The Girl Next Door


Jack Ketchum - 1989
    Shady, tree-lined streets, well-tended lawns and cozy homes. A nice, quiet place to grow up. Unless you are teenage Meg or her crippled sister, Susan. On a dead-end street, in the dark, damp basement of the Chandler house, Meg and Susan are left captive to the savage whims and rages of a distant aunt who is rapidly descending into madness. It is a madness that infects all three of her sons and finally the entire neighborhood. Only one troubled boy stands hesitantly between Meg and Susan and their cruel, torturous deaths. A boy with a very adult decision to make.

Only Murder


Rylie Dark - 2021
    Back in her home state, a place she vowed she would never return, Sadie, running from a secret in her recent past and back into her old one, finds herself facing her demons—including her sister’s unsolved murder—while assigned to hunt down a new serial killer.Two women are found dead in a remote area of Northern Alaska, near Sadie’s hometown, floating under the ice, their bodies preserved, much the same way Sadie’s own murdered sister was found—a memory that still plagues her. The case strikes way too close to home, blurring Sadie’s judgment, stirring up memories of her estranged father and murdered sister, memories she’s not ready to grapple with.This part of Alaska—icy, rough, remote, populated by outcasts—proves impenetrable even for a seasoned FBI agent like Sadie. The killer, matching his landscape, is more sinister and smart than anyone Sadie has encountered. Amidst the perplexing clues, Sadie remains sure of only one thing: he will strike again.Against her wishes, Sadie must team up with Sheriff Logan Cooper—single, begrudging, and with a dark past of his own. Together, they must enter the canals of this killer’s twisted mind and seek help from the locals, however hostile, to solve the pattern of these murders before another girl turns up dead.With a major storm coming, can Sadie solve the murders before it’s too late? Or will she end up as the next body floating under the ice?An action-packed page-turner, the SADIE PRICE series is a riveting crime thriller, jammed with suspense, surprises and twists and turns that you won’t see coming. It will have you fall in love with a brilliant and scarred new character, while challenging you, amidst a barren landscape, to solve an impenetrable crime.

Before You Leap


Keith Houghton - 2016
    But when Scarlett’s killer is released early from prison with a cast-iron alibi, Greg realizes that his past is about to explode into his present, with terrifying consequences.To expose the truth he must open up old wounds. As a talk therapist, Greg knows all about dark secrets, but when a childhood friendship comes to the fore and the police turn their spotlight on him, the thought of analyzing his own psyche is a disturbing prospect. How far can he trust his own memories?With his life coming apart at the seams, and his grip on reality beginning to unravel, Greg must face the ghosts of his past if he hopes to prove his innocence and live to see another day.

Two Truths and a Lie


Meg Mitchell Moore - 2020
    Rebecca Coleman, widely acknowledged former leader of the Newburyport Mom Squad (having taken a step back since her husband’s shocking and tragic death eighteen months ago), has made a surprising effort to include these newcomers in typically closed-group activities. Rebecca’s teenage daughter Alexa has even been spotted babysitting Katie.Truth: Alexa has time on her hands because of a recent falling-out with her longtime best friends for reasons no one knows—but everyone suspects have to do with Alexa’s highly popular and increasingly successful YouTube channel. Katie Griffin, who at age 11 probably doesn’t need a babysitter anymore, can’t be left alone because she has terrifying nightmares that don’t seem to jibe with the vague story Sherri has floated about the “bad divorce” she left behind in Ohio. Rebecca Coleman has been spending a lot of time with Sherri, it’s true, but she’s also been spending time with someone else she doesn’t want the Mom Squad to know about just yet.Lie: Rebecca Coleman doesn’t have a new man in her life, and definitely not someone connected to the Mom Squad. Alexa is not seeing anyone new herself and is planning on shutting down her YouTube channel in advance of attending college in the fall. Sherri Griffin’s real name is Sherri Griffin, and a bad divorce is all she’s running from.A blend of propulsive thriller and gorgeous summer read, Two Truths and a Lie reminds us that happiness isn’t always a day at the beach, some secrets aren’t meant to be shared, and the most precious things are the people we love.

Stone Cold Blackout


P.J. Nakfoor - 2020
    Julia Jensen. Julia began her career as an emergency physician but changed her chosen specialty after a tragic case. A young boy was brought to her ER with a severe allergic reaction and dies after she attempts a life-saving procedure. Many years later, Julia opens a surgical practice in a faraway town. After a night of heavy drinking, she’s told she performed an appendectomy on a patient, but has no memory of the operation.The nightmare continues as disturbing occurrences take place in the hospital, jeopardizing her career and threatening her life. She develops a list of those who might want her gone, including an egomaniac colleague and an envious nurse.After an intense investigation, Julia begins to doubt her sanity. She’s shocked to finally uncover the culprit, and terrified when the truth is revealed.

Frenzied - A Suspense Thriller


Brandon Massey - 2017
    . . WORK . . . PLAY . . . DIE . . . South Haven is the premier mixed-used community in metro Atlanta, a vibrant place where old-fashioned country living gets a modern update. There’s the town square where residents watch family movies on the lawn on warm summer nights. The corner market stocked with organic foods. The bakery with fresh coffee and Wi-Fi. The stately homes on shaded, gently winding streets. The water park where children splash, laugh, and run . . . There’s also something deadly lurking. The first incident is dismissed as an aberration: a college student goes berserk and hacks his family to chunks with a machete. But a day later, a young woman riding her bicycle is chased through the streets by her own neighbors. Then a teenager takes a deadly joyride, using his pick-up truck to mow down everyone in sight. As the incidents pile up, the only thing they share is that each person launched into an inexplicable, uncontrollable frenzy. Mark Deacon, an ex-cop and chief of South Haven’s private security force, has never seen anything like it. And it’s about to get a whole lot worse. Within twenty-four hours, South Haven is declared a quarantine zone, with every entrance barricaded and military snipers positioned outside the perimeter with orders to shoot on sight. Fearful residents huddle inside, uncertain whom to trust, anxiously watching one another for clues of where the terror might strike next. Together with Dr. Hannah Bailey, a brilliant CDC scientist dispatched to investigate the threat, Deacon teams up with a motley crew of neighbors, and they hatch a desperate plan to find out answers--and stay alive. But the spreading menace might not have arrived by accident . . . RAVES FOR BRANDON MASSEY'S SUSPENSE THRILLERS : "An intense thriller . . . a wild ride!" -Kevin O'Brien, New York Times bestselling author “A razor-sharp thriller guaranteed to keep you turning pages well into the night. Start this one on your day off—-you won't be able to put it down.” —Douglas Clegg, bestselling author of The Queen of Wolves and The Hour Before Dark "The talented Mr. Massey has the rare knack of grabbing the reader early and not letting go. Massey knows how to ratchet up the suspense." —John Lutz, New York Times bestselling author “A taut, involving, and utterly convincing thrill ride.” —Gregg Olsen, New York Times bestselling author

The Lost Power


Avanti Centrae - 2019
    Nearly a thousand years later, on a fog-shrouded Napa Valley morning, gunshots and the sound of breaking glass rip through the silence. Maddy Marshall, an app designer with special martial-arts abilities, and her twin brother, Will Argones, quickly run toward the sound. Horrified, they discover a sniper has cut down two members of their family. Before the pool of blood on the living room floor is dry, their father sends the twins on a dangerous quest to recover Alexander's ancient weapon. Joined by a broad-shouldered friend who harbors a secret alliance with VanOps, an ultra-black covert agency, they soon discover the lethal sniper is from Russia. They follow time-worn clues from a medieval Spanish castle to a lost warren under the streets of Jerusalem, racing to unlock the secrets that will lead them to an arcane power—before a hostile state seizes the power and cripples the United States. To survive, they must go undercover and off-grid. No place is safe, a wrong move means death, and even a simple phone call is off limits. Because now, the sniper has his sights set on them.“Enjoy the ride.” —Steve Berry, New York Times bestselling author"VanOps: The Lost Power takes readers on a fast-paced roller coaster of a ride across the globe in a top-notch thriller with high-stakes and plenty of edge-of-seat action." —Robin Burcell, NYT bestselling author of The Last Good Place and (co-written with Clive Cussler) The Oracle.“A high-stakes, daring adventure charged with suspense and mystery!”—Ann Charles, USA TODAY Bestselling Author of the Deadwood Mystery SeriesA rare multi-award-winning novel, THE LOST POWER took home a genre grand prize blue ribbon at the 2017 Chanticleer International Book Awards, an Honorable Mention at the 2018 Hollywood Book Festival, and a shiny bronze medal at the 2019 Wishing Shelf Book Awards.

The Man Who Played with Fire: Stieg Larsson's Lost Files and the Hunt for an Assassin


Jan Stocklassa - 2018
    Now a journalist is following them.When Stieg Larsson died, the author of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo had been working on a true mystery that out-twisted his Millennium novels: the assassination on February 28, 1986, of Olof Palme, the Swedish prime minister. It was the first time in history that a head of state had been murdered without a clue who’d done it—and on a Stockholm street at point-blank range.Internationally known for his fictional far-right villains, Larsson was well acquainted with their real-life counterparts and documented extremist activities throughout the world. For years he’d been amassing evidence that linked their terrorist acts to what he called “one of the most astounding murder cases” he’d ever covered. Larsson’s archive was forgotten until journalist Jan Stocklassa was given exclusive access to the author’s secret project.In The Man Who Played with Fire, Stocklassa collects the pieces of Larsson’s true-crime puzzle to follow the trail of intrigue, espionage, and conspiracy begun by one of the world’s most famous thriller writers. Together they set out to solve a mystery that no one else could.

ShadowCast


V.P. Morris - 2021
    When financial difficulties force her to move back home to Santa Monica, CA, she cannot take the unanswered questions anymore. Determined to find out what happened to Maddy, Dakota starts ShadowCast, a true crime podcast to publicize the case. But little does she know the man responsible for Maddy’s disappearance all those years ago is listening in and tampering with her investigation. SHADOWCAST is a psychological thriller with page-turning suspense, a story that praises the value of friendship and the fearless pursuit of justice.

Truth or Justice


Trevor Scott - 2018
    Now, with his twin sister, Robin, they work together taking on cases that others have ignored, running their business from an internet-funded page. When a grieving mother in Marquette, Michigan hires them to find the truth about what happened to her daughter who drowned in Lake Superior, Max and Robin are at first skeptical. After all, when the gales of November come early to the big lake, nearly anything can happen to young people who get too close. But it doesn’t take long before things don’t add up. And not everyone likes the idea of outsiders poking their noses around in Yooper business. Truth is not always a wanted commodity in a world where justice can be hard to come by, leaving Max and Robin in a precarious predicament of life or death. "Akin to Ludlum and Higgins. . .”—Dale Brown, New York Times bestselling author “A damned good writer.”—David Hagberg, New York Times bestselling author

Twist of Faith


Ellen J. GreenEllen J. Green - 2018
    The photo shows a shuttered, ramshackle house on top of a steep hill. On the back, a puzzling inscription: Destiny calls us.Ava is certain that it’s a clue to her elusive past. Twenty-three years ago, she’d been found wrapped in a yellow blanket in the narthex of the Holy Saviour Catholic Church—and rescued—or so she’d been told. Her mother claimed there was no more to the story, so the questions of her abandonment were left unanswered. For Ava, now is the time to find the roots of her mother’s lies. It begins with the house itself—once the scene of a brutal double murder.When Ava enlists the help of the two people closest to her, a police detective and her best friend, she fears that investigating her past could be a fatal mistake. Someone is following them there. And what’s been buried in Ava’s nightmares isn’t just a crime. It’s a holy conspiracy.

While You Sleep


Stephanie Merritt - 2018
    A century ago, a young widow and her son died mysteriously there; just last year a local boy, visiting for a dare, disappeared without a trace.For Zoe Adams, newly arrived from America, the house offers a refuge from her failing marriage. But her peaceful retreat is disrupted by strange and disturbing events: night-time intrusions; unknown voices; a constant sense of being watched.The locals want her to believe that these incidents are echoes of the McBrides' dark past. Zoe is convinced the danger is closer at hand, and all-too-real – but can she uncover the truth before she is silenced?

Canaryville


Charlie Newton - 2021
    Canaryville will be the flashpoint—violent, insular, bare-knuckle Irish, and fiercely defensive of what little neighborhood it has left.As the Southside musters for its massive Irish-only but now-banned St. Patrick’s Day parade, extremist groups descend from all sides. A grisly double-homicide occurs at Canaryville’s eastern border. Within hours, a pub bomb explodes at the western border. Amid the rage and carnage, a third targeted homicide rocks the neighborhood.Embattled homicide lieutenant Denny Banahan races to prove the killings are a purge within the Irish mob, not the graffiti-implied threats of another “Red Summer”—Chicago’s horrifying rampage of racial murder and arson in 1919. But the shocking secrets that Denny’s detectives begin to exhume may say otherwise.Buried in those secrets are Denny’s deep and tragic childhood roots in Canaryville, and his major sins in the violent Black neighborhoods that surround it. The explosive combination will make Denny the one cop who might stop Chicago’s long-predicted descent into Red Summer, or the one who will finally ignite it.

The Passage


Justin Cronin - 2010
    government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he's done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. Wolgast is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors, but for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—toward the time an place where she must finish what should never have begun.With The Passage, award-winning author Justin Cronin has written both a relentlessly suspenseful adventure and an epic chronicle of human endurance in the face of unprecedented catastrophe and unimaginable danger. Its inventive storytelling, masterly prose, and depth of human insight mark it as a crucial and transcendent work of modern fiction.

The Code Hunters


Jackson Coppley - 2019
    • An Army Ranger makes a snap decision that sets in motion events beyond his imagination.• In New Mexico, caver Tom Littleton discovers a 10,000-year-old coded tablet far too advanced for ancient people to have created it.• In Boston, Rachael Friedman, a leading physics professor, unlocks a key to the mysterious code.• And in Italy, a violin maker and his autistic daughter show the way to a secret chamber where a medieval scholar has locked away more clues.Wealthy adventurer Nicholas Foxe leads this unlikely team to solve the mystery of the code. But dark forces threaten to destroy The Tablet and the people who know about it…• The Televangelist who intends to profit from his “religious” interpretation of The Tablet.• A Washington Senator who secretly serves a powerful constituent.• The mysterious Texan who foresees extraordinary wealth by owning The Tablet.• A Bombmaker in Queens who serves the latest in destructive products.The Code Hunters is a Thriller for the reader who:• Wants the Adventure of Indiana Jones,• Likes the pace and puzzles of The Da Vinci Code,• Or just enjoys a Mystery Page-Turner.