In this cold winter of our many discontents, why not pick up a psychological thriller or two? If laughter is the best medicine, then fiction is the best distraction! And here are five excellent diversions out this month, featuring crazed conspirators, dastardly dancers, secretive au pairs, scheming families, and much-changed friends.
Alison Gaylin, We Are Watching
(William Morrow)
I’m hoping this book takes Alison Gaylin from fan favorite to household name—I know I say this with each of her books, but We Are Watching is her best yet. It also feels both deeply personal & extraordinarily timely, with a plot straight out of the news cycle (and my nightmares). The set-up? Gaylin’s heroine, owner of a family-oriented bookstore in a small town in upstate New York, finds herself targeted by a terrifying group of conspiracy theorists convinced that she and her rockstar father made a pact with the devil to destroy the world. Now, they’re after her entire family, convinced they must be murdered on camera in order to prevent a Satanic apocalypse. I stayed up the entire night racing to the conclusion, then lying awake haunted by my own thoughts.
Trisha Sakhlecha, The Inheritance
(Pamela Dorman)
At last, a psychological thriller that mentions the Highland Clearances! Trisha Sakhlecha’s propulsive debut reads a bit like Succession, if it was a locked room mystery set on a terrifyingly remote island. When a wealthy Indian family reunites to celebrate their patriarch’s retirement, the younger generation plans to spend their vacation squabbling over finances, but a shocking tragedy soon threatens to dismantle their empire entirely.
Layne Fargo, The Favorites
(Random House)
Layne Fargo’s third novel has a simple premise, executed perfectly: Wuthering Heights, but make it Olympic figure skaters! And let me tell you, I like this story a lot more than the original inspiration—I’ll take an ice rink over the heather and moors any day of the week. In The Favorites, two skaters with incredible chemistry and terrible luck struggle to succeed in the cut-throat world of high-level ice dancing, where competitors embrace ever-more-vicious strategies to take down the golden couple and destroy their passionate romance. So effing good.
Trisha Tobias, Honeysuckle & Bone
(Zando)
This is the first release from Zando’’s new Sweet July imprint, run by the beloved Ayesha Curry, and Honeysuckle & Bone is a perfect pick for their launch—dark, romantic, and compelling. The set up is simple, but thrilling: a young woman has escaped turmoil at home by taking a job as a nanny for a wealthy and powerful Jamaican family. All she has to do is keep them from finding out she’s there under false pretenses, and under an assumed identity. And avoid romantic entanglements, which will be difficult given the many thirst traps introduced in the first few pages…
Alafair Burke, The Note
(Knopf)
In Burke’s tense new thriller, three friends with a shared secret reunite for a few days in the Hamptons and soon find themselves caught up in a troubling police investigation. Burke is a mater of suspense and the twists in this one will genuinely shock readers. –Dwyer Murphy, CrimeReads Editor-in-Chief
