Neil Smith

Companies make headline news all the time for decisions that make many of us scratch our heads in wonder, even companies that are smart and successful. Here, Neil Smith, with more than 20 years of experience leading large-scale performance improvements, reveals the hidden barriers that cause excellent companies to do dumb things, and smart people within companies to act in dumb ways. Drawing on his experience working with and helping transform top...

"One minute, Oliver "Boo" Dalrymple is next to his locker at school reciting the periodic table from heart; the next he finds himself in "Town, " an afterlife exclusively for thirteen year-olds. As Boo works to acclimate himself to his new home, another boy from his hometown--Johnny--appears, seemingly a victim of the same school shooter. A social outcast back in America, Boo quickly finds the friendship and joy that he never knew in life, but as...

Viewing an apartment normally doesn't turn into a life-or-death situation, but this particular open house becomes just that: a failed bank robber bursts in and takes everyone in the apartment hostage. As police surround the premises and television channels broadcast the hostage situation live, the eight strangers begin opening up to one another. Before long, the robber must decide which is the more terrifying prospect: going out to face the police,...

A small community tucked deep in the forest, Beartown is home to tough, hardworking people who don't expect life to be easy or fair. No matter how difficult times get, they've always been able to take pride in their local ice hockey team. So it's a cruel blow when they hear that Beartown ice hockey might soon be disbanded. What makes it worse is the obvious satisfaction that all the former Beartown players, who now play for a rival team in the neighboring...

Harry Hole is not in a good place. Rakel -- the only woman he has ever loved -- has ended it with him, permanently. He's been given a chance for a new start with the Oslo Police but it's in the cold case office, when what he really wants is to be investigating cases he suspects have ties to Svein Finne, the serial rapist and murderer who Harry helped put behind bars. And now, Finne is free after a decade-plus in prison -- free, and Harry is certain,...

"The Swedish National Crime Unit receives a video of a young woman in her home, clearly unaware that she's being watched. Soon after the tape is recieved, the woman's body is found horrifically mutilated. With the arrival of the next, similar video, the police understand that the killer is toying with them, warning of a new victim, knowing there's nothing they can do. Detective Margot Silverman is put in charge of the investigation, and soon asks...

"The latest installment in the internationally best-selling Joona Linna series sees the Swedish detective on the trail of the worst serial killer he's seen yet. Across the continent, someone is brutally murdering Europe's worst criminals. Who can object to taking out rapists, arsonists, human traffickers? But when two of the victims have a direct connection to detective Joona Linna, it's clear to him that somebody's trying to send him a message. His...

Detective Joona Linna is finishing out a sentence at Kumla prison for assaulting an officer in the course of his last investigation when he is summoned to a meeting with the Swedish prime minister. The foreign minister has been brutally murdered. There's a chance more political figures could be targeted. The police need Linna to find the killer and neutralize the threat, so he's granted a temporary release from prison. But when another murder occurs,...

When he is sent to live with his aunt and uncle in the remote, insular town of Ballantyne, 14-year-old Richard Elauved, when he is suspected in the disappearances of two classmates, must prove his innocence and preserve his sanity as he grapples with the dark magic that is possessing the town.

A violent robbery has killed an entire family on the Costa Del Sol. Annika Bengtzon is assigned to cover the story for the Evening Post. But when she arrives in Spain she discovers there is a third child who is unaccounted for. Annika makes it her mission to find the missing girl. But as she delves into the mystery she becomes embroiled in a far darker side of Spanish life than she'd envisioned, as she begins to piece together a terrifying story of...