After weeks of rain, Chief Inspector Wexford has just finished moving his books and furniture upstairs to protect them from the rising waters when the telephone rings. Two local teenagers and their babysitter have gone missing. Wexford isn't particularly worried, since these things usually sort themselves out. But as hours stretch into days, he begins to suspect he has a kidnapping on his hands. The stakes get even higher when a member of the missing trio turns up dead in the woods nearby.
In The Hours, Michael Cunningham, widely praised as one of the most gifted writers of his generation, draws inventively on the life and work of Virginia Woolf to tell the story of a group of contemporary characters struggling with the conflicting claims of love and inheritance, hope and despair. The narrative of Woolf's last days before her suicide early in World War II counterpoints the fictional stories of Richard, a famous poet whose life has been shadowed by his talented and troubled mother, and his lifelong friend Clarissa, who strives to forge a balanced and rewarding life in spite of the demands of friends, lovers, and family.
Only a handful of fictional characters are recognized by first name alone. Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas is one of those rare literary heroes who have come alive in readers' imaginations as he explores the greatest mysteries of this world and the next with his inimitable wit, heart, and quiet gallantry. Now Koontz follows Odd as he is irresistibly drawn onward to a destiny he cannot imagine and to undreamed of places where the perils he will face and the stakes for which he fights will eclipse all that he has known.
Here are enough tough puzzles to test your mental powers for hours and hours. Try this never-ending array of puzzles, challenges, funky facts, things to build, weird riddles, and other conundrums. Some are old favorites that never fail to stump, others are totally new, but all promise hours of fun. Every one can be completed with a pencil, pen, or some inexpensive materials around the house.
• Do you yearn for someone who is not physically or emotionally available to you? • Do you believe that if you love him enough he will have to love you? • When you feel insecure, does it drive you only to want her more? • Do you find yourself phoning repeatedly or waiting long hours for the phone to ring?
