Thriller (book)

infobox Book |
name = Thriller
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author = James Patterson
illustrator =
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country = United States
language = English
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genre = Thriller
publisher = Mira Books
release_date = June, 2006
media_type = Print (Paperback)
pages = 552 pp
isbn = ISBN 1-741-16335-8
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"Thriller" is a collection of 30 thriller short stories from multiple authors in one book. It is edited by James Patterson.

Short Stories

*James Penney's New Identity by Lee Child

In Laney, California, a man named James Penney is fired after working for seventeen years. Infuriated, James burns down his house and decides to start a new life. However, the fire had spread across the neighborhood and James is 'wanted for arson'. Now a wanted 'criminal', James meets up with a military cop, Jack Reacher, who sympathises with him and helps him out of his predicament. But Jack may not be all he's cracked up to be...

*Operation Northwoods by James Grippando

A massive fire across a US Naval Station in Cuba is originated from a plane crash that is believed to contain a large quantity of napalm. The area of the naval station on fire was housed for suspected terrorists. In Miami, Florida, the FBI receive an anonymous tip that a man named Jack Swyteck, a defense lawyer, is in danger. A SWAT Team is sent to investigate his home only to find that Jack is alone and perfectly safe. The leader of the SWAT team informs Jack of how the fire in Cuba began from a plane crash that was piloted by one of Jack's clients, Jean Saint Preux. Jack informs the SWAT team leader that Jean mentioned an 'Operation Northwoods'.

*Kill Zone by Robert Liparulo

As police sniper Byron Stone watches through a rifle's scope, a man in an apartment terrorizes a mother and her two children. He fears missing his target, granting the hostage-taker a final opportunity to complete his dirty work. But when he takes his shot, we realize everything is not as it appears to be...

*Epitaph by J. A. Konrath

A paid killer, Phin, is hired by a Chinese man named Ti to avenge his daughter, Sunny Lung, who was killed by a gang known as the 'Kings'. Phin, after having received a beating from the Kings, breaches the gang's headquarters and kills the men responsible for Sunny's death, using Sunny's cremated remains as bullets.

*The Face In The Window by Heather Graham

A dangerous storm rips through Florida, where an evacuation notice has been spread throughout part of the state. Beth Henson, a woman whose husband, Keith has been sent to rescue an elderly woman caught behind in the evacuation, stays in her house during the evacuation progress. A man stumbles into her house seeking shelter, but Beth suspects that he is a serial killer. Meanwhile Keith enters the elderly woman's home, only to find that she is unconscious inside the trunk of her car. A youth found around the woman's house claims to be her nephew, however Keith also suspects that he is a serial killer. Back in the house, Beth launched an attack on her guest, hitting him on the head with a frying pan. Freaked out, she flees out of the house to the shed where the youth is found holding a knife to her neck. Keith arrives at the house and whilst searching for the youth, bumps into the man who was hit by a frying pan. Keith locks him in a room and exits the house to the shed. The three of enter once again into the house where the man ambushes them and takes Beth hostage. Beth retaliated and attacked the man again with a frying pan, leaving him unconscious.

*Empathy by James Siegel

The author, whose name is unmentioned, has an affair with a hotel masseuse, Kelly. Kelly tells him that she is an empath, someone who can sense one's emotions by touch. She tells him of a man in whom she sensed a very strong evil, and that the man is a pedophile. The author is very moved, because he feels that he caused his younger brother's suicide by not saying anything about the pedophile priest that it is implied they were both abused by. He seeks out to kill the man whom Kelly mentioned. After killing the man, the author meets with a friend of Kelly, who informs him that Kelly was divorced with a son. She tells him that Kelly was a drug addict and that she poisoned her son against his father. Realizing that he had killed Kelly's inoccent ex-husband, the author set out to kill Kelly and avenge the man whom he had killed. In the end it is implied that the author commits suicide.

*Kowalski's In Love by James Rollins

Seaman Joe Kowalski swims onto a small island after his boat was accidentally blown up by a gas leak. He is met upon Dr. Shay Rosauro who informs him that the island is infected with a transgenic rhabdovirus, and that the island is scheduled to be bombed by the Brazilian Navy at 0900 hours; in less than half an hour. Shay herself had dropped off the island to retrieve the only antidotes to the virus, an evac helicopter scheduled to pick her up at 0855 hours. However, the island is amassed with booby traps, and it isn't long until Shay falls for a trap, breaking her leg. Kowalski offers to retrieve the antidotes himself, whilst Shay makes for the evac dropsite. Shay reluctantly agrees, making for the dropsite but getting caught in another booby trap. Meanwhile, Kowalski had bumped into Gabriella Salazar, a woman who also sought for the antidotes. Attempting to kill him, Kowalski shot and killed Gabriella in self-defense, retrieving the antidotes in turn. However, the evac had lifted off the island, but there was a boat that was meant for Gabriella in which Shay and Kowalski escaped in.

*The Hunt For Dmitri by Gayle Lynds

Dmitri Garnitsky is on the hitlist of a professional assassin, the Carnivore, who has a reputation for never failing. After being tipped off, Dmitri leaves his home away from the danger, but he doesn't get far until he is met by the Carnivore, and later Oleg Olenkov, the man who hired the Carnivore. The Carnivore, however, is angry at Olenkov's demands, and shoots him in the chest, leaving Dmitri unharmed. Many years later, Olenkov catches up with the Carnivore's daughter, Liz Sansborough, a psychologist. Pretending to be one 'Arkady Albam', Olenkov leads Sansborough to his apartment, where he tells her the story of how he got shot. He then revealed himself to be Olenkov, and moments later Dmitri entered the apartment, shocked that his attempted killer was there. The three of them engaged in a violent struggle, resulting in Olenkov unconscious and harmless.

*Disfigured by Michael Palmer & Daniel Palmer

Dr. George Hill and his ex-wife Maura Hill receive a letter that their son had been kidnapped and that if they wanted to see their son alive again, George would have to inject isopropyl alcohol in the sides of one of his client's faces during surgery. The victim's name was Audra Meadows and she had a husband, Alec Meadows, who owned the Alec Meadows Company. Maura sneaked into the Meadow's household, hoping to rescue her son inside. After witnessing Alec rape his wife, she searched the house without success in finding her son. Leaving the household, Maura went out to one of the properties that was owned by A.R. Meadows, only to find the property was owned by one "Ambrose" Meadows. Maura left the compound to search for Dr. Simon Rubenstein, a doctor who had prescribed Audra's pills. It was then it was discovered that Audra had threatened Maura's son's life herself without the knowledge of her husband, believing that if she were disfigured, her husband would reject her, and then she'd be free from the mental and sexual abuse her husband had done to her. Just before the surgery, Maura and Dr. Rubenstein managed to put a stop to it, confronting Audra and persuading her to put a stop to her madness.

*The Abelard Sanction by David Morrell

Saul Grisman and his wife, Erika, are on a hunt to kill Habib, a terrorist who killed their son. Following Habib to a sanction known as the Abelard Sanction, Erika reveals sticks of dynamite around her waist, threatening the sanction and Habib's, her own's and her husband's lives. She offers Habib a chance to escape, allowing him a 24 hour head start. However, the dynamite was revealed to be a fake, and the detonator actually triggered explosives on both sides of Habib's vehicle, killing him.

*Falling by Chris Mooney

Marlena, an FBI agent, is sent to plant a transmitter on an ex-FBI agent, Malcolm Fletcher. Fletcher is now one of the FBI's Most Wanted after killing three of the FBI's federal agents. However, the assignment went horribly wrong, and now Marlena is ordered to disengage, escaping the island by boat. One of her co-workers, Barry Jacobs, revealed that he worked for someone else who wanted the FBI to be out of the way. After killing FBI Special Agent Owen Lee, Jacobs paralyzed Marlena and but then was tied up by Fletcher, who saved Marlena and left her with a helpless Jacobs.

*Success Of A Mission by Dennis Lynds

Captain Paul Hareet and Lieutenant Greta Frank are assigned to retrieve information on where an Arabic country's ammunition is kept, three days before the country attacks. The couple are disguised as American tourists. After retrieving the information, Hareet was shot and killed whilst attempting to escape, but managed to supply the information to the American Defense.

*The Portal by John Lescroart & M.J. Rose

Lucy Delrey, a nymphomaniac, is in therapy confessing that she has no feelings for anything. After two months of therapy, she realizes that her loss of emotion was originated by the disappearance of her childhood hero, Frank Millay. She decides to find out where he lives and seduce him, exposing him to his wife for leaving her when she was a kid. However, Frank strangled and killed her, saying that he couldn't let anyone 'find out'. The killing was recorded on video and Frank was arrested.

*The Double Dealer by David Liss

Fisher, an aging highwayman, tells the story of an encounter with another highwayman, Benjamin Weaver back in the 1710s. Weaver and his friend, Thomas Lane, are attacked by Fisher and his crime partner, Ruddy Dick. After Lane was knocked out, Weaver swung around and beheaded Dick, Fisher grabbing the money and fleeing from the scene. A year later, Fisher befriends a man known as Farting Dan, whose character is portrayed from his nickname. Whilst robbing an equipage, Weaver interferes and kills Dan, but ends up getting shot by Fisher. Fisher then returns to his home with the equipage's horseman, Phillip, trying to get him to pick a valuable lock. Phillip then revealed himself to be Weaver, and that in their encounter a year ago Fisher had mistaken Lane for Weaver and vise versa. Lane, however, is not dead; the gun Fisher used was faulty and the entire robbery deaths were staged. Farting Dan entered and the two of them retrieved the boxes.

*Dirty Weather by Gregg Hurwitz

A bar in a small, ransackled town is under armed robbery. Rick Jacobs manages to scare off the robber who was after a load of cash in a safe. After pocketing the cash, Jacobs and a maid who worked at the bar escaped the road-blocked town. A while later, Jacobs revealed himself to have faked the robbery scene with his crime partner, knocking the maid out and stealing the money.

*Spirit Walker by David Dun

*At The Drop Of A Hat by Denise Hamilton

*The Other Side Of The Mirror by Eric Van Lustbader

*Man Catch by Christopher Rice

*Goodnight, Sweet Mother by Alex Kava

*Sacrificial Lion by Grant Blackwood

*Interlude At Duane's by F. Paul Wilson

*The Powder Monkey by Ted Bell

*Surviving Toronto by M. Diane Vogt

*Assassins by Christopher Reich

*The Athens Solution by Brad Thor

*Diplomatic Constraints by Raelynn Hillhouse

*The Devil's Due by Steve Berry

*The Tuesday Club by Katherine Neville

*Gone Fishing by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child