with the indigenous, enigmatic Ariekei — otherwise known as the Hosts. Few people can speak the language of the Hosts (which is referred to only as Language) as it requires the orator to speak two words at once; those who can are genetically-engineered linguist twins known as Ambassadors, bred solely for this purpose. The Ambassadors speak with two mouths and one mind and as such can be understood by the Ariekei, who do not recognise any other form of speech, allowing for trade in their valuable technology. Embassytown is a colony of a nation called Bremen; and these trade goods, along with Embassytown''s unique position at the edge of the universe, mean that it is a colony of vital importance to them. The relationship between humans and Ariekei has proceeded in relative tranquillity for many years, however when a new Ambassador arrives, named , who has not been genetically engineered to speak Language, yet can still manage to, everything changes. The speech of the new, Bremen-engineered, Ambassador intoxicates the Hosts and results in the entire Ariekei population becoming addicted to the Ambassador''s speech regardless of what is said, to the extent that they cannot live without it. * Avice Benner Cho — Embassytown native and Immerser, husband to Scile and lover of CalVin. * Scile — non-native linguist and husband to Avice; believes that Language should remain as it is regardless of the consequences. * (or CalVin) — Ambassador of high standing, lover of Avice Benner Cho. * (or MagDa) — head Ambassador. * (or EzRa) — new, Bremen engineered, Ambassador consisting of two non-identical people. Also known as the "God Drug". * Bren — ex-Ambassador still living in Embassytown and advisor to Avice, one half of the "cleaved" Ambassador BrenDan. * Ehrsul — an "autom" (from automaton), best friend of Avice. * Wyatt — Bremen''s contact on Embassytown. * Hasser — a human "simile" used by the Ariekei as part of Language. Killer of . * (or Beehive) — the most successful Ariekei liar ever. Is murdered by Hasser during the Festival of Lies. * Spanish Dancer — an Ariekei with markings reminiscent of a Spanish dancer who is interested in the similes and a follower of . * YlSib (formerly ) — ex-Ambassador living in the Host city; Bren''s contact.

Embassytown

Julian Savage, the twin brother of Aidan (Dark Gold), is sent to warn a young singer, Desari, that she and her band have come under suspicion by a fanatical vampire hunting society. Believing this to be his last task to his Prince, Mikhail, Julian was prepared to greet the dawn and his own destruction. However, upon hearing the singer''s hauntingly beautiful voice, he was mesmerized. The colours he hadn''t seen in over eight hundred years were now vivid and bright. Julian instantly knew he had found his lifemate because of his ability to see in colour, accompanied by the return of emotions. While he revels in his discovery, gunfire rings out on stage. Julian rushes in to find three of the band members, including Desari, lying amongst blood-spattered instruments. To save her life, Julian heals her wounds and provides her with a large volume of his blood, while performing the ritual to bind Desari to him. Weak from blood loss, he is surprised by a huge panther. To counter the attack, he in turn shape-shifts into a large, golden leopard. The two cats seemed evenly matched until the arrival of two more leopards. With these unfavourable odds, Julian makes good on his escape, deciding to hunt down the assassins. To his puzzlement, he finds all six of the humans slaughtered in a Carpathian fashion. Julian gathers the bodies, reduces them to ashes and scatters them into the ocean in an effort to throw off the vampire hunting society. As Julian courts Desari, he and Desari''s older brother, Darius, test each other''s strengths. Meanwhile, Julian''s lifelong enemy hunts his lifemate. In light of a common goal, the two Carpathian men strike an uneasy truce to destroy the vampire.

Dark Challenge

The central character, Ryan Perry, is the wealthy founder and owner of an online social networking site, Be2Do. Ryan is dating an author named Samantha, who had interviewed him for a magazine article. Although seemingly in good health and only 34 years old, Ryan begins to have seizures at random times of the day, and decides to seek the assistance of his doctor, Dr. Gupta. He is informed that he has a rare, inherited heart condition (cardiomyopathy) of which there is no cure. Ryan is only given one year to live unless he can receive a heart transplant, so he is put on a waiting list. Meanwhile, Samantha reveals to Ryan that her mother, assumed dead by Ryan, is in fact alive and living in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ryan becomes temporarily suspicious of Samantha, and believes she may have something to do with his sudden decline in health. He makes a secret trip to Las Vegas to investigate Samantha’s mother and her boyfriend, Spencer Barguest. While searching the home of Barguest, Ryan discovers photographs of dead bodies with their eyes taped open. One of the photographs appears to be of Samantha’s identical twin sister, who was declared brain dead after a car accident and later died. This discovery leads Ryan to believe that Barguest is involved in assisted-suicide, or euthanasia. Still distrustful of those close to him, Ryan secretly switches doctors from Dr. Gupta to Dr. Hobb, who specializes in wealthy clients. He also replaces his household staff. Within a month, Ryan is informed that a heart donor has been found and successfully receives the transplant. After returning home, his relationship with Samantha ends for unknown reasons. One year later, a series of mysterious events unfolds at Ryan’s home. His personal handgun is stolen from his vault, and several heart-themed items appear in his room with the message ‘Be Mine.’ After reading her first novel, Ryan attempts to rekindle his relationship with Samantha. He meets with her outside a book store, but she tells him that she can no longer love him. An Asian woman standing nearby tries to offer lilies to Ryan, but he refuses. Later on, the same woman stabs him in his stomach while at a parking lot mall and tells him that she can kill him whenever she wants. After answering his cell phone later, the same woman tells him that his heart belongs to her and she wants him dead. Concerned for his safety, Ryan decides to investigate his anonymous heart donor. Through Dr. Hobb, he is able to obtain a photograph and first name of the donor, who was declared brain dead after a car accident and later died when her heart was removed. The young woman’s name was Lily, and she is identical to the woman who has threatened Ryan. After reviewing security footage from within his estate, Ryan discovers that Lily''s twin sister looped the video to make her appear invisible to security cameras. This leads him to the belief that she is involved in a large conspiracy to kill him, but she later denies this and claims to be working alone. Ryan must once more fight to save his life – this time from a woman who claims his heart belongs to her.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

Disclosure

By Michael Crichton

Like

By Ali Smith

Scorpius

By John Gardner

The Daughter of Time

By Josephine Tey

Blood of the Fold

By Terry Goodkind

Treasure of Khan

By Clive Cussler

Coronation, or the Last of the Romanovs

By Boris Akunin

Dead Man's Folly

By Agatha Christie

H.M.S. Unseen

No Author Listed

Embassytown

By China Miéville

Dark Challenge

By Christine Feehan

Your Heart Belongs to Me

By Dean Koontz