Now Win This!: Unleash the Beast Sweepstakes

It’s all about survival of the fittest, and if you want to make it out alive, you’ll heed caution to these seven wild books!

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NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. A PURCHASE DOES NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCE OF WINNING. Sweepstakes open to legal residents of 50 United States, D.C., and Canada (excluding Quebec), who are 18 years or older as of the date of entry. Promotion begins March 31, 2015, at 3:00 pm ET, and ends April 14, 2015, 2:59 pm ET. Void in Puerto Rico and wherever prohibited by law. Click here for details and official rules.

 Black Scorpion: The Tyrant Reborn by Jon Land

Five years have passed since Michael Tiranno saved the city of Las Vegas from a terrorist attack. And now a new enemy has surfaced in Eastern Europe in the form of an all-powerful organization called Black Scorpion. Once a victim of human trafficking himself, the shadowy group's crazed leader, Vladimir Dracu, has become the mastermind behind the scourge's infestation on a global scale. And now he's set his sights on Michael Tiranno for reasons birthed in a painful secret past that have scarred both men.

Already facing a myriad of problems, Michael once more must rise to the challenge of confronting an all-powerful enemy who is exploiting and ravaging innocents all across the globe and has set nothing less than all of America as its new victim. Black Scorpion has also taken the woman Michael loves hostage: Scarlett Swan, a beautiful archaeologist who was following the dangerous trail of the origins of the ancient relic that both defines and empowers Michael, a discovery that could change history and the perception of mankind's very origins.

With the deck and the odds stacked against him, Michael must come to learn and embrace his true destiny in becoming the Tyrant reborn as a dark knight to triumph over ultimate evil and stop the sting of Black Scorpion from undermining all of the United States and plunging Las Vegas into chaos and anarchy.

A Murder of Magpies by Judith Flanders

It's just another day at the office for London book editor Samantha “Sam” Clair. Checking jacket copy for howlers, wondering how to break it to her star novelist that her latest effort is utterly unpublishable, lunch scheduled with gossipy author Kit Lowell, whose new book will dish the juicy dirt on a recent fashion industry scandal. Little does she know the trouble Kit's book will cause—before it even goes to print. When police Inspector Field turns up at the venerable offices of Timmins & Ross, asking questions about a package addressed to Sam, she knows something is wrong. Now Sam's nine-to-five life is turned upside down as she finds herself propelled into a criminal investigation. Someone doesn't want Kit's manuscript published and unless Sam can put the pieces together in time, they'll do anything to stop it.

With this deliciously funny debut novel, acclaimed author Judith Flanders introduces readers to an enormously enjoyable, too-clever-for-her-own-good new amateur sleuth, as well Sam's Goth assistant, her effortlessly glamorous mother, and the handsome Inspector Field.

Shark Skin Suite by Tim Dorsey

Bottom feeders beware: the Sunshine State’s favorite psychotic killer and lovable Floridaphile Serge Storms has found a new calling, legal eagle, and he’s going to make a killing as a crusading attorney—and star as a dashing lawyer on the big screen—in this madcap escapade from the insanely funny New York Times bestselling author Tim Dorsey.

When it comes to swimming with the sharks, there is no bigger kahuna than Serge Storms. Binging on a marathon of legal movies set in Florida, Serge finds his calling: the law. Never mind law school or that degree, Serge becomes a freelance fixer—wildcat paralegal and pilgrim to the hallowed places where legal classics of the big screen such as Body Heat, Cool Hand Luke, and Absence of Malice were filmed practically in his own backyard.

One of Serge’s old flames, young lawyer Brook Campanella, is also a rising star thanks to her expertise in the field of foreclosure law. Ruthless at taking down the greedy banksters kicking people out of their homes, she lands a major class-action lawsuit, and wins big. The opposition is determined to shut her down and they’ll go to extreme lengths to do it.

Luckily for her, Serge has been hired to do some investigative legwork on the case. There's nothing he likes better than saving a damsel in distress, especially when it means kicking a bunch of shyster butt. The mayhem comes to a hilarious head at the Key West courthouse, at the height of the island’s raucous Fantasy Fest street carnival, and no one, including Serge, will ever be the same.

A Scourge of Vipers by Bruce DeSilva

To solve Rhode Island's budget crisis, the state's colorful governor, Attila the Nun, wants to legalize sports gambling; but her plan has unexpected consequences. Organized crime, professional sports leagues, and others who have a lot to lose—or gain—if gambling is made legal flood the state with money to buy the votes of state legislators.

Liam Mulligan, investigative reporter for The Providence Dispatch, wants to investigate, but his bottom-feeding corporate bosses at the dying newspaper have no interest in serious reporting. So Mulligan goes rogue, digging into the story on his own time. When a powerful state legislator turns up dead, an out-of-state bag man gets shot, and his cash-stuffed briefcase goes missing, Mulligan finds himself the target of shadowy forces who seek to derail his investigation by destroying his career, his reputation, and perhaps even his life.

Whiskers of the Lion by P.L. Gaus

After Fannie Helmuth's unwitting actions make her the target of a murderous drug ring, the young Amish woman hides in plain sight among America's scattered Amish communities. But confrontation looms in Holmes County, Ohio, when her traveling companion is caught and murdered by a cartel that won't stop at a single killing.

Sheriff Bruce Robertson is charged with finding the elusive Fannie and getting her into protective custody so she can testify in federal court. Playing out his struggle in dreams of a deadly lion, the sheriff finds himself torn between upholding the legal system he represents and the beliefs of the people he is sworn to protect.

Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekback

Swedish Lapland, 1717. Maija, her husband Paavo and her daughters Frederika and Dorotea arrive from their native Finland, hoping to forget the traumas of their past and put down new roots in this harsh but beautiful land. Above them looms Blackåsen, a mountain whose foreboding presence looms over the valley and whose dark history seems to haunt the lives of those who live in its shadow.

While herding the family’s goats on the mountain, Frederika happens upon the mutilated body of one of their neighbors, Eriksson. The death is dismissed as a wolf attack, but Maija feels certain that the wounds could only have been inflicted by another man. Compelled to investigate despite her neighbors’ strange disinterest in the death and the fate of Eriksson’s widow, Maija is drawn into the dark history of tragedies and betrayals that have taken place on Blackåsen. Young Frederika finds herself pulled towards the mountain as well, feeling something none of the adults around her seem to notice.

As the seasons change, and the “wolf winter,” the harshest winter in memory, descends upon the settlers, Paavo travels to find work, and Maija finds herself struggling for her family’s survival in this land of winter-long darkness. As the snow gathers, the settlers’ secrets are increasingly laid bare. Scarce resources and the never-ending darkness force them to come together, but Maija, not knowing who to trust and who may betray her, is determined to find the answers for herself. Soon, Maija discovers the true cost of survival under the mountain, and what it will take to make it to spring.

The Cat, the Devil, the Last Escape by Shirley Rousseau and Pat J.J. Murphy

Thanks to the help of the ghost cat, thief and train robber Lee Fontana has finally beat the devil. But the big, rangy tomcat, who can appear and disappear as he pleases, knows Satan will return.

While Misto stalks Lee's dark antagonist, he also watches over nine-year-old Sammie Blake, whose cat he was in a previous life. A child blessed with a gift Satan detests: her dreams portend the future. Like Lee, Sammie has been wounded by Satan's tricks: when the devil's longtime puppet Brad Falon pulled off a deadly robbery and framed her daddy, Morgan Blake, to take the fall.

But now Morgan, behind bars, teams up with Fontana. Shadowed and nudged by the ghost cat, they lay out a plan of escape to trap Falon in his lies, to clear Morgan and to win his freedom.