Bøger af Julia Derek

She lost her husband, but she won't lose her son. Widowed tutor Marisa Azzat leads a double life in New York - she's a vigilante whose goal in life is to root out human trafficking once and for all. Well, that and to avenge the gruesome murder of her husband. She pursues her goal together with her college student son Gabe. They're on the hunt for an underground organization named Club Nirvana. The organization not only engages in sex trafficking of children, but they also tortured and killed Marisa's husband. Marisa finally stumbles upon Nirvana's new location, and it appears a dance school funnels young girls there. She and Gabe recruit a law student to infiltrate the school. The student verifies the school's involvement, but Marisa's joy doesn't last long because Gabe suddenly goes missing. And she suspects that Club Nirvana is behind his disappearance. She must find him before he suffers the same terrible fate as her husband. NOTE: This is the fourth book in the Club Nirvana Series. The first book, Saving Ana, is FREE.

Yvonne Landis has suffered plenty in her 43 years of life. She's a paranoid schizophrenic fugitive who lost her husband in an accident she's accused of staging, and child traffickers once abducted her first-born son, who ended up killing her second. That's enough to destroy most people many times over. But not Yvonne. She's a fighter. After spending time in the Midwest, Yvonne returns to Manhattan with a new name, a new face, and a new husband. She calls herself Marisa Azzat and her Moroccan husband's name is Juri. Her goal is to end child trafficking together with Juri and her remaining son. She'll volunteer as a tutor for foster kids, thereby finding children in need. Being a former middle-school teacher, this task suits her perfectly. She soon stumbles upon Ana, a tween trafficked by her foster family. Yvonne believes saving Ana will be easy, given her experience and extensive preparation out in the boondocks. She couldn't be more wrong. NOTE: This is a stand-alone novel. No sex, gore, or gratuitous violence. You'll find the occasional F-bomb, however: )

TO KILL OR NOT TO KILL When fugitive Yvonne Landis learns that her younger son Joey is stalking her and her anger-plagued older son Gabe, she freaks out. She must stop him from doing anything drastic, such as go to the police and turn them both in. But it has to be done in a way that doesn't upset Joey any more than he already is. Making matters worse, Yvonne finds herself in a position in which she must figure out how to stop a murderous woman without Gabe's help. The best solution would be for her to kill the woman herself. But it's one thing to assist Gabe killing bad people. Killing the target herself is quite another. Can she do it?

ONCE A MODEL CHILD. NOW A MONSTER.Yvonne Landis wakes up in a hospital bed and learns she has become a widow. She and her husband were out on date night when the fatal car accident happened. The airbag that saved her life malfunctioned on his side of the car. Then, as she crawled to safety, the car blew up. As if it's not enough to lose her beloved husband, Yvonne soon has reason to suspect that her son Joseph staged the accident, as well as deactivated the airbag earlier in the day. Joseph, once a model child, has recently displayed significant antisocial tendencies by joining a domestic terrorist cell. He may be back home now, but he's still mad with his parents for ignoring him for years. Just how mad is he?NOTE: THE MODEL CHILD was formerly known as CHANGER CHILD.

NEVER LET YOUR GUARD DOWN...Fugitive Yvonne Landis is settling into her new life being her son Gabe's partner in crime. His mood is stable and her online erotica sales climb higher every day. She's successfully evading the authorities. The fact that Gabe's got his girlfriend pregnant who wants to keep the child is good, not bad, news to her. For the first time in many months, she is almost happy. At the very least, she can relax a little, enjoy life. And that is what she does, which is a huge mistake. Little does she know an Irish blast from the past is out to get her...NOTE: This is the third book in the Cuckoo Series.

HER SECRET CAN LEAD TO HIS DEATH... When Sam visits his new girlfriend, Yasmine, he discovers that she has hanged herself. Devastated, he gets drunk instead of calling the authorities. Detectives Cooper and White soon determine that foul play was involved in the death, and everything points to Sam having killed Yasmine. Sam knows he's innocent, so he sees no other option but to become a fugitive. He must find the killer or risk going to trial where there's a big chance he'll get convicted. He believes the killer can be found at the shady strip club where Yasmine once worked. In the process of seeking the killer, he starts to realize that Yasmine had a secret that she kept from him. A dangerous secret that could lead to his own death if he digs deep enough. NOTE: GIRL WITH A SECRET is a stand-alone murder mystery with no explicit sex and little violence. If you're a fan of Rachel Abbott, Agatha Christie, and Toby Neal, you will likely enjoy it.

A FAMILY ON EDGE. ONE DAY IT ALL COMES TO A HEAD.16-year-old Gabe was once abducted and severely abused. Having escaped a few years ago and gone through significant therapy, he is almost back to normal. Except, his mother Yvonne realizes he has some serious anger issues to deal with when he almost beats a fellow teen to death for messing with his new car. Yvonne keeps his issues from the rest of the family, which may prove to be a huge mistake when tensions between Gabe and his father Ben rise. Ben has problems of his own involving alcohol, resulting in him having loose lips. What if Ben accidentally reveals the family's dark secret to Gabe? Then there is the Swedish intern who's hellbent on destroying Ben for rejecting her advances, going after Gabe instead. One day, it all comes to a head, and the consequences are terrifying...NOTE: ONE THE EDGE was formerly known as ANGER CHILD.

Celeste Jones always dreamed of becoming a gym owner. So, when the opportunity arises to buy Six-Packs for peanuts, she's thrilled. The previous owner claims the place is haunted, but that doesn't bother Celeste one bit-she doesn't believe in ghosts. Hell-ooo! What normal person does? With all her experience, she'll revive floundering Six-Packs! Unfortunately, Celeste soon discovers that the gym IS haunted by a feisty ghost named Lennie. Lennie used to own the building that houses Six-Packs. Lennie approaches Celeste and tells her he must solve five crimes before he can enter the next world to atone for being a terrible person in life (for one, he was a slum lord). At first, Celeste ignores Lennie's badgering ways. But then one of the gym members suffers a mysterious death-and only Lennie seems to know who's behind it. Celeste has no choice but to help Lennie solve his first crime or it's over for Six-Packs, leaving not only Celeste broke, but her employees without a job. NOTE: Haunted Hardbodies is a humorous cozy murder mystery for people who like to laugh. If you're looking for a traditional, serious mystery, this is not it: )

When Marisa Azzat walks home one night, a huge piece of machinery falls from the scaffolding, nearly crushing her. Someone is trying to kill her. Or are they? She can't tell if it's a hallucination or happening for real because she suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. Turns out it's for real.She and her son, Gabe, continue their quest to root out child sex trafficking when this nasty event interrupts them. To make matters worse, Marisa begins to suspect that her new friend Harry is abusing his adopted son, Jack. Then a stranger on the street stabs her and she ends up in the hospital.The more she and Gabe investigate the attempts on her life as well as Harry, the more it seems it's all connected. She must stop Harry to save not only Jack but also herself.

WHAT IF YOU KILLED SOMEONE IN YOUR SLEEP? When Lily Hartman goes to wake Annie, a visiting family friend, she discovers to her horror that the woman isn't sleeping in the guestroom. She's dead. Someone suffocated her the night before. Detectives Cooper and White are called in to solve the murder. They soon learn that beautiful Annie was really Lily's husband Rick's friend. Lily's DNA is all over the pillow used to smother Annie and there are no signs of a break-in to their apartment. Coupled with the fact that the detectives sense Lily was jealous of Annie, she becomes their main suspect. Lily, who is a sleepwalker, herself wonders if she is guilty of killing Annie in her sleep. She recently discovered that Rick and Annie were having an affair, so she secretly resents Annie. Is Lily the killer or is someone setting her up? The truth is worse than she can imagine. NOTE: DEADLY DREAMS is a stand-alone murder mystery with no explicit sex and little violence. If you're a fan of Rachel Abbott, Agatha Christie, and Toby Neal, it will likely appeal to you.

LOVE IS BEAUTIFUL. UNTIL YOU REALIZE SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH YOUR LOVER....Sparks fly when struggling actress Nina Tyler meets lawyer Dylan Whitman. Their chemistry is so intense Nina even rethinks her staunch position on relationships being a waste of time. But there's something about Dylan that scares her-and she knows it has nothing to do with fear of getting close to a man, like her best friend thinks. It's something far worse.Preppy Dylan has had his heart broken and reluctantly ends up on a date with wild, complicated Nina. While her unabashed attitude unsettles him at first, he soon realizes that he really likes her. But the closer they get, the stranger she acts. Too late though---Dylan is hooked. And then Emma, the girl who broke his heart, is murdered, and it looks like Nina has something to do with it...

HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO TO PROTECT YOUR CHILD?Seventeen-year-old Gabe Landis has issues. Anger issues, due to severe trauma. If he doesn't address his ever-present anger, he'll explode. No orthodox methods help him. The only way he gets true peace is when he takes a life. Temporary peace, that is.Yvonne Landis, his mother, has issues too. Not only does she suffer from schizophrenia, but she's also a fugitive. She was held at a mental institution to stand trial for her husband's murder.Gabe killed his father, not Yvonne. But she feels so responsible for what he has become that she can't turn him in despite having unearthed proof he's the real killer. Instead, she devotes her life to help him deal with his issues. That means she must find someone for him to kill.But can she go through with it?

Rose Nichols's husband Mark is shot to death while walking the dog one night. When Rose learns what's happened, she's shocked but not sad. Mark used to beat her so much that she started drinking as a coping mechanism for their fractured marriage. Detectives Cooper and White are put on the case. Cooper believes Rose is behind her husband's death, while White suspects it was the privileged assistant general manager at the health club Mark managed. The deeper they get into the investigation, the more complex it becomes and the stranger Rose acts. Her erratic behavior makes her seem so guilty even White agrees she must be the perp. Unfortunately, no hard evidence points to her, only at the assistant GM. Cooper and White are at a loss-who killed Mark? NOTE: A CRIMINAL MIND is a stand-alone murder mystery with no explicit sex and little violence.

ONLY SHE CAN PROVE HER INNOCENCE Yvonne Landis has escaped from a mental institution, where she was treated for psychosis. She is accused of murder. She will stand trial once psychiatrists deem her fit enough to understand her charges. Only Yvonne knows that she didn't kill her husband; her son Gabe did. Because she was onto him, he tricked the authorities into believing that Mom killed Dad. Having been traumatized in his tweens, he suffers from extreme anger issues. In order to deal with them, he must kill on occasion. Yvonne is determined to prove to everyone that not only did Gabe kill his father, but that he's the one who's truly dangerous, not she. That's easier said than done, considering her fugitive status and the psychotic episodes she still experiences...

A HAPPY MARRIAGE. TERRIBLE SECRETS. Happily married Lexi Woods thought losing a child would be the worst thing that could ever happen to her. She was wrong. It turns out that life has more ugly surprises for her. When she is finally through the heavy depression of losing her newborn, she finds her husband's diary. As she reads it, she learns that he's been unfaithful to her. He's not at all the man she thought he was. Unfortunately, that's not the worst part. Not only has the love of her life gone behind her back -- but it also looks like he killed his mistress... What else could he be hiding? NOTE: This edition contains all three novellas of the Loving a Killer serial. The first is entitled The Diary, the second The Other Woman, and the third Guilty. It contains some sexual content. If you liked The Girl on the Train, it will likely appeal to you.

YOUR ABDUCTED CHILD IS MIRACULOUSLY RETURNED. TOO BAD HE'S NO LONGER THE SAME. Stay-at-home mom Yvonne Landis enters her kitchen one day to meet a huge surprise: seated on a chair is her son, Gabe. He went missing when he was ten years old, more than three years ago. It turns out he was abducted by pedophiles who made his existence a living hell. Extremely traumatized, he acts strangely and barely speaks. Yvonne is determined to heal Gabe. He'll stay at home and work daily with a trauma therapist. Her husband Ben is not completely on board with that idea, especially since Gabe stabbed him with a fork shortly after they were reunited. Then disturbing things happen to their younger son, 9-year old Joseph, and Gabe may be behind those too... NOTE: THE LOST BOY was formerly entitled DANGER CHILD.

When wealthy lawyer Martha Moran is found strangled to death in Central Park, Detectives Cooper and White believe the murder was premeditated as well as personal. They have three prime suspects --- her unfaithful husband, her best friend who's secretly a dominatrix, and her jealous, mentally unstable kid sister. All three have strong motives to want to see Martha dead, and all three have weak alibis for the night in question. Did one of them kill Martha or is the truth more complicated than it appears on the surface? NOTE: MORTAL SIN is the fifth murder mystery in the COOPER AND WHITE Series. All books are stand-alones and can be read in any order. They contain no sex and little violence.

KARMA HAS NO DEADLINEGabe Landis didn't expect to bump into one of the men who molested him years ago when rescuing Yvonne, his missing fugitive mother. Yvonne reveals why the private investigator who helped him feels so familiar. The PI made a plea deal with the prosecutor at the trial, witnessing against the child-traffickers kidnapping Gabe and other children in exchange for immunity. Gabe cannot accept that this man is walking free after what he did to him and other children. He must kill the man in order to have peace again. Yvonne agrees the man deserves to die, but she worries the cops might connect her son to the murder. Figuring out a plan for Gabe to avenge himself is easier said than done. Can she do it? NOTE: This is the fourth book in the Cuckoo Series. Read the first three before this one.

YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM THE PAST... Stay-at-home mom Kate Martinez's life is turned upside down when her husband Diego is stabbed to death, leaving her with no means to support their toddlers. Detectives Cooper and White are put on the case, and their only lead is the unusual knife left at the crime scene. Kate insists neither Diego nor she have any enemies. It turns out that Diego may have more enemies than Kate thinks; he was once a member of a vicious gang and kept this from Kate. When Kate discovers Diego's lies, she's devastated and turns to Trevor, a man she once dated who's now a friend. Little does she know that Trevor, too, used to be a member of a brutal gang-which happens to be a rival to her husband's gang. Has the past caught up with Diego, or is there a more sinister reason to his death? When Kate learns the truth, it may be too late... NOTE: SINS OF THE PAST is a stand-alone murder mystery with no explicit sex and little violence. If you're a fan of Rachel Abbott, Agatha Christie, and Toby Neal, it will likely appeal to you.

THEY'D BETTER GUN FOR IT OR IT'S OVERFugitive Yvonne Landis looks forward to some much-deserved peace and quiet for her life in the shadows. Her teenage son Gabe's molester is dead and buried at last. The murderous rage living inside Gabe has been mollified and won't be back for several weeks. But Yvonne's out of luck. Unfortunately, Gabe kept the molester's gun instead of tossing it in the river like he had promised. His toddler cousin finds it and nearly kills Alison, Gabe's aunt. Furious Alison demands to know what the gun was doing under Gabe's bed. When he claims he found it running in the woods, she promises to involve the police so they can figure out who it belongs to. Gabe and Yvonne must stop the gun from getting into the NYPD's hands or they'll know Gabe killed its previous owner, his molester. And then it's all over for both of them.

Marisa Azzat-formerly known as homicidal fugitive Yvonne Landis-is still grieving her husband. He was killed during their secret child-trafficking investigations. Her goal in life is to avenge his brutal death, while also rooting out child trafficking once and for all.But finding the traffickers is easier said than done. Mainly, she and her son Gabe, a former child-trafficking victim, search for them online, surfing the dark web. That's how they come across Emily Hill, a 14-year-old who went missing while on vacation with her parents.Emily is in love with her handsome abductor Dario. But he's only interested in making money by selling her body to perverts. Marisa and Gabe believe that snatching Emily out of Dario's arms will be a piece of cake. Problem is, he's far savvier than they expect...

HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO TO SAVE YOUR SISTER FROM EVIL?Shane Hanson is living a nightmare. Not only is his mother an escaped prisoner out to kill him, but he also suspects that his precocious half sister, four-year-old Neera, has inherited their mom's psychopathic tendencies. When Neera's father suddenly dies from a heart attack, Shane's even more convinced that Neera is a budding psychopath; after all, she triggered the deadly heart attack. The authorities reject the idea that Neera tried to hurt her father on purpose, but Shane sees increasing signs that something is wrong. He refuses to give up on her, though, believing he can fix her by raising her right. Before he can get far, Neera suddenly disappears and it turns out their mother has kidnapped the girl. Why, he can't be sure, but it's hardly for a good reason. Will Shane be able to find them before it's too late?NOTE: HUNT EVIL is the final book in the Evil Trilogy. While the books are stand-alones- they are best enjoyed in order.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF SOMEONE CLOSE TO YOU WAS A PSYCHOPATH?Shane Hanson was set up for a double homicide when he was only 13 years old. His relative did it because she blames him for the death of her one true love. After spending five years in juvie, he's released on parole and determined to reveal the truth about his relative. In the meantime, he meets a girl he develops feelings for.Shane's relative is a psychopath so good at manipulating people that she has managed to get everyone to believe Shane killed two people that she's killed. She never expected Shane to get such a soft sentence, but instead that he would remain in jail forever. Now she must start from scratch to get him back behind bars. To get her revenge right finally, she'll use the girl Shane falls in love with, breaking his heart as much as his spirit.NOTE: TRUE EVIL is the second book in the Evil trilogy. There's no sex or violence, but some bad language. While the books in this trilogy are stand-alones, they are best read in order.