About Book Marks
Recent Reviews
Jacqueline Winspear
Rave Booklist Winspear delivers a most elegant and satisfying resolution ... It’s a privilege to experience life with Winspear’s determined and maximally resilient woman protagonist.
Tana French
Rave Booklist Surprising strengths and vulnerabilities make for an often amusing, yet ominous and somber tale. The atmosphere is rich as the reader is reminded that this is the \'real\' Ireland and not the one idealized by the \'plastic Paddies.\' Masterfully written
Susan Isaacs
Positive Booklist Corie may be somewhat subdued by suburbia, but her professional skills are still sharp, as is her banter. A most enjoyable read.
Laura Lippman
Rave Booklist The head-spinning conclusion will not disappoint ... Absolutely brilliant.
Ruth Ware
Rave Booklist Will not disappoint ... he action and tension are relentless from the opening to the conclusion, which will astonish, but certainly not dismay, readers, who will be captivated by this very original and very real protagonist. It has been said that in Ruth Ware’s books the pages just turn themselves. She has been heralded as \'the new Agatha Christie\' for good reason.
Adam Sternbergh
Rave Booklist This brilliantly paced thriller stars two absorbing and consistently self-absorbed lead characters and a mind-boggling supporting cast with a theatrical air that is perfect for dark drama. In a new direction for Sternbergh there is no postapocalyptic terror here, just riveting suspense in the classic Hitchcockian style.
Alex North
Rave Booklist Impossible to define ... Everything in this story is connected in ways the reader can’t begin to imagine until a series of stunning parallels and revelations are disclosed. Wait for it!
Val McDermid
Rave Booklist Although these harrowing events are not exactly a relief from today’s world situation, the author cleverly shows us how the past has set the context for the present. A riveting look backward from Scotland’s Queen of Crime.
Ruth Ware
Rave Booklist Like Ware’s earlier novels, this one employs another closed setting, although it eventually opens up to a wider world. Riveting.
Dane Bahr
Rave Booklist This riveting narrative is perfectly executed and begs for comparisons to William Faulkner (for the atmosphere), Cormac McCarthy (for the graphic descriptions), Eudora Welty (for the Grimm-like fable trappings), and Edgar Allan Poe (for the sense of the macabre). Gothic-tinged fiction is in revival, and debut-author Bahr will score high for this truly eloquent and haunting story. Expect a strong crossover audience, drawing from multiple genres, for what is likely to be one of the winter’s most talked-about novels.
B. A. Shapiro
Positive Booklist This spellbinder...leaves the reader at once moved and mystified.
Dervla McTiernan
Positive Booklist McTiernan...is best known for her police procedurals featuring Irish detective Cormac Reilly. Her new stand-alone is something different ... For fans of the compulsive psychological suspense of Ruth Ware.
Stephanie Barron
Rave Booklist Written in the form of Jane’s diaries, Barron’s series offers the reader an easy intimacy with the beloved author. This is the fourteenth installment...and it offers another delightful adventure. Perfect for historical mystery fans and a must for ardent Janeites.
Alex Segura
Rave Booklist [Segura\'s] reverence for the medium comes across vividly here, most pointedly through the book’s mesmerizing illustrations and in the revelation that Patricia Highsmith initially wrote freelance for comics to support her literary endeavors. A superlative one-of-a-kind novel.
Nicci French
Positive Booklist ... another well-plotted winner ... A focused first-person narrative moves the harrowing tale along quickly. There are a few unanswered questions at the end, but fans will devour it nonetheless.
Wanda M. Morris
Rave Booklist The first-person narrative will hold the reader captive as Ellice struggles under a tremendous burden of moral and ethical issues, both personal and professional. Then comes danger, when she realizes something definitely illegal is going on within the company. Woven into the story is an eye-opening look at what it is to fight all the -isms of being Black and female in America. Ellice is a compelling and multidimensional hero in this must-have debut that will be embraced by all legal-thriller readers.
Lisa Unger
Rave Booklist Unger has said that \'plot flows from the characters,\' and the finely nuanced Wren is a perfect example of such a character, leading the reader through an immersive tale of passion and vengeance with a startling ending.
Alison Gaylin
Rave Booklist Fans of dark psychological suspense will be unable to put this one down.
Anthony Horowitz
Rave Booklist Horowitz is a master of misdirection, and his brilliant self-portrayal, wittily self-deprecating, carries the reader through a jolly satire on the publishing world. The versatile Horowitz (the real-life version) has produced more than 45 novels, and his fans await each new arrival with bated breath.
Zoje Stage
Rave Booklist ... an outstanding read ... a stunning—at times sensitive, at times feral—exploration of just how deep and powerful the bonds of sisterhood and female friendship can be and how a squeaky mouse can become a roaring lion. By far, the winning character is the Grand Canyon itself ... Stage’s third triumph ... Recommend as women’s fiction as well as psychological suspense.
Julia Dahl
Positive Booklist ... a harrowing tale ... Dahl makes a dramatic break her from her acclaimed Rebekah Roberts series and takes on the conflicted lives of the arrogantly wealthy and the perils of social media. She is known for her fast-paced writing, but this one moves at breakneck speed and stays with you long after the last page.
Val McDermid
Rave Booklist McDermid was a journalist living and working in Glasgow in 1979, and she does a great job of capturing the atmosphere of the time—especially the brutal winter beset by strikes and power cuts and seething with political unrest—and she enlivens the narrative with much \'tabloidese\' and her customary generous usage of Scottish idioms ... This absorbing tale ends with the promise of more about Allie from one of the UK’s masters of crime fiction.
Paula Hawkins
Rave Booklist ... riveting ... the poignant Irene...is a marvel of creation. Readers will witness courage and ingenuity where it is least expected, satisfying revenge where none was thought possible, and salvation that is painfully long overdue ... this book puts her on a par with the supreme Ruth Rendell. Packed with OMG moments, this novel may be slow burning, but it’s a scorcher nonetheless.
Peter Heller
Rave Booklist Heller presents another brilliantly paced, unnerving wilderness thriller paired with an absorbing depiction of a remote natural paradise ... Masterful evocations of nature are not surprising, given Heller’s award-winning nonfiction about his own outdoor experiences, while his ability to inject shocking menace into a novel that might otherwise serve as a lyrical paean to nature is remarkable.
Carol Goodman
Positive Booklist Updating gothic tropes in her latest, two-time Mary Higgins Clark Award winner Goodman ironically plants a #MeToo-investigating journalist in a converted Magdalene laundry called the Refuge, in upper Manhattan ... stories mingle in a mesmerizing narrative that culminates in a poignant ending to a brilliant journey. Gothic? Note the phantom lye and bleach stench and wait for it! Make sure fans of Shari Lapena and Alison Gaylin get their hands on this one.
Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
Positive Booklist ... [an] exquisite narrative ... There is trauma, and clearly a psychopathic mind at work, but plenty of light still gets in ... Saskia is strongly reminiscent of Donna Tartt’s Harriet (The Little Friend, 2002) and Shirley Jackson’s Merricat (We Have Always Lived in the Castle).
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Rave Booklist [Moreno-Garcia] returns to noir crime fiction with a winner that brings together a romance-fiction-obsessed secretary and a lovelorn enforcer during the brutally suppressed student riots in 1970s Mexico City ... readers will be rooting for them and hoping they find some happiness, and, maybe, even, each other.
LIV Constantine
Positive Booklist ... twisty and unsettling ... At the intersection of their lives there is a shattering truth that unfolds in a toney drama, certain to appeal to fans of the genre.
Laura McHugh
Rave Bookreporter McHugh delivers a harrowing rural thriller with a Southern gothic feel to it, set deep in the heart of the Ozarks ... This is a redemptive and absorbing tale of one victim’s courage in confronting her suffocating past. Discerning readers will recognize the truth before Sarabeth does, but it doesn’t matter. There are surprising final twists to come.
Elly Griffiths
Positive Booklist This thirteenth time out for these characters brings a dramatic ending that leaves Ruth and Nelson’s relationship even more complicated. Not to be missed by fans of two UK television series, Detectorists and Time Team, the latter of which is nothing short of a British institution.
Catherine Steadman
Rave Booklist ... engrossing ... Steadman deftly brings her talent for characterization to her writing, combining an engaging mystery with a meaty look at the question of what is real in a land of make-believe. This glittering narrative with a totally beguiling protagonist makes for an absolutely perfect beach read.
Laura Hankin
Rave Booklist [An] utterly addictive tale ... The forthright and witty narrative creates an intimacy with Jillian that will make the reader feel as though a good friend is telling one of her bizarre and drawn-out stories. Highly recommended for the Sex and the City audience.
Gianrico Carofiglio tr. Howard Curtis
Positive Booklist ... what he considers mere digressions provide breathtaking insights into human nature, both philosophical and psychological, all the more fascinating given that this introspective man’s best friend is Mr. Punchbag, who hangs from the ceiling in his living room. Carofiglio’s exacting prose makes absorbing reading, and the legal machinations will please old-school fans of Erle Stanley Gardner.
Hillary Waugh
Rave Booklist This latest installment in the Library of Congress Crime Classics series was written nearly 70 years ago and served as the prototype for the American police procedurals to follow. Frequently featured on \'best 100 ever lists\' and penned by MWA Grand Master Waugh, the story was inspired by the success of the radio program Dragnet and based on the real-life disappearance of a Vermont coed ... Procedural fans interested in the evolution of the genre won’t want to miss this one.
Peter Robinson
Positive Booklist Celebrated suspense writer Robinson returns with the latest in the long-running series starring Yorkshire DCI Alan Banks ... Fans will welcome this latest Banks adventure and revel in what Michael Connelly calls Robinson’s \'clear eye for the telling detail.\'
Elly Griffiths
Rave Booklist ... another irresistible thriller ... Bibliophile genre fans will enjoy the insider’s look at publishing and relish the intoxicating, often intoxicated, milieu of the festival. All readers will devour the cleverly constructed story, replete with Griffiths’ trademark engaging prose, well-placed humor, and always-endearing characters.
Helen Cooper
Rave Booklist Cooper skillfully builds a house of cards, demolishes it, reshuffles the deck, and deals an even stronger hand, while keeping a few cards up her sleeve. An emotionally charged domestic-suspense debut, perfect for fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware.
Jane Harper
Positive Booklist The latest stunner from Jane Harper hinges on the same premise as her 2017 debut, The Dry , but, instead of the arid outback, readers will find themselves on the raging coast of Tasmania ... hat connection is also on view here, as Harper expertly raises the reader’s pulse throughout the narrative, insinuating what happened that day but only revealing the truth slowly as Kieran comes to see past and present in a new light.
Andrea Camilleri, Trans. by Stephen Sartarelli
Positive Booklist ... the reader is once again happily transported to Vigàta, Sicily, where Montalbano is coping, one delicious meal at a time, with two murders. The arrival of forensics expert Antonia Nicoletti sets [Montalbano] off on a wild roller-coaster ride as his infatuation with her grows, while he dodges calls from his longtime lover, Livia. Fans will laugh out loud as he frantically sets about remaking himself[.]
Hideo Yokoyama
Positive Booklist The author somehow manages to pack each approximately 80-page story with the same amount of intensity as his epic-scale fiction ... Relentless in their portrayal of karoshi at work, the stories can seem overwhelming, but they offer an intriguing look into Japanese police procedure and are certain to interest devoted readers of international crime fiction.
Matthew Hart
Rave Booklist ... an adrenaline-fueled attempt to unravel the web of lies and betrayals behind a conspiracy that threatens the survival of the free world ... This book is a rare gem, punning aside. It will enthrall fans of Jack Ryan and Jason Bourne, and leave them hoping for more Alex Turner.
T. Jefferson Parker
Positive Booklist ... guaranteed to challenge the reader to keep up ... The atmospheric SoCal setting provides a brilliant contrast to what Ford calls a \'republic of violence,\' rife with grievances and a gun in every hand to address them.
Layne Fargo
Positive Booklist ... will satisfy her fans and delight revenge aficionados everywhere ... Intense is the key word here, and the author does an astonishingly good job in getting inside the heads of Scarlett and Carly as they take turns narrating. A Shakespeare class on Titus Andronicus is cleverly inserted into the story: \'Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand, Blood and revenge are hammering in my head.\'
Val McDermid
Rave Booklist \"In her acknowledgements, McDermid notes her experience of writing in the \'strange half-world of lockdown,\' finding sustained concentration difficult, but she has nonetheless managed to keep her detective right on target and the reader enthralled.\
Smith Henderson and Jon Marc Smith
Mixed Booklist The action is relentless, and the language is rough through a somewhat lengthy narrative, but Diane will appeal to fans of Jon Land’s Caitlin Strong and Don Winslow’s Art Keller.
Wendy Walker
Mixed Booklist Although the narrative moves along at a steady clip, the reader must endure the 18 days of Molly’s torment along with her. For thriller fans willing to ignore the occasional moments of improbability.
Samantha Downing
Rave Booklist With our need to know ramped up through a series of teasers offering more to come, this tale is virtually impossible to put down ... It is difficult to relate more without endangering an immersive, albeit chillingly dark, reading experience or spoiling the shocking conclusion. Suffice to say that the family’s obsession with the game of Risk has conditioned each of them to betray one another as easily as they once conquered continents on the game board.
Ruth Ware
Rave Booklist This one is especially timely, given that the terror of isolation is at its heart ... This is And Then There Were None rendered for the twenty-first century, and David Baldacci is spot-on in calling Ware \'The Agatha Christie of our generation\' ... Ware is one of the hottest traditional-mystery writers at the moment, and her sure-to-be-heavily-marketed latest will only turn up the heat.
Lindsey Davis
Positive Booklist This one ends with a surprising conclusion that will make fans adore Flavia even more, if that is possible.
Elly Griffiths
Rave Booklist Grffiths not only puts Ruth in harm’s way, forcing her to fight for her life against a terrifying assault, she also takes the reader’s breath away with one final masterstroke in which a character’s true identity is revealed. Once again expertly incorporating myth and folklore into the story—this time, it’s the menacing Lantern Men, said to haunt the local fens and who may be responsible for the killings—Griffiths has delivered a perfect Halloween read.
Alex North
Rave Booklist The reader can expect to be electrified by the author’s total mastery of misdirection. This second stunning thriller firmly establishes North as a rapturous teller of tales.
Jessica Barry
Rave Booklist Barry follows Freefall (2019) with a second propulsive psychological thriller, this time featuring two female characters who find themselves fighting for survival on a terrifying drive ... In describing how they deal with the threat and the violence that ensues, Barry delivers hold-your-breath tension, while also addressing highly controversial and relevant women’s issues.
A. F. Carter
Positive Booklist Six personalities are locked inside Carolyn Grand. Each gets a chance to reveal itself in turn, in narratives of startling intimacy that make it difficult for the reader to disengage ... This will satisfy immersive-thriller fans, although the graphic depictions of cruelty and pedophilia will be disturbing.
Heather Young
Rave Booklist This second stunning piece of redemptive fiction...puts a young boy at the center of a murder mystery and surrounds him with adults grappling with stinging regrets, karmic debts, and unresolved guilt over the loved ones they have lost. Finely woven into the narrative is a profound consideration of the transience of life, as the contemporary characters are revealed in subtle contrast to the ancient peoples who shared their same small spot in Nevada’s Great Basin, later a wagon stop for settlers on their way to California that now accommodates the unsettled ... an ideal recommendation for fans of Kate Atkinson and Jodi Picoult.
Nicola Maye Goldberg
Positive Booklist This highly original, somewhat unsettling novel, set in New York State’s mid-Hudson region, transports the reader to a very dark place that stands in marked contrast to the celestial glow of those Hudson River School paintings. It more clearly evokes Washington Irving’s Sleepy Hollow environs. The sad tale of each of its myriad characters is told amid a nearly all-consuming air of the macabre and delivered with sinister wit ... An absorbing read with an astonishing \'Did I miss something?\' ending.
Julie Clark
Mixed Booklist The \'by chance\' element throughout the narrative makes the story somewhat implausible. Fans of thrillers about gone girls and vanished ladies will enjoy the tale, although some readers may wonder if Claire and Eva’s situations might better have been resolved in a more straightforward way.
Lucy Foley
Positive Booklist At times the story threatens to overwhelm itself with a bit too much ominous darkness and \'anxious distraction,\' but fans of the genre will enjoy the proceedings, imagining just how good that sumptuous wedding cake might have tasted.
Kathleen Barber
Positive Booklist Readers who had to look up what an \'influencer\' is will not fancy this book. On the other hand, soul-cycling, Pilates-perfected, media-savvy readers will devour it. Barber’s narrative, like social media itself, is as addictive as it is disturbing.
Heather Chavez
Rave Booklist An extraordinary thriller from a debut author that may well become the book everyone is talking about, come February ... In a mesmerizing first-person narrative, her fear is palpable, then vanquished by an astonishing ferocity she finds within herself. Where does that come from? Wait until you find out. This one glows in the dark.
Mary Kubica
Positive Booklist ... engrossing ... The story unfolds in three deeply sad female voices that sweep readers up in the dramas and secrets, past and present, that seal the fate of each character. The resilience displayed by the survivors in their new lives seems a bit strained, but most readers will be happy to see at least some of the characters getting a fresh start.
Jess Kidd
Rave Booklist Kidd has created a captivating cast of characters and delivers a richly woven tapestry of fantasy, folklore, and history. The atmosphere is thick with myriad unpleasant smells on offer, and readers may find themselves wrinkling their noses, but they will keep turning the pages.
Chad Dundas
Rave Booklist ... another brilliantly woven story about second chances from Montana native Dundas ... Recommend this to readers looking for an inviting narrative with a very \'now\' feel.
Louisa Luna
Rave Booklist PI Alice Vega is nothing less than an utterly compelling protagonist ... A somewhat Shakespearean ending satisfies with triumphant women standing strong on a stage littered with battered villains.
Alex Marwood
Rave Booklist An extraordinary novel of psychological suspense that is more wicked than Marwood’s Edgar-winning Wicked Girls (2013) and darker than her Macavity-winning The Killer Next Door (2014) ... Two of Marwood’s novels have already been optioned for film, and this one would make an eerie docudrama that could rival The Blair Witch Project.
Will Thomas
Positive Booklist The title makes a perfect fit for this wild chase through 1892 London and then abroad ... High adventure recommended for fans of Victorian-era thrillers, who will find the rich aroma from Barker’s meerschaum pipe thoroughly intoxicating.
Jessica Fellowes
Positive Booklist ... [an] authentic Golden Age–style mystery ... Fellowes is the author of the best-selling Downton Abbey books—and the niece of Downton Abbey’s creator, Julian Fellowes—and this series is perfect for devotees who need something to tide them over until the next Downton film. Fans of Downton ladies’ maid Anna, in particular, will relish the story of Louisa and her romantic interest, Detective Sergeant Guy Sullivan
Sulari Gentill
Positive Booklist ... takes the reader on one wild ride ... Rich in period detail and including a stellar performance by a young Errol Flynn, competing against Sinclair in his silver Triumph, this is an ideal recommendation for fans of the flair and humor of Kerry Greenwood and the skillful plotting of Agatha Christie.
Jeff Lindsay
Rave Booklist Wall scaling and rooftop leaps are Riley’s preferred methods of conveyance. He is a master of parkour, a discipline that allows him to navigate complex environments without any equipment at astonishing speeds. And he is a lot of fun to follow. Fans of Lindsay’s Dexter novels will not be disappointed. Where will Riley strike next?
Kwei Quartey
Rave Booklist Fans of Quartey’s Darko Dawson series ready for another armchair visit to Ghana will be pleased to meet Emma Djan, introduced here in the same riveting blend of mystery and literary travel guide ... There is an amazing force to be reckoned with behind her veil of politeness, and readers will want to hear more from Emma. Unlike Mma Ramotswe in McCall Smith’s celebrated series, Emma experiences violence and encounters dangerous criminals, but, like her Botswanan sister, she is driven by a determination to honor her late father and is surrounded by an equally appealing cast of characters.
Elly Griffiths
Rave Booklist Griffiths pulls off an amazing sleight of hand by moving her characters 11 years forward in time and planting them smack in the middle of the early 1960s ... As always, Griffiths creates an authentic sense of time and place—the Cold War still exerting its chill, and Britain besotted by the Beatles. Readers will eagerly await more to come.
Tom Rosenstiel
Positive Booklist This smart and provocative novel evokes the work of political-thriller master Ross Thomas.
Sara Shepard
Positive Booklist Shepard throws every cliché imaginable at the reader and then artfully massages them into a brilliant narrative told in the voices of the many women involved in the story who, having managed to make victims of one sort or another of themselves, all emerge victorious, each in her own fashion ... Everyone is hiding a closetful of secrets, which, when finally revealed, provide some excellent misdirection and a few OMG moments, until one final and shocking truth emerges. Fans of domestic suspense will devour this one.
Kathleen Barber
Positive Booklist ... well-written dialogue ... An excellent examination of what it must be like to be caught up in a media frenzy. Not as suspenseful as thrillers from Gillian Flynn and Ruth Ware, but this is absorbing reading for those who can’t get enough of flawed-but-likable narrators.
Henry Porter
Positive Booklist ...a sequel to last year’s ripped-from-the-headlines Firefly, which centered on the Syrian refugee crisis ... This frighteningly realistic political thriller will draw readers comfortable with the darker side of the genre.
Kate Kessler
Positive Booklist A gutsy action hero emerges in what promises to be a new series that may pick up readers from Orange Is the New Black followers and carry along fans from Kessler’s Audrey Harte thrillers ... Sometimes brutal, yet compelling, just like OITNB.
Craig Johnson
Positive Booklist Johnson serves up another helping of his signature blend of mystery, history, humor, and mysticism set in the vast emptiness of the high plains. Recommend to fans of Nevada Barr, C. J. Box, and Ace Atkins.
Andrea Camilleri, Trans. by Stephen Sartarelli
Positive Booklist Along with his customary posse, and Elena’s orphaned cat, Montalbano relies on his extraordinary, at times mystical, talents—and, despite a few of his customary blunders, identifies the killer. A witty and well-crafted addition to Camilleri’s oeuvre.
Paula Daly
Positive Booklist A sixth winner for Daly...with a timely theme, the incarceration of the wrongly convicted, at its core ... Fans of domestic thrillers will find the revelations about families and the lengths that mothers and daughters will go to protect one another both disturbing and touching.
T. Jefferson Parker
Positive Booklist In this powerful thriller, Parker leaves us aching for the damaged souls left behind by false prophets and hate-mongers, and hoping that there still really are some good guys.
Lindsey Davis
Positive Booklist It’s up to Flavia to sort out who did what, but it’s the delicious details that are the real appeal here. Only Davis could somehow ace the insertion of the anachronistic expression \'pimping his ride\' into a narrative about the splendors of ancient times. Best of all, to the envy of the men in her life, the intrepid Flavia gets to do a sort of test drive in the lavish chariot. Vivat Flavia!
Alex North
Rave Booklist At its heart, this brilliant novel is an affirmation of the power of the father-son relationship, but it also charts a descent into darkness ... With redemption for some and none for others, this thriller will satisfy readers of Thomas Harris and Stephen King. Under development as a major motion picture by the Russo brothers, of Marvel film fame.
Alex Segura
Positive Booklist A dark and absorbing read from Miami native Segura, this fifth novel in an acclaimed series appears to be the finale. But fans will root for Pete’s return, not yet ready to part with the engaging sleuth or the compellingly evoked setting.
Megan Goldin
Positive Booklist It is not difficult to figure out who has set up the escape room, which is actually an elevator, in this debut from journalist Goldin, and there is clearly no happy ending likely for the four colleagues trapped inside; but fans of JP Delany and Ruth Ware will want to be right in there with them ... A nail-biting tale of a corporate team-building exercise gone horribly wrong, with a credible explanation of how the seemingly undoable is done. And to the victor go the spoils.
Patrick Coleman
Mixed Booklist ... California noir with a twist ... Suggest this somewhat one-note noir to anyone who finds poetry in dark-journey narratives.
Haylen Beck
Rave Booklist The absorbing narrative that follows spins a heart-wrenching web of desperation, surrogacy, mistaken identity, and murder ... [a] nail-biting rendering of every parent’s nightmare...stand-alone thriller ... Recommend to fans of Tana French, Allison Brennan, and Hallie Ephron.
Aoife Clifford
Positive Booklist Some readers might be baffled by the complexity, or grow impatient with the teen angst, but fans of Jane Harper’s mysteries, also set Down Under in creepily threatening small towns, will feel right at home.
S. J. Rozan
Rave Booklist Rozan’s remote Coahoma County is as atmospheric as her New York City, and the Chinese-American traditions of \'paper sons\' (Chinese who immigrated to the U.S. with fraudulent papers) and their shopkeeping history in the South are craftily revealed in her trademark elegant prose. This new title in an award-winning and critically acclaimed series will be welcomed by fans. And what will they make of the big surprise in the final chapter?
Ruth Ware
Rave Booklist Ware cleverly puts a high-tech spin on [The Turn of the Screw\'s] gothic foundations of spellbinding menace ... Ware’s James-like embroidery of the strange and sinister produces a Turn of the Screw with cellphones and Teslas that will enthrall today’s readers. Much like its predecessor, the novel is occasionally mystifying, but it will not disappoint.
Ashley Dyer
Positive Booklist In a riveting investigation, a true-crime-crazed public creates a new folk hero and helps him avoid capture ... a grimly authentic narrative and deeply defined characters, although the ending may make readers wonder if they really know Ruth at all.
Cristina Alger
Rave Booklist ... excellent ... Lifelong New Yorker Alger describes the atmosphere of the area’s parks and beaches well. She captures the social dynamics of Suffolk’s eastern extremes perfectly. The first-person narrative is appropriately terse—Nell delivers a thorough report—but it occasionally surprises with a gripping depth ... Highly recommended, although perhaps not as a beach read.
Anthony Horowitz
Rave Booklist Horowitz succeeds on all levels with book two in the Detective Daniel Hawthorne series ... Hawthorne continues to try the author’s and the reader’s patience with outlandish behavior, but there are hints this time that he has gone to extreme lengths to conceal an unfortunate past, making him a somewhat more sympathetic character than in the earlier tale. Readers will enjoy Horowitz’s insights into the publishing world and rack their brains deciding which stories are true and which are fictional ... Despite...allusions and the Holmesian frame story, the overall voice of the series is fresh and original, Horowitz writing with the effortless élan that distinguishes all of his work.
Allison Montclair
Positive Booklist Fans of M. C. Beaton will relish the wit, and followers of Susan Elia MacNeal and Jacqueline Winspear will enjoy the depth and the period detail. Readers will want to get on the reserve list for the next Iris and Gwen adventure.
LIV Constantine
Positive Booklist An absorbing tale for readers willing to surrender to some unlikely character behaviors and an occasionally predictable plot, although fans of Gone Girl and its successors will appreciate an ending that puts a pricey shoe on one foot and then changes it again . . . and again.
Alison Gaylin
Positive Booklist ... riveting ... masterfully told in different voices from a well-developed cast of characters. Police officer Pearl Maze is worthy of her own series. Fans of Megan Abbott and Wendi Corsi Staub will relish this one.
Anne Perry
Positive Booklist Readers may find themselves smitten with Daniel and with the dauntless Miriam Fforde Croft, whose relationship with Daniel deepens in this episode ... Primarily identified for her authentic period sets and well-rendered characters, Perry writes in what she has called the \'Put Your Heart on the Page\' method, with the focus placed squarely on what happens to people under the pressure of investigation. This book is an excellent example of her craft.
S. A. Lelchuk
Rave Booklist Nikki is a dangerous woman, sort of a Lisbeth Salander, but with a lot more heart ... Lelchuk takes readers on a rock-’em-sock-’em motorcycle ride to a surprising conclusion. Along with the action, this outstanding series debut boasts a well-developed supporting cast whose interactions with Nikki make her bookstore as inviting as Louise Penny’s Three Pines bistro.
Sophie Hénaff, Trans. by Sam Gordon
Rave Booklist Author Hénaff...brings her keen wit to this chic, quirky, and quasi-noir visit to the City of Lights. There is strong appeal here to fans of Chris Ewan’s Good Thief and Jussi Adler-Olsen’s Department Q series.
Lisa Gardner
Positive Booklist The investigation unfolds, in turn, in the separate narratives.. and the suspense builds as the truth about each of their experiences emerges. The wrap-up here is just a bit too neat, but Gardner’s fans will not be disappointed by this insightful look into the impact of crime on its victims.
Jane Harper
Positive Booklist The atmosphere is so thick you can taste the red-clay dust, and the folklore surrounding the mysterious stockman adds an additional edge to an already dark and intense narrative. The truth is revealed in a surprising ending that reveals how far someone will go to preserve a life worth living in a place at once loathed and loved.
Melissa Scrivner Love
Positive Booklist Lola Vasquez is back in a stunning sequel to the author’s Edgar-nominated and Debut Dagger–winning Lola​ (2017) ... Many readers may find themselves developing a definite affection for a woman who is essentially a cold-blooded killer, but others may find this violent novel a difficult read. Either way, it exposes painful truths. Suggest to those who know Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s similar The Queen of the South (2004).
William Boyle
Rave Booklist The Elmore Leonard–like cinematic prose begs for a film adaptation ... Recommend this triumph of moral ambiguity to fans of black humor, including that of Carl Hiaasen and Dennis Lehane, in addition to Leonard.
Wil Medearis
Rave Booklist This stunning debut opens boldly with the word You, as did Jay McInerney’s Bright Lights, Big City (1984), and readers are likely to make other comparisons between the two, though Restoration Heights stands apart because of an added element of mystery ... This is an instant New York fiction classic, exuding dark poetry from a lyrical narrative populated by well-defined characters in carefully, or, shall we say, artistically, arranged settings. Best recommended to a younger, hip audience or to aging McInerney fans who remember Bright Lights, Big City with fondness.
Annie Ward
Mixed Booklist The idea that two badly damaged people who filled up rooms with their worldliness, their big words, and their general aura of disdain would expect to find contentment in simple domesticity off the beaten path in Kansas strains credulity, even before murder comes to farm country. Still, the brilliantly conceived and presented conclusion would do Patricia Highsmith proud. Expect plenty of promotion, too, as this debut novel is being advertised as 2019’s The Woman in the Window.
Karin Brynard
Rave Booklist This arresting English-language debut from South African crime author Brynard validates her reputation as \'The Afrikaans Stieg Larsson\' ... Brynard brings a strong, authentic voice to the country’s conflict-ridden past and its current complex society and entangled land claims. A brilliant ensemble cast, well-measured suspense, straightforward dialogue, and nice pacing add up to an outstanding thriller. Fans of other South African authors, from James McClure to Deon Meyer, will relish Brynard’s new and distinctive voice, although readers should be prepared for the book’s gritty and, at times, gruesome details.
William Boyle
Rave Booklist Once a party girl, [the protagonist Amy] now lives a solitary existence, keeping her exotic tattoos well hidden while working odd jobs and doing penance by delivering Communion to the housebound. This remarkable discordance is riveting ... Amy elicits the same dark fascination as Sara Gran’s stellar neo-noir detective, Claire DeWitt ... [an] outstanding thriller.
Lisa Jewell
Rave Booklist Another stellar domestic drama ... [Jewell] has created a cast of well-defined characters whose lives are already intertwined at the start, even though they don’t know it yet ... Expert misdirection keeps the reader guessing, and the rug-pulled-out-from-beneath-your-feet conclusion—coupled with one final, bone-chilling revelation—is stunning. Best not to bet on anyone. A compulsive read guaranteed to please fans of A. J. Finn and Ruth Ware.
Alex Beer, Trans. by, Tim Mohr
Rave Booklist \"In her debut novel, Beer, a rising star in Austrian crime fiction, brings post-WWI Vienna to life in an overwhelmingly grim portrayal of a defeated empire’s daily struggle to survive the constant cold, disease, hunger, and despair ... This is a masterfully constructed novel with a very satisfying ending that points to a series. But it’s very dark stuff, best suited for readers with a deep appreciation of international noir. \
Helene Tursten, Trans. by Marlaine Delargy
Rave Booklist Tursten has entertained readers for 20 years with her series of crime novels ... Her new character, identified only as Maud, is another brilliant creation ... She is presented here in five episodes, all dark, irreverent, and hilariously funny.
Sharon Bolton
Rave Booklist Award-winning master of suspense Bolton manages to transform a campfire ghost story into a riveting novel ... Witches and zombies abound, and it is left to the reader to decide if these characters are simply delusional or that this stuff is for real ... Here’s hoping for a series with more of Florence, and, please, the witches.
T M Logan
Mixed Booklist A fast-paced debut that is as much about decisions (mostly bad) and their consequences as it is about deception ... A fairly standard formula with some good twists at the end, marred by generally unlikable characters and behaviors that are highly improbable, but the writing is strong.
Paula Daly
Rave Booklist Absorbing ... afire with [Daly\'s] trademark brilliantly defined characters ... The element of literary ambition makes for a fascinating story within the story, with details on the dangers of plagiarism and the destructive practice of \'sock puppetry\'—posting fake bad reviews of authors’ work—enhancing the telling. The turn at the end is an absolute triumph. Readers will hope to hear more of the Campbells soon.
Val McDermid
Positive Booklist ...a body wearing 1995 Nikes has been unearthed by treasure hunters looking for WWII loot. While fending off (Pirie) superior’s attempts to sabotage her work, she is also investigating a series of vicious rapes that occurred in the late eighties and has been drawn into a peculiar domestic stabbing. McDermid moves the reader deftly back and forth in time as her dab hand allows the indomitable Pirie to \'bring the dead home.\'
T. Jefferson Parker
Rave Booklist A widowed ex-cop and ex-marine combat veteran, Ford carries his own emotional baggage. He is a kick-ass warrior with a heart of gold but a head overflowing with painful memories. Parker’s writing is sharp, and each character in the extended cast is unique and finely nuanced despite the super-fast-paced narrative. The themes of redemption and revenge run on parallel tracks, occasionally intersecting. This is quintessential California noir.
John Sandford
Rave Booklist \"The dialogue is sometimes biting and always witty, and the entire book is at once wicked and sublime. This would be perfect for fans anxiously awaiting the next Carl Hiaasen. They will be delighted to learn the distinctions between Cheeto and Cheez-It residues. But no palm trees; just lots of good corn acreage.\
Zoje Stage
Rave Booklist Online \"Literature has a dark sorority of bad, creepy, and cruel girls, which now includes seven-year-old Hanna Hansen ... Debut novelist Stage has convincingly created one of the youngest villains ever, and readers who appreciate such creepy tykes as Shriver’s Kevin and Doris Lessing’s Ben (in The Fifth Child, 1988) will be unable to resist the urge to meet Hanna.\
Flynn Berry
Positive Booklist \"A Double Life features a somewhat protracted and shocking conclusion that will have nail-biters gnawing down to their nubs ... Bound to please Berry’s fans as well as followers of domestic-noir masters of the be-careful-what-you-wish-for tale, including Hallie Ephron, Gillian Flynn, and Paula Hawkins.\
Alex Grecian
Positive Booklist A breathtaking thriller with plenty of action and some very clever twists, this is one of those stories where just when you think things can’t get any worse, they do; but the grimly satisfying conclusion makes it worth it for both characters and readers. Fans of David Baldacci and John Grisham will enjoy the unpredictability and unrelenting suspense.
James A McLaughlin
Positive Booklist \"The landscape is rendered in remarkable prose that puts the reader right out on the trail with Moore in his ghillie suit, often lost in a Castaneda-like rapture that contrasts sharply with intermittent bursts of stunning brutality. C. J. Box and Paul Doiron fans will enjoy this edgy tale, with human greed and wildlife exploitation at its heart.\
Anthony Horowitz
Rave Booklist Actually, the word is not murder, it’s ingenious ... A masterful meta-mystery.
Steve Israel
Rave Booklist \"...[a] brilliant politcal satire ... He takes the same kind of snarky, tasty bite out of eastern Long Island’s overdevelopment that Carl Hiaasen does from the plunder of Florida ... Promise readers that the only way they will put this book down is when Charlton Heston’s ghost pries it from their cold dead hands.\
Michael Koryta
Positive Booklist Koryta excels at action set in remote places, and fans of William Kent Krueger and C. J. Box will enjoy this one.
Sara Shepard
Rave Booklist ...a brilliant narrative about a confused young woman struggling to separate fact from fiction in her life ... Perfect for millennial readers and highly recommended for fans of eventually justified 'paranoid woman' characters who descend in a direct line from Charlotte Brontë to Ruth Ware.
Araminta Hall
Positive Booklist \"Hall brings the unreliable narrator to new heights in this disturbing narrative while subtly planting the seed in the reader’s mind that Verity, damaged by her own childhood issues, may be feeding Mike’s mania to suit her own ends. For fans of Nabokov’s Lolita, Highsmith’s Ripley tales, or Christine Mangan’s recently published first novel, Tangerine.\
Jane Harper
Rave Booklist [Harper] manages to match her debut’s intensity with another riveting, tension-driven thriller ... Perfect for fans of Tana French and readers who enjoy literary page-turners.
A. J. Finn
Rave Booklist Finn has carefully paced Anna’s internal narrative and intricately woven interactions (real or imagined?) and added a diabolical dimension that makes this story even more intense than Hitchcock’s Rear Window. And when the catalyst for Anna’s condition is ultimately revealed, it is far more traumatic than a broken leg. An astounding debut from a truly talented writer, perfect for fans in search of more like Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train.