Cranston Public Library

"A black comedy set in a government-run mental institution, The Hothouse revolves around a sinister murder plot hatched against a backdrop of corruption, sexual favors, and hopeless bureaucratic ineptitude. Beneath the surface comedy there are frightening implications concerning a bureaucracy ostensibly dedicated to humanitarian concerns, but where people are referred to by numbers and forgotten as easily as troublesome figures on a balance sheet....

"Inspired by the story of Margaret Garner, who in 1856 slit her daughter's throat rather than have her forced back into slavery, the essays in this collection focus on historical and contemporary examples of resistance, and issues of slavery and freedom from the eighteenth through the twenty-first centuries. The story of Margaret Garner offered the narrative for Toni Morrison's Beloved, the opera Margaret Garner, and much controversy in its time over...

"Kelly McCann is a fighter. She's fought to build a successful legal career...Her specialty is defending men accused of sex crimes--falsely accused, she always maintains...she's done it again, securing an acquittal for a renowned scientist accused of sexually assaulting his female employees. But the thrill of her victory is short-lived.That very night she, too, falls victim of a brutal sexual assault...Kelly has never backed down from a fight and...

From the award-winning author of Waking Lions comes a novel about how one lie can change everything, when a teenaged girl's scream--and the false assumption that comes from it--radiates through a street, a neighborhood, and a city, and turns lives upside down.

"Ten years ago, the daughter of Homeland Security Investigations agent B.D. Little vanished into thin air. So did seven other girls - the crimes all bearing the same signature characteristics. Now the disappearances have begun again. And Agent Little's efforts to investigate are being blocked by forces far above his pay grade. Desperate, he turns to Seattle sex-crimes detective Livia Lone, the most obsessive hunter of predators Little knows. Livia...

"Hannah Webber fears she will never be a mother, but her prayers are finally answered when she gives birth to a son. In an era of high-stakes parenting, nurturing Sam's intellect becomes Hannah's life purpose. She invests body and soul into his development, much to the detriment of her marriage. She convinces herself, however, that Sam's acceptance at age fourteen to the most prestigious of New England boarding schools overseen by an illustrious headmaster,...

Bourgeois couple Hélène and Paul witness Malika, a young prostitute, being attacked by thugs and Paul immediately speeds off. Remorseful, Hélène tracks down Malika in the hospital. As she nurses Malika back to health, Malika tells Hélène a shocking story of how she was turned into a sex slave by a vicious criminal organization. Hélène and Malika join forces to double-cross her pimps and gets both her freedom and her revenge.

Elle finds the body of her soon-to-be-ex husband, Charlie on her sofa, stabbed to death with her kitchen knife. Elle's close friends stand by her through the difficult funeral, but Elle alone must face the loss of the man she'd loved. Except that the loss is not total--Charlie is still around. Elle feels his presence, smells his after shave. Hears him accuse her of killing him. And even though she doesn't believe in ghosts, she argues with him, asserting...

"Two friends, one Olympic dream, and the choice that stood in the way Once Leigh and Susy were close friends and teammates bound for Olympic hockey gold, but when Leigh's surefire plan to make the final roster backfired, she left everything behind to start over, including the one person who knew her secret. Two decades later, Leigh's a successful investment banker, happily married, and the mom of a hockey prodigy, so when a career opportunity lands...