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Thrillers and Suspense July 2023 |
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| The Whispers by Ashley AudrainHow it starts: While hosting a barbecue for the residents of her upscale neighborhood, seemingly perfect wife, mother, and business owner Whitney Loverly gets overwhelmed and snaps at her 10-year-old son Xavier for disobeying her.
Party foul: That night, Xavier is critically injured in a fall from his bedroom window. Soon rumors spread about Whitney's public and private behavior, and the incident will have unanticipated fallout for three other women in the neighborhood -- an ER doctor, an unhappy stay-at-home mom, and an isolated octogenarian.
Reviewers say: "Both artful and pulse pounding, this isn't easily shaken" (Publishers Weekly). |
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| Before We Were Innocent by Ella BermanThe setup: To celebrate their high school graduation, Bess and Joni travel to Greece to spend a halcyon summer at their friend Evangeline's family estate.
What goes wrong: Evangeline doesn't survive the summer, and ten years after being cleared of any wrongdoing in her death, Bess and Joni have responded to the incident in radically different ways. Then a creepily similar crime takes place, and the two friends will have to band together to keep their names clear. |
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| All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. CosbyWhat it is: a fast-paced, atmospheric crime novel about the first Black sheriff in a small Virginia town and the unexpected connections between a recent school shooting, a racist serial killer, and the divisions that linger in a community that fails to reckon with its past.
Starring: Titus Crown, a former FBI agent with a complex past of his own whose new colleagues resent having to work under a Black sheriff.
Is it for you? The details of the serial killer's crimes may prove too harrowing for some readers. |
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| Calling Ukraine by Johannes LichtmanWhat it's about: Underemployed American freelance journalist John Turner accepts a job in Ukraine in 2018, developing a messy personal entanglement with a married woman on the eve of a period of national and international upheaval.
Read it for: the incisive examination of expat hubris and some truly twisted moments of dark humor.
Reviewers say: Calling Ukraine is "devilish and energizing" (Publishers Weekly). |
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| Going Zero by Anthony McCartenWhat it is: an intricately plotted, fast-paced thriller about the dangerous fallout of mixing government surveillance and private industry for the average citizen.
The premise: Silicon Valley juggernaut Fusion is competing for a government contract for a groundbreaking new kind of spyware. To test the product they challenge 10 people to stay off the grid for 30 days, and with a multi-million dollar prize promised to the winner, some contestants prove willing to go to extreme measures to win.
About the author: Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Anthony McCarten is best known for his work on The Theory of Everything, The Two Popes, Darkest Hour, and Bohemian Rhapsody. |
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| Panther Gap by James A. McLaughlinWhat it's about: Estranged siblings Summer and Bowman Girard have been left a large sum of money by their shady grandfather, but can only claim it together. And if their mutual antipathy wasn't enough, they'll have to outsmart a charismatic former mob enforcer with designs on the cash as well.
Read it for: the haunting and atmospheric tone, intricate plotting, and compelling characters.
For fans of: Breaking Bad; Michael Kortya's Those Who Wish Me Dead. |
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| You Shouldn't Have Come Here by Jeneva RoseStarring: New Yorker Grace Evans, who books a stay at a Wyoming ranch to take a break from her high-pressure career; Calvin Wells, who owns the property Grace is renting.
Upon arrival... Grace learns of the area's poor cell service, nonexistent internet, and another woman who booked a stay at the ranch but never turned up to check in.
You might also like: Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente; Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six by Lisa Unger. |
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| Bad Summer People by Emma RosenblumWhat it is: an intricately plotted and character-driven debut about the delightfully despicable summertime residents of an exclusive Fire Island enclave and how the discovery of a dead body threatens to bring all their hidden secrets to the surface.
Is it for you? In addition to all the gossip, infidelity, and backstabbing, the nonlinear storyline is narrated from the alternating perspectives of a large cast of characters.
Reviewers say: Bad Summer People is "wickedly entertaining" (Publishers Weekly) and "a heck of a beach read" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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| The Eden Test by Adam SternberghWhat it's about: Hoping to turn their marriage around, Brooklyn couple Daisy and Craig sign up for The Eden Test, a week-long retreat to a remote cabin where each day, they are faced with a different probing question designed to help them plumb the depths and reconcile.
Read it for: the energetic pace, dark sense of humor, and massive secrets these flawed characters are hiding from each other.
For fans of: The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen; Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney. |
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| We Love to Entertain by Sarah StrohmeyerThe premise: Real estate investor Robert Barron and his fiancée Holly Simmons are the favorites to win the grand prize on To the Manor Build, a property renovation reality show, with their eco-friendly Vermont estate.
The problem: Robert and Holly suddenly disappear, and though Robert has enemies who might want him eliminated, the police turn all their attention to his assistant Erika Turnbull, who now must do everything in her power to clear her name.
Reviewers say: We Love to Entertain is "a fun romp of a thriller that will keep readers guessing until the last page" (Library Journal). |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Atlantic County Library System | 40 Farragut Avenue, Mays Landing, NJ 08330
Phone: (609) 625-2776 | www.atlanticlibrary.org
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|  | Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson
Atlantic County Board of Commissioners, Maureen Kern, Chairwoman |
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