Black Friday America's largest shopping mall Suburban Minneapolis 3:00 P.M. Ten thousand people jam the aisles, the corridors, the elevators, and the escalators of America, the Mall--a giant Rubik's Cube of a structure with its own amusement park located in the spacious center atrium. Of those people, nine thousand nine hundred and eighty-eight have come to shop. The other twelve have come to kill. Stephen Hunter's hyper-drive, eighth-gear new thriller, Soft Target, chronicles the day when the unthinkable happens: twelve gunmen open fire in the mall corridors, driving the pack before them. Those on the upper floors take cover or get out any way they can; but within a few minutes the gunmen have herded more than a thousand hostages into the amusement park. Ray Cruz, one of the heroes of Hunter's last bestseller, Dead Zero, is in the mall with his fiancee and her family. The retired Marine sniper thought he was done with stalking and killing — but among the trapped thousands, he's the only one with a plan and the guts to confront the self-proclaimed Brigade Mumbai. Now all he needs is a gun. FBI Sniper Dave McElroy has a gun. But positioned on the roof of the vast building, looking down through one of its thickly paned Great Lakes-shaped skylights, and without explosives or fuses — or the go-ahead from his superiors — he is effectively cut off from his targets and forced into the role of witness to the horror unfolding below. Set during the four hours of the terrifying event, the story follows both hostages and gunmen, detailing the complex strategic police response, the full-press media saturation coverage, even the politics of SWAT as both the Minnesota State Police and the FBI struggle to control, confront, and ultimately defuse the crisis. Having learned the lessons of Columbine, the feds believe that immediate action is the only solution. But Douglas Obobo, the charismatic and ambitious commandant of the state police, orders cooperation, tolerance, communication, and empathy for the gunmen. He feels that with his superior negotiating skills, he can make contact with the shooters and gently nudge them into surrender. But what if their goal all along has been unparalleled massacre — and they're only waiting for prime time? With unrelenting suspense and vivid scenes of violence and chaos in the center of a terror-crazed afternoon in Middle America, thriller master Stephen Hunter takes us into the belly of the softest of soft targets.

Hollywood — glittering premieres, dazzling movie sets, fabulous parties, plush love-nests hidden in Malibu and Beverly Hills. Behind the gorgeous playgrounds of the rich and renowned lies a jungle of lust and perversity, greed and ambition, love and danger — where survival is all and innocence is a role nobody plays for long. Jackie Collins uncovers all the sex, all the scandals, all the private obsessions of filmland's famous in the shocking, passionate world of... Sinners.

At the novel's core is the Hollywood Five, a clique of jaded twenty-somethings whose parents (all major players) thought that child-rearing ended with naming their offspring after themselves. Not since best-selling superstar Jackie Collins created Hollywood Wives, the book which established a whole new standard for novels of the American dream in the extreme, has she dealt so incisively and so revealingly with tinseltown, and with the people who live and die there. Jackie Collins is back doing what she does best, chronicling the lives of the rich, famous and infamous with devastating accuracy. Hollywood Kids is Jackie Collins at her suspenseful roller coaster ride best.

«Now in mass market, Mary Higgins Clark's thirtieth and most spine-chilling novel — «so good that it might as well have come with a soundtrack» («The Columbus Dispatch») — involves the newest and most up-to-date of crimes: identity theft. Alexandra «Zan» Moreland, a gifted, beautiful interior designer on the verge of a successful Manhattan career, is terrified to discover that somebody is not only using her credit cards, but may also be impersonating her in a scheme that involves the much more brutal crimes of kidnapping and murder. Already haunted by the disappearance of her own son, Matthew, kidnapped in broad daylight two years ago in Central Park, Zan has been left torn between hope and despair. Now, on what would be Matthew's fifth birthday, photos surface that seem to show Zan kidnapping her own child, followed by a chain of events that suggests somebody has stolen her identity. Hounded by the press, under investigation by the police, attacked by both her angry ex-husband and a vindictive business rival, Zan, wracked by fear and pain and sustained only by her belief that Matthew is still alive, sets out to discover who is behind this cruel hoax. What she does not realize is that with every step she takes toward the truth, she is putting herself — and those she loves most — in mortal danger from the person who has ingeniously plotted out her destruction.»

«While America struggles with a recess ion, oil prices soar, revolution rocks the Middle East, European nations risk defaulting on their loans, and the world teeters on the brink of a possible global financial crisis. This is not a description of the present, however, but the 1970s. In The Oil Kings, Andrew Cooper tells the story of how oil came to dominate U.S. domestic and foreign policy. Drawing on newly declassified documents and interviews with some of the key figures of the time, Cooper follows the political posturing and backroom maneuvering that led the U.S. to switch to OPEC as its main supplier of oil from the Shah of Iran, a loyal ally and leading customer for American weapons. The subsequent loss of U.S. income destabilized the Iranian economy, while the U.S. embarked on a long relationship with the autocratic Saudi kingdom that continues to this day. Brilliantly reported and filled with astonishing revelations — including how close the U.S. came to sending troops into the Persian Gulf to break the Arab oil embargo and how U.S. officials offered to sell nuclear power and nuclear fuel to the Shah — «The Oil Kings» is the history of an era that we thought we knew, an era whose momentous reverberations still influence events at home and abroad today.»

17-year-old Lila has two secrets she's prepared to take to the grave. The first is that she can move things just by looking at them. The second is that she's been in love with her brother's best friend, Alex, since forever. Or thereabouts. After a mugging on the streets of South London goes horribly wrong and exposes her unique ability, Lila decides to run to the only people she can trust — her brother and Alex. They live in Southern California where they work for a secret organisation called The Unit, and Lila discovers that the two of them are hunting down the men who murdered her mother five years before. And that they've found them. Trying to uncover the truth of why her mother was killed, and the real remit of The Unit, Lila becomes a pawn in a dangerous game. Struggling to keep her secrets in a world where nothing and no one is quite as they seem, Lila quickly realises that she is not alone — there are others out there just like her — people with special powers — and her mother's killer is one of them...

In Eric Carle’s charming and popular story, Have You Seen My Cat?, a little boy worries about his missing cat and travels to different places in search of his pet. The boy encounters numerous feline counterparts as he searches, including lions, leopards, and tigers—but it isn’t until the last page that he finally finds his missing pet! Featuring simple words and plenty of repetition, this Pre-Level 1 Ready-to-Read edition of a classic story is perfect for new readers.

Self-described comic genius Big Nate keeps parents and teaching on their toes in this hilarious, New York Times best-selling series that has sold more than 4.5 million copies. Nate Wright is known to his pals and teachers for many things, his penchant for mischief and his school record for detentions being the foremost. But beating out brainiac Gina's grades is not one of those things! In Big Nate Makes the Grade, the school life goings-on of Nate, his pals, and his long-suffering teachers are recounted in hilarious detail. Now in full-color with poster!

«Sixth-grader Nate Wright is on top of the world . . . with a little help from his friends! His best buddies, Francis and Teddy, stick with Nate through thick and thin—usually thin. They've seen it all. Nate's disastrous love life, his chess tournament trash talking, even his misguided attempt to be a «bad boy.» Along the way, Nate and his pals are joined by Artur, the gentle exchange student who's popular with almost everyone. And don't forget Gina, the teacher's pet who gets an «A» for annoying. They're all here in this collection of cartoons, featuring highlights from Nate's most hilarious adventures. Now in full-color with poster!»

From an acclaimed biographer, a riveting account of what happened to the survivors of the Titanic — to be published in the lead-up to the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking. April 14, 2012 will mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. While much has been written about the great ship, her shocking demise, and those who perished, very little has been devoted to the hundreds of survivors. In Shadow of the Titanic, Andrew Wilson offers a moving look at how their lives were affected by living through this catastrophic event. For the first time ever, those who lived to tell the tale reveal how they coped in the aftermath. Using archival research and interviews with family members, Wilson offers a unique take on this fascinating story. He shows how some survivors used their experience to propel themselves on to fame and how others were wracked with guilt and refused to acknowledge they had been there. Some reputations were destroyed, and some survivors were so psychologically damaged that they took their own lives years later. From the famous survivors like Bruce Ismay and Madeline Astor — who became a bride, a widow, and a mother all within a year — to lesser known survivors Dorothy Gibson and the Navartil brothers — who were traveling under assumed names because they were being abducted by their father — Shadow of the Titanic offers a host of astonishing stories that add an important new dimension to our understanding of this legendary disaster.

More than a year and a half has passed since Alys, Claudia, Jane and Charles helped to free the great sorceress, Morgana Shee, from imprisonment and close the passage between the Stillworld and the Wildworld. But when an earthquake hits California and continues to shake with lingering aftershocks, the Hodges-Bradley children begin to suspect this was no ordinary quake, and that the passage seal between the worlds may no longer be stable. With their parents overseas and Morgana travelling north to find the epicentre of the quake the children are left on their own. But peril lurks around every corner, and strange happenings in their home town force them on journey that will test their skills to the very limit. It seems that Morgana's archrival, Thia Pendriel, has stolen the Forgotten Gem, the Heart of Valour, and is waiting to spring her trap...

White Cat introduces Holly Black's new world! Cassel has always known he killed Lila, but now the pieces are starting not to fit.

From the publishers of CHILD 44 comes the debut literary thriller of the year... Hunt, an ex-convict, has spent the past twenty years on a small ranch, supplementing his income with the odd drug smuggling job. Drake, a deputy sheriff, has almost escaped the shadow of his father, who was also a sheriff. Drake is on Hunt's trail when a big drug deal in the mountains goes awry and so begins a terrifying race against time. The traffickers soon unleash a merciless hired killer to reclaim what's theirs.

After centuries of calm, the Nameless One is stirring. An army is gathering: thousands of fellcreatures joining forces from across the Desolate Lands, united for the first time in history under one black banner. By the spring, or perhaps sooner, the Nameless One and his forces will be at the walls of Avendoom.Unless Shadow Harold, master thief, can stop them. Epic fantasy at its best, Shadow Prowler is the first in a trilogy that follows professional thief Shadow Harold on his quest for a long-lost artefact that will save the Kingdom of Siala. Bound by oath to fulfil his commission, even if he dies trying, Harold is accompanied on his quest by a mysterious elfin princess, ten Wild Hearts — the most dangerous fighters in the world — and the King's court jester (who may be more than he seems... or less). His journey will lead Harold towards a destiny greater and more perilous than he could imagine...

Cannie Shapiro never wanted to be famous. The smart, sharp, plus-sized reporter was perfectly happy writing about other people's lives for her local newspaper. And for the past twenty-eight years, things have been tripping along nicely for Cannie. Sure, her mother has come charging out of the closet, and her father has long since dropped out of her world. But she loves her job, her friends, her dog and her life. She loves her apartment and her commodious, quilt-lined bed. She has made a tenuous peace with her body and she even felt okay about ending her relationship with her boyfriend Bruce. But now this... 'Loving a larger woman is an act of courage in our world', Bruce has written in a national woman's magazine. And Cannie — who never knew that Bruce saw her as a larger woman, or thought that loving her was an act of courage — is plunged into misery, and the most amazing year of her life.

Isabelle Goodrow has been living in self-imposed exile with her daughter Amy for 15 years. Shamed by her past and her affair with Amy's father she has submerged herself in the routine of her dead-end job and her unrequited love for her boss. But when Amy, frustrated by her quiet and unemotional mother, embarks on an illicit affair with her maths teacher, the disgrace intensifies the shame Isabelle feels about her own past. Throughout one long, sweltering summer as the events of the small town ebb and flow around them Amy and Isabelle exist in silent conflict until a final act leads ultimately to the understanding they both crave.