It’s time to break out the coats, turn on the heat, and get lost in a thriller! This month brings a bounty of excellent psychological suspense marked by a sardonic skewering of social norms and the lengths we go to uphold the markers of status. Canceled influencers, desperate renters, ambivalent mothers, and toxic friend groups—no matter the set-up, they’re all suffering from a disconnect between reality and image, what they deserve and what they have, justifying extreme actions through a slippery slope of thought processes that feels familiar to us all. To write a good psychological thriller is to understand not logic, but internal logic; not reasons, but justifications; not actions, but reactions.
Except for the renter in Bethesda. She’s 100% realistic about the housing market.
Enjoy!
H. Lee Justine, You Watched in Silence
(Blackstone)
A former fan takes a job as nanny to a disgraced influencer, eager to mesh the woman she spent so long following with the horrific act that forced her off the internet. She finds herself growing deeply attached to the influencer’s vulnerable, over-photographed children, along with her suspicions of their mother, whose cancellation may be just the tip of her crimes. Riveting and relevant!
Sulmi Bak, Petty Lies
Translated by Sarah Lyo
(Mulholland)
If you love dogs, stay far away from this book. I mean it. For everyone else, it’s a twisty cat-and-mouse tale of violence, maternal devotion, and vengeance served cold. Nasty, elegant, and vicious.
Marisa Kashino, Best Offer Wins
(Celadon)
In the DC area, one woman will do anything to get a house, no matter who gets harmed in the process…But hey, that’s just the state of the housing market today! I have cousins in Bethesda so I know all about the housing crunch (although hopefully they didn’t have to resort to quite such drastic measures).
Donna Freitas, Her One Regret
(Soho)
Donna Freitas tackles a taboo subject in her latest thriller: regret for motherhood, and an urge to flee from the often-disproportionate responsibilities of childcare. In Her One Regret, a mother who has long-felt ambiguous about her role vanishes suddenly and suspiciously, leaving her infant daughter behind. Another mother, equally ambivalent about raising kids, is determined to track the missing woman down and prove that she didn’t willfully abandon her progeny, if only to keep the amateur sleuth tethered to her own familial ball-and-chain.
Jenna Satterthwaite, The New Year’s Party
(Mira)
Satterthwaite’s new thriller is a great reminder that New Year’s parties are nearly always more fun to read about than attend. The set-up is simple: a group of old friends reunites for a year-end bash with a long tradition. Each smile conceals a shocking secret, and each couple is on the brink of collapse. Satterthwaite skillfully interweaves between characters, using slow reveals and shifts in viewpoint to amp up the tension and add to the aura of impending doom. An excellent work of suspense from a rising voice in genre!
Olivia Laing, The Silver Book
(FSG)
Laing’s new work of historical fiction takes place during a heady time in both Italian cinema and politics. A young British traveler falls into a relationship with an Italian costumer of some repute, soon following his genial older partner to the strange set of Salo. There, Laing’s red-headed naif gets a crash course in the twin difficulties of representing fascism and healing from its ravages. There’s a crime-y element too, which I cannot describe without spoiling the whole shebang.
