The Penalty

From the award-winning author of TAMAR, a time-shifting thriller about a vanishing soccer star, occult secrets, and the dark history of slavery. As the city of San Juan pulses to summer’s sluggish beat, its teenage soccer prodigy, El Brujito, the Little Magician, vanishes without a trace -- right after he misses a penalty kick and loses a big game for his team. Paul Faustino, South America’s top sports reporter, is reluctantly drawn into the mystery of the athlete’s disappearance. As a story of corruption and murder unfolds, Faustino is forced to confront the bitter history of slavery and the power of the occult. A deftly woven mystery flush with soccer and suspense, this gripping novel is a thrilling read not to be missed.

Willow Figure skating was supposed to be my whole world. One unlucky injury and I’m down...but I’m definitely not out. I just need to rehab—a boatload of it. But who’d have thought I could do it on the boys’ hockey team? Of course, the infuriatingly hot captain of the team seems to think I’m nothing but sequins and twirls. Now the only thing a girl can do is put him in his place. Game on. Brodie Hockey is my whole world. I’ve worked my tail off getting my team in a position to win the championships—and impress major college scouts. So what’s a guy to do when a figure skater ends up as our new goalie? Of course, the distractingly sexy skater thinks I’m a testosterone-laced bro with a competitive streak. But I’m almost certain she’s just biding her time to heal, then she’s gone. Game over.

This gripping legal thriller illustrates the ambiguity of justice, where an innocent man dangles fourteen years on death row before gaining his hard-won freedom. Based on the true story of Joe Brown and his young, court-appointed defense attorney, this book examines the illusion of a neutral or impartial jury, particularly in a capital murder trial of a young black man in the South. The attorney’s insight into the lengthy appeals process causes one to question the ultimate sentence of society—the death penalty—and the fight for life that ensues once it has been mandated. In broad strokes, this legal thriller paints a picture of the U.S. criminal justice system. Upon closer inspection, individual brush strokes reveal the underlying themes of racial and socio-economic prejudice, the concept of a “neutral” jury in capital murder trials, and the “good old boy” brand of justice so prevalent, still, in law enforcement agencies, courtrooms and judges’ chambers, not just in Florida, where this story takes place, but throughout the United States. Although this is a work of fiction, and some of the names and places have been changed, the details of this story closely reflect the original case history and trial circumstances.

The Homicide Review Advisory Group (HomRAG) was set up in 2004 to run alongside the work of the Law Commission which was reviewing aspects of the law on murder. This multidisciplinary group was convened on the initiative of Sir Louis Blom-Cooper QC and Professor Terence Morris; and was initially chaired by the late Very Reverend Colin Slee, Dean of Southwark and now by Sir Louis. In essence, the group is concerned with promoting a just law of murder. As part of this aim and in view of developments in Parliament in late-2011 and continuing into 2012 concerning sentencing and the use of mandatory sentences in particular, HomRAG has published its first report for consideration by law-makers and other interested parties. Harking back to the abolition of capital punishment, the group argue that the mandatory life sentence for murder is both unjust and outdated; a compromise arrived at in the 1960s in order to ensure that abolition of the death penalty made its way through both Houses of Parliament. Neither it nor the present system of tariff-setting allow for sentences which match the seriousness of individual crimes, so that, e.g. a single 'mercy killing' attracts the same penalty as that for a murder which is part of a course of serial killings. Further, the indefinite and misleading nature of the life sentence - which may or may not involve a life spent in prison - is both unjust and incomprehensible to even better-informed lay people. Building on modern research which shows that the public and public opinion are nowadays by no means averse to such a change, the report urges that the time has come for a move to fixed sentences for murder as with any other individual crime so that the exact circumstances of offences can be properly reflected by the courts.

The action is intense in this debut mystery featuring Martin Carter, a former hockey star whose career was cut short by a head injury. Now he's has to solve three apparent, related murders - one of them his own - to get his life and reputation back. Former hockey great Martin Carter now works for the New York St. Patricks, a team with a rare chance at winning a playoff spot. Their fans are hungry for the Cup, but their hopes are smashed when a crucial game ends in a violent, bench-clearing brawl, and a star forward is left in a coma. Only one person saw what happened. She caught the attack on video and intends to use it for some expensive blackmail. When her body is found by the cops two days later, Carter is in deep trouble. His DNA is all over her and her apartment, and hers in his. And the footage, which now only he has seen, is missing. In a story full of unexpected twists, the action is intense, the stakes are high, and the main player very cool under pressure.

“Gillot’s novel about soccer is also a delicate character study of a solitary man slowly rejoining the world” (Publishers Weekly). Vincent once had a shot at becoming a professional soccer player, but a career-ruining injury put an end to his dreams. A tough kid from a poor family, he has become an emotionally cut-off man with frustrated hopes and limited options. He finds himself coaching an under-sixteen soccer club in an attempt to keep alive his only passion. The team he coaches is little more than a roster of hotheaded boys, none of whom understands the on-field chemistry needed to win. Simply put, they aren’t of a championship caliber. Then Vincent’s unemployed sister, a single mother, suddenly dumps her thirteen-year-old son on him. With no clue how to take care of a teenager, Vincent panics. He decides to bring his nephew to practice, and eventually throws him into the scrimmage. It’s then that Vincent notices there’s something strange about Léonard. He has a preternatural ability for anticipating each striker’s intentions, making him a remarkably talented goalkeeper, but he seems detached, absent, lost. It becomes clear that Léonard has undiagnosed Asperger’s syndrome—and also that, with Léonard’s abilities as a goalie, Vincent’s ragtag team has a chance to reach the finals. The team will need to rally behind this strange kid from Paris in order to get there, and for that to happen, Vincent will have to let down his guard and open his heart for the first time ever. “No love of sport is required to feel the genuine emotion pulsing from this story about making connections.” —Shelf Awareness

This is the first historical study to examine changing perceptions of sexual murder and the treatment of sex killers while the death penalty was in effect in Canada.

He's a professional hockey player that lives on the edge. I prefer to play life by the rules.I'm the personal assistant at a sports agency that no one notices.Unless they need coffee.I don't like sports and I like professional athletes even less.I'm indifferent to the mostly male clientele, except for one.Mica "the savage" Petrov.When it comes to wild antics, Mica is the biggest offender of them all.He's reckless, wild and carelessly charming.I'm mortified that I find him attractive.But it doesn't matter because the guy hasn't taken a second look at me.Not once. In two years.Mica's career jeopardizing situation requires drastic measures to be taken to keep him in the game.He's got money, I've got debt and my boss has a crazy idea.Which is how I found myself stepping up to save him from himself.But at what cost?How long can I keep fighting my attraction?What ghosts from his past is he brawling with?All I know is that I need to defend my heart before this big defenseman steals it away.Can we win this game? Or is it too late for either of us?