Survived By One

On November 8, 1985, 18-year-old Tom Odle brutally murdered his parents and three siblings in the small southern Illinois town of Mount Vernon, sending shockwaves throughout the nation. The murder of the Odle family remains one of the most horrific family mass murders in U.S. history. Odle was sentenced to death and, after seventeen years on death row, expected a lethal injection to end his life. However, Illinois governor George Ryan’s moratorium on the death penalty in 2000, and later commutation of all death sentences in 2003, changed Odle’s sentence to natural life. The commutation of his death sentence was an epiphany for Odle. Prior to the commutation of his death sentence, Odle lived in denial, repressing any feelings about his family and his horrible crime. Following the commutation and the removal of the weight of eventual execution associated with his death sentence, he was confronted with an unfamiliar reality. A future. As a result, he realized that he needed to understand why he murdered his family. He reached out to Dr. Robert Hanlon, a neuropsychologist who had examined him in the past. Dr. Hanlon engaged Odle in a therapeutic process of introspection and self-reflection, which became the basis of their collaboration on this book. Hanlon tells a gripping story of Odle’s life as an abused child, the life experiences that formed his personality, and his tragic homicidal escalation to mass murder, seamlessly weaving into the narrative Odle’s unadorned reflections of his childhood, finding a new family on death row, and his belief in the powers of redemption. As our nation attempts to understand the continual mass murders occurring in the U.S., Survived by One sheds some light on the psychological aspects of why and how such acts of extreme carnage may occur. However, Survived by One offers a never-been-told perspective from the mass murderer himself, as he searches for the answers concurrently being asked by the nation and the world.

When someone you love dies, Earl Grollman writes, "there is no way to predict how you will feel. The reactions of grief are not like recipes, with given ingredients, and certain results. . . . Grief is universal. At the same time it is extremely personal. Heal in your own way." If someone you know is grieving, Living When a Loved One Has Died can help. Earl Grollman explains what emotions to expect when mourning, what pitfalls to avoid, and how to work through feelings of loss. Suitable for pocket or bedside, this gentle book guides the lonely and suffering as they move through the many facets of grief, begin to heal, and slowly build new lives.

The most terrifying events in history are brought vividly to life in this New York Times bestselling series! Ten-year-old George Calder can't believe his luck -- he and his little sister, Phoebe, are on the famous Titanic, crossing the ocean with their Aunt Daisy. The ship is full of exciting places to explore, but when George ventures into the first class storage cabin, a terrible boom shakes the entire boat. Suddenly, water is everywhere, and George's life changes forever. Lauren Tarshis brings history's most exciting and terrifying events to life in this New York Times bestselling series. Readers will be transported by stories of amazing kids and how they survived!

A family's survival of the Jewish Holocaust during World War II in Hitler's Germany.

In 1939, Agatha Christie wrote her most successful novel, one she said was the most difficult to write. It is the story of a madman who invited ten people to spend a holiday on an island off the Devon coast of England. They were lured by either a promise of employment or a chance to meet old friends. The madman’s real motive for the invitation was to have them murdered, which occurred. The title of Christie’s book was And Then There Were None. The author of The Blue of Portsmouth PD series decided to deviate from writing his own murder plot and instead made the decision to bring Christie’s victims from the island off the shore of England and have the murdered in New Hampshire. The Portsmouth PD detectives, led by Madison “Madi” March, were given the challenge to solve the murders. To give the book an authentic Agatha Christie flavor, Madi’s addled uncle, Henri Parrot, who believes he is the incarnation of Christie’s great detective, Hercule Poirot, is given a badge by Chief Bethany Van Dike and made an honorary sergeant. Surprisingly, Sgt. Henri Parrot has all the detective skills of Hercule Poirot and becomes the leading character of the story.

An astounding personal document and unique autobiography—the life story of a Russian now living in America who was once soldier, industrialist, and diplomat under the Red Star.