Tag:

Thrillers

Review

The Ghost City

by Jeff Ayers

A ruthless billionaire discovers a method of creating more durable concrete, courtesy of an ancient manuscript written by Marco Polo, in Pote’s terrific follow-up to Blood and Treasure. This building material will be necessary for the future construction boom if Shan Zhang and his company succeed. An ecological disaster in Vietnam dries up an entire river, and what treasure hunter and adventurer Ethan Cain doesn’t realize is that this event is only the beginning of Zhang’s plans. An ancient city under the Antarctic ice holds the key to a dangerous technology that Zhang sees as the method to reach his goals, and who cares if Antarctica’s ice disappears in the aftermath? Ethan, with the help of his on-and-off journalist girlfriend, Lana, must work together at the bottom of the world to save millions of lives, even if it means they won’t survive. Pote combines the adventure of a Clive Cussler novel, the special-ops missions of a Brad Thor thriller, and the tech focus of a Tom Clancy story to create a fun and engaging tale. The slow build intensifies, making the last half of the book so gripping that readers will get paper cuts from turning the pages so fast.—Jeff Ayers

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

The Paris Files

by Brian Kenney

“Slow burn” has become quite the cliche, but sometimes it’s all too accurate in describing fiction consisting of passionate, romantic narratives; the layering of tension between characters; and letting protagonists develop at their own pace. Forty-year-old Genie St. Onge has lived through several heartbreaks, but her affair with thirty-year-old Jacob Ford gives her a renewed feeling of confidence. One American, the other Canadian, they met in Asia and parted with the intent to meet up in Paris’s 11 arrondissement. And to both of their delight, they each actually show up. Days are filled with dining out, seeking pastries, and making love…until one morning Genie wakes up to find Jacob gone, and concern about his absence grows from anxiety to near hysteria, with the search extending for days. Police interviews, interviews with neighbors, and conversations with friends back home all barely scratch the surface. When Jacob’s corpse is finally discovered, his story makes little sense and the truth remains on the verge. Who killed Jacob Ford?—Brian Kenney

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

The Confession Artist

by Jeff Ayers

An unidentified sketch of a person’s face appears online with a message saying they have six days to confess or die. At the end of the week, someone who looks like the person in the sketch is murdered. When it happens a second time, the media dubs the killer “The Confession Artist.” The latest sketch looks an awful lot like cop-turned-PI Crosbie Mitchell, who lives and works in a small Montana town. The FBI believes it’s Mitchell, and if she’s being honest, Mitchell believes that too. But what secret does she have to confess, and how devastating is what she’s hiding?  While other people post confessions on social media, worrying it might be them, Mitchell tries to track down the killer before she’s forced to reveal all. Carbo brings Montana’s landscape and small-town dynamics to life in this gripping page-turner. The mystery of the sketches and whether or not it’s Mitchell in the latest one keeps the intrigue going up to the very end. This is a book you will want to confess to reading.—Jeff Ayers

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Harmless Women

by Henrietta Thornton

Book of the Week January 22, 2026

Avalon Dale is a nonchalant, accomplished hacker and thief. She has spent months tracking her latest wealthy target, Primrose, or Prim, Meath. She knows Prim and her husband, Ruben’s, online lives inside out: their conversations, their habits—including Ruben’s lurid affair—and especially their financial lives. She tempts them with lavish trips for ridiculously low prices, and when they take the bait and their home is empty, the game is on. But this time doesn’t go like Avalon’s other heists. She discovers a dead body at Prim’s home, upending the plan and setting Avalon on the run with none other than Prim herself. As they both fear being accused of murder, they’re forced into a tight though antagonistic partnership, one that as it’s pummeled by tough times on the run will lead readers to unexpectedly root for this thief and her new sidekick. It’s a treat to find such an absorbing thriller starring two women; adding to it is the feeling of ambiguousness as Sharpe’s cutting illustrations of each protagonist’s mental struggle—and that of a third woman lurking in the book’s background—leave the reader wondering who the victim is here, if anyone.—Henrietta Thornton

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

The Spies of Hartlake Hall

by Danise Hoover

The year is 1917, and we begin in a seemingly mundane office of the Admiralty, where a seemingly mundane secretary finds a dead body in a locked room. She is, of course, an agent, as is her supervisor. In the dead man’s possession is a secret coded telegram that belongs in the admiral’s safe. Thus begins an incredibly tangled story of spies and deception with all the players invited to a country-house shooting party. Gallagher, boss of Mrs. Vane, our secretary, has engineered the weekend event at his stepfather’s house with the intent of smoking out the traitors and planting the right kind of misinformation in the correct ears. A greedy underhanded American, a misguided but loyal Armenian, terrible food, and cold drafty rooms liven things up.  Graham pays some homage to Agatha Christie in that members of the group keep dropping off, but there are plenty left to finish up the story. Those with poor name memory will do well to take notes, as this is as convoluted as it is entertaining.—Danise Hoover

Add Pub Date to my Calendar

          

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Mr. and Mrs. Dixon Hide a Body

by Brian Kenney

Book of the Week January 15, 2026

Dreadful yet droll, disturbing but also delightful, this is the tale of one couple so eager to escape from their hopeless marriage that each is secretly planning to “off” the other in the next few days. Daisy is a seamstress and designer who creates her own bizarre clothes using used frocks, castoffs from other residents, while abusive husband James convinces townies to invest in his sleazy cryptocurrency business.  Living in a deteriorating mansion that is as rundown as their relationship, each has a plan to get rid of. Just when they’re  driving home from a party, with ideas for how to murder each other dancing in their heads, Daisy hits a man. She had wanted James to drive as she felt too tipsy. While most people might call the cops, Daisy and James take an alternate route and drag the dying man home so as not to attract attention. His demise comes rapidly, leaving the couple stuck with the age-old dilemma: what to do with a corpse in your house. Then it occurs to Daisy to haul the corpse off to the family mausoleum, as one does, located in the nether reaches of their estate. All goes well until weeks later a huge storm initiates a flood that washes out the village, exposing decades of James’ family members. Gruesome, yes. But don’t you want to know who got to prison first?—Brian Kenney-

Add Pub Date to my Calendar

          

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

The Model Patient

by Dodie Ownes

In her late twenties, Evelyn left the glamorous world of modeling to marry charming and wealthy Henry, who encouraged her to settle into the good life, Sunday dinners with his family, holidays with the whole Westbrook clan. But now it’s the mid-sixties, London is swinging, and the set-up isn’t working for her—the pressure to get pregnant, Henry’s parents’ constant interference, and the isolation—and horrible dreams begin to plague Evelyn. At the suggestion of a former colleague, she secretly begins psychoanalysis with Dr. Patrick Daley. As the abuse that she suffered at the hands of a family friend while a teen is revealed, sessions with Dr. Daley become increasingly confusing—he seems to be encouraging her to love him, but gives nothing in return. Her best friend, Diana, tries to stabilize and support Evie, but gets pulled into a swirl of allegations that she is not sure she can trust. And someone is trying to make Evie believe that she is a bad, bad person. Ashe’s tight, smart thriller touches on women’s right to birth control, societal pressures to conform, and the changing mores of the modern world against the backdrop of The Beatles and Carnaby Street.—Dodie Ownes

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Imposter

by Henrietta Thornton

When a young mother is found murdered in her Mayo, Ireland home, psychologist and criminal profiler Alex Gregory is asked to consult. Traveling from the English prison hospital where he struggles in vain to help another mother, an abuser who won’t face her past, he worries that the Irish police and other locals will see him as a big shot coming to belittle them. He’s right to be worried, but more problematic than his background is that the locals are wary of profiling and of Alex’s questioning of them. This is where the protagonist’s history treating manipulative patients comes wonderfully to the fore; he’s both kind to those he meets and able to see right through their ways and fears, abilities that will endear him to readers. The small town comes to life through the psychologist’s astute observations of its inhabitants, with past relationships and scandals enriching the whodunit puzzle, which is topped off with a satisfying twist. Ross’s several series have just become available in the United States, so, happily, there’s much more where this came from.—Henrietta Thornton

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Finder’s Keepers

by Dodie Ownes

Everyone is reading the bestselling novel Diary of an Octopus by Emily Harper, but Rose knows that the novel is her real story, from her diary—and if anyone puts two and two together, she is going to jail for murder. In 8th grade, Rose crushed on her teacher Mr. Bellamy, and when Mrs. Bellamy was found murdered, Rose came under suspicion but was never charged. In order to destroy the evidence, she has to find her stolen laptop, which she is sure Emily has. To get close to Emily, Rose becomes her number one fan, presenting herself as Iris at multiple book signings and even accepting an offer to stay with her target for a few days. What could be better? This psychological thriller, with a murder mystery at its heart, grows increasingly twisty as readers learn about Rose’s tween years and the manipulation she suffered at the hands of Mr. Bellamy, which left her damaged and doubting her own self-worth and reality. The high-stakes cat-and-mouse story finds Rose pulled into a past she thought she had escaped. Fans of Stephen King’s Misery and Jean Hanff Korelitz’s The Plot will find much to enjoy here.

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Icefall: The Rise of the Nine

by Jeff Ayers

The Nine, beings designated to protect Earth from potential destruction, have been asleep for centuries, but now the alarm has been activated. An alien ship crashed into Alaska’s Mendenhall Glacier more than 150,000 years ago, and with global warming melting the ice, the vessel has become visible. Scientists investigating the alien craft awaken lifeforms that have been dormant all this time; they are not friendly and are now loose. Driving into a small town outside Juneau, a couple of state troopers discover that everyone except a baby has been brutally killed by what appears to be a new kind of weapon. There’s a reason for the alert to this possible threat to Earth, and the Nine will quickly discover that the aliens that have escaped from the ship are relentless, brutal, and unstoppable. Humanity doesn’t stand a chance. Newman and Land tell an intense story that demands to be read in one sitting. With great characters and a fun take on an alien invasion theme, this is John Carpenter’s The Thing meets The Terminator, with a dash of Michael Crichton if he didn’t care about body count.

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail