Mystery Thriller Collection

Diverse, dark-humored, and deliciously bite-sized: USA Today best-selling author J. T. Lawrence ratchets up the tension with this compelling collection of short stories perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn and Roald Dahl.

J. T. Lawrence is back with more short stories that are creepier than ever. You won't be able to get these deliciously twisted tales out of your head... Grab them while they're hot and sticky. If you're a fan of Roald Dahl or Gillian Flynn, you'll love these unsettling stories....

International terrorist Asahif al-Massoud, AKA The Viper, will soon arrive on U.S. soil to carry out the most heinous and murderous terrorist plot since 9-11. By engaging an American-based Jamaat ul-Fuqra element, his plan is to simultaneously detonate explosive devices in a number of American cities, including Washington, D.C. and New York's Manhattan, that will kill thousands and destroy the cities' infrastructure.

Former Marine sniper and CIA target man, Atticus Steed, turned professional hitman, now only takes down special targets...people who for one reason or another have literally gotten away with murder. Directed by an unknown unseen employer who identifies himself simply as Omega, Steed receives his sketchy instructions for the hits via text message from a burner phone. But who is Atticus Steed, really? And how does his employer gain knowledge about cases from all over the country...cases involving those murderers who for whatever reason have been set free by the system?

Although he has now chosen to only work part-time for the Department of State, counter-terrorist operative Bruce McGowan continues to debate himself whether it is time to abandon the action life he has lived for over 30 years and finally settle down with his new bride, the beautiful Adrianna Wolf, or continue in his quest to protect Americas people. But suddenly an early morning phone call from his preceptor boss, Lionel Byrd, summons him for what could be one final, but very significant mission. This time it will be different.

It is the Christmas season following the 9/11 World Trade Towers terrorist attack, and McGowan's newly appointed FBI special agent daughter, Caroline, assigned to the Denver office, is missing. As she is an avid lover of the outdoors, is she merely out of cellular range on a hiking venture in the Rockies, or has she in fact been kidnapped? From out of McGowan's past resurfaces a domestic terrorist, Jonas Karn, whom McGowan rather ruthlessly took down years before when he himself was an FBI agent. And to McGowan's horror, Karn, obviously out for revenge, says he has taken Caroline.

Retired FBI Special Agent Bruce McGowan, now a Counter-Terrorist Operative for the US Department of State, returns to his childhood domicile in rural West Virginia to investigate a young unidentified Middle Eastern male who was killed in a pedestrian accident.

From young women to elderly matrons, from the savvy sophisticates to the socially inept, the characters in these stories depict life's defining moments, where one calculated move cements the unalterable fate of another and the inescapable consequences of karma and conscience.

The summer solstice is the longest day of the year, but even the light can't keep away all that goes bump in the night. From rituals and witches to summer slasher and sunny horror, this anthology has it all.

Jake Fletcher is an ex-exorcist. No, that wasn't a stutter. Once upon a time, he evicted ghosts for a living, at least until he got killed and became one. Now he works the streets as a phantom detective, offering his services to lost souls trapped between this world and the next. But will good deeds buy him a ticket to the Good Place, or is he destined to walk the Earth as a phantom for all eternity? In the spirit of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, mystery, scares, and the paranormal collide in this bizarre noir.

Hannah is shaken to the core after the mysterious death of her husband, Captain Hovey. A man that was as cruel as he was loved. Shunned by her neighbors and the town, Hannah is lonely and desperate. Some believe she was a witch. Others believe she was an outcast.

On a blustery January breeze, a new girl sweeps into the neighborhood, breathing life—and a bit of magic—into the cottage she christens Elderberry Croft. The folks at The Coach House Trailer Park can't help but fall under Willow Goodhope's spell. She charms them all with her whimsical nature and outrageous laugh. But there's something about her, a secret sadness that hovers at the corners of her irrepressible smile. And it has everyone talking.

A World War One fighter pilot tortured by guilt, a New York mobster desperately counting the hours until his execution, an elderly man losing his mind in a decrepit nursing home…. All must face their regrets and the notion that we build our own Hell, brick by brick.

This one is brilliant. Mud Street, the introduction to OzValt Grant - former sniper, former Homicide Detective, now consulting at the DenMark Police Department. Rabies abound in the most horrific way starting on Mud Street and leading along a yellow brick road of death and mourning. Snuffed introduces our hero to an underground network of snuff directors. A serial killer is targeting women in DenMark and killing them on display.

Ricki Wagner and her husband, Brock, are thrilled when they get an invite to her boss’s stunning lake house, never imagining the weekend of horror that awaits them. When a woman’s body washes up on the sandy shore, they soon find themselves tangled up in a dark crime with many threads.

Harry, too, was anything but trustworthy, a trait his son dutifully carried with a certain amount of pride. When a young lady - Harry called her a "gold-digging tart" - accused his son of fatherhood shortly after Halloween two decades prior, only a select few within the Stanton social circle had any idea of such a false atrocity. All rumors and gossip were quashed, of course, by the heavyweight politico no one chose to confront. Not only that, no one had the guts to call Harry Stanton exactly what he was....

A collection of seven cautionary short tales find characters in unnerving situations, all dealing with strange and sometimes supernatural events.

Face your fears - one step at a time. A misguided attempt at redemption by a former hitman; a vengeful anti-hero; another chance at love for a dead man in the future; a regretful prisoner in a far away land; a sleepwalker who believes he's a violent killer.

Magic brings them together. Now magic is tearing them apart. Childhood sweethearts left their homeland to be together. But when the paranormal world gives them no choice, they fight back and send the supernatural world into chaos.

Soon, Madeline's husband, Ciaran, king of the most prosperous universe in the Multiverse, will sign a treaty that changes their history. But as soon as he does so, he will die. Madeline isn't just the First Councillor, she is a mind tracker, a wife, and a mother. To stop the prophecy from happening, she time-travels to Earth, back to the moment precisely before Ciaran was marked by a soul trader. Her mission is simple: kill the soul trader.