A look at the month’s best debut novels in crime fiction, mystery, and thrillers.
Rav Grewal-Kök, The Snares
(Random House)
The Snares may be the most cynical take on government actions I’ve ever come across. In Rav Grewal-Kök’s brilliant and tragic sendoff of the post-9/11 world, a bored bureaucrat is recruited to approve suggested targets for the nascent drone program, and instead finds himself set up as the patsy for a deeply racist and bloodthirsty initiative. If Graham Greene had written a Shakespearian tragedy, it would read something like this. –MO
Liann Zhang, Julie Chan Is Dead
(Atria)
Julie Chan was separated from her twin sister Chloe after a horrendous car crash left them orphaned; Chloe’s adoption by a wealthy white family gave her the in to become a hugely successful influencer, while Julie, raised by a cantankerous and cruel aunt, has a terrible job and few prospects for the future. That is, until she finds her sister’s corpse and decides to take over Chloe’s life with the glitterati. Julie is, of course, signing up for something much darker—hilariously so, in a way that would transfer quite well to the big (or small) screen. Perfect inspiration for a social media cleanse! –MO
Austin Kelley, The Fact Checker
(Atlantic Monthly Press)
From a former New Yorker fact checker comes this debut novel about a magazine fact checker and a missing woman. The novel follows an odyssey through New York and strikes a perfect balance of mystery, humor, and literary ingenuity. –DM
Lauren Haddad, Fireweed
(Astra)
Set in Prince George in Canada’s version of the rust belt, Fireweed follows a stifled housewife as she searches for her missing neighbor, a widowed mother of two and the only indigenous woman in the neighborhood. What follows is a complex examination of injustice, performativity, and intersectionality. –MO
Elizabeth Kaufman, Ruth Run
(Penguin Press)
Kaufman’s heroine is a clever digital thief who’s managed to steal millions from banks across the nation and stashed her winnings across the world. When one of her transfers trips an alarm, she grabs her blond wig and her bundles of cash and goes on the run. Can she escape the men following her? And do they want to recover the stolen money, or are they more interested in the thief herself? Elizabeth Kaufman uses her time in the tech industry and deep knowledge of information networks to inform the plot without detracting from the relentless forward motion of her story. –MO
