 First edition | |
| Author | Sidney Sheldon |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Thriller |
| Publisher | William Morrow |
Publication date | 2004 |
| Pages | 337 |
| ISBN | 0-06-055934-9 |
| OCLC | 54365479 |
| 813/.54 22 | |
| LC Class | PS3569.H3927 A83 2004 |
| Preceded by | The Sky is Falling |
Are You Afraid of the Dark? is a 2004 novel and the last novel by bestselling thriller writer Sidney Sheldon.
Four people die separately in four different accidents in four different places across the world - Richard Stevens in New York, Mark Harris in Paris, Franz Verbrugge in Berlin and Gary Reynolds in Denver. The four dead share a crucial link: they work for a powerful think tank, headed by Tanner Kingsley. Two women Diane Stevens and Kelly Harris - the widows of Richard Stevens and Mark Harris respectively, run into each other in New York. They both had just met with Tanner Kinglsey to discuss about their husbands' death. To know more about Kelly and her husband's case, Diane invites her to a cafe to talk. In the cafe they are attacked by goons and they flee to Diane's apartment. They soon realise that even the apartment is not safe, so they escape to a hotel.
Soon, the two find themselves under ruthless attack wherever they go. They deduce that Tanner Kingsley is behind all this. It turns out that there is a connection between the death of their husbands and that of Gary Reynolds and Franz Verbrugge. Prior to their death, they had been working on a project Prima - a machine that could control the weather. Upon realizing the threat that it could pose to the world, they decide to meet a senator to talk about it. Tanner Kinglsey gets to know of this plan and has the four of them killed, making it look like accidents.
Armed with this knowledge, the two women travel to Long Island to meet with the senator. Upon reaching, they realise that the senator who is an ex-lover of Tanner, was in on the whole plan of killing the four men and also knew about Prima. Tanner orders his bodyguard Flint to kill the two women, but Kelly gets the better of Flint and kills him. The two women hide in an inn run by an old acquaintance of Kelly, Grace. To make the whole world know of Tanner's plan to control the weather, Diane and Kelly inform various newspaper agencies about it, in the pretense of an invitation to the 'Prima Unveiling Party'. Not wanting any media attention on his machine, Tanner plans to have it destroyed by his once brilliant, now deranged brother Andrew. Tanner has another version of the machine - Prima II hidden in the Tamoa Island in the South Pacific. Tanner plans to operate it discreetly and control governments across the world.
When Tanner and the senator are on a flight, they are caught in an unexpected electrical storm which kills them. It is later revealed that the storm was created by Andrew, who ultimately destroys Prima and dies in the process. Upon learning of this news, the two women decide to go together to Washington to the FBI, to tell them what they know. The book ends with Diane and Kelly who have grown close in the sequence of events, getting closure for their husbands' death.
A Perfect Murder is a 1998 American crime thriller film directed by Andrew Davis and starring Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Viggo Mortensen. It is a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 film Dial M for Murder, though the characters' names have been changed and much of the plot has been rewritten and altered from its original form. Loosely based on the play by Frederick Knott, the screenplay was written by Patrick Smith Kelly.
Windmills of the Gods is a 1987 thriller novel by American writer Sidney Sheldon.
Mary Henrietta Kingsley was an English ethnographer, writer and explorer who made numerous travels through West Africa and wrote several books on her experiences there. Historians have credited Kingsley's work with helping to shape Western perceptions of the culture of Africa and colonialism.
This article covers the history of women in the United States Senate and various milestones achieved by female senators. It includes a list of all women who have served in the Senate, a list of current female senators, and a list of states represented by women in the Senate. The first female U.S. senator, Rebecca Latimer Felton, represented Georgia for a single day in 1922, and the first woman elected to the Senate, Hattie Caraway, was elected from Arkansas in 1932. Sixty women have served in the upper house of the United States Congress since its establishment in 1789. As of October 3, 2023, there are 25 women serving as U.S. senators.
The Naked Face is the first novel (1970) written by Sidney Sheldon. It was nominated by the Mystery Writers of America for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel by an American author.
The Unfaithful is a 1947 American murder mystery film directed by Vincent Sherman and starring Ann Sheridan, Lew Ayres and Zachary Scott. It was produced and distributed by Warner Brothers. Regarded by some as a film noir, the picture is based on the W. Somerset Maugham-penned 1927 play and William Wyler-directed 1940 film The Letter, which was reworked and turned into an original screenplay by writers David Goodis and James Gunn who shifted the setting from Malaya to the United States.
Pacific Drive is an Australian television series made by Village Roadshow in association with New World International for the Nine Network which screened for 390 episodes from 29 January 1996 to December 1997, when it concluded it was show in reruns being in a late night timeslot for years. It was also repeated for a daytime slot on Nine while they lobbied (unsuccessfully) to the Australian Broadcasting Authority for a daytime drama to count towards their local drama quota points.
The Best Laid Plans is a 1997 thriller novel by Sidney Sheldon. The story details the rise of a handsome, charismatic attorney named Oliver Russel, to political fame, while his jilted fiancée, Leslie Stewart, grows a media empire to eventually destroy his career and image. Possible inspiration for the title comes from a paraphrasing of the Robert Burns poem "To a Mouse" into modern English.
Master of the Game is a novel by Sidney Sheldon, first published in hardback format in 1982. Spanning four generations in the lives of the fictional McGregor/Blackwell family, the critically acclaimed novel spent four weeks at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list, and was later adapted into a 1984 television miniseries.
Memories of Midnight, sometimes known as The Other Side of Midnight , is a 1990 novel by Sidney Sheldon. It is a sequel to Sheldon's 1973 bestseller The Other Side of Midnight.
Tony Hutchinson is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Nick Pickard. His first appearance on-screen occurred on 23 October 1995, the inaugural episode of the programme, and is the longest-serving character in the soap. The character was created by Phil Redmond, as one of several main characters for the show.
Mo Butcher is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Edna Doré between 1988 and 1990. She is introduced as the matriarch figure of the Butcher family, Frank Butcher's elderly mother. She is portrayed as a battle-axe, tough and interfering. Her most notable storyline first aired in 1990, when the character is used to portray descent into Alzheimer's disease. Doré opted to leave the serial that same year; Mo was written out of the soap making her last appearance in November. Mo was killed off in 1992, but her death was not screened.
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is a 2007 American crime thriller film directed by Sidney Lumet. The film was written by Kelly Masterson, and stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei, and Albert Finney. The title comes from the Irish saying: "May you be in heaven a full half-hour before the devil knows you're dead". The film unfolds in a nonlinear narrative, repeatedly going back and forth in time, with some scenes shown repeatedly from differing points of view. It was the last film directed by Lumet before his death in 2011.
Frenchie is a 1950 American Western film directed by Louis King and starring Joel McCrea and Shelley Winters. The plot is loosely based on the 1939 Western Destry Rides Again.
Unstrung Heroes is a 1995 American comedy-drama film directed by Diane Keaton and starring Andie MacDowell, John Turturro, Michael Richards, and Maury Chaykin. The screenplay by Richard LaGravenese is based on the memoir of the same name by journalist Franz Lidz.
Frisco Jenny is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film directed by William A. Wellman and starring Ruth Chatterton and Louis Calhern. Its story bears a resemblance to Madame X (1929), Chatterton's previous hit film.
Dr Matt Carter is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Oliver Mellor. He made his first on screen appearance on 20 August 2010. On 30 June 2013, Mellor revealed that he had quit the show and Matt would not appear again.
Caught Cheating is a 1931 American Pre-Code comedy film directed by Frank R. Strayer from a screenplay by W. Scott Darling. The film stars Charles Murray, George Sidney, and Nita Martan, and it was released by Tiffany Productions on January 31, 1931.