Two favorite thrillers from #1 New York Times bestselling author Christopher Pike are now available in one bone-chilling collection. When Alison first got the chain letter signed “Your Caretaker,” she thought it was a sick joke. But then it became clear that someone, somewhere knows about that awful night when she and six friends committed an unthinkable crime. And now that person is determined to make them pay. One by the one, the chain letter comes to each of them, demanding dangerous, impossible deeds. No one wants to believe that this nightmare is really happening, but then the accidents start. And the deaths. Finding the truth behind the stalker’s identity seems to be the only option, but even that might not be enough. The Caretaker has a prodigy who is even more frightening than the first, and this time he wants more than retribution. He’s out for blood.

Livvie isn’t superstitious like her best friend, Joyce, who thinks everything is bad luck. So Livvie isn’t worried about tearing up the chain letter and throwing it away–until she’s humiliated in gym class, falls down her back stairs, and gets invited to Thanksgiving dinner at Peter Finch’s house. Peter’s dad has crooked teeth, a plastic wonderland in his front yard, and some kind of secret up in his study. There is no way Livvie wants Phil Finch to date her mom. But it’s hard work keeping their families apart–especially when Livvie is assigned to work on the sixth-grade snow maze project with Peter. Clearly, Joyce was right: breaking the chain was a huge mistake. And the only way to set things straight is to find out who sent the letter in the first place. . . . Rich in humor and suspense, Julie Schumacher’s absorbing novel is about friendship, choices, and the kind of luck that really matters.

TERRIFYING DISCOVERYThe discovered sheet of paper-half torn away at a jagged angle-was obviously very old, but smooth, yellow-white, edged in black. The words were easily read: Whosoever possesseth this letter and dares to break this chain shall suffer disaster and death . . . EVIL DILEMMAAbby and Brian had heard of such a thing before. A chain letter! Though each had more than a glimmer of doubt, they began to feel deep in their souls that this was no ordinary chain letter. According to the instructions, to be safe they must send the letter to their close friends. But, were they putting these friends in danger? Those that dare to break the chain shall suffer. It had seemed so innocent at first, then the mysterious occurrences began.

"Readers of Montesquieu will through this study discover a new Persian Letters, as the exquisite subtlety of its construction is laid bare for the first time. It should find a new appreciation as a work of art, and not merely as a precursor to the author's Of the Spirit of the Laws. The Letters will henceforth be read in the light of similarly composite texts, from Montaigne's Essays to Baudelaire's Fleurs du mal."--Jacket.

The Crystal Chain - "Die glaserne Kette" - was a utopian correspondence initiated by Bruno Taut in 1919-1920, in which a small group of like-minded architects and artists exchanged ideas on what form the architecture of the future should take. Unfettered by the demands of practicability, the members of the group described their visions of an ideal society and of a beneficent architecture in a series of dazzling, fantastic letters and drawings. Although the letters are referred to in almost every survey of twentieth century architecture, this is the first book to offer in English the complete texts of all the known Crystal Chain letters, including some which have never been published in German. The letters are accompanied by illustrations, an introductory essay, and explanatory notes. The Crystal Chain letters document the crisis of modernism that afflicted German architectural theory in the years immediately following the First World War. The trauma of the war and the subsequent social unrest led the radical architects to reject the materialism and positivism that had characterized the "Kaiserreich." The result was an ideological and aesthetic vacuum, and the search for suitable alternatives provided the basis for the correspondence. After a year of intense theoretical speculation, several of the links in the chain, including Bruno and Max Taut, Walter Gropius, Hans and Wassili Luckhardt, and Hans Scharoun, emerged as leading advocates and practitioners of the new architecture in Germany. Iain Boyd Whyte is an English architectural historian. He is the author of several books including Bruno Taut and the Architecture of Activism, and the translator of Industriekultur: Peter Behrens and the AEG (MIT Press, 1984).

From the bestselling, award-winning author of The Invisible Bridge comes a gripping tale of forbidden love, high-stakes adventure, and unimaginable courage filled with "suspense and tragedy, unexpected twists and deliverance” (The Seattle Times). • THE INSPIRATION FOR THE NETFLIX SERIES TRANSATLANTIC MARSEILLE, 1940. Varian Fry, a Harvard-educated journalist and editor, arrives in France. Recognizing the darkness descending over Europe, he and a group of like-minded New Yorkers formed the Emergency Rescue Committee, helping artists and writers escape from the Nazis and immigrate to the United States. Amid the chaos of World War II, and in defiance of restrictive U.S. immigration policies, Fry must procure false passports, secure visas, seek out escape routes through the Pyrenees and by sea, and make impossible decisions about who should be saved, all while under profound pressure—and in a state of irrevocable personal change. In this dazzling work of historical fiction—one that illuminates previously unexplored elements of Fry’s story, and has, since its publication, brought us new insight into his life.

When four very different small-town Delaware high school girls are forced to join a mother-daughter book club over summer vacation, they end up learning about more than just the books they read.

The same deadly power that drove the characters in "Chain letter" returns with a vengeance.

To Whom It May Concern: You are a chosen one. Your name has been selected to receive these instructions. Follow them exactly and you will have great good fortune. Fail, and this letter will bring you death. You have forty-eight hours. Do not break the chain… While investigating the murder of a fellow police officer, Australian Detective Carol Ashton believes she has discovered a bizarre link between this case and several other unsolved homicides — each victim received a chain letter promising death if the instructions are not followed. When her hunch leads nowhere, Carol figures it was just a coincidence. Then, someone very close to her receives a letter…

Originally published in 1963, The Speech Chain has been regarded as the classic, easy-to-read introduction to the fundamentals and complexities of speech communication. It provides a foundation for understanding the essential aspects of linguistics, acoustics and anatomy, and explores research and development into digital processing of speech and the use of computers for the generation of artificial speech and speech recognition. This interdisciplinary account will prove invaluable to students with little or no previous exposure to the study of language.