August brings thrillers of many stripes: speculative, gothic, tropical, theatrical, and on the road! There’s also plenty of new voices, as well as strong new entries for writers at the top of their game. Thanks, as always, for reading this column, and enjoy the embarrassment of riches that is August’s best psychological thrillers.
Melissa Pace, The Once and Future Me
(Henry Holt)
This book will blow your mind!!!! It kind of felt like a Marvel movie, but like, one that’s actually good! Pace’s amnesiac heroine, locked up in a mental institution and subjected to strange experimental procedures, must escape her padded prison and find out what exactly she’s forgotten, and what role her husband has played in all this, well, madness. I cannot tell you more without spoilers, but even as someone who reads 150+ books a year, I was genuinely surprised.
Ania Ahlborn, The Unseen
(Gallery)
This book is scary af. A family in Colorado takes in a feral child, only to immediately experience a variety of strange and violent happenings. Is their new family member at fault? Or is there something worse hiding in the woods around them? Ahlborn’s take on the classic changeling narrative should have readers talking for years to come.
Cleyvis Natera, The Grand Paloma Resort
(Ballantine)
Cleyvis Natera blew me away with her debut Neruda on the Park and her sophomore novel is truly the perfect follow-up from White Lotus. Set in a ritzy Dominican resort ostensibly located in a historic community of freedmen from the United States, The Grand Paloma follows staff and guests undergoing a variety of crises as a deadly hurricane approaches, and as characters steadily realize their moral compromises are no longer enough to hold off the twinned destruction of late-stage capitalism and its accompanying environmental collapse.
Jo Morey, Lime Juice Money
(Harper)
In this thrilling, atmospheric debut, a woman trapped in a dangerous relationship finds herself isolated in the Belizean jungle and caught up in a complex orchid smuggling effort linked to decades-old family sins. The title comes from a recurring phrase in the book: “champagne dreams with lime juice money”, eventually discovered to be lyrics to a song played during a significant, and long-forgotten, memory. That contrast—dreams vs. reality—forms the central axis of each character’s development, negotiated well by some and disastrously by others.
Thomas R. Weaver, Artificial Wisdom
(Del Rey)
A grieving journalist is tasked with unraveling a high-profile murder with enormous implications in this disturbingly plausible speculative thriller. The victim? A scientist credited with designing the first AI politician to be elected. The consequences? Who knows! And the secrets that shall be revealed? Dark indeed… I can’t wait to finish this far-reaching vision from a tech insider.
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Morgan Richter, The Understudy
(Knopf)
Richter’s new slow-burn thriller centers on opera singer who has finally secured her place in the upper echelons of the New York scene and the understudy who proves herself to be more than merely a young rival, but something far more dangerous. Richter’s novel is tautly drawn but still full of wonderful detail from the life cycle of a big operatic production, this one an adaptation of the cult classic Barbarella. Readers will find themselves fully immersed in this thoughtful page turner. –DM
Samantha Downing, Too Old for This
(Berkley)
Samantha Downing has been crafting excellent psychological thrillers from the get go, and her latest looks to continue her dominance. Too Old for This has the best set-up: a retired serial killer must go out and kill one last time to avoid discovery. While every year features at least a few older sleuths or slayers, this year really seems to have brought the narrative of elders in crime fiction to its proper…maturity (see what I did there?). I love the idea of an elderly, crotchety killer—think how clever she’d have to be to be able to retire at all!
Christina Dotson, Love You To Death
(Ballantine)
Two childhood friends go on the run after a heist at a wedding goes south (to be fair, the wedding was at a plantation, so the newly married couple deserved all their cash stolen). Trials and tribulations ensue! And while it’s got Thelma and Louise vibes, don’t let that make you think you can predict the ending. This book will have you seriously questioning what you’d be willing to do for your best friend…
