| Cold Storage by David KoeppWhat happens: A deadly, highly contagious fungus that kills humans for nourishment has already wiped out a remote Australian town. And it's about to escape its no-longer-secure storage facility in the U.S....
Author alert: This terrifying debut is by a screenwriter and director who has worked on numerous big Hollywood films (Jurassic Park and Mission: Impossible among them).
Reviewers say: "this is a terrific thriller: ambitious, audacious, gory, scary, flamboyant, and funny" (Booklist). |
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| The Whisper Man by Alex NorthWhat happens: After the death of his wife, Tom Kennedy moves with his young son to a new town, hoping for a fresh start. But Featherbank has a dark past: 20 years previously, a serial killer known as "the Whisper Man" lured away young boys. And now it's happening again.
Why you might like it: Dark and haunting, this intricately plotted thriller has supernatural overtones, well-depicted characters, and a menacing atmosphere.
For fans of: Sharon Bolton's The Craftsman, another eerie tale of history repeating itself. |
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The truth behind the lie : a novel
by Sara Lövestam
When a six-year-old girl disappears and calling the police isn't an option, her desperate mother Pernilla turns to an unlikely source for help. She finds a cryptic ad online for a private investigator: "Need help, but can't contact the police?" That's where Kouplan comes in. He's an Iranian refugee living in hiding. He was forced to leave Iran after news of his and his brother's involvement with a radical newspaper hated by the regime was discovered. Kouplan's brother disappeared, and he hasn't seen him in four years. He makes a living as a P.I. working under the radar, waiting for the day he can legally apply for asylum. Pernilla's daughter has vanished without a trace, and Kouplan is an expert at living and working off the grid. He's the perfect PI to help but something in Pernilla's story doesn't add up. She might need help that he can't offer and a little girl's life hangs in the balance.
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Love and death among the cheetahs
by Rhys Bowen
Georgie is excited when Darcy announces out of the blue that they are flying to Kenya for their extended honeymoon. It is only after they arrive that she suspects he has actually been sent there on an assignment. She tries not to be angry, because she is, after all, in a paradise! They are picked up in Nairobi and taken to a lovely house in Happy Valley--the center of upper-class English life there. Darcy finally confides that there have been some spectacular robberies in London and Paris, and it is suspected that the thief was a member of the aristocracy and may have fled to Kenya. Georgie is shocked at the completely decadent lifestyle that involves wild parties and rampant infidelity. One of the leading lights in the community, Lord Cheriton, makes a play for Georgie. She rebuffs him. Then he is found dead along a lonely stretch of road. At first it seems to be a lion attack. But why was he on that stretch of road, alone, late at night? It seems the Happy Valley community wants to close the case, but as Georgie and Darcy investigate, almost everyone has a motive to want Lord Cheriton dead
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The last good guy
by T. Jefferson Parker
When hired by a beautiful and enigmatic woman to find her missing younger sister, private investigator Roland Ford immediately senses that the case is not what it seems. He is soon swept up in a web of lies and secrets as he searches for the teenager, and even his new client cannot be trusted. His investigation leads him to a secretive charter school, skinhead thugs, a cadre of American Nazis hidden in a desert compound, an arch-conservative celebrity evangelist, and, finally, to the girl herself. The Last Good Guy is Ford's most challenging case to date, one that will leave him questioning everything he thought he knew about decency, honesty, and the battle between good and evil; if it doesn't kill him first.
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Twisted at the root : A Jane Lawless Mystery
by Ellen Hart
Everyone thought Rashad May and Gideon Wise were happily married. That is, until Rashad was convicted of his husband's murder. Four years later, Rashad's brother contacts Ray Lawless; Minnesota private investigator Jane Lawless's father and the original defense attorney on the case, with potential evidence of a wrongful conviction. When the case is reopened, Jane and her father must work together to attain justice for a grieving widower. Who actually killed Gideon and why? There are suspects and motives galore, and Jane must discover the truth. She must also track down her missing brother, Peter, who was involved in the original trial, and who might be hiding secrets of his own.
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A better man
by Louise Penny
The air is unbearably tense as Armand Gamache returns to the Surete du Quebec for his first day of work since being demoted from its command to head of homicide. Amid blistering personal social media attacks, Gamache sets out on his first assignment. He has been tasked with finding a missing woman, but while he leads the search for Vivienne Godin, Three Pines itself is threatened when the river breaks its banks, and a province-wide emergency is declared. As the waters rise, a body is discovered - and the victim's distraught father contemplates a murder of his own. Gamache is a father himself, and is haunted by a question . . . what would he do, if his child's killer might walk free?
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The turn of the key
by Ruth Ware
It seems too good to be true: a live-in nanny post, with a staggeringly generous salary. When Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten by the luxurious "smart" home fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family. What she doesn't know is that she's stepping into a nightmare which will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder. Writing to her lawyer from prison, she struggles to explain the unravelling events that led to her incarceration. She admits that she lied to obtain the post, and that her behavior toward the children wasn't always ideal. She's not innocent, by any means. But she's not guilty at least not of murder.
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| The Alphabet House by Jussi Adler-Olsen; translated by Steve ScheinWhat it's about: Shot down behind Nazi lines, two British pilots escape by impersonating SS officers on a hospital train heading to a mental facility, where they are subjected to horrendous "treatments."
What happens next...has long-term consequences for the two men.
Why you might like it: While author Jussi Adler-Olsen is better known for his Department Q series, you'll find the same detailed characterization here, just in a bleaker setting. His historical settings are well-researched and atmospheric. |
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| The Truth and Other Lies by Sascha Arango; translated by Imogen TaylorThe deception: Henry Hayden is a bestselling author...but only he and his wife know that she actually wrote the books that made him famous.
What happens: When his mistress gets pregnant and his instinct for self-preservation kicks in, Henry makes a deadly mistake that attracts the attention of the police, and his carefully built world begins to crumble.
Want a taste? "Keeping silent goes against human nature." |
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The Black Jersey
by Jorge Zepeda Patterson
There are riders willing to die just to win a single leg of the Tour, careening downhill at a suicidal ninety kilometers per hour; now I know there are also riders ready to kill for it. Marc, a French-Colombian professional cyclist with a military past, is on an elite Tour de France team led by his best friend, Steve, an American star and a favorite to win this year's Tour. But the competition takes a dark turn when someone begins eliminating racers in a series of violent "accidents," and all the remaining athletes become suspects. Marc agrees to help the French police with their investigation from the inside, but as the days progress, the dangers grow, and the number of potential murderers, and potential winners, shrinks. In fact, if there's any team that has been favoured by the murderer's actions, it's Marc and Steve's. Who can Marc trust? Who should he protect? As the finish line approaches, Marc must decide what he's willing to risk for justice, victory, and friendship.
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| Kill the Next One by Federico Axat; translated by David FryeWhat happens: Terminally ill Boston businessman Ted McKay has decided to commit suicide. But right at the critical moment, a stranger appears with an offer: in return for killing two men "deserving" of death, someone will kill him, sparing his family the shame of his suicide.
The twist: There are strange connections between McKay's life and those of his victims, and when he ends up in a mental hospital, he truly can't tell if he's a killer or the victim of a conspiracy.
Why you might like it: With an unreliable narrator in McKay, this English-language debut is complex and intriguing. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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