The Kept Woman

‘One of the boldest thriller writers working today’ TESS GERRITSEN ‘Her characters, plot, and pacing are unrivalled’ MICHAEL CONNELLY _________________________________________ The eighth Will Trent novel, from the #1 bestselling author A body is discovered in an empty Atlanta warehouse. It's the body of an ex-cop, and from the moment Special Agent Will Trent walks in he knows this could be the most devastating case of his career. Bloody footprints leading away from the scene reveal that another victim - a woman - has left the scene and vanished into thin air. And, worst of all, the warehouse belongs to the city's biggest, most politically-connected, most high-profile athlete - a local hero protected by the world's most expensive lawyers. A local hero Will has spent the last six months investigating on a brutal rape charge. But for Will - and also for Dr Sara Linton, the GBI's newest medical examiner - the case is about to get even worse. Because an unexpected discovery at the scene reveals a personal link to Will's troubled past. The consequences will wreak havoc on his life and the lives of those he loves, those he works with, and those he pursues. But Sara's scene-of-the-crime diagnosis is that they only have a few hours to find the missing woman before she bleeds out . . . _________________________________________ Crime and thriller masters know there’s nothing better than a little Slaughter: ‘I’d follow her anywhere’ GILLIAN FLYNN ‘Passion, intensity, and humanity’ LEE CHILD ‘A writer of extraordinary talents’ KATHY REICHS ‘Fiction doesn't get any better than this’ JEFFERY DEAVER ‘A great writer at the peak of her powers’ PETER JAMES ‘Raw, powerful and utterly gripping’ KATHRYN STOCKETT ‘With heart and skill Karin Slaughter keeps you hooked from the first page until the last’ CAMILLA LACKBERG ‘Amongst the world‘s greatest and finest crime writers’ YRSA SIGURÐARDÓTTIR

WHEN A GOOD-GIRL DIVORCÉE Playing by the rules has left Samantha Monroe with an AWOL ex-husband, maxed out credit cards, and the task of raising three children on a hairstylist's salary. It's time for a new game plan. When Sam learns that politician Jack Tolliver needs someone to play the part of his fiancée for six months in return for a generous paycheck, she's ready to sign up on the spot. MEETS A BAD-BOY POLITICIAN Jack needs Sam and her kids to help tone down his image from womanizing cad to dependable dad. But he was expecting Sam to be a frumpy single mom, not a wickedly smart, sexy redhead. Keeping nosey newshounds from discovering that his engagement is a charade is going to be a tough job, but one mind-blowing kiss from Sam and suddenly Jack is ready to put in all the overtime necessary... LOVE WINS IN A LANDSLIDE... Now, with scheming opponents itching to bring Jack down, Sam's ex returning to stir up trouble, one stubborn pre-schooler, two squabbling teenagers, a crazy dog, and some out-of-this-world sex, Jack and Sam are discovering that playing make-believe can be complicated—but not nearly as much as falling in love...

The long-awaited memoir by “one of the few original American writers of the last century” is a testament to the power of self-acceptance (Gore Vidal). John Rechy, author of City of Night and The Sexual Outlaw, has always known discrimination. Raised Mexican-American in El Paso, Texas, at a time when Latino children were routinely segregated, Rechy was often assumed to be Anglo because of his light skin, and had his name “changed” for him by a teacher, from Juan to John. As he grew older—and as his fascination with the memory of a notorious kept woman in his childhood deepened—Rechy became aware that his differences lay not just in his heritage, but in his sexuality. While he performed the roles expected of him by others—the authoritarians in the US Army during the Korean War, the bigoted relatives of his Anglo college classmates, or the men and women who wanted him to be something he was not—he never allowed them to define him. The “riveting” story of a life that bears witness to some of the most riotous changes of the past century, About My Life and the Kept Woman is as much a portrait of intolerance as of an individual who defied it to forge his own path (The Advocate). “Rechy might be called the first bard of West Hollywood.” —The New York Times “A skillfully paced story . . . As a memoirist, Rechy is both participant and observer, and he segues as easily between narrative and exegesis as his younger self did between the lure of the wild streets and the embrace of his traditional family.” —Los Angeles Magazine

”I feel a woman is most attractive when she surrenders to her man. She is incomplete without a man,” averred Kamala Das shortly before her death in May, 2009. One of the most controversial and celebrated Indian authors, she combined in her writings rare honesty and sensitivity, provocation and poignancy. The Kept Woman and Other Stories explores the man-woman relationship in all its dimensions. Deprived, depraved, mysterious, mystical and exalted, each character, culled from experience and observation, is an incisive study of love, lust and longing.

Kept in lifestyles of luxury by the men who pursue their beauty and sexual prowess, women who make themselves available for sex in this self-destructive profession can suffer seriously. Through hundreds of interviews, McRay has uncovered the vulnerability of these women and what becomes of children born into such lives.

The latest novel in the Will Trent series from No. 1 bestselling author, Karin Slaughter. A body is discovered in an empty Atlanta warehouse. It's the body of an ex-cop, and from the moment Special Agent Will Trent walks in he knows this could be the most devastating case of his career. Bloody footprints leading away from the scene reveal that another victim - a woman - has left the scene and vanished into thin air. And, worst of all, the warehouse belongs to the city's biggest, most politically-connected, most high-profile athlete - a local hero protected by the world's most expensive lawyers. A local hero Will has spent the last six months investigating on a brutal rape charge. But for Will - and also for Dr Sara Linton, the GBI's newest medical examiner - the case is about to get even worse. Because an unexpected discovery at the scene reveals a personal link to Will's troubled past. The consequences will wreak havoc on his life and the lives of those he loves, those he works with, and those he pursues. But Sara's scene-of-the-crime diagnosis is that they only have a few hours to find the missing woman before she bleeds out . . .

With the discovery of a murder at an abandoned construction site, Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is brought in on a case that becomes much more dangerous when the dead man is identified as an ex-cop. Evidence soon links Will's troubled past to the case... and the consequences will wreak havoc for Will and everyone around him.

"THERE ARE ALL KINDS OF CAGES."

Have you ever been hurt? Have you ever had your heart broken into so many pieces, so much so that you thought it could never be put back together again? Have you ever been caught in a ragging storm that consumed your very soul? Have you tears every flowed like the sea? Have you ever stayed up all night long because things around you just wasn't right? If your answer is yes! A Kept Woman is the book for you. You see, at the age of 18 years old I went from being kept by my mother to being kept by a man that was 23 years older than I was! But not just a man, but a married man of the cloth, God laid the writing of this book on my heart to reach broken women all over the world that feel as if no one knows their secret pain. I have undressed myself, and become naked before the world and I pray that this book heals and encourages your heart. From women to women may God bless and keep you.

"Playing by the rules has left Samantha Monroe with an AWOL ex-husband, maxed out credit cards, and the task of raising three children on a hairstylist's salary. It's time for a new game plan. When Sam learns that politician Jack Tolliver needs someone to play the part of his fiancâee for six months in return for a generous paycheck, she's ready to sign up on the spot"--Back cover.

What would you do if you suddenly inherited $5,000? Young Joanne Cotton decided to blow her inheritance in Europe before settling down to the routine of marriage as Jack Ostrander’s wife. So for a year she lived it up visiting France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Greece. But $5,000 can only go so far. She was down to her last $300 when she met Mike Lapine, who offered to finance her for six months—until she found a job—in exchange for her bedroom talents. So they went to Majorca and had a ball. Four months went by and Joanne hadn’t even looked for a job. And when Mike left her, she had to admit that the only talent she possessed was for sale to the man with the most money. Jo thought this was the “easy” way out . . . until she met Emil Rosenmacher, jaded old roué, who had his own offbeat plans for her many skills.

The author explores the disconnect between many women's feminist values and their handling of infidelity in intimate relationships. Drawing on the gender equality agenda, pop culture representations, and her own experience as the other woman, she argues that infidelity is a political as well as personal matter, not just a heterosexual problem as the 'feminist academy' views it, in presenting an analysis of the participation of the male betrayer, the female betrayed, and the female affair partner.