Grand Central

Friction: A Riveting Tale of Vengeance, Love, and the Ties That Bind

**From the New York Times bestselling author comes a gripping novel that explores the complexities of family, forgiveness, and the choices we make when pushed to our limits.**

A Past Haunts a Texas Ranger

Crawford Hunt, a Texas Ranger with a troubled past, is desperate to regain custody of his daughter after losing her following the death of his wife four years ago. His downward spiral led to the loss of his family, but now, with his life on the right track, he seeks redemption. His future hangs in the balance, solely in the hands of Judge Holly Spencer.

A Judge on the Brink

Holly, striving to prove her worthiness for a permanent judgeship in the upcoming election, faces high-stakes decisions. Her cautious nature, wary of Crawford's checkered history, is challenged when he courageously saves her from a masked gunman.

A Shocking Discovery and a Growing Attraction

The attempted assassination sets off a chain of events that leads Crawford to uncover a horrifying truth. Driven by a thirst for vengeance, he risks jeopardizing his chances of seeing his daughter again. As the danger escalates, Holly finds herself needing protection not only from the assassin but also from Crawford himself, as a forbidden attraction blossoms between them.

A Story of Love, Loss, and the Fight for Redemption

"Friction" is a gripping page-turner that keeps you on the edge of your seat. It dives deep into the powerful bonds of family, the secrets we hold to protect loved ones, and the lengths we will go to for redemption. This is a story that will stay with you long after you finish the last page.

<p>After The Miracle - The Political Crusades Of Helen Keller</p>

<p>In this "stunning" new history, New York Times bestselling author Max Wallace draws on groundbreaking research to reframe Helen Keller’s journey after the miracle at the water pump, vividly bringing to light her rarely discussed, lifelong fight for social justice across gender, class, race, and ability (Rosemary Sullivan, New York Times bestselling author).</p>

<p>Kirkus Best Nonfiction Book of 2023</p>

<p>Raised in Alabama, she sent shockwaves through the South when she launched a public broadside against Jim Crow and donated to the NAACP. She used her fame to oppose American intervention in WWI. She spoke out against Hitler the month he took power in 1933 and embraced the anti-fascist cause during the Spanish Civil War. She was one of the first public figures to alert the world to the evils of Apartheid, raising money to defend Nelson Mandela when he faced the death penalty for High Treason, and she lambasted Joseph McCarthy at the height of the Cold War, even as her contemporaries shied away from his notorious witch hunt. But who was this revolutionary figure?</p>

<p>She was Helen Keller.</p>

<p>From books to movies to Barbie dolls, most mainstream portrayals of Keller focus heavily on her struggles as a deafblind child—portraying her Teacher, Annie Sullivan, as a miracle worker. This narrative—which has often made Keller a secondary character in her own story—has resulted in few people knowing that her greatest accomplishment was not learning to speak, but what she did with her voice when she found it.</p>

<p>After the Miracle is a much-needed corrective to this antiquated narrative. In this first major biography of Keller in decades, Max Wallace reveals that the lionization of Sullivan at the expense of her famous pupil was no accident, and calls attention to Keller’s efforts as a card-carrying socialist, fierce anti-racist, and progressive disability advocate. Despite being raised in an era when eugenics and discrimination were commonplace, Keller consistently challenged the media for its ableist coverage and was one of the first activists to highlight the links between disability and capitalism, even as she struggled against the expectations and prejudices of those closest to her.</p>

<p>Peeling back the curtain that obscured Keller’s political crusades in favor of her “inspirational” childhood, After the Miracle chronicles the complete legacy of one of the 20th century’s most extraordinary figures.</p>

<p>The Winner</p>

<p>A rags-to-riches deal for single mother LuAnn Tyler is deadlier than she ever could have imagined in this 1 New York Times bestselling thriller from David Baldacci.</p>

<p>THE DREAM

She is twenty, beautiful, dirt-poor, and hoping for a better life for her infant daughter when LuAnn Tyler is offered the gift of a lifetime, a $100 million lottery jackpot. All she has to do is change her identity and leave the U.S. forever.</p>

<p>THE KILLER

It's an offer she dares to refuse...until violence forces her hand and thrusts her into a harrowing game of high-stakes, big-money subterfuge. It's a price she won't fully pay...until she does the unthinkable and breaks the promise that made her rich.</p>

<p>THE WINNER

For if LuAnn Tyler comes home, she will be pitted against the deadliest contestant of all: the chameleon-like financial mastermind who changed her life. And who can take it away at will...</p>

<p>Private Russia - Book 1 - Private Moscow</p>

<p>In this action-packed thriller, an invitation from an old friend draws Private Investigative agency founder Jack Morgan into a deadly conspiracy.</p>

<p>On a cold January morning, Jack Morgan stands inside the New York Stock Exchange with his former US Marine comrade whose company is being launched onto the market, eagerly awaiting the opening bell.</p>

<p>But before the bell rings, a bullet rips through the air and finds its mark.In the aftermath of the murder, the victim's wife hires Jack to find the killer. As the head of Private, Jack has at his disposal the world's largest investigation agency. What he discovers shakes him to his core. Jack identifies another murder in Moscow that appears to be linked. So he heads to Russia, and begins to uncover a conspiracy that could have global consequences.</p>

<p>With powerful forces plotting against him, will Jack Morgan make it out alive?</p>

<p>3 Days To Live</p>

<p>The people closest to you can be your most dangerous enemies in this heart-pounding collection of three thrillers from master of suspense and New York Times bestselling author James Patterson.</p>

<p>3 Days to Live: A CIA-agent bride is on her European honeymoon when she and her husband are poisoned—leaving her seventy-two hours to take revenge (with Duane Swierczynski).

Women and Children First: When a deal goes bad on a tech executive in Washington, DC, he turns an order to kill his family into a chance to relive his military glory days (with Bill Schweigart).

The Housekeepers: A Los Angeles doctor trusts her two housekeepers, but when she’s murdered in a botched attempt to steal drugs, the pair of grifters vie to control their former employer’s estate—facing off against the Russian mob (with Julie Margaret Hogben).</p>

<p>The Noise</p>

<p>In this cinematic thriller from a New York Times bestselling author, two sisters must fight for their survival after a natural disaster in the Pacific Northwest.</p>

<p>In the shadow of Mount Hood, sixteen-year-old Tennant is checking rabbit traps with her eight-year-old sister Sophie when the girls are suddenly overcome by a strange vibration rising out of the forest, building in intensity until it sounds like a deafening crescendo of screams. From out of nowhere, their father sweeps them up and drops them through a trapdoor into a storm cellar. But the sound only gets worse . . .</p>

<p>Kindle County - Book 11 - Suspect</p>

<p>The 1 New York Times bestselling author of Presumed Innocent and The Last Trial returns with a riveting legal thriller in which a reckless private detective is embroiled in a fraught police scandal.</p>

<p>For as long as Lucia Gomez has been the police chief in the city of Highland Isle, near Kindle County, she has known that any woman in law enforcement must walk a precarious line between authority and camaraderie to gain respect. She has maintained a spotless reputation—until now. Three male police officers have accused her of soliciting sex in exchange for promotions to higher ranks. With few people left who she can trust, Chief Gomez turns to an old friend, Rik Dudek, to act as her attorney in the federal grand jury investigation, insisting to Rik that the accusations against her are part of an ugly smear campaign designed to destroy her career and empower her enemies—both outside the police force and within..</p>

<p>Clarice “Pinky” Granum spent most of her youth experimenting with an impressive array of drugs and failing out of various professions, including the police academy. Pinky knows that in the eyes of most people, she's nothing but a screwup—but she doesn't trust most people's opinions anyway. Moreover, she finally has a respectable-enough job as a licensed P.I. working for Rik on his roster of mostly minor cases, like workman's comp, DUIs and bar fights. Rik's shabby office and even shabbier cases are a far cry from the kinds of high-profile criminal matters Pinky became familiar with in the law office of her grandfather, Sandy Stern. But Rik and Pinky feel that Chief Gomez’s case, which has attracted national attention, is their chance to break into the legal big leagues. </p>

<p>Guided by her gut instinct and razor-sharp investigative skills, Pinky dives headfirst into a twisted scandal that will draw her into the deepest recesses of the city’s criminal networks, as well as the human mind. But she will need every scrap of tenacity and courage to unravel the dark secrets those closest to her are determined to keep hidden.</p>

<p>This Night Is Ours</p>

<p>How did a kid whose dad lived in the poorhouse become the most successful storyteller in the world? This "fizzing, funny, often deeply moving" (Daily Mail) 1 New York Times bestselling memoir is "damn near addictive. I loved it . . . that Patterson guy can write!" (Ron Howard)</p>

<p>James Patterson's best stories are the stories of his life.</p>

<p>On the morning he was born, he nearly died.</p>

<p>His dad grew up in the Pogey- the Newburgh, New York, poorhouse.</p>

<p>He worked at a mental hospital in Massachusetts, where he met the singer James Taylor and the poet Robert Lowell.</p>

<p>While he toiled in advertising hell, James wrote the ad jingle line "I'm a Toys 'R' Us Kid."</p>

<p>He once watched James Baldwin and Norman Mailer square off to trade punches at a party.</p>

<p>He's only been in love twice. Both times are amazing.</p>

<p>Dolly Parton sang "Happy Birthday" to James over the phone. She calls him J.J., for Jimmy James.</p>

<p>He has always wanted to write the kind of novel that would be read and reread so many times that the binding breaks and the book literally falls apart. As he says, "I'm still working on that one."</p>

<p>A Women's Murder Club Thriller - Book 22 - 22 Seconds</p>

<p>In this thriller from a 1 New York Times bestselling author, SFPD Sergeant Lindsay Boxer has guns on her mind and only twenty-two seconds until she loses her badge—or her life.</p>

<p>SFPD Sergeant Lindsay Boxer has guns on her mind.</p>

<p>There’s buzz of a last-ditch shipment of drugs and weapons crossing the Mexican border ahead of new restrictive gun laws. Before Lindsay can act, her top informant tips her to a case that hits disturbingly close to home.</p>

<p>Former cops. Professional hits. All with the same warning scrawled on their bodies:</p>

<p>You talk, you die.</p>

<p>Now it’s Lindsay’s turn to choose.</p>

<p>The Rescue</p>

<p>In this heartfelt Southern love story from the 1 New York Times bestselling author of The Notebook, a daring fireman rescues a single mom—and learns that falling in love is the greatest risk of all.</p>

<p>When confronted by raging fires or deadly accidents, volunteer fireman Taylor McAden feels compelled to take terrifying risks to save lives. But there is one leap of faith Taylor can’t bring himself to make: fall in love. For all his adult years, Taylor has sought out women who need to be rescued, women he leaves as soon as their crisis is over and the relationship starts to become truly intimate.</p>

<p>When a raging storm hits his small Southern town, single mother Denise Holton’s car skids off the road. The young mom is with her four-year-old son, Kyle, a boy with severe learning disabilities and for whom she has sacrificed everything. Taylor finds her unconscious and bleeding but does not find Kyle.</p>

<p>When Denise wakes, the chilling truth becomes clear: Kyle is gone. During their desperate search, the connection between Taylor and Denise becomes impossible to ignore, and Taylor soon realizes that this rescue will be different from all the others.</p>

<p>The Housemaid</p>

<p>Over 1 Million Copies Sold!</p>

<p>Don't miss the New York Times and USA Today bestseller and addictive psychological thriller with a jaw-dropping twist that’s burning up Instagram and TikTok--Freida McFadden’s The Housemaid is perfect for fans of Ruth Ware, Lisa Jewell, and Verity.</p>

<p>Every day I clean the Winchesters’ beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.</p>

<p>I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband.</p>

<p>I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out… and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late.</p>

<p>But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am.</p>

<p>They don’t know what I’m capable of…</p>