Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Massachusetts

Critically acclaimed memoirist Aaron Hartzler, author of Rapture Practice, takes an unflinching look at what happens to a small town when some of its residents commit a terrible crime. This honest, authentic debut novel—inspired by the events in the Steubenville rape case—will resonate with readers who've ever walked that razor-thin line between guilt and innocence that so often gets blurred, one hundred and forty characters at a time. The party at John Doone's last Saturday night is a bit of a blur. Kate Weston can piece together most of the details: Stacey Stallard handing her shots, Ben Cody taking her keys and getting her home early. . . . But when a picture of Stacey passed out over Deacon Mills's shoulder appears online the next morning, Kate suspects she doesn't have all the details. When Stacey levels charges against four of Kate's classmates, the whole town erupts into controversy. Facts that can't be ignored begin to surface, and every answer Kate finds leads back to the same questions: Who witnessed what happened to Stacey? And what responsibility do they have to speak up about what they saw? National Book Award finalist Deb Caletti calls What We Saw "a smart, sensitive, and gripping story about the courage it takes to do what's right."

What We Saw

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Hardcover book in like new condition with the exception of a blacked out name on the first page (see last picture)

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Maryland

An Adam Dalgliesh Mystery

Commander Adam Dalgliesh and his team investigate the murder of a trustee of the Dupayne, a small private London museum locked in a battle over its future, and find their probe complicated by a second corpse.

The Murder Room

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#hardcover #fiction #suspensethrillers #dark #thriller #carolejohnstone #mirrorland #horror 

Texas

“Dark and devious... Beautifully written and plotted with a watchmaker’s precision.” — Stephen King “A dark, twisty, and richly atmospheric exploration of the power of imagination” —Ruth Ware, author of One by One and The Woman in Cabin 10 With the startling twists of Gone Girl and the haunting emotional power of Room, Mirrorland is a thrilling work of psychological suspense about twin sisters, the man they both love, and the dark childhood they can’t leave behind. Cat lives in Los Angeles, far away from 36 Westeryk Road, the imposing gothic house in Edinburgh where she and her estranged twin sister, El, grew up. As girls, they invented Mirrorland, a dark, imaginary place under the pantry stairs full of pirates, witches, and clowns. These days Cat rarely thinks about their childhood home, or the fact that El now lives there with her husband Ross. But when El mysteriously disappears after going out on her sailboat, Cat is forced to return to 36 Westeryk Road, which has scarcely changed in twenty years. The grand old house is still full of shadowy corners, and at every turn Cat finds herself stumbling on long-held secrets and terrifying ghosts from the past. Because someone—El?—has left Cat clues in almost every room: a treasure hunt that leads right back to Mirrorland, where she knows the truth lies crouched and waiting... A twisty, dark, and brilliantly crafted thriller about love and betrayal, redemption and revenge, Mirrorland is a propulsive, page-turning debut about the power of imagination and the price of freedom.

Mirrorland

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#hardcover #fiction #conviction #suspense #denisemina #detective #thriller #dark 

Ohio

A breathtaking thriller about a wealthy housewife who successfully conceals her dark past until a true-crime podcast and a photo posted on social media send her running across Europe, with a faded rock star by her side and extremely dangerous enemies on her trail. Anna McLean loves to revel in life's unsavory details. When she's keeping up appearances as an upper-class Edinburgh housewife, there's no better escape than other people's sordid stories retold in true-crime podcasts. Until the day it all falls apart. A new podcast turns out to have a connection to Anna's own dark past--the secret history she's taken great pains to conceal. Hours later, her husband announces he's leaving her--for her own best friend. And when the best friend's husband--who happens to be former rock star Fin Cohen--shows up on Anna's front stoop, a nosy neighbor plasters their photo all over the internet. Her cover well and truly blown, Anna's only choice is to run--and take Fin along for his own protection. Reigning queen of Scottish crime fiction Denise Mina deftly weaves the classic thriller elements of a woman with a secret past, an average citizen thrust into a high-stakes international chase, and a cheating spouse, with online life--internet sleuthing, true-crime podcasts, insta-celebrities, and Twitter--to craft a modern, propulsive page-turner like nothing you've read before.

Conviction

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Melanie Golding

New York

A Novel

"Unforgettable."—The New York Times "Lyrical and atmospheric." —Bustle "A satiating psychological horror tale." —Cultured Vultures SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE An April 2019 Library Reads Pick! “Mother knows best” takes on a sinister new meaning in this unsettling thriller perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman, Grimms’ Fairy Tales, and Aimee Molloy's The Perfect Mother. Everyone says Lauren Tranter is exhausted, that she needs rest. And they’re right; with newborn twins, Morgan and Riley, she’s never been more tired in her life. But she knows what she saw: that night, in her hospital room, a woman tried to take her babies and replace them with her own...creatures. Yet when the police arrived, they saw no one. Everyone, from her doctor to her husband, thinks she’s imagining things. A month passes. And one bright summer morning, the babies disappear from Lauren’s side in a park. But when they’re found, something is different about them. The infants look like Morgan and Riley—to everyone else. But to Lauren, something is off. As everyone around her celebrates their return, Lauren begins to scream, These are not my babies. Determined to bring her true infant sons home, Lauren will risk the unthinkable. But if she’s wrong about what she saw...she’ll be making the biggest mistake of her life. Compulsive, creepy, and inspired by some of our darkest fairy tales, Little Darlings will have you checking—and rechecking—your own little ones. Just to be sure. Just to be safe.

Little Darlings

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Kara Thomas

West Virginia

When her father dies, Tessa is pulled back to the small Pennsylvania town where her life came apart when her father was sent to prison, her mother went to pieces, and her beloved older sister ran away, and where her testimony and that of her now-estranged friend Callie sent a serial killer to death row--a serial killer who may be getting a new trial as long buried secrets come to light.

The Darkest Corners

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Lemony Snicket

Pennsylvania

As their outrageous misfortune continues, the Baudelaire orphans are shipped off to a miserable boarding school, where they befriend the two Quagmire triplets and find that they have been followed by the dreaded Count Olaf.

A Series of Unfortunate Events #5: the Austere Academy

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#hardcover #thriller #dark #denisemina #detective #suspense 

Rhode Island

Virginia

Peter Straub

Living with her weakling husband in a Connecticut town that has been the scene of four recent serial murders, housewife Nora Chancel is kidnapped by the accused killer and becomes his hostage on a perilous odyssey through New England, with the police in hot pursuit. 100,000 first printing.

The Hellfire Club

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John Saul

There is a mark on the outside of the pages. Please see photo. 

Indiana

The sudden, tragic death of her husband leaves Carolyn Evans alone in New York City to raise an 11-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter on little money and even less hope. She then meets Anthony Fleming who wins her heart. They move into a new apartment but soon the happiness turns to terror.

Midnight Voices

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Dean Koontz

Two secretive, lonely people--a man and a woman--desperately flee a clandestine, illegal agency with a hidden fascist agenda, pursued by a vicious, insidiously evil operative with full access to the vast resources of the government. 500,000 first printing. $500,000 ad/promo. Lit Guild Main. Tour.

Dark Rivers of the Heart

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From the New York Times bestselling author of Asylum comes the second book in an all-new gothic horror series praised as “darkly delightful.”* In this second book of Madeleine Roux’s expansive gothic horror series, illustrations from artist Iris Compiet and chilling photographs help bring to life a world where the line between monsters and men is ghostly thin. After the frightful events of last autumn, seventeen-year-old Louisa Ditton has settled into her role as a maid at Coldthistle House, but she has not settled into what that means for her humanity. As Louisa struggles to figure out whether she is worthy of redemption, the devilish Mr. Morningside plans a fete— one that will bring new guests to Coldthistle House. From wicked humans to Upworlders, angelic beings who look down upon Mr. Morningside’s monstrous staff, all are armed with their own brand of self-righteous justice. Even a man claiming to be Louisa’s father has a role to play, though what his true motive is, Louisa cannot tell. The conflicts will eventually come to a head on the grounds of Coldthistle House—and the stakes include Louisa’s very soul. *Publishers Weekly

Court of Shadows

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#hardcover #fiction #conviction #suspense #denisemina #detective #thriller #dark #reesesbookclub #booktok minimal sleeve wear

Colorado

Isabel Kaplan

Florida

"The rare kind of read that made me giggle just as much as it left me gutted." --Zakiya Dalila Harris, New York Times bestselling author of The Other Black Girl

Blisteringly sharp and hypersmart--meet Isabel Kaplan's searing debut novel about a young woman trying to succeed in Hollywood without selling her soul.

From the outside, the unnamed protagonist in NSFW appears to be the vision of success. She has landed an entry-level position at a leading TV network that thousands of college grads would kill for. And sure, she has much to learn. The daughter of a prominent feminist attorney, she grew up outside the industry. But she's resourceful and hardworking. What could go wrong?

At first, the high adrenaline work environment motivates her. Yet as she climbs the ranks, she confronts the reality of creating change from the inside. Her points only get attention when echoed by male colleagues; she hears whispers of abuse and sexual misconduct. Her mother says to keep her head down until she's the one in charge--a scenario that seems idealistic at best, morally questionable at worst. When her personal and professional lives collide, threatening both the network and her future, she must decide what to protect: the career she's given everything for or the empowered woman she claims to be.

Fusing page-turning prose with dark humor and riveting commentary on the truths of starting out professionally, Isabel Kaplan's NSFW is an unflinching exploration of the gray area between empowerment and complicity. The result is a stunning portrait of what success costs in today's patriarchal world, asking us: Is it ever worth it?

Nsfw

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#dark #predators #detective #crime #mystery #manhunter #readslikedexter #hardcover 

"David Vandemark is nobody's victim - and an avenger like no one's ever seen." "Years ago, he was robbed of everything he knew - his family, his identity, his very soul. He was also left with a strange gift, the power to read not just the minds of other people but their lives, their pasts, their desires. And burned into him was a new resolve: to stalk the human predators - drug dealers, child molesters, and serial killers - who threaten the innocent. To track his prey, Vandemark uses his psychic powers, shifting stealthily from one identity to another with each target. So far, he has claimed twenty victims. Now he is on the trail of the Latino Killer, a vicious psychopath who is butchering Hispanic families all across New York City, leaving terror in his wake." "The only survivor of a family that has been destroyed in the madness, Angela Quinones is Vandemark's key to finding the monster. As they begin to fall in love, she becomes the key to much more than that, awakening the memory of who he once was and returning David Vandemark to the living even as the Latino Killer is mapping their deaths." "Shadowing them all is federal agent Ira Levitt, who has followed Vandemark for seven years in what has been his most fascinating and frustrating case ever. Having guessed that the vigilante would hunt the Latino Killer, Levitt feels he is finally on the verge of catching his man. But when he senses that the Latino Family Murders conceal an evil more dangerous, more "civilized" than anything he's ever faced, he is confronted with an impossible dilemma: to close in on Vandemark or, risking everything, to join forces with him to bring down the Latino Killer and stop the bloodshed."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Thinning the Predators

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#hardcover #protectivecover #formerlibrarybook #thriller #tense #suspense #dark #darkandtwisted

California

Told in alternating points of view by a wide cast of characters, Twisted Fate is a tensely wrought psychological thriller, perfect for fans of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart.

Two sisters. One mysterious boy.

Ally and Sydney couldn't be more different--one shy, the other popular and outgoing--and when a new boy moves in next door, tensions between the sisters escalate. Graham is attractive, peculiar, and perhaps a little dangerous, and both girls are drawn to him in ways they can't quite explain. As each girl's relationship with Graham unfolds the more complicated the truth becomes--until a shocking encounter turns their sleepy coastal town upside down, and makes the sisters question everything they thought they knew about themselves and each other.

Twisted Fate

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Jake Halpern

Peter Kujawinski

South Carolina

"On a distant island where day and night exist on fourteen-year cycles, and the islanders migrate south each sunset, three children get left behind and must find a way off the island before the Night finds them"--

Nightfall

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Carole Johnstone

Denise Mina

#hardcover #fiction #jonathanbarnes #odd #weird #strange #dark 

“An infectious blend of wit, wonder, and the bizarre presented with remarkable style.” —San Antonio Express-News Jonathan Barnes, author of The Somnambulist, outdoes himself in outrageous invention with The Domino Men. Fans of Neil Gaiman, Jasper Fforde, Susanna Clarke, Matt Ruff, and Douglas Adams will not want to miss this quirky and compelling tale of intrigue, conspiracy, and general oddness. Think The Office meets James Bond fighting aliens with a healthy dollop of H.P. Lovecraft horror thrown in for good measure—and that’s only half the fun of Barnes’s wonderfully bizarre The Domino Men.

The Domino Men

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Joshua Gaylord

A small, quiet Midwestern town, which is unremarkable save for one fact: when the teenagers reach a certain age, they run wild. When Lumen Fowler looks back on her childhood, she wouldn't have guessed she would become a kind suburban wife, a devoted mother. In fact, she never thought she would escape her small and peculiar hometown. When We Were Animals is Lumen's confessional: as a well-behaved and over-achieving teenager, she fell beneath the sway of her community's darkest, strangest secret. For one year, beginning at puberty, every resident "breaches" during the full moon. On these nights, adolescents run wild, destroying everything in their path. Lumen resists. Promising her father she will never breach, she investigates the mystery of her community's traditions and the stories erased from the town record. But the more we learn about the town's past, the more we realize that Lumen's memories are harboring secrets of their own. A gothic coming-of-age tale for modern times, When We Were Animals is a dark, provocative journey into the American heartland.

When We Were Animals

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Missouri

Everybody loves a carnival! Who can fail to delight in the colourful people, the unworldly spectacle, the fabulous freaks? A carnival is a place for good family fun - as long as one has a family, that is. For the Baudelaire orphans, their time at the carnival turns out to be yet another episode in a now unbearable series of unfortunate events. In fact, in this appalling ninth instalment in Lemony Snicket′s serial, the siblings must confront a terrible lie, a caravan, and Chabo the wolf baby. With millions of readers worldwide, and the Baudelaire′s fate turning from unpleasant to unseemly, it is clear that Lemony Snicket has taken nearly all the fun out of children′s books. Ages 10+

A Series of Unfortunate Events #9: the Carnivorous Carnival

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#hardcover #juvenilefiction #fiction #dark #mystery 

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Aaron Hartzler

What We Saw

P. D. James

The Murder Room

Carole Johnstone

Mirrorland

Denise Mina

Conviction

Melanie Golding

Little Darlings

Kara Thomas

The Darkest Corners

Lemony Snicket

A Series of Unfortunate Events #5: the Austere Academy

Denise Mina

Conviction

Carole Johnstone

Mirrorland

Peter Straub

The Hellfire Club

John Saul

Midnight Voices

Dean Koontz

Dark Rivers of the Heart

Madeleine Roux; Iris Compiet (Illustrator)

Court of Shadows

Denise Mina

Conviction

Isabel Kaplan

Nsfw

Daina Graziunas; Jim Starlin

Thinning the Predators

Norah Olson

Twisted Fate

Jake Halpern; Peter Kujawinski

Nightfall

Carole Johnstone

Mirrorland

Denise Mina

Conviction

Jonathan Barnes

The Domino Men

Joshua Gaylord

When We Were Animals

Lemony Snicket

A Series of Unfortunate Events #9: the Carnivorous Carnival

Kara Thomas

The Darkest Corners