Charles Becker

Claire Summers is a determined, independent single mother who is doing her best to make lemonade out of the lemons life has handed her. Keith Watson is a results-oriented workaholic with no time for a social life. As the executive assistant to a local philanthropic businessman, he's used to fielding requests for donations. But when a letter from Claire's 11-year-old daughter reaches his desk, everything changes. The girl isn't asking for money, but for help finding the long-lost son of an elderly neighbor.

The incomparable master of the legal thriller takes us deeper into the labyrinth that is the American justice system, always drawing us in with an irresistible hook, pulling the thread of tension tighter and tighter, and then knocking us out with a conclusion that's never "by the book". Maybe that's why, after more than 20 years of consecutive number-one New York Times best sellers, a new novel by America's favorite storyteller is still a major publishing event.

Shannon Conner grew up in a Colorado cabin, isolated from the world. Now she lives as a lonely young widow in the cold mountains. Forced to fend for herself, Shannon valiantly attempts to deflect the harassment of local bullies, but she is grossly outnumbered. However, when Rafael "Whip" Moran, the man who will defend her honor, enters her life, everything changes. Unprepared for the feelings Whip unleashes within her, Shannon is torn between her fear of this rugged stranger and a burning desire to be with him.

Rachel O'Malley works disasters for a living. Her specialty is helping children through trauma. For years Rachel has touched grief as she helps others through it, but now grief is something very personal - she is losing her own sister to cancer. When a school shooting rips through her community, she must lean hard against God to find the strength to help the children. For there is more than just sorrow confronting her, there's a secret.

Raised on a South Carolina plantation as the house pet of her white master's daughter, Kitty never made a decision for herself. Now, as a young adult, she must preserve her faith while making the biggest decision ever: stay with her master and go south to avoid the Yankees or run away tonight to the North with Grady, the field slave she has come to love.

When rodeo champion Cody Gunner returns to Colorado Springs, he has no intention of keeping his deathbed promise to his beloved wife - to love again. But when his concern for his brother Carl takes him to the Independent Learning Center, he sees how much Carl and his fellow Down syndrome students are progressing.