Books with author Paul Hoffman

"Writers like Hoffman are too rare. This wonderful book gripped me from the first chapter and dropped me days later, dazed and grinning to myself." -Conn Iggulden, New York Times bestselling author of The Dangerous Book for Boys Raised from early childhood in the Redeemer Sanctuary, the stronghold of a secretive sect of warrior monks, Thomas Cale has known only deprivation, punishment, and grueling training. When he escsapes to the outside world, Cale learns that his embittered heart is still capable of loving- and breaking. But the Redeemers won't accept the defection of their prized pupil without a fight...

Paul Hoffman's novel of astonishing scope and imagination, featuring a darkly gifted teenage boy at the center of a brutal holy war, grabs the reader from its incredible opening lines and refuses to let go. The Left Hand of God is the first novel in an epic, ambitious trilogy that will prove irresistible to the readers who have turned the Inheritance Cycle, Twilight, and the His Dark Materials series into publishing phenomena. The Left Hand of God is the story of sixteen-year-old Thomas Cale, who has grown up imprisoned at the Sanctuary of the Redeemers, a fortress run by a secretive sect of warrior monks in a distant, dystopian past. He is one of thousands of boys who train all day in hand-to-hand combat, in preparation for a holy war that only the High Priests know is now imminent. He has no reason to think he's special, no idea there's another world outside the compound's walls, and no hope for a life any different from the one he already knows. And then, Cale opens a door. What follows is a daring escape, an unlikely alliance, a desperate pursuit, a journey of incredible discovery, and an adventure the likes of which Cale could never possibly have imagined, culminating in Cale's astonishing realization that he alone has the power to save his world- or to destroy it.Watch a Video

SEEN FROM A DISTANCE is the story of Cusack, an Iraq war veteran now working for a private security firm. Alienated from his past and haunted by it, too, he lives determinedly in the here and now. His assignment is surveillance of an elderly professor, W.S. Tyler, whose dead son-in-law had ties to a shadowy Senegalese rebel army, accused by the U.S. government of being a terrorist organization. Cusack's preferred method of surveillance - the detached technology of camera and microphone is abruptly abandoned in favor of a role which puts him in Tyler's classroom and soon thereafter in a complicated relationship with his family. Cusack's boss, increasingly obsessed with Tyler, drags Cusack into his hidden agenda where deadly unforeseen events occur in rapid succession and the situation spins rapidly out of control. In the end, Cusack is confronted with choices that will change his future as radically as his earlier choices fixed his past. Seen From A Distance can be read as a character study, or a dramatic adventure or considered for its parallels to political events of the recent past. At every level, it is a terrific read.

We've all heard the gruesome nursery rhyme about Lizzie Borden's infamous murder of her parents. But there is much more to the tale than the poem. Hoffman's book is a fascinating examination of a crime and its aftermath, all the more so because the story is familiar to us all. This book is a historical encyclopedia that attempts to make sense of the confusing array of people who were part of the Lizzie Borden mystery. For the first time, all of those involved in any way with the case have been given a listing that includes his or her biography as well as an explanation of his or her connection to the murders. Each person - over 650 in all - is listed in alphabetical order. Yesterday in Old Fall River also features a subject index that will allow the reader to quickly find a list of all the policemen, lawyers, physicians, and others involved in the Lizzie Borden case. Many aficionados complain that when they read books about the case, either facts and names are wrong or the author does not adequately identify the person being described. Yesterday in Old Fall River clears up much of this confusion and facilitates comprehension of this fascinating case.

My first word wasn’t “Mama,” like most mothers wish. What came out of my mouth wasn’t “Dada,” but “FISH.” Sam loves to fish! He spends his days on the lake fishing for perch with his Gramps. But when Gramps tells a tall tale about the day he hooked and lost a seven-pound perch, Sam is determined to catch the monster fish. With Gramps’ lucky hat and his faithful dog Jock, Sam begins his search for the world-record perch. Sam and the Seven-Pound Perch is a delightful, humorous, and inspiring story about determination, family, friendship, and doing the right thing. Readers young or old, angler or landlubber, will be surprised and amused by Sam’s inventive solution in his quest for the seven-pound perch.