Showing results by narrator "James Patrick Cronin" in All Categories

His abductors forced him to a lying position in the box, placed a lid on top, jammed in four lengths of 3/4-inch plastic pipe for breathing tubes, and started shoveling in dirt to fill the hole. To cover their handiwork, they scattered some worn-out tires over the burial site. Then they drove away.

There was no distress call, no warning. The airliner and its 115 passengers and crew simply vanished. Get the story behind the detective work that solved the mystery.

Presenting the best real-life military stories from its recently digitized archives, Reader's Digest continues its nearly century-long commitment to publishing gripping content and begins another great tradition here: supporting our troops.

In Modern Families, Joshua Gamson brings us extraordinary family creation tales - his own included - that illuminate this changing world of contemporary kinship. Combining personal memoir and ethnographic storytelling, Modern Families tells a variety of unconventional family-creation tales - adoption and assisted reproduction, gay and straight parents, coupled and single, and multi-parent families - set against the social, legal, and economic contexts in which they were made.

To salvage his broken-down ranch, near-bankrupt Ben Pearce devises a hunting scheme, the consequences of which he cannot begin to imagine. The prey: three rare, fierce cats - a leopard and two mountain lions caught in the wild. The predators: an arrogant Texas millionaire, his beautiful but disturbed wife, and their near-psychopathic teenage son. Each of them will hunt one of the animals with only Ben as guide: first the wife, then the son, and finally the Texan.

Nathaniel Carter was stunned by the verdict: guilty - with 25 years to life in prison. To the police, it was an open-and-shut case. To Carter's family and a few concerned friends, it would become a crusade for justice.

Humanity has always looked to the heavens, curiosity urging them to take flight. After a failed mission to go beyond the borders of Earth’s solar system, a new fleet has been built ready to tackle any threat they may discover. But sometimes danger seeks out victims, and just as they are preparing to depart, two ships arrive on the edge of their space. Unsure if these invaders are friendly or hostile, the Behemoth, the flagship of the fleet and only real military vessel, prepares for battle.

Clara and Henrik are married and living in a beautiful inherited villa in Oslo. She is a single-mindedly ambitious child-rights activist at the Ministry of Justice. Having grown up in rural Western Norway, she is also an Oslo outsider. Henrik is a doctor from a well-to-do Oslo family. Though their marriage is under serious strain, they share a devotion to their twin sons and their work. Then a Pakistani Norwegian child is admitted to Henrik’s hospital and dies in his care. The boy had clearly been the victim of child abuse. Soon after, a related murder rocks the city.

For stage magician Quinn Bradley, he thought his time in Alissia was over. He’d done his job for the mysterious company CASE Global Enterprises, and now his name is finally on the marquee of one of the biggest Vegas casinos. And yet, for all the accolades, he definitely feels something is missing. He can create the most amazing illusions on Earth, but he’s also tasted true power. Real magic. He misses it. Luckily - or not - CASE Global is not done with him, and they want him to go back.

Matheus believes that getting Quin back will help him deal with the pressures of a vampiric war, but his hopes crumble after his soulmate fails to remember him. The tattered remnant of their mystical connection appears to drive Quin's erratic suicidal behavior, threatening their bond and their very existence. While Matheus pines for his former love, a hurt and betrayed Alastair must watch the man he loves chase another. Feeling inadequate as a leader, Matheus searches for a way to make Quin remember him, no matter the cost.

Lew Sherry and Pete Lang accept an offer they simply can't resist. Oliver Wilton is willing to pay the cowboys $1,000 a day for ten days to protect him from danger that has him living in a state of terror. A seafaring man has arrived at the inn in town and has made no secret of the fact that he's come to settle a score with Wilton.

In this last volume, the desperate fight to recover the Panarchy of the Thousand Suns is about to commence. Brandon hai-Arkad has been crowned emperor, but his throne remains in the hands of his enemy, Jerrod Eusabian of Dol'jhar. The fleet has been gathered, the order of battle drawn. Brandon will reclaim his father's empire or face annihilation. This is the exciting conclusion to the Exordium series.

A beautiful, dangerous world of subtle radiation, its people still human...by most standards. A place where genetics may determine your present, but skill and luck will determine your future. A planet where there is enough love...and hate...for everyone.

In a time when prisons no longer contain inmates behind concrete and steel, the convicted serve their time while asleep, rehabilitating in virtual reality while blissfully unaware of their crimes. Roger Parker is a professional prison breaker, skilled at navigating these strange penal dream worlds and extracting those imprisoned there - for a price. Parker wants out of the game, but a powerful senator, desperate to save his son, convinces Parker to pull one last job.

The year is AD 2790. With space elevators and giant orbital fleets hovering over Earth, open war looks inevitable, and people are anxious to get away. The lines are drawn, with the Confederacy in the East and the First World Alliance in the West. In hopes of finding a refuge from the looming war, the Alliance is sending Captain Alexander de Leon to explore an Earth-type planet, code-named Wonderland, but at the last minute before launch, a Confederate fleet leaves orbit on a trajectory that threatens both the mission and Alliance sovereignty.

Ben’s back - and this time he means business. Family business...Benedict Macallan, protagonist of Dead of Light and wonder-worker malgr lui, has travelled the length and breadth of Europe and still discovered no family like his own. Maybe Macallan blood really is a biological sport, a freak of evolution. What Ben does discover is that he can’t escape his birthright. He can run to the sun and hide among strangers, but he can’t hide his powers from himself, and when a friend asks for help he has to use them.

In a provincial town on Lake Constance, Johann basks in the affection of the colorful staff and regulars at the Station Restaurant. Though his parents struggle to make ends meet, around him the world is rich in mystery: the attraction of girls; the power of words and his gift for music; his rivalry with his best friend, Adolf, son of the local Brownshirt leader; a circus that comes to town bringing Anita, whose love he and Adolf compete to win.

When Benedict left home, it was maybe the first time he'd stood up to his family. It was also meant to be the last. "No contact," he said. "I'm disinvesting." In all honesty, they weren't sorry to see him go. Ben had never had their talent, never had the family spark. When you run a city - especially the way the Macallans ran theirs - the last thing you need is a reluctant passenger.

Let's go back to the night I turned 13, the night Grandpa filleted my finger with his cane sword. I can't say what terrified me more, the cold anger in his eyes or the crazy things in his locked study. A talking trunk. Squirming coats. A bookshelf whose titles shifted before my eyes. And one chilling title in particular: Book of Souls. Ten years later I'm on my way to a Romanian monastery, in search of that lost book. But I'm not the only one. Three others have beaten me to the local village: two researchers and...

When New York City unveils a program to roast supernaturals, I wonder if I should be sweating. The bloodthirsty Arnaud thinks so, and he's insisting that our survival depends on a wizard-vampire alliance. Never mind his history of wanting me dead. Or undead. Meanwhile, the mayor wants me on his team - an offer that's only slightly less unnerving given our recent clash. So who's really behind the purge? City Hall? The werewolves? Or is it the brainchild of the fae, whose newest advisor to the mayor slipped from my bed and life four months ago?