Little, Brown and Company

Paul Grogan, 2005

Victor was clearly concerned about our plans to travel along the border, promising that the guards would shoot us on sight: 'They will be made heroes, with medals from Moscow', he thundered, slapping his chest, ' but you will be dead!' And with that, he moulded his hands around an imaginary machine gun and sprayed our chests with an impressive salvo of spittle. For years they'd dreamed of packing in their day-jobs and travelling one of the world's greatest rivers, so long as it was somewhere warm. Siberia seemed like the obvious choice...Starting from high in the mountains of northern Mongolia, Paul Grogan and travelling companion Richard Boddington set out to make the first source-to-sea descent of Siberia's 4,400km Amur River, known in China as The Black Dragon. After wading up-stream for five days to reach the source, they begin their epic, four-month journey knowing virtually nothing about the region they'll be travelling through, or even where they'll be able to find food along the way. One of the few things they do know about the river is that for almost 2,000km if forms the long-disputed border between Russia and China. the scene of armed conflict up until the late 1980's, it's still considered off-limits, even to Russians. Never sure if they'll be able to continue around the next bend, the pair face guns, gunboats and arrest at every turn, and are forbidden to even set foot in Chinese territory. But beyond this fascade of military might they find a generous, warm-hearted people with a wicked sense of humour and an unhealthy predilection fir poetry, pig fat and home-made vodka. With sun, sauna's and dancing girls also high on the agenda, they are soon swept along by life on the river and the occasional 4 a.m. flood. Подробнее

A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away

Christopher Brookmyre, 2006

Back when they were students, just like everybody else, Ray Ash and Simon Darcourt had dreams about what they'd do when they grew up. In both their cases, it was to be rock stars. Fifteen years later, their mid-thirties are bearing down fast, and just like everybody else, they're having to accept the less glamorous hands reality has dealt them. Nervous new father Ray takes refuge from his responsibilities by living a virtual existence in online games. People say he needs to grow up, but everybody has to find their own way of coping. For some it's affairs, for others it's the bottle, and for Simon it's serial murder, mass slaughter and professional assassination. Подробнее

Blood Test

Jonathan Kellerman, 1993

Little Woody Swope was gravely ill. Treatment was possible, if painful. But his parents, members of a bizarre sect called the Touchers, threatened to take him out of hospital. Then Woody was gone. So were the Swopes, leaving their motel suite heavily bloodstained. Enter Alex Delaware, child psychologist, young, burned out and semi-retired. He and his LA cop friend Milo find a heap of suspects — an ageing ex-hippy doctor; a back-country police chief; a male stripper; even Nona, Woody's sister, a flame-haired Lolita with hate in her eyes and larceny in her soul. But the truth was more bizarre than even Alex could have imagined… Подробнее

Blue Shoes and Happiness

Alexander McCall Smith, 2007

Now that she is finally and happily married to her long-term suitor Mr J.L.B. Matekoni, Mma Ramotswe of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency of Botswana might have expected life to grow more sedate. But the many problems that lead customers to Mma Ramotswe's door seem, if anything, to have multiplied, and no sooner has she settled her traditionally built person into the married state than she finds herself looking into several troublesome matters at once. There is, to begin with, a disturbing case of blackmail and theft from the Government catering college. Then, while on an errand for her husband to the Mokolodi Game Reserve Mma Ramotswe is seconded to investigate an unpleasant atmosphere that may be down to witchcraft, or something worse. There are sinister goings-on at a health clinic to be looked into, not to mention any number of small wrongs to be righted along the path to detective triumph. And all the time Mma Ramotswe has weighty questions of a philosophical nature to consider, such as whether it is right to find happiness in small things, such as a new pair of blue shoes, a slice of cake, or a red sunset over the Kalahari. Подробнее

Boiling a Frog

Christopher Brookmyre, 2001

Jack Parlabane, the investigative journalist not averse to breaking the law for a good story, has been caught on the petard of his own self-confidence and is enjoying accommodation courtesy of Her Majesty. He finds that contacts and a way with words are no defence against those he helped put away. Подробнее

The Bridge

Iain Banks, 1992

The man who wakes up in the extraordinary world of a bridge has amnesia, and his doctor doesn't seem to want to cure him. Does it matter? Exploring the bridge occupies most of his days. But at night there are his dreams. Dreams in which desperate men drive sealed carriages across barren mountains to a bizarre rendezvous; an illiterate barbarian storms an enchanted tower under a stream of verbal abuse; and broken men walk forever over bridges without end, taunted by visions of a doomed sexuality. Lying in bed unconscious after an accident wouldn't be much fun, you'd think. Oh yes? It depends who and what you've left behind. Which is the stranger reality, day or night? Frequently hilarious and consistently disturbing, The Bridge is a novel of outrageous contrasts, constructed chaos and elegant absurdities. Подробнее

The Business

Iain Banks, 2000

Kate Telman is a senior executive officer in The Business, a powerful and massively discreet transglobal organisation. Financially transparent, internally democratic and disavowing conventional familial inheritance, the character of The Business seems, even to Kate, to be vague to the point of invisibility. It possesses, allegedly, a book of Leonardo cartoons, several sets of Crown Jewels and wants to buy its own State in order to acquire a seat at the United Nations. Kate's job is to keep abreast of current technological developments and her global reach encompasses Silicon Valley, a ranch in Nebraska, the firm's secretive Swiss headquarters, and a remote Himalayan principality. In the course of her journey Kate must peel away layers of emotional insulation and the assumptions of a lifetime. She must learn to keep her world at arm's length. To take control, she has to do The Business. Подробнее

Cat's Eye

Margaret Atwood, 1994

Elaine, a painter, returns to Toronto and finds herself overwhelmed by her past — memories of her childhood, betrayals and cruelties surface relentlessly. She must face the spectre of Cordelia who has been her best friend and her tormentor, and who has haunted her for 40 years. Подробнее

Cathedral

Nelson Demille, 2000

St Patrick's Day, New York City. Everyone is celebrating but everyone is in for the shock of his life. Born into the heat and hatred of the Northern Ireland conflict, IRA man Brian Flynn has masterminded a brilliant terrorist act — the seizure of Saint Patrick's Cathedral. Among his hostages: the woman Brian Flynn once loved, a former terrorist turned peace activist. Among his enemies: an Irish0American police lieutenant fighting against a traitor inside his own ranks and a shadowy British intelligence officer pursuing his own cynical, bloody plan. The cops face a booby-trapped, perfectly laid out killing zone inside the church. The hostages face death. Flynn faces his own demons, in an electrifying duel of nerves, honor and betrayal… Подробнее

Cruel and Unusual

Patricia Cornwell, 2000

The fingerprints say the murderer is the man who's just been executed ... At 11.05 one December evening in Richmond, Virginia, convicted murderer Ronnie Joe Waddell is pronounced dead in the electric chair. At the morgue Dr Kay Scarpetta waits for Waddell's body. Preparing to perform a post-mortem before the subject is dead is a strange feeling, but Scarpetta has been here before. And Waddell's death is not the only newsworthy event on this freezing night: the grotesquely wounded body of a young boy is found propped against a rubbish skip. To Scarpetta the two cases seem unrelated, until she recalls that the body of Waddell's victim had been arranged in a strikingly similar position … Подробнее

Cyclops

Clive Cussler, 1988

Dirk Pitt doesn't go looking for adventure, it finds him. His chance witnessing of an airship disaster which nearly kills him and his discovery of the gruesome fate of the crew sets in motion the most nail-biting chain of events in his career. Подробнее

Deep Six

Clive Cussler, 1988

For the US President, the crisis point is approaching fast. With his Soviet initiative entering its most crucial phase, he suddenly finds himself faced with a pollution disaster of cataclysmic proportions. Then he disappears, leaving his country on the brink of chaos, and Dirk Pitt to investigate. Подробнее

The Dream of Scipio

Iain Pears, 2003

»The Dream of Scipio», Iain Pears' first mainstream novel since «An Instance of the Fingerpost», is a work of astonishing ambition that appeals equally to the head and heart. It is set in Provence at three different critical moments of Western Civilisation — the collapse of the Roman Empire in the fifth century, the Black Death in the fourteenth, and the Second World War in the twentieth — and follows the fortunes of three men. The story of each man is woven through the narrative, linked by the classical text that gives the book its title, and by each man's love for an extraordinary woman. The narratives intertwine seamlessly, but what joins them thematically is an ancient text — «The Dream of Scipio» — a work of neo-Platonism that poses timeless philosophical questions. Expertly imagined and perfectly realised, «The Dream of Scipio» is a bonafide novel of ideas, a dazzling feat of storytelling, a fiction for our times. Dense, dark, erudite and yet utterly compelling. Подробнее

Excession

Iain M. Banks, 1997

Two and a half millennia ago, the artifact appeared in a remote corner of space, beside a trillion-year-old dying sun from a different universe. It was a perfect black-body sphere, and it did nothing. Then it disappeared. Now it is back. Подробнее

Falling Sideways

Tom Holt, 2004

From the moment the first Homo Sapiens descended from the trees, possibly onto their heads, humanity has striven towards civilisation. Fire. The Wheel. Running Away from furry things with more teeth than one might reasonably expect — all are testament to man's ultimate ascendancy. It is a noble story, a triumph of intelligence over adversity and so, of course, complete and utter fiction. For one man has discovered the hideous truth: that humanity's ascent has been ruthlessly guided by a small gang of devious frogs. Подробнее

Fear

Jeff Abbott, 2007

I killed my best friend. I didn't mean to, but I did. This is my story.' Miles Kendrick is in a witness protection program, hiding from the mob and constantly haunted by his best friend's death. With the aid of psychiatrist Allison Vance, Miles is trying to hold onto his sanity and to recall the events of that tragic night. But when Allison is blown to pieces by a bomb planted in her office, Miles becomes caught up in a deadly conspiracy way beyond his worst nightmares. Pursued by an ex-FBI detective turned hitman and helped by a mentally broken ex-soldier and a reclusive woman whose life has been destroyed by violence, Miles is in a battle to get his life back — or just stay alive. A gripping, breakneck-paced thriller, Fear will not let you go until the last bullet flies. Подробнее

The Food of Love

Anthony Capella, 2005

Laura Patterson is an American exchange student in Rome who, fed up with being inexpertly groped by her young Italian beaus, decides there’s only one sure-fire way to find a sensual man: date a chef. Then she meets Tomasso, who's handsome, young — and cooks in the exclusive Templi restaurant. Perfect. Except, unbeknownst to Laura, Tomasso is in fact only a waiter at Templi — it’s his shy friend Bruno who is the chef. But Tomasso is the one who knows how to get the girls, and when Laura comes to dinner he persuades Bruno to help him with the charade. It works: the meal is a sensual feast, Laura is utterly seduced and Tomasso falls in lust. But it is Bruno, the real chef who has secretly prepared every dish Laura has eaten, who falls deeply and unrequitedly in love. A delicious tale of Cyrano de Bergerac-style culinary seduction, but with sensual recipes instead of love poems. Подробнее

Friends, Lovers, Chocolate

Alexander McCall Smith, 2006

Isabel Dalhousie thinks often of friends, sometimes of lovers, and on occasion of chocolate. As an Edinburgh philosopher she is certain of where she stands. She can review a book called In Praise of Sin with panache and conviction, but real life is... well, perhaps a bit more challenging — particularly when it comes to her feelings for Jamie, a younger man who should have married her niece, Cat. Jamie's handsomeness leaves Isabel feeling distinctly uneasy, and ethically disturbed. ‘I am a philosopher', she thinks, 'but I am also a woman’. And more disturbance is in store. When Cat takes a break in Italy, Isabel agrees to run her delicatessen. One of the customers, she discovers, has recently had a heart transplant and is now being plagued by memories that cannot be rationally explained and which he feels do not belong to him. Isabel is intrigued. So intrigued that she finds herself rushing headlong into a dangerous investigation. But she still has time to think about the things that possess her — things like love and friendship, and, of course, temptation. The last of these comes in many forms — chocolate, for example, or seductive Italians… Подробнее

Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture

Douglas Coupland, 1996

Fiercely suspicious of being lumped together as an advertiser's target market, they have quit dreary careers and cut themselves adrift in the Californian desert. Unsure of their futures, they immerse themselves in a rgime of heavy drinking and working at no-future McJobs in the service industry. Underemployed, overeducated, intensely private and unpredictable they have nowhere to direct their anger, no-one to asuage their fears and no culture to replace their anomie. So they tell stories; disturbingly funny tales that reveal their barricaded inner world. A world populated with dead TV shows, 'Elvis moments' and semi-disposable Swedish furniture... Подробнее

God's Terrorists: The Wahhabi Cult and the Hidden Roots of Modern Jihad

Charles Allen, 2007

The brutal assasination of Commissioner Frederick Mackeson on British India’s North-West Frontier in 1853 was a bloody and public declaration of a conflict that was to stretch well into the next one hundred and fifty years. The Wahhabi tribe, extreme Islamist fundamentalists, set out to restore purity to their faith by declaring violent jihad on all who opposed them. Their history has long been forgotten and yet their vicious brand of political ideology lives on. The Wahhabi deeply influenced not only the formation of modern Saudi Arabia, but Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. Their teachings educate orphan boys in Afghanistan and press rifles into their hands, for the sake of jihad. The parallels between this pivotal terrorist network and our post-9/11 political climate are staggering. Charles Allen sheds lights on the historical roots of modern terrorism and shows how this dangerous nineteenth-century theology lives on today. Подробнее

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