Ripley Under Ground


Book Description

"Ripley is an unmistakable descendant of Gatsby, that 'penniless young man without a past' who will stop at nothing."—Frank Rich Now part of American film and literary lore, Tom Ripley, "a bisexual psychopath and art forger who murders without remorse when his comforts are threatened" (New York Times Book Review), was Patricia Highsmith's favorite creation. In these volumes, we find Ripley ensconced on a French estate with a wealthy wife, a world-class art collection, and a past to hide. In Ripley Under Ground (1970), an art forgery goes awry and Ripley is threatened with exposure; in The Boy Who Followed Ripley (1980), Highsmith explores Ripley's bizarrely paternal relationship with a troubled young runaway, whose abduction draws them into Berlin's seamy underworld; and in Ripley Under Water (1991), Ripley is confronted by a snooping American couple obsessed with the disappearance of an art collector who visited Ripley years before. More than any other American literary character, Ripley provides "a lens to peer into the sinister machinations of human behavior" (John Freeman, Pittsburgh Gazette).




Secrets of the Sideshows


Book Description

"Joe Nickell - once a carnival pitchman, then a magician, private detective, and investigative writer - has pursued sideshow secrets for years and has worked the famous carnival midway at the Canadian National Exhibition. For this book, he interviewed showmen and performers, collected carnival memorabilia, researched published accounts of sideshows and their lore, and even performed some classic sideshow feats, such as eating fire and lying on a bed of nails as a cinderblock was broken on his chest. The result of these varied efforts, Secrets of the Sideshows tells the captivating story of the magic, tricks - real or illusory - and performers of the world's midway shows."--BOOK JACKET.




The Boy's Own Annual


Book Description




Ripley's Game


Book Description

With its sinister humor and genius plotting, Ripley's Game is an enduring portrait of a compulsive, sociopathic American antihero. Living on his posh French estate with his elegant heiress wife, Tom Ripley, on the cusp of middle age, is no longer the striving comer of The Talented Mr. Ripley. Having accrued considerable wealth through a long career of crime—forgery, extortion, serial murder—Ripley still finds his appetite unquenched and longs to get back in the game. In Ripley's Game, first published in 1974, Patricia Highsmith's classic chameleon relishes the opportunity to simultaneously repay an insult and help a friend commit a crime—and escape the doldrums of his idyllic retirement. This third novel in Highsmith's series is one of her most psychologically nuanced—particularly memorable for its dark, absurd humor—and was hailed by critics for its ability to manipulate the tropes of the genre. With the creation of Ripley, one of literature's most seductive sociopaths, Highsmith anticipated the likes of Norman Bates and Hannibal Lecter years before their appearance.




Immersion, Narrative, and Gender Crisis in Survival Horror Video Games


Book Description

This book investigates the narrativity of some of the most popular survival horror video games and the gender politics implicit in their storyworlds. In a thorough analysis of the genre that draws upon detailed comparisons with the mainstream action genre, Andrei Nae places his analysis firmly within a political and social context. In comparing survival horror games to the dominant game design norms of the action genre, the author differentiates between classical and postclassical survival horror games to show how the former reject the norms of the action genre and deliver a critique of the conservative gender politics of action games, while the latter are more heterogeneous in terms of their game design and, implicitly, gender politics. This book will appeal not only to scholars working in game studies, but also to scholars of horror, gender studies, popular culture, visual arts, genre studies and narratology.




Find You in the Dark


Book Description

A chilling debut thriller in the vein of Dexter and The Talented Mr Ripley. Martin Reese has a hobby: he digs up murder victims. He buys stolen police files on serial killers, and uses them to find and dig up missing bodies. Calls in the results anonymously, taunting the police for their failure to do their job. Detective Sandra Whittal takes that a little personally. She’s suspicious of the mysterious caller, who she names the Finder. Maybe he’s the one leaving the bodies behind. If not, who’s to say he won’t start soon? As Whittal begins to zero in on the Finder, Martin makes a shocking discovery. It seems someone—someone lethal—is very unhappy about the bodies he’s been digging up. Hunted by a cop, hunted by a killer. To escape and keep his family safe, Martin may have to go deeper into the world of murder than he ever imagined. Nathan Ripley is the pseudonym of Naben Ruthnum, a winner of Canada’s prestigious Journey Prize for best short story published by an emerging writer. He lives in Toronto. ‘[Ripley’s] tight prose and masterly manipulation pay dividends.’ SAWeekend ‘One heck of an addictive thriller. Find You in the Dark by Nathan Ripley is an original, inventive take on what happens when you go looking where you shouldn’t.’ Jennifer Hillier, author of Jar of Hearts and Wonderland ‘Detective Sandra Whittal is inspirational in her single-minded focus and toughness...Ripley’s dialogue shines.’ Abbey’s Bookshop ‘Chillingly believable...An impressive debut novel.’ BookMooch ‘The overall story depicting a murderer’s manipulation and depravity is engrossing.’ Library Journal ‘An absorbing read.’ Good Reading ‘A deeply disturbing read, with vivid scenes and complex psychology, Find You in the Dark lingers long after the last page has been devoured...An addictive debut.’ Toronto Star ‘Well planned and executed, Nathan Ripley brings a unique and fresh voice to the crime thriller genre.’ Real Book Spy ‘...a chilling and disquieting debut thriller...You’ll stay up all night with this one.’ Criminal Element ‘A fun, yet disturbing, work.’ Medium ‘Dexter fans will enjoy the creepy vibe.’ Publishers Weekly ‘This debut thriller by the pseudonymous Ripley (Journey Prize winner Naben Ruthnum) is highly recommended for fans of Lee Child and C.J. Box.’ Library Journal ‘This is a novel with a most unique premise...Find You in the Dark is a well-written, if sometimes gruesome tale of one man’s determination...It’s a chilling story of a man who could’ve conceivably become a serial killer pitted against one who actually is.’ New York Journal of Books ‘Massively entertaining, with a lovely dollop of weirdness...Delicious.’ Northern Crime




The Complete Aliens Omnibus: Volume One (Earth Hive, Nightmare Asylum, The Female War)


Book Description

Classic original fiction set in the Alien world, featuring Earth Hive by Steve Perry, Nightmare Asylum by Steve Perry and The Female War by Steve Perry and Stephani Perry. Earth Hive: Wilks was a space marine with a near-fatal flaw: he had a heart. Billie was a child, the only survivor of a far-flung colony outpost. Thrown together in the last hellish night of an alien invasion, Billie and Wilks helped each other get out alive. Thirteen years later Wilks is in prison, and Billie lives in a mental institution, the nightmare memories of the massacre at Rim seared into her mind. Now the government has tapped Wilks to lead an expedition to the aliens' home planet to bring back a live alien. But the competition on Earth to develop the aliens as a new weapons system is brutal. When Wilks's team departs on their mission, a trained assassin trails them. And what follows is no less than guerrilla warfare on the aliens' planet--and alien conquest on Earth! Nightmare Asylum: Wilks, Billie, and Bueller were the last survivors of a devastating assault on the aliens' home planet. But once their retum to the solar system made them refugees once more, fleeing Earth and its alien infestation in a desperate attempt to stay alive. Now, in an otherwise unmanned military transport, they hurtle through space. Destination: unknown. Little do they know that the cargo they carry with them is a legacy of death that they will ultimately have to face. Nor do they know that they head toward a remote colony and military outpost. This pocket of humanity at the very edges of space is at the mercy of a general names Spears with an agenda all his own. Now Billie, Wilks, and Bueller face a new nightmare, and it is nothing they could ever have imagined: a gift of madness from an alien world, unbalanced mind, and the experiences of a mysterious pilot named Lieutenant Ellen Ripley. The Female War: Lieutenant Ellen Ripley awoke from her long journey in space with a hole in her memory and an overwhelming drive to survive. When she meets Wilks and Billie, two battered veterans in the war against the alienss she realizes she's found two comrades in arms--and she's ready to take up the fight. Only then does she discover the devastating secret that lurks behind her long sleep. When she, Wilks, and Billie prepare to meet the aliens head-on to turn a powerful alien queen against her spawn in a battle intended to save Earth, that secret becomes her greatest weapon--and her greatest liability. As the fate of Earth hangs in the balance, Ripley and Billie must come to terms with what it means to be an alien . . . and what it means to be human.







Ripley's World


Book Description

Winner of the National Sporting Club's prestigious British Rugby Book of the Year Award for 2008, Ripley's World transforms and redefines the genre of the sports autobiography. In a moving and intimate memoir, Andy Ripley, England rugby icon and victorious British Lion, television Superstar and world rowing champion, reflects on a life of sporting achievement and confronts his most powerful and dangerous challenge yet - his diagnosis with prostate cancer. Told with typical candour and courage, it is an absorbing and inspirational story.




The Headmaster's List


Book Description

One of Us Is Lying meets Gossip Girl in The Headmaster's List, an edge-of-your-seat YA thriller about a fatal car crash and the dangerous lengths one teen will go to uncover the truth about what really happened. Friday night. The party of the summer. Four teens ride home together. Only one never makes it. When high school sophomore Chris Moore is tragically killed in a car crash, Armstrong Prep is full of questions. Who was at the wheel? And more importantly, who was at fault? Eighteen-year-old Spencer Sandoval wishes she knew. As rumors swirl that her ex, Ethan, was the reckless driver, she can’t bring herself to defend him. And their messy breakup has nothing to do with it – she can’t remember anything from that night, not even what put her in that car with Ethan, Chris, and Tabby Hill, the new loner in school. The hunt for answers intensifies when a local true crime podcast takes an interest in the case, pushing Spencer further into the depths of this sinister mystery. Was it all just a night out that went very wrong? And is it a coincidence that all but Chris is on Armstrong's esteemed honor roll, the Headmaster’s List? In a place ruled by pedigree and privilege, the truth can only come at a deadly price. Set against the glitz and glamour of an elite LA private school, Melissa de la Cruz's explosive YA thriller is an addictive mystery perfect for fans of Only Murders in the Building and A Good Girl's Guide to Murder. "There's nothing Melissa de la Cruz can't write, and she continues to prove it with this razor-sharp, glitteringly mysterious thriller! Put The Headmaster's List at the top of your TBR." —Kiersten White, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the And I Darken trilogy "Melissa de la Cruz will keep you guessing - all the way up to the last page even when you think you’ve figured it out! Everything you want in a thriller - a complicated heroine, snarky outsiders, cute boys, and a surprising and insightful story about status, race, class and tragedy in Los Angeles." —Sara Shepard, New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Little Liars