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Thrillers and Suspense December 2020
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| Only Truth by Julie CameronWhat it's about: Londoner Izzy Dryland-Weir agrees to leave the city for the suburbs after her husband suggests it might help with the lingering trauma and anxiety that plagues her after an assault. But while renovating their new home they come across evidence that it may have a dark past that could make Izzy's problems much, much worse.
Reviewers say: "A deep plunge into a haunted psyche slowly stretched to the breaking point" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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| She Lies Close by Sharon DoeringThe premise: Recently divorced insomniac Grace Wright has just moved with her two young children to Saint's Crossing, a neighborhood that seems like the perfect place for a fresh start.
The problem: Grace learns that a neighbor was once the primary suspect in the case of a missing girl and she is (understandably) curious about what happened. The mix of insomnia and obsession lead to strange gaps in her memory, and Grace grows increasingly paranoid about what people -- including herself -- are capable of. |
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| They Never Learn by Layne FargoStarring: Esteemed English professor Scarlett Clark, whose respectable image is the perfect cover for her primary extracurricular activity -- vigilante justice.
They had it coming? Each victim Scarlett chooses is a man who got away with sexual assault, whose deaths she stages as suicides. She's been at it for years, which is why she isn't prepared when questions about the demise of her latest victim (a popular college athlete) refuse to die down. |
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| The Mirror Man by Jane GilmartinWhat it is: A thought-provoking cyber-thriller that examines issues like identity, personhood, and the pressures of capitalism in a near-future society where technology is outpacing ethics at an exponential rate.
The premise: Jeremiah Adams takes a yearlong "sabbatical" from his life when his employer, ViGen Pharmaceuticals, offers him a $10 million reward to let them test how well a clone can fill his shoes.
The problem: Jeremiah soon has reason to regret his choice when the clone's personality starts radically diverging from his own. |
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| These Violent Delights by Micah NemereverWhat it's about: The thrilling, toxic relationship between two college students in 1970s Pittsburgh -- insecure, working class Paul and blithe, wealthy Julian.
What goes wrong: Fueled by their families' efforts to keep them apart, the two grow increasingly obsessed with each other and with removing every obstacle standing between them and a life together, with potentially fatal consequences for everyone involved. |
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| The Secrets We Kept by Lara PrescottWhat it is: A sweeping, richly detailed story about censorship and Cold War women inspired by inspired by the true story behind the publication of Boris Pasternak's classic novel Doctor Zhivago
The key players: Russian-American CIA agent Irina Drozdova, who gets in over her head in more ways than one after taking the assignment; Olga Vsevolodovna, Pasternak's long-time partner who risks the gulag rather than betray the details of his emerging masterpiece to Soviet authorities. |
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| A Good Enough Mother by Bev ThomasWhat it's about: Psychotherapist Ruth Hartland finds her professional ethics tested by a deeply troubled new patient, a young man who bears a striking resemblance to her own long-missing son.
Read it for: The authentic portrayal of Ruth's professional life; the delicate balance between the intricate plotting of the story and its deeply moving tone.
You might also like: The Liars Room by Simon Lelic or The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, which also focus on therapists whose lives are upended by new patients. |
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| Three-Fifths by John VercherWhat it's about: The untenable position that Bobby Saraceno, a mixed-race man who has been passing for white, finds himself in after one of his friends commits a hate crime.
Read it for: The multifaceted characters, including Bobby's white alcoholic mother and long-absent Black father; the heightened tension as the story unfolds against the ever-present backdrop of the O.J. Simpson trial. |
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| American Spy by Lauren WilkinsonWhat it is: A stylistically complex novel, inspired by the true story of an African American FBI agent who accepts a CIA "honeypot" assignment targeting Thomas Sankara, communist revolutionary and eventual president of Burkina Faso.
Mixed emotions: Although agent Marie Mitchell is an experienced intelligence professional, the longer her African assignment goes on the more she comes to admire Sankara, both as a politician and as a man. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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