Suspense

There were so many times when I wanted to yell DON’T DO THAT! at the characters in this dark tale of trying to do right by the ones you love but being tripped up by hapless choices at every turn. The cast is stuck, in various ways, in the orbit of the ruthless Winters crime family. Melissa Cruz, who’s “[smothering] her guilt in justification and Xanax,” is running from an abusive relationship with a member of the family, accompanied by her real love. The Winterses are not taking this betrayal lightly, and they’ve sent Lucky Wilson to find the couple and…well, Lucky is a professional assassin, even if his day job is real estate, so things don’t look good. Then there’s Lucky’s family: his wife, who he believes is having an affair, and his teenage daughter, who’s very much not into boys her own age. The fast-moving and sometimes-comic tale unfolds the back stories of the various characters, beautifully illustrating how bad decisions can be the product of fierce love and how what seems like the worst path might be a redemption. While waiting for this book, you’ll want to go back and try Aymar’s No Home for Killers and They’re Gone, as his writing is just great.

Librarian Martha Ratliff doesn’t expect to marry—isn’t running a public library in Maine satisfying enough?—until she meets Alan. A traveling salesman, Alan sells novelty items like t-shirts (“Math teachers aren’t mean. They’re above average”) at academic conferences. But as sweet as Alan might be, there’s something a bit off. Martha can’t help but do a little research, only to discover that five of the cities Alan visited have unsolved cases of murdered women, with all killed during Alan’s stay. Coincidence? Add to this the blood she finds on one of his dress shirts and Martha’s on the phone to Lily Kinter, a buddy from library school who helped Martha escape from an abusive boyfriend years ago. Could Martha be married to a serial killer? But Lily has her own baggage, and what started as a simple mystery explodes into a fascinating, dark, and complex novel of suspense. Every true-crime reader will find something to appreciate in this hugely inventive novel.

With a nod to Alfred Hitchcock’s twisted film Vertigo—and, like Vertigo, not employing any violence—this thriller really succeeds in ramping up the anxiety. Ghostwriter Maddy has taken on a new assignment: the memoir of internationally revered cosmetic surgeon Dr. Angela Reynolds. Maddy’s pretty excited; this is the first publication that will acknowledge her as coauthor. Angela ships Maddy off to Angela’s home in the Scottish Highlands, where the author can really hunker down on the memoir. Except it turns out that the book Maddy wants to write is far different from Angela’s vision, which cuts out anything from her past. Why is the doctor so paranoid? Meanwhile, Scott, Angela’s business partner—cute but super moody!—arrives at the house for no apparent purpose, although he and Maddy do ignite a passionate romance. As is often the case in U.K. mysteries, people can be sighted standing in the fog, staring into the house, which is actually broken into several times during Maddy’s stay. But as creepy as all this is, it’s in the months after Maddy returns to London that everything begins to unravel, identities fall apart, and the truth becomes more elusive than ever.