About Book Marks
Recent Reviews
Attica Locke
Rave Booklist Through exceptional writing, pivotal character evolution, and a baffling mystery, Locke confronts the injustices surrounding missing and murdered Black women and the tempting dangers of predatory business interests.
Abir Mukherjee
Positive Booklist Mukherjee... wields streamlined, powerful writing here, cleverly concealing the terrorists’ ideology to spotlight the growing threat of polarization.
Kellye Garrett
Positive Booklist Deceptive appearances, boundless speculation, and racial prejudices drive this twisty, chillingly relatable story. Garrett’s second thriller... is a page-turning winner.
Erin Young
Positive Booklist This fast-paced feminist thriller marks a series hitting its stride.
Elizabeth Hand
Rave Booklist Unsettling ... Honoring Jackson’s story while owning this revival, Hand deploys masterful storytelling to merge the house’s familiar covetousness with witches’ tales, feminist themes of repression and unfulfilled promise, and character evolution that subtly matches the house’s growing malevolence. Pitch perfect.
Eliza Clark
Positive Booklist Clark’s skilled foreshadowing, characterization, and atmospheric conjuring make her one to watch.
Nina Simon
Positive Booklist On the cozy side, this debut mystery is woven around family rifts and redemption, and will leave readers with warm fuzzies.
Christine Mangan
Positive Booklist An atmospheric blend of film noir, classic mystery intrigue, and evocative travelogue.
Jo Nesbø, trans. Seán Kinsella
Rave Booklist Despite deep dives into a serial killer’s manipulative psyche and unflinching hard-boiled brutality, this is a virtual romp as far as Harry Hole stories go ... Nesbø sweetens the storytelling pot by wrapping fears of bioweapons in twisted-love and revenge themes and offering a master class in uncontrived red herrings
Kevin Powers
Positive Booklist Powers’ skill as a fiction writer, as well as his experience as an Iraq War veteran, are both on display here, especially in the thoughtfully developed relationships between veterans, which add insight and heart to this thriller’s unrelenting suspense.
Frank Bill
Rave Booklist Bill draws wrenching parallels between battle and family-abuse trauma through evocative hallucinations, survival-of-the-fittest settings, and disarming compassion ... Bill’s descriptions are both ugly and beautiful.
Fuminori Nakamura
Positive Booklist Raw eroticism, untethered justice, unreliable narratives, and psychological twists infuse this complex literary mystery with edgy danger and lingering existential questions.
Arnaldur Indridason
Positive Booklist Indridason’s storytelling flows as smoothly as ever here, and Konrád... establishes himself as a compelling truth-seeker.
Caroline Kepnes
Positive Booklist It’s messy, as things can be for obsessing psychopaths, and Joe’s stream-of-consciousness narration reflects his growing panic. Within this intensity, though, his snark-laden observations about ego, love, and loyalty ring true.
Meagan Jennett
Rave Booklist Jennett’s skilled writing sets Sophie’s internal monologues apart from lurking-predator tropes, weaving haunting nature descriptions and twisted bits of Appalachian folklore with palpable rage. Nora, Sophie’s foe, is a tenacious, sharply observant investigator whose reliance on their kinship creates suspense-building vulnerability.
Christopher Bollen
Positive Booklist Bollen, known for setting thrillers in alluring locales, skillfully captures Cairo’s beauty and palpable tension, and Cate and Omar’s courage in facing hard truths gives this memorable thriller extra frisson.
Jane Smiley
Rave Booklist Smiley’s evocative sense of place and nuanced exploration of women’s roles in nineteenth-century American life nicely complement the portrait of Eliza and her determined effort to forge her own path. Eliza and Jean’s Poe-influenced crusade to restore importance to disappeared women makes a deliciously ironic story-driver.
Scott Turow
Positive Booklist Pinky’s unconventional, socially awkward narration offers a fresh take on sticky legal issues, and Turow’s carefully paced, tight plotting complements her dedication to the long game. 
William Kent Krueger
Positive Booklist Newcomers to Krueger’s long-running series will be easily drawn into Cork’s warm family circle and Tamarack County’s lush forest setting. Krueger balances taut suspense with well-crafted alternating narratives and thoughtful big-picture considerations. A sure bet for readers who enjoy exploring Native cultures and eco-thrillers.
Elizabeth Hand
Rave Booklist Horror collides with amateur sleuthing here as the island’s protective spirits seek justice for a predator’s crimes against its sacred space and its adopted people. Hand, author of the iconic 12 Monkeys, is a master at genre-blending stories that feature carefully dosed supernatural malevolence. Here, she wields that mix of horror and thriller to draw together a cast of sympathetically awkward, fiercely loyal outcasts. Another strange, satisfying winner.
Ed Lin
Positive Booklist Jing-nan takes readers on a tour of everyday Taipei, balancing exposure of sobering gender inequalities, marginalized aboriginals, and cowboy policing with irreverent wit.
Rachel Howzell Hall
Positive Booklist The unforgiving desert setting and its mix of white supremacists, Crips, and various other outlaws ups the plot-driving paranoia here, but Hall’s knack for creating driven, relatably vulnerable heroines like Yara is the key to this latest success.
Ragnar Jonasson
Rave Booklist Icelandic author Jonasson, known for the Dark Iceland and Hulda series, offers an intense stand-alone, taking to new heights his unrivaled skill for using winter as an unpredictable plot-twister ... There is so much to like here: the complexity of the quartet’s relationships, Jonasson’s powerful, streamlined writing, and the parallels between an unforgiving setting and the characters’ seething grudges. Readers will be drawn into Jonasson’s forbidding Iceland landscape, where it’s anyone’s guess who will make it out alive.
Javier Cercas tr. Anne McLean
Rave Booklist ... moving ... Cercas, a winner of the European Book Prize, among other honors, delivers masterful storytelling here, weaving a compelling drama from themes of tragedy and resilience, the long reach of Franco-era vengeance, and Melchor’s relentless quest for meaning. A winning choice for both literary- and crime-fiction book groups.
Fiona Barton
Positive Booklist Barton skillfully pivots here from the globe-trotting reporting that drives her Kate Waters series toward domestic crime awash in village secrets. Readers drawn in by Elise’s hawk-eyed detecting and hard-edged vulnerability won’t see the final twist coming.
Deon Meyer tr. K.L. Seegers
Positive Booklist Absorbing procedural details lead to an explosive confrontation with a ruthless street gang and a police-corruption scheme that links SAPS to the country’s devastating political scandals. It’s a grim period for South Africa, but Griessel and Caputo remain loyal to justice and to each other. A gritty but surprisingly hopeful installment in Meyer’s immensely popular series.
Sascha Rothchild
Rave Booklist Ruby Simon is the kind of character who lures readers into and then through a story, eliciting our amateur psychological diagnoses, stealing our breath with her cunning, and sparking serious guilt for having rooted for her even a little bit ... This whip-smart, well-constructed debut makes Rothchild a thriller writer to watch carefully.
Jay Newman
Positive Booklist Newman’s international-finance background is evident here as he takes readers deep into the cloaked financial-espionage world where tricked-out planes and jet packs provide glitter and layers of double-crossings mask the final play.
Kit Mayquist
Positive Booklist In this evocative depiction of a dangerously seductive world, awash in gothic overtones, Mayquist tweaks class tensions as he portrays Lena’s growing desperation for control. Will she be the Verdeau heir’s long-awaited rescuer or an unwitting participant in further degradation?
Erin Young
Positive Booklist There is a lot going on here as Riley confronts family issues, and the serial murder investigation leads to a political conspiracy, but well-crafted procedural details and vivid portraits of Black Hawk’s denizens provide a compelling draw.
Danya Kukafka
Rave Booklist Kukafka crafts a disturbingly remorseless killer in Packer but infuses the events that draw readers to his final moments with raw empathy and lingering questions about human evil and the the destruction left in its wake.
Marie Rutkoski
Rave Booklist Veteran children’s author Rutkoski’s writing is a pleasure here; she weaves well-calibrated suspense with gritty portrayals of dancers and detectives that hold strikingly parallel themes of loneliness, painful pasts, and heavy doses of distrust.
Lori Rader-Day
Positive Booklist Rader-Day, known for masterfully weaving historical elements into her female-focused literary thrillers, imbues this wartime whodunit with palpable emotion as Bridey reconciles her family’s bombing deaths through a plan to save another life.
Vera Kurian
Rave Booklist Kurian expertly threads revenge and cat-and-mouse story arcs with Chloe’s frank, show-stealing narration. This bar-raising debut exposes the gray areas in an often-misunderstood disorder and defies readers to root against its psychopathic antiheroes.
Romy Hausmann
Positive Booklist Haussman highlights the darkest sides of desire here, twisting Gero, Nadja, and Laura together in desperation and callousness until the final moments turn toward redemption. Fine story crafting and character building layer in chilling, realistic complexity; recommend this one to readers who favor Karin Fossum’s tense psychological thrillers.
Arnaldur Indridason, Tr. Victoria Cribb
Positive Booklist In this rewarding gumshoe investigation focused on complex deceptions and unlikely coincidences, introspective Konrád faces his failures, both in marriage and policing here, and finds resolution, if not peace.
Tove Alsterdal, Tr. Alice Menzies
Positive Booklist This compelling and expertly constructed procedural, the winner of the Glass Key Award for Nordic crime fiction, makes a winning recommendation for fans of Helene Tursten’s Embla Nyström and Ragnar Jónasson’s Dark Iceland series.
Helene Tursten tr. Marlaine Delargy
Rave Booklist Tursten effectively juxtaposes a cozy, Agatha Christie–like tone against the often surprisingly dark nature of Maud’s recollections, which are rife with clever satirical jabs and delicious ironies. This absorbing dive into the mind of a ruthless pragmatist posing as a Swedish Miss Marple will please psychological-thriller fans, once they realize that Maud isn’t nearly as cozy as she looks.
Rachel Howzell Hall
Rave Booklist ... inventive ... Michaela’s narration is absorbing as she navigates Nadia’s mysteries and faces secrets buried in her own unraveling past. Hall offers an intriguing serial-murder twist and an evocative tribute to one of L.A.’s historically Black neighborhoods.
Kotaro Isaka, trans. by Sam Malissa
Rave Booklist Breakneck pacing, masterful character development, and well-timed comic relief set Isaka’s pitch-perfect (and seamlessly translated) thriller up for blockbuster status ... a twisty, darkly hilarious game of musical chairs that draws out the train’s hidden army of assassins and a strong dose of Machiavellian justice.
Joanna Schaffhausen
Rave Booklist Schaffhausen seamlessly weaves past and present together and easily manipulates strong romantic and family-loyalty subplots that might otherwise sink a poorly constructed story. In this strong series debut these multiple story lines provide layers to a heroine who sacrifices everything she loves in pursuit of justice, emerging with an optimistic eye toward what comes next.
Chandler Baker
Positive Booklist Baker uses Nora’s relatable sense of being overwhelmed to stoke suspense in this dark exploration of modern family dynamics. A prime choice for book groups.
Caitlin Wahrer
Positive Booklist Compelling, relatable conflict and well-crafted twists create depth in this thoughtful blend of family drama and mystery.
Alex Michaelides
Rave Booklist Mariana’s therapy experience introduces a fresh forensic-psychology perspective to ever-popular themes of Greek tragedy and insular academia. Michaelides’ stage-setting skills are as masterful here, as they were in The Silent Patient (2019); another tense, cleverly twisted winner.
Ed. by Michael Koryta
Rave Booklist This collection offers the best of both worlds: expert storycraft from genre stars (Unger, Michael Connelly, and Steve Hamilton, among them) and standout entries from some new faces in crime fiction.
Ragnar Jonasson
Rave Booklist This stand-alone, a mist-shrouded blend of horror and psychological thriller, works in every way. The isolated village and the pre-smartphone 1980s setting create a sense of claustrophobia that combines with the villagers’ secrecy and the hint of supernatural elements to infuse strong foreboding throughout what is ultimately revealed to be a story about trust. A draw for Jónasson’s growing fan base, along with fans of Jennifer McMahon, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, and Camilla Läckberg.
Allison Brennan
Positive Booklist Brennan showcases a range of fascinating procedural detail, regarding undercover ops to forensic accounting, in this sequel to The Third to Die. Pair this series with J. A. Jance’s similarly team-driven Ali Reynolds thrillers.
Laurie Elizabeth Flynn
Positive Booklist Finding a sympathetic character in this tangle of deceit is a mean feat, but the flashback-driven suspense and final twist hold appeal for thriller fans who respond to the \'I Know What You Did\' theme.
Michael Koryta
Rave Booklist Cat-and-mouse tension peaks in a backcountry showdown fueled by well-placed twists. A must-read for fans of wilderness thrillers.
Joanna Schaffhausen
Mixed Booklist Schaffhausen’s ability to generate suspense and her nuanced depiction of tangled relationships hold strong appeal, but veteran crime-fiction readers may find that the mystery is wrapped up a bit too theatrically.
Anders Roslund
Rave Booklist Grens is an immensely compelling character whose sharp intuition and dedication to justice are reminiscent of Harry Bosch. This tense, sophisticated procedural can stand alone, but readers will find themselves drawn to Grens’ seven earlier investigations.
Lisa Gardner
Rave Booklist It’s hard to tag just one stand-out element here, between the multidimensional portrayal of Mattapan’s Haitian expat community, Frankie’s humanizing demons and straightforward investigative technique, and a page-turning plot with all its ends tucked in unpredictably tight. Tense and immersive, Gardner’s latest (hopefully a series starter) is a sure bet both for readers drawn to gritty gumshoe fiction and for the growing legion of true-crime podcast fans.
Lars Kepler, tr. Neil Smith
Rave Booklist As Walter prowls closer, Kepler combines explosive action with masterfully developed tension. Readers already on board with this standout series will find a bar-raising entry here, and reassurance that the door is open for Joona’s return. Strongly recommended for fans of Nicci French, Stieg Larrson, and Jussi Adler-Olsen.
Hank Phillippi Ryan
Positive Booklist Some convenient character connections require a little suspended disbelief, but this story pays off with page-turning drama and mind-twisting deception.
Rachel Howzell Hall
Positive Booklist Gray’s survival story is interwoven with her driven unraveling of Isabel’s secrets, adding compelling weight in a confidential tone. A page-turner with heart.
Ian McGuire
Rave Booklist ... a gut-wrenching finale that will leave readers hoping desperately that McGuire...has an O’Connor prequel in the works. O’Connor’s palpable alienation and the subtly drawn comparisons between the Irish insurgency and America’s then-recent civil war create layers of depth in this exceptional period thriller.
Elizabeth Hand
Rave Booklist It’s a wild ride that defies comparison: pill-popping idealist Cass Neary’s obsessive hunt piles on teeth-grinding, story-propelling tension, and Hand’s gifted portrayal of subcultures seamlessly links Cass’ past in New York’s ’80s punk scene, London’s rare-book dealers, and Odinist neo-Nazis.
Denise Mina
Rave Booklist The menacing atmosphere of Nikki and Susan’s gritty Glasgow—a side of the city previously unknown to Margo—effectively supports the novel’s themes of reconciliation, class divides, and violence against women. Mina is a master of the genre, with wide appeal, especially for those who appreciate character-driven stories with literary weight, like those of Tana French, Karin Slaughter, and Laura Lippman.
Camilla Läckberg, Trans. by Neil Smith
Positive Booklist Comparisons to Gone Girl and Lizbeth Salander will undoubtedly be drawn, and the cunning revenge plot does justify those parallels, but there are satisfying themes of redemption, loyalty, and power here that push the story beyond vengeance. A darkly glamorous and utterly absorbing departure from Läckberg’s atmospheric Fjällbacka series.
Riley Sager
Positive Booklist Another breathtaking hit from Sager, who’s proven himself a master at crafting new twists on classic horror tales.
Sarah Stewart Taylor
Positive Booklist Layers of Dublin details will ensnare biblio-travelers, and this series starter offers a compelling introduction to Maggie D’arcy as she faces her life’s mystery, struggles to reconcile the deterioration of her relationship with Erin, and explores possibilities with an unforgettable love interest. Taylor, a mystery veteran, shifts into noirish territory after her humorous Sweeney St. George series, and it works just fine.
Ragnar Jonasson
Positive Booklist Iceland is a small country, which lends credibility to the clever links between the cases, into which Jónasson weaves a haunting thread of parental loss and revenge. Sharp-witted, socially awkward Hulda’s story is told in reverse in this series, and readers well acquainted with Hulda will find the backstory of her daughter’s death intensely moving.
Patrick Hoffman
Positive Booklist Valencia, a former CIA operative, is an expert manipulator and strategist, which casts intriguing doubt on her motives and propels the story toward a jaw-dropping twist. Fans of Zoë Sharp’s Charlie Fox and Chris Pavone’s Kate Moore will want to see more of Valencia Walker.
Hye-Young Pyun, Trans. by Sora Kim-Russell
Positive Booklist Readers’ groups and fans of literary suspense will find appeal in this dark meditation on the destructive power of self-deception.
Scott Turow
Rave Booklist Turow has established the gold standard for legal thrillers for decades, and he delivers another bar-raising example of his talent here, with his signature absorbing legal details, cerebral suspense, and fascinatingly flawed characters all on full view.
Jennifer Hillier
Positive Booklist Hillier cleverly masks a villain with dueling sympathies, pitting Marin’s mounting despair against \'professional girlfriend\' McKenzie’s calculated manipulations and Sal’s decades of unrequited love. Hillier, known for crafting creepy psych thrillers...offers a compelling take on the domestic thriller.
Julia Spencer-Fleming
Positive Booklist Series fans have had a long wait to dive back into Spencer-Fleming’s cleverly constructed mysteries, and this ninth entry, which delivers a haunting exposure of the town’s dark side, won’t disappoint.
Darynda Jones
Positive Booklist Fans of Jones’ best-selling Charley Davidson series and Janet Evanovich’s romps will devour this steamy series launch, which introduces both an irresistible pair of crime-busting Gilmore Girls and a quirky, mysterious setting.
Sara Paretsky
Rave Booklist ... [a] series bar-raiser ... Paretsky is celebrated for bringing Chicago to life through Vic’s investigations into corporate wrongdoing and political corruption; here, while again mining that territory, she also offers a full-sensory foray into rural Kansas as Vic hunts for Zamir and Coop while dodging an assassin who somehow predicts her every move. A high point in Paretsky’s long-running and much-loved series.
Jussi Adler-Olsen, Trans. by William Frost
Rave Booklist In a feat of unparalleled storytelling, this eighth Department Q episode brings the full team back together as Adler-Olsen weaves el-Assad’s heart-wrenching story into a pair of relentless manhunts.
K. Ferrari, Trans. by Adrian Nathan West
Positive Booklist ... offers sharp social commentary, pitch-black humor, and a twist on the classic frame-up; his unsympathetic and cluelessly entitled narrator leaves readers with little choice but to align with a killer who leaves bodies in trunks.
Andrea Bartz
Positive Booklist This fast-paced, irony-strewn blend of ruthless ambition, jealousy, and buried secrets is guaranteed armchair escapism.
Tessa Wegert
Positive Booklist This locked-room thriller has all of the requisite tangled motives and deductive crime-solving, along with a riveting introduction to edgy survivor Shana and Tim, her steady, easygoing foil.
Chan Ho-Kei, Trans. by Jeremy Tiang
Positive Booklist Their search, punctuated by hacking details and sharp-witted verbal sparring, unveils a dangerous swirl of petty feuds, cybertheft, and the existence of a predator stalking Hong Kong’s vulnerable teens. An intense but rewarding blend of technology, deduction, and flawed relationships; fans of Chan’s well-written English-language debut, The Borrowed (2016), will find even more to like here.
Kathleen Kent
Rave Booklist Here, Betty’s struggles with PTSD and challenges to her identity as a cop spark compelling character evolution as she lowers walls to bond with a pair of old souls she meets on the streets. A gripping, powerfully human procedural.
Val McDermid
Positive Booklist Stonewalled by the convent’s former staff, Paula follows her gut toward a cleverly masked killer and a connection to Carol’s wrongful-conviction investigation. Without Tony’s expertise, the dive into murderous psyches isn’t as deep as in previous cases, but McDermid’s procedural detail and character evolution are as pitch-perfect as ever.
Lori Rader-Day
Positive Booklist Rader-Day’s compelling characters deserve a stronger resolution here, but her gifted storytelling makes this a fine read, nonetheless.
Walter Mosley
Positive Booklist NYC fixer Leonid McGill, last seen in And Sometimes I Worry about You (2015), knows he’s in trouble when prospective client Catfish Worry throws out the name Ernie Eckles, a legendary hit man known as the Mississippi Assassin ... Spieled in a powerful, streamlined voice, this wrenching American noir will stick with readers long after the final page.
Ausma Zehanat Khan
Positive Booklist Khan masterfully weaves story-driving character development and pitch-perfect investigation with timely social commentary on the impact of cultural tensions.
Lars Kepler
Positive Booklist Linna’s acts of heroism occasionally strain reality, but the resulting action, combined with the unflinching mood of Scandinavian noir, holds strong appeal for American thriller fans, especially those of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series.
Gunnar Staalesen, Trans. by Don Bartlett
Positive Booklist Clever, straight-shooting Veum gains depth here as he struggles against the albatross of his arrest. A strong dose of noir best enjoyed after reading Staalesen’s Wolves in the Dark (2017).
M. L. Longworth
Positive Booklist Atmosphere, seasonal and culinary, complements, rather than overshadowing, this well-constructed mystery.
C. J. Tudor
Positive Booklist A breathless escape story with hints of the supernatural and the promise of redemption dangling just out of reach.
Olaf Olafsson
Rave Booklist Sister Johanna’s refuge in a rural French convent can’t hide her from the past, which comes screeching to the fore in the form of orders from manipulative, politically savvy Cardinal Raffin ... Her increasingly explosive revelations drive this gripping, masterfully constructed story toward redemption and justice.
Steven Pressfield
Positive Booklist The story, told through Dewey’s case notes, is an absorbing take on good vs. evil, and disasters pulled from today’s headlines lend unsettling realism to the supernatural-tinged apocalyptic setting.
Saul Black
Positive Booklist Valerie unflinchingly taps into her own weaknesses as a way to gain insight into her quarry; this angle, along with the skilled story crafting, will appeal to fans of Carol O’Connell and Chelsea Cain.
Ken Bruen
Rave Booklist Bruen’s masterful blend of free verse and sharp prose sends readers on a free fall into Taylor’s head and evokes a shadowed Galway that meets him with hostility, pity, and grudging respect. Something’s shifted in Taylor, and his fans will be forced to endure an excruciating wait to see where it takes him.
Elizabeth Hand
Rave Booklist Hand expertly plays the excitement of Chicago’s burgeoning entertainment industry against the killer’s unsettling obsession with dolls, twisting the story even darker ... A well-crafted and deliciously unsettling period thriller that will find fans among those who enjoy Caleb Carr’s mix of early modern technology and investigative action.
Susan Isaacs
Positive Booklist Corie’s combat skills and investigative prowess are still up to snuff, but her snarky commentary and hilarious interactions with her father are the real page-turners here.
Nevada Barr
Positive Booklist No doubt Barr’s many fans are craving another Anna Pigeon novel, but this stand-alone with plenty of heart won’t disappoint.
Robert Harris
Rave Booklist Set against a neo–Dark Ages England, Fairfax’s innocent truth-seeking is a thought-provoking lens through which to view this tale of murder and obsession. Strongly recommended for book groups.
Attica Locke
Rave Booklist This is a beautifully written and instantly gripping crime novel; Darren Matthews is brutally honest both in his troubled personal life, as he deals with a deteriorating marriage, and on the job, as he faces down both casual hatred and the more virulent variety promulgated by the Aryan Brotherhood.
R. H. Herron
Positive Booklist Herron, a former emergency dispatcher, offers a twisty revenge tale buoyed by successful red herrings, relatable characters, and headline-grabbing themes (police brutality, racism, child exploitation, and sexual identity).
Steph Cha
Rave Booklist A gripping, thoughtful portrayal of family loyalty, hard-won redemption, and the destructive force of racial injustice. Cha offers a strong contender for the summer’s blockbuster read.
William Shaw
Positive Booklist Teenager’s violent, evasive killer and Cathal and Helen’s evolving, unsettled relationship create a new level of suspense for this must-read series of detail-saturated procedurals.
Juli Zeh Trans by. John Cullen
Positive Booklist A gripping, character-driven thriller that’s rooted in insightful political commentary—perfect for beach reading and book groups.
Laura McHugh
Positive Booklist Sadie’s and Henley’s voices, both marked by world-weary determination, add compelling dimension to this affecting opioid thriller.
Daniel Nieh
Positive Booklist Happily, Nieh leaves the door open for a sequel to this staccato-paced, character-driven thriller, and readers will welcome the opportunity to follow good-guy Victor’s path of retribution and self-discovery.
M. T. Edvardsson
Positive Booklist An intense legal thriller that successfully plays realistic, gripping emotion against a shocking legal twist.
Lori Roy
Rave Booklist he space behind Roy’s sensual descriptions of rural Georgia and Imogene’s final, fierce defiance of her father’s legacy is filled with a creeping, entangling sense of danger. It’s the kind of writing you would expect from the Edgar-winning author, but it’s made even more powerful here, filled with the purpose of exposing a hateful legacy and issuing a timely warning of its historical ebb and flow.
Riley Sager
Positive Booklist Sager’s third reinterpretation of iconic horror themes is an utterly riveting thriller that melds Rosemary’s Baby with Sager’s masterful storytelling.
Denise Mina
Rave Booklist Mina’s grim gangster time hop, The Long Drop (2017) seemed unbeatable, but Mina—pivoting dramatically here—delivers another winner with this suspenseful, humorous, and surprisingly hopeful ode to storytelling. Mina’s longtime fans will happily recognize traces of Paddy Meehan’s snarky survivors’ nature as Anna chain-smokes her way toward a satisfying showdown.
Ragnar Jonasson, Trans. by Victoria Cribb
Positive Booklist Another suspense-laden Icelandic gem: Jónasson’s confidential, intimate prose evokes both Iceland’s harsh, beautiful solitude and the deep connections Icelanders forge.
Michael Koryta
Positive Booklist Instantly gripping, with realistic action, a breath-snatching twist, and a few untied ends that hopefully signal a sequel.
Heather Gudenkauf
Positive Booklist Followers of the popular podcast Lore and the horror film Slender Man will enjoy this suspenseful tale. Also recommend C. J. Tudor’s The Chalk Man (2018) and Luca Veste’s The Bone Keeper (2018).
Angie Kim
Positive Booklist Powerful courtroom scenes invite comparisons to Scott Turow, but Kim’s nuanced exploration of guilt, resentment, maternal love, and multifaceted justice may have stronger appeal for readers drawn to the Shakespearean tragedies in Chris Bohjalian’s Midwives (1997) and William Landay’s Defending Jacob (2012).
Peter Swanson
Rave Booklist Swanson has crafted another bar-raising psychological thriller with this tense, unexpected spin on serial killers and those obsessed with them.
Alan Parks
Positive Booklist Imbued with all the grit, blood, and pervasive damp of the best Celtic crime, this series is destined to become a favorite among Adrian McKinty’s and Denise Mina’s followers.
Cara Hunter
Positive Booklist A tense exploration of manipulation and betrayal ... A solid psychological thriller with carefully developed characters and disturbing, cleverly masked revelations that will appeal to fans of Tana French and Sophie Hannah’s procedurals.
C J Tudor
Positive Booklist Joe’s wisecracking is well-timed comic relief from Arnhill’s pervasive darkness; Tudor has crafted another fantastic horror-tinged thriller (after The Chalk Man​, 2018) in the vein of John Connolly and Brendan Duffy.
Lars Kepler
Rave Booklist Kepler delivers a page-turning hunt for an expertly camouflaged killer that draws shocking connections between the hallowed halls of the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm’s prostitution and drug scene, and Sweden’s rural churches. The author’s dark, complex procedurals are must-reads for readers drawn to Stieg Larsson, Mons Kallentoft, and Michael Connelly.
Christobel Kent
Positive Booklist Readers will root for the unwitting killer in this tense, well-crafted vigilante thriller.
Stephen Mack Jones
Positive Booklist Hard-driving noir, with a strong dose of neighborhood camaraderie; for read-alike comparisons, think Easy Rawlins and his close-knit L.A. neighborhood meet Jack Reacher.
Susan Hill
Positive Booklist Hill’s writing prowess is on full view here; both newcomers and the series’ many established fans will find it difficult to leave the Serraillers’ world at the close of this long-awaited entry. A good choice for Louise Penny fans
Sara Blaedel, Trans. by Mark Kleine
Rave Booklist After a stint hunting missing persons, Blaedel’s no-nonsense heroine, Detective Louise Rick, is now the only female detective in Copenhagen’s homicide department and is forced to navigate the department’s chauvinism while tackling two high-profile murders ...The Louise Rick novels are must-reads for fans of Scandinavia’s female police detectives.
Keigo Higashino, Trans. by Giles Murray
Rave Booklist Unorthodox Tokyo detective Kyoichiro Kaga has been reassigned to the Nihonbashi precinct and is still acquainting himself with the quaint premodern neighborhood when another newcomer, Mineko Mitsui, is found strangled in her apartment. The savvy killer has left no trace of himself, leaving Kaga and the lead detective, Uesugi, to mine clues from the inconsistencies of Mineko’s last day ... Kaga’s second investigation is a cerebral puzzler’s delight that,...offers a thought-provoking take on the tension between modernity and traditional culture and leaves a trail of mended relationships in its wake.
Jens Lapidus,
Rave Booklist Renegade attorney Emelie Jansson and former gangster Teddy Maksumic haven’t spoken since they tangled with a pedophilic cabal in Stockholm Delete, leaving their mutual attraction unexplored after Emelie was unwilling to accept Teddy’s underworld ties. But when Emelie agrees to represent a woman who claims that she was victimized by the same cabal, she reaches out for Teddy’s help ... Lapidus smoothly draws Emelie’s, Teddy’s, Nikolas’, and Roksana’s stories together into a riveting plot while drawing sharp parallels between the dangerous loyalties and callousness of Stockholm’s elite and gangland worlds.
Ragnar Jónasson
Positive Booklist A complex, fascinating mix of Icelandic community and alienation, atmospheric tension, and timely issues ... Jónasson’s latest series is another must-read for crime fans who follow the work of Arnaldur Indridason and Yrsa Sigurdardóttir.
Jeff Jackson
Positive Booklist [An] angst-soaked alienation tale ... punk rock in literary form, this activism allegory will draw fans of Chuck Palahniuk’s raw social commentary and Charlie’s Huston’s haunting, macabre symbolism.
T. Greenwood
Positive Booklist ...lures readers in with a disturbing hook: the dangers of innocence ... This is a beautifully written, unnerving tragedy woven from equal measures of hope and menace.
Sara Gran
Rave Booklist Gran’s unique mysteries are an irresistible blend of quirky philosophical quests, gritty fight scenes, and painful truths. This very special series will have Alan Bradley fans imagining what might have happened if Flavia de Luce had grown up and landed in noir-tinted California.
Steve Hamilton
Rave Booklist Online In the eleventh Alex McKnight thriller, the Detroit ex-cop’s past continues to follow him to remote Paradise, Michigan, this time confronting him with a mysterious connection to a serial killer prowling the Southwest. Abruptly picked up by the FBI, Alex is hustled to the Phoenix interrogation of Martin Livermore, who is accused of murdering six women and abducting a seventh. Livermore refuses to speak to the FBI until Alex arrives, but Alex is certain that he’s never met him or his victims ... Hamilton’s long-awaited reboot of the McKnight series is a streamlined, gut-wrenching thriller driven by Alex’s desperation to end Livermore’s killing spree and reconcile past mistakes
Elsa Hart
Positive Booklist After six years of exile, Li Du...has returned to a much different Beijing than the one he left in 1705 ... Rich in period detail, a sharply rendered exotic setting, and a web of well-crafted plots, Li Du’s third novel will appeal to fans of historical mysteries by Lisa See, Laura Joh Rowland, and Abir Mukherjee.
Mindy Mejia
Rave Booklist This redemption story is a departure from the chilling Gone Girl–like tale of manipulation Mejia wove in Everything You Want Me to Be (2017), instead exploring familial love and offering an honest, compassionate take on mental-health issues. Here the author uses Lake Superior’s violent storms and the Boundary Waters’ forbidding wilderness to intensify the story’s emotional impact and heighten its exploration into the unpredictability of half-buried secrets.
Lisa Scottoline
Positive Booklist Series fans and newcomers alike will revel in the partners’ fierce loyalty, served up with an endearingly humorous slice of South Philly family life. A sure bet for legal-thriller fans.
Riley Sager
Rave Booklist \"Sager’s second thriller is as tense and twisty as his best-selling Final Girls (2017), but this one is even more polished, with gut-wrenching plot surprises skillfully camouflaged by Emma’s paranoia and confusion, the increasingly creepy setting, and a cast of intriguingly secretive characters.\
Haohui Zhou
Positive Booklist Zhou’s story is thoughtfully constructed (and skillfully translated)... This procedural, the first novel in China’s most popular suspense trilogy, boasts the rich cultural immersion, the bird’s-eye view of procedural technique in an international police force, and the complex mysteries that have long driven the popularity of Scandinavian crime fiction.
Michael Kardos
Rave Booklist Online Natalie is a sharp-witted survivor with a relatable self-sabotaging streak whose move into the dark world of card cheats climaxes with a spin worthy of the most adept con artists.
Lisa Scottoline
Rave Booklist Scottoline, a master at crafting intense family dramas, expertly twists Maggie’s reality with a page-turning mix of guilt, self-delusion, and manipulation.
Lisa Gardner
Rave Booklist Gardner alternates gripping narratives of D. D. and Flora’s investigation with Roxanna’s essays about family, illuminating the vulnerability of children in America’s strained, deeply flawed foster-care system. Suspenseful and wholly believable, this ninth entry will win new fans for the series, especially among those who favor Karin Slaughter’s gritty procedurals.
Clare Mackintosh
Positive Booklist Mackintosh’s three bar-raising psychological thrillers (starting with I Let You Go, 2016) have proven her adept at crafting compellingly flawed, authority-bucking characters and creating twists from the ripple effects of their relationships and personal issues, including abuse, mental illness, and alcoholism. This one’s perfect for Kate Atkinson and Tana French readers.
Lars Kepler, Trans. by Neil Smith
Rave Booklist If any Scandinavian crime series is poised to top the characterization and gripping action of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series, it’s this one. Kepler has crafted a phenomenal hero in Linna, who wields intuition, strategic genius, and refreshing vulnerability against a foe as compelling and calculating as Hannibal Lecter.
Val McDermid
Rave Booklist The narcissistic, controlled killer is engaging quarry and McDermid’s procedural details are as on point as ever. But, as usual, this story’s true center is the evolution of Tony and Carol’s relationship as the pair questions each other’s strong interdependence, and Tony fights to pull Carol back from a path of self-destruction. The final twist is both shocking and fitting, a must-read for series fans.
Ruth Ware
Rave Booklist Ware masterfully harnesses the millhouse’s decrepit menace to create a slow-rising sense of foreboding, darkening Isa’s recollections of the weeks leading to Ambrose’s disappearance. Previous blockbusters guarantee popularity for Ware’s latest thriller, and, with arguably her most complex, fully realized characters yet, this one may become her biggest hit yet.
Riley Sager
Positive Booklist Sager cleverly plays on horror-movie themes from Scream to Single White Female, creating an homage without camp. Despite comparisons to Gone Girl, this debut’s strong character development and themes of rebirth and redemption align more closely with Flynn’s Dark Places.
Scott Turow
Positive Booklist Turow applies the same storytelling magic to the ICC that has drawn scores of readers into his Kindle County courtrooms, weaving fascinating details about the challenges of prosecuting war crimes into a suspenseful story of redemption and the complexities of justice.
Clare Mackintosh
Positive Booklist Zoe’s practicality lends gut-clenching credence to her distress, creating sharp contrast to Kelly’s wavering stability, and the steadily thickening paranoia will leave readers questioning their comfortable routines. This follow-up to Mackintosh’s debut, I Let You Go (2016), is a well-crafted blend of calculated malevolence, cunning plot twists, and redemption that will appeal to fans of Sophie Hannah, Ruth Rendell, and Ruth Ware.