Bøker av Julia Derek

She lost her husband, but she won't lose her son. Widowed tutor Marisa Azzat leads a double life in New York - she's a vigilante whose goal in life is to root out human trafficking once and for all. Well, that and to avenge the gruesome murder of her husband. She pursues her goal together with her college student son Gabe. They're on the hunt for an underground organization named Club Nirvana. The organization not only engages in sex trafficking of children, but they also tortured and killed Marisa's husband. Marisa finally stumbles upon Nirvana's new location, and it appears a dance school funnels young girls there. She and Gabe recruit a law student to infiltrate the school. The student verifies the school's involvement, but Marisa's joy doesn't last long because Gabe suddenly goes missing. And she suspects that Club Nirvana is behind his disappearance. She must find him before he suffers the same terrible fate as her husband. NOTE: This is the fourth book in the Club Nirvana Series. The first book, Saving Ana, is FREE.

Yvonne Landis has suffered plenty in her 43 years of life. She's a paranoid schizophrenic fugitive who lost her husband in an accident she's accused of staging, and child traffickers once abducted her first-born son, who ended up killing her second. That's enough to destroy most people many times over. But not Yvonne. She's a fighter. After spending time in the Midwest, Yvonne returns to Manhattan with a new name, a new face, and a new husband. She calls herself Marisa Azzat and her Moroccan husband's name is Juri. Her goal is to end child trafficking together with Juri and her remaining son. She'll volunteer as a tutor for foster kids, thereby finding children in need. Being a former middle-school teacher, this task suits her perfectly. She soon stumbles upon Ana, a tween trafficked by her foster family. Yvonne believes saving Ana will be easy, given her experience and extensive preparation out in the boondocks. She couldn't be more wrong. NOTE: This is a stand-alone novel. No sex, gore, or gratuitous violence. You'll find the occasional F-bomb, however: )

Celeste Jones always dreamed of becoming a gym owner. So, when the opportunity arises to buy Six-Packs for peanuts, she's thrilled. The previous owner claims the place is haunted, but that doesn't bother Celeste one bit-she doesn't believe in ghosts. Hell-ooo! What normal person does? With all her experience, she'll revive floundering Six-Packs! Unfortunately, Celeste soon discovers that the gym IS haunted by a feisty ghost named Lennie. Lennie used to own the building that houses Six-Packs. Lennie approaches Celeste and tells her he must solve five crimes before he can enter the next world to atone for being a terrible person in life (for one, he was a slum lord). At first, Celeste ignores Lennie's badgering ways. But then one of the gym members suffers a mysterious death-and only Lennie seems to know who's behind it. Celeste has no choice but to help Lennie solve his first crime or it's over for Six-Packs, leaving not only Celeste broke, but her employees without a job. NOTE: Haunted Hardbodies is a humorous cozy murder mystery for people who like to laugh. If you're looking for a traditional, serious mystery, this is not it: )

When Marisa Azzat walks home one night, a huge piece of machinery falls from the scaffolding, nearly crushing her. Someone is trying to kill her. Or are they? She can't tell if it's a hallucination or happening for real because she suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. Turns out it's for real.She and her son, Gabe, continue their quest to root out child sex trafficking when this nasty event interrupts them. To make matters worse, Marisa begins to suspect that her new friend Harry is abusing his adopted son, Jack. Then a stranger on the street stabs her and she ends up in the hospital.The more she and Gabe investigate the attempts on her life as well as Harry, the more it seems it's all connected. She must stop Harry to save not only Jack but also herself.

LOVE IS BEAUTIFUL. UNTIL YOU REALIZE SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH YOUR LOVER....Sparks fly when struggling actress Nina Tyler meets lawyer Dylan Whitman. Their chemistry is so intense Nina even rethinks her staunch position on relationships being a waste of time. But there's something about Dylan that scares her-and she knows it has nothing to do with fear of getting close to a man, like her best friend thinks. It's something far worse.Preppy Dylan has had his heart broken and reluctantly ends up on a date with wild, complicated Nina. While her unabashed attitude unsettles him at first, he soon realizes that he really likes her. But the closer they get, the stranger she acts. Too late though---Dylan is hooked. And then Emma, the girl who broke his heart, is murdered, and it looks like Nina has something to do with it...

YOUR ABDUCTED CHILD IS MIRACULOUSLY RETURNED. TOO BAD HE'S NO LONGER THE SAME. Stay-at-home mom Yvonne Landis enters her kitchen one day to meet a huge surprise: seated on a chair is her son, Gabe. He went missing when he was ten years old, more than three years ago. It turns out he was abducted by pedophiles who made his existence a living hell. Extremely traumatized, he acts strangely and barely speaks. Yvonne is determined to heal Gabe. He'll stay at home and work daily with a trauma therapist. Her husband Ben is not completely on board with that idea, especially since Gabe stabbed him with a fork shortly after they were reunited. Then disturbing things happen to their younger son, 9-year old Joseph, and Gabe may be behind those too... NOTE: THE LOST BOY was formerly entitled DANGER CHILD.

Marisa Azzat-formerly known as homicidal fugitive Yvonne Landis-is still grieving her husband. He was killed during their secret child-trafficking investigations. Her goal in life is to avenge his brutal death, while also rooting out child trafficking once and for all.But finding the traffickers is easier said than done. Mainly, she and her son Gabe, a former child-trafficking victim, search for them online, surfing the dark web. That's how they come across Emily Hill, a 14-year-old who went missing while on vacation with her parents.Emily is in love with her handsome abductor Dario. But he's only interested in making money by selling her body to perverts. Marisa and Gabe believe that snatching Emily out of Dario's arms will be a piece of cake. Problem is, he's far savvier than they expect...

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF SOMEONE CLOSE TO YOU WAS A PSYCHOPATH?Shane Hanson was set up for a double homicide when he was only 13 years old. His relative did it because she blames him for the death of her one true love. After spending five years in juvie, he's released on parole and determined to reveal the truth about his relative. In the meantime, he meets a girl he develops feelings for.Shane's relative is a psychopath so good at manipulating people that she has managed to get everyone to believe Shane killed two people that she's killed. She never expected Shane to get such a soft sentence, but instead that he would remain in jail forever. Now she must start from scratch to get him back behind bars. To get her revenge right finally, she'll use the girl Shane falls in love with, breaking his heart as much as his spirit.NOTE: TRUE EVIL is the second book in the Evil trilogy. There's no sex or violence, but some bad language. While the books in this trilogy are stand-alones, they are best read in order.