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Reviews

Reviews

by Sulari Gentill - Fiction, Literary Fiction, Literary Mystery, Mystery

Sulari Gentill sets this mystery-within-a-mystery in motion with a deceptively simple, Dear Hannah, What are you writing? pulling us into the ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library. But fair reader, in every person's story, there is something to hide. The tranquility is shattered by a woman's terrified scream. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers, who had happened to sit at the same table, pass the time in conversation and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning --- it just happens that one is a murderer.

by Marshall Karp - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

They call him el Carnicero --- the Butcher. He is the most powerful drug lord on the planet, and when the city of New York incurs his wrath, he utters a single word: “¡Venganza!” With military precision, he strafes Central Park with 4,000 pounds of cocaine, killing hundreds of innocent people enjoying a summer afternoon. The only NYPD unit trained to go up against this level of terrorism has been disbanded, but four anonymous billionaires retaliate by recruiting a task force of highly decorated retired cops. Armed with cutting-edge technology, former NYPD captain Danny Corcoran leads his team in a pulse-pounding thriller in their battle to stop the enraged head of a Mexican cartel from raining more death on the city.

by James Lee Burke - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Novelist Aaron Holland Broussard is shattered when his daughter, Fannie Mae, dies suddenly. As he tries to honor her memory by saving two young men from a life of crime amid their opioid-ravaged community, he is drawn into a network of villainy that includes a violent former Klansman, a far-from-holy minister, a biker club posing as evangelicals, and a murderer who has been hiding in plain sight. Aaron’s only ally is state police officer Ruby Spotted Horse, a no-nonsense woman who harbors some powerful secrets in her cellar. Despite the air of mystery surrounding her, Ruby is the only one Aaron can trust. That is, until the ghost of Fannie Mae shows up, guiding her father through a tangled web of the present and past.

by Adrian McKinty - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

After moving from a small country town to Seattle, Heather Baxter marries Tom, a widowed doctor with a young son and teenage daughter. A working vacation overseas seems like the perfect way to bring the new family together, but once they’re deep in the Australian outback, the jet-lagged and exhausted kids are so over their new mom. When they discover remote Dutch Island, off-limits to outside visitors, the family talks their way onto the ferry, taking a chance on an adventure far from the reach of iPhones and Instagram. But as soon as they set foot on the island, which is run by a tightly knit clan of locals, everything feels wrong. Then a shocking accident propels the Baxters from an unsettling situation into an absolute nightmare.

by Carla Valentine - Nonfiction, Science, True Crime

Agatha Christie is the bestselling novelist of all time, and nearly every story she ever wrote involves one --- or, more commonly, several --- dead bodies. And the cause of death, the motives behind violent crimes, the clues that inevitably are left behind, and the people who put the pieces together to solve the mystery invite the reader to analyze the evidence and race to find the answer before the detective does. Christie wouldn't have talked of "forensics" as it is understood today, but in each tale she harnesses the power of human observation, ingenuity and scientific developments of the era. A fascinating, science-based deep dive, THE SCIENCE OF MURDER examines the use of fingerprints, firearms, handwriting, blood spatter analysis, toxicology and more in Christie's beloved works.

by Nora Murphy - Domestic Thriller, Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Leah and McKenna have never met, though they have parallel lives. They don’t --- ever --- find themselves in the same train carriage or meet accidentally at the gym or the coffee shop. They don’t --- ever --- discuss their problems and find common ground. They don’t --- ever --- acknowledge to each other that although their lives have all the trappings of success, wealth and happiness, they are, in fact, trapped. Leah understands that what’s inside a home can be far more dangerous than what’s outside. So when she notices someone else who may be starting down the same path she’s on, she pays attention. She watches over McKenna from afar. Until one night she sees more than she bargained for.

by Dan Chaon - Fiction, Literary Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

At 50 years old, Will Bear has been living off the grid for over half his life. A good-natured henchman with a complicated and lonely past and a passion for LSD microdosing, he spends his time hopscotching across state lines in his beloved camper van, running sometimes shady, often dangerous errands for a powerful and ruthless operation. Out of the blue, one of Will's many burner phones heralds a call from a 20-year-old woman claiming to be his biological daughter. She’s entrenched in a widespread and nefarious plot involving Will’s employers, and for Will to continue to have any contact with her increasingly fuzzes the line between the people he's working for and the people he’s running from.

by Dervla McTiernan - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

First Rule: Make them like you. Second Rule: Make them need you. Third Rule: Make them pay. They think I’m a young, idealistic law student, that I’m passionate about reforming a corrupt and brutal system. They think I’m working hard to impress them. They think I’m here to save an innocent man on death row. They're wrong. I’m going to bury him.

by Anthony Horowitz - Adventure, Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Behind the Iron Curtain, a group of former Smersh agents want to use James Bond in an operation that will change the balance of world power. Bond is smuggled into the lion's den. But whose orders is he following, and will he obey them when the moment of truth arrives? In a mission where treachery is all around and one false move means death, Bond must grapple with the darkest questions about himself. But not even he knows what has happened to the man he used to be.

by D.J. Palmer - Domestic Thriller, Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

A family vacation turns into a nightmare for Michael Hart when he discovers that his wife, Natalie, and their two children have disappeared from their New York City hotel room. Horrified, he fears they’ve been kidnapped. Michael’s frantic search to find them takes a shocking turn when he discovers that Natalie appears to have left quite willingly, taking their children with her. The police want to know why, and so does Michael. But there may be a reason why Natalie ran, something Michael can’t tell the police --- the truth about his past. While untangling his deceptions might be the key to locating Natalie, Michael knows it also could be his undoing. To find his wife, he must now turn to the one person capable of exposing all that he’s been hiding.