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Reviews

by Gytha Lodge - Fiction, Mystery

Louise wakes up. Her head aches, her mouth is dry, her memory is fuzzy --- but she suspects she’s done something bad. She rolls over toward her husband, Niall. The man who, until recently, made her feel loved. But it’s not Niall lying beside her. In fact, she’s never seen this man before. And he’s not breathing. As Louise desperately struggles to piece her memories back together, it’s clear to Jonah Sheens and his team that she is their prime suspect --- though they soon find she’s not the only one with something to hide. Did she do it? And, if not, can they catch the real killer before they strike again?

by James Ellroy - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

Freddy Otash was the man in the know and the man to know in '50s L.A. He was a rogue cop, a sleazoid private eye, a shakedown artist, a pimp --- and, most notably, the head strong-arm goon for Confidential magazine. Confidential presaged the idiot internet --- and delivered the dirt, the dish, the insidious ink and the scurrilous skank. It mauled misanthropic movie stars, sex-soiled socialites and putzo politicians. Mattress Jack Kennedy, James Dean, Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster, Liz Taylor, Rock Hudson --- Frantic Freddy outed them all. He was the Tattle Tyrant who held Hollywood hostage, and now he’s here to CONFESS.

by Taylor Adams - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

Three months ago, Lena Nguyen’s estranged twin sister, Cambry, drove to a remote bridge and jumped 200 feet to her death. That is the official police version, but Lena isn’t buying it. Now she’s come to that very bridge, driving her dead twin’s car and armed with a cassette recorder, determined to find out what really happened by interviewing the highway patrolman who allegedly discovered her sister’s body. But Corporal Raymond Raycevic’s story seems a bit off. Perhaps most troubling of all, he is referred to by name in Cambry’s final enigmatic text to her sister: Please Forgive Me. As her twin’s final hours come into focus, Lena’s search turns into a harrowing tooth-and-nail fight for her own survival --- one that will test everything she thought she knew about her sister and herself.

by John McMahon - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

In the years since the mysterious deaths of his wife and child, police detective P.T. Marsh has faced demons --- both professional and personal. But when he is called to the scene of a school shooting, the professional and personal become intertwined, and he suspects that whoever is behind the crime may be connected to his own family tragedy. As Marsh and his partner Remy investigate the shooting, they discover that it is far from straightforward, and their search for answers leads them to a conspiracy at the highest levels of local government --- including within the police force. The stakes in the case become increasingly high, culminating in a showdown that has Marsh questioning everything he knows.

by Max Allan Collins - Fiction, Hard-boiled Mystery, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

In the aftermath of a bloody heist, Nolan and Jon find themselves flying home to count their ill-gotten gains --- but a skyjacker taking the same flight has other plans. Meanwhile, in Des Moines, someone is offing members of the Mob-connected DiPreta family, and the Mob thinks maybe Nolan can make it stop. Maybe he can --- for a six-figure fee. Originally published as two separate novels (and unavailable in bookstores for 40 years!), DOUBLE DOWN finds Nolan and Jon pursuing the American dream in their inimitable criminal fashion.

written by Joanne Harris, illustrated by Charles Vess - Fantasy, Fiction, Short Stories

The beauty of stories is that you never know where they will take you. Full of dreams and nightmares, HONEYCOMB is an entrancing mosaic novel of original fairy tales from bestselling author Joanne M. Harris and legendary artist Charles Vess in a collaboration that’s been years in the making. The toymaker who wants to create the perfect wife; the princess whose heart is won by words, not actions; the tiny dog whose confidence far outweighs his size; and the sinister Lacewing King who rules over the Silken Folk. These are just a few of the weird and wonderful creatures who populate Joanne Harris’ first collection of fairy tales.

edited by Lawrence Block - Fiction, Mystery, Short Stories, Suspense, Thriller

Those who have the collecting bug care passionately --- sometimes violently --- about the objects of their obsession. No one covets like a collector, and as you will find in the pages of this new anthology from MWA Grand Master Lawrence Block, a truly dedicated collector will ignore the other nine commandments, too, in his quest for his personal Holy Grail. From Joyce Carol Oates' tale of the ultimate Marilyn Monroe collectible to Dennis Lehane's bookseller with a penchant for other people's tragic correspondence, and culminating in Block's own classic story of a killer with a unique approach to choosing his victims, COLLECTIBLES illustrates the range of the collecting impulse and the lengths people will go to in their hunger to possess the perfect piece.

by Josh Malerman - Fiction, Horror, Supernatural Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

Goblin seems like any other ordinary small town. But with Josh Malerman as your tour guide, you’ll discover the secrets that hide behind its closed doors. These six novellas --- "A Man in Slices," "Kamp," "Happy Birthday, Hunter!," "Presto," "A Mix-Up at the Zoo" and "The Hedges" --- tell the story of a place where the rain is always falling, nighttime is always near, and your darkest fears and desires await.

by Ben H. Winters - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

In 2008, a cheerful ambulance-chasing lawyer named Jay Shenk persuades the grieving Keener family to sue a private LA hospital. Their son, Wesley, has been transformed by a routine surgery into a kind of golem, absent all normal functioning or personality, walking in endless empty circles around his hospital room. In 2019, Shenk --- still in practice but a shell of his former self --- is hired to defend Wesley Keener’s father when he is charged with murdering the expert witness from the 2008 hospital case. Shenk’s adopted son, a fragile teenager in 2008, is a wayward adult, though he may find his purpose when he investigates what really happened to the murdered witness.

by Vincent Zandri - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

Sculptor and single mom Rose Conley is haunted by her tragic past and anxious about her uncertain future. She needs to get away from it all. On sabbatical from the college where she teaches art, she and her daughter rent a house for three months in the Adirondack lakeside community of Paradox. Rose desperately needs time alone with her 12-year-old daughter before the teenage years hit. In the wake of the premature deaths of her oldest daughter, Allison, and her husband, Charlie, Rose wants nothing more than to nurture Anna every moment she can. But idyllic Paradox Lake transforms into a nightmare when a monster from the past invades Rose’s retreat --- and targets her daughter for his special brand of horror.