Staff Picks - New 2017 Thriller/Suspense (Part 1)

I hope you enjoy these Psychological Thriller/Suspense titles as much as I did!

The Master of Horror, Stephen King, calls Final Girls by Riley Sager the first great thriller of 2017, and if that's not an endorsement, I don't know what is! It's good old-fashioned horror-slasher film fun, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it come to the big screen at some point. You don't want to look, but you can't look away either. You find yourself screaming (or whispering so the killer can't hear you) at the characters to turn around, hide, and RUN because you KNOW they only have minutes to live. True horror fans will love this violently twisted, not quite believable tale, but it may be too much for readers looking for a tamer sort of read. Sam, Lisa, and now Quincy, our narrator, all belong to a club none wanted to join, the Final Girl. They don't know one another, but all are sole survivors of brutal killing sprees they should not have survived. Quincy, the last Final Girl, is struggling to move on from a night she can't remember, but only doing a superficial job of it. Word comes that Lisa, the first Final Girl, was found dead in her bathtub with her wrists slit. Sam, the second, suddenly shows up at Quincy's door. How did she find her? Can she be trusted? Will Quincy be able to finally remember the killer's identity, a man she only refers to as HIM? Riley Sager takes the reader back and forth from the present to the past, around blind curves, through dark tunnels, and finally just sends us "Wile E. Coyote-style" straight off a cliff!

Once again, Mary Kubica knocks it out of the ballpark! She has such an engaging style of writing that pulls you in and keeps you mesmerized. Every Last Lie is told in alternating points of view of the husband and wife. She is an exhausted new nursing mother with a newborn and young daughter, and he is a successful dentist who seemingly adores them. A pivotal incident occurs early on, and lies are uncovered, taking the reader on a roller-coaster ride to the climatic ending Kubica is known for. Like all her books, this is one you will not put down until you are done, and then you will anxiously count down the days until her next book is released. A superb read for psychological suspense fans!

I loved All the Missing Girls (2016) by Megan Miranda, so I was excited to get my hands on The Perfect Stranger. Miranda is an excellent storyteller, and her latest didn't disappoint. The main character, Leah, loses all credibility and, as a result, her job as a journalist in Boston. Then Emmy, an old friend she lived with for four months after college, reenters her life. Emmy is escaping a bad relationship and the two decide to move together to rural Pennsylvania for a fresh start. A woman who looks a lot like Leah soon winds up dead, and Emmy disappears three days later. Leah asks the police for help finding Emmy, but soon realizes she has no real proof that Emmy ever existed. The police think Leah is lying about Emmy's existence and they begin to suspect her of murder as well. Leah questions how well she really knew her friend. To get to the truth, Leah has to go way back and revisit old demons. An unreliable narrator, questionable co-workers, a creepy isolated house in the woods, and a brilliant ability to keep readers guessing makes this novel very satisfying.

From the get go, One Perfect Lie by Lisa Scottoline starts with a whopper. Chris is applying for a job as a high school teacher and coach, but he's a fraud. Why is he lying his way into the school? Three baseball players on his team feature prominently in the story, all with their own unique problematic home lives. I've liked most of Lisa Scottoline's books I've read, but this was one of her best. She pulled the rug out from under me with a twist I didn't see coming, and I love that! One Perfect Lie gives readers a fresh and unique story line, high school baseball, Pennsylvania farm country, a bit of romance, and lies....lot of lies! Be sure and put this one on your reading list.

Beth Moore
Information Specialist