Showing results by narrator "Mike Ortego" in All Categories

In the dim glow of a majestic beach house shrouded in the fog, Detective Matt Jones stands amidst the chaos of a crime scene that whispers of a story untold, a secret so potent it claimed the lives of a writer, his wife and young daughter. The air is thick with the metallic scent of blood and the silent echoes of a family's last moments. The Los Angeles Times will mourn one of its own, and the City of Angels will buzz with rumors and fear. But for Matt Jones, this isn't just another murder case; it's a personal vendetta against the shadows that snatch away the innocent.

Does the idea of progress still apply to our times? If so, what does progress really mean? Today, many believe that progress is a word to be avoided, a relic from a past, the dangerous product of an era of intellectual naivety that would be best forgotten. Yet, the idea of progress is rooted in a human impulse that is both profound and essential, a way of interpreting history without which our ability to plan the future, our very identity would be at stake.

Marked by a sure grasp of unusual subject matter and unfurling in gorgeous prose, the stories in You Should Pity Us Instead explore some of our toughest dilemmas: the cost of Middle East strife at its most intimate level, the likelihood of God considered in day-to-day terms, the moral stakes of family obligations, and the inescapable fact of mortality. Also, fundamentally, love in its many guises - family, romantic, friendship - each ensnared by rigorous demands and responsibilities.

Published to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, an unforgettable never-before-told first-person account of World War II: the true story of an American paratrooper who survived D-Day, was captured and imprisoned in a Nazi work camp, and made a daring escape to freedom. Now at 95, one of the few living members of the Greatest Generation shares his experiences at last in one of the most remarkable World War II stories ever told.

Set in the waning years of the Cold War, a stunning debut novel about a trio of young Armenians that moves from the Soviet Union, across Europe, to Southern California, and at its center, one of the most tragic cataclysms in twentieth-century history - the Armenian Genocide - whose traumatic reverberations will have unexpected consequences on all three lives.

An old soldier's last request spirals into a worldwide search to recover the remains of seven missing GIs from World War II. A four-person team of both military and civilian volunteers conduct the investigation. All they have to work with is a list of names. Their only motivation is to honor the fallen and give closure to their families. Or is there some other unknown purpose at play?

The latest Ecco reissue of Joyce Carol Oates’ early classics: a fiery gothic tale of doomed fates and demons of biblical proportions in rural New York state. Nathan Vickery came into the world amid unfortunate circumstances. His mother, Elsa Vickery, daughter of an agnostic small town doctor and his pious wife, was brutally assaulted at the age of 17. The son she gave birth to in the wake of this event is brought up by his grandmother as a devoted Christian. At the age of seven, Nathan begins to see visions of Christ and embarks on a path as a prodigy boy-preacher.

Going well beyond first aid, this manual describes medical secrets used by an experienced African mission doctor and former assistant professor of emergency medicine at Harvard Medical School. The tips are pragmatic, affordable, and useful for anyone from medics to laypersons but are particularly aimed at people who work and live in remote areas with scarce resources. The subjects cover antibiotic therapy, advanced care of complex wounds, laceration closure with glue, malaria, oral rehydration therapy, fecal transplantation, and more.

The violent racism of the American South drove Wayne Flynt away from his home state of Alabama, but the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee's classic novel about courage, community, and equality, inspired him to return in the early 1960s and craft a career documenting and teaching Alabama history. His writing resonated with many Alabamians, in particular three sisters: Louise, Alice, and Nelle Harper Lee. Beginning with their first meeting in 1983, a mutual respect and affection for the state's history and literature matured into a deep friendship.

Thirty years after they walked hand in hand to the electric chair, sentenced to die for giving the gift of the atom bomb to the Soviet Union, Solomon and Dolores Rubell are the targets of a new investigation - conducted not by the FBI, or some paranoid Senate subcommittee, but by Gerald Lerner, boyhood Communist and author of such classic chronicles of the American Jewish experience as Hot Pastrami Sandwich and Kosher and Topless.

In the aptly titled Offbeat, Richard Matheson, a modern master of strange fiction, offers 13 excursions into the unsettling and bizarre. In these stories you will encounter a major league pitcher with a horrific secret for his astonishing success; an ordinary man who wakes to find himself in a silent, empty world; a death row prisoner with an extraordinary explanation for his innocence; and a novelist whose fictional creations transcend the printed page.

Dragon Rebirth picks up where Dragon Soul left off. The plot line intensifies, new characters are introduced and the arena for the battle with the creatures attacking the Palmir People broadens as the story progresses. Mixed in all this, there are poignant moments of loss, love, spiritual growth and maturity as the characters face their fears and find within themselves the means to survive and prepare to prevail against the incursions.

The Last Jump is a war story, a mystery, a love tale, and a tribute to the people who won World War II. Fact and fiction intermix seamlessly to unravel a secret passionately guarded by four aging soldiers. The reader is transported back in time to an imperfect America, with all is incredible virtues and vexing shortcomings struggling with racial and gender issues while fighting for its very survival. It was time when Americans stood shoulder to shoulder to free the world from tyranny.

Panic strikes at the highest levels of the French government when the former president is found hanging from the rafters in his home right after a terrorist attack at the airport. Is it suicide or assassination? Freelance operative John Spencer Larivière, his karate-trained partner, Victoire, and their computer-genius sidekick, Luc, must find out what he was hiding. Quickly the investigation turns into a globe-spanning confrontation in a world of high-frequency trading where manipulation and corruption reign.

The killer liked to watch them drown. First they gasped for breath. Then they thrashed around. Why did they even bother to struggle? They all ended up the same; floating dead in the water. Dr. Dean Grant, head of Criminal Forensic Medicine, was Chicago's expert on serial killings. Corpses were his business. But Grant's skills, cunning, and experience may not be enough to stop a psychopath from turning the city into his own private drowning pool.

Clarence “Cat” Touchette, an elderly and very rich Cajun farm owner, is acting as campaign advisor for his friend, Simon, who is a candidate for parish sheriff. When Simon is threatened with blackmail, Clarence, with the help of his blind brother-in-law, J.O., and his friend and employee, Tee Man, investigates the threat. Cat resents getting old and irritability invades his personality in dealing with his family, friends, adversaries and associates. The discovery of a stray dog among his cattle affects him in a manner that even he has difficulty understanding.

Forged in the hot West Texas wind, the Allen brothers grew up. Johnny and Coy had the same parents, same environment, and had the same advantages and disadvantages. Yet they would grow up to be so different. Coy, the younger Allen brother, grew up to be a successful Baptist Pastor; Johnny, a death row inmate. With years of separation and a wall of bitterness and rage, can these two men come together? Can there be reconciliation? This is a story of murder, mystery, and redemption.

A fast-paced combination of environmental catastrophe, geopolitical stakes, freelance spies and Bond-like action. The Arctic ice caps are breaking up. Europe and the East Coast of the United States brace for a tidal wave. Meanwhile, former French intelligence officer John Spencer Larivire, his karate-trained, steamy Eurasian partner, Victoire, and their computer-genius sidekick, Luc, pick up an ordinary freelance assignment that quickly leads them into the glacial silence of the great north, where a merciless war is being waged.

More than 30 years have passed since Al Capp's death, and he may no longer be a household name. But at the height of his career, his groundbreaking comic strip, Li'l Abner, reached 90 million readers. With unprecedented access to Capp's archives and a wealth of new material, Michael Schumacher and Denis Kitchen have produced a probing biography. Capp's story is one of incredible highs and lows, of popularity and villainy, of success and failure - told here with authority and heart.

Each December 7 we commemorate the anniversary of the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. All of the US Navy's aircraft carriers survived that assault. The central theme of this audio mini-book describes the pivotal role played by those surviving American aircraft carriers in the first year of the war. The article also briefly describes all of the Japanese and American aircraft carriers in service at the time and their relative strengths and weaknesses.