|
|
Thrillers and Suspense April 2019 |
|
|
|
| The River by Peter HellerThe premise: Best friends and outdoor enthusiasts Jack and Wynn are on summer break from Dartmouth College and decide to go on a short canoeing trip in the beautiful but rugged woods of northern Ontario.
The problem: Their summer gear is insufficient for a sudden, rapidly advancing cold front and from the other direction, a forest fire is gaining ground. As they try to escape, they will have to withstand the threats of both Mother Nature and human nature if they want to make it out alive.
Author alert: Peter Heller is best known for the suspenseful pandemic novel The Dog Stars. |
|
| What We Did by Christobel KentStarring: Bridget Webster, a suburban boutique owner and survivor of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of an esteemed music teacher.
The more things change... Bridget is stunned when the teacher enters her shop accompanied by one of his current students, a girl who reminds Bridget of her younger self. Provoked by his continued impunity, Bridget decides it's time to take action.
Reviewers say: "Readers will root for the unwitting killer in this tense, well-crafted vigilante thriller" (Booklist). |
|
| Woman 99 by Greer MacallisterPicture it: San Francisco, 1888: specifically, the "progressive" Goldengrove Asylum, where a supposedly mentally ill young woman named Phoebe Smith has been committed.
What happens: Charlotte, Phoebe's sister, believes the commitment was a mistake. She decides to go undercover as a patient to get Phoebe out, but once inside Charlotte discovers things are even worse than she anticipated.
Did you know? Woman 99 is inspired by Ten Days in a Mad-House, the 1887 exposé of asylum conditions written by trailblazing journalist Nellie Bly. |
|
| Forget You Know Me by Jessica StrawserWhat it's about: estranged friends Liza and Molly are reconnecting over a video call, but when Molly steps away for a second a masked figure shuts off her computer. Molly calls back but behaves as if nothing happened, leaving Liza puzzled and afraid.
Don't miss: the author's careful handling of Molly's chronic pain, which her husband doesn't believe is real.
You might also like: Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris; Cross Her Heart by Sarah Pinborough. |
|
| Blood Orange by Harriet TyceFeaturing: Alison Wood, a deeply flawed defense attorney who appears to have it all, with a thriving career and a loving family.
What happens: Under the surface, Alison's law firm is as messy as a soap opera and her marriage has turned toxic, but when she's assigned a new client who is accused of murder, Alison begins to see things differently and wants to find a way to turn her life around.
Reviewers say: "a page-turner that drives to a shocking and satisfying ending" (Publishers Weekly). |
|
|
|
The Holdouts
by James Tucker
"A Long Island fishing crew makes a horrific catch: the bodies of an Asian couple dragged up with the trawl from the Atlantic. Homicide cop Buddy Lock knows there isn't a chance in hell that this is some tragic accident. But as soon as his investigation begins, so do the warnings to back off. They're not only coming from within the NYPD; they're hitting close to Buddy's heart: his new family has become the killer's target. When people start disappearing from Chinatown, Buddy finds himself on the trail of a killer whose motives are more twisting and far-reaching than the detective imagined. A killer who knows just how to get to him by pursuing everyone he loves. Now Buddy can trust only himself even as his relentless pursuit of justice plunges him into the most brutal waters of his career"
|
|
|
|
Call me Evie
by J. P. Pomare
Isolated in a remote beach-town cabin by a man who is either a captor or benefactor, a 17-year-old girl struggles with her fragmented memory to uncover why she is accused of committing an unspeakable act. A first novel.
|
|
|
|
St. Nicholas Salvage & Wrecking
by Dana Haynes
Michael Patrick Finnigan was a New York cop and a US Marshal who figured out that following the rules doesn’t always get the job done. Katalin Fiero Dahar was a soldier, spy, and assassin for Spain, who figured out that breaking the rules doesn’t always get the job done.
Together, they created St. Nicholas Salvage & Wrecking, a largely illegal bounty hunting operation based in Cyprus and working throughout Europe. Operating under the radar for the presiding judge of the International Criminal Court, they track down the worst of the world’s worst.
Someone is kidnapping Middle Eastern refugee children as they flee war-torn countries and selling them into prostitution around the world. Finnigan and Fiero get the assignment to track them down and save the refugees. But when they discover that the perpetrators are a Serbian mobster—with patronage at the highest levels of the United Nations—and a battalion of the Kosovo military, the partners reach out to their “friends” to find justice, including a corrupt banker, a cadre of mercenaries, and a crew of professional thieves.
The battle to stop the mass kidnappings ranges from Belgrade and Zagreb, to the Loire Valley and Milan, and to the plains of Kosovo. As Finnigan and Fiero close in, the conspirators realize that the judge of the ICC is the real threat and plan an assassination. Now the partners have to save their patron and the kidnapped refugees from a rogue military force with nothing left to lose.
|
|
| A Soldier's Revenge by Matthew DunnThe setup: Former CIA agent Will Cochrane wakes up in a fancy hotel room to find a dead woman he's never seen before in the bathtub and no recollection of how either of them got there.
Best served cold: Soon he's on the lam and on the hunt for the truth, which will lead him to someone from his past -- someone willing to do anything for vengeance.
Series alert: A Soldier's Revenge is the 7th entry in Matthew Dunn's action-packed, richly detailed Spycatcher series. |
|
| Cave Dwellers by Richard GrantPicture it: Berlin, 1937: It's early enough in the Nazi regime for pockets of resistance to still exist, especially in artistic circles and the military.
An accidental spy: Oskar Langweil is a young Wehrmacht officer whose focus on his career has kept him mostly uninvolved with politics. But when he meets someone with ties to his past, Oskar is drafted by the nascent resistance to help them with a high-stakes mission.
Read it for: the colorful supporting cast, including a gay SS officer and a directionless young socialist; the lovingly rendered Germany countryside; the mix of pulse-pounding action and occasional farce. |
|
| The Fall of Moscow Station by Mark HenshawWhat it is: the fast-paced, intricately plotted story of what happens when a high-level CIA agent inexplicably defects to Russia, exposing every American covert operative working in the country.
Series alert: This is the third novel in the Red Cell series, following Cold Shot.
You might also like: The American by Andrew Britton; The Defector by Daniel Silva. |
|
| Who is Vera Kelly? by Rosalie KnechtThe premise: It's the early 1960s, and Vera Kelly spends her time working at a radio station and, when she can work up the nerve, visiting underground lesbian bars in Greenwich Village. At least until her skill with electronics gets her noticed and eventually recruited by the CIA.
The problem: Sent to Argentina to infiltrate a leftist student group, Vera is making progress until a military coup leaves her stranded in Buenos Aires with no way to contact her handlers.
Read it for: Vera herself, who is as flawed as she is compelling; the poignant parallels between Vera's personal and professional lives, both of which are clandestine. |
|
| The Wolf of Sarajevo by Matthew PalmerStarring: Eric Petrosian, a former journalist who witnessed the devastating war in the Balkans in the 1990s. Twenty-five years later, he's working at the American embassy in Sarajevo and trying to confront his memories.
What happens: The rise of a popular politician threatens to plunge Bosnia back into sectarian conflict, and when Eric realizes that he once saw the politician committing war crimes, he sets out to find proof and bring him down.
Author alert: Like The Wolf of Sarajevo, Matthew Palmer's previous novels Secrets of the State and Enemy of the Good are informed by his own 25-year career with the U.S. State Department. |
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|
|
|
|