Face Off

Seventeen-year-old Alex Petrovic is thrilled to be playing goal for Team British Columbia in an international hockey tournament. After a game against a team from eastern Europe, he shakes hands with the opposing goalie, Stefan Divac, and finds himself staring at his identical double. At first he dismisses it as an odd coincidence. Then his mother sees Stefan—and faints dead away. The chance meeting uncovers family secrets buried years ago in the wake of a civil war that tore apart their home country, and their family. When two war criminals from that conflict escape, Alex dreams about bringing them to justice. Can his dream become reality?

Discover the fast, fun art of drawing comic portraits! Face Off shows you how to draw life like never before. Caricaturist Harold Hamernik shares the secrets to capturing the sillier side of friends, family, celebrities, strangers—any face that crosses your path. 40 step-by-step demonstrations show you how to sketch whimsical and expressive likenesses while developing your own quick, loose, improvisational style. You'll get expert instruction on: • Drawing eyes, noses, mouths and other features. • Creating portraits in front, three-quarter and profile views. • Adding color to your caricatures, either by hand or via computer—instruction you won't find in any other book! • Tips for making a likeness more masculine (skip the eyelashes), more feminine (lengthen the neck), younger, older, sexier, goofier—all while making a portrait your subject will love. • How to draw hair as two simple lines, why drawing the parts of a face in the same order every time can cut minutes off your work, and tons of other handy tricks of the craft! Practice the simple techniques in this book, then start drawing! It's the most fun you can have with paper, pencils and markers!

Taiwan's first presidential election, in 1996, sparked a Sino-U.S. military showdown that resulted in the biggest show of U.S. naval force in East Asia since the Vietnam War. This book is the first to explore the origins and triangular dynamics of that historic confrontation. Analyzing the key decisions and misperceptions that led to the Taiwan Strait crisis, Garver warns that it may usher in a more confrontational era of Sino-U.S. relations. China is already emerging as an economic powerhouse and fears of its becoming an expansionist military power have grown in recent years as China has rapidly built up its armed forces since 1989. It has also adopted a more assertive stance in several territorial disputes with its neighbors, arousing new security concerns for Asia as a whole. When China tried to intimidate Taiwan's voters by firing missiles and conducting large-scale military exercises off its coasts in the period preceding the 1996 election, the U.S. dispatched two aircraft carrier battle groups to Taiwan. The prestige of all sides was fully engaged as powerful do domestic interests demanded an assertive posture. Eventually, China adopted a more cautious stance and the crisis passed. But it marked the first instance of Chinese nuclear coercion of the U.S. and gave the "China threat" new credence in the U.S. and elsewhere in Asia. The author has studied the Taiwan question for more than 30 years and has witnessed first-hand the growth and culmination of Taiwan's democratization. This sober, mature reflection of decades of thought is certain to inform the debate on the "China threat" and the future of Sino-U.S. relations.

JACOBS: For the last three years, I've lived and breathed hockey with one goal: team captain. There's only one thing standing in my way.TJ Beckett. Beck is irresponsible and immature, and I've hated him since the moment we met freshman year. Yet, the coaches see something in him I obviously can't, and they refuse to choose between us. The captain spot is going to a team vote. And the team thinks that what we need are a bunch of challenges to prove our worth. Challenges that have nothing to do with hockey. Challenges that are throwing me and Beck together. And he's still as infuriating as ever. BECK: I have no idea why Christopher Jacobs hates me, and I can't say I care. I like pushing his buttons, but the guy needs to loosen up. I'm going to win these stupid challenges easily and spend my senior year as hockey king on this campus. Tormenting Jacobs at the same time will just be a bonus. Even if I'm getting confusing feelings toward him, I won't let it hold me back. When it comes to competing, I'm all in, and nothing will get between me and the W.

When you're with Geronimo Stilton, it's always a fabumouse adventure! Everymouse on Mouse Island is squeaking about The Super Cup! My two favorite soccer teams, the Squeakers and the Turbo Cheese, had made it to the finals. But something suspicious was happening on the field. The Mighty Mice and the Sewer Rats seemed to be scoring without even trying! Could I get to the bottom of it before my two favorite teams are cheated out of their trophies?

A New York Times and USA TODAY bestseller! Edited by #1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci and including stories by Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Jeffery Deaver, and more, this one-of-a-kind anthology pulls together the most beloved characters from the best and most popular thriller series today. Worlds collide! In an unprecedented collaboration, twenty-three of the world’s bestselling and critically acclaimed thriller writers have paired their series characters—such as Harry Bosch, Jack Reacher, and Lincoln Rhyme—in an eleven-story anthology curated by the International Thriller Writers (ITW). All of the contributors to FaceOff are ITW members and the stories feature these dynamic duos: · Patrick Kenzie vs. Harry Bosch in “Red Eye,” by Dennis Lehane and Michael Connelly · John Rebus vs. Roy Grace in “In the Nick of Time,” by Ian Rankin and Peter James · Slappy the Ventriloquist Dummy vs. Aloysius Pendergast in “Gaslighted,” by R.L. Stine, Douglas Preston, and Lincoln Child · Malachai Samuels vs. D.D. Warren in “The Laughing Buddha,” by M.J. Rose and Lisa Gardner · Paul Madriani vs. Alexandra Cooper in “Surfing the Panther,” by Steve Martini and Linda Fairstein · Lincoln Rhyme vs. Lucas Davenport in “Rhymes With Prey,” by Jeffery Deaver and John Sandford · Michael Quinn vs. Repairman Jack in “Infernal Night,” by Heather Graham and F. Paul Wilson · Sean Reilly vs. Glen Garber in “Pit Stop,” by Raymond Khoury and Linwood Barclay · Wyatt Hunt vs. Joe Trona in “Silent Hunt,” by John Lescroart and T. Jefferson Parker · Cotton Malone vs. Gray Pierce in “The Devil’s Bones,” by Steve Berry and James Rollins · Jack Reacher vs. Nick Heller in “Good and Valuable Consideration,” by Lee Child and Joseph Finder So sit back and prepare for a rollicking ride as your favorite characters go head-to-head with some worthy opponents in FaceOff—it’s a thrill-a-minute read.

Just when she feels like she has life under control, Jessie McIntyre makes one wrong choice that changes everything.

New York Times bestselling author David Hagberg's acclaimed Kirk McGarvey series continues with another compelling and timely thriller in Face Off. Kirk McGarvey is lunching in the Eiffel Tower when terrorists attempt to bring the Paris icon down. He springs into action to stop the attack, only to find there’s a much larger plot at stake. One that aims to force the incompetent US President out by pitting him against Russia. But Putin himself is eager to avoid World War III. When a Russian nuclear weapon goes missing and is found heading to the US, Putin enlists McGarvey’s help in stopping it. The stakes couldn't be higher, and the outcome couldn't be more in doubt. Only McGarvey stands a chance of intervening before it’s too late, in a race against time across Paris, Istanbul, Moscow, and Washington, D.C. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.