Tag: psychological thriller

She’s Not Sorry by Mary Kubica

- Stephanie Leave a comment

“The truth is that social media is an optical illusion. It’s an unreality, it’s the very deliberate version of people’s lives that they want you to see.”
― Mary Kubica, She’s Not Sorry

Meghan Michaels is an ICU nurse and single mom to a teenage girl. Following the divorce from her ex-husband, Meghan and her daughter move to a small apartment relatively close to where she works.

One day, a new patient is admitted to the ICU. This wouldn’t normally be cause for concern except for the fact that this woman is plastered all over the news. Why? Caitlin is in a coma from a traumatic brain injury that she sustained after a fall from a bridge. Was this suicide? Or did someone push her? Meghan would normally keep her distance from her patients, but Caitlin’s actions, her family, and Meghan’s own past lure her in.

On top of dealing with Caitlin, Meghan is also struggling with fallout from her divorce. Looking for help, she heads to a divorce support group. Meghan runs into an old friend from high school who appears to be in an abusive relationship with her husband. Meghan will do anything to help her old friend. Her decision to help means adding another complication to her messy life. Add in someone terrorizing women in her neighborhood and Meghan is extra on edge. She must keep herself and her daughter safe, while also focus on her patient at work. When a witness steps forward saying they know what happened to Caitlin, police swarm the ICU, putting all the staff on edge as they now aren’t sure whether Caitlin jumped or was pushed.

Kubica has crafted a slow burn thriller that had me on the edge of my seat questioning how all the threads would tie together. As is true with most psychological thrillers, this is not a book where you can shift focus while reading. Every detail is important! I can’t wait to see what Mary Kubica comes up with next.

This title is also available in large print and a CD audiobook.

Everyone Here is Lying by Shari Lapena

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Do you keep a list of what you’re reading? I do! When looking over my list recently, I noticed that it’s been a while since I read a psychological thriller. For my latest read, I turned to Shari Lapena, a psychological thriller writer, and her 2023 book, Everyone Here is Lying. This domestic suspense title is quickly paced, well-written, and ripe with suspicion. The author switches between multiple points-of-view which adds layers to this book, making readers unsure of who is actually telling the truth and what their true motivations are. While some parts of this book had me rolling my eyes, the twist caught me out of nowhere and I didn’t see the ending coming!

Stanhope is a safe neighborhood where nothing bad ever happens. Saying that practically guarantees that something bad is going to happen immediately and destroy many families. Well, the residents of Stanhope are about to have their worlds shattered on the afternoon of a normal Tuesday.

William Wooler is a stand-up guy. He’s a family man, a practicing doctor, but he’s also been having a torrid affair. Every Tuesday for months he’s been meeting his mistress at a motel in town. He thought they would leave their spouses and start a new life. Those plans are shattered when the affair ends horribly at the at motel. Left shattered and angry, William returns home, hoping for silence. His bad mood only worsens when he walks into the house to find his nine-year-old daughter Avery in the kitchen, sent home early from choir practice. Avery is difficult. Their conversation soon turns testy and William lashes out, losing his temper.

Flash forward a couple hours and Avery is declared missing. The community rallies around the Wooler family as they are united in grief over the missing Avery. When the detectives start poking around, they soon realize that Avery’s disappearance isn’t what they thought it was. William isn’t the only one lying. Others in their neighborhood are keeping secrets. When witnesses start coming forward, the detectives must wade through their stories to determine who is telling the truth. They all want the same thing after all. They all want to know who took Avery. They all want Avery to come home safely. Right?

As always, Lapena ends this book leaving you wanting more, yet sadly she writes standalone. You’ll have to come to your own conclusions about what happens to the characters after the book ends!

This title is also available in large print, CD audiobook, and Playaway audiobook.

The Fiancee by Kate White

- Michelle Leave a comment

Summer is thrilled to be joining her extended family on their weeklong get together held at her in-law’s palatial summer estate in Kate White’s psychological thriller The Fiancée.  The gathering is an annual event where Summer, her husband, Gabe, her young stepson, Henry and all of Gabe’s siblings and their wives leisurely lounge around the pool and spend their days relaxing in nature.  But this year is slightly different when one of Gabe’s younger brothers, Nick, brings along his latest girlfriend, Hannah.  She charms everyone in attendance but Summer realizes that the two have met a year before at an audition for an off-Broadway theater production where Hannah ultimately won the role.  The funny thing is that Hannah acts as if she has never met Summer before and denies being at the audition, even though Summer knows it to be true.

During the week, Summer is convinced that something is not right with Nick’s new girlfriend when other odd instances occur.  She reaches out to a close friend who is also an actor and he agrees that Hannah was at the audition.  He is also aware of a scandal during the production that casts Hannah in a unfavorable light.  To complicate things, Nick has asked Hannah to marry him in front of the entire family.  More determined than ever to find out the truth and warn her brother in law, Summer confides in other family members who have a hard time believing her tall tales.   Gabe stands firm and tells Summer that she is letting her imagination run wild.  On the heels of her suspicions, an unexpected death shocks everyone.  Even though most signs point to natural circumstances, Summer is convinced that she knows the culprit and she hopes that she can expose the truth before another family member falls victim to a possible killer.

As usual, Kate White does not disappoint.  When I started reading psychological fiction more than a decade ago, Kate White was one of the first authors I discovered.  I began with her Bailey Wiggins mystery series and added the author to my must read list.  Over the last handful of years many of her thrillers have been stand alone titles and are just as complex and inventive as her earlier series.  If you are looking to add psychological thrillers to your reading list, I recommend any title by Kate White!

 

 

The New Couple in 5B by Lisa Unger

- Michelle Leave a comment

The New Couple in 5B by Lisa Unger is a suspenseful and unsettling psychological thriller that is peppered with elements of the paranormal! Newly married couple Rosie and Chad have spent much of their married life just scraping by while caretaking for Chad’s elderly uncle who is suffering from a terminal illness.  Chad has been patiently waiting for his big break as a struggling actor and Rosie is a new best selling author whose first true-crime book was a hit.  While taking care of Ivan, Rosie gets an idea to write a book about the history of his building, The Windemere, and all of the scandals that have taken place over the years.  The building has a storied history with murders, suicides and other tragedies altering the lives of its residents.

After Ivan’s passing the couple is shocked to learn that Ivan has left the apartment to the couple and it is estimated to be worth millions.  Equally shocking is that Ivan bypassed his own daughter, Dana, who he hadn’t spoken to in over a decade.  When Dana find out that her cousin and his wife are the beneficiaries of Ivan’s estate, tensions escalate and she threatens to sue Chad and Rosie.  Still in surprise and shock, Rosie and Chad move into their inherited home and are welcomed by the other residents, an eccentric and odd mix of people who have lived in the building for decades but never seem to age.

While settling into the apartment, strange things start to occur that put Rosie on edge.  The building’s doorman seems to have access to all the residents comings and goings and is available by intercom within each apartment.  Why does he have access to cameras throughout the building seemingly at all times?  Things don’t get much better for Rosie when she swears she sees spirits in the basement of The Windemere.   These ghostly apparitions, along with two suspicious deaths and the disappearances of two people close to her, make Rosie doubt what is and isn’t true and makes her wonder if the building is hiding something sinister.

Lisa Unger has crafted an unnerving thriller that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat with alternating chapters toggling between past and present.  Add the supernatural element and The New Couple in 5B is highly recommended if you are a fan of psychological thrillers!

The Manor House by Gilly MacMillan

- Michelle Leave a comment

The Manor House by Gilly MacMillan transports the reader to a remote enclave in the English country side where two couples live vastly different lives in MacMillan’s latest psychological thriller.  Tom and Nicole have purchased land and built their dream house, courtesy of a lottery win.  Their closest neighbors, Sasha and Olly, live close by on an adjoining property in a stately manor, but all is not what it seems. When the ultimate tragedy occurs, the truth begins to trickle out slowly followed by a deluge.

After returning from a morning at the county fair, newly minted millionaire Nicole is shocked to find her husband floating in the couple’s pool.  In a panic she runs to the adjacent property of the Manor House for help.  Sasha and Olly, along with their housekeeper Kitty, assist Nicole by trying to help the situation.  Olly runs to the pool to help while Sasha and Kitty comfort Nicole.  The worst is confirmed when Olly returns with the grim news that Tom has died.  Nicole is left to mourn in the dream house they built and come to terms with Tom’s passing.  She is sure it is an accident but the police think he may have been murdered.  An unknown man has been spotted on the vast grounds over the last couple of weeks and Nicole starts to wonder if the stranger had anything to do with Tom’s death.

In the Manor House on the property, Olly and Sasha have an ideal life – Olly is working on his debut novel while Sasha teaches yoga on the grounds of the home.  The only other resident is their housekeeper, Kitty, who lives in the adjacent coach house.  At the same time as the police continue to investigate Tom’s death, questions arise about Olly and Sasha, their past, and how they came to live at the Manor House.   As detectives discover more about the couple they start to put the puzzle together – where is the current owner of the Manor House, Anna,  and how does Kitty fit in?

I really enjoyed The Manor House and how the author wove together parallel storylines along with alternating chapters highlighting the owner of the house’s intriguing history.  All of these combined elements make for a startling and troublesome backstory.  I found some of the plot twists and turns to be slightly far fetched and unbelievable. but overall, this was an another enjoyable roller coaster ride from Gilly MacMillan.  The Manor House has a final last twist right at the end that you won’t see coming!

New and Upcoming Romances

- Michelle Leave a comment

Looking for a new romance? Our romance selector, Michelle, has gathered up a list of new and upcoming romances for you to check out! All of these titles can be found at a Davenport Public Library location.

Rock Bottom by Fern Michaels

Rock Bottom is the 35th book in Fern Michael’s Sisterhood series and finds wrongs that need to be made right by the Sisterhood.  In this installment, friends Isabelle and Yoko join forces to take on a large scale café project that will be the anchor of a new and trendy development.  Isabelle turns to her college roommate, Zoe, who has years of construction experience.  Zoe can’t hide her concern over building materials and inferior construction techniques with a host of buildings which she has been the project lead. Zoe questions the building integrity and quickly learns that someone wants her to stop asking questions and leave the issue alone, so she turns to the Sisterhood for assistance.

Silver Lady by Mary Jo Putney 

Silver Lady kicks off a new series by Mary Jo Putney and takes the reader to the rugged coast of England and seamlessly intertwines romance with historical fiction. Bran Tremayne has been told stories as a child that he is of a noble lineage and leaves city life for the coast of Cornwall to find answers.  Alone in the countryside he meets Merryn, a woman who is suffering from amnesia and is in danger.  Bran knows he needs to protect her after he discovers her life is a risk from rival rogue groups.  Can their newfound love face the dangerous challenges to come?

Out of Nowhere by Sandra Brown

Sandra Brown does not disappoint with her latest standalone thriller, Out of Nowhere.  Two strangers, Elle and Calder, could not have come from opposite worlds.  After the unspeakable tragedy of an act of violence at a Texas county fair, their paths collide as they are putting the pieces of their lives back together.  After an initial attraction, the two face the difficult journey of dealing with the past and wondering if they have a future.  Their road to happiness becomes more complex as the suspect remains at large and could potentially threaten their happiness.

Santa and Company by Fern Michaels 

 Longtime friends plan a winter getaway with a destination of snow and a luxurious stay in a ski lodge in Santa and Company.  When one member of the group ventures out in the snow alone, a near disaster is averted when she is rescued by a stranger and sparks begin to fly.  Another member of the group also meets a stranger who may change her life.  On the cusp of the new year, the friends say goodbye to the hardships of the past and look forward to the future.

 

Darius by J. R. Ward 

J. R. Ward returns to the beginning of the saga in the latest Black Dagger Brotherhood book, Darius, which is a precursor to the popular and long running series.  Darius. the son of Marklon, avoids disaster after nearly hitting a woman after she runs into the road on a desolate stretch of highway.  Darius become disillusioned with the reign of the king and becomes consumed with the woman with whom he had a chance encounter and changes the course of his life.  When he reveals his true identity to her, his life takes a tragic turn with unforeseen consequences for the both of them.

The Ghost Illusion by Kat Martin

In her latest standalone thriller The Ghost Illusion, Kat Martin blends romance and the paranormal with the best of a psychological thriller.  Eve has inherited a large estate from her deceased uncle and she has been unnerved at the ghostly goings on at night.  In her desperation, she locates a group that may be able to help her get to the bottom of her possible haunting.  The head of the paranormal group, Ransom King, senses that Eve may be in danger and as their relationship deepens, he finds himself doing whatever it takes to protect her from unseen forces.

 

A Christmas to Remember by Beverly Jenkins 

Beverly Jenkins returns to her popular Blessings series with A Christmas to Remember, which is the 11th book in the series.  Bernadine Brown is ready to wed her fiancé Malachi July after many ups and downs in the town of Henry Adams, Kansas.  With family and friends arriving in town for the nuptials, drama ensues and many of the attendees are dealing with emotional decisions of their own.  When the whole group gets together to celebrate, it is assured that this holiday season is one that no one will forget!

 

Additional Romance titles to be released soon

Dark Memory by Christine Feehan

Christmas in Painted Pony Creek by Linda Lael Miller

Christmas at the Shelter Inn by RaeAnne Thayne

The Twelve Dogs of Christmas by Susan Wiggs

 

Cult Classic by Sloane Crosley

- Claire Leave a comment

Sloane Crosley’s Cult Classic is witty, self-aware, and eloquently rendered. The novel follows Lola, a woman in her late thirties, as she maneuvers her half-hearted engagement, eccentric collection of colleagues from a psychology magazine, and the seemingly endless slew of ex-flames that she keeps running into. Lola’s smart–too smart to consider these run-ins with old boyfriends a coincidence. What she failed to predict, however, was who was behind these interactions and why they placed so much weight (and currency) in her past romantic escapades. 

The plot gains more and more momentum the farther we delve into the cultish endeavors of Clive, the self-appointed psychology guru that Lola cannot help but be entranced by. Like all cult-leaders, Clive denies that his group, the Golconda, the abundance of infatuated followers, or the synagogue-disguised secret headquarters are attributes of a full-on cult. But the true nature of his secret society resides somewhere between meditative groupthink and the layers of social media that petrify the what-ifs of our expired relationships.

 I, unfortunately, found the ending to leave a little to be desired. The majority of the narrative was incredibly engrossing and ultimately deserved a better finale. The plot plunges into the mysterious cosmic alignments between Lola and her exes, which we discover is a product of Clive and his followers’ mind-control. In the end, though, the climax flat lines. 

Crosley’s originality in story conception almost makes up for some of the gaps in narrative substance. The story especially shines in its focus on our main character and the mental aerobics she performs to work through her underdeveloped emotional tendencies. Crosley’s underlining commentary on social media and how it has altered modern dating is sharp but forgivingly nuanced. Her contribution to the overarching conversation about human connection in the age of online relationships alone makes Cult Classic worth a read.

Also available as a CD audiobook.

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

- Anna Leave a comment

“She could reorder their world and keep him safe. They did not need to build a new fiction together, for she could make reality.”

It has been a while since I have had the pleasure of immersing myself in a Gothic story, so I was psyched to get my hands on The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling. Published in October, Starling’s third novel is a blend of horror and psychological thriller infused with all of your favorite Gothic tropes, from the old and dilapidated haunted house, to the labyrinth in the home’s family crypt, to supernatural hauntings and magical rituals (not to mention a cursed husband!). Without further ado, let’s dive into this intoxicating read.

Taking place in a fictional setting akin to post-war Great Britain, but with anachronistic cultural aspects reminiscent of the 1800s, this story revolves around two primary characters: Jane, a strong and practical female protagonist, and Dr. Augustine Lawrence, a renowned surgeon with a small practice in the town of Larrenton. Realizing she must marry in order to continue her professional work as an accountant, Jane considers several eligible men in town before offering a business-like arrangement to Augustine. In this arrangement, they would marry solely on professional grounds, with no intimacies expected or desired, in order to advance in their respective occupations. After due hesitation and consideration, Augustine agrees to the proposal under one strict condition: Jane must never stay with him at Lindridge Hall, his family’s manor just outside of town.

Naturally, this condition is quickly broken just a week later upon their wedding day. After having dinner together at Lindridge Hall, Jane leaves at nightfall to stay at Augustine’s surgery in town, but is thwarted from returning when a heavy rainstorm overturns her carriage. Resigned to walking back to the manor, certain her newly-wedded husband would understand the extenuating circumstances of her return, she quickly finds herself experiencing a very different side of Augustine – one who is terrified, haunted, and seemingly at a remove from reality. Upon waking in the morning, however, Augustine acts as if nothing out of the ordinary occurred. As circumstance after circumstance prevents her from leaving the hall, Jane begins to learn of dark secrets Augustine is hiding from her and everything she thought to be true starts to unravel around her.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel and appreciated the deep and complex character development of both Jane and Augustine. They are both extremely complicated characters, as is their relationship throughout the book, and I enjoyed not knowing who to trust as I read the story. I also enjoyed how every page dripped with Gothicism; it reminded me of Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, so I would highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoyed that novel (here is a blog I wrote on that title last year). I also highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good dose of horror heavily steeped in psychology. I know I will definitely be following Starling’s future releases and reading her first two novels!

DISCLAIMER: While I did enjoy this book, I will admit several passages were a bit hard to read due to their gruesome nature; this primarily comes from descriptions of medical procedures and magical rituals.

This title is also available in the following formats:

Overdrive eBook

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

- Ann Leave a comment

Guest post by Anthony

I love horror and suspense stories but I tend to be a little bit of chicken when it comes to movies or TV shows. Because of that books are where I usually go for my creepy or suspenseful tales. A recent novel that I read that falls into that category is The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling.

The Luminous Dead is a young adult book that follows the story of a cave diver named Gyre who lives on an alien world and takes on a mysterious but lucrative new job in order to get enough money to leave the planet. The job that Gyre is assignment will have her explore a cave system by herself with a radio connection to her handler Em stationed on the surface as her only means of communication. Gyre lied about herself in order to get the job offer so when odd circumstances such as a lack of briefing on the mission until after she starts down the cave system and a lack of contact with other members of the organization pop up she doesn’t raise any concerns in order to avoid her lie being discovered. As Gyre climbs farther down from the surface of the planet these concerns pile up until it becomes clear that the job was far different and more dangerous than she was led to believe and that Em has been lying about herself and her past as much as Gyre has.

The Luminous Dead does a great job describing and escalating the tension of exploring a cave system. For the mission Gyre wears a caving suit that completely encases her body, recycles her oxygen, and has a shunt implanted directly into her stomach for food. After many days of caving this lack of ability to feel herself with her own hands or breath any fresh air extracts quite a mental toll on Gyre. In addition to this what Gyre sees and hears is also played for her by the suit, there are no windows or other openings to the outside. Early on in the mission it is revealed that both of these feeds can be remotely monitored and changed by Em which adds further stress on Grye as she has to decide if what she believes that she is seeing or hearing is real or not. 

I really enjoyed the The Luminous Dead. It did a great job building up the suspense while riding the fine line of keeping the reader unsure of whether something truly supernatural was happening or not. Both Gyre and Em are really well-developed characters with flaws and perspectives that are fully explored. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a good suspense story with a sci-fi twist.

Take Me Apart by Sara Sligar

- Stephanie Leave a comment

The lives of famous artists has always fascinated me. You get a tiny glimpse of their lives when you visit museums, but that’s hardly the full story. Sara Sligar’s debut book, Take Me Apart, lets readers look into the background of a photographer as people try to figure out what really happened to her.

Take Me Apart by Sara Sligar talks about the history of a famous photographer through the eyes of an ex-journalist hired by her son. Miranda Brand is a famous photographer who died mysteriously when she was at the peak of her career. Miranda left behind a grieving husband and a young son who had to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives. The whole community of Callinas, California was shocked and wondered what really happened to Miranda. Her artwork became even more priceless and her agent was able to sell what he had left of hers for very high prices.

Decades later, Miranda’s son Theo heads back to the house where he grew up. His father has recently died and Theo has decided to clean up the house. He hires ex-journalist Kate Aitken to archive Miranda’s work and personal effects. She begins the arduous process of organizing her materials and finds herself at the center of the rumor mill surrounding the Brand family and their house. The community is still telling stories full of rumors and somewhat shocking details about Miranda’s life, while Kate is finding out bits and pieces of her true life. Miranda seemed to be crumbling under the pressures of family, marriage, and trying to balance her artistic ambition with being a new mother. While she works to catalog all of Miranda’s papers, Kate is continuously haunted by secrets from her own past. When a surprising discovery related to Miranda falls into her lap, Kate’s curiosity begins to tip out of her control, leading her down a spiral that concerns all those around her.