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32 of the Most Suspenseful Books You’ll Ever Read
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The girl on the train
by Paula Hawkins
Obsessively watching a breakfasting couple every day to escape the pain of her losses, Rachel witnesses a shocking event that inextricably entangles her in the lives of strangers.
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Before I go to sleep : a novel
by S. J. Watson
Christine, whose memory is damaged by a long-ago accident, is treated by a neurologist who helps her to remember her former self through journal entries until inconsistencies begin to emerge, raising disturbing questions
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An untamed state
by Roxane Gay
Her perfect life is shattered when Mireille is kidnapped by armed men in front of her father's estate in Haiti and she must endure the horrors and torments of her captors while her father inexplicably resists paying for her ransom.
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Descent : a novel
by Tim Johnston
"Descent, the story of a family undone by the disappearance of a daughter who went out for a morning run and didn't come back, marks the adult fiction debut of a remarkable young writer. Stunning in its emotional impact, Descent is a compulsively readable page-turner with a strong literary sensibility. The girl's vanishing--on a sunny, late-summer vacation morning--all the more devastating for its mystery, is the beginning the family's harrowing journey down increasingly divergent and solitary paths, until all that continues to bind them to each other are the questions they can never bring themselves to ask: At what point does a family stop searching? At what point does a girl stop fighting for her life? In the weeks and months that follow, hope leads todisillusionment, and each of them--father, mother, son--withdraws into emotional isolation, individually assessing the blame and assuming the responsibility for their collective loss. Haunting and unforgettable, Descent is a novel that will grab the reader's heart and mind, and will linger there long after the last page is turned"
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The husband's secret
by Liane Moriarty
Discovering a letter from her husband meant to be opened only in the event of his death, Cecelia is unable to resist reading it, though he is still alive, and discovers a secret that shatters not only her life, but the lives of two other women
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Intensity : a novel
by Dean R. Koontz
The sole survivor of a homicidal sociopath's latest killing spree, Chyna Shepherd stumbles upon the identity of the murderer's intended next victim and confronts her own troubled past and overwhelming fear to protect herself and a complete stranger from the ultimate evil. 600,000 first printing. Lit Guild Main. Tour.
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Mr. Mercedes : a novel
by Stephen King
Months after a crazed hit-and-run driver kills several attendees at a Midwestern job fair, a depressed retired cop and two unlikely allies join forces to find and stop the killer, who has sent a letter threatening another attack
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Alex
by Pierre Lemaître
Police Commandant Camille Verhoeven must learn all he can about a woman with a troubled past if he is ever going to save her from the twisted killer who is holding her hostage
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In the woods
by Tana French
Twenty years after witnessing the violent disappearances of two companions from their small Dublin suburb, detective Rob Ryan investigates a chillingly similar murder that takes place in the same wooded area, a case that forces him to piece together his traumatic memories. Reprint.
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Serena : a novel
by Ron Rash
Traveling to the mountains of 1929 North Carolina to forge a timber business with her new husband, Serena Pemberton champions her mastery of harsh natural and working conditions but turns murderous when she learns she cannot bear children, in a best-selling novel that was a PEN/Faulkner Award finalist. Reprint. 100,000 first printing.
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The Woman in White
by Wilkie Collins
The mysterious appearance of a woman dressed in all white leads Walter Hartright to the discovery of a complicated plot involving a stolen inheritance and an escape from a mental institution. Reprint.
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The silent sister
by Diane Chamberlain
Settling her late father's affairs only to discover evidence that contradicts understandings about her sister's suicide twenty years earlier, Riley MacPherson learns that her sister is still alive and has been on the run from dangerous family secrets
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The girl with the dragon tattoo
by Stieg Larsson
Forty years after the disappearance of Harriet Vanger from the secluded island owned and inhabited by her powerful family, her uncle, convinced that she had been murdered by someone from her own deeply dysfunctional clan, hires journalist Mikael Blomqvist and Lisbeth Salander, an unconventional young hacker, to investigate. Reissue.
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The secret history of Las Vegas : a novel
by Chris Abani
Determined to solve a recent series of murders before he retires, Las Vegas detective Salazar turns to Dr. Sunil Singh, a South African transplant who specializes in the study of psychopaths, for help in discovering if a pair of conjoined twins he apprehended are the killers. Original.
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Geek love
by Katherine Dunn
Aloysious and Lillian Binewski, the proprietors of a traveling carnival, attempt to reduce overhead by breeding their own freak show, with tragic results, in a new edition of the acclaimed cult classic. Reprint. 30,000 first printing.
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In a dark, dark wood
by Ruth Ware
Reluctantly accepting an old friend's invitation to spend a weekend on the English countryside, reclusive writer Leonora awakens in a hospital badly injured, unable to recall what happened and confronting a growing certainty that someone involved has died. (suspense).
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The lost symbol : a novel
by Dan Brown
The eagerly awaited follow-up to the best-selling The Da Vinci Code once again features Robert Langdon and weaves five years of the author's research into the story's twelve-hour timeframe, in an exhilarating thriller that is full of surprises. Five million first printing.
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The inheritance trilogy
by N. K Jemisin
Complemented by a new novella, presents the trilogy that begins with "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms," in which Yeine Darr, heiress to the king, is thrust into a power struggle and drawn closer to the secrets of her mother's death
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Wolf in white van
by John Darnielle
Creating fantastical mail-order role-playing games from his apartment where he endures a life of solitude after a disfiguring injury, Sean is blamed for a disaster involving two high school student clients, an event that compels him to reevaluate his own past.
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Into the darkest corner : a novel
by Elizabeth Haynes
When her handsome new neighbor encourages her to confront her fears, Catherine Bailey, the victim of a violent attack at the hands of a man whose good looks hid a dark, violent nature, finally believes in the possibility of love and a normal life until one phone call changes everything. 150,000 first printing.
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The secret in their eyes
by Eduardo A. Sacheri
Obsessed with a brutal, decades-old rape and murder of a young woman in her own bedroom, retired detective BenjamÃn Chaparoo revisits details of the investigation, stirring up old memories, as he attempts to write a book about the case
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Long man : a novel
by Amy Greene
Refusing to evacuate the East Tennessee hometown that is being flooded by a newly constructed dam, Annie Clyde Dodson battles with a husband who would start over elsewhere only to begin a frantic search when their toddler goes missing. By the best-selling author of Bloodroot.
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Rose Gold : an Easy Rawlins mystery
by Walter Mosley
When a boxer-turned-revolutionary kidnaps the daughter of a weapons manufacturer and threatens to publicly execute her in exchange for a lucrative ransom, Easy Rawlins is tapped by the LAPD to make a difficult border crossing to navigate an ensuing standoff. 75,000 first printing.
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Armada : a novel
by Ernest Cline
Struggling to complete his final month of high school only to glimpse a UFO that exactly resembles an enemy ship from his favorite video game, Zack Lightman questions his sanity before becoming one of millions of gamers tasked with protecting the Earth during an alien invasion. By the best-selling author of Ready Player One.
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Everything I never told you
by Celeste Ng
"Lydia is dead. But they don't know this yet. So begins the story of this exquisite debut novel, about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee; their middle daughter, a girl who inherited her mother's bright blue eyes and her father's jet-black hair. Her parents are determined that Lydia will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue-in Marilyn's case that her daughter become a doctor rather than a homemaker, in James's case thatLydia be popular at school, a girl with a busy social life and the center of every party. When Lydia's body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together tumbles into chaos, forcing them to confrontthe long-kept secrets that have been slowly pulling them apart. James, consumed by guilt, sets out on a reckless path that may destroy his marriage. Marilyn, devastated and vengeful, is determined to find a responsible party, no matter what the cost. Lydia's older brother, Nathan, is certain that the neighborhood bad boy Jack is somehow involved. But it's the youngest of the family-Hannah-who observes far more than anyone realizes and who may be the only one who knows the truth about what happened.
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The kind worth killing : a novel
by Peter Swanson
Engaging in an intimate sharing of secrets with a mysterious woman on an airplane, an unhappily married businessman is tangled in a psychologically twisted game of cat-and-mouse involving a plot to kill the man's wife. Reading-group guide available. 50,000 first printing.
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Killing floor
by Lee Child
Ex-MP Jack Reacher goes into action to find his brother's killers after a series of brutal crimes terrorize tiny Margrave, Georgia, only to uncover the dark and deadly conspiracy concealed behind the town's peaceful facade
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1st to Die
by James Patterson
Four women--a police detective, an assistant D.A., a reporter, and a medical examiner who call themselves the Women's Murder Club--develop lifelong bonds as they pursue a killer whose twisted imagination has stunned an entire city. Reprint.
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The cuckoo's calling
by Robert Galbraith
Working as a private investigator after losing his leg in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike takes the case of a legendary supermodel's suspicious suicide and finds himself in a world of multi-millionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, desperate designers and hedonist pursuits. 20,000 first printing.
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The silence of the lambs
by Thomas Harris
FBI Academy trainee Clarice Starling hopes that Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a criminally insane psychiatrist imprisoned in a Boston hospital, can lead her to the serial killer known only as Buffalo Bill
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