Psychological

Ten years ago, Lydia was kidnapped, then spent the subsequent decade locked in a hunting cabin, subjected to torture and abuse. Miraculously, she managed to escape—feigning death—and after several months of homelessness made it to the coastal town where her husband, Luca, and Merritt, his second wife, live. At first glance, Luca and Merritt, who married a couple of years after Lydia disappeared and was declared dead, have it all: homes, cars, several restaurants that they own, a beautiful child, another on its way. How will Lydia’s resurrection rock Luca and Merritt’s world? With chapters alternating between Lydia and Merritt’s points of view, we watch the tentative relationship between the two women grow. Merritt tries to help Lydia while Lydia charts her own course, deciding how she wants to be helped. Kent does a terrific job of creating suspense—we know a bomb is about to go off, just not which one—and when it does, we’re totally spun about. But the book doesn’t end there, as two more revelations upturn everything we know. Credible? You’ll be too terrified to care.

Aidan Marlowe—an Irish immigrant to the U.S. who is known by his last name—is lost in a life he never planned. At his young wife’s funeral, he finds out that he won millions in the lottery, and he can’t adjust to life without Holly and with the money. He and his seven-year-old twins move to a huge and forbidding house in Bury, New Hampshire, a move prompted by a voice in his head repeating “bury,” just one of the psychological oddnesses he endures. People in affluent Bury soon let him know that his decision was a bad one: the house was formerly home to a family that’s now missing four members who simply disappeared. And soon after Marlowe and his children move in, he begins receiving threatening letters that make his neighbors’ misgivings seem right but also force him to investigate the neighbors themselves. Marlowe is an unreliable narrator, so that even as readers feel for his turmoil, they are left wondering what’s really going on with this troubled character. Some truly frightening scenes lead to a gripping and satisfying conclusion, but not before a twist that will leave readers’ heads spinning. Marlowe is memorable —single dads in thrillers aren’t that common—but mainly he will stay with readers because of his offbeat vulnerability and the determination that shines through his grief. Wilson’s (The Dead Girl in 2A) unusual psychological thriller is one for fans of Stephen King who are open to reading mysteries.

Suspense fiction for those who enjoy character-driven stories, plenty of dialogue, and simple, straightforward prose. Single parent Kate is awoken by noise in her backyard, but it’s just deer. Then she sees some teens running from the cottage at the end of her property. Days later she starts getting anonymous texts—which are vaguely threatening—then a window is smashed and a knife is found embedded in the cottage’s wall. This would be enough to set anyone on edge, but Kate is especially vulnerable; she survived a home invasion two years ago in which her husband, a cop, was murdered. Fortunately, the former police chief is her father-in-law, and her sister —they’ve been estranged for 20-plus years—agrees to move in and help raise Kate’s two kids. As the terror slowly escalates, and the list of potential suspects grows, Kate has to go deeper into her past to understand who wants to kill her today.