Jane Finch lives in Norfolk, England and is married with one son. Jane has travelled extensively and has also lived in Canada, Spain, and the Caribbean. Having spent over twenty-five years working in English Law, Jane decided to try her hand at writing crime thrillers. Her first novel, Due Process, is based in her hometown in Norfolk. Her book, The Black Widows, published by Solstice Publishing, reached the top ten of Amazon’s crime thriller list. Jane is a member of International Thriller Writers Inc. Now retired, Jane is free to write full-time, when inspired to do so, although she says, “None of my friends tell me anything anymore because they know I’ll write about it!”
A mystery that confounds the world. How can a flight completely disappear? There are several conspiracy theories and ideas but the truth is – no one really knows what happened and probably never will. This book sets out the facts and leaves the reader to decide and it will have you mulling over the endless possibilities. The facts are troubling and the theories continue. Every time I board a plane I think of Flight MH370 and what those passengers must have endured. Bad enough as fiction but to realise it’s true is devastating.
On 8 March, 00:41, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport. At 01:19, the pilot bid air traffic control 'good night'. Two minutes later, the plane and its 227 passengers vanished from the skies. No trace has been found. The disappearance of flight MH370 has horrified people across the globe. In an age where a stolen smartphone can be pinpointed to any location on earth, the vanishing of a cruise liner and 227 passengers is the greatest mystery since the Mary Celeste. Experienced author and journalist Nigel Cawthorne has researched the case with incredible thoroughness, revealing…
I'm a sucker for survival stories, but I'm a durn fool for expertly written survival stories. The truth is, he had me at 438, and the rest could have been downhill coasting.
This fine writer, though, did not rest on laurels. He did what a story like this required: great reporting despite language barriers, detailed professional psychological/survivalist commentary at correctly curated junctures, evidence backing up the story, a detailed map of the unreal journey, and the mental state of the protagonist throughout and after.
The story is also strongly linear, which gives it forward momentum, which is key for a story like this, because you need to move forward to survive, and not look back and dwell on the past. This is a great story in great hands.
The incredible true survival story of one man's record-breaking fourteen months lost at sea.
On 17th November, 2012, Salvador Alvarenga left the coast of Mexico for a two-day fishing trip. A vicious storm killed his engine and the current dragged his boat out to sea. The storm picked up and carried him West, deeper into the heart of the Pacific Ocean. Alvarenga would not touch solid ground again for fourteen months. When he was washed ashore on January 30th, 2014, he had drifted over 9,000 miles.
Three dozen cruise ships and container vessels passed nearby. Not one stopped for the…
I grew up in the ‘60s, when women were not in charge of anything much. I’ve always been fascinated by strong women. Amelia Earhart was a particular favorite, as were the suffragettes, Michelle Obama, and others. The strongest thing I’ve done in my life is to seize opportunities when they arise. I forged a second career that way, taking more than one leap of faith to do what I’ve always known I could do, be a writer. During and after my first career as a dental hygienist I took opportunities to be a newspaper wire editor, then a columnist, a magazine writer, an indexer, a nonfiction writer, and a novelist.
Speaking of women in charge, this is the memoir of a retired U.S. Army brigadier general. She is also a pilot, skydiver, steeplechase jockey, and flight surgeon. The book details her experiences as a prisoner of war in Iraq in 1991 after her helicopter was shot down during a search and rescue mission.
The main thing I can say about Cornum’s story is, Wow! She was able to rise through the ranks in a time when the U.S. military still kept women contained, excluding them from opportunities for which they were well-qualified. Her time in Irag makes for a heart-pounding story filled with danger, pain, endurance, and survival.
I thought of Gen. Cornum more than once as I was building my lead character in my book, President Alanna Olaffson.
Deep inside Iraqi territory, a U.S. Army helicopter on a combat search-and-rescue mission was shot down with eight Americans aboard. Five of them were killed instantly; the three survivors were captured by Saddam Hussein’s elite Republican Guard. One of the survivors was Maj. Rhonda Cornum – Army officer, helicopter pilot, physician, and mother of a 14-year-old girl. She Went to War is her story – a remarkable tale of courage, determination, and pride.
This special commemorative edition, published for the 30th anniversary of the Gulf War and Operation Desert Storm, includes a new afterword by the author.
I served as an infantryman in Vietnam with both the 25th ID and the 101st Airborne. Curiosity about what other units did during the war drove me to read about their exploits and learn about what else took place outside of my little part of the war. I am also the admin of a website dedicated to the Vietnam War and its Warriors. My intent over the last eleven years is to educate the public and continue our legacy.
Tells the story of a Special Forces group inserted into Cambodia who unknowingly landed on the fringes of an NVA Division basecamp. They are compromised and fight to survive. Meanwhile, other units are trying to rescue the beleaguered troops and Americans are dying in their attempt. Sgt. Benevidez repels to the ground, treating wounded soldiers, organizing their retreat, and battling the enemy – severely wounded and left for dead. His actions warranted the Medal Of Honor. An uplifting story about a special soldier who actually survived the ordeal.
The true story of the U.S. Army’s 240th Assault Helicopter Company and a Green Beret Staff Sergeant's heroic mission to rescue a Special Forces team trapped behind enemy lines during the Vietnam War, from New York Times bestselling author Eric Blehm.
On May 2, 1968, a twelve-man Special Forces team covertly infiltrated a small clearing in the jungles of neutral Cambodia—where U.S. forces were forbidden to operate. Their objective, just miles over the Vietnam border, was to collect evidence that proved the North Vietnamese Army was using the Cambodian sanctuary as a major conduit for supplying troops and materiel to…
I began my writing career over forty years ago, pausing in boxcars, under streetlamps, and in hobo jungles to record the beats and rhythms of the road as I caught freight trains and vagabonded around the Pacific Northwest and Canada. In the years since, whether hiking the Camion de Santiago, traversing the length of Hadrian’s Wall, or backpacking in the high Sierra, I’ve been privileged to indulge my wanderlust all around the world, and to share those adventures with others.
Sometimes wanderlust makes us wander farther than we should. I devoured this book! Part history, part thriller, part downright unbelievable, there is adventure and heroism on every page. I'm not sure that truth is always stranger than fiction, but in Tracy’s able hands it is every bit as exciting. Strap on your snowshoes!
In a place as vast and extreme as Alaska, no one takes safety for granted. Whether adventurer or homesteader, tourist or native, people look out for themselves and for each other. But sometimes it just goes bad, and no amount of resourcefulness or resiliency can make it right. That's when search and rescue teams kick into gear, launching operations by air and by land that have generated amazing tales of heroism, tenacity, and human kindness. Some of those stories have been gathered in Search and Rescue Alaska, including: *Rescues on Denali, North America's highest peak, from the mountain's first search…
I've always been fascinated by the toughest survivors, the ones where I say to myself, “I could have never got through that.” Then I’m curious about how they endured: what mindsets and techniques did they use to fight on? When I became a writer I focused on this niche, with my first book Ten Hours Until Dawn which was followed by several other true survival and rescue tales. I became obsessed with researching where the survivors made the correct decisions and how they got trapped by bad ones. When my book The Finest Hours became a Disney movie I was deluged with people sharing their own survival stories.
I enjoy hiking and the occasional difficult climb up a mountain, but author Bob Madgic expertly illustrates what can happen when you ignore warning signs. In Shattered Air a group of hikers in Yosemite are climbing above the tree line when threatening weather moves in. One of the hikers wants to turn back for fear of lightning but lets himself be talked into continuing by the more experienced climbers. But experience or being an “expert” does not always translate into safe decisions, and the group is hit by repeated lightning strikes. This is not only a great survival story but gives good insight into the hazards of letting “group think” or peer pressure sway your gut instincts.
The compelling account of recklessness, tragedy, courage and rescue, a book whose sobering depiction of Nature's danger is tempered by unforgettable portraits of the triumphant human spirit.
My passion and expertise for writing Christian Military Romance stems from the fact that I was a military wife—twice. My first husband, an Army officer died eight years into our marriage. I then married a petty officer in the Navy—all this on top of growing up all over the world as my father worked in the foreign service. As someone who views the world through the lens of faith and who relies on God to overcome hardship, I'm convinced that the elite warriors who protect us and who fight giants on our behalf must also rely on faith. Tie all those elements together, and, voilá, you have a Rebecca Hartt Acts of Valor book!
Can you imagine losing your entire family to a plane accident? That’s what the heroine of this first-in-a-series book by Colleen Coble has to deal with.
With so many unanswered questions, Bree Nichols puts her K-9 search-and-rescue skills to work, looking for the bodies of her husband and son in the wilderness of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Having been widowed young, my heart went out to her from the start.
Working with Park Ranger Kade Mathews, Bree stumbles upon a terrible crime that may be linked to the plane crash. I think this book speaks to the importance of never giving up on faith and hope, even when everything looks absolutely bleak.
The best thing about Ms. Coble’s books is her character development. The pacing is less of a thriller than a cozy mystery with a good dose of romance. While lacking a military hero, I do like that there is…
When a plane crash claims her husband and son, Bree Nichols and her search-and-rescue dog won't rest until they recover the bodies. But when quiet Rock Harbor is shaken by a violent crime, Bree discovers links to her husband's fatal accident. Would solving this crime bring her peace-or more incredibly, reunite her family?
It's been months since the crash. K-9 search-and-rescue worker Bree Nicholls knows the chances of finding her husband and son in the vast wilderness of Michigan's Upper Peninsula grow more remote by the day. But her heart and her faithful dog, Samson, demand she keep searching.
Hi, my name is Laurie Buchanan, and I'm addicted to dogs. I was nicknamed "Dr. Doolittle" at seven, and the moniker has stuck. Why? Because I have a way with all animals, but dogs in particular. I've been owned by dogs (not the other way around) since elementary school—from Irish wolfhounds to Scottish Terriers and everything in between—Poodles, Collies, Dalmatians, and mixed breeds. Not only do I enjoy reading books that feature K9 characters, but I also write them—The Sean McPherson crime thriller series. I do my best plotting during my daily six-mile walk with my four-legged companion, Henry, a not-so-standard Standard Poodle.
I love a good storyline, but even more so when it’s well-supported.
The author, D.L. Keur, offers captivating information about search and rescue, hostage rescue, pack interactions, human-K9 communication, and human psychology. I love the dogs—yes, plural—and the relationships with their human companions.
Speaking of which, the human characters are realistic. Just like people in real life, they’re flawed, which to my way of thinking, makes a story even more believable and relatable.
I've been fascinated by the concept of women warriors ever since I was a nerdy kid who read every biography of famous women I could get my hands—and I've been collecting their stories almost as long. Today I write historical non-fiction that puts women back into the story, whether it's women warriors, civil war nurses, or groundbreaking journalists. The impact of this can be profound. When we re-introduce overlooked populations into history, we get a very different story.
In 2012, former Air National Guard pilot and Purple Heart recipient Mary Jennings Hegar joined forces with the ACLU to challenge the ban that kept American women out of ground combat units. In Shoot Like A Girl, Hegar tells the story of the career that led her to that point.
Hegar’s love for flying, her commitment to her job, and her bonds with teammates are vividly portrayed. The incident for which she received the Purple Heart–her helicopter shot down in Afghanistan with wounded men aboard—is gripping. But the heart of the book is the systemic sexism Hegar faced throughout her career. This is a powerful account of one woman's determination to serve in the face of acts of casual prejudice, active hazing, sexual assault—and institutional cover-ups.
On July 29, 2009, Air National Guard major Mary Jennings 'MJ' Hegar was shot down while on a Medevac mission on her third tour in Afghanistan. Despite being wounded, she continued to fight and saved the lives of her crew and their patients. But soon she would face a new battle: to give women who serve on the front lines the credit they deserve.
After being commissioned into the U.S. Air Force, MJ Hegar was selected for pilot training by the Air National Guard, finished at the top of her class, then served three tours in Afghanistan, flying combat search-and-rescue…
Elizabeth Flann is a history and literature major who worked for over twenty years in the publishing industry in England and Australia before moving into teaching literature, scriptwriting and editing to postgraduate students at Deakin University, Melbourne. She is a co-author ofThe Australian Editing Handbook and was awarded a PhD in 2001 for her thesis entitled Celluloid Dreaming: Cultural Myths and Landscape in Australian Film. Now retired, she is able to give full rein to her true love—writing fiction. Her first novel, Beware of Dogs, was awarded the Harper Collins Banjo Prize for a Fiction Manuscript. She now lives in a peaceful rural setting in Victoria, Australia, close to extended family and nature.
After years of vicarious adventure tales like The Coral Island andTreasure Island, as an adult I discovered a new source: true-life adventures. From the voyage of the raft Kon-Tiki to the epic trek by Robyn Davidson across Australia’s cruelest desert, my fascination with the human capacity for survival found a new revival. One of the most riveting books I’ve ever read in this genre is Touching the Void which, although non-fiction, is written in an extraordinarily poetic form by the two survivors, each of whom suffered terrible physical privations and even more terrible moral dilemmas while climbing in the snow-covered Peruvian mountains. That either of them survived is a miracle. That both of them did is a tribute to what humans can endure in order to survive.
Extensive reading is essential for improving fluency and there is a real need in the ELT classroom for motivating, contemporary graded material that will instantly appeal to students
Based on the internationally acclaimed book by Joe Simpson, Touching the Void is the compelling true story of a mountaineering expedition which goes dreadfully wrong.
LEVEL 3 - LEVEL 4
BOOK ONLY
Perfect also for native English speaking children who are struggling with their reading
Full colour photos and film stills bring story to life and aid comprehension
Fact File section explores the making of the film, climbing Everest and other related…
