The Chain

When a mother is targeted by a dangerous group of masterminds, she must commit a crime to save her kidnapped daughter—or risk losing her forever—in this "propulsive and original" award-winning thriller (Stephen King). It's something parents do every morning: Rachel Klein drops her daughter at the bus stop and heads into her day. But a cell phone call from an unknown number changes everything: it's a woman on the line, informing her that she has Kylie bound and gagged in her back seat, and the only way Rachel will see her again is to follow her instructions exactly: pay a ransom, and find another child to abduct. This is no ordinary kidnapping: the caller is a mother herself, whose son has been taken, and if Rachel doesn't do as she's told, the boy will die. "You are not the first. And you will certainly not be the last."Rachel is now part of The Chain, an unending and ingenious scheme that turns victims into criminals—and is making someone else very rich in the process. The rules are simple, the moral challenges impossible; find the money fast, find your victim, and then commit a horrible act you'd have thought yourself incapable of just twenty-four hours ago. But what the masterminds behind The Chain know is that parents will do anything for their children. It turns out that kidnapping is only the beginning. "McKinty is one of the most striking and most memorable crime voices to emerge on the scene in years. His plots tempt you to read at top speed, but don't give in: this writing—sharply observant, intelligent and shot through with black humor—should be savored." —Tana French "A masterpiece. You have never read anything quite like The Chain and you will never be able to forget it." —Don Winslow "Diabolical, unnerving, and gives a whole new meaning to the word "relentless". Adrian McKinty just leapt to the top of my list of must-read suspense novelists. He's the real deal." —Dennis Lehane "Pairing an irresistible concept with a winner protagonist, The Chain promises to be your new addiction once you succumb to the first enticing page." —Alafair Burke "A grade-A-first-rate-edge-of-your-seat thriller. I can't believe what went through my mind while reading it." —Attica Locke

A powerful and important work of investigative journalism that explores the runaway growth of the American meatpacking industry and its dangerous consequences “A worthy update to Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and a chilling indicator of how little has changed since that 1906 muckraking classic.” — Mother Jones “I tore through this book. . . . Books like these are important: They track the journey of our thinking about food, adding evidence and offering guidance along the way.” —Wall Street Journal On the production line in American packing-houses, there is one cardinal rule: the chain never slows. Under pressure to increase supply, the supervisors of meat-processing plants have routinely accelerated the pace of conveyors, leading to inhumane conditions, increased accidents, and food of questionable, often dangerous quality. In The Chain, acclaimed journalist Ted Genoways uses the story of Hormel Foods and its most famous product, Spam—a recession-era staple—to probe the state of the meatpacking industry, from Minnesota to Iowa to Nebraska. Interviewing scores of line workers, union leaders, hog farmers, and local politicians and activists, Genoways reveals an industry pushed to its breaking point—while exposing alarming new trends, from sick or permanently disabled workers to conflict between small towns and immigrant labor. A searching exposé in the tradition of Upton Sinclair, Rachel Carson, and Eric Schlosser, The Chain is a mesmerizing story and an urgent warning about the hidden costs of the food we eat.

Affluent but unhappy John Ford is taking yet another lonely stroll around town one night when he sees a mysterious woman toss a bundle into the water from the Chain Pier. The next day, the ghastly contents of the bundle are revealed -- a discovery that sets an unexpected chain of events into motion.

Emma Poldark, cossetted teenage daughter of Port Arthur’s Commandant, is helplessly in love with the suave doctor, Hugh Chilcott. She spends her days walking her dog desperately hoping to speak to him. Jack Wainwright, arrested in London for a trivial offence is transported to Van Diemen’s Land, chained to hardened criminals, to face the horror of life as a convict. At Port Arthur Jack and Emma’s lives unexpectedly collide, setting off a series of events that are authentic, humorous, poignant and utterly compelling. This intensely moving, racy novel vividly brings history to life – the genteel clink of teacups, the rustling of satin gowns, a piano playing a long-forgotten melody, a parallel world existing alongside the dark world of the penal system - the clank of metal chains, the brutality and hopelessness of the convicts’ lives, their anger and despair.. And the realisation that appearances are not always what they seem to be.

First published in 1962, this is a book about Marx and Freud - the two intellectual giants of the 20th century. It introduces many of readers to unknown aspects of Marx and Freud, as it also serves as an introduction to the life and mind of Erich Fromm as well.

Lavishly illustrated story of 50 years of Fleetwood Mac by respected music journalist.

An award-winning historian reveals the harrowing forgotten story of America's internal slave trade—and its role in the making of America. Slave traders are peripheral figures in most histories of American slavery. But these men—who trafficked and sold over half a million enslaved people from the Upper South to the Deep South—were essential to slavery's expansion and fueled the growth and prosperity of the United States. In The Ledger and the Chain, acclaimed historian Joshua D. Rothman recounts the shocking story of the domestic slave trade by tracing the lives and careers of Isaac Franklin, John Armfield, and Rice Ballard, who built the largest and most powerful slave-trading operation in American history. Far from social outcasts, they were rich and widely respected businessmen, and their company sat at the center of capital flows connecting southern fields to northeastern banks. Bringing together entrepreneurial ambition and remorseless violence toward enslaved people, domestic slave traders produced an atrocity that forever transformed the nation.

------------------------------- On 8 July 1998 Festina team soigneur Willy Voet was stopped by the police. In his car were the drugs the team needed if they were to have any chance of playing a competitive part in the 1998 Tour de France. The car was searched, he was immediately arrested and so the story that has been undermining the sport of cycling since the death of Tommy Simpson in 1967, finally broke. Imprisoned for sixteen days, sacked from the Festina team and ostracised from the sport to which he had dedicated his life, Willy Voet at last was able to tell the truth. His sensational story will change cycling forever. Cocaine, amphetamines, EPO, heroin - all these are now considered not optional but necessary, not to win but just to compete in the Tour de France. Details of how these drugs are obtained, mixed together to make cocktails, administered and concealed are all included in this graphic and uninhibited account of how drugs brought cycling to its knees.

Written in the style of a detective novel, The Chain of Chance is classic Lem: a combination of action, hard science, and philosophical investigation. An ex-astronaut is hired to look into the death of a wealthy businessman, one of several men to meet a gruesome end after visiting Naples. The authorities suspect a pattern, but neither the police nor a sophisticated computer enlisted for the investigation can crack the case. On a trail leading from Naples to Rome to Paris, the ex-astronaut barely escapes numerous threats on his life. Having set himself up as a potential victim, he realizes that he may now be the target of a deadly conspiracy - and that the conspiracy is not the work of a criminal mind but a manifestation of the laws of nature. The population has numerically exceeded its critical mass; certain patterns have begun to emerge from the chaotic workings of society. As the ex-astronaut unravels the puzzle, he begins to see that some of those patterns can be fatal.

A comparative analysis of why democratic institutions often produce dissonance between citizens' preferences and public policy in separation-of-powers regimes.

The internationalization and consolidation of retailing is turning the traditional retail industry on its head. International purchasing, fast and efficient operational models and new technologies constantly challenge retailers. Real price competition is just beginning. The Retail Value Chain analyses the changes in the retail industry and the strategic options now open to companies. The book describes the key concepts of Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) and provides several illustrative cases to demonstrate the results. The following key topics are explored: • Why have hard discounters succeeded in many markets? • What are the key success factors of premium retailing? • How can traditional retailing respond to competition from new entrants? • How will private labels change product development processes and the balance of power in the retail value chain? • How can different manufacturers benefit from ECR-collaboration? • How do retailers share and use information in collaboration with manufacturers? • How will new technologies change the retail value chain? Including expert opinions, real-life case examples and a global study of shopper information sharing, The Retail Value Chain is essential reading for both retail practitioners and students of retail and channel marketing.

SCM is a rapidly emerging paradigm that is transforming the organisation of business operations as firms seek ever new and innovative ways of finding the elusive mantra of competitive advantage. Little work to date has been undertaken on the creative sector. This e-book hopes to address this, by offering some interesting and informative exploratory work in different areas of the sector. One aim was to offer some insights and lessons that could be drawn on by the wider business community.

The conflict of a minister with his "country club" congregation.