Death Row (Alibis collection)
With all hope of an appeal fading away, the fate of a condemned murderess takes a shocking turn in a breathtaking short story.
Talia Kemper is on death row for murdering her husband. She had an alibi and no known motive, yet Talia’s unwavering protestations of innocence have always been ignored. Then one day in the visiting area, she sees a recognizable stranger she’s certain is her husband. It turns out the man she’s been convicted of killing may not be dead after all. But as the days tick away toward Talia’s execution, what will it take for her to be believed?
Freida McFadden’s Death Row is part of Alibis, a collection of stories about lies, truth, and deception. It’s just a matter of what you can get away with. They can be read or listened to in one sitting.
Tell Me What You Did
“Better set aside several uninterrupted hours for this toxic rocket. You’ll be glad you did.” —KIRKUS REVIEWS, STARRED REVIEW
She gets people to confess their crimes for a living. He knows she's hiding a terrible secret. It's time for the truth to come out…
Poe Webb, host of a popular true crime podcast, invites people to anonymously confess crimes they've committed to her audience. She can't guarantee the police won't come after her "guests," but her show grants simultaneous anonymity and instant fame—a potent combination that's proven difficult to resist. After an episode recording, Poe usually erases both criminal and crime from her mind.
But when a strange and oddly familiar man appears on her show, Poe is forced to take a second look. Not only because he claims to be her mother's murderer from years ago, but because Poe knows something no one else does. Her mother's murderer is dead.
Poe killed him.
From the USA Today bestselling author of The Dead Girl in 2A and The New Neighbor comes a chilling new thriller that forces the question: are murderers always the bad guys?
What Have You Done?
The new binge-worthy novel from the “queen of the one-sit read,” and New York Times bestselling author of The Couple Next Door
Nothing ever happens in sleepy little Fairhill, Vermont. But this morning that will change. And one innocent question could be deadly. What have you done?
The teenagers get their kicks telling ghost stories in the old graveyard. The parents trust their kids will arrive home safe from school. Everyone knows everyone. Curtains rarely twitch. Front doors are left unlocked.
But Diana Brewer isn’t lying safely in her bed where she belongs. Instead she lies in a hayfield, circled by vultures, discovered by a local farmer.
How quickly a girl becomes a ghost. How quickly a town of friendly, familiar faces becomes a town of suspects, a place of fear and paranoia.
Someone in Fairhill did this. Everyone wants answers.
NO DESCRIPTIONS
Sky Daddy
Subversive and unexpectedly heartwarming, Sky Daddy hijacks the classic love story, exploring desire, fate, and the longing to be accepted for who we truly are.
Linda is doing her best to lead a life that would appear normal to the casual observer. Weekdays, she earns $20 an hour moderating comments for a video-sharing platform, then rides the bus home to the windowless garage she rents on the outskirts of San Francisco. But on the last Friday of each month, she indulges in her true passion: taking BART to SFO for a round-trip flight to a regional hub. The destination is irrelevant because each trip means a new date with a handsome stranger—a stranger whose intelligent windscreens, sleek fuselages, and powerful engines make Linda feel a way that no human ever could.
Linda knows that she can’t tell anyone she’s sexually obsessed with planes—nor can she reveal her belief her destiny is to “marry” one of her suitors by dying in a plane crash, thereby uniting her with her soulmate plane for eternity. But when an opportunity arises to hasten her dream of eternal partnership, and the carefully balanced elements of her life begin to spin out of control, she must choose between maintaining the trappings of normalcy and launching herself headlong toward the love she’s always dreamed of.
The Coven Tendency
Zoe Hana Mikuta delivers a bloody and unrelenting fantasy about young witches dangling on the edge of love and obsession, of magic and madness, of life and death (and death and death and death). . .
Just like her mother and her mother’s mother, 18-year-old Vanity Adams is destined to lead a lavish life under the patronship of the Museum, someday taking her place as its premiere necromantic Spectacle and the centerpiece of their weekly soirees thrown for the City’s elite.
But until that day, Vanity (and the other young witches of the Museum) is isolated from the outside world and purged of her magic—magic being particularly unstable for teenagers and often leading to antisocial conduct, mood swings, bloodlust, delusions, and, most concerning, a habitual, violent obsession with one another.
To all of this, Vanity thinks: Well, whatever. Better than being confined to the Sanatorium with the less fortunate witches, imprisoned in a chemically induced coma as her blood is harvested to make World, the City’s favorite designer drug. At least she’ll be dead someday, there’s always that. And at least the Museum has Arrogance, Vanity’s twin sister, who just might remember how to do magic, and who just might be where our story begins. . . .
All the Noise at Once
All Aiden ever wanted to do was play football just like his star quarterback brother, Brandon. Unfortunately, due to Aiden’s autism, summer football tryouts did not go well when Aiden finds himself at the bottom of a pile-up resulting in an over-stimulation meltdown. But when the school year starts, a spot on the team opens urgently needing to be filled. Aiden finally gets his chance to play the game he loves most.
However, not every team member is happy about Aiden’s position on the team, wary of how his autism will present itself on game day. Tensions rise. A fight breaks out. Cops are called.
When Brandon tries to interfere on behalf of his brother, he is arrested by the very same cops who, just hours earlier, were chanting his name from the bleachers. When trumped up charges appear for felony assault on an officer, everything Brandon has worked for starts to slip away and the brothers’ relationship is tested. With Brandon’s trial inching closer, Aiden is desperate to find a way to clear his brother’s name while also trying to answer the one looming question plaguing his brain: what does it mean to be Black and autistic?
