Böcker av Richard Rees

Once he killed marriages for a living. Now he lives to kill those who paid him. Half Caucasian American, half Japanese, John Nakata is a Wakaresaseya, a "breaker-up" of marriages - for which he charges a large fee - by seducing the wives of rich husbands who need filmed evidence to discard them for younger and more glamorous women. But then the Japanese Shinto side of his nature broods about the harm he's causing. Can he achieve redemption for all the wrong he has committed? He decides his path is to kill ten of the husbands who paid him to seduce their wives and so avenge them. And make their deaths seem like suicide, leaving no trail for him to be identified as their killer. But closing in on him is Lisa Perano, an ex-marine who's searching for the answer as to why her young married sister took her life after meeting a man she seemingly fell in love with on first sight, and let herself be seduced by him that same first night. Lisa can't understand the contradiction of it and vows to find him. He's a killer. She's an ex-marine trained to kill. What will happen when they meet? Their blood gave death to the branches of the tree.And their blood is the sacrifice that sets him free.Though their numbers still cling to the tree, He wants to be redeemed by their blood adapted from a Shinto poem

After her domineering father dies, leaving her a fortune, Karen Ryan decides to change her life. Having lived all her life in his shadow in a huge, isolated house in northern Wisconsin, she plans a long Italian vacation. But before flying out of Chicago, she meets handsome Paul Archer, marries him and her vacation becomes an unexpected honeymoon.Shortly after they return to Karen's home, someone tries to kill her twice - unsuccessfully - and it appears the killer is dead. Then he starts phoning, telling her he is still going to kill her. But why? And who is he?Returning to Italy seems the best plan, but Paul and his friend Morgan persuade Karen the only way to stop him is to lure him into the open - by using her as bait. Enlisting the help of her cousin Susan, her ex-lover Michael Rossi, an ex-marine, and Sam King, a Chicago cop on vacation in the area, Karen and Paul get ready for a siege.Tensions rise and Karen's paranoia increases as she realizes each of her protectors may have a reason for wanting her dead - and whichever path she chooses could be deadly.

Twenty twist-ending short stories with characters such as Eva Ballocks, Scotch the mongrel dog, Ernie and Emily, Blodwen Evans, Henry Fortescue Widgetson, James Willoughby-Smythe, Wally Walters, Dafydd Agos, Lancelot and Guinevere, Ugg and Egg, and another ten besides.

Richard and Rachel fell in love as teenagers and married at twenty-one. Both had survived childhoods marred by adversity and early deaths. Richard trained as an accountant, and they had two beautiful children and a lovely home. Then, the ovarian cancer that ran in Rachel's family struck, and she was gone without seeing her children marry or holding her grandchildren.Given the family history, their daughter Carys was advised to have frequent screenings and to marry and have children early, followed by a hysterectomy. Following her marriage and during her pregnancy, she too was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She gave birth to Abigail, but didn't live to see her baby's second birthday.As to little Abigail, it's a story that's all too common: grandparents are usually separated from grandchildren by divorce, but sometimes it's by death and remarriage. And so Richard, husband, father and grandfather, wrote this book so his granddaughter would understand the laughter and joy and closeness of the good times - and he wanted her to know about her real mother and how much she was loved and wanted.

Richard Machen, a naval officer of American descent serving under Lord Nelson, and heiress Jane Ashford, duel alone in Napoleonic Europe to foil the Illuminati's subversive plot for world power.Passing through London to visit his old home before sailing to Boston, Massachusetts after the defeat of the French at the "Battle of the Nile", Richard is drawn into a fateful chain of events that will affect history, involving Colonel Despard, an Irishman who is masterminding a radical plot to assassinate the King of England and overthrow the government, turning Britain into a republic.But Despard's plot is being manipulated by the Illuminati, a secret society who orchestrated the French Revolution, and are conspiring to regain control of France from the rule of its First Consul, a despotic young General called Napoleon Bonaparte, who is himself planning to invade England in his own desire to conquer all of Europe and then the world. Machen, together with Jane, foil Despard's plan, and he and his secret committee are brought to trial for treason. They are found guilty and due to the non-intervention of Lord Nelson, once a combatant friend of Despard's, are executed and beheaded.But this is not the end of the Illuminati's or Napoleon's greater ambition. It continues, driven on by Conor Macnamara, an Irish revolutionist and a member of the Illuminati, who has sworn to kill Nelson in revenge for the death of his brother, a member of Despard's committee. And Admiral Nelson is the only one standing in the way of France's invasion of England, with a sea battle to be decided between the English and French Fleets in the Bay of Trafalgar off the west coast of Spain.Will Machen and Jane save the day - and also help shape history by discovering the Illuminati's secret code and bringing about their downfall?

Shades of Difference introduces new perspectives on the definition of "whiteness" in America, and makes an original contribution to the larger discussion of race through a detailed account of ethnicity's original meaning and its revaluation when later appropriated by the discourse of Black Nationalism in the 1960s and 70s.