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Book Russian Tattoos Obsession

    Book Details:
  • Author : Kat Shehata
  • Publisher :
  • Release : 2016-01-05
  • ISBN : 9781680584455
  • Pages : 376 pages

Download or read book Russian Tattoos Obsession written by Kat Shehata and published by . This book was released on 2016-01-05 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Falling in love isn't a crime-but falling in love with a Russian mafia boss could be deadly. Competitive tennis player Carter Cook wants a taste of freedom. Her overprotective father monitors every aspect of her life, so when he becomes employed by Vladimir Ivanov-a sexy Russian with an array of tattoos and an accent that weakens her knees-a bit of danger is within Carter's grasp. Behind her father's back, she enjoys spending time with Vladimir at his lavish estate. But is he really the upstanding businessman she believes him to be? Vladimir Ivanov reigns as godfather of a Russian mafia crime ring. Vladimir spent five years of his life in a Siberian prison camp and has earned every tattoo inked into his skin. He is a powerful man who gets what he wants, and after stalking the gorgeous tennis player for years-he wants Carter. A little charm melts her heart, and behind the scenes, he orders his henchman to track her every move. He's a tattooed stick of dynamite ready to blow at the slightest spark. As their romance reaches deadly levels, Carter senses something's not right. When she's lured into a compromising position at the hands of a shady European drug dealer, she calls in Boris, Vladimir's right hand man, to rescue her-without telling Vladimir. With his authority questioned, he sets out to teach Carter a lesson about loyalty she'll never forget. When Carter realizes she's in too deep, she must fight for her freedom before the attraction turns fatal. But the Russian mafia plays for keeps, and Vladimir's fierce lust to possess her spirals their romance out of control.

Book Russian Tattoos Criminal

    Book Details:
  • Author : Kat Shehata
  • Publisher :
  • Release : 2017-04-28
  • ISBN : 9781640340718
  • Pages : pages

Download or read book Russian Tattoos Criminal written by Kat Shehata and published by . This book was released on 2017-04-28 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Russian mob boss Vladimir Ivanov has many enemies-one of them just kidnapped his wife. A mafia war has erupted in London, and Vladimir's enemies know his one weakness is his deep passion for his new bride, Carter Ivanov. When rival mob boss Maksim Ovechkin kidnaps her, Vladimir is willing to pay the ransom with his own blood. But Maksim's plans go deeper than that. Vladimir's blood may not be enough. Maksim wants Carter for himself. Carter has a secret-she's pregnant with Vladimir's heir. If Maksim finds out, the consequences will be disastrous. But Carter isn't willing to give up on her husband, even if her loyalty to Vladimir puts her life on the line. Some risks are worth taking, however, and Carter has a plan. Unfortunately, Maksim is one step ahead of her. Carter is no mafia princess who needs saving. She's a force to be reckoned with. But she'll need every ounce of her strength to defeat Maksim and his Bratva, and keep her family alive.

Book A Lethal Obsession

    Book Details:
  • Author : Robert S. Wistrich
  • Publisher : Random House
  • Release : 2010-01-05
  • ISBN : 1588368998
  • Pages : 1200 pages

Download or read book A Lethal Obsession written by Robert S. Wistrich and published by Random House. This book was released on 2010-01-05 with total page 1200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this unprecedented work two decades in the making, leading historian Robert S. Wistrich examines the long and ugly history of anti-Semitism, from the first recorded pogrom in 38 BCE to its shocking and widespread resurgence in the present day. As no other book has done before it, A Lethal Obsession reveals the causes behind this shameful and persistent form of hatred and offers a sobering look at how it may shake and reshape the world in years to come. Here are the fascinating and long-forgotten roots of the “Jewish difference”–the violence that greeted the Jewish Diaspora in first-century Alexandria. Wistrich suggests that the idea of a formless God who passed down a universal moral law to a chosen few deeply disconcerted the pagan world. The early leaders of Christianity increased their strength by painting these “superior” Jews as a cosmic and satanic evil, and by the time of the Crusades, murdering a “Christ killer” had become an act of conscience. Moving seamlessly through centuries of war and dissidence, A Lethal Obsession powerfully portrays the creation of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the fateful anti-Semitic tract commissioned by Russia’s tsarist secret police at the end of the nineteenth century–and the prediction by Theodor Herzl, Austrian founder of political Zionism, of eventual disaster for the Jews in Europe. The twentieth century fulfilled this dark prophecy, with the horrifying ascent of Hitler’s Third Reich. Yet, as Wistrich disturbingly suggests, the end of World War II failed to neutralize the “Judeophobic virus”: Pogroms and prejudice continued in Soviet-controlled territories and in the Arab-Muslim world that would fan flames for new decades of distrust, malice, and violence. Here, in pointed and devastating detail, is our own world, one in which jihadi terrorists and the radical left blame Israel for all global ills. In his concluding chapters, Wistrich warns of a possible nuclear “Final Solution” at the hands of Iran, a land in which a formerly prosperous Jewish community has declined in both fortunes and freedoms. Dazzling in scope and erudition, A Lethal Obsession is a riveting masterwork of investigative nonfiction, the definitive work on this unsettling yet essential subject. It is destined to become an indispensable source for any student of world affairs.

Book Prisoner

    Book Details:
  • Author : Kat Shehata
  • Publisher :
  • Release : 2016-08-02
  • ISBN : 9781680587555
  • Pages : 312 pages

Download or read book Prisoner written by Kat Shehata and published by . This book was released on 2016-08-02 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American tennis player Carter Cook is being held prisoner by the Russian mafia... Carter is the obsession of mob boss Vladimir Ivanov, a man she once loved. Now a mafia war has erupted on his home turf, and Vladimir's enemies have put a bounty on her head to force him to surrender. If she is captured, his rivals will deliver a deadly ultimatum-his life in exchange for hers. The price for Carter's freedom is Vladimir's blood. Vladimir holds ultimate power as godfather of the Ivanov Bratva... He spent five years in a Siberian prison camp and has earned every tattoo inked into his skin. He is a powerful man who rules his crew with an iron fist. But his enemies have discovered his only weakness-Carter. Vladimir knows if she stays in his world, he is handing her a death sentence, so he vows to get her home and never interfere in her life again. Giving up the woman he loves is the only way to protect her from the bad guys-including himself. Vladimir's rivals have a different plan for the ill-fated couple... Some punishments are worse than death, and the head of the Ovechkin Bratva will go to any length to seek vengeance and inflict maximum suffering on Vladimir. Carter may be Vladimir's weakness, but she is also his only hope for survival. When the boss of the Ovechkin family threatens the man she loves, she must fight for Vladimir's freedom before their rivals can deliver the fatal blow. Love is blind-but it could also be deadly.

Book Beautiful Broken Obsession

Download or read book Beautiful Broken Obsession written by Fiona Murphy and published by Fiona Murphy. This book was released on 2022-05-31 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "You’re getting married. Milos Levin needs a wife. He heads the Russian mafia—Bratva—here in Chicago. It’s time for him to get married, he wants kids and he wants them soon.” Ice slides down my spine. Milos Levin is a man who has haunted my dreams and nightmares for the last four years. As the daughter of the Don of the Outfit, I knew this was a possibility. Yet I hoped since I made it to the ancient age of twenty-three, I was safe from a mob marriage. I’m the weird cat lady, too fat, and my mother is half Filipino. I shouldn’t have anyone asking for me—but Milos isn’t asking for me. All he wants is a woman who fits his needs, someone who will cement his relationship with the Outfit and give him the children he wants. He would take my sister if she were willing because, as he told Carlo, all women are the same in the dark. But Carlo picked me, and I’ll do anything to protect my little sister. Or so I tell myself—but that’s the biggest lie of all. The truth is four years ago I met Milos Levin on a freezing February morning, and I’ve never been the same since. I’ll marry him because I think that day, as crazy as it sounds, I fell in love with him. But I can’t let Milos know that. Ever. He’s mafia, and whatever the name, their ways are all the same: take until there’s nothing left, then leave the enemy broken. I won’t be broken by him, or anyone. I won’t become my mother, willing to endure the affairs and lies in exchange for the money and status. *** **Four years and three months—one thousand, five hundred and forty-seven days—I have known Celia was mine. I have watched over her, listened to her, protected her. There is nothing I have not done and would not do to keep her safe and mine. What it started as. I do not know. but now it can only be defined as an obsession. Celia is mine. Like me, she has known it all this time. Why she is suddenly fighting me as our wedding day draws closer, I do not understand. It does not matter. The day is nothing more than a formality. I have never claimed to be a good or patient man. For her I was. That time is at an end. My kitten is baring her claws. She will find the veneer of civility I show the world is far thinner than she ever imagined—for in the end I am Bratva. We take what we want, ruthlessly and completely, and we never let it go.** ***This is a standalone first in series that does not end in a cliffhanger. While Tony and Dominic Sabatini from the HIS: Sabatini Family series appear, you need not have read them to enjoy this. This novel includes spankings and rough sexual scenes. If such things offend you, please do not purchase. *** *Keywords: dark mafia romance, age gap romance, jealous possessive, OTT alpha, breeding kink, forced pregnancy, obsessive hero, interracial romance, curvy woman, BBW romance

Book Dark Obsession

    Book Details:
  • Author : Sarah Piper
  • Publisher : Two Gnomes Media
  • Release : 2020-12-04
  • ISBN : 1948455536
  • Pages : 319 pages

Download or read book Dark Obsession written by Sarah Piper and published by Two Gnomes Media. This book was released on 2020-12-04 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A vicious demonic plot. A curse decades in the making. An epic love that burns hotter than all of it… Charlotte... All Charley’s nightmares are real. Demons. Dark witches. Her murderous uncle. With her soul bound to an ancient demon lord and her sister taken captive by a monster, hope is in short supply. But Charley will not go down without a fight. Not when it comes to her sister, and not when it comes to the vampire king who’s claimed her heart. Even if it means siding with a brutal enemy from her past. Even if it means making a choice that will alter the course of her life… for eternity. Dorian... Dorian never wanted his father’s crown or the secrets that came with it. He never wanted to fall in love with the seductive stranger he’d ravaged in a closet, either. But fate had other plans. Now, with the enemies of House Redthorne lurking in every shadow, demons threatening to destroy his city, and an ancient lord of hell laying claim on the woman who’s set Dorian’s very soul on fire, the vampire king has only one mission: Burn. Them. All. Even if it means betraying his father’s memory. Even if it means making the darkest sacrifice of his immortal life...

Book Mercenary s Dark Obsession

    Book Details:
  • Author : Nikita Slater
  • Publisher : Nikita Slater Writing Services Ltd.
  • Release : 2022-12-20
  • ISBN :
  • Pages : 319 pages

Download or read book Mercenary s Dark Obsession written by Nikita Slater and published by Nikita Slater Writing Services Ltd.. This book was released on 2022-12-20 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A standalone captive dark romance novel by USA Today Bestselling Author Nikita Slater. THIS BOOK WAS PREVIOUSLY TITLED FEAR IN HIS EYES. Stalked by an admirer with deadly intentions … Addison's sightless world is filled with the colour of music as she successfully navigates a demanding career as a renowned cellist. She doesn’t have time for the dark and dangerous security guy from her building who constantly shadows her every move, yet she can’t seem to escape him. A rough childhood, followed by decades spent as a gun-for-hire mercenary has shaped Daniel into a killer. As he tries to adapt to civilian life, he channels his dark impulses into his work as a security specialist for a billionaire businessman. He has no experience with the softer things in life, like a girlfriend, a home, and a family. Yet, he can’t seem to let go of his obsession with Addison. While chasing after a woman who should never have crossed paths with him, he discovers he’s not the only one falling for the lovely, intelligent, and sensitive musician. As Daniel struggles to accept a love he never thought he deserved, an unstable stalker lurks in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Will Daniel protect the woman he’s fallen in love with, or will he push her into the arms of a love so twisted it can only end in tragedy? Mercenary’s Dark Obsession is a standalone novel within the Kings of the Underworld series. Each book features a separate couple and can be read in any order. Kings of the Underworld Series Information: Kings of the Underworld is a series of dark romance standalone novels that can be read in any order (except for Mafia’s Savage Boss, which is a sequel to Mafia’s Savage Obsession). This series features morally ambiguous anti-heroes with jealous and possessive tendencies, and strong, feisty women who fight their inevitable fate. There is no cheating, and each book ends in Happy Ever After. Warning: These books contain scenes of violence and sexuality, please read with caution. Book 1: Billionaire’s Captive Mistress Book 2: Mafia’s Savage Obsession Book 3: Mercenary’s Dark Obsession Book 4: Bratva’s Captive Assassin Book 5: Bounty Hunter’s Innocent Prize Book 6: Italian’s Captive Beauty Book 7: Bodyguard’s Forbidden Obsession Book 8: Mafia’s Savage Boss (novella) Keywords: possessive alpha male, blind heroine, stalker, musician, dark romance, jealous possessive, gothic romance, seductive romance, alpha hero, antihero dark romance, suffering heroine, obsessive hero, abduction to love, passionate lovers, tortured heroine, captive romance, kidnapping, sexually romantic books, multicultural romance, romantic suspense, capture fantasy, standalone, crime, mafia romance, happily ever after, love books, love stories, contemporary romance, enemies to lovers, guaranteed HEA, no cliffhangers, bestselling, bad boy, no cheating, protective, steamy, abused heroine, dominance submission, caged, captive romance, mercenary

Book Tormented Obsession

    Book Details:
  • Author : Anna Zaires
  • Publisher : Mozaika LLC
  • Release : 2019-09-05
  • ISBN : 1631425064
  • Pages : 690 pages

Download or read book Tormented Obsession written by Anna Zaires and published by Mozaika LLC. This book was released on 2019-09-05 with total page 690 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: He's her nightmares made flesh Five years ago, my family was killed. Now I hunt the ones responsible, exterminating them one by one. Vengeance guides my every move, every thought—until her. Sara Cobakis, my target's wife. A woman I'm now determined to possess. She's his collateral damage He came to me in the night, a cruel, darkly handsome Russian assassin. He tortured me and destroyed me, ripping apart my life in his quest for vengeance. I thought I was strong. I thought I could survive anything. I was wrong. My tormentor now wants me for his own. This convenient, discounted bundle contains the first two books of the Tormentor Mine series: Tormentor Mine and Obsession Mine.

Book Russian Criminal Tattoo

    Book Details:
  • Author : Arkady Bronnikov
  • Publisher : Fuel Publishing
  • Release : 2016-02-29
  • ISBN : 9780956896292
  • Pages : 0 pages

Download or read book Russian Criminal Tattoo written by Arkady Bronnikov and published by Fuel Publishing. This book was released on 2016-02-29 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book features over 180 photographs and accompanying texts of Russian criminal tattoos from the Arkady Bronnikov collection. From the mid-1960s to the late- 1980s Bronnikov worked as a senior expert in criminalistics at the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, part of his duties involved visiting correctional institutions of the Ural and Siberia regions. It was here that he interviewed, gathered information and took photographs of convicts and their tattoos, building one of the most comprehensive archives of this phenomenon. He regularly helped to solve criminal cases across Russia by using his collection of tattoos to identify culprits and corpses. The Bronnikov collection was made exclusively for police use, to further the understanding of the language of these tattoos and to act as an aid in the identification and apprehension of criminals in the field. Unimpeded by artistry, these vernacular photographs present a guileless representation of criminal society. Every image discloses evidence of an inmate's character: aggressive, vulnerable, melancholic, conceited. Their bodies display an unofficial history, told not just through tattoos, but also in scars and missing digits. Closer inspection only confirms our inability to comprehend the unimaginable lives of this previously unacknowledged caste.

Book Linda Goodman s Love Signs

Download or read book Linda Goodman s Love Signs written by Linda Goodman and published by RosettaBooks. This book was released on 2014-01-09 with total page 1103 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times bestseller that helps you explore whether romance is in the stars. Linda Goodman’s Love Signs addresses the question asked by everyone familiar with astrology: How do I relate to someone of another sign? Each sign is “related” to the twelve signs of the zodiac in a different and unique way. Each section addresses the differences for a male and a female with the same sign matches. This is an updated edition of Linda Goodman’s lively bestseller, which has introduced millions to the concept of astrological compatibility. “What seems to set Goodman’s books apart from other stargazing guides is their knowledgeable approach and comprehensive reach.” —Newsweek

Book Stolen Obsession

    Book Details:
  • Author : Marlene M. Bell
  • Publisher : Ewephoric Publishing
  • Release : 2018-03-19
  • ISBN : 0999539418
  • Pages : 294 pages

Download or read book Stolen Obsession written by Marlene M. Bell and published by Ewephoric Publishing. This book was released on 2018-03-19 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Debut author Bell delivers a great, slow-building romance, gently examining her characters' painful pasts."--Kirkus Reviews "An irresistible page turner and a successful melding of thriller and romance. With a splash of international adventure and plenty of surprises, Stolen Obsession is an entertaining read and a great beginning to the Annalisse Series." Marta Cheng, Self-Publishing Review, ★★★★½ People die, but legends live on. New York antiquities appraiser Annalisse Drury recently lost her best friend to murder. The killer’s identity may be linked to her friend’s expensive missing bracelet—a 500-year-old artifact that carries an ancient curse, one that unleashes evil upon any who dare wear the jewelry created for the Persian royal family. Weeks later, Annalisse sees a matching necklace at a Manhattan gallery opening. She begs the owner to destroy the cursed piece, but her pleas fall on deaf ears—despite the unnatural death that occurs during the opening. With two victims linked to the jewelry, Annalisse is certain she must act. Desperate, Annalisse enlists the gallery owner’s son to help—even though she’s afraid he’ll break her heart. Wealthy and devastatingly handsome, with a string of bereft women in his wake, Greek playboy Alec Zavos dismisses Annalisse’s concerns—until his parents are ripped from the Zavos family yacht during their ocean voyage near Crete. Annalisse and Alec race across two oceans to save his mother, feared dead or kidnapped. When the killer changes tactics and goes after Alec behind Annalisse’s back, can her plan to rescue Alec’s mother save them all? Hold on for a heart-thumping, thrilling adventure through exotic lands in this fast-moving romantic suspense mystery by Marlene M. Bell.

Book Oblivion

    Book Details:
  • Author : Sergei Lebedev
  • Publisher : New Vessel Press
  • Release : 2016-01-18
  • ISBN : 1939931290
  • Pages : 300 pages

Download or read book Oblivion written by Sergei Lebedev and published by New Vessel Press. This book was released on 2016-01-18 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This acclaimed twenty-first–century Russian novel is “a Dantean descent” into the abandoned Soviet gulags, written “with a clear poetic sensibility” (The Wall Street Journal). In Sergei Lebedev’s debut novel, an unnamed young man travels to the vast wastelands of the Far North to uncover the truth about a mysterious neighbor who once saved his life, and whom he knows only as Grandfather II. What he finds among the forgotten mines and decrepit barracks of former gulags is a world relegated to oblivion, where it is easier to ignore both the victims and the executioners than to come to terms with a terrible past. This disturbing tale evokes the great and ruined beauty of a land where man and machine work in tandem with nature to destroy millions of lives during the Soviet century. Emerging from today’s Russia, where the ills of the past are being forcefully erased from public memory, this masterful novel is an epic literary act of bearing witness, attempting to rescue history from the brink of oblivion. A Wall Street Journal Top 10 Novel of the Year “Not since Alexander Solzhenitsyn has Russia had a writer as obsessed as Sergei Lebedev with that country’s history or the traces it has left on the collective consciousness . . . The best of Russia’s younger generation of writers.” ―The New York Review of Books

Book Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia

Download or read book Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia written by Dant︠s︡ik Sergeevich Baldaev and published by Fuel Publishing. This book was released on 2003 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For more than 30 years Danzig Baldayev was a prison warder in Kresty prison in St Petersburg. He collected more than 3000 images of Russian criminals' tattoos. These form the backbone to this encyclopedia that explores one of the world's more unusual art forms.

Book Obsession Mine  Tormentor Mine  2

Download or read book Obsession Mine Tormentor Mine 2 written by Anna Zaires and published by Mozaika LLC. This book was released on 2017-11-14 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Inked  Tattoos and Body Art around the World  2 volumes

Download or read book Inked Tattoos and Body Art around the World 2 volumes written by Margo DeMello and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2014-05-30 with total page 1005 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent decades, tattoos have gone from being a subculture curiosity in Western culture to mainstream and commonplace. This two-volume set provides broad coverage of tattooing and body art in the United States today as well as around the world and throughout human history. In the 1960s, tattooing was illegal in many parts of the United States. Today, tattooing is fully ingrained in mainstream culture and is estimated to be a multi-billion-dollar industry. This exhaustive work contains approximately 400 entries on tattooing, providing historical information that enables readers to fully understand the methods employed, the meanings of, and the motivations behind tattooing—one of the most ancient ways humans mark themselves. The encyclopedia covers all important aspects of the topic of tattooing: the major types of tattooing, the cultural groups associated with tattooing, the regions of the world where tattooing has been performed, the origins of modern tattooing in prehistory, and the meaning of each society's use of tattoos. Major historical and contemporary figures associated with tattooing—including tattooists, tattooed people, and tattoo promoters—receive due attention for their contributions. The entries and sidebars also address the sociological movements involved with tattooing; the organizations; the media dedicated to tattooing, such as television shows, movies, magazines, websites, and books; and the popular conventions, carnivals, and fairs that have showcased tattooing.

Book The Darkest Temptation

    Book Details:
  • Author : Danielle Lori
  • Publisher : Independently Published
  • Release : 2022-02-15
  • ISBN :
  • Pages : 408 pages

Download or read book The Darkest Temptation written by Danielle Lori and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2022-02-15 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NOTE: This is a special edition cover. The content is the same as the original work. A fortune teller once told Mila she'd find a man who would take her breath away. She refrained from telling her it would be literally while Mila ran for her life. Having always done what is expected of her, Mila dresses the part, only dates college boys with exemplary backgrounds, and doesn't ask questions. Not about her papa's absences or his refusal to let her set foot in her birthplace--Russia. Suffocated by the rules and unanswered questions, Mila does what she's always wanted to. She boards a plane to Moscow. She never expected to fall for a man on the way. One with unexplained wealth, tattoos on his hands, and secrets in his eyes. But it doesn't take long for his caress to become a rough grasp muffling her screams. Revenge is a dish best served cold. Unfortunately, a Russian winter is the coldest of them all, and Mila soon learns the only way to escape intact is to do the impossible and thaw her captor's heart.

Book Word Freak

    Book Details:
  • Author : Stefan Fatsis
  • Publisher : HMH
  • Release : 2001-07-07
  • ISBN : 0547524315
  • Pages : 427 pages

Download or read book Word Freak written by Stefan Fatsis and published by HMH. This book was released on 2001-07-07 with total page 427 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This “marvelously absorbing” book is “a walk on the wild side of words and ventures into the zone where language and mathematics intersect” (San Jose Mercury News). A former Wall Street Journal reporter and NPR regular, Stefan Fatsis recounts his remarkable rise through the ranks of elite Scrabble players while exploring the game’s strange, potent hold over them—and him. At least thirty million American homes have a Scrabble set—but the game’s most talented competitors inhabit a sphere far removed from the masses of “living room players.” Theirs is a surprisingly diverse subculture whose stars include a vitamin-popping standup comic; a former bank teller whose intestinal troubles earned him the nickname “G.I. Joel”; a burly, unemployed African American from Baltimore’s inner city; the three-time national champion who plays according to Zen principles; and the author himself, who over the course of the book is transformed from a curious reporter to a confirmed Scrabble nut. Fatsis begins by haunting the gritty corner of a Greenwich Village park where pickup Scrabble games can be found whenever weather permits. His curiosity soon morphs into compulsion, as he sets about memorizing thousands of obscure words and fills his evenings with solo Scrabble played on his living room floor. Before long he finds himself at tournaments, socializing—and competing—with Scrabble’s elite. But this book is about more than hardcore Scrabblers, for the game yields insights into realms as disparate as linguistics, psychology, and mathematics. Word Freak extends its reach even farther, pondering the light Scrabble throws on such notions as brilliance, memory, competition, failure, and hope. It is a geography of obsession that celebrates the uncanny powers locked in all of us, “a can’t-put-it-down narrative that dances between memoir and reportage” (Los Angeles Times). “Funny, thoughtful, character-rich, unchallengeably winning writing.” —The Atlantic Monthly This edition includes a new afterword by the author.