Collection: Adult

"Deliciously twisty....A heady mix of dark academia, spiraling stakes, and tangled loyalties." --Ruth Ware, New York Times bestselling author

A group of Harvard alums have played a secret game for decades but as the stakes rise, deadly consequences emerge from old lies. An unputdownable debut thriller for readers of the suspenseful novels of Julia Bartz and Katy Hays.

Harvard promised them everything.

At eighteen years old, six young women had ambitious futures ahead: bright careers, love affairs, an education that would open doors for the rest of their lives. Sara's college roommates were the family she never had: Bee the political hopeful, Dina the academic prodigy, Allie the family girl, Wesley the hard-partying heiress, and Claudine the Southern belle--the closest thing Sara had ever known to a sister. But their senior year, Claudine died, and everything changed.

Twenty years later, the five college roommates still indulge in a secret tradition they've kept alive since their campus days: the Circus, a harmless assassin-style game played across the private rooms and secret alleys of New York City. The game is the glue that keeps them close and a nod to the sixth roommate they lost too young, but this time around Sara keeps catching inexplicable glimpses of Claudine. She wants out of the Circus until she discovers a small fortune awaits the winner of this final round and agrees out of loyalty and desperation to play one last time. As the Circus unfolds, Sara suspects the others aren't playing by the rules. When the game heats up and the roommates start pointing fingers, she discovers that even her closest friends have been keeping secrets that now threaten to destroy them all.

Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl meets P-Valley in Nic Stone's adult thriller debut about two missing erotic dancers from Atlanta's most notorious gentlemen's club and the woman committed to finding them.

When Damaris "Charm" Wilburn, a new daytime dancer, is missing for her shift at Boom Town, former headliner Michah "Lyriq" Johanssen suspects something more than a "no call, no show." As Lyriq's former headline partner and lover--Felice "Lucky" Carothers--also vanished under similar circumstances, Lyriq decides she's going to find them.

Delving deeper into Charm and Lucky's disappearances, Lyriq uncovers a tangled web of deceit, privilege, and power. The line between friend and foe blurs, forcing Lyriq to confront the question: is finding these women worth the threat to her own life?

This tantalizing thriller will take you on a heart-pounding and page turning journey through the peaks and valleys of Atlanta's underworld.

How to Score in Hollywood reveals the secrets to a movie's success and profitability. Entertainment research expert Kevin Goetz shares how smart, data-driven decisions--from development to release--help filmmakers minimize risks and maximize returns.

How to Score in Hollywood reveals the secrets to a movie's success and profitability. Entertainment research expert Kevin Goetz, founder and CEO of Screen Engine, draws on almost four decades of experience to show how strategic decisions--from development to release--help minimize risks and maximize returns. Armed with audience insights and data-driven strategies, Goetz demonstrates how every film should make money when made and marketed for the right price.

Key insights include:

- Recognizing what constitutes a big idea and developing it thoughtfully to set the foundation for success.
- Identifying the reason why a movie should exist and what it uniquely brings to the marketplace that will inspire interest and excitement to see it.
- Crafting films with a specific audience in mind and aligning production and marketing budgets to fit the size of its potential.
- Understanding how digital entertainment has reshaped audience behavior and perceptions of what makes a movie "theater-worthy."
- Elevating both the concept and execution to ensure a film stands out in a crowded and competitive marketplace.
- Understand and embrace the challenges of genre-blending films, or "feathered fish," with a clear-eyed approach, tackling complexities head-on instead of avoiding them.
- Using test audience feedback to guide the film's development all the way through postproduction, identifying danger signs along the way, and increasing the chances of success.

And much more!

For industry executives, filmmakers, film students, and film enthusiasts, How to Score in Hollywood offers a unique behind-the-scenes look at the important processes that shape what consumers are offered to watch. From the initial greenlight to the final cut, Goetz explores the critical balance between creativity and commerce in filmmaking, highlighting the vital role of research at every stage to create films that resonate with audiences while also turning a profit.

Filled with entertaining personal experiences, industry stories, and actionable advice, Goetz illustrates how research, budget, and marketability influence a film's financial outcome. Whether discussing low-budget indie hits or big-budget blockbusters, How to Score in Hollywood is an invaluable resource for those seeking to understand the art, science, and business of how movies are made, marketed, and released.

*NATIONAL BESTSELLER*

Turn losing your job into an epic comeback with this unfiltered, comprehensive GPS guide to rebuilding your career on your terms.

So, you got fired, laid off, restructured, canned. Welcome to the club, baby! In today's seismically changing job market, getting fired doesn't automatically mean you failed; it's a rite of passage.

With their decades of experience in high-stakes leadership roles, Laura Brown and Kristina O'Neill know firsthand the challenges--and thrilling opportunities--that come with losing a job, no matter where you are in your career. They've been through the shock, grief, anger, and confusion, and they're here to help you navigate the experience. All the Cool Girls Get Fired is both a roadmap and a mindset shift--a pragmatic, empowering and humorous way to make lemonade from lemons.

With candor, humor, actionable advice, and exclusive "I've been there," interviews from inspirational women, All the Cool Girls Get Fired challenges outdated corner office perceptions of career success. From coping mechanisms and self-care practices to networking strategies and reinvention techniques, the book is a comprehensive GPS to navigate the path of career recovery and bounce back with more professional mojo than ever.

The acclaimed author of the "chilling, mesmerizing debut" (Rachel Harrison, author of The Return) Beneath the Stairs returns with a gripping, atmospheric suspense novel about a woman investigating a serial killer's connection to her mother's disappearance--for fans of I Have Some Questions for You and Notes on an Execution.

One hot August night in 1993, a young couple go to a party. When their car breaks down, they are picked up by a truck driver who attacks the man and abducts the woman. She is never seen again.

That woman was Fiona Green's mother.

When the trucker, Eddie Ward, is caught, a mass grave of bodies is discovered in his backyard but Fiona's mother isn't there. Thirty years later, on his prison deathbed, Ward insists that he didn't kill her, so Fiona finds herself back in the small town where her mother disappeared. Fighting demons of her own, she's shocked when history repeats itself: another woman, another roadside breakdown, and another disappearance. Only this time the primary suspect is Jason Ward, Eddie's son. Desperate, Fiona hunts down answers, unaware that she is being drawn into a dangerous trap.

With Jennifer Fawcett's signature "suspenseful and immersive" (Library Journal) prose, Keep This for Me is a fresh, spellbinding exploration of what we unwillingly inherit from our parents and how one random act can send ripples years into the future.

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

WINNER OF THE NAACP IMAGE AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING POETRY

"Patricia Smith is the greatest living poet. Every book is better than the last." --The Guardian

"In The Intentions of Thunder, language itself becomes weather--charged, clarifying, and resounding, a form of resurrection and survival." --National Book Award Judges' Citation

A collection of the finest new and selected poems from one of the most groundbreaking voices in contemporary poetry, a "masterful performer and poet of voices too little heard" (Poetry Foundation).

The Intentions of Thunder gathers, for the first time, the essential work from across Patricia Smith's decorated career. Here, Smith's poems, affixed with her remarkable gift of insight, present a rapturous ode to life. With careful yet vaulting movement, these poems traverse the redeeming landscape of pain, confront the frightening revelations of history, and disclose the joyous possibilities of the future. The result is a profound testament to the necessity of poetry--all the careful witness, embodied experience, and bristling pleasure that it bestows.

Lyrical and sly, meditative and volcanic, The Intentions of Thunder is "an unforgettable offering from one of the most important voices in poetry" (Publishers Weekly) and a stunning exploration of the fullness of living. The inimitable poetry of Patricia Smith radiates in The Intentions of Thunder--reaffirming Smith's place as one of the indispensable poets of our time.

A memoir of sex, angst, and rocks, Turn to Stone chronicles one woman's ascent--on walls of stone and within herself--as she faces her demons and finds freedom and power in the raw and wild adventure of rock climbing.

Down on the ground, it was hard to connect, hard to attach, hard to untangle, hard to let go. But up here, I understood. Up here, I could make it good.

Broken by an abusive relationship, Emily Meg Weinstein impulsively tries rock climbing on a California road trip, following strangers into the vertical world. Soon, she is consumed by her addiction to the freedom she feels when she's up on the wall. Holding on to the rocks, she is free from societal constraints and expectations, free from her own sorrows and longings.

Raw and dark, but also funny, Weinstein describes the steep learning curve of becoming a climber, spending weeks at a time sleeping in the back of her Subaru, and a long, dark night stuck on top of a mountain. As she ascends, Weinstein faces her demons, finding power and grace in risk and adventure. Like Cheryl Strayed's Wild, but in the vertical, or William Finnegan's Barbarian Days, if lived by a Jewish woman from Long Island, Turn to Stone tells the story of a journey into nature that becomes a crucible of self-discovery.

Against a tapestry of van-dwellers, anarchists, and Jedi-like Stonemasters, Weinstein explores a world where each leap of faith is an existential lesson. From living on the edge, stepping into the unknown, and falling through thin air, Emily learns to forgive her own failures, heal her deepest wounds, and find courage in the face of fear. Throwing herself at walls of stone, she learns what it means to be human. Fitting her body into the rocks' broken places, she makes herself whole.

"A gripping page-turner: revelatory, horrifying, infuriating, sometimes inspirational, always informative....Required reading." --The Boston Globe

From the award-winning New York magazine reporter and coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Notorious RBG, an ambitious and passionate exploration of what's gone wrong with pregnancy in America, through the lens of history, politics, and the searing experiences of five women.

Journalist Irin Carmon was eight months pregnant when the Supreme Court allowed states to ban abortion, unleashing pain and suffering for those who didn't want to be pregnant and, shockingly to some, those who did. What was clear to Carmon from her dozen years of reporting--and from what she felt in her bones--was how incomplete the American story of reproduction had been, and how much had been unexpressed, hidden, or taken for granted, and not just by conservative justices or in red states. Whether in cosmopolitan, liberal New York City or rural Alabama, the entire system is broken.

Unbearable tells a deeper story, going beyond the headlines and any one experience or choice, and grounded in history and journalism. It introduces us to five women navigating pregnancy care--from that first positive pregnancy test through joy, loss, and the unforeseen--in a country that is at best indifferent and at worst willfully cruel, and to brave, outnumbered people fighting to make it better. Written with deep empathy and analytical rigor, Unbearable is at once a moving story of interconnection, a harrowing exposé, and assertion of humanity. Above all, it is a powerful call for solidarity, regardless of our circumstances or our decisions.

In this first-ever collection of nonfiction by John Edgar Wideman, a "towering figure in American literature" (The Nation), five decades of cultural and literary criticism paint a vivid portrait of America's changing landscape and chronicle the emergence and evolution of a generational talent.

"Wideman is a writer of titanic skill." --4Columns

John Edgar Wideman, acclaimed since the early 1970s for his award-winning fiction and memoirs, has long been engaged in a project to redefine, from the perspective of an American of color, the wondrous and appalling power of his country's literary culture and history. Now, curated by him, this first-time collection from his extensive body of long-form journalism and biographical essays offers readers a chance to see and judge for themselves how Wideman has proven himself to be a luminous witness of America's history.

This volume goes beyond mere compilation; its challenging, insightful critical essays tell the story of a nation in transition--from the shame of legalized human slavery, to the civil rights movement, to the rise of the Obama era, and beyond. Originally featured in publications such as Esquire, Vogue, and The New Yorker, these narratives explore the elusive cores of American culture, politics, and identity.

Through his unique depictions of iconic figures such as Zora Neale Hurston, Malcolm X, Spike Lee, Emmett Till, and Michael Jordan, and intimate questioning of his own life, Wideman shares his original views of the changing tides of life in the United States. The result is an "essential chronicle of the American experience" (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

It's America's 250th birthday! Here are 250 reasons to celebrate this land of the free and the brave.

Let's hear a round of thunderous applause for America's semiquincentennial! (Or maybe a reluctant and sarcastic slow clap from you cynics in the crowd.) Sure our beloved nation is far from perfect. From sea to shining sea there are still challenges to meet and opportunities we have overlooked. But hey. Look how far we've come in just 250 years! We've added 37 states and there are currently 130 times as many Americans as there was in 1776. Population growth is good, right? We've hired 47 presidents, admittedly some better than others. And then there is corn on the cob, Route 66, Philly cheesesteaks, Wrigley Field, greasy spoon diners, SPAM. Are you smiling yet?

In these pages you'll find a pinch of nostalgia, a dash of travelogue, a burst of patriotism, and even a challenge for all Americans to cherish this country and . . . maybe do better.

Whether you're a progressive, a conservative, or refuse to be labeled, we invite you to celebrate America's semiquincentennial. Join us for a much-needed healthy dose of optimism, a dash of silliness, and proof positive that America is still the place you want to call home.

"A stunning work of suspense that's impossible to put down. Christina Kovac masterfully combines a twisty missing person mystery, a heartbreaking love story, and an insightful exploration of the nature of obsession and trauma. I loved this novel." --Angie Kim, New York Times bestselling author of Happiness Falls and Miracle Creek

By the author of The Cutaway, a work of psychological suspense set in the days leading up to and following the mysterious death of one of Washington, DC's hottest investigative reporters.

Lucy and her three best friends share a glamorous but decaying house in the heart of Georgetown. They call themselves "the Sweeties" and live an idyllic post-grad lifestyle complete with exciting jobs, dramatic love lives, and, most importantly, each other.

But when Addie, the group's queen bee, discovers that her ex-boyfriend Josh has gone missing, the Sweeties' worlds are turned upside down. In the days leading up to his disappearance, Josh, a star investigative journalist from a prominent political family, was behaving erratically--and Lucy is determined to find out why. All four friends upend their lives to search for him, but detectives begin to suspect that the Sweeties might know more than they're letting on.

As the investigation unfolds, Lucy's obsession with the case reaches a boiling point, and with it, her own troubling secrets begin bubbling to the surface of her carefully curated life. A thrilling account of the lies and delusions that lurk beneath cloistered groups of female friends and the sinister realities of celebrity, Watch Us Fall is a gripping mystery and an examination of the things we tell ourselves when we can't face the truth.

A kaleidoscopic memoir by acclaimed filmmaker Abel Ferrara, director of the cult classic films Bad Lieutenant, King of New York, and Dangerous Game, offering an unflinching look at his life, career, and the gritty world of independent cinema.

Throughout his five-decade career, film director Abel Ferrara--now in his seventies--has been one of cinema's most provocative and critically revered figures. Since beginning as an independent filmmaker in Manhattan in the early 1970s--before "indie films" were a genre--and refining his craft as a director for the TV show Miami Vice, he has directed more than thirty feature films, most notably the cult classics Bad Lieutenant, King of New York, and Dangerous Game. His work, often controversial for its depictions of sex, violence, and drugs, has been praised for its sincerity and depth, with critics noting that his films take spirituality and morality more seriously than most films do. In Scene, Ferrara opens up about the inspiration for his creativity detailing his dramatic life journey, from his rough upbringing in the 1950s Bronx to reaching the pinnacle of his career while struggling with addiction. This memoir is not just a recounting of his life but a manifesto on what it means to be a true artist--one who refuses to compromise and continues to create boundary-pushing work. Scene is a profound, beautiful, and inspiring account of an artist's relentless pursuit of creativity, making it a must-read for film fans and anyone interested in the gritty realities of the entertainment industry.