Spring is here, and like the beautiful blossoms that lead to an explosion of pollen-induced sneezes, these novels examine the juxtaposition of attractive exteriors and invisible irritants (This metaphor especially works for the list below because one of the books is set in the DC area as the cherry trees are at peak bloom). I guess what I’m saying is, I’ve been sneezing a lot…And also, there’s some great thrillers out this month!
Aggie Blum Thompson, Such a Lovely Family
(Forge)
It’s springtime in DC, the cherry trees are in full bloom, and a garden party is about to become a crime scene. I will partially admit to reading this because I have beloved relatives in Bethesda and thus can picture both the cherry trees and the McMansion monstrosities, but beyond the author’s excellent use of setting, this is also a delightfully twisty domestic thriller with nearly as many suspects as there are characters. Such a Lovely Family will keep you turning pages well into the night, and waking up the next day feeling rather appreciative of your family’s disinterest in hydrangeas. If your family does have hydrangeas, well, then I don’t know what to tell you. Avoid garden parties?
Tammy Greenwood, The Still Point
(Kensington)
In this insider’s look at the cutthroat world of ballet moms, Tammy Greenwood explores what happens when a wild card instructor takes over a tight-knit ballet academy and pits the girls against each other for a chance at a life-changing scholarship. Greenwood uses the classic image of a dancer’s feet to great effect as her leitmotif: beautiful, poised, perfect clad in tights and pointe shoes; gnarled and wounded underneath.
Tamron Hall, Watch Where They Hide
(William Morrow)
Tamron Hall’s new series featuring her alter ego, the investigative journalist Jordan Manning, gets a new installment! Hall’s heroine is a compelling sleuth, ready to spur those around her from indifference to action. In Watch Where They Hide, Hall uses the thriller as a way to discuss relationship abuse and institutional indifference: Manning is on a quest to find a missing mother with a dangerous ex after the police refuse to view the disappearance as foul play.
Lisa Unger, The New Couple in 5B
(Park Row)
A mystery-thriller set in a grand NYC apartment building that might have a history of dark secrets and murder, where two unsuspecting inheritors have just moved into the kind of unit they’d never dreamed they could have? Lisa Unger, you have my attention. And are you by any chance also a realtor? –OR
Abigail Dean, Day One
(Viking)
From the author of Girl A comes a new and prescient thriller about a school shooting in an idyllic English town and the conspiracy theories that soon proliferate. Dean has picked a tough topic, but one I predict she’ll explore with sensitivity and grace.
Rene Denfield, Sleeping Giants
(Harper)
Rene Denfield writes the stories of wounded children and the adults who try their best to help them, even when this is an impossible task. In Sleeping Giants, a grieving retired cop decides to help a young woman find out what happened to her brother, dead at 9 after running away from a boy’s home and drowning in the ocean. The narrative is split between the contemporary investigation and flashbacks to the cruelties inflicted on the home’s young residents. Denfield writes a clear condemnation of the therapeutic tactics of “holding time,” and Sleeping Giants is a powerful condemnation of those who see themselves as helping even as they are hurting.
