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Debut Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight

While reading favorite authors is wonderful, there's something special about discovering an author at the start of his or her career. With our One to Watch: Debut Suspense Thriller promotion, we share with you some new authors who we think are worth watching. All authors featured here will be debut writers in the suspense/thriller genre. We hope that you enjoy reading their work and join with us in later years in saying, "I remember when I read their first book." Just think, you could have one of their first editions as part of your collection.

Joshua Moehling, author of And There He Kept Her

When two teenagers break into a house on a remote lake in search of prescription drugs, what starts as a simple burglary turns into a nightmare for all involved. Emmett Burr has secrets he's been keeping in his basement for more than two decades, and he'll do anything to keep his past from being revealed. As he gets the upper hand on his tormentors, the lines blur between victim, abuser and protector.

Annie Ward, author of Beautiful Bad

Maddie and Ian's love story began with a chance encounter at a party overseas; he was serving in the British army, and she was a travel writer visiting her best friend, Jo. Now almost two decades later, married with a beautiful son, Charlie, they are living the perfect suburban life in Middle America. But when a camping accident leaves Maddie badly scarred, she begins attending writing therapy, where she gradually reveals her fears about Ian's PTSD; her concerns for the safety of their young son; and the couple’s tangled and tumultuous past with Jo. Sixteen years of love and fear, adventure and suspicion culminate in The Day of the Killing, when a frantic 911 call summons the police to the scene of a shocking crime.

Stuart Turton, author of The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

At a gala party thrown by her parents, Evelyn Hardcastle will be killed. Again. She’s been murdered hundreds of times, and each day, Aiden Bishop is too late to save her. Doomed to repeat the same day over and over, Aiden’s only escape is to solve Evelyn Hardcastle’s murder and conquer the shadows of an enemy he struggles to even comprehend. But nothing and no one are quite what they seem.

JP Delaney, author of The Girl Before

Reeling from a traumatic break-in, Emma wants a new place to live. But none of the apartments she sees are affordable or feel safe. Until One Folgate Street. The enigmatic architect who designed the house retains full control. The space is intended to transform its occupant --- and it does. After a personal tragedy, Jane needs a fresh start. When she finds One Folgate Street, she is instantly drawn to the space --- and to its aloof but seductive creator. Jane soon learns about the untimely death of the home’s previous tenant, a woman similar to her in age and appearance. As Jane tries to untangle truth from lies, she unwittingly follows the same patterns, makes the same choices, crosses paths with the same people, and experiences the same terror as the girl before.

Meg Little Reilly, author of We Are Unprepared

Ash and Pia move from hipster Brooklyn to rustic Vermont in search of a more authentic life. But just months after settling in, the forecast of a superstorm disrupts their dream. Fear of an impending disaster splits their tight-knit community and exposes the cracks in their marriage. Where Isole was once a place of old farm families, rednecks and transplants, it now divides into paranoid preppers, religious fanatics and government tools, each at odds about what course to take.

Emelie Schepp, author of Marked for Life

When a high-ranking head of the migration board is found shot to death in his living room, there is no shortage of suspects. But no one expects to find mysterious, child-size fingerprints in this childless home. A few days later, the body of a derelict preteen is discovered, and with him, the murder weapon that killed the official. As she attends his autopsy, public prosecutor Jana Berzelius recognizes something familiar on his body. Cut deep into his flesh are initials that scream child trafficking and trigger in her a flash of memory from her own dark childhood. Now, to protect her own horrific but hidden past, she must find the real suspect behind these murders before the police do.

Fiona Barton, author of The Widow

There's a lot Jean hasn't said over the years about the crime her husband was suspected of committing. She was too busy being the perfect wife, standing by her man while living with the accusing glares and the anonymous harassment. Now her husband is dead, and there's no reason to stay quiet. There are people who want to hear her story. They want to know what it was like living with that man. But the one lesson Jean has learned in the last few years is that she can make people believe anything.

Mary Kubica, author of The Good Girl

When Mia Dennett is abducted as part of an extortion scheme, her mother Eve and Detective Gabe Hoffman will stop at nothing to find her. But no one could have predicted the emotional entanglements that eventually cause her family's world to shatter.

Averil Dean, author of Alice Close Your Eyes

Ten years ago, someone ruined Alice Croft's life. Now, she has a chance to right that wrong. She thinks she has found the perfect man to carry out her plan --- Jack Calabrese. However, it isn't long before she  finds herself drawn into a labyrinth of terrifying surrender to a man who is more dangerous than she ever could have imagined.

Sonja Condit, author of Starter House

Shortly after Lacey and her husband move in to what they think is their dream home, the warm and welcoming house becomes cold and dark. There is something malevolent within these walls that wants to hurt Lacey’s unborn child --- a terrifying presence that only she can sense. To save her family, Lacey must discover the truth about the house and confront an evil that has lingered in wait for years.