The introduction, discussion questions, author biography, and suggested reading list that follow are designed to enhance your group’s reading of Stephen L. Carter’s eagerly anticipated and hugely ambitious first novel, The Emperor of Ocean Park .

"A novel about the murky world of media politics, conspiracy, and murder. A newspaper committed to blackmail and mud slinging, rather than reporting the news. The murder of Pope John Paul I, the CIA, red terrorists handled by secret services, twenty years of bloodshed, and events that seem outlandish until the BBC proves them true. A fragile love story between a failed ghost writer, and a vulnerable girl, who specializes in celebrity gossip yet cries...

"Newlyweds Sam Statler and Annie Potter are head over heels, and excited to say good-bye to New York and start a life together in Sam's sleepy hometown in upstate New York. Or, it turns out, a life where Annie spends most of her time alone while Sam, her therapist husband, works long hours in his downstairs office, tending to the egos of his (mostly female) clientele. Little does Sam know that through a vent in his ceiling, every word of his sessions...

"Vice President Joe Biden is fresh out of the Obama White House and feeling adrift when his favorite railroad conductor dies in a suspicious accident, leaving behind an ailing wife and a trail of clues. To unravel the mystery, "Amtrak Joe" re-teams with the only man he's ever fully trusted--the 44th president of the United States. Together they'll plumb the darkest corners of Delaware, traveling from cheap motels to biker bars and beyond, as they...

"Two years ago, a hostile Prime Minister launched the Monochrome inquiry, investigating "historical over-reaching" by the British Secret Service. Monochrome's mission was to ferret out any hint of misconduct by any MI5 officer--and allowed Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle, the two civil servants seconded to the project, unfettered access to any and all confidential information in the Service archives in order to do so. But MI5's formidable First Desk...

"As a Secret Service agent, Nick Averose spent a decade protecting the most powerful men and women in America and developed a unique gift: the ability to think like an assassin. Now, he uses that skill in a little-known but crucial job. As a 'red teamer,' he poses as a threat, testing the security around our highest officials to find vulnerabilities--before our enemies can. He is a mock killer, capable of slipping past even the best defenses. His...

"The New York Times bestselling author of A Noise Downstairs and No Time for Goodbye returns with an edge-of-your-seat thriller that does for elevators what Psycho did for showers and Jaws did for the beach--a heart-pounding tale in which a series of disasters paralyzes New York City with fear. Pulsating with tension, Elevator Pitch is a riveting tale of psychological suspense that is all too plausible. and will chill readers to the bone"--

Dr. Kate English has it all. Not only is she the heiress to a large fortune; she has a gorgeous husband and daughter, a high-flying career, and a beautiful home anyone would envy. But all that changes the night Kate's mother, Lily, is found dead, brutally murdered in her own home. Heartbroken and distraught, Kate reaches out to her estranged best friend, Blaire Barrington, who rushes to her side for the funeral, where the years of distance between...

Accepting what she believes will be a dream job from a prominent political family, a young nanny is dazzled by her employers' glamorous life before a mysterious stranger draws her into a menacing web of secrets.

"After ISIS terrorists attack the United States Capitol Building during the president's State of the Union address, the entire world waits to see how the most powerful nation on earth will respond. But the Taylor administration is more committed to political correctness than to justice, and it falls to other nations to lead the way in hunting down Abu Khalif, the criminal and religious mastermind who leads the Islamic State. When New York Times journalist...