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Thrillers and Suspense January 2026 |
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| Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Ace AtkinsIn Cold War-era Atlanta, 14-year-old Peter Bennett’s hunch about his mom’s boyfriend being a Soviet spy sets off a chain reaction of chaos. With help from a washed-up writer and a formidable drag queen, he’s swept into a maze of assassins, double agents, FBI intrigue, and ’80s-soaked danger in this action-packed and comedic thriller. |
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The Ascent
by Allison Buccola
What would you do if the past showed up on your doorstep? A woman who grew up in a cult must decide if she can trust the stranger claiming to have answers to the dark mysteries of her childhood in a standout thriller with something deeper on its mind: how the past doesn't just haunt you, it reshapes you (The Seattle Times). I tore through this book and was genuinely shocked by its ending --Ana Reyes, New York Times bestselling author of The House in the Pines A WASHINGTON POST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR For decades, the whereabouts of The Fifteen has been an unsolved mystery. All the members of this reclusive commune outside Philadelphia vanished twenty years ago, except for one: a twelve-year-old girl found wandering alone on the side of the road. In the years since that morning, Ophelia Lee Burton has tried to put the pain of her past behind her, building a new identity for herself with a doting husband and seven-month-old daughter, Lucy. But motherhood is proving a bigger challenge than she anticipated. She doesn't want to let Lucy out of her sight even for a moment. She can't return to work. She's not sleeping, and she has started spiraling into paranoia. Then a stranger shows up on her doorstep, offering answers to all of Lee's questions about her past--if Lee could only trust that this woman is who she says she is. Can Lee keep her safe, stable life? Or will new revelations about the cult that went missing shatter everything? In The Ascent, Allison Buccola has crafted a nerve-rattling thriller about motherhood, identity, and the truths we think we know about our families.
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Our Last Resort
by Clémence Michallon
... a reunion between estranged siblings is interrupted when a woman is found murdered at their luxury vacation resort, dredging up memories from a shared childhood they've tried to keep buried in the past. Frida and Gabriel arrive seeking a fresh start at the stunning Ara Hotel in the secluded desert of Escalante, Utah. Once so close they were able to finish each other's sentences, they've grown apart in recent years after a sudden, unspeakable tragedy. Now, at the luxe resort, they are ready to reconnect between dips in the pool and hikes on spectacular desert trails. It all feels like paradise-until the dead body of a beautiful young woman who was vacationing at the Ara with her powerful, much older husband is discovered. When the local police arrive and put the resort into lockdown, Gabriel and Frida are forced to revisit memories from their upbringing in a cloistered cult in upstate New York, led by a charismatic and fanatical leader. It was their dramatic, fiery escape from his control fifteen years earlier that bonded them for life-or so Frida thought.
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Such Quiet Girls
by Noelle West Ihli
Ten children, abducted in broad daylight-and buried alive.Sage and her sister won't make it home from school today. Neither will the other children on Bus 315. But that's only the beginning of the nightmare.New bus driver Jessa blames herself for what happened. She couldn't protect the kids she was supposed to deliver to daycare, just like she couldn't protect her own daughter three years ago. But this time, everything will be different. It has to be.Trapped in a shipping container buried twenty feet underground, Jessa and the children do their best to stay calm. The kidnappers insist that if everyone behaves, they'll be freed when the ransom is paid. But Sage isn't sure they'll last that long. Neither is Jessa. It's dark and cramped, and with every passing minute it's getting harder to breathe.With time-and air-running thin, Jessa and the children must find a way to outsmart their captors, or face an unthinkable fate.Such Quiet Girls was inspired by actual events.
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The Girl from Devil's Lake: A Brady Novel of Suspense
by J. A. Jance
Small-town Sheriff Joanna Brady solves her biggest case yet, from a body in the desert to crimes spanning decades and countries, in the thrilling latest installment in the New York Times bestselling suspense series--
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| Haven't Killed in Years by Amy K. GreenGwen Tanner, formerly Marin Haggerty, has lived quietly under a new identity to escape her infamous past as a serial killer’s daughter. But when grisly body parts appear at her door, she must face old secrets, track a cunning killer, and discover that trust -- and family -- can be deadly. |
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| Best Offer Wins by Marisa KashinoFormer journalist Marisa Kashino’s debut is a darkly comic thriller about the ruthless D.C. housing market. Desperate to secure her dream home and start a family, Margo Miyake’s obsessive pursuit escalates from awkward charm offensives to manipulative, violent schemes. Sharp, satirical, and chaotic, the novel explores millennial anxieties, material obsession, and the extremes of ambition. |
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The Hitchhikers
by Chevy Stevens
On the remote Canadian highways in 1976, Tom and Alice set out to heal their fractured marriage. An RV, a new beginning, and the hope of recovery after a devastating tragedy. Then they meet two young hitchhikers, Ocean and Blue-a seemingly innocent couple who aren't who they seem. They are Jenny and Simon. And they have left a trail of blood, destruction, and madness behind them. Now Tom and Alice are trapped-prisoners in a deadly game, with nowhere to turn. But as the tension builds and the lines blur, the question becomes: in whose heart does evil truly lie?
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Plainfield Area Public Library
15025 S. Illinois St.
Plainfield, Illinois 60544
815.436.6639papl.info |
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