Short Thrillers

In three beautifully crafted, dramatic acts, James's little-known novel unravels the painfully complicated emotional bonds which exist within a group of friends and lovers connected by two neighboring homes as they fight publicly for preferment, reciprocation, and successful marriage....

Welcome to Operation Skyfall, a story that drops you right into the shadowy, high-stakes world of international arms smuggling and homegrown terrorism. This isn’t just a tale of spies and action—it’s an eye-opening dive into the threats that cross borders and land in our own backyards. You’ll see firsthand how the lines between foreign and domestic dangers are blurring, and what it takes to stop them. At the heart of this mission is Corey Pearson and his elite CIA team, each member bringing their own unique skills to the table. From Stacie’s razor-sharp tech smarts to Ana’s ...

Six American hostages. Seventy-two hours. A jungle alive with danger. When ruthless FARC rebels abduct six Americans—doctors, educators, and aid workers—deep in the Colombian jungle, the clock starts ticking. Their captors issue chilling demands, and the world holds its breath. Enter Corey Pearson and his elite CIA sleeper cell team, operatives skilled in blending into hostile environments and applying cutting-edge spycraft. From encrypted satellite feeds to on-the-ground human intelligence, Corey’s team must use every tool in their arsenal to locate the hostages before time runs out....

Six American hostages. Seventy-two hours. A jungle alive with danger. When ruthless FARC rebels abduct six Americans—doctors, educators, and aid workers—deep in the Colombian jungle, the clock starts ticking. Their captors issue chilling demands, and the world holds its breath. Enter Corey Pearson and his elite CIA sleeper cell team, operatives skilled in blending into hostile environments and applying cutting-edge spycraft. From encrypted satellite feeds to on-the-ground human intelligence, Corey’s team must use every tool in their arsenal to locate the hostages before time runs out....

A heart-warming Victorian Christmas mystery with a touch of peril, this story is performed by award-winning narrators Simon Prebble and Wendy Tremont King. When Sir Henry Baskerville, now happily married, invites Sherlock Holmes to Baskerville Hall, that infamous baronial mansion in darkest Devonshire, the entire Baker Street team accepts his invitation for a family holiday. But Sir Henry has an ulterior motive and the powers of evil are at work.

Slithering Secrets, Scaly Suspects, and a Killer on the Loose! London, 1898: Chaos strikes the London Zoo when a giant cobra escapes its cage, killing a rhesus monkey and throwing the staff into a frenzy. Dr. Watson’s old schoolmate—a trailblazing anti-venom researcher—is thrust into the scandal. With his reputation on the line and suspicions mounting, Sherlock Holmes and Lucy James are called in to untangle the mystery. But the case takes a deadly twist when Lucy discovers the escaped cobra lurking in the researcher’s office—next to the lifeless body of the man who reported the ...

A collection of twenty-six horror/thriller stories with surprise endings to thrill you and chill you to the bone. The creepers include: REST STOP: Martin loved the story The Lady or the Tiger so much he started playing the game with real people and hybrid beasts. THE CURSE: When Rebecca found the pharaoh's tomb, she refused to leave no matter how many perished. TILL DEATH DO US PART: Isabelle discovered her new husband had been married before, and all ten brides had disappeared without a trace. THE EXECUTION: Myers has a crazy dream he's on death row, waiting to be executed. LIFE TO THE ...

Owls Hoot in the Daytime & Other Omens is the 5th and final volume of Night Shade Books' five volume "Selected Stories of Manly Wade Wellman." This volume contains all of the John the Balladeer stories (sometimes better known as Silver John), Manly's most famous character.

A lifelike dummy. A strange dinner party. A soul that won’t stay dead. When struggling actor/waiter Luke Barrett is assigned to serve a bizarre memorial dinner, he doesn’t expect the guest of honor to be a creepy carpool dummy—or for the night to follow him home. But soon, Luke begins blacking out. Seeing things. Becoming someone else. As his reality unravels, he realizes the dummy isn’t just a lifeless prop. It’s watching. Waiting. And it wants in. From bestselling author William Massa comes a chilling short story of possession and occult terrors. A quick read that can be read or...

From its launch in 1920 until its demise in 1951, the magazine Black Mask published pulp crime fiction. The first hard-boiled detective stories appeared on its pages. Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner and John D. MacDonald got their start in Black Mask. The urban crime stories that appeared in Black Mask helped to shape American culture.

In the Florida marshlands, three teenagers uncover a harrowing secret. Val and her brother Shane live a chaotic life with their friend Freddy, distracted from their father's disappearance. After discovering a creature in the marsh, they bring it home, only to realize it craves warm-blooded prey. As a foul odor from a mysterious RV in their trailer park spreads, Val and her friends suspect a connection. During their investigation, they witness a horrific event that sends them scrambling for their lives. With their deadbeat uncle triggering even more danger, the siblings must confront whether...

Robert A. Heinlein's The Long Watch is a powerful and emotional science fiction short story that explores themes of duty, sacrifice, and the moral courage of an individual standing against tyranny. First published in 1949, this story is part of Heinlein's Future History series and remains one of his most poignant and enduring tales. The story follows Lieutenant John Dahlquist, a young officer in the Space Patrol, who finds himself in a critical moral dilemma.

When Overlook helper Belinda gets a chance to go to a special conference and learn about opening her own business, Thistle volunteers to watch Belinda's daughter Annie. Thistle was the queen of rotten children so she thinks Annie will be easy. That feeling only lasts until Annie disappears into the frigid woods surrounding Hemlock Cove. Answers are never easy, and when clues start rolling in, Thistle and Aunt Tillie are left to piece together a puzzle that is years in the making and could have dire consequences.

Patterson Blake is an FBI Agent on a mission. When she was a teenager, her older sister vanished while on a cross-country road trip and hasn't been seen since. Patterson thought she'd put the trauma of her sister's disappearance behind her, but now there is new evidence, and suddenly the old wounds reopen. Except that Patterson isn't a kid anymore. She has a badge and a gun, and the resources to follow her sister's trail. But it won't be as easy as Patterson thinks.

Best-selling authors Jeffery Deaver and Anne Perry join rising stars like Dana Chamblee Carpenter and Paul Gail Benson in a collection that proves Music City is a deadly place to be when your song gets called. Featuring stories by Donald Bain, Robert Dugoni, Jefferson Bass, Mary Burton, Jonathan Stone, Steven James, Maggie Toussaint, Clay Stafford, Heywood Gould, Jaden Terrell, and more....

From the UK best-selling author of Abbot's Keep comes a new dimension in terror. Spanning four decades, the dark history of Church Farm House is explored within four interlinking horror stories. Welcome to the nightmare... Benedict Ashforth is the author of the UK best-selling Kindle ghost story, Abbot's Keep.

When an elderly, world-famous magician is found dead in his Cherringham mansion, there is nothing suspicious about the passing. According to the doctor, it was a heart attack - plain and simple. But the performer's long-time assistant suspects something sinister and she asks Jack and Sarah to investigate. And like the great magician's amazing tricks, it soon becomes clear that his death is anything but simple: in the world of magic, nothing is ever what it seems, and sometimes even illusions can turn deadly.

Quantum Shadows When cutting-edge quantum computing research at UC Berkeley becomes the target of a high-stakes espionage operation, CIA Spymaster Corey Pearson and his elite team are called in to stop a looming disaster. A revolutionary encryption algorithm, capable of rendering the world’s most sensitive communications unbreakable, is at risk of falling into the hands of Russian intelligence. Embedded in the campus, Corey, Ana Ramirez, and Brad Hawkins unravel a web of deceit where ambitious academics, foreign operatives, and betrayal collide. With time running out, the team must ...

In "The Cursed Village," Father Thomas O'Neill, a seasoned exorcist dispatched by the Vatican, arrives in the sleepy village of Western Thane, Hampshire. His presence disrupts the quaint tranquillity as villagers, wary and fearful, whisper rumours of a sinister force lurking nearby. A priest has been found dead, and Thomas is tasked with investigating the dark undercurrents of the community, which include missing young women and strange occurrences connected to the ominous Manor House on the hill. Amidst polite nods and forced smiles, Thomas senses the deep-seated fear that permeates the ...

From its launch in 1920 until its demise in 1951, the magazine Black Mask published pulp crime fiction. The first hard-boiled detective stories appeared on its pages. Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner and John D. MacDonald got their start in Black Mask. The urban crime stories that appeared in Black Mask helped to shape American culture. Modern computer games, films, and television are rooted in the fiction popularized by “the seminal and venerated mystery pulp magazine” ( Booklist).