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Hold Tight
Tia and Mike Baye never imagined they'd become the type of overprotective parents who spy on their kids. But their sixteen-year-old son Adam has been unusually distant lately, and after the suicide of his classmate Spencer Hill - the latest in a string of issues at school - they can't help but worry. They install a sophisticated spy program on Adam's computer, and within days they are jolted by a message from an unknown correspondent addressed to their son: "Just stay quiet and all safe."
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Menagerie Manor
Most children at the tender age of six or so are generally full of the most impractical schemes for becoming policemen, firemen or engine drivers when they grow up...I knew exactly what I was going to do: I was going to have my own zoo. Menagerie Manor is the hugely entertaining account of how the well-known and much-loved conservationist and author, Gerald Durrell, fulfilled a lifelong ambition by founding his very own private zoo in Jersey. With the help of an enduring wife, a selfless staff and a reluctant bank manager, the zoo grows. One by one the reader is introduced to the village idiocy of Trumpy, the grey-winged trumpeter, who wakes the zoo every morning; the riotous antics of Claudius the tapir; the moving romance of N'Pongo, an African gorilla; and the antics of a whole menagerie of orangutans, lions, bears, porcupines and other creatures. Hilariously illustrated by Ralph Thompson, this book about the trials and wonders of living in the middle of a zoo is a classic that will continue to bring pleasure to those who grew up reading Durrell, and deserves a whole new readership.
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The Aye Aye And I
In the gloom, it came along the branches towards me, its round, hypnotic eyes blazing, its spoon-like ears turning to and fro independently like radar dishes, its white whiskers twitching and moving like sensors; its black hands, with their thin, attenuated fingers...tapping delicately on the branches as it moved along, like those of a pianist playing a complicated piece by Chopin...I had had my first encounter with an aye-aye and I decided that this was one of the most incredible creatures I had ever been privileged to meet...Madagascar, in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa, is one of the most fascinating islands in the world. The fourth largest island, it is home to five per cent of the world's plant and animal species, including giant jumping rats, flat-tailed tortoises and gentle lemurs. Ninety per cent of its flora and fauna are found nowhere else in the world. But when Gerald Durrell visited, creatures like the aye-aye were in danger of vanishing.Mostly due to 'slash and burn' agriculture, cutting down the forests which are the life-blood of the island, the aye-aye and many other unique creatures were threatened with extinction. Some had to be established in captivity to build up viable breeding colonies and maintain the species. Gerald Durrell decided to undertake a rescue mission to bring aye-ayes back to his breeding centre, now called the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, on the island of Jersey. This is the tale of his hunt for the aye-aye, and the adventures he had.
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The Savage Gorge
Tweed and Paula of the SIS take over the brutal murder case of two attractive women from the plodding Chief Inspector Reebeck. A vital clue leads them to a remote and beautiful county, an area controlled by the human but dangerous 'Pit Bull'. They meet Pit Bull's strange family: his volatile daughter, Margot; his other intelligent daughter, Sable; his well-mannered and observant son, Lance; and Mrs Shipton, their grim housekeeper. Into the picture appears the enigmatic private detective, Falkirk, and world traveller, Archie MacBlade. Tweed explores the local village, peculiar in its ways, and meets the local gossip, Mrs Grout. With Paula at his side, he visits the strange town of Gunners Gorge, bloodstained by Cromwell long ago. More murders are committed. 'Not the work of a serial killer,' Tweed insists, 'I sense something much bigger ...' Is Finden Square the key? HQ of ONTRANTO, the giant oil corporation, is hidden in the heart of London and owned by the devious womanizer, Neville Guile. Tweed and Paula accelerate their dangerous race to solve the diabolical mystery. But time is not on their side ...
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The Afghan
When British and American intelligence catch wind of a major Al Qaeda operation in the works, they are primed for action - but what can they do? They know nothing about the attack: the what, where or when. They have no sources in Al Qaeda, and it`s impossible to plant someone. Impossible, unless ... The Afghan is Izmat Khan, a five-year prisoner of Guantanamo Bay and a former senior commander of the Taliban. The Afghan is also Colonel Mike Martin, a 25-year veteran of war zones around the world, a dark, lean man born and raised in Iraq. In an attempt to stave off disaster, the intelligence agencies will try to do what no one has ever done before - pass off a Westerner as an Arab among Arabs - pass off Martin as the trusted Khan. It will require extraordinary preparation, and then extraordinary luck, for nothing can truly prepare Martin for the dark and shifting world he is about to enter. Or for the terrible things he will find there ... "The Day of the Jackal", "The Dogs of War", "The Odessa File" - the books of Frederick Forsyth have helped define the international thriller as we know it today.;Combining meticulous research with crisp narratives and plots as current as the headlines, Forsyth shows us the world as it is, in a way that few have ever been able to equal. And the world as it is today is a very scary place.
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Bad Luck And Trouble
The events of 9/11 changed Jack Reacher's drifter life in a practical way. In addition to his folding toothbrush, he now needs to carry photo ID to get around. Yet he is still as close to untraceable as a human being in America can get.So when a member of his old Army unit manages to get a message to him, he knows it has to be deadly serious. The Special Investigators always watched each other's backs. Now Reacher must put old unit back together. Someone has killed one of them, and he can't let that go.
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Brida
But how will I know my soul mate is? ' By taking risks,' she said to Brida. 'By risking failure, disappointment, disillusion, but never ceasing in your search for Love. As long as you keep looking, you will triumph in the end.'
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The Prodigal Daughter
This is a magnificent story of love and politics that continues the saga of "Kane and Abel". The titanic battle between two men obsessed with destroying each other follows on into the next generation. Florentyna Rosnovski, Abel's daughter, inherits all her father's drive, but none of his wealth. A woman gifted with beauty and spirit, but above all with indomitable will, she sets out in pursuit of an ambition that dwarfs both Kane and Abel, as she battles for the highest office of all ...
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First Among Equals
In the 1960s, four ambitious new MPs take their seats at Westminster. Over three decades they share the turbulent passions of the race for power with their wives and families, men and women caught up in a dramatic game for the highest stakes of all. But only one man can gain the ultimate goal - the office of Prime Minister.
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A Quiver Full Of Arrows
A casual remark is taken seriously by a Chinese sculptor, and the British Ambassador becomes the owner of a priceless work of art
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Not A Penny More, Not A Penny Less
One million dollars - that's what Harvey Metcalfe, lifelong king of shady deals, has pulled off with empty promises of an oil bonanza and instant riches. Overnight, four men - the heir to an earldom, a Harley Street doctor, a Bond Street art dealer and an Oxford don - find themselves penniless. But this time Harvey has swindled the wrong men.
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False Impression
When an aristocratic old lady is brutally murdered in her country home the night before 9/11, it takes all the resources of the FBI and Interpol to work out the connection between her and the possible motive for her death - a priceless Van Gogh painting. But in the end, it's a young woman who was in the North Tower when the first plane crashed into the building that has the courage and determination to take on both sides of the law and avenge the old lady's death. Anna Petrescu is missing, presumed dead, after 9/11 and she uses her new status to escape from America, only to be pursued across the world from Toronto to London, to Hong Kong, Tokyo and Bucharest, but it is only when she returns to New York that the mystery unfolds.
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A Twist In The Tale
A lover calls unexpectedly on his mistress and watches another man leave her flat. He accuses her of being unfaithful, quarrels with her, strikes her. She dies. Leaving unnoticed, he tips off the police to ensure the other man is arrested and charged. Has he achieved the perfect murder?