January LaVoy

Jason Reynolds conjures ten tales (one per block) about what happens after the dismissal bell rings, and weaves them into one funny, poignant look at the detours we face on the walk home, and in life.

Collects stories written by best-selling thriller authors, 11 women and 11 men partnered in male-female literary pairings, in anthology that includes contributions by such favorites as Sandra Brown, John Sandford and Eric Van Lustbader.

"Welcome to Stanhope. A safe neighborhood. A place for families. On the surface, William Wooler is a family man. But he's been having an affair, an affair that ended horribly this afternoon at a motel up the road. So when he returns to his house, devastated and angry, to find his difficult nine-year-old daughter, Avery, unexpectedly home from school, William loses his temper. Hours later, Avery's family declares her missing. Suddenly Stanhope doesn't...

"An attention-seeking copycat is recreating murders by a famous killer from the Women's Murder Club's past--with devastating new twists. Detective Lindsay Boxer put serial killer Evan Burke in jail. Reporter Cindy Thomas wrote a book that put him on the bestseller list. An obsessed maniac has turned Burke's true-crime story into a playbook. And is embellishing it with gruesome touches all his own. Now Lindsay's tracking an elusive suspect, and the...

None of them would claim to be a particularly good person. But who among them is actually capable of murder? Jen Weinstein and Lauren Parker rule the town of Salcombe, Fire Island every summer. They hold sway on the beach and the tennis court, and are adept at manipulating people to get what they want. Their husbands, Sam and Jason, have summered together on the island since childhood, despite lifelong grudges and numerous secrets. Their one single...

Ariel Price wakes up in Lisbon, alone. Her husband is gone--no warning, no note, not answering his phone. Something is wrong. She starts with hotel security, then the police, then the American embassy, at each confronting questions she can't fully answer: What exactly is John doing in Lisbon? Why would he drag her along on his business trip? Who would want to harm him? And why does Ariel know so little about her new--much younger--husband? The clock...

"When Maddie West discovers that she was adopted as an embryo and may have a sister, she feels betrayed, angry, and confused. Maddie moves away, leaving her job, fiancé, and family. Dawson Gage is mourning the death of his best friend, London Quinn. Then London's mother reveals she and her husband donated a frozen embryo decades ago, meaning that London might have a sibling. When Dawson finds Maddie and takes her to the Quinns, they welcome her into...

"Darby, Mary Beth, and Rhea are on personal quests to reclaim aspects of their identities subsumed by motherhood--their careers, their sex lives, their bodies. Their children, though, disrupt their plans when an unsettling medical condition begins to go around the Little Academy preschool: the kids are craving blood. Then a young teacher is found dead, and the only potential witnesses are ten adorable four-year-olds. Soon it becomes clear that the...

"It was nothing more than a one-night stand. Juliana Brody, a judge in the Superior Court of Massachusetts, is rumored to be in consideration for the federal circuit, maybe someday the highest court in the land. At a conference in a Chicago hotel, she meets a gentle, vulnerable man and in a moment of weakness has an unforgettable night with him. They part with an explicit understanding that this must never happen again. But back home in Boston, it...

"In 1941, Irvel Ellis is too focused on her secret to take much notice in the war overseas. She's dating Sam but in love with his brother, Hank, and Irvel has no idea how to break the news when Pearl Harbor is attacked. With their lives turned upside down overnight, Sam is drafted, and Hank wants to enlist. But Sam insists Hank stay home. While Sam fights in Europe, chemistry builds between Irvel and Hank. Then a telegram comes, and the news is devastating....