Babysitting George

August, 2003. Celia Walden, a young reporter, receives an unusual phone call from her editor. She is to drop everything and fly to Malta in an attempt to track down a legendary footballer and keep him from the press. George Best, an alcoholic with his personal life in chaos, isn't, however, the easiest man to find. But the unlikely friendship that develops between George and Celia reveals an intelligent and complex human being. Babysitting George is a tender account of a unique relationship between a young woman and a dying star, which questions the exploitative nature of fame and tabloid journalism, the horrors of addiction and the humane, implausible friendships that can change one's life forever.

As a young reporter, Celia Walden receives an unusual assignment: track down a global superstar and keep him away from all other journalists. That man is soccer player George Best, who made his debut for Manchester United at age seventeen and was the star of a star team throughout the 1960s. Enormously skilled and ruggedly handsome, idolized by men and women alike, he was referred to as "the fifth Beatle," and still holds a firm place among the world's all-time best players. But in 2004, George Best is nearing sixty and deteriorating like a much older man. A notorious alcoholic and philanderer, he has just received a liver transplant and has Antabuse tablets sewn into his stomach lining. His wife has left him again. When Celia finds him in a bar in Malta, he isn't exactly delighted to see her. He's been chased by journalists all his life. Yet as Celia's assignment to "babysit" George around the clock stretches out over months, an unlikely sort of friendship develops, and she gets to know George as a funny, volatile, and complex human being, an avid reader and member of MENSA, ravaged by alcohol and gradually withering under the constant glare of the spotlight. Babysitting George is a tender account of a unique relationship between a young journalist and a dying star. It questions the exploitative nature of tabloid journalism; the terrifying, all-consuming nature of addiction; and the implausible meetings that can change one's life.

On Friday nights many parents want to have a little fun together—without the kids. But “getting a sitter”—especially a dependable one—rarely seems trouble-free. Will the kids be safe with “that girl”? It’s a question that discomfited parents have been asking ever since the emergence of the modern American teenage girl nearly a century ago. In Babysitter, Miriam Forman-Brunell brings critical attention to the ubiquitous, yet long-overlooked babysitter in the popular imagination and American history. Informed by her research on the history of teenage girls’ culture, Forman-Brunell analyzes the babysitter, who has embodied adults’ fundamental apprehensions about girls’ pursuit of autonomy and empowerment. In fact, the grievances go both ways, as girls have been distressed by unsatisfactory working conditions. In her quest to gain a fuller picture of this largely unexamined cultural phenomenon, Forman-Brunell analyzes a wealth of diverse sources, such as The Baby-sitter’s Club book series, horror movies like The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, urban legends, magazines, newspapers, television shows, pornography, and more. Forman-Brunell shows that beyond the mundane, understandable apprehensions stirred by hiring a caretaker to “mind the children” in one’s own home, babysitters became lightning rods for society’s larger fears about gender and generational change. In the end, experts’ efforts to tame teenage girls with training courses, handbooks, and other texts failed to prevent generations from turning their backs on babysitting.

A compulsively readable small-town thriller in the vein of Gillian Flynn, Carolyn Arnold, and Karin Slaughter, Shadow’s Keep is a mind-bending exploration of obsession, desperation, and how far we’ll go to protect those we love. "Dark, intense, and addictively twisted.” ~Bestselling Author Kristen Mae WHAT YOU CAN'T SEE CAN KILL. Deputy Sheriff William Shannahan doesn’t feel like a detective, at least not like the ones he admires on TV. Not that he needs to be; the small town of Graybel, Mississippi, is a peaceful place, with acres of farmland, neighbors who always take care of their own, and noise from the outside world muted by a hundred miles of forest. That silence is about to be broken. When a child is found dead in the woods, the medical examiner deems it a dog attack. But the paw prints belong to something far larger than any creature in the Mississippi forests, and what animal would remove the victim’s eyes? Though no one believes him, William can’t shake the feeling that a human killer lurks in the shadowed woods. And his girlfriend, Cassie, has a son the same age as the victim. Cassie Parker was raised amid horrors she’s long pushed from her mind, but her scars won’t let her forget. Nor do the hallucinations, dreams so vivid she can feel and smell and taste them. And no one is more terrified than Cassie when another victim is found mauled to death—because this body has been drained of blood. She knows exactly what type of person would sacrifice a child, and why they’re after hers. But how can she explain it to William? This is William’s chance to act like a detective, to protect the woman and child he’s desperate to save. Pushing back against prejudice and presumption, he uncovers a trail of cruelty that spans decades, but each clue brings him closer to a truth more horrifying than killer beasts in the forest. For concealed beneath small-town politics is knowledge that will shatter everything he knows to be true about his town—and the people in it. “O’Flynn weaves elements of the procedural and the occult into a masterful psychological thriller replete with staggering, unpredictable twists. Readers should beware any notion that they can predict the ending of Shadow’s Keep. Believe me, reader, you cannot.” ~Bestselling Author Wendy Heard *** KEYWORDS: female protagonist, serial killer novels, female serial killer, amateur sleuths, whodunnit mystery, whodunit thriller, psychological suspense, suspense fiction, suspense book, nail biting fiction, nail biter mystery, vigilante justice, edge of your seat suspense, dark crime, serial killer, kidnapping, revenge, vengeance, hardboiled, mystery suspense thriller series, hard-boiled mysteries, female protagonist, pulp, murder, noir, noir thriller, crime noir, hard-boiled mystery, police procedural, crime, noir, gritty detective novels, psychological thrillers, serial killers, crime thrillers, crime fiction, hard boiled detective, hardboiled detective fiction, hard boiled noir, hard boiled crime, gritty mysteries, mystery books, psychological thrillers, psychological suspense, psychological thriller books, noir, pulp, nail biter mysteries, wise cracking detective, detective partners, crime fiction, murder mystery, serial killer thriller, whodunit, whodunnit, nail-biter, intense mystery, suspense fiction, family drama, small town mystery, occult thriller, occult mystery, dark and suspenseful

Do you love tightly-plotted thrillers replete with staggering, unpredictable twists? This boxed set includes three breathtaking psychological standalone novels from clinical therapist turned bestselling author Meghan O’Flynn—nearly 1100 unputdownable pages! If you liked Gillian Flynn’s Dark Places, Stephen King’s Mr. Mercedes, or Nick Cutter’s The Troop, you’ll love Meghan O’Flynn. “Intense. Feral. Deliciously unhinged.” ~Bestselling Author Kristen Mae “Wonderfully twisted…sucked me in, made my skin crawl, and kept hold of me. I couldn’t put them down.” ~Trisha Reynolds, Wide World of Books SHADOW’S KEEP When a child is found mauled to death in the woods, the medical examiner says it was a dog attack — but deputy sheriff William Shannahan believes the killer was human. To solve the case, he must turn to his girlfriend, Cassie Parker, who knows more than she’s letting on… A compulsively readable thriller in the vein of Gillian Flynn, Carolyn Arnold, and Karin Slaughter, Shadow’s Keep is a mind-bending exploration of obsession, desperation, and how far we’ll go to protect those we love. THE FLOOD Seven people. A locked storm shelter. Inevitable starvation. What could you do to survive? Victoria and her husband, Chad, are rescued from a devastating flood by a mysterious woman named Windy. But why does the bunker lock from the outside — and why do all the other evacuees seem to be hiding something? A refuge turns into a nightmarish prison in this chilling thriller. THE JILTED A vanished loved one. An ancient evil. And only one woman knows the two are connected. Distressed by her fiancé’s sudden disappearance, Chloe Anderson seeks answers at an old plantation steeped in dreadful history — even as her horrifying nightmares begin to appear during her waking hours… *** KEYWORDS: Vigilante justice, dark crime, serial killer, kidnapping, revenge, vengeance, small town detective, small town thriller, small down mystery and suspense, edge of your seat suspense, hardboiled, mystery suspense thriller series, hard-boiled mysteries, female protagonist, pulp, murder, female lawyer protagonist, noir, noir thriller, crime noir, hard-boiled mystery, police procedural, mystery series, crime, noir, gritty detective novels, psychological thrillers, serial killers, crime thrillers, crime fiction, hard boiled detective, hardboiled detective fiction, hard boiled noir, hard boiled crime, gritty mysteries, mystery series books, psychological thrillers, psychological suspense, psychological thriller books, noir, pulp, nail biter mysteries, wise cracking detective, detective partners, crime fiction, urban murder mystery, serial killer thriller, female protagonist, whodunit, whodunnit, nail-biter, intense mystery, suspense fiction, psychological domestic suspense, family drama, gothic horror, demonic thrillers, ghost horror, supernatural, dark and suspenseful

“I'm so happy this collection exists. I feel drunk with love for these stories. They're so funny and weird and true.” —Sheila Heti Five stories―several as long as novellas―introduce the world to Jen George, a writer whose furiously imaginative new voice calls to mind Donald Barthelme and Leonora Carrington no less than Kathy Acker and Chris Kraus. In “Guidance/The Party,” an ethereal alcoholic “Guide” in robes and flowing hair appears to help a thirty-three-year-old woman prepare a party for her belated adulthood; “Take Care of Me Forever” tragically lambasts the medical profession as a ship of fools afloat in loneliness and narcissism; “Instruction” chronicles a season in an unconventional art school called The Warehouse, where students divide their time between orgies, art critiques, and burying dead racehorses. Combining slapstick, surrealism, erotica, and social criticism, Jen George's sprawling creative energy belies the secret precision and unexpected tenderness of everything she writes.

Sydney, a six-year-old charmer, wants to hire detectives to find her mother. Her father, Henderson, is an inmate in O triple C. (Oahu Community Correctional Center). He's scheduled to testify against the Mafia in Las Vegas, has been framed, and his life is in danger in the prison. Syd's mother has been kidnapped by prison guards who mistakenly believe that Henderson has stolen three hundred thousand dollars. Dick and George rescue the mother, but Dick is shot in the shoulder. They need ten thousand dollars to hire the notorious lawyer who will certainly spring the father. They stage a phony kidnapping to raise the money, move Maggie their receptionist to Seattle to impersonate a branch office. They get the father out of jail, and move the entourage to Seattle. Now they must get Henderson to Las Vegas in time to testify, but because Wickersham, the world's number one detective agency, has been hired to find Henderson, they dare not use a credit card.When Henderson's driver’s license number is broadcast in Bakersfield, California, George, and Maggie take off with the cars, hoping to lead the detective agency astray, leaving Dick and Henderson with very little time and very little money to get to Vegas any way they can. In the final dash, they drive a stolen cop car up the steps of the courthouse just minutes late.