Recommendations based on "Ethan in Gold"

While growing up in West Belfast, Sean does everything he's supposed to do. He works hard, he studies, and he - mostly - stays out of trouble. The thirty-year conflict is over, he's told, and his future is lit with promise.But when Sean returns home from university, he finds much of the same-the same friends doing the same gear in the same clubs; the same lost brothers and mad fathers; the same closed doors; the same silences. There are no jobs, Sean's degree isn't worth the paper it's written on, and no one will give him the time of day. One night, he assaults a stranger at a party, and everything begins to come undone.Close to Home begins with this sudden act of violence and expands into a startling portrait of working-class Ireland under the long shadow of the Troubles. It's a first novel drawn from life, written with the immediacy of thought. It's about what happens when men get desperate, about the cycles of loss and trauma and secrecy that keep them trapped, and about the struggle to get free.

The author of The Two-Bear Mambo serves up a gritty, bawdy, action-packed Texas thriller involving a black, gay protagonist, a chili chef, a femme fatale, a rabid squirrel, a tornado, and several corpses. Reprint.

Dining in a Los Angeles eatery after Dominick's appearance on a popular quiz show, HIV-positive Timothy and Dominick discuss their lives and AIDS and the friends they have lost to it

Two damaged men. One dangerous mission. One healing love. These are the men of Hard Ink. Hard Ink Tattoo owner Jeremy Rixey has taken on his brother's stateside fight against the enemies that nearly killed Nick and his Special Forces team a year ago. Now Jeremy's whole world has been turned upside down by the chaos—and by a brilliant, quiet blond man who tempts him to settle down for the first time ever. Recent kidnapping victim Charlie Merritt has always been better with computers than with people, so when he's drawn into the SF team's investigation of his army colonel father's corruption, he's surprised to find acceptance and friendship—especially since his father never accepted who he was. Even more surprising is the heated tension he feels with sexy, tattooed Jeremy, Charlie's opposite in almost every way. With tragedy and chaos all around them, temptation flashes hot, and Jeremy and Charlie can't help but wonder why they're trying so hard to be good …

Now a major motion picture and titled for the screen as RUMBLE THROUGH THE DARK; a blistering tale of violence and deliverance set against the mythic backdrop of the Mississippi Delta. The acres and acres of fertile soil, the two-hundred-year-old antebellum house, all gone. And so is the woman who gave it to Jack, the foster mother only days away from dying, her mind eroded by dementia, the family legacy she entrusted to Jack now owned by banks and strangers. And Jack's mind has begun to fail, too. The decades of bare-knuckle fighting are now taking their toll, as concussion after concussion forces him to carry around a stash of illegal painkillers and a notebook of names that separates friend from foe. But in a single twisted night, Jack loses his chance to win it all back. Hijacked by a sleazy gambler out to settle a score, Jack is robbed of the money that will clear his debt with Big Momma Sweet -- the queen of Delta vice, whose deep backwoods playground offers sin to all those willing to pay -- and open a path that could lead him back home. Yet this sudden reversal of fortunes introduces an unlikely savior in the form of a sultry, tattooed carnival worker. Guided by what she calls her "church of coincidence," Annette pushes Jack toward redemption, only to discover that the world of Big Momma Sweet is filled with savage danger. Damaged by regret, crippled by twenty-five years of fists and elbows, heartbroken by his own betrayals, Jack is forced to step into the fighting pit one last time, the stakes nothing less than life or death. With the raw power and poetry of a young Larry Brown and the mysticism of Cormac McCarthy, Michael Farris Smith cements his place as one of the finest writers in the American literary landscape.

Greenville County, South Carolina, a wild, lush place, is home to the Boatwright family—rough-hewn men who drink hard and shoot up each other's trucks, and indomitable women who marry young and age all too quickly. At the heart of this astonishing novel is Ruth Anne Boatwright, known simply as Bone, a South Carolina bastard with an annotated birth certificate to tell the tale. Observing everything with the mercilessly keen eye of a child, Bone finds herself caught in a family triangle that will test the loyalty of her mother, Anney. Her stepfather, Daddy Glen, calls Bone "cold as death, mean as a snake, and twice as twisty," yet Anney needs Glen. At first gentle with Bone, Daddy Glen becomes steadily colder and more furious—until their final, harrowing encounter, from which there can be no turning back.

Name: George Breed: Harlequin Great Dane Identifying Traits: One blue eye, one brown eye... and a propensity for trouble! George was last seen escaping from the home of hisrecently divorced owner, restaurateur Brad Ralston.He wasn't wearing a leash and had a mischievous glintin his eye and is probably headed for Paws Spa, wheresingle mom Kara Williams can be found groomingdogs and nursing her old crush on Brad. Canine suspect is unarmed, but has an agenda--possiblyrecognizing two of his favorite humans, Brad and Kara,are so busy protecting their wounds from past hurtsthey can't see what's plainly under George's nose. If yousee this dog, please do not report him immediately.He's got matchmaking to do.

"Locked up in a maximum-security prison, Romeo's highlight each week is a visit from Chad. Despite his friends, colleagues, and therapist all telling Chad to stop, he can't, and he becomes the only joy in Romeo's boring, bleak life.More than his need to kill, he needs Chad to live, but a Copycat killer has other ideas.At first flattered, Romeo relishes the new killer's triumphs, but as he countdown his victims, Romeo realizes the danger Chad's in, not only from the killer, but from his colleagues, and even more alarmingly, himself.Romeo must do something drastic to reunite the Monster and the Magpie, but the Copycat is closing in on Chad fast, and he's intent on doing the one thing Romeo couldn't, concluding his countdown, and claiming number one..." -- Provided by publisher.

Navajo policeman Ben Toomey was out of his element and knee-deep in something worse than Window Rock's usual chaos. Wealthy Eden Trevoy, the little visitor he'd once adored, was back on the reservation, all grown-up--and tangled in secrets about her lost heritage. She needed Ben's help, and somehow he just couldn't turn her away. But Ben's People said the outsider would never fit into his world, and Eden had her own doubts about her newfound heritage. Yet as Eden learned more about where she came from, she discovered where she truly belonged...with Ben.

A man who once thrived on wickedness and counted on forgiveness, Curtis Black has changed his ways. Back in the heart of his congregation and his family, he will no longer stray from the beaten path. Or so he's promised his long-suffering wife, Charlotte. But the sins of the past have strange ways of coming to light. First, Curtis's former mistress shows up with their newborn baby daughter—named Curtina—and insists that Curtis be a part of their lives. Charlotte has forbidden her husband to have anything to do with them, but the trouble is, Curtis's newfound conscience is leading him to have uncomfortable thoughts of responsibility. Also, the interim pastor who took over while Curtis was on a book tour is threatening blackmail. He's gotten too used to life at the pulpit and will do everything in his power to stay there.Meanwhile, Charlotte has her own previous transgressions to deal with. The man who claims to be her son's biological father has turned up and wants to make amends for the past thirteen years. If Charlotte gives in to his increasing requests, she may lose the only child she has left. However, Curtis and Charlotte have been through too much together to give up now. They must work harder than ever—as a mother and a father, as husband and wife—to save their family, their marriage, and their souls.