SUSPENSE STORIES TO KEEP YOU ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT

There is a peculiar allure of insidious characters—and especially assassins, hitmen, contract killers, and their ilk. Perhaps we find their uncomplicated moral codes and brutal efficiency appealing. These characters care little about ethics or morals—and perhaps that alone, that freedom from guilt, is exactly why we love them. Perhaps, deep down, we wish we could be like them. And perhaps, by reading stories with such characters, we can vicariously experience that thrill.

PROPULSIVE, SUSPENSEFUL CRIME FICTION

THE STORIES

• Those Rockports Won't Get You Into Heaven—Jack Ketchum

• Dead Bill—Shaun Meeks

• Worse Ways—Meghan Arcuri

• No One of Consequence—Christine Morgan

• And the Hits Just Keep on Coming—Doug Rinaldi

• The Night Gordon Was Set Free—Billie Sue Mosiman

• Almost Everybody Wins—Lisa Mannetti

• Friends From Way Back—Dennis Lawson

• The Repo Girl—Patrick Derrickson

• Letter for You—Carson Buckingham

• The Rock—Joseph Badal

• The Handmaiden's Touch—Doug Blakeslee

• The Bitter and the Sweet—DB Corey

• Influence—Martin Zeigler

• Agnus Dei—Jezzy Wolfe

• Labyrinth—James S. Dorr

• Blenders—J. Gregory Smith

• One of Us—Austin S. Camacho

• The Absinthe Assassin—JM Reinbold

• Slay It Forward—Adrian Ludens

• Tantse So Smert'yu (Dancing With Death)—Ernestus Jiminy Chald

• What the Blender Saw—L.L. Soares

• Code Name Trine—Martin Rose

• Best-Sellers Guaranteed—Joe R. Lansdale

Cover art by Whitney Cook, cover design by Scott Medina.