Contemporary Thriller

In his three novellas, In Short Measures, Strong Conspirators, and Sally Forth, Michael Ruhlman delves deeply into the nuanced complexity of romantic and sexual love - and the inevitable evolution of the heart over the span of years and decades. Each novella asks questions about the nature of love in terms of loyalty and fidelity - what are one's obligations toward one's spouse, one's family, and one's heart?

In a matter of days, Peter McDowell loses everything he has worked so hard for - his wealth, his property, his livelihood as a star investment banker. And then it gets worse. The stock market crash not only plunges Peter into joblessness, it causes a rift in his marriage that he cannot repair. Stripped of everything, he has only one place to retreat to: a lakeside cottage he inherited from his parents, who left most of their modest estate to Peter's twin. With no other choice, the prodigal son goes home.

My mother is ensnared by an enormous debt to Cillian O'Ridian, the dark and dangerous king of the Irish mafia. And she's seriously ill. Without the money for her surgery, she won't survive. I need funds not just to pay Cillian off but to save my mother's life. Cillian is a man shrouded in danger—someone you instinctively avoid. In my case, he's the ruthless debtor. Then he makes me an offer I can't refuse: Be his wife for six months so he can secure his empire, and he will settle our debts and cover my mother's medical expenses.

For his entire life, Charley Sutherland has concealed a magical ability he can't quite control: He can bring characters from books into the real world. His older brother, Rob - a young lawyer with a normal house, a normal fiancee, and an utterly normal life - hopes that this strange family secret will disappear with disuse, and he will be discharged from his life's duty of protecting Charley and the real world from each other. But then, literary characters start causing trouble in their city, making threats about destroying the world...and for once, it isn't Charley's doing.

A dark and twisted maze awaits criminal psychologist London Noble when she falls for her patient, convicted serial killer, Grayson Pierce Sullivan. As she unravels the traps, her sanity tested with each game, she's forced to acknowledge the true evil in the world around her. A buried past is unearthed, and Grayson Sullivan - AKA The Angel of Maine - retaliates against the system who made him, deploying psychological warfare on the woman who initially set him free.

Baffled by a seemingly supernatural connection to his critically injured sister, an FBI special agent heads to the Oregon coast in search of a more plausible explanation for his sudden ESP, only to discover more puzzling mysteries.

Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle. But once you pass through Coldtown's gates, you can never leave. One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them by going straight to Coldtown's opulent heart.

Nell Dysart's in trouble. Her divorce is 18 months old, she's been sleepwalking through life, and the best job she can get is with a detective agency that specializes in relationship work. Determined to turn her life around, Nell flings herself into making McKenna Investigations a better place.

Blair Mallory, last seen in To Die For, has already survived one murder attempt. Now, while planning her wedding and dealing with holiday-season madness, Blair once again dodges a bullet. Or, more precisely, a Buick. And though the driver's identity remains a mystery, his or her murderous intentions are all too clear.

Twenty-eight-year-old Maggie Sparkes arrives in New York City to pack up what's left of her best friend's belongings after a suicide that has left everyone stunned. The police have deemed the evidence conclusive: Celine got into bed, downed a bottle of Xanax and a handle of Maker's Mark, and never woke up. But when Maggie discovers secrets in the childhood lockbox hidden in Celine's apartment, she begins asking questions. Questions about the man Celine fell in love with.

With her relationship with writer Jack Treholm as shaky as the foundation of her family home, Melanie’s juggling a number of problems. Like restoring her Tradd Street house...and resisting her mother’s pressure to "go public" with her talent - a sixth sense that unites them to the lost souls of the dead. But Melanie never anticipated her new problem. Her name is Nola, Jack’s estranged young daughter who appears on their doorstep, damaged, lonely and defiantly immune to her father’s attempts to reconnect. Melanie understands the emotional chasm all too well.

First setting: an all-male prep school in Arizona, where two sensitive freshmen form a bond based on their interest in magic tricks. Second setting: the labyrinthine house of a weird magician uncle in New England, where the two boys spend a memorable summer being trained in the art of illusion. Or is it real magic? Third setting: an alternate world where dark forces are at play - forces that first show up at the school, but intensify their power the summer.

Sebastian Stark just isn't cut out for normal life with a girlfriend in the hot and humid city of Miami. All in all, he'd rather be back on the island where it was just the two of them, and he could keep everything in balance. The bar down the street tempts him daily, but he's determined to remain strong. Adjusting to normal life is difficult, but Bastian is doing his best to keep himself together and the nightmares away. Raine's happy, and that's what matters to him the most. But not all nightmares can be driven away.

Vicki Nelson, formerly of Toronto’s homicide unit and now a private detective, witnesses the first of many vicious attacks that begin plaguing the city of Toronto. As death follows unspeakable death, Vicki, in an attempt to stop these forces of dark magic, is forced to renew her relationship with her former partner, Mike Celluci - along with another, unexpected ally…. Henry Fitzroy, the illegitimate son of King Henry VIII, has learned over the course of his life how to blend with humans; how to deny the call for blood in his veins.

Milly always dreamed of being a mother. Adopted herself, she has always imagined a powerful, intimate connection with a child of her own. So when she and her husband Matt are told they can’t have children, her dreams are shattered. But then their loved ones offer the ultimate gift - Milly’s best friend Anna and Matt’s brother Jack will be donors, so that Milly can finally have a chance to be a mother. Except none of the four people involved are prepared for the feelings that will threaten their most important relationships as their daughter receives a heartbreaking diagnosis.

Cole Vargas has battled the demons that have plagued his nightmares, but winning the heart of the woman he destroyed is going to be the fight of his life. When Cole returns home wounded from his latest mission, his only thoughts are of the woman who still owns his heart and getting strong enough to stand on his own two feet in front of her, to beg for her forgiveness. Olivia Lafierre had her own nightmares to deal with since Cole said good-bye to her.

Hope Carson may not look like a survivor, but she has escaped an abusive ex-husband and recovered from a vicious assault. Now she endures the painful memories and suspicious rumors surrounding her involvement in the attack. Her ex is a cop, so the last people she trusts are law enforcement officials - and she certainly doesn't trust how the local DA makes her feel inside. Remy Jennings should know better. He has no business falling for a woman who he suspects may have a deeply troubled mind.

I'm the girl you'll never see coming. Blink and you're dead - another target checked off my list. But one night, everything in my carefully ordered existence falls apart. A bloodbath and a car crash later, I find myself in the grasp of four gorgeous, intimidating men. Are my captors cops, like they claim, or something far more sinister? They sure know how to bend the law. And seeing how skillfully they handle a gun or a knife, I can't help wondering what their hands would feel like all over me.

When a gruesome murder is discovered at the Osthorne Academy of Young Mages, where her estranged twin sister teaches theoretical magic, reluctant detective Ivy Gamble is pulled into the world of untold power and dangerous secrets. She will have to find a murderer and reclaim her sister - without losing herself.

America is about to face the deadliest terrorist attack on its soil since 9/11. Iran has been planning a revenge attack for years, with three goals in mind. Bring America to its knees. Assassinate the popular US President J. P. Dellenbaugh. And neutralize their most successful agent, Dewey Andreas.