Let’s take a moment and thank the people who create these books that transport us to worlds bursting with tough women, gaslighting, shady men, and the sort of danger which seems totally workable given the dangers we are confronting daily. I’m pleased to report that July offers some excellent debut thrillers, if, like me, you could use some good news and novelty to weather these heady times. There are also some welcome familiar faces, Suzanne Rindell and Alice Feeney, and if you are a Shari LaPena aficionado her latest, The End of Her, is out at the end of the month. Let’s get into the list of opportunities for an escape in this summer of limited vacation possibilities. Really it’s books and/or an RV.
Alice Feeney, His & Hers (Flatiron)
I am an Alice Feeney fan. I loved her debut, Sometimes I Lie, and thought her second novel I Know Who You Are was solid if not quite as innovative as Lie. In His & Hers Feeney is experimenting again and she’s produced a captivating thriller. Drawing from her experience working for the BBC, Feeney has structured the book with two points-of-view: the His is Detective Jack Harper of the Major Crime Team in Blackdown, and the Hers is BBC presenter Anna Andrews. In the opening of the book Andrews is demoted back to reporter and shows up at the scene of the murder of the beautiful Rachel Hopkins, a high school frenemy of Andrews’. Harper is supervising the scene and is surprised to find out about the connection between Andrews and Hopkins. Oh, he also was with Hopkins the night before her body was found, so he might have to do some quick thinking…I’ll stop there and add that this is one of my favorites of 2020.
Samantha Downing, He Started It (Berkley)
It’s no secret that I was a big fan of Downing’s debut, My Lovely Wife, which delved into the secrets of a seriously twisted marriage. He Started It is about siblings—who happen to be grifters—on a road trip with their grandfather’s ashes in the trunk. They are going to scatter the remains of Grandad, but even in his present form he has a hold on his heirs, a car full of liars and cheats driving cross-country and checking out creepy Americana (a UFO watchtower, a reconstruction of the death of Bonnie and Clyde) along the way. It’s going to be a twisted ride.
Anna Downes, The Safe Place (Minotaur)
Emily Proudman is having A Day. Her acting agent drops her, she’s fired from her job, and evicted from her apartment. So what should a resourceful woman do when she’s offered a job as a nanny at a beautiful French chateau? Anna jumps at the chance without knowing very much about her benefactor, CEO Scott Denny, or his family. At first, it seems great: Scott’s wife, Nina, is lovely and kind, and although their daughter is a little odd Emily is grateful for a way out of her very pressing problems. But the house, and the family, are both hiding something. With that you can get the gist of Downes’ debut, which will hold you over until Ruth Ware’s new book drops in the fall.
Seraphina Nova Glass, Someone’s Listening (Graydon House)
The radio shrink who gets mysterious messages premise is nothing new—the canonical example is the movie Play Misty for Me, Clint Eastwood’s directing debut—but it can be quite compelling. In Glass’s debut Dr. Faith Finley is the psychologist, and she’s got a lot going for her: her popular radio show, Someone’s Listening with Dr. Faith Finley; a bestselling book; and a happy marriage to food critic Liam Finley. When Liam disappears, the police naturally suspect Faith and think she is either lying about not knowing anything that could help them find Liam or crazy. Then the notes begin arriving, pages ripped from Faith’s book about escaping domestic violence with vague threats which unnerve her. Where is Liam? And who is sending the notes obviously meant to shake Faith up?
Suzanne Rindell, The Two Mrs. Carlyles (Putnam)
Rindell is one of those talented writers who moves between the crime fiction and literary worlds with style and ease: we should just invent a new category called literary crime fiction for the likes of Rindell, Sara Gran, James Sallis, Laura Lippman, Steph Cha, and Dennis Lehane (for starters). Her previous books, the Highsmith-esque The Other Typist and the Rona Jaffe-esque Three Martini Lunch, had crime fiction elements and were excellent straight-up novels. Same goes for The Two Mrs. Carlyles, set in San Francisco right after the 1906 earthquake, a perfect backdrop for a psychological thriller that I can’t recall encountering before (feel free to correct me if I overlooked something). From the title a savvy reader might guess this is her Du Maurier-esque book, and she would be correct. Rindell is better than most of the writers compared to these oft mentioned forerunners of domestic suspense: she’s a talented world-builder and an evocative writer who is not getting the praise she merits. Let’s help her out.
