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Thrillers and Suspense May 2020
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| Three Hours in Paris by Cara BlackInspired by: a real-life historical mystery: why did Hitler suddenly and quietly leave Paris in 1940, right after the Nazis occupied the city?
Starring: Kate Rees, who becomes an unlikely assassin after a German bombing kills her husband and daughter. Kate developed expert rifle skills hunting in her childhood, and she's glad to lend her talents to killing the German chancellor. Or she was glad, until the operation went south and she's betrayed, stranded in Paris and running for her life. |
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Play the Red Queen by Juris JurjevicsWhat it is: A posthumously published work of fiction by the author of Red Flags traces the experiences of two American GI police officers who are swept up by the revolutionary activities of the Vietnamese civil war. What happens: A female Viet Cong assassin is trawling the boulevards of Saigon, catching US Army officers off-guard with a single pistol shot, then riding off on the back of a scooter. Although the US military is not officially in combat, sixteen thousand American servicemen are stationed in Viet Nam "advising" the military and government. Among them are Ellsworth Miser and Clovis Robeson, two army investigators who have been tasked with tracking down the daring killer. Reviewers say: "The plot speeds along faster than the Red Queen's Vespa . . . Jurjevics brings all of it to colorful, fragrant, often ugly life . . . Brace yourself." --The New York Times Book Review
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| Pretty Things by Janelle BrownWhat it's about: Reluctant con-artist Nina learned from the best: her mother Lily, a master grifter. Although Nina once wanted to escape her family's criminal legacy, when Lily is diagnosed with cancer Nina will do anything to fund her mother's treatment.
The marks: careless rich people she finds on Instagram; the wealthy Liebling family, with whom Nina needs to settle a score.
Who it's for: fans of the 2013 film The Bling Ring; true crime fans who are into stories of fraudsters like Anna Delvey and Yvonne Bannigan. |
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| The Familiar Dark by Amy EngelWhat it's about: waitress and single mother Eve Taggert's life in a bleak small town in the Ozarks, where her she works hard to raise her 12-year-old daughter Junie.
What goes wrong: Junie and her best friend Izzy are murdered, and even with her brother Cal on the force, Eve believes that the police phoned in the investigation for reasons involving the local meth mogul -- Eve and Cal's own estranged and violent mother. Eve's one and only chance at truth and justice lies somewhere in the pages of Junie's diary. |
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| Strike Me Down by Mindy MejiaWhat it's about: corporate malfeasance at a large athletics company, whose magnetic owner (a champion kickboxer) hires tenacious forensic accountant Nora Trier to investigate.
Why you might like it: the well-developed characters (who all have something to hide) and the journey into the world of elite athletics.
Reviewers say: Author Mindy Mejia "succeeds in making even accounting exciting" (Publishers Weekly). |
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The Coldest Warrior by Paul VidichWhat it is: Acclaimed espionage author Paul Vidich explores the dark side of intelligence, when a CIA officer delves into a cold case from the 1950s--with fatal consequences. What it's about: When the release of the Rockefeller Commission report implicates the CIA in the death of a bio weapons scientist decades earlier, agent Jack Gabriel confronts a life-threatening cover-up at the highest levels of government. Who might enjoy it: fans of John Le Carre and Charles Cumming will want to check out this well researched spy novel.
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The Absolution by Sigur℗ðard©đttir YrsaWhat it is: The Absolution is the third installment in Queen of Icelandic crime fiction Yrsa Sigurdardóttir's series about psychologist Freyja and police officer Huldar. What it's about: The police find out about the crime the way everyone does: on Snapchat. The video shows a terrified young woman begging for forgiveness. When her body is found, it is marked with a number '2.' Detective Huldar joins the investigation, bringing child psychologist Freyja on board to help question the murdered teenager's friends. Soon, they uncover that Stella was far from the angel people claim, but who could have hated her enough to kill? Reviewers say: "Sigurdardóttir is masterful at blending examinations of complex social ills with satisfying procedural details, and this episode proves to be a compassionate, timely bar-raiser in a fine series." - Booklist
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| The Perfect Girl by Gilly MacmillanThe day of: 17-year-old Zoe Maisey's high-stakes piano recital, which could set the stage for a successful musical career, a break that would help her with rebuilding her life after her recent stint in a juvenile detention center for drunk driving.
Start the clock: Capping off an already fraught night is the sudden death of Zoe's mother Maria, an event which draws together the intricate web of secrets, lies, and competing interests that have always been just under the surface of Zoe's complicated relationship with her stepfather Chris and stepbrother Lucas. |
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| Fierce Kingdom by Gin PhillipsThe day of: Joan and her son Lincoln's pleasant but otherwise unremarkable trip to the zoo, a place they enjoy so much that they stay until it's almost closing time.
Start the clock: On their way to the exit Joan sees some dead bodies, and a man with a gun on his way to chase down his next target. Soon she's desperately trying to keep her cranky four-year-old quiet as they run from place to place seeking somewhere to hide or even better, a way to escape. |
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| What She Saw by Gerard StembridgeThe day of: Lana Gibson's impulsive overnight trip from Dublin to Paris to see an art exhibit, followed by a stay in the elegant Hotel Le Chevalier, where she'll get to enjoy an evening away from her husband in a comfortable suite.
Start the clock: Lana stumbles across the private elevator that leads to the hotel's lavish Suite Imperial and unable to resist the urge to peek, she rides to the top, becoming the lone witness to an assault in progress, an incident which will touch the highest levels of French power politics. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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