The small town of Parrish Springs is not ready for Matilda Honeycutt. A strange older woman with scraggly gray hair and jewelry that jangles as she walks, Matilda is certainly not the most likely person to buy the old Barton Building on the town's quaint main street. When it becomes apparent that her new shop doesn't fit the expectations of Parrish Springs residents, a brouhaha erupts. After all, Christmas is approaching, and the last thing the town...

They were strangers. A handful of people from different backgrounds, living in different towns and cities across America, that had nothing in common--except fear. They were victims. Cold and stark, an unknown terror gripped their dreams and turned their days into living nightmares. They were chosen and they could not escape. Deep in the heart of a sprawling desert, a dark memory called out to them drawing them to the Tranquility Motel--where the terrifying...

"One dark evening on New York City's Upper West Side, two strangers meet by chance. Over drinks, Amanda and Wendy realize they have much in common, especially loneliness and an intense desire for revenge against the men who destroyed their families. As they talk into the night, they come up with the perfect plan: if you kill for me, I'll kill for you. In another part of the city, Ruth is home alone when the beautiful brownstone she shares with her...

Carny Sullivan grew up in the zany world of a traveling carnival. Quaint and peaceful Serenity, Texas, has given her a home, a life, and a child. Logan Brisco is the smoothest, slickest, handsomest man Serenity, Texas has ever seen. But Carny Sullivan knows a con artist when she sees one---and she's seen plenty, starting with her father. As far as Carny Sullivan can tell, she's the only one in town who has his number. Because from his Italian shoes...

Krista Galloway is not a fan of Christmas, due to bad memories of the holiday season during her childhood in multiple foster homes. But when she accepts a job as a city manager in the town of Winter Hill, Washington, Christmas is part of the deal. The small town is famous for its Christmasville celebration, which is coordinated by the city manager. As Krista tries to make her tiny new apartment feel like home for her and her eight-year-old daughter,...

At eleven years old, Morgan Sheppard solved the murder of his Maths teacher when everyone else believed it to be a suicide. Twenty-five years later... Morgan Sheppard wakes up handcuffed to a bed in an unfamiliar hotel room, with five strangers waking up around him. In the bathroom - a corpse. One of the people in the room is the killer and Sheppard has three hours to solve the murder. If he doesn't find the killer, they all die. As everyone in the...

In this thoughtful treatise spurred by the 2015 death of African-American academic Sandra Bland in jail after a traffic stop, New Yorker writer Gladwell (The Tipping Point) aims to figure out the strategies people use to assess strangers - to "analyze, critique them, figure out where they came from, figure out how to fix them," in other words: to understand how to balance trust and safety. He uses a variety of examples from history and recent headlines...

On the shores of Venice Beach, eight strangers, staying in a rundown backpackers hostel, are all running from something-and have secrets they're more than willing to kill for.

While playing golf, Bobby Jones and Dr. Thomas discover a dying man at the base of a cliff. Before he dies, the man manages to get out the words, "Why didn't they ask Evans?" Days later, remembering things that don't seem to add up about the death, Bobby decides to investigate, and his friend Frances Derwent immediately agrees to help. Was it a misstep that sent a handsome stranger plummeting to his death over a cliff? Or was it a something more sinister?...

Explains why it is necessary to be careful around strangers and offers advice on ways to stay safe.