This topic is very close to my heart, as a lot of my readers know me as āthe landscape guy.ā My two award-winning mystery thrillers (and the serial killer thriller I'm currently writing) feature chillingly explosive landscapes (the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the Gates of the Arctic, and the Rocky Mountains). Readers and reviewers have mentioned time and again how I utilize landscape as a character in its own right, and I have very much been influenced by other authors who do the same. There is so much opportunity in these remote and high-altitude landscapes to propel the dread and isolation for these types of stories.
Set in the frigid French Alps, One by One blends Christie-esque mystery with modern technology and a cast of deliciously unlikeable characters who dieāyou guessed itāone by one. A team of app developers rents a luxurious ski chalet and becomes trapped inside after a terrible avalanche. One of them is a murderer, but who is it? I picked up this book after indulging in some breathtaking hikes in the Alps and falling in love with the landscape. I am drawn to (and write) mystery thrillers that strip away the luxuries of modern technology by thrusting the characters into high altitudes. The characters in One by One must depend on their own smarts to not only discover who-dun-it, but also to escape with their lives.
This instant New York Times bestseller and āclaustrophobic spine-tinglerā (People) from Ruth Ware follows a group of employees trapped on a snow-covered mountain.
Getting snowed in at a luxurious, rustic ski chalet high in the French Alps doesnāt sound like the worst problem in the world. Especially when thereās a breathtaking vista, a full-service chef and housekeeper, a cozy fire to keep you warm, and others to keep you company. Unless that company happens to be eight coworkersā¦each with something to gain, something to lose, and something to hide.
When the cofounder of Snoop, a trendy London-based tech start-up, organizesā¦
Once again, King proves he is the king by thrusting a nine-year-old girl into the harsh Appalachian Mountains and leaving her to fight for her own survival. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon follows Trisha, a spunky kid who loses her way while hiking with her mom and brother. To stay alive, she must conserve what little food she has and maintains her sanity by listening to her Walkman and following baseball news about her favorite player, Tom Gordon. But little does she realize that something fierce and hungry is following her every step. As an avid hiker, I understand the harsh realities of getting lost in unfamiliar terraināitās [bleeping] terrifying. One of Stephen Kingās best!
From the master of horror and suspence, Stephen King, comes a pop-up adaptation of one of his bestselling novels.; Trisha MacFarland had no idea what was in store for her when she wandered away from her mother and brother on a family hike! Readers will travel with Trisha on her journey of horror, where she has only her witts for navigation, her ingenuity as a defence against the elements, and her courage and faith to withstand her mounting fear. For solace, during this terrifying journey, Trisha tuned in her walkman to listen to the broadcasts about her hero, the Redā¦
The Festival of Sin is a three-story light sci-fi arc about a young boy rescued in 6000 BCE and taken to the home planet of the Hudra. Parts two and three are exploratory excursions. It's a fish-out-of-water series. More than fish-out-of-water. Fish-on-another-planet.
Plus, there are two fantasy stories dealing withā¦
Weāre back in the Alpsāthis time in Switzerlandāand a stormās a-brewinā. The Sanitorium follows an uptight detective hoping for some much-needed time away from work. But, lo and behold, the mountainside hotel of Le Sommet is anything but relaxing. I loved the cold and creepy isolation this book offers, and much of the mystery in the book centers on the hotelās previous existence as a sanitorium for women with tuberculosis. Aside from the landscape, the way Pearse subtly criticizes the historical mistreatment of women in this book is what really hooked me.
REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK | A New York Times bestseller!
"An eerie, atmospheric novel that had me completely on the edge of my seat." -Reese Witherspoon
"This spine-tingling, atmospheric thriller has it all... and twists you'll never see coming." -Richard Osman, New York Times bestselling author of The Thursday Murder Club
Sarah Pearse's next book, The Retreat, is forthcoming.
You won't want to leave. . . until you can't.
Half-hidden by forest and overshadowed by threatening peaks, Le Sommet has always been a sinister place. Long plagued by troubling rumors, the former abandoned sanatorium has since been renovated into aā¦
Iām a huge fan of small bookstores, but even more so, I love the āLittle Free Libraryā kiosks set up around various neighborhoods in my home city of Austin, Texas. It was inside one of these take-a-book/leave-a-book nests that I found Descent, which follows the Courtland family and their descent into a living nightmare when their teenage daughter is abducted. Tim Johnston is a master of setting, particularly the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Iām particularly keen on this landscape (and want to thank Tim for such vivid imagery) because my upcoming serial killer thriller is set in these same jagged peaks.
As their world comes undone, the Courtlands are drawn into a vortex of dread and recrimination. Why weren't they more careful? What has happened to their daughter? Is she alive? Will they ever know? Caitlin's disappearance, all the more devastating for its mystery, is the beginning of the family's harrowing journey down increasingly divergent and solitary paths until all that continues to bind them together are the questions they can never bring themselves to ask: At what point does a family stop searching? At what point will a girl stop fighting for her life? Written with a precision that capturesā¦
A hair-raising, side-splitting supernatural adventure!
In the idyllic town of Pine Port, Kelsey was on the cusp of realizing her dreams. In weeks, she'd clasp her high school diploma and beauty license. Or so she thought, until her life took a supernatural detour, far removed from the ordinary path she'dā¦
This oneās a little bit of a cheat because the Grand Canyon isnāt technically a mountainous landscapeāunless youāre looking at it from the bottom. But as far as landscapes go, you canāt do much better. The Anomaly follows an Iāll-do-it-myself archaeologist who discovers an ancient cave that seems to have a mind of its own. More than anything, this book is just downright freakinā fun. Itās evident that Rutger knows this landscape better than most, and he utilizes both history and conspiracy theories to his advantage. This oneās a true mystery where the setting is a character in itself.
An utterly gripping thriller perfect for fans of Dan Brown, Michael Crichton and Stephen King. The Anomaly will leave you breathless until the final page has been turned . . .
THEY SOUGHT THE TRUTH. THEY FOUND A NIGHTMARE
A team of explorers seek ancient treasures, hidden in a secret cave.
At first it seems they will return empty handed. Then their luck turns.
But the team's elation is short-lived as they become trapped there in the dark, with little possibility of escape.
Three Houses on a Hill follows Lazalier Brady, an ex-firefighter on the verge of homelessness who must provide for his cancer-stricken toddler by accepting a groundskeeper position in the wild and frozen interior of Alaska. By day, he tends to the grounds and structure of the Dilbrook Mansion. By night, he sits huddled in his Cabin, haunted by the secrets of an eerie Shack perched on the western ridge of Horseshoe Hill.When Laz stumbles upon a charred corpse in the woods, he unearths a web of murderous secrets kept hidden by the mysterious Dilbrooks, and suddenly finds himself in the deadly center of it all.
The Hunt for the Peggy C is best described as Casablanca meets Das Boot. It is about an American smuggler who struggles to rescue a Jewish family on his rusty cargo ship, outraging his mutinous crew of misfits and provoking a hair-raising chase by a brutal Nazi U-boat captainā¦
Hunted by those who want to study his gravity powers, Jes makes his way to the best place for a mixed-species fugitive to blend in: the pleasure moon where everyone just wants to be lost in the party. It doesnāt take long for him to catch the attention of theā¦