Uncomfortable Reads
You’ll wince. You’ll cringe. You may enjoy them!
Leave the World Behind 
by Rumaan Alam

Sheltering in a New York beach house with a couple that has taken refuge during a massive blackout, a family struggles for information about the power failure while wondering if the cut-off property is safe. 
The Push
by Ashley Audrain

A devoted mother with a painful past gradually realizes that something is very wrong with her daughter, a fear that is complicated by her husband’s dismissive views and the birth of a healthy son. 
Oliver Loving
by Stefan Merrill Block

The complicated bonds uniting a family and the members of their community are tested by a devastating school shooting that has left a young man in a coma for nine years, a tragedy that is illuminated by an experimental diagnostic technology that suggests that his mind may still be active and capable of revealing what happened.
Ill Will 
by Dan Chaon

A psychologist is unwittingly embroiled in two sensational unsolved murders, three decades apart, when the foster brother convicted of killing their family years earlier is exonerated, making him question the testimony that led to the conviction. 
History of Wolves
by Emily Fridlund

"Fourteen-year-old Linda lives with her parents in a nearly abandoned commune in the northern Minnesota woods. As she struggles to find a way out of the sequestered world into which she was born, Linda confronts the life-and-death consequences of the things people do--and fail to do--for the people they love."
Last Woman Standing
by Amy Gentry

Prompted by sexual harassment and assaults to exact revenge, an aspiring comedienne and her tough computer-programmer friend engage in an escalating series of betrayals that trigger unexpected consequences by the author of Good as Gone. 
Miracle Creek
by Angie Kim

A dramatic murder trial after an experimental medical treatment and a fatal explosion upset a rural Virginia community where personal secrets and private ambitions complicate efforts to uncover what happened. 
Earthlings 
by Sayaka Murata

Pursued by childhood traumas and the feeling of not fitting in with her family, Natsuki decides to flee society's "baby factory" for good in search of answers about the universe.
Little Cruelties
by Liz Nugent

Conditioned by a cruel mother to compete for attention, three brothers endure and perpetuate dangerous emotional trauma that escalates until one of them loses his life. By the award-winning author of Unraveling Oliver. 
The Little Red Chairs 
by Edna O'Brien

When a wanted war criminal from the Balkans, masquerading as a faith healer, settles in a small west coast Irish village, the community are in thrall. One woman, Fidelma McBride, falls under his spell and in this astonishing novel, Edna O'Brien charts the consequences of that fatal attraction. It is a story about love, the artifice of evil, and the terrible necessity of accountability in our shattered, damaged world.
I'm Thinking of Ending Things
by Iain Reid

On their way to a secluded farm, a man and his girlfriend take an unexpected detour that leaves the woman stranded in a deserted high school, wondering if there is any escape from the twisted manifestations haunting her.
My Dark Vanessa 
by Kate Elizabeth Russell

Asked to help defend an older high-school English teacher with whom she had an affair at age 15, Vanessa struggles to choose between her romantic teen illusions and harrowing adult perceptions. 
Baby Teeth
by Zoje Stage

An ailing woman fights to protect her family from her mute daughter's psychologically manipulative schemes, complicated by her doting husband's denial about their daughter's true nature.
The Last House on Needless Street
by Catriona Ward

When a neighbor moves in next door, a family of three—a teenage girl who isn’t allowed outside, a man with memory loss, and a house cat who reads the bible—are terrified that the unspeakable secret that binds them together will be exposed. 
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