Top list: Suspense

A new, jaw-dropping thriller from the instant #1 New York Times bestseller of The Boyfriend and The Housemaid!

There's no place like home…

Blake Porter is riding high, until he's not. Fired abruptly from his job as a VP of marketing and unable to make the mortgage payments on the new brownstone he shares with his fiancée, he's desperate to make ends meet.

Enter Whitney. Beautiful, charming, down-to-earth, and looking for a room to rent. She's exactly what Blake's looking for. Or is she?

Because something isn't quite right. The neighbors start treating Blake differently. The smell of decay permeates his home, no matter how hard he scrubs. Strange noises jar him awake in the middle of the night. And soon Blake fears someone knows his darkest secrets...

Danger lives right at home, and by the time Blake realizes it, it'll be far too late. The trap is already set.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden knocks at your door with a gripping story of revenge, privilege, and secrets turned sour…

From BookTok sensation J.T. Geissinger comes Ruthless Creatures, a scorchingly hot mafia romance about two people bound together by a debt that must be collected. No matter the cost.

Five years ago, my fiancé disappeared. He left me with a wedding dress I’d never wear. Left me with the kind of scars that can’t be healed. The man I built my future on vanished like a ghost. All that remained were my broken heart and a million unanswered questions.

Until a mysterious stranger arrives in town.

Tall, dark and dangerous, Kage is as full of secrets as he is sex appeal. Though I know he’s hiding something, I’m drawn to him like a moth to flame. Heat crackles between us with every look, desire flares into passion, and I fall hard, helpless to resist.

But then I discover he’s been sent to collect on an unpaid debt from my missing fiancé . . .

And that debt is me.

Discover Carnal Urges, the second book in the addictive Queens and Monsters series by J. T. Geissinger.

For fans of The Silent Patient and Gone Girl, a razor-sharp and Hitchcock-inspired psychological thriller about two ordinary women who make a dangerous pact to take revenge for each other after being pushed to the brink.

One dark evening on New York City’s Upper West Side, two strangers meet by chance. Over drinks, Amanda and Wendy realize they have much in common, especially loneliness and an intense desire for revenge against the men who destroyed their families. As they talk into the night, they come up with the perfect plan: if you kill for me, I’ll kill for you.

In another part of the city, Ruth is home alone when the beautiful brownstone she shares with her husband, Scott, is invaded. She’s attacked by a man with piercing blue eyes, who disappears into the night. Will she ever be able to feel safe again while the blue-eyed stranger is out there?

Intricate, heart-racing, and from an author who “is the real deal” (Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author), Kill for Me, Kill for You will keep you breathless until the final page.

Winner of the 2023 Audie Award for Best Male Narrator

Master storyteller Stephen King goes into the deepest well of his imagination in this #1 New York Times bestselling and spellbinding novel about a young man who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for that world or ours.

Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a horrific accident when he was seven, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. When Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and her aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from that shed.

Charlie starts doing jobs for Mr. Bowditch and loses his heart to Radar. Then, when Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie a cassette tape telling a story no one would believe. What Bowditch knows, and has kept secret all his long life, is that inside the shed is a portal to another world.

The newspapers called us the Seven Wonders. We were a group of friends, that’s all, and then Toby died. Was killed. Murdered.

1905. A decade after the grisly murder of Oxford student Toby Feynsham, the case remains hauntingly unsolved. For Jeremy Kite, the crime not only stole his best friend, it destroyed his whole life. When an anonymous letter lands on his desk, accusing him of having killed Toby, Jem becomes obsessed with finally uncovering the truth.

Jem begins to track down the people who were there the night Toby died – a close circle of friends once known as the ‘Seven Wonders’ for their charm and talent – only to find them as tormented and broken as himself. All of them knew and loved Toby at Oxford. Could one of them really be his killer?

As Jem grows closer to uncovering what happened that night, his pursuer grows bolder, making increasingly terrifying attempts to silence him for good. Will exposing Toby's killer put to rest the shadows that have darkened Jem’s life for so long? Or will the gruesome truth only put him in more danger?

Some secrets are better left buried…

From the bestselling, acclaimed author of The Magpie Lord and The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen comes a chilling historical mystery with a sting in the tail. You won’t be able to put this gripping story down!

What readers are saying about Death in the Spires:

‘I completely adored this. Oh my god I can't even begin to explain how perfect I found this book. I can feel it sitting under my chest still.’ Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘I devoured this book in a few short hours, I was enthralled from beginning to end. This book reminded me of If We Were Villains, it read like a dark academia with a murder mystery twist.’ Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘An absolutely thrilling ‘‘who done it’’ set in 19th century Oxford, I could not put this book down.’ Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘A gripping murder mystery that skilfully reveals the next pieces of the puzzle to the reader... I wholeheartedly recommend KJ Charles' new book to fans of murder mysteries, dark academia… It is so worth it!’ Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘That was masterful! KJ Charles has written another 5-star book.’ Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Well-written characters you care about, and a satisfying ending. Fabulous!’ Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘These characters got under my skin and will remain there for a long time. It's gripping, tense, and atmospheric, but also insightful and compassionate.’ Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘I found this book deeply moving, completely engrossing and 5+ stars and a Recommended Read if you have the heart for it.’ Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘This is near perfection from all angles – as a multi-layered mystery, as a reflection on class and power, and as a thriller with romantic elements. This is a book the description of ‘‘page-turner’’ was made for.’ Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Had me spinning the whole time figuring out who did it, and the pay-out was high. What an excellent job.’ Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘A book that grabs hold of you, holds on tight, and hauls you along, breathless at an ever-increasing speed until the end.’ Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Death in the Spires swept me off my feet and broke my heart, then put it back together again.’ Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“I don’t just want to hear her laugh, I need to earn it. Every time I gain a little ground, I want more. I want to break out of the shade and back into her light. Without even realizing it, I’ve become addicted to it. To her.”

From the author of the genre-breaking international TikTok sensation Butcher & Blackbird comes the second book in the Ruinous Love Trilogy—a hate-to-love dark romantic comedy packed with danger, chaos, and heat.

Contract killer Lachlan Kane wants a quiet life working in his leather studio and forgetting all about his traumatic past. But when he botches a job for his boss’s biggest client, Lachlan knows he’ll never claw his way out of the underworld. At least, not until songbird Lark Montague offers him a deal: use his skills to hunt down a killer and she’ll find a way to secure his freedom. The catch? He has to marry her first.

And they can’t stand each other.

Indie singer-songwriter Lark is the sunshine and glitter that burns through every cloud and clings to every crevice that Lachlan Kane tries to hide inside. The surly older brother of her best friend’s soulmate, Lachlan thinks she’s just a privileged princess, but Lark has plenty of secrets hiding in the shadows of her bright light. With her formidable family in a tailspin and her best friend’s happiness on the line, she’s willing to make a vow to the man she’s determined to hate, no matter how tempting the broody assassin might be.

As Lachlan and Lark navigate the dark world that binds them together, it becomes impossible to discern their fake marriage from a real one. But it’s not just familiar dangers that haunt them.

There’s another phantom lurking on their doorstep.

And this one has come for blood.

Tropes:

Hate-to-love

Marriage of convenience

Grumpy / sunshine

He falls first

Groveling, but make it psycho

Touch her/him and die

From New York Times & USA Today bestselling author Rina Kent comes a new dark mafia romance.

I’m a man with no morals or feelings.

The only reason I made it this far is to reign.

Nothing and no one will stop me.

Or that should’ve been the plan.

Now, my only goal is to get back the woman who belongs to me.

Sasha thinks it’s all over, but we’re only getting started.

She’s my woman. My partner. My wife.

Mine.

This book is the final part of a trilogy and can't be listened to on its own.

©2023 Rina Kent (P)2023 Rina Kent

A witty and inventive treat for lovers of all things Agatha Christie, Downton Abbey, and Knives Out.

Housekeeper Phyllida Bright is quite in her element at Mallowan Hall, the charming English manor that she keeps in tip-top shape. By contrast, the bustling metropolis of London, where her famed employer Agatha Christie has temporarily relocated, leaves Phyllida a bit out of her depth. Not only must she grapple with a limited staff, but Phyllida also has to rein in a temperamental French cook who has the looks of Hercule Poirot, but none of the charm.

When a man named Archibald Allston is found dead in an armchair onstage at the Adelphia Theater, first impressions are that he died of natural causes. But the very next day, the unlucky actor playing Benvolio at the Belmont Theater is found with his head bashed in. And when a third victim turns up, this time with double-C initials, the fatal pattern is impossible to ignore.

With panic erupting among theater folk—a superstitious bunch at the best of times—Phyllida steps up to help with the investigation. The murderer’s M.O. may be easy to read, but can Phyllida uncover the killer’s identity before the final curtain falls on another victim?

“Dame Agatha would be proud.” - Publishers Weekly

He’s the most powerful man in Dublin, and he’ll do anything to keep what’s his.

My name is Madelaine Moneta and I am a survivor. I fought my way up from the streets of Chicago to claim a spot at one of the top-tier criminal defense practices in the city, but when the looming shadow of the local mob threatens to engulf the firm, I make a life-altering decision.

Carrying my mother’s ashes, I escape to Ireland, intent on starting anew in my mother’s homeland.

Dublin seems the perfect place to reinvent myself until Tag Quinn—a dark and dangerous charmer at the local pub—sets his sights on me.

Tag Quinn is trouble. As leader of the Quinn family, he’s the King of the Irish Mafia.

INSTANT INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

For fans of Bunny and Yellowface, this razor-sharp debut thriller blends biting satire with chilling suspense, as a young woman steps into her deceased twin’s influencer life—only to discover dark secrets hidden behind her social media façade.

Julie Chan has nothing. Her twin sister has everything—except a pulse.

Julie Chan, a supermarket cashier barely scraping by, finds herself thrust into the glamorous yet perilous world of her late twin sister, Chloe VanHuusen, a popular influencer. Separated at a young age, the identical twins were polar opposites and rarely spoke, except for one viral video that Chloe initiated (Finding My Long-Lost Twin And Buying Her A House #EMOTIONAL).

When Julie discovers Chloe’s body, she doesn’t call the police. Instead, she slips into her dead sister’s meticulously curated life: luxury fashion, high-end skincare, and a devoted online following who never noticed they weren’t quite the same.

At first, the transformation is seamless. Julie relishes the perks of influencer fame, but quickly learns that behind Chloe’s flawless feed lay secrets far darker than she imagined. Her sister’s final days were shadowed by paranoia, manipulation, and something far more sinister.

Now, trapped on a private island retreat with Chloe’s inner circle—an elite clique of influencers obsessed with status and secrecy—Julie is forced to keep up the act while being haunted by her sister’s untimely death. As events spiral out of control, Julie uncovers the sinister forces that may have led to her sister’s demise and realizes she might be the next target.

Darkly funny, fiercely paced, and full of sharp commentary on identity, fame, and the cost of visibility, Julie Chan Is Dead is a twisted thrill ride where fitting in could be fatal—and the people behind the posts are the real danger.

The hurricane has passed. But the storm has just begun.

As a massive hurricane rolls toward the Louisiana coast, Army veteran Mason Sharpe is sheltering in Mobile, Alabama. There he meets Jessica and her gifted ten-year-old daughter, Autumn, who are fleeing a different kind of storm – an abusive husband and father with violent tendencies.

When Autumn disappears just as the hurricane is about to make landfall, Jessica is certain that Autumn’s deadbeat dad Randy has taken her. She turns to Mason for help.

Mason follows the trail and discovers that Randy belongs to a violent gang which is heading to New Orleans, right into the teeth of the storm. Their plan – to loot the city while police are fully occupied by the hurricane.

Randy is going with them – and he’s taking Autumn along for the ride.

Mason won’t stand by while an innocent child is forced to endure the horrors of a lawless city on the verge of violent collapse. He’ll face the combined fury of the storm and the gang and do whatever it takes to save Autumn…

…rolling into New Orleans like a hurricane, bringing his own lethal brand of Storm Surge.

Storm Surge - book 6 of the superb Mason Sharpe action thriller series. Perfect for fans of Lee Child, Jason Kasper & David Archer.

From an author “destined to become a titan of the macabre and unsettling” (Erin A. Craig, #1 New York Times bestselling author), a haunting debut—soon to be a Netflix original movie—about two homeowners whose lives are turned upside down when the house’s previous residents unexpectedly visit.

As a young, queer couple who flip houses, Charlie and Eve can’t believe the killer deal they’ve just gotten on an old house in a picturesque neighborhood. As they’re working in the house one day, there’s a knock on the door. A man stands there with his family, claiming to have lived there years before and asking if it would be alright if he showed his kids around. People pleaser to a fault, Eve lets them in.

As soon as the strangers enter their home, inexplicable things start happening, including the family’s youngest child going missing and a ghostly presence materializing in the basement. Even more weird, the family can’t seem to take the hint that their visit should be over. And when Charlie suddenly vanishes, Eve slowly loses her grip on reality. Something is terribly wrong with the house and with the visiting family—or is Eve just imagining things?

This unputdownable and spine-tingling novel “is like quicksand: the further you delve into its pages, the more immobilized you become by a spiral of terror. We Used to Live Here will haunt you even after you have finished it” (Agustina Bazterrica, author of Tender Is the Flesh).

The Dirty Duck is a pub in Shakespeare’s beloved Stratford, and in this pub Miss Gwendolyn Bracegirdle of Sarasota, Florida, fresh from a performance of As You Like It, takes her last drink. A few minutes later she is slashed ear to ear, the only clue: two lines from an unknown poem printed across a theater program. The razor-happy murderer, it seems is stalking a group of rich American tourists. And Scotland Yard Superintendent Richard Jury, just passing through Stratford for a glimpse of the intriguing Lady Kennington, instead takes a crash course in the bloodier side of Elizabethan verse.

DI Alec McKay is back.

Twenty years ago, Jackie Galloway was a senior cop with a bad reputation. Then, he ended up on the wrong side of the wrong people, and his career was ruined. Sacked and with no pension, he ends up eking out his last days on Scotland's Black Isle, his mind lost to dementia, supported only by his wife, Bridie... until Galloway is found dead. The police assume the death to be accidental until Bridie reveals that her husband has been receiving threatening letters containing only the phrase: 'NOT FORGOTTEN. NOT FORGIVEN.'

DI Alec McKay is struggling to come to terms with life without his estranged wife Chrissie, and is living in isolation on the Black Isle. As a junior officer, McKay had been allocated to Galloway's team and has bad memories of the man and his methods. Now he finds himself investigating Galloway's death. But when suspicion falls on him and more police officers are murdered, the pressure is on for McKay to solve the case. Why would the killer seek revenge twenty years after Galloway left the force?

The gripping follow-up to Candles and Roses can be enjoyed as a standalone.

He gazes at the bodies. Young men, probably in their early thirties. The wooden flooring around them has been stained dark red. He wonders what kind of monster could have done this.

And why.

As a murder detective in the Met Police, D.I. Matthew Denning is used to seeing the very worst of humanity. But when a young woman's body is discovered in an East London churchyard, her face obliterated by blows, he is plunged into his most shocking case yet. While the investigation discovers that victim Bryony Allen was hiding some dark secrets, nothing seems to warrant the violence that ended her life.

Until Denning, along with D.S. Molly Fisher, uncovers a link between this murder and the disappearance of an undercover policeman investigating a high-level criminal gang, one that may be responsible for the deaths of two men found dead in a ritual execution in Kent. While the top brass want to suppress Denning's discovery, the team knows that the key to the case may lie in the actions of a rogue officer.

And when his own boss, D.C.I. Liz McKenna, goes missing, the case becomes even more personal. Can Denning and Fisher get justice for Bryony's murder, while fighting through the wall of silence from the powers that be?

A twisty, utterly compelling detective novel that fans of Stuart MacBride and Line of Duty will love.

Praise for the Denning and Fisher series:

'fast paced and utterly gripping, with plenty to keep you guessing from start to finish. Thoroughly entertaining.' The Bookwormery

'Well-paced, with a few clever twists, I was never quite sure I knew who the killer was. Graeme Hampton's writing is fabulous.' Jessica Belmont

'This story starts with a bang and holds your attention throughout...fast paced and multi layered, each twist and turn drawing us further in.' Book Bound.

Graeme Hampton grew up in Central Scotland. After training as a stage manager in the theatre, he worked in London for a number of years, before returning to Scotland to study for a BA in English Literature at Stirling University. Run For Cover is his fourth novel.

He lives in Hastings, East Sussex.

A Read With Jenna Book Club Pick • International Bestseller

“Enthralling. . . . A remarkably powerful novel.” —The New York Times

In this brilliant novel from Donna Tartt, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Goldfinch, comes a richly textured and hypnotic story of golden youth corrupted by its own moral arrogance.

Richard Papen had never been to New England before his nineteenth year. Then he arrived at Hampeden College and quickly became seduced by the sweet, dark rhythms of campus life—in particular by an elite group of five students, Greek scholars, worldly, self-assured, and at first glance, highly unapproachable.

Yet as Richard was accepted and drawn into their inner circle, he learned a terrifying secret that bound them to one another. . . a secret about an incident in the woods in the dead of night where an ancient rite was brought to brutal life. . . and lead to a gruesome death. And that was just the beginning...

USING HIS FORMIDABLE SKILLS OF DECEPTION, JAMES BOND WORKS TO TAKE DOWN AN AMERICAN GANG

The Spangled Mob are no ordinary American gangsters.

They prey on the addictions of the wealthy and treat the poor as collateral. Their ruthless desire for power and fierce brotherly loyalty make them deadly and invincible.

Now James Bond must go deep undercover in his urgent new assignment: to destroy their millionaire masterminds, Jack and Seraffimo Spang.

But the Spangs’ cruel influence is everywhere, from dusty African diamond mines to the frenzied gambling dens of Las Vegas. Can Bond find his men before his cover is blown?

An obsessive psychopath must be stopped whilst Detective Superintendent Roy Grace also deals with a very personal mystery in Want You Dead, by award winning crime writer Peter James.

Grace’s wife Sandy is officially declared dead after being missing for a decade, allowing him to marry the mother of his baby son. But Sandy’s disappearance is unexplained for a reason.

Bryce Laurent doesn’t want his ex-girlfriend to move on. Terrified by Bryce’s dark side, she seeks police protection. But Bryce will not be stopped, determined to destroy everything and everyone she has ever known and loved – and then her too . . .

Although the Roy Grace novels can be read in any order, Want You Dead is the tenth thrilling title in the bestselling series. Enjoy more of the Brighton detective’s investigations with You Are Dead and Love You Dead.

Now a major ITV series, Grace, starring John Simm.

*****

23 million copies sold.

Creator of Her Majesty Queen Camilla’s favourite fictional detective.

'Peter James is one of the best crime writers in the business' – Karin Slaughter, author of the Will Trent series

'Peter James is one of the best British crime writers and therefore one of the best in the world' – Lee Child, author of the Jack Reacher series

'One of the world’s most popular detective series' – The Guardian

A drop, in spook parlance, is the passing on of secret information. It’s also what happens just before you hit the ground.

Old spooks carry the memory of tradecraft in their bones, and when Solomon Dortmund sees an envelope being passed from one pair of hands to another in a Marylebone café, he knows he’s witnessed more than an innocent encounter. But in relaying his suspicions to

John Bachelor, who babysits retired spies like Solly for MI5, he sets in motion a train of events that will alter lives.

“Mick Herron is the John le Carré of our generation.”—Val McDermid

2017 Audie Award Finalist for Thriller/Suspense

NOW A HIT NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES

THE RIVETING SEQUEL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING YOU

“Kepnes hits the mark, cuts deep, and twists the knife.” —Entertainment Weekly

“Delicious and insane...The plot may be twisty and scintillating, but it’s Kepnes’s wit and style that keep you coming back.” —Lena Dunham

“Hypnotic and scary.” —Stephen King

“Obsessed.” —Jessica Knoll, New York Times bestselling author

In the compulsively readable sequel to her widely acclaimed debut novel, You, Caroline Kepnes weaves a tale that Booklist calls “the love child of Holden Caulfield and Patrick Bateman.”

In Hidden Bodies, the basis for season two of the hit Netflix series, You, Joe Goldberg returns.

Joe is no stranger to hiding bodies. In the past ten years, this thirty-something has buried four of them, collateral damage in his quest for love. Now he’s heading west to Los Angeles, the city of second chances, determined to put his past behind him.

In Hollywood, Joe blends in effortlessly with the other young upstarts. He eats guac, works in a bookstore, and flirts with a journalist neighbor. But while others seem fixated on their own reflections, Joe can’t stop looking over his shoulder. The problem with hidden bodies is that they don’t always stay that way. They reemerge, like dark thoughts, multiplying and threatening to destroy what Joe wants most: true love. And when he finds it in a darkened room in Soho House, he’s more desperate than ever to keep his secrets buried. He doesn’t want to hurt his new girlfriend—he wants to be with her forever. But if she ever finds out what he’s done, he may not have a choice…