Tracking The Mastermind

The second book in an exciting new series of Fortnite graphic novels Idris, Kiki, Sarah, and Cody are known as The Stonewood Survivors. After launching a comm-satellite to serve as a beacon for others lost on the Island, they’re hailed as heroes. But heroes’ work never ends. Core to their mission of survival is uncovering information about the founder of the shadowy corporation, Vindertech. This they know: Dr. Vinderman is the mastermind behind a host of wonder weapons that includes Ray the Robot and, more importantly, humanity’s last hope for survival, the Storm Shields. What they don’t know is whether Dr. Vinderman is working for or against them. To get to the truth, they must paraglide over herds of ravenous Husks and Mist Monsters, land on the roof of Vindertech Research Labs, save the supercomputer servers housed there, and discover Dr. Vinderman’s location. Nothing happens as planned, and soon they are trapped in a deadly game of hide and seek. Hunted by the maniacal sniper known as Teddy Bear, they enter storm-wracked Plankerton where, if they’re not slaughtered by mutant fiends, they just might save the world—assuming they don’t kill each other first!

Eli Frieden lives in the most perfect town in the world: Serenity, New Mexico. In this idyllic place, every lawn is perfectly manicured and everyone has a pool and a treehouse. Honesty and integrity are valued above all else in Serenity. The thirty kids who live there never lie—they know it’s a short leap from lying to the awful problems of other less fortunate places. Eli has never left Serenity. Why would he want to? Then one day he cycles to the city limits, and something so crazy and unexpected happens, it changes everything. Eli convinces his friends to help him investigate further, and soon it becomes clear that nothing is as it seems in Serenity. The clues mount to reveal a shocking secret that connects their ideal, crime-free community to some of the greatest criminal masterminds ever known. The kids realize they can trust no one—least of all their own parents. So they hatch a plan for what could be the greatest breakout in history. But will they survive? And if they do, where will they go from there? The first book in a thrilling new series from bestselling (non-criminal) mastermind Gordon Korman. “A terrific page-turner, full of unexpected twists and revelations. Buckle up.” —JAMES PATTERSON, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE MIDDLE SCHOOL SERIES “Just when you think no writer can outdo Gordon Korman, someone does—Gordon Korman. Masterminds is a masterpiece—a mind-bending adventure in a shocking but all-too-possible present; a tale of friendship and ultimate sacrifice with characters who will reach inside you and not let go. It’s that rare book that scares you to the core while you’re laughing your head off. Warning: reading this book while trying to do anything else is dangerous—it’s that good. I can’t wait to know what happens next.”—PETER LERANGIS, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE SEVEN WONDERS SERIES

For young Fortnite players, this might be the ultimate reading experience—a graphic novel adventure with hundreds of full-color images that takes them into the world they love best! The mission is simple: Four kids must save what’s left of humanity by crossing a Husk-infested landscape to a secret government installation packed with volatile rocket fuel and state of the art security systems. Then, they must launch a satellite into space before a gigantic maelstrom smashes them to bloody splinters. If it were easy, it wouldn’t be Fortnite. When 98% of the world’s population disappears in the blink of an eye, the isolated survivors, four teenagers named Cody, Sarah, Idris, and Kiki each cower in the ruins of their homeland, pounded by strange storms and hunted by ravenous monsters. One by one they discover a hopeful sign of life from afar, a Beacon, that calls on to them to keep moving in search of answers. In their pursuit of the source of this signal, they find each other and struggle to get past their differences. It won’t be safe or easy, but their survival, and that of humanity, relies on them learning to work together in search of answers. They are, after all, humanity’s last hope. Will they find a way to survive and start again in the aftermath of the deadly storm, or die trying?

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)

A new, exciting Suzanna Snow adventure!Suzanna "Zanna" Snow can hardly believe her luck: She's just arrived in Boston, the city she's wanted to visit for as long as she can remember. Think of all the mysteries waiting to be solved here! Her grandmother and cousin, Will, welcome her warmly, but her famous detective uncle, Bruce Snow, seems anything but pleased. He doesn't want Zanna meddling in his current case involving a string of mysterious warehouse fires along the harbor front. But Zanna can't help herself. Is someone setting the fires? Just when she thinks she's on to something, a strange man starts following her. Is he a threat? Zanna needs to solve the case before she has the chance to find out.

The New York Times bestselling guide to thinking like literature's greatest detective. "Steven Pinker meets Sir Arthur Conan Doyle" (Boston Globe), by the author of The Confidence Game. No fictional character is more renowned for his powers of thought and observation than Sherlock Holmes. But is his extraordinary intellect merely a gift of fiction, or can we learn to cultivate these abilities ourselves, to improve our lives at work and at home? We can, says psychologist and journalist Maria Konnikova, and in Mastermind she shows us how. Beginning with the “brain attic”—Holmes’s metaphor for how we store information and organize knowledge—Konnikova unpacks the mental strategies that lead to clearer thinking and deeper insights. Drawing on twenty-first-century neuroscience and psychology, Mastermind explores Holmes’s unique methods of ever-present mindfulness, astute observation, and logical deduction. In doing so, it shows how each of us, with some self-awareness and a little practice, can employ these same methods to sharpen our perceptions, solve difficult problems, and enhance our creative powers. For Holmes aficionados and casual readers alike, Konnikova reveals how the world’s most keen-eyed detective can serve as an unparalleled guide to upgrading the mind.

THE THRILLING FINALE TO THE AWARD-WINNING SERIES The clones of Project Osiris are on the run again. Now separated into pairs, Eli and Tori and Amber and Malik are fighting to survive in the real world. Amber and Malik track down the one person they think can help them prove the existence of Project Osiris, notorious mob boss Gus Alabaster, also known as Malik’s DNA donor. But as Malik gets pulled into the criminal world—tantalized by hints of a real family—his actions put him and Amber into greater danger. Eli and Tori get sucked into even bigger conspiracies as they hunt down Project Osiris’s most closely guarded secret—who does Eli’s DNA come from? With a surprising new ally and another cross-country adventure, the four will have to work together to overcome the worst parts of themselves if they are going to end Project Osiris once and for all.

Through easy and captivating reading, this book promotes leadership, self confidence and success in life. You can change yourself; all you need are the tools. Braiding together true human dramas, a gentle introduction to brain sciences, and a set of lessons based on simple mind and body exercises; Mastermind puts you in the pilot's seat of your life. What you can do for yourself matters more than what medications, gurus, or talk-therapy can do to you. The basic principles of Mastermind, which evolved out of the European pedigree of self-suggestion, are well-known around the world and accepted by the scientific community. Psychological indoctrination over the past 80 years has shaped a culture of blaming rather than doing. The traditional virtues of practicality and self-reliance are widely overshadowed, or even forgotten. You can take them back; all you need are the tools. Welcome to the Mastermind Method.