Zebras Books

i cannot recommend this book highly enough.....Carney far surpasses Steven King and all other horror meisters with his nerve shattering suspense!

My daughter--12 months-- grabs this book from the pile of books in our livingroom everday and brings it to us to read it. We read it 15-20 times per day at least!!! She has learned in less than a week to shake her head "no" to the questions and laughs when we read the answer. I wish there were more books that held her attention like this one (many times we have to read it back-to-back three or four times before she goes off to get a new book).

Jack Scaparro's novel The Dollkeeper is a thrilling well paced horror novel that keeps the reader turning page after page. Scaparro has crafted a fine psychological horror novel about a woman from a small town in Vermont who is the pillar of the community but hides a deadly secret. The town's children are turning up missing and the local sherriff is at a loss to explain the disappearances. Parents are worried, children are scared, and the state wants to get involved. What has happened to the missing kids is truly terrifying.

Scaparro's novel is well written, extremely detailed in description and resolves all conflicts with characters. It's well thought out from beginning to end. There are some highly likeable characters here from the town sherriff Adams to his trustworthy deputies Arthur and Ben, to the new single mom in town Brenda. The novel perfectly shifts the story from Adams to Emma, the local town librarian who visits the school often to read stories to the local children, Adams' kids included. Attention is paid to detail in characters as well as descriptive language about action. There are some highly terrifying sequences involving the disappearance of the children. Do not be fooled though, this is not a story about evil dolls, its a story about obsession with one's past and of madness.

A good novel from an author I'm not familar with but I will definitely be looking for more books by Scaparro. Highly recommended!

This excellent thriller was written in 1984 and set in an imagined future(say the 1990s had the Soviet Union not disbanded and the Gulf War not broken out), but is still well worth a read! Neil O'Hara is an astronaut living on the edge. He is blamed for killing a shuttle crew member in space, the widow tries to seduce him, his marriage is on the rocks and his debt problem is getting worse. Then he is offered a job by one Colonel Heinlein of the Israeli Defence Force to resurrect a satellite project. But what are Heinlein's real motives? Meanwhile, the Middle East erupts in war as the PLO and Israel duke it out with high-tech fighters over the Mediterranean. Faced with the possibility of all-out nuclear war, who can save the Middle East, and unltmately the world? What is the NASA shuttle DOMINATOR really carrying in its payload? Can O'Hara save the day? Before you think you can guess the ending, think again! Not quite what you expect! Overall, great thriller writing with some interesting visions of the future for its time.

"The Doomsday Spiral" is Jon Land's first published work. It's long out-of-print, but a definite "must read" if you can locate a copy. Land's novels are always entertaining, but this one is the best of his that I have read.

The story centers around a plot by a thought-to-be-deceased madman to eliminate half the population of the United States. However, this would not be done by obvious means -- nuclear or biochemical warfare. Three agents are sought by the U.S. to prevent the madman from implementing his plan. Friends come and go via various means, all which make the battle that much more difficult.

Like all great espionage thrillers, this one grabs the reader from the start and never stops until the book ends. There are betrayals, multiple gunfights, deaths of key and/or well-liked characters. The story's rapid pace will keep a reader enthralled long into the night. Like Land's other works, he presents a well thought and prepared story with all the elements that make a great espionage/technothriller.

Joan Overfield has created a masterpiece--a real page turner! With the creation of the time portal in the pentagram room she has opened up a number of possibilities of future time travel and romances between the principal and secondary characters. She continues in this vein with Time's Tapestry. Let's hope that there are adventures coming from the five-sided room!

Althea Markham is more or less your average debutante...rich, titled, well-mannered, and pretty enough. But her mother, Celeste, is not your average dowager...strikingly beautiful, free-spirited, and utterly scandalous. When Celeste strikes up a dalliance with a well-known rogue, who has ruined more than one young lady, Althea decides that it is time to leave the glitter of London for their country home. Her mother agrees without protest and Althea soon discovers why... her mother is using their isolation to secretly meet with a strange man in the dead of night! Althea begins to spy upon the pair who, instead of being lovers, appear to be engaged in smuggling. Althea confronts her mother and finds to her horror that it is much more dangerous than that. Celeste is secretly aiding a Frenchman who is determined to undermine Napolean's rule. Celeste's contact is a spy named John...someone Althea has briefly met before, but has never forgotten. But John has more secrets than Althea could ever guess, including that he has fallen in love with her at first sight. John's true identity could make it possible for them to wed...or drive Althea away forever. And that is only a small slice of an engaging regency romance where not all is as it seems...

Even though the plot was very original, what I liked best about this book was the cast of characters. Althea is an engaging heroine that it is easy to relate to. She has lived a lot in her mother's shadow. She is unsure of herself and very afraid that the only reason men are interested in her is her money. John is a lot like Althea. He has lived in his older brother's shadow and perhaps that helps him see the true beauty of Althea more easily than most do. He has met Celeste, but he still only has eyes for Althea which makes him a very likeable hero. Celeste is such a lovable character. She is like that certain someone most of us have in our lives...the one who is outgoing, smart, funny, and good looking, but they are so charming you just can't be jealous of them. Just a great book all around...check it out.

Author Davis Grubb will mesmerize you with this captivating Novel during the American Civil War era thats in the same spirit as "Gone With The Wind"!!It's a love story about a young couple falling in love being torn between hate and war and the post trauma of fighting in the Stonewall Jackson's Army during and after the Civil War.A Novel very well worth reading!!

This is a lawman with an unusual side-kick, a Cat!Yes, i'm talking the four legged alley cat! This tale is full of strange twists and surprises as the hero tries to track down a hired killer who likes to dispatch is victims from a distance. A sniper in the old west is not an easy person to catch up to. If you figure out who the mysterious killer is before the end, then you will do much better than I did. As usual for a Parkinson novel he mixes in a healthy dose of comedy with his adventures, yet keeps you glued to the book. Your supper will get cold if you start this book. Another winner from a master of western tales with a twist. None do it better than Parkinson. A one of a kind Diamond in the rough writer!

It's been a while since I read this book but, as usual, Elsie Lee was writing powerful heroines before this ever became the style. In this particular one the heroine Fran is married to an engineer named John. They are stationed somewhere in the mideast (Lebanon or Saudi Arabia?) and he is involved in an oil contract with some sheik. There is a murder (in the 1st or 2nd chapter) and the man dies in Fran's arms and of course she becomes highly involved in the ensuing mystery. It's all about political intrigue, murder, etc. and life in the foreign encampment along with the person intrigues of the people involved. I love Ms. Lee's strong, women heroines and wish she had written many more books than she has. She does not fail here to create another admirable heroine who is in complete charge of her life and love. A very charming mystery with a slight romance.