August is here! To greet the month, I’m posting my regular column of psychological thrillers early, so there’s plenty of time left to read these by the pool before fall begins (and gothic season descends). The following books range from deadly serious to completely satirical, but all are worthy entrants to the pantheon of suspense.
Elizabeth Staple, The Snap
(Doubleday)
Elizabeth Staple’s clever and furious thriller follows four women who have fought for a place in the cutthroat world of professional athletic organizations, only to find themselves enabling and covering up the sins of more powerful men. They must confront their participation in a system that has also victimized them in order to move forward with their lives (and careers).
Asha Elias, Pink Glass Houses
(William Morrow)
A wealthy enclave in Florida is the setting for Asha Elias’ deliciously nasty skewering of parental competition. Pink Glass Houses feels a bit like The Favourite—a naive newcomer to the neighborhood soon reveals her claws as she enters into deadly battle with a more polished resident over the coveted position of PTA president. Corruption, maneuvering, and suspicion abound, all leading to a thrilling conclusion.
Jesse Q. Sutanto, You Will Never Be Me
(Berkley)
Everything that Jesse Q. Sutanto turns her hand to is gold, and You Will Never Be Me is no exception. In this vicious psychological thriller, two influencers face off against one another in a battle for the ages. Meredith and Aspen are friends-turned-bitter rivals, their laundry list of resentments eclipsing their once-powerful bond. When one goes missing, the other falls under suspicion, but there’s plenty of twists and turns before we find out what’s really going on.
Jessa Maxwell, I Need You To Read This
(Atria)
The new advice columnist for a major paper is psyched to have the job of her dreams, even if her predecessor was murdered, but she soon finds out she’s got more on her plate than solving the humdrum problems of the populace. She also needs to find out who’s been sending threatening letters to her office, and if they have anything to do with the previous columnist’s death—or her own dark past. Maxwell embodies the empathy of the advice giver well, while also crafting a propulsive narrative with plenty of twists and turns.
Calla Henkel, Scrap
(Overlook)
Scrap here refers to scrapbooking—Henkel’s narrator is a failed artist who’s just been dumped and needs a new job fast, so she feels lucky when a wealthy art patron hires her to take decades worth of mementos and turn them into high-brow scrapbooks. When her employer dies suddenly before the books can be completed, she’s thrust into a web of intrigue and vengeance that will either reward her enormously or crush her completely.
