Showing results by narrator "Joe Hempel" in All Categories

Casey's cabin in the wilderness is not built for a hurricane. Her roof shakes, the lights flicker, and the tree outside her front door sways ominously in the wind. But she's a lot more worried about the girl she discovers lurking outside her kitchen window. She's young. She's alone. And she's covered in blood.

A key witness in a high-profile federal case vanishes from a government safehouse just hours before testifying, leaving behind no sign of forced entry, no clear escape route, and only one cryptic word scrawled across a windowpane: Midnight. FBI Agent Claire Anderson is tasked with investigating the disappearance off the books. The press can’t find out. The Bureau can’t afford a scandal. And her team—S. W. O. R. D., the Special-Washington-Oregon-Regional-Detachment—has just days to uncover what really happened before the entire case unravels.

When the matriarch of a rich Seattle family dies under suspicious circumstances, private investigator Thomas Austin is on the case. This time, the suspect list is easy.

Thomas Austin was once a prominent NYPD detective, known for locking up a psychopathic serial killer dubbed "The Holiday Baby Butcher". Now retired in a small beach town in the Pacific Northwest, Austin runs a little café, trying to overcome the loss of his wife, a DA who was gunned down only one year ago.

On Memorial Day, 1992, three decorated navy officers disappeared in the sleepy beach town of Hansville, Washington. Thirty years later, their medals were found in the marshlands of Foulweather Bluff. So were their bones. For private investigator Thomas Austin, this case hits close to home. The son of a JAG lawyer, Austin grew up around the navy. To solve the case, he must piece together clues buried in the marshlands and dark secrets hidden in navy history.

When the skeletal remains of a long-missing woman are unearthed in the rolling vineyards of Washington’s Horse Heaven Hills, Detective Thomas Austin is pulled into a case with eerie echoes of the past. The land belongs to one of the region’s most prestigious wineries, and the discovery threatens to shake the industry to its core. Who was she? Why was she murdered? And who buried her beneath the twisting vines of Cabernet Sauvignon? At the same time, across the Puget Sound, a woman vanishes after boarding a cruise ship heading north from Seattle. No sign of struggle. No witnesses.

The fourth book in this twisty, fast-paced mystery series, The Horror at Murden Cove locks you on a storm-battered island with a killer whose motive is so deranged, you'll have to listen to this audiobook twice to believe it.

It's not the fall that kills you. Three years ago, the body of an elderly woman was found in the cool waters beneath the Deception Pass Bridge near Whidbey Island, Washigton. Two years later, a deceased man of almost ninety floated onto the pebbly shore of Bremerton, just south of the Manette Bridge. Each case left the authorities puzzled. Were these the final acts of individuals lost to despair, or were they meticulously staged murders? Two inexplicable deaths, two years apart, the cases colder than the waters where the bodies were found.

Bloomsbury presents Intercepts by T.J. Payne, read by Joe Hempel The 'Best of BookTok' horror sensation - now with a never-before-seen bonus chapter! Exclusive to the hardback edition. A must-read for fans of Stranger Things, Stephen King's The Institute and Minority Report. Joe works for a...

Twenty years ago Brandon Penny was a criminal prodigy. Today, he’s a broken-hearted movie buff working a dead-end job. But everything is about to change. As a child, Brandon carefully studied his mother and her crew of thieves. Gifted from the start, Brandon was pulling short cons by age six, stealing jewelry by age eight, and orchestrating heists by age eleven. But one night a job went bad, a gun went off, and Brandon’s mother disappeared.

Justin is excited to start his new job at an energy mine on a distant planet—until things begin to go wrong. Small things. Annoying glitches in the mining complex's tech. Enough to aggravate him. Enough to notice a connection. When the first miner dies from a tech-related accident, Justin can no longer turn a blind eye. But the mine's brass don't want him digging for answers even though something from the mine's past is lurking beneath the surface...and it wants blood.

Originally published in 1981 and long out of print, Mike McQuay’s novelization of John Carpenter’s Escape from New York is a pulp thrill ride that expands upon the film’s dystopian world with material cut from the final production. It is 1997 and a nearly destroyed New York City has become...

Private investigator Thomas Austin is enjoying a relaxing holiday vacation in picturesque Port Townsend, Washington, accompanied by an intriguing new friend. But his tranquility is shattered when the nearby community of Mystery Bay is rocked by the death of a revered musician at an infamous counterculture festival: The Rabbit Hole.

Amidst the rugged beauty of Oregon's Opal Creek Wilderness, a contestant on a reality survival show falls to his death from an isolated cliff, his body later devoured by black bears. The show's producers are spinning it as a tragic accident, but local police suspect murder. While enjoying a leisurely tour of the Oregon wine country, Detective Thomas Austin is drawn into the mystery when he learns that the deceased is a well-known author who lived minutes from his own home.

Former NYPD detective Thomas Austin is enjoying a rare date at a monday night football game in Seattle when the evening takes a horrifying turn. A team of merciless terrorists has taken over the stadium by force, blocking cellphone signals and sealing the exits. The terrorists have a single demand: release a high-ranking Al Qaeda operative from a US supermax prison. And they have a simple threat: do so in the next 24 hours or they will blow up the stadium, killing themselves along with tens of thousands of innocent victims.

Becoming a Writer, Staying a Writer includes Straczynski's unique, tried-and-true methodologies that will help storytellers sharpen their work so that it's polished and ready for publication. Part toolbox and part survival guide, this book will be an indispensable guide throughout your entire writing career, offering fresh and practical insights every step of the way.

Across the Pacific Northwest, a twisted killer stalks victims representing ancient archetypes: The Ruler. The Warrior. The Scholar. The Priest. Four are dead, leaving FBI investigators puzzled by the macabre, color-coded shrines the killer left behind. And clues now point to a fifth victim.

Kevin Taylor is an Internet-famous handyman on a mission: Find a house and renovate it in 30 days. By flipping a derelict house in a month's time and chronicling the entire thing on video for his online subscribers, he seeks to become a star. The problems that plague this property will require more than elbow grease to fix, however. Shadows throughout the home are distorted, and an enigmatic trespasser keeps showing up in his footage. Worse still are the hideous voices that issue from otherwise empty rooms in the dead of night.

In 1979, a florist's lifeless body surfaced in the serene waters of Dyes Inlet, an enchanting estuary connected to the vast Puget Sound. Although the murder was never solved, a sinister heart carved into the victim's back made the case unforgettable. Forty-four years later, history repeats itself as not one, but two more victims are discovered within 48 hours, each bearing the exact same chilling carving in their flesh. The county's darkest mystery is about to be ripped wide open.

Four brand-new horror novellas all about books, stories, manuscripts—the written word has never had sharper teeth. In The Skin of Her Teeth, a cursed novel drives people to their deaths. A delivery job turns deadly in The Dark Brothers' Last Ride. In This Book Belongs to Olo, a lonely child has dangerous control over an usual pop-up book. A choose-your-own adventure game spirals into an uncanny reality in The Story. Full of creepy suspense, these collected novellas are perfect for fans of Paul Tremblay, Stephen King, and Joe Hill.