A look at the month’s best debuts in crime fiction, mystery, and thriller.
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Vanessa Chan, The Storm We Made
(S&S/Marysue Ricci Books)
In one of the best espionage novels I’ve ever come across, a bored Malaya housewife lets a Japanese spy charm her into giving up the secrets necessary for her nation to be invaded; later, as the war continues, her guilt grows monstrous as her children suffer. –MO
Nishita Parekh, The Night of the Storm
(Dutton)
Houston during a hurricane is the setting for this thriller featuring a South Asian family trapped in a fancy suburban home with a dead body and a lot of petty resentments. Along with various other storm-set novels coming out lately, The Night of the Storm reminds us that locked-room thrillers are the only true beneficiaries of climate change. –MO
Kate Brody, Rabbit Hole
(Soho Crime)
Kate Brody’s much-awaited debut Rabbit Hole is a fascinating romp through the internet’s true crime boards as an aimless and depressed young woman seeks answers in her sister’s long-sensationalized death after their father’s suicide makes clear that he never stopped looking for a culprit. She teams with a quirky reddit-fanatic named Mickey in her investigation and the banter between them is a highlight in the book. Brody’s novel continues the ongoing trend of psychological thrillers that become smart critiques of true crime culture. –MO
Abbott Kahler, Where You End
(Henry Holt)
Abbott Kahler wowed me with the nonfiction book Ghosts of Eden Park, so I’m really psyched for this pivot to thrillers. Where You End explores the twisted relationship between two mirror twins, each a perfect replica of the other in reverse. When one twin has amnesia, the other decides to fill in the details of their childhood with an imagined happiness that doesn’t mesh with the ongoing dangers both sisters are facing. –MO
Sarah-Jane Collins, Radiant Heat
(Berkley)
In this Australian eco-thriller, Alison emerges from her burnt-out home after a wildfire only to find a dead woman in her driveway. Who is the woman? How did she die? And why did she have Alison’s name and address on a slip of paper inside of her well-stocked billfold? I’m excited to read further into this one and see where Sarah-Jane Collins goes with this intriguing and timely set-up. –MO
