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Thrillers and Suspense April 2021
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| If I Disappear by Eliza Jane BrazierWhat it is: an intensifying, creepy debut thriller about fandom, obsession, and small-town secrets.
Starring: recent divorcee Sera Fleece, whose appreciation of a true crime podcast grows increasingly compulsive; Rachel Ward, the podcast's host whose sudden disappearance drives Sera to make things personal.
Media Buzz: A TV adaptation of If I Disappear is in the works, with the novel's author set to write the screenplay. |
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Saint X
by Alexis Schaitkin
"Hailed as a "marvel of a book" and "brilliant and unflinching," Alexis Schaitkin's stunning debut, Saint X, is a haunting portrait of grief, obsession, and the bond between two sisters never truly given the chance to know one another. Claire is only seven years old when her college-age sister, Alison, disappears on the last night of their family vacation at a resort on the Caribbean island of Saint X. Several days later, Alison's body is found in a remote spot on a nearby cay, and two local men - employees at the resort - are arrested. But the evidence is slim, the timeline against it, and the men are soon released. The story turns into national tabloid news, a lurid mystery that will go unsolved. For Claire and her parents, there is only the return home to broken lives. Years later, Claire is living and working in New York City when a brief but fateful encounter brings her together with Clive Richardson, one of the men originally suspected of murdering her sister. It is a moment that sets Claire on an obsessive pursuit of the truth - not only to find out what happened the night of Alison's death but also to answer the elusive question: Who exactly was her sister? At seven, Claire had been barely old enough to know her: a beautiful, changeable, provocative girl of eighteen at a turbulent moment of identity formation. As Claire doggedly shadows Clive, hoping to gain his trust, waiting for the slip that will reveal the truth, an unlikely attachment develops between them, two people whose lives were forever marked by the same tragedy. For readers of Emma Cline's The Girls and Lauren Groff's Fates and Furies, Saint X is a flawlessly drawn and deeply moving story that culminates in an emotionally powerful ending. This book is part of the Thorndike Press Large Print Basic list"
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The Russian Pink : a novel
by Matthew Hart
"When "The Russian Pink" - a stunningly large rose-hued diamond - makes a surprise appearance around the neck of Honey Li, the wife of surging presidential candidate Harry Nash, Alex Turner, an investigator for the Treasury Department's diamond division and former C.I.A. agent, finds himself spiraling down a seemingly endless rabbit hole. A diamond like that always carries secrets, but the web of mystery behind "The Pink" is more complex than Alex could ever image. Starting with the trail of damage from botched sting operation, Alex wavers between legal and illegal tactics, friends, family, and foes to find out why a mysterious Russian double agent betrayed him and the diamond ended up on a potential path to the White House. For wherever the Russian Pinkgoes, secrecy, deception, and death surely follow"
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The revelators
by Ace Atkins
Struggling to recover after an attempt on his life, Sheriff Quinn Colson resolves to track down his would-be killers only to find his efforts stymied by an interim sheriff who has been appointed by a corrupt governor.
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Deadly Waters
by Dot Hutchison
A Florida journalism undergrad, Rebecca Sorley believes that her hot-tempered roommate Ellie is responsible for killing frat boys who had a reputation for preying on and hurting women, in this suspenseful new series for the #MeToo era about vigilante justice, close friends and getting away with murder. Original.
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The opium prince
by Jasmine Aimaq
Accidentally killing a young Kochi girl while driving through Kabul, an Afghan-American foreign-aid worker is confronted by an opium dealer’s threats, the loss of his marriage and wrenching guilt over the local regime’s indifference. A first novel.
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| Snake Island by Ben HobsonTwo years ago: Retirees Vernon and Penelope Moore cut ties with their son Caleb after he was convicted of brutally assaulting his wife, scandalizing their rural Australian town.
What's wrong now? Vernon gets word that Caleb has barely survived his own violent assault behind bars, at the hands of the son of a local crime boss. Trying to resolve things father to father, Vernon ends up setting in motion a series of events with consequences for everyone involved.
For fans of: small-town noir, flawed characters, and thrillers that contemplate complex moral and existential questions. |
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| The Nightworkers by Brian SelfonWhat it is: a gritty, character-driven crime novel about a dysfunctional family of money launderers dealing with trauma, betrayal, and cultural alienation.
The setup: Mixed-race but white-passing Shecky Keenan runs a reliable dirty money business with his artistic nephew Henry and niece Kerasha, a gifted thief. But when their newest runner vanishes with $250,000, both their livelihood and their lives are at stake.
Reviewers say: The Nightworkers is a "sharp, surprisingly affecting debut" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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| Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga TokarczukWhat it's about: Translated from the original Polish, this stylistically complex blend of literary fiction and suspenseful detective story follows quirky, reclusive Janina Duszejko as she involves herself in the investigation of a neighbor's murder.
Read it for: the offbeat tone, compelling writing, and Janina's insightful reflections on life in a small Polish village.
Try this next: Death in Her Hands, which also features an acclaimed author of literary fiction (in this case, Otessa Moshfegh) dipping her toe into the genre. |
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