Psychological Suspense. With a dead-end job in tech support, Shaw McBride is going nowhere fast, though he's currently headed to Florida with his long-time friend/flunky Romeo Zderko. As they're passing though Georgia, however, they learn that a local family has just won a $318 Max-a-Million jackpot. Putting the vacation on hold, Shaw holes up in a motel room to devise a plan to get half of the prize money. While cold-blooded Shaw effectively takes the family hostage, Romeo roams the streets, set to kill their loved ones at a moment's notice. As time passes, the family's terror and confusion grows; their story will leave you with tingling with dread.

Political Thriller. As a "fixer" for the speaker of the House, Joe DeMarco has been asked to look into the seemingly accidental death of a reporter who had been investigating presidential hopeful Senator Paul Morelli. As it turns out, Morelli is definitely hiding something, and as DeMarco deepens his own investigation it appears that Morelli's powerful backers might be more than DeMarco can handle. With political maneuverings aplenty and a rousing finale, author Michael Lawson's 4th thriller to star DeMarco "proves to be his best yet" (Booklist).

Legal Thriller. In his 13th appearance, lawyer Dismas Hardy is on the case when Maya Townshend, a San Francisco small-business owner and niece to the mayor, is arrested after one of her employees--a pot dealer on the side with quite an extensive clientele--is killed outside her coffee shop. Things aren't exactly what they seem--Maya was paying the murder victim an extraordinarily high salary for his position--nor is Maya as forthcoming as she should be, and it's up to Dismas and his cop friend Abe Glitsky to separate fact from fiction. Fans of legal thrillers won't want to miss this one, but if the hold line is long, try one of D.W. Buffa's Joseph Antonelli thrillers in the meantime.

Police Thriller. Helping to track down the bombers responsible for a terror attack in Seville, Inspector Jefe Javier Falcón finds the case further complicated by the suspicious death of a gangster and a drug-and-prostitution turf war. Not to mention what's going on in his personal life--he's still trying to figure out who killed his ex-wife, his lover's son has been kidnapped, and his best friend is being blackmailed by Islamist extremists. There's a lot happening in this complex book, so readers new to the series may want to start at the beginning, with The Blind Man of Seville. Fans, however, will enjoy following all the connections, and will likely be saddened to note that this 4th entry in the series is the final one.

Political Thriller. Struggling writer Carl Granville has been hired to ghostwrite the story of "Gideon," a powerful man he's neither allowed to meet nor to know his real identity. When the agent who hired him is killed--and Carl learns that his publishing company has never heard of the book deal--the FBI fingers Carl for the murder. Realizing that his only option is to figure out who wrote the decades-old diary on which he is basing his book, Carl flees D.C. with his ex-girlfriend in order to clear his name. Written by Peter Gethers and David Handler under the name Russell Andrews, Gideon is full of unexpected twists; Booklist calls it a "top-notch yarn."

Psychological Suspense. During more than ten years of collaboration, the successful husband-and-wife writing team of Nicci Gerrard and Sean French has produced several bestsellers; Secret Smile was even made into a movie starring David Tennant. Featuring eloquently creepy writing, Secret Smile takes us into the nightmare that Miranda Cotton experiences after manipulative Brendan Block comes into her life. Having been dumped for reading her diary, Brendan charms his way into the hearts of Miranda's family and friends, dates her sister, and takes every opportunity to destroy her relationships. No one believes Miranda (they think she's just bitter), but she's not going to give up easily. Pick this one up if you're looking for spine-tingling chills.

Legal Thriller. If you're looking for a likable character devoted to fighting crimes against women, you've come to the right place. Move to Strike is the 6th in a series starring Lake Tahoe attorney Nina Reilly, and it finds her defending her son's 16-year-old friend Nicole, who has been accused of killing her uncle with a samurai sword. Toss in excellent legal scenes, heart-racing action, and beautifully described settings, and this series--written by sisters Mary and Pamela O'Shaughnessy--is a great option for fans of Linda Fairstein's Alex Cooper books.

Thriller. Though both Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have successful writing careers of their own, it's their co-written Agent Pendergast books that really have fans chomping at the bit for more. The series starts with Relic, but Brimstone, which can be considered the 5th in the series, is the 1st of the Diogenes Trilogy. Here, Pendergast teams up once more with police officer Vincent d'Agosta to investigate a strange murder--in a locked room smelling of brimstone, the charred remains of a thoroughly disliked victim are found near a cloven hoofprint. With the addition of a love interest for d'Agosta, Pendergast's always intriguing and mysterious ways, several twists and turns, and a character straight from Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White, Brimstone is endlessly entertaining.

Thriller. In this highly praised debut, Minneapolis recluse Grace McBride and her software company, Monkeewrench, have just released a new serial-killer mystery video game. When murders start occurring in real life that replicate the deaths of victims in the game, Monkeewrench is understandably desperate to identify the killer. Meanwhile, the sheriff of a small Wisconsin town is dealing with a grisly murder in a local church, and it's clear that the Monkeewrench team members aren't sharing everything they know. The mother-daughter writing duo who first published Monkeewrench in 2003 now have three more thrillers under their belts; a fifth is rumored to be awaiting release sometime next year.