| The Winters by Lisa GabrieleWhat it is: an homage to Daphne du Maurier's iconic gothic thriller Rebecca, set in the Hamptons and updated for the digital age.
Featuring: Senator Max Winter, a widower whose teenage daughter Dani is determined to make her new stepmother miserable; the unnamed narrator, whose dream come true is about to turn into a nightmare.
Read it for: the author's careful balance between tribute and update; the atmospheric, Hitchcockian tension; the heroine's welcome sense of female empowerment. |
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| Pulse by Michael HarveyWhat it's about: This compelling, intricately plotted story begins like many other police procedurals (with a dead body and a couple of cops), but quickly goes off the rails when the victim's brother reveals he had a premonition about the crime.
Is it for you? Though very much a thriller, Pulse does borrow heavily from murder mysteries and has strong supernatural elements.
Author alert: Michael Harvey is best known for his Michael Kelly series of mysteries, though with Pulse and 2016's Brighton, he is starting to veer more towards suspense. |
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| Leave No Trace by Mindy MejiaStarring: speech therapist Maya Stark, who works at an isolated mental health facility near Minnesota's Boundary Waters; and Lucas Blackthorn, who went missing at age 9 and has resurfaced ten years later, refusing to speak to anyone about his past.
What happens: Maya and Lucas form a bond that gets him to finally open up a bit, but soon it becomes clear that Lucas' (presumed dead) father is still out there somewhere and that Lucas will do anything to get back to him.
Read it for: the compassionate handling of mental illness and the author's impressive use of the wilderness setting to create a strong sense of foreboding. |
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Under My Skin
by Lisa Unger
Emerging from grief a year after her beloved husband's unsolved murder, a haunted widow has nightmares and blackouts before realizing she is trapped in a surreal game of cat and mouse. Hardcover Library Edition. By a New York Times best-selling author
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Elevation
by Stephen King
A timely, upbeat tale about the power of finding common ground, written by the#1 New York Times best-selling author of Mr. Mercedes, traces the story of a man whose mysterious affliction unites a small community. Illustrations
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| The Fixer by Joseph FinderWhat it is: a fast-paced, intricately plotted financial thriller about how a simple home renovation ends up undermining the foundation of one man's already crumbling life and memories.
Starring: Rick Hoffman, who returns to his childhood home after losing his job as a journalist, the apartment he can no longer afford, and the girlfriend who prized them both more than she did Rick.
What goes wrong: Rick's efforts to spruce up the place lead him to a large stash of money hidden in the walls, and when he decides to move the money, he ends up uncovering a tale of political corruption that many people would rather stayed buried. |
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The girls in the garden : a novel
by Lisa Jewell
When a young girl discovers her thirteen-year-old sister lying unconscious from an attack during a festive neighborhood party, the once-picturesque garden-square community is thrown into turmoil by the awareness that someone among them may be responsible
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| It Takes One by Kate KesslerStarring: sassy and likeable criminal psychologist Audrey Harte, who is definitely, definitely not a murderer.
What happens: Audrey returns to the hometown she left behind seven years ago, where rumors persist about her involvement in a man's death. It doesn't take long before another person connected to that death also turns up dead, and Audrey knows she'll have to find the real killer before everyone decides it's her.
Series alert: This is the 1st novel in the Audrey Harte series, followed by Two Can Play, Three Strikes, and Four of a Kind. |
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| Worthy Brown's Daughter by Phillip MargolinWhat it's about: Matthew Penny is a recently widowed lawyer in 1850s Oregon who has agreed to take the case of Worthy Brown, a freed slave who's suing for the release of his 15 year old daughter Roxanne from bondage.
What goes wrong: Worthy is arrested for a murder, and soon enough both cases intersect with the conflicting interests of the wealthy and powerful of the bustling frontier town of Portland.
Author alert: Phillip Margolin is also known for his contemporary thrillers, such as the Amanda Jaffe novels and the standalone Woman With a Gun. |
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The girl on the train
by Paula Hawkins
Obsessively watching a breakfasting couple every day to escape the pain of her losses, Rachel witnesses a shocking event that inextricably entangles her in the lives of strangers. Reprint. A #1 New York Times best-seller. Movie tie-in.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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