Below, you’ll find several psychological thrillers and multiple horror novels, along with one speculative tale. You’ll also find multiple commentaries on the problematic aspects of true crime culture, and several meditations on the nature of unholy appetite. Many of the characters in the following books are lost, adrift, finding their way—not so, their self-assured authors, all of whom possess the confidence of career writers. Enjoy these first forays into the published world; the start, we hope, of many.
V.A. Vazquez, The Death Row Club
(Gallery)
The set-up for this one is irresistible: murder at a weekend getaway for the scions of serial killers—I’m always a sucker for stories where grown children must continuously prove they are not, in fact, their parents. As the novel begins, art teacher Nicola has just lost her job after the airing of yet another true crime documentary accusing her of complicity in her father’s crimes (including the murder of her best friend). She needs an escape from the hungry curiosity and vapid judgements of the public; who better to spend her time with than those who not only have sympathy, but understand. Unfortunately, the peaceful retreat quickly becomes more of a bloodbath, and Nicola finds herself surrounded by those with the acumen to get away with not one, but multiple murders. Could one of her peers be following in the infamous footsteps of their relations? More charming than any story involving serial killers has any right to be!
Catherine Cho, The Devoted
(Washington Square Press)
This dark romantic thriller takes us into the world of the Triads, centered around a single question: how far would you tempt fate for the promise of love? As Cho’s narrator, the daughter of a gangster, grows up in ignorance and privilege, she finds herself falling for her childhood friend, now a leader in the same underworld that once destroyed her father. Can she risk loss again, for a brief moment in the sun? Or does she condemn her lover the moment she succumbs to her feelings? A stirring tale that mixes high emotion with mafia realpolitik, this one should make for an excellent miniseries.
Laura Evans, Little Wild
(Henry Holt)
This one is pitched as “Atonement meets Weyward,” an entirely accurate description that I can confirm after having blazed through it. Little Wild begins on a sweltering September day in 1937, amidst preparations for a huge party celebrating beloved daughter Joanie, just returned from her travels to the continent. The family thinks Joanie is happily headed to Oxford in a week; only Margaret, her constant companion and the child of a rumored witch, knows Joanie’s real intentions. Throughout the long hot day, disasters major and minor plague the two girls’ reunion, and chaos and recriminations threaten their hastily made plans. Margaret won’t be swayed by any challenges to her desperately desired future with Joanie, and she’ll have to tap into all her departed mother’s witchy ways to get what she wants. Joanie’s voice hooked me from the first sentence, and Evans’ characters remain entirely believable, no matter how bonkers they behave. An incredible, self-assured debut that heralds a great future in the writing world.
Andrew Dana Hudson, Absence
(Soho)
Andrew Dana Hudson’s speculative thriller has a similar set-up to The Leftovers: people all over the world are suddenly disappearing (“popping”), and those investigating the strange occurrences (dismissively known as “depop cops”) are without a clue as to what’s responsible for the slow-moving and seemingly arbitrary disaster. When one of the disappeared reemerges, two detectives are dispatched to verify the return, and find themselves circling inexorably closer to the bizarre truths underpinning their warped reality. Absence captures the very essence of speculative fiction; when I think of the genre, I think of this book.
Ruthy Mason, Death Do Us
(Union Square)
Mason’s debut takes on the wedding industry in this gothic thriller. In Death Do Us, a newly engaged woman begins to physically deteriorate, and the cause may be an heirloom from her fiance’s wealthy clan. Will she make it to the wedding? Or will the cursed thing growing inside her fully take possession of its earthly host? Only time (and a few more pages) will tell.
Leah Rowan, Marion
(St. Martin’s Press)
What if Marion had fought off Norman Bates when he attacked her in that shower, then started her own rampage? That’s the premise of Rowan’s furious rewrite of Hitchcock’s Psycho, a premise Rowan carries out to perfection.
Hannah Selinger, Valley of the Moms
(Mulholland)
Hannah Selinger, known for her food writing, sets her sights on a world even more vicious, competitive, and high-stakes: suburban motherhood. In Valley of the Moms, a parent is incensed to learn that her daughter’s public school does not provide equal access to all events, but instead has a paid tier system that privileges wealthier attendees. One year later, that parent is dead, her partner faces accusations of murder, and the school’s PTA seems more in charge than ever. How did Selinger’s fiercely protective heroine end up dead over an issue both widely publicized and unbearably mundane?
Sara Hinkley, The Red Sacrament
(Titan Books)
A historical horror of epic proportions! In Hinkley’s self-assured debut. a theatre troop composed entirely of vampires finds their survival imperiled when an indecorous set of siblings infiltrate their company, imperiling their hosts’ safety with a growing pile of rather publically slaughtered victims. Add to that a witch with a dangerous agenda, and place them all in the leadup to the Franco-Prussian War, and disaster is almost certainly garanteed. Like most vampire novels, this book is really about capitalism. And queer people. And art. And theatre management (I suppose that last one isn’t so much a vampire trope, but it is a fascinating part of the book). As most books featuring immortality have posited lately: living forever, it’s not so great.
Gabbie Hanks, Nasty Little Secrets
( Zando)
Gabbie Hanks’ sharp debut is as nasty as the secrets in the title, a perfectly thrilling psychological with teeth. Rose Dearling, the furious heroine of Nasty Little Secrets, is coming off her book tour for her oh-so-controversial novel when she’s called home to Florida to search for her missing sister, Hazel. The novel was supposed to help Rose’s brother, wrongfully convicted for the murder of his high school girlfriend, with his mounting legal costs; instead, it may have led to yet more tragedy for her family. Rose quickly discovers Hazel had being trying to re-investigate the long-ago crime, just before her own disappearance. This one will keep you reading long into the night…
