The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
by Stieg Larsson

Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared off the secluded island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger family. There was no corpse, no witnesses, no evidence. But her uncle, Henrik, is convinced that she was murdered by someone from her own deeply dysfunctional Vanger clan. Disgraced journalist Mikael Blomqvist is hired to investigate.

Ticktock
by Dean Koontz

Tommy Phan is a 30-year-old Vietnamese-American detective and novelist living in Southern California, and a chaser of the American Dream. He drives home his brand-new Corvette one day to discover a strange doll on his doorstep. It's a rag doll made entirely of white cloth, with no face or hair or clothes. Where the eyes should be, there are two crossed stitches of black thread. Five sets of crossed black stitches mark the mouth, and another pair form an X over the heart.

He brings it into the house. That night, he hears an odd little popping sound and looks up to see the crossed stitches over the doll's heart breaking apart. When he picks up the doll, he feels something pulsing in its chest. Another thread unravels to reveal a reptilian green eye --and not a doll's eye, because it blinks.
Tommy Phan pursues the thing as it scrambles away into his house -- and then is pursued by it as it evolves from a terrifying and vicious minikin into a hulking and formidable opponent bent on killing him.

Provoked
by Kiranjit Ahluwalia

There was no one she could turn to for help and support. Domestic violence being such a taboo subject for many Asians in Britain, and family honour was at stake for anyone who went outside the family for help. Kiranjit in desperation, ended killing the man who had tortured her for so long, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. This book is her story, and how a group of women got together to petition against the sentence, and ultimately succeeded in helping her.