A Time To Kill (John Grisham)

A Time To Kill

John Grisham 

Blurb: A town where murder follows justice. 

When Carl Lee Hailey guns down the hoodlums who have raped his ten-year-old child, the people of Clanton see it as a crime of blood and call for his acquittal. 

But when extremists outside Clanton hear that a black man has killed two  white men, they invade town, determined to destroy anything and anyone that opposes their sense of justice.

Jake Brigance has been hired to defend Hailey. It's the kind of case that can make or break a young lawyer. But in the maelstrom of Clanton, it is also the kind of case that could get a young lawyer killed.

ISBN: 9781846056185 (Paperback)

Year: 1989

Publisher: Century

Pages: 415 (Fiction)

Links

1. Wikipedia page 

2. Author's official site

3. Goodreads page

4. Buy from Amazon

5. IMDB for the film adaption

The Fire Chronicle - The Books of Beginning #2 (John Stephens)

The Fire Chronicle - The Books of Beginning #2

John Stephens

Blurb: Three children. Two worlds. One prophecy. 

Kate...The eldest, keeper of the Book of Time. Last seen fighting off a Screecher to save her siblings.

Michael...In charge now Kate's gone. He needs to go to the ends of the earth to unlock the secrets of the Fire Chronicle.

Emma...The youngest, and never one to back down from a fight. Thinks she should be in charge. She just wants her family back together.

With an evil sorcerer on their trail, it's not going to be easy...

ISBN: 9780857530875 (Paperback)

Year: 2012

Publisher: Doubleday

Pages: 437 (Fiction)

Links

1. Goodreads page

2. Buy from Amazon

3. Review of the book

4. Blog on the book

5. Another blog

No Deals, Mr. Bond (John Gardner)

No Deals, Mr. Bond

John Gardner

Blurb: Two members of Operation Cream Cake - double agents against the KGB - are brutally murdered: Bond has to protect the rest, and expose the traitor amongst them.

A race against the clock has begun and, with the gorgeous Heather Dare, Bond flees to Ireland, only to discover that his adversary is none other than Kolya Chernov of the KGB.  Jetting to Hong Kong to ferret Chernov out of his lair, a weaponless Bond becomes the quarry of four vicious assassins in the most dangerous game 007 has ever played...

ISBN: 0340415495 (Paperback)

Year: 1987

Publisher: Coronet Books

Pages: 240 (Fiction)

Links

1. Wikipedia page for the book

2. Goodreads page

3. Buy from Amazon

4. Enotes page for the book

5. Author's official site

Hiroshima (John Hersey)

Hiroshima 

John Hersey

Blurb: When the bomb dropped - August 6, 1945

Miss Toshinki Sasaki, a clerk in the personnel department of the East Asia Tin Works, had just turned her head to chat with the girl at the next desk.

Dr. Masakazu Fuji, a physician, had just sat down to read the paper on the porch of his private hospital.

Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura, a tailor's widow, was watching a neighbour from her kitchen window.

Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, a German priest, lay on a cot in the mission house reading a Jesuit magazine.

Dr. Terufumi Sasaki, a young surgeon, walked along a hospital corridor with a blood specimen for a Wasserman test.

The Reverend Mr. Kiyoshi Tanimoto, pastor of the Hiroshima Methodist Church, was about to unload a cart of clothes at a rich man's home in the suburbs. 

A hundred thousand people were killed by the atomic bomb. These six were among the survivors. John Hersey tells you their stories. And in this new edition, he has returned to find them forty years later...to tell you their fates.

ISBN: 9780679721031 (Paperback)

Year: 1946 / 1985

Publisher: Vintage Books

Pages: 152 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Wikipedia page for the book

2. Sparknotes page for the book

3. Read the full text of the original articles

4. Buy from Amazon

5. Page on the book

The Penguin Henry Lawson Short Stories (Henry Lawson edited by John Barnes)

The Penguin Henry Lawson Short Stories

Henry Lawson edited by John Barnes

Blurb: Henry Lawson is too often regarded as a legend rather than a writer to be enjoyed. 

In this selection John Barnes reveals Lawson not only as a writer who has delighted past generations.

His short stories, some humorous, some wry, some moving are, above all, enjoyable.

ISBN: 0140092153 (Paperback)

Year: 1986 / 1892-1902

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 229 (Fiction)

Links

1. Wikipedia page for the author

2. Publisher's page

3. Goodreads page

4. Buy from Dymocks

5. Biography of the author

The World's Most Evil Psychopaths - Horrifying True-Life Cases (John Marlowe)

The World's Most Evil Psychopaths - Horrifying True-Life Cases

John Marlowe

Blurb: Carl Panzram was gang-raped at the age of 14 and by way of revenge forcibly sodomised more than a thousand boys and men as well as committing over 20 murders.

Ed Kemper shot his grandmother once in the head and twice in the back and went on to murder his grandfather, his mother, her friend and six female hitch-hikers.

Jerry Brudos strangled Jan Whitney in his house and left her body dangling from the ceiling for several days.

Pietro Pacciani got 13 years in prison for killing a travelling salesman who had slept with his fiancee. Not only did Pacciani stab the man 19 times, but he also raped the corpse. 

The World's Most Evil Psychopaths provides a concise, yet detailed look at some of the most dangerous individuals who have ever lived. Starting with examples of the earliest recorded psychopaths, author John Marlowe presents a carefully chosen cross-section of history's most infamous criminals, whose fascinating life stories are viewed with an unflinching gaze, making for a chilling, but engrossing read.

ISBN: 9781841937533 (Paperback)

Year: 2009

Publisher: Ice Water Press

Pages: 208 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Google books page

2. Buy from Amazon

3. Goodreads page

4. Buy from the Book Depository

5. Other books by the author

Life Is Like A Sailboat - Selected Writing on Life and Living from The Philadelphia Inquirer (John Grogan)

Life Is Like A Sailboat - Selected Writing on Life and Living from The Philadelphia Inquirer

John Grogan

Blurb: In Life is Like A Sailboat, John Grogan shows us all sides of the human condition - pieces that reflect his unique understanding of the crazy-quilt world we inhabit. From the fragility of life almost gone in an instant at a crosswalk, to avoiding the shoals of adolescence, to cell phones driving us to distraction (as we drive!), to turning the tables on telemarketers, to the Iraq War coming home to a small town in Pennsylvania, these pieces are filled with insight and sensitivity, laced with humour and understanding. In his own very unique way, Josh Grogan makes all of us feel more connected to each other and less like strangers living in a strange land.

ISBN: 9781593155391 (Hardback)

Year: 2009

Publisher: Vanguard Press

Pages: 236 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Amazon

2. Goodreads page for the book

3. Publisher's page for the author

4. Author's official page

5. Buy from the Book Depository