August brings with it a tense, twisty crop of compelling new thrillers exploring the ways our most intimate relationships can go terribly awry—or become the shield we need to cover up our worst transgressions. From terrible teachers, to even worse friends, to all kinds of family, the types of connections explored in the novels below are the kind that are so ordinary that their wrongness can easily be ignored, but domesticity has always been the provenance of danger, and these psychological thrillers remind us that those closest to us are also the ones who hurt us the most. (Angie Kim’s thriller is the outlier here. That family’s going to be alright. I won’t say more lest I spoil it.) Anyway, read these on those last days of summer vacation for a nice reminder that most families could be much, much worse.
Catherine Chidgey, Pet
(Europa)
Damn this book is good. Pet is at once a brilliant coming-of-age thriller and a sharp dissection of racism and misogyny in 1980s New Zealand (apologies, a previous version of this post had the setting as Australia). When a new teacher comes to town, every girl in class is swooning over her glamor and vying to be her favorite, even when the competition for affection tears lifelong friendships apart. Meanwhile, someone’s been stealing things in the classroom. Little things, but they’re greatly missed. And someone will have to take the blame, because for every pet, there’s a scapegoat. –MO
Jamison Shea, I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me
(Henry Holt)
In this ballet horror novel, a young ballerina is given a chance at power after a star of the company takes her under her wing. But all power comes at a cost, and this power derives from an ancient source with its own agenda. I’m not sure what it is about dance that lends itself so well to horror—think Black Swan or Suspiria—but add this one to the list of stories that take the bloody feet and brutal precision of the dance world and turn them into visceral horror. –MO
Jesse Q. Sutanto, I’m Not Done With You Yet
(Berkley)
Man, does Jesse Q. Sutano know how to plot a novel! By God. You know when novels start out by showing how their protagonists have it all: great career, attractive and successful spouses, beautiful homes? This starts out with the complete opposite premise! Jane’s books don’t really sell, she’s got a bland marriage, and she’s stuck paying a mortgage for a house she barely likes. She misses Thalia, a friend from her past; her best friend, her soulmate, whom she hasn’t seen since the horrible, bloody night one decade earlier. Now, though, Thalia has written a book–a book that seems like it could be about that fateful moment, a book that is poised to rocket to #1. And so Jane heads to the book launch, to see her old friend again. Because she’s not done with Thalia. And Thalia, clearly, is not done with her. I told you! What a premise! –OR
Una Mannion, Tell Me What I Am
(Harper)
In Una Mannion’s beautiful, elegiac new psychological thriller, a girl named Ruby grows up with a mercurial father, a man her aunt Nessa has always suspected of killing Ruby’s mother. In alternating chapters told by Ruby and Nessa, Mannion slowly unspools a dark tale of control, abuse, and secrets. Perfectly plotted and gorgeously written, this novel is not one to be missed. –MO
Lisa Jewell, None of This Is True
(Atria)
Lisa Jewell pens yet another dark and twisty psychological thriller, this time, about true crime podcasts, interlopers, and discovering that you’re in the kind of story you once read for entertainment. Imagine if Dead to Me were much, much creepier. –OR
Angie Kim, Happiness Falls
(Hogarth)
Angie Kim once again combines an intense character study with a searching mystery, this time after her narrator’s husband disappears, and police are interested in quickly pinning it on her nonverbal son. Kim uses the parallel investigations of police and family to explore the complex dynamics of interracial marriage, Asian and biracial identity in America, and the nuances of raising a child with special needs. You’ll want to savor every word as Kim plunges the depths of human action and finds love at the center. –MO
Mindy Mejia, To Catch a Storm
(Atlantic Monthly Press)
In Mejia’s latest (the launch of a new series), an atmospheric physicist with a husband gone missing teams up with an unlikely partner—a self-declared psychic detective. The pair begin a mad dash around Iowa, fighting the elements, fleeing authorities, and wrestling with doubt and skepticism along the way. Mejia brings out the tension perfectly and crafts a thriller that will drive readers barreling forward. –DM
