Danielle Steel sweeps us from a Manhattan courtroom to the Deep South in her powerful new novel—at once a behind-closed-doors look into the heart of a family and a tale of crime and punishment.

SOUTHERN LIGHTS

Eleven years have passed since Alexa Hamilton left the South behind, fleeing the pain of her ex-husband’s betrayal and the cruelty of his prominent Charleston family. Now an assistant D.A. in Manhattan, Alexa has finally put her demons to rest, raising her daughter alone and making a name for herself as a top prosecutor taking on some of the city’s toughest cases.

But as Alexa prepares for her latest case, the high-stakes trial of accused serial killer Luke Quentin, threatening letters addressed to Savannah, her beautiful seventeen-year-old daughter, throw Alexa’s private life into turmoil. Certain that Quentin is behind the letters, Alexa must make the toughest choice of all: to send her daughter back to her ex-husband’s world of southern tradition and memories of betrayal.

While Alexa’s trial builds to a climax in New York, her daughter settles into southern life, discovering a father and family history she barely knows. As secrets are exposed and old wounds are healed, Alexa and Savannah, after a season in different worlds, will come together again – strengthened by the challenges they have faced and changed by the mysteries they have unraveled.

From the gritty chaos of Manhattan’s criminal court system to the seductive gentility of the South, from the rage of a hardened criminal to the tender bond between a mother and a daughter, Southern Lights will catch you off guard at every turn.

When she turned the page and her gaze flickered over the date on top it was as though the lightning outside had somehow grounded right into her. A billion volts of pain, a shriek of anguish you could actually see, and feel, as it pierced her.

Camp David, USA. A birthday party turns into a nightmare when a child is snatched after the celebrations.

The First Lady enlists the services of Sean King and Michelle Maxwell to bring the child home safely. But she and King share a past. Years ago he saved her then senator husband from political disaster. And this may not be all that passed between them.

With Michelle still battling her own demons, the two are pushed to the limit, with forces aligned on all sides against them – and the line between friend and foe impossible to define . . . or defend.

Reacher never backs down from a problem.

And he’s about to find a big one, on a deserted Arizona road, where a Jeep has crashed into the only tree for miles around. Under the merciless desert sun, nothing is as it seems.

Minutes later Reacher is heading into the nearby border town, a backwater that has seen better days. Next to him is Michaela Fenton, an army veteran turned FBI agent, who is trying to find her twin brother. He might have got mixed up with some dangerous people.

And Reacher might just need to pay them a visit.

Their leader has burrowed his influence deep into the town. Just to get in and meet the mysterious Dendoncker, Reacher is going to have to achieve the impossible.

To get answers will be even harder. There are people in this hostile, empty place who would rather die than reveal their secrets.

But then, if Reacher is coming after you, you might be better off dead.