Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up All Night (2006) is a compilation of 30 thriller short stories edited by James Patterson. Short stories with descriptions "James Penney's New Identity" by Lee Child In Laney, California, a man named James Penney is fired after 17 years on the job. Infuriated, James burns down his house and starts a new life. However, the fire had spread across the neighborhood, and James is wanted for arson. Now a wanted criminal, James meets up with a military cop, Jack Reacher, who sympathises with him and helps him out of his predicament. "Operation Northwoods" by James Grippando A massive fire across a US Naval Station in Cuba originates from a plane crash believed to contain a large quantity of napalm. The area of the naval station on fire housed suspected terrorists. In Miami, Florida, the FBI receives an anonymous tip that a man named Jack Swyteck, a defense lawyer, is in danger. A SWAT team is sent to investigate his home only to find that Jack is alone and perfectly safe. The leader of the SWAT team informs Jack the fire in Cuba was started when a plane piloted by one of Jack's clients, Jean Saint Preux, crashed. Jack informs the SWAT team leader that Jean mentioned an "Operation Northwoods". "Kill Zone" by Robert Liparulo Police sniper Byron Stone watches through a rifle's scope, a man in an apartment terrorizes a mother and her two children. He fears missing his target, granting the hostage-taker a final opportunity to complete his dirty work. "Epitaph" by J. A. Konrath A paid killer, Phin, is hired by a Chinese man named Ti to avenge his daughter, Sunny Lung, who was killed by a gang known as the 'Kings'. Phin, after having received a beating from the Kings, breaches the gang's headquarters and kills the men responsible for Sunny's death, using Sunny's cremated remains as bullets. "The Face In the Window" by Heather Graham A dangerous storm rips through Florida, where an evacuation notice has been spread throughout part of the state. Beth Henson, a woman whose husband, Keith has been sent to rescue an elderly woman, stays in her house during the evacuation progress. A man stumbles in seeking shelter, but Beth suspects that he is a serial killer. Keith enters the elderly woman's home, only to find that she is unconscious inside the trunk of her car.