Carolyn Hougan Livres

When Nicola Ward inherits a trunk filled with family photographs, jewelry and papers that appear to be written in Chinese and Russian, she dispatches them to an auction house to be appraised. But her family memorabilia may contain startling information about a Soviet spy ring, and together with Neil Walker, the ex-CIA agent hired to research the documents, Nicola plunges into a dizzying game of international espionage and politics that will have her questioning her own identity—and fighting for her very life.... In a sophisticated thriller that hurtles from the last days of the royal Romanovs to WWII Shanghai to present day San Francisco and Maine, Carolyn Hougan delivers all the adventure, romance and history that has the San Diego Union proclaiming that her fiction “ranks right up there with the works of such authors as Ken Follett and Helen MacInnes.”

The bestselling author of The Genesis Code and The Eighth Day delivers a gripping tale that escalates suspense to harrowing heights. Alex Callahan, a seasoned television news correspondent, has witnessed the horrors of famine, plague, and war, but nothing prepares him for the terror he faces on a peaceful summer day when he becomes entangled in darkness. While spending rare quality time with his six-year-old twin sons at a Renaissance Fair, they suddenly vanish. A chilling phone call from one of the boys plunges Alex into a nightmare, igniting a frantic search. As police efforts yield no results, Alex’s fear intensifies, and he becomes convinced that time is slipping away. Discovering a disturbing pattern of bizarre abductions, he resolves to leverage his investigative skills to find his children, targeting the elusive figure known as The Piper. This predator, linked to previous crimes involving twins and the secretive world of professional magicians, embodies a sinister force. With a twisted mission that hints at dark rituals, The Piper is a monster unlike any other. Alex is determined to confront this fiend and rescue his sons from an unspeakable fate.

Quel secret l'abbé Azetti a-t-il donc entendu en confession, de la part de son ami le Dr Baresi, pour se précipiter aussitôt à Rome ? Pourquoi les autorités du Vatican vont-elles choisir le silence ? En divers points du monde, des enfants sont assassinés avec leur mère, par le feu, comme s'il s'agissait d'un acte rituel. Ces meurtres sont-ils liés à ce qui se passait dans la clinique du Dr Baresi, à la clientèle internationale ? Après la mort atroce de sa sœur et de son neveu, Joe Lassiter, créateur et patron d'une agence privée de renseignements, va chercher la vérité. Une vérité que les hommes du mystérieux réseau " Umbra Domini " veulent à tout prix empêcher d'éclater, même si pour cela ils doivent jalonner leur route de cadavres. Une vérité qui pourrait bouleverser la civilisation, au croisement des plus profonds mystères religieux et de la biogénétique... J'ai rarement lu un thriller scientifique avec une intrigue aussi parfaite. D'une scène à l'autre, de rebondissement en rebondissement, un sans faute. Quelle lecture passionnante ! Quelle virtuosité ! Norman Mailer.

Reporter Frank Daly misses a scientific voyage to the Arctic. Catching up with the scientists on their return, he finds them reluctant to talk, and he probes until he discovers the shocking truth.