Recommendations based on "Sphere of Influence"

This is a series of simplified stories, designed as an introduction to literature. The series offers classics, best-sellers, film-titles and original stories. Each book has extensive exercises, a detailed introduction and information about the syllabus. They are published at six levels: level 1 - beginner (300 words); level 2 - elementary (500 words); level 3 - pre-intermediate (1050 words); level 4 - intermediate ( 1650 words); level 5 - upper intermediate (2300 words); level 6 - advanced (3000 words). The series is designed to be suitable for students of English as a foreign language, for students of English as a second language and for reluctant readers.

A poor art student living in New York stumbles on a bag of diamonds . . . but they come at a price in this unforgettable novel from "America's #1 storyteller" (Forbes).Matthew Bannon, a poor art student living in New York City, finds a duffel bag filled with diamonds during a chaotic attack at Grand Central Station. Plans for a worry-free life with his stunning girlfriend Katherine fill his thoughts - until he realizes that he is being hunted, and that whoever is after him won't stop until they have reclaimed the diamonds and exacted their revenge.Trailing him is the Ghost, the world's greatest assassin, who has just pulled off his most high-profile hit: killing Walter Zelvas, a top member of the international Diamond Syndicate. There's only one small problem: the diamonds he was supposed to retrieve from Zelvas are missing. Now, the Ghost is on Bannon's trail but so is a rival assassin who would like nothing more than to make the Ghost disappear forever.From the world's #1 writer comes a high-speed thrill ride of adrenaline-fueled suspense you'll never forget.

As the most powerful men on earth gather in New York for a meeting of the UN, Detective Michael Bennett receives intelligence warning that there will be an assassination attempt on the US president. Even more shocking, the intelligence suggests that the Russian government could be behind the plot.Tensions between America and Russia are the highest they've been since the Cold War, but this would be an escalation no one could have expected.The details are shadowy, and Bennett finds false leads and unreliable sources at every turn. But he can’t afford to get this wrong. If the plotters succeed, the shockwaves will be felt across the globe.

Philadelphia police detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano are working a new beat: the Special Investigations Unit, aka the cold case squad. Ironic, given that it’s the height of a blazing hot August. But even these hardened homicide veterans are chilled to the bone as a dormant murder case stirs to life–leading Byrne and Balzano into the dark heart of their city, their souls, and a psyche of pure evil.Months before, a teenage runaway’s body was found in the desolate, dangerous North Philly district dubbed the Badlands. Dead runaways were no novelty on these mean streets, but the Caitlin O’Riordan case was different. Her corpse was found in the basement of a rancid tenement apartment, the inexplicable cause of death: drowning. In the end, nothing was solved and the case was closed.Now a confession to the bizarre murder on the police tipline sends Byrne and Balzano rushing to make an arrest. But instead of a killer, they discover a ghastly scene: a jar containing human remains–along with a cryptic clue leading to an unlikely witness. Laura Somerville lives far from the squalor of the Badlands, and seemingly light-years from any connection to a murdered runaway. But moments after discussing the case with this elegant lady, Byrne and Balzano make another grisly discovery, and find an enigmatic word spelled out in Scrabble tiles.Across town, another victim’s shallow grave reveals deeper mysteries. Her secret diaries portray a woman haunted by a shocking past, and obsessed with finding a depraved killer.Now, as the body count grows, a terrifying design literally takes shape. Pieces of a gruesome puzzle are being set into place by the cruel hands of a madman using the city as his game board. His playthings are the innocent, and his opponents–and pawns–are Byrne and Balzano, who must, before time runs out, decipher the truth about a shadowy house of horrors and its elusive master.Internationally acclaimed author Richard Montanari works his black magic to spine-tingling perfection in Badlands, conjuring all the relentless suspense, dark twists of intrigue, and full-throttle action that make his brilliant, engrossing novels required reading for thriller fans.

New York Times bestselling author and former special forces officer Brad Taylor is back with a dynamic political thriller featuring Pike Logan as he goes head-to-head with an old enemy--and renowned assassin. After its proxies are devastated and its offensive capability pummeled in the latest war in the middle east, a rogue group of Iranian regime officials create a brazen plot to strike back at their hated enemies once and for all. They envision a series of operational dominos culminating in a devastating attack, and the first step is the assassination of the Israeli prime minister. And there's only one assassin with the skills to pull it off: Abdul Rahman, known in the shadows as the Ghost. When a routine prison transfer is ambushed, the Ghost escapes and is given the assignment. The only Operator who can hunt him down is the man who stopped him before: Pike Logan. Pike and his team soon learn that the mission involves something bigger than just the escape of his old enemy. Working with Mossad agents, the pursuit leads the Taskforce to Argentina. They work to unravel the scope of the attack, and the chase leads them through the tempestuous waterfalls of Iguazu and the Triple Frontier, to the vibrant streets of Buenos Aires, and the tiny village of Ushuaia at the "End of the World". As the team races against the clock, Pike learns the stakes are much greater than a single life - the consequences extend into the heartland of America itself. The Ghost may hold the key to an escalation that will upend the worldwide balance of power, and if Pike fails, the fallout won't just be personal - it'll be global.

In the fifth electrifying thriller featuring Will Cochrane, the Intelligence agent must solve the unsolvable: How did four international agents working on a super-secret mission die in a safe house bunker that was locked from the inside?Critics have called Will Cochrane a “ruthless yet noble” (Ft. Worth Star-Telegram), “one-man weapon of mass destruction” (Daily Telegraph)—a brilliant agent from whom “Bond and Bourne could learn a thing or two” (Madison County Herald). His latest assignment will plunge him into the thorny politics of the Middle East. The stakes: averting a war that could engulf the world in flames.When the Israeli ambassador to France is shot dead in Paris by an unknown sniper, the Israeli government blames Hamas and begins planning a massive invasion to obliterate the terrorist organization once and for all. To avoid an all-out war, three members of the UN Security Council—the United States, France, and the United Kingdom—assemble a team of intelligence agents to uncover the truth behind the assassination.But when the team stops responding and all four agents are found dead in a bunker locked from the inside, they turn to freelance intelligence operative Will Cochrane for answers. To find out what really happened in the Paris shooting and in the bunker and prevent an unwinnable war, Cochrane will use his years of knowledge and experience to unravel the truth . . . and maybe just keep himself alive. 

In a dangerous world, one extraordinary woman can mean the difference between life and death. . . .For Gabriel and his wife, Chiara, it was supposed to be the start of a pleasant weekend in London—a visit to a gallery in St. James’s to authenticate a newly discovered painting by Titian, followed by a quiet lunch. But a pair of deadly bombings in Paris and Copenhagen has already marred this autumn day. And while walking toward Covent Garden, Gabriel notices a man he believes is about to carry out a third attack. Before Gabriel can draw his weapon, he is knocked to the pavement and can only watch as the nightmare unfolds.Haunted by his failure to stop the massacre of innocents, Gabriel returns to his isolated cottage on the cliffs of Cornwall, until a summons brings him to Washington and he is drawn into a confrontation with the new face of global terror. At the center of the threat is an American-born cleric in Yemen to whom Allah has granted “a beautiful and seductive tongue.” A gifted deceiver, who was once a paid CIA asset, the mastermind is plotting a new wave of attacks.Gabriel and his team devise a daring plan to destroy the network of death from the inside, a gambit fraught with risk, both personal and professional. To succeed, Gabriel must reach into his violent past. A woman waits there—a reclusive heiress and art collector who can traverse the murky divide between Islam and the West. She is the daughter of an old enemy, a woman joined to Gabriel by a trail of blood. . . .Set against the disparate worlds of art and intelligence, Portrait of a Spy moves swiftly from the corridors of power in Washington to the glamorous auction houses of New York and London to the unforgiving landscape of the Saudi desert. Featuring a climax that will leave readers haunted long after they turn the final page, this deeply entertaining story is also a breathtaking portrait of courage in the face of unspeakable evil—and Daniel Silva’s most extraordinary novel to date.Gabriel Allon has been hailed as the most compelling creation since “Ian Fleming put down his martini and invented James Bond” (Rocky Mountain News). A man with a deep appreciation for all that is beautiful, Gabriel is also an angel of vengeance, an international operative who will stop at nothing to see justice done. Sometimes he must journey far in search of evil. And sometimes evil comes to him.

A KILLER WITH NO FACE, NO IDENTITY, AND A NAME THE WORLD WANTED TO FORGET: JASON BOURNE Reenter the shadowy world of Jason Bourne, an expert assassin still plagued by the splintered nightmares of his former life. This time the stakes are higher than ever. For someone else has taken on the Bourne identity-a ruthless killer who must be stopped or the world will pay a devastating price. To succeed, the real Jason Bourne must maneuver through the dangerous labyrinth of international espionage-an exotic world filled with CIA plots, turncoat agents, and ever-shifting alliances-all the while hoping to find the truth behind his haunted memories and the answers to his own fragmented past. This time there are two Bournes-and one must die. "From the Paperback edition.

The mutilated body of a young woman. The town doctor lying comatose in the road. A hundred and fifty tablets of Canadian OxyContin. This is the havoc that a merciless killer has wreaked on a sleepy Maine seaport. As detectives Maggie Savage and Michael McCabe investigate, they realize the man they are after does not exist. Nobody knows his real name. Nobody has seen his face. But everybody fears his blade. The only one who may know the murderer's true identity is an eleven-year-old girl—who has vanished into thin air. Taut, twisting, and starring two unforgettable heroes, Darkness First will thrill fans of John Sandford and C. J. Box.

Mack Bolan and the Phoenix Force and Able Team, America's elite antiterrorist squads, must stop an Arab conspiracy to launch an all-out strike against the United States. Original.