Abyss


Sabarna Roy - 2011
    It is essentially a racy crime thriller full of gritty suspense. Act one builds up slowly to result in a crescendo of conflicts between personalities and ideas finally to end with an unnatural death before the interval. Is it a suicide or a murder? Act two evolves through a series of incisive interrogations to unravel the truth, which is deeply disturbing and affecting. As the play unfolds into a very well crafted situational thriller, underneath is the debate about using land for agriculture or for industry, the ethics of a working author and the nexus of a modern state all wonderfully enmeshed into its storyline and the personal lives of its subtly etched out characters. The highpoints of the play are its central conflict between a mother and her daughter and its female sleuth – Renuka.

A Caller's Game


J.D. Barker - 2020
    Barker. "I'm going to offer you a choice." Controversial satellite radio talk show host, Jordan Briggs, has clawed her way to the top of the broadcast world. She doesn’t hold back, doesn’t spare feelings, and has no trouble sharing what's on her mind. Her rigorous pursuit of success has come at a price, though. Her marriage is in ruins, she hasn’t spoken to her mother in years, and she's distanced herself from all those close to her. If not for her young daughter, Charlotte, her personal life would be in complete shambles.When a subdued man calls into the show and asks to play a game, she sees it as nothing more than a way to kick-start the morning, breathe life into the beginnings of drive-time for her listeners. Against her producer's advice, she agrees, and unwittingly opens a door to the past.Live on the air with an audience of millions, what starts out as a game quickly turns deadly—events long thought buried resurface and Jordan Briggs is forced to reconcile with one simple fact—All decisions have consequences.

The Relic of the King


Bill Thompson - 2015
    Whatever it takes, there will be no sharing of the fame he’ll receive. Deep below a quaint street in London there’s a secret room. A sarcophagus has rested there for a thousand years. When an astonishing set of diaries is found, secrets lost for centuries are revealed. Even the journals themselves are amazing. They were written by a monarch whom history says never existed. Roberto Maas, a businessman who’s not what he appears to be, searches a medieval crypt for answers. You’d expect to find bodies in a crypt, but along with ancient corpses there are modern ones too. Roberto must be wary – his psychotic partner has dark secrets of his own. The mystery unravels and time begins to run out. Roberto Maas races to learn what the discoveries beneath the ancient city really mean.

In the Shadows of Death


Sourabh Mukherjee - 2015
    ACP Agni Mitra finds out about her adulterous ways as he startsinvestigating into the murder. The miffed husband, a lecherous boss, one of hermany jilted admirers – anyone could have killed her.The investigation is stuck in myriad perplexing questions when the murder ofMeenakshi Menon, a Director with Altius Finance, hits the headlines.As more murders rock the city, it is not too long before the battle of wits with hisunseen adversary turns personal for Agni.A ruthless killer walking the rain-washed streets of Kolkata.A detective battling storms brewing in his private life.Human relations infested with deceit. A generation struggling to copewith fast-changing ambitions and desires.In the Shadows of Death is a gripping page-turner with a heart-rendingemotional core.

The Holiday


T.M. Logan - 2019
    Three families. One killer.It was supposed to be the perfect holiday - a group of families enjoying a week together in the sun. Four women who have been best friends for as long as they can remember making the most of a luxurious villa in the south of France.But Kate has a secret: her husband is having an affair. And a week away might just be the perfect opportunity to get the proof she needs - to catch him in the act once and for all. Because she suspects the other woman is one of her two best friends.One of them is working against her, willing to sacrifice years of friendship to destroy her family. But which one? As Kate closes in on the truth in the stifling Mediterranean heat, she realises too late that the stakes are far higher than she ever imagined . . . Because someone in the villa may be prepared to kill to keep their secret hidden.

The Promise


Teresa Driscoll - 2019
    Three schoolgirls made a promise – to take the horrible truth of what they did to the grave.Thirty years later, Beth and Sally have tried to put the trauma behind them. Though Carol has distanced herself from her former friends, the three are adamant that the truth must never come to light, even if the memory still haunts them.But when some shocking news threatens to unearth their dark secret, Beth enlists the help of private investigator Matthew Hill to help her and Sally reconnect with estranged Carol ­– before the terrible act they committed as teenagers is revealed.Beth wishes she could take back the vow they made.But somebody is watching and will stop at nothing to ensure the secret stays buried. Now, with her beloved family in peril, can Beth still keep the promise?

The Hiding Girl


Dorian Box - 2020
    Engaged me from the first page.” — Feathered Quill Medal Winner in Mystery/Suspense"[A] great, suspenseful read." — Readers' Favorite Award for SuspenseTwelve-year-old Emily Calby was a good girl from a religious family in rural Georgia. She loved softball, her little sister and looking up words to get her allowance. Then two men came and murdered her family. Only the killers know she survived.On the run, surviving by wits and animal instinct, she makes an unlikely ally in an ex-gang member who lost his own family to violence. He takes her in and trains her in “self-defense” before more tragedy launches her on a terrifying journey for justice. Nothing will stop her—not cops or creeps, not even her own splintering mind. Through it all, Emily fights to hold onto hope and the girl she once knew, kept buried deep inside.Dark and gritty, but filled with heart and hope, The Hiding Girl is a twisty, fast-paced thriller and a testament to the boundless limits of human love, sacrifice and the will to survive.Praise for The Hiding Girl“In Emily, Author Dorian Box has created a rarity—a teenage protagonist that is at once sympathetic, vulnerable and largely fearless. … This sharp characterization within a fast-paced work of suspense makes The Hiding Girl one of the year’s most exciting series openers.” — BestThrillers.com (Best Psychological Thriller of 2021)"Dark and gritty … an exceptional, heart-pounding story full of raw emotion, deep-seated fear, and an undercurrent of hope and innocence. Deeply atmospheric … without peer in contemporary mysteries/thrillers.” — Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize Semifinalist“The story that author Dorian Box has created for Emily Calby is nothing short of thrilling, but it’s The Hiding Girl's masterful interplay of character, setting, and theme, along with its fast-pace and high emotional stakes that makes it a real page-turner.” — 2021 IndieReader Discovery Award in Fiction“[A] unique mix of hope, shattered innocence, pain, fear, and vulnerability … a great, suspenseful read.” — Readers' Favorite Award in Suspense Fiction“You root for the lead, Emily, and stick with her throughout. Engaged me from the first page. Excellent story. Dark and grisly, yet a lot of hope comes with this one.” — Feathered Quill Medal Winner in Mystery/Suspense“[S]tunning, captivating, heartbreaking but also heartwarming. … [T]he characters were so alive, believable, with heart and warmth, humor and love. … This book is certainly on my ‘best ever books’ list.” — NetGalley“A fantastic book that completely demolished my expectations. … This novel is fast-paced and action-packed but it has a profound human element that sets it apart from other novels in its genre.” — BookishFirst

The House Guest


Mark Edwards - 2020
    A perfect stranger. A perfect nightmare. When British twenty-somethings Ruth and Adam are offered the chance to spend the summer housesitting in New York, they can’t say no. Young, in love and on the cusp of professional success, they feel as if luck is finally on their side.So the moment that Eden turns up on the doorstep, drenched from a summer storm, it seems only right to share a bit of that good fortune. Beautiful and charismatic, Eden claims to be a friend of the homeowners, who told her she could stay whenever she was in New York.They know you’re not supposed to talk to strangers—let alone invite them into your home—but after all, Eden’s only a stranger until they get to know her.As suspicions creep in that Eden may not be who she claims to be, they begin to wonder if they’ve made a terrible mistake…

Devil in the Hole


Charles Salzberg - 2013
    In an upstairs bedroom: an elderly woman and the family dog, both of them shot as well. The only person missing is the husband, father, son, and prime suspect, John Hartman, who's got a three-week jump on the police. Through the eyes of almost two dozen characters, including the neighbor who reports the crime, Hartman’s mistress, a dogged state investigator, the family minister, and some of the characters Hartman meets on his escape route, we piece together not only what happened and how these shocking murders affect the community, but how John Hartman evades capture, where he’s headed, and maybe even why he committed this gruesome crime in the first place. Based on the notorious John List murders and already compared to works by Norman Mailer and Russell Banks, Devil in the Hole is gripping, literate, and haunting.

The Girl Who Knew Too Much


Nolan Thomas - 2021
    Her ten-year-old daughter, Riley, is whisked away by a corrupt social worker . . . along with any records the little girl ever existed. Fate catapults Riley into a dangerous, clandestine world of corruption and blackmail. What she learns could jeopardize a covert Russian operation, headquartered right in Washington, D.C., targeting the United States.Riley knows too much. She must be eliminated.Time is running out. Riley must try to outrun and outsmart Agent Nika Rolinska—fiction’s most shocking, ruthless new villain.

The Letter Promised


Kevin Wignall - 2013
    Returning to the Paris hotel where he spent his honeymoon six years earlier, he decides to take what seems like the only way out - suicide. But a chance encounter with a Russian in a similar predicament leaves Nick with an unlikely obligation to fulfil, one that will take him to Italy, and offer him a chance at something like redemption. www.kevinwignall.com

The Bullhead Murders (The Jena Halpern Mysteries, #1)


Michael Allan Scott - 2019
    Four murders within six months, a record for the riverside community of Bullhead City. A serial killer is suspected by local police, the work of one maniac. But they can't do it alone. Is it a closeted homophobe or the desperate diversion of an abused girl-child?Eyes in the sky, she sees. Head in the clouds, she searches. Feet on the ground, she answers the call--Jena Halpern, the reluctant police consultant.   A mystery/thriller whose hidden characters, their secret motivations, and the unintended consequences are as real as it gets. Treat yourself to a twisted thrill ride, tonight.

When Hope Calls


David Lui - 2017
    They don't know who she is. They don't know where she is or her destination. All they have is a phone connection. Every clue draws them closer to her rescue...or pushes them to frustration. Within the next twelve hours, they must each make daring sacrifices and be tested to their limit.The clock is ticking, the odds are against them...will they be able find Mya?

Only The Good Die Young : And I'm Not A Saint


Akash Verma - 2021
    She thinks that chapter of her life hasended, and starts afresh in Mumbai. But strangely, it seems her past is trying to catch up. Dhruv suddenlycomes back into her life. Even as they try to figure out their relationship, horrible things start happening to people they know. Together, Anuradha and Dhruv need to find out who it is that cannot bear to see them together. Who is carrying out these shocking crimes? Are they really soulmates cursed to stay apart, or is there some karmic debt they have to repay? Taut and thrilling, Only the Good Die Young is unputdownable.

Her One Mistake


Heidi Perks - 2018
    It all started at the school fair…Charlotte was supposed to be looking after the children, and she swears she was. She only took her eyes off of them for one second. But when her three kids are all safe and sound at the school fair, and Alice, her best friend Harriet’s daughter, is nowhere to be found, Charlotte panics. Frantically searching everywhere, Charlotte knows she must find the courage to tell Harriet that her beloved only child is missing. And admit that she has only herself to blame.Harriet, devastated by this unthinkable, unbearable loss, can no longer bring herself to speak to Charlotte again, much less trust her. Now more isolated than ever and struggling to keep her marriage afloat, Harriet believes nothing and no one. But as the police bear down on both women trying to piece together the puzzle of what happened to this little girl, dark secrets begin to surface—and Harriet discovers that confiding in Charlotte again may be the only thing that will reunite her with her daughter....This breathless and fast-paced debut—perfect for fans of Big Little Lies and The Couple Next Door—takes you on a chilling journey that will keep you guessing until the very last page.