Hitman

After almost four decades in the music business, David Foster -- producer, arranger, songwriter, performer -- is finally ready to talk. In this compelling and outspoken memoir, Foster shares some of his incredible stories: the first time he met Barbra Streisand, as a young session player in Los Angeles; his first of 15 Grammys® for "After the Love Has Gone," Earth, Wind & Fire's memorable hit; the making of Unison, Celine Dion's English-language debut; the challenges he faced on his way to putting the group Chicago back on the charts; his award-winning contribution to Unforgettable: With Love, Natalie Cole's comeback album; those back-to-back recording sessions with Madonna and Michael Jackson; and the incredible chain of events that spawned Whitney Houston's historic blockbuster, "I Will Always Love You." Foster has worked with superstars of every decade, including: Celine Dion - Josh Groban - Whitney Houston - Michael Bublé - Barbra Streisand - Andrea Bocelli - Madonna - Michael Jackson - Natalie Cole - George Harrison - Earth, Wind & Fire - *NSYNC - Chicago - Paul McCartney - All-4-One - Katharine McPhee - Toni Braxton - Alice Cooper - Olivia Newton-John - Michael Bolton ...and many more. From his unique and privileged vantage point, Foster describes the delicate balancing act between artist and producer, offers revealing portraits of some of those artists at work, and shares his secrets for success in the maddeningly fickle music industry. At its heart, this is the story of a boy with perfect pitch who grew up to become one of the most influential musical forces of our time -- the solid gold hitman who produced the soundtrack of our lives.

Perkins, a former chief economist at a Boston strategic-consulting firm, confesses he was an "economic hit man" for 10 years, helping U.S. intelligence agencies and multinationals cajole and blackmail foreign leaders into serving U.S. foreign policy and awarding lucrative contracts to American business.

In his own words, Bret Hart’s honest, perceptive, startling account of his life in and out of the pro wrestling ring. The sixth-born son of the pro wrestling dynasty founded by Stu Hart and his elegant wife, Helen, Bret Hart is a Canadian icon. As a teenager, he could have been an amateur wrestling Olympic contender, but instead he turned to the family business, climbing into the ring for his dad’s western circuit, Stampede Wrestling. From his early twenties until he retired at 43, Hart kept an audio diary, recording stories of the wrestling life, the relentless travel, the practical jokes, the sex and drugs, and the real rivalries (as opposed to the staged ones). The result is an intimate, no-holds-barred account that will keep readers, not just wrestling fans, riveted. Hart achieved superstardom in pink tights, and won multiple wrestling belts in multiple territories, for both the WWF (now the WWE) and WCW. But he also paid the price in betrayals (most famously by Vince McMahon, a man he had served loyally); in tragic deaths, including the loss of his brother Owen, who died when a stunt went terribly wrong; and in his own massive stroke, most likely resulting from a concussion he received in the ring, and from which, with the spirit of a true champion, he has battled back. Widely considered by his peers as one of the business’s best technicians and workers, Hart describes pro wrestling as part dancing, part acting, and part dangerous physical pursuit. He is proud that in all his years in the ring he never seriously hurt a single wrestler, yet did his utmost to deliver to his fans an experience as credible as it was exciting. He also records the incredible toll the business takes on its workhorses: he estimates that twenty or more of the wrestlers he was regularly matched with have died young, weakened by their own coping mechanisms, namely drugs, alcohol, and steroids. That toll included his own brother-in-law, Davey Boy Smith. No one has ever written about wrestling like Bret Hart. No one has ever lived a life like Bret Hart’s. For as long as I can remember, my world was filled with liars and bullshitters, losers and pretenders, but I also saw the good side of pro wrestling. To me there is something bordering on beautiful about a brotherhood of big tough men who pretended to hurt one another for a living instead of actually doing it. Any idiot can hurt someone. —from Hitman

Hitman's Lies is book 2 of A Bound to the Hitman Romance trilogy. Book 3, Hitman's Wife, is available everywhere now! I'LL GIVE HIM MY BODY IF IT WILL PROTECT MY BABY. He had my name on his hit list. But I couldn't leave my baby without a mother. So I made him a deal: Take my body. Leave my baby. And to my horrified surprise… he accepted. I always knew my ex was a crazy S.O.B. But hiring an assassin to murder me in my sleep? That's more than insane. That's downright evil. But there's no stopping it now. And when the hitman kicks down my door, I know I'll do whatever it takes to protect my little angel. The only problem is, I have no bargaining chips. Except for one thing… My body. I can tell by the way the killer looks at me that he wants a taste. I've sworn off men since my ex abused me. But I'll break any promise if it means my baby survives. The sickest thing of all is that part of me WANTS the hitman to take me. Those hands have done dirty things. And I want to see what they can do to me. Submitting to him is the sweetest sin I've ever committed. But Evan's employer doesn't take kindly to a failed job. And just as soon as I fall into the hitman's arms, we have to go running for our lives. It would be cute if it wasn't so terrifying. Like a little family on the road – me, my man, and my baby. But if his employer's men catch up to us… There will be hell to pay.

The incredible true story of the decade-long quest to bring down Paul Le Roux—the creator of a frighteningly powerful Internet-enabled cartel who merged the ruthlessness of a drug lord with the technological savvy of a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. “A tour de force of shoe-leather reporting—undertaken, amid threats and menacing, at considerable personal risk.”—Los Angeles Times NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • NPR • Evening Standard • Kirkus Reviews It all started as an online prescription drug network, supplying hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of painkillers to American customers. It would not stop there. Before long, the business had turned into a sprawling multinational conglomerate engaged in almost every conceivable aspect of criminal mayhem. Yachts carrying $100 million in cocaine. Safe houses in Hong Kong filled with gold bars. Shipments of methamphetamine from North Korea. Weapons deals with Iran. Mercenary armies in Somalia. Teams of hit men in the Philippines. Encryption programs so advanced that the government could not break them. The man behind it all, pulling the strings from a laptop in Manila, was Paul Calder Le Roux—a reclusive programmer turned criminal genius who could only exist in the networked world of the twenty-first century, and the kind of self-made crime boss that American law enforcement had never imagined. For half a decade, DEA agents played a global game of cat-and-mouse with Le Roux as he left terror and chaos in his wake. Each time they came close, he would slip away. It would take relentless investigative work, and a shocking betrayal from within his organization, to catch him. And when he was finally caught, the story turned again, as Le Roux struck a deal to bring down his own organization and the people he had once employed. Award-winning investigative journalist Evan Ratliff spent four years piecing together this intricate puzzle, chasing Le Roux’s empire and his shadowy henchmen around the world, conducting hundreds of interviews and uncovering thousands of documents. The result is a riveting, unprecedented account of a crime boss built by and for the digital age. Praise for The Mastermind “The Mastermind is true crime at its most stark and vivid depiction. Evan Ratliff’s work is well done from beginning to end, paralleling his investigative work with the work of the many federal agents developing the case against LeRoux.”—San Francisco Book Review (five stars) “A wholly engrossing story that joins the worlds of El Chapo and Edward Snowden; both disturbing and memorable.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Detective Ryan Ashton wasn't sure what was happening between them. One minute they were taking down bad guys, and then the next, they were falling into each other's arms. Ashton doesn't do relationships, but Clemmons made his heart expand to the point of pain with warmth. It was dangerous, what they had. Clemmons was on the wrong side of the law, and Ashton wasn't about to give up his job as a detective for a wanted criminal. Clemmons was the devil himself, and Ashton couldn't afford to get wrapped up in this mess. Yet, whenever they saw each other, he did. There was no way they could have a normal relationship. Clemmons was strictly off-limits. Which would have been easy if only his body and his heart didn't have other ideas. Can they navigate the new spheres of their relationship? Or will everything be burnt to ash in the raging fire of their desires?

Detective Ryan Ashton never thought that leaving Clemmons behind would be the most challenging task of his life. But he was a cop, a professional, and he would never allow something as inconsequential as feelings to obstruct his path. Clemmons was just a job, nothing more. He had executed his duty and dropped him off. However, complications escalated when the men intent on killing Clemmons still believed he was with Ashton. The situation worsened when Ashton discovered that Clemmons had gone missing, leaving behind only a trail of breadcrumbs leading back to the narcotics kingpin he thought was eliminated. Can Ashton bring Clemmons back alive, or will the opposing forces keep them apart? Warning: this is a steamy cop romance, mm police detective, hitman bodyguard romance. Please be advised.