100 books like December 6

I like novels about spies, and this one is unique. Eighteen-year-old Juliet finds work as a transcriptionist. It’s a top-secret job that requires her to live a double life. Duties involve writing down conversations between Nazi sympathizers that she hears through a microphone in the walls. I loved the ridiculousness of the concept. Most of the conversations were mundane, and often, she could only hear part of what was being said.

The novel is written tongue-in-cheek. I felt sympathy for the naïve girl Juliet, who made bad decisions and caused problems for herself and others. Along the way, I learned a bit about MI5 and its role in the UK in WW2.

I have read this novel twice and will undoubtedly read it again. It’s captivating because of the suspenseful plot and the perfect story structure, which is my favorite part of writing books.

The reality of the WWII challenges that the main players must face is gripping. It’s a reminder of how courage springs forth when fear is so overwhelming that there is no other choice but to be brave and do things you never believed you could do.

That is true for the Nazi spy who usually killed anyone who got in his way and for the woman who risked her life to, indeed, get in his way. Why he became a spy and why she tried to stop him are superbly revealed.

As much as I love foreign-set thrillers, I love cross-genre thrillers even more. And horror thrillers top the list. This book grabbed me by the throat and wouldn’t let go until the last page. 

I love how the woods in the book are a sinister place with teeth and a creeping sense of dread every time Liz enters it. Although there were times I wanted to slap Liz for her poor decisions, I breathlessly followed her investigation to uncover her own connection to what lurks in the woods and the mystery of decades of missing and murdered black girls in her hometown.

This book is a thought-provoking exploration of evil and just how easy it is for fear and hatred to grow into something truly terrifying.

I love a good legal thriller, especially one that focuses on character. The intern of the title is young and hungry, eager and ambitious. But she’s got a secret, one that would cause her to lose her job if the judge she’s working for found out about it. Not that the judge doesn’t have her own secrets.

Told from both the intern and judge’s points of view, I was on the edge of my seat, waiting to see who would discover the other’s secrets first.

I love smart thrillers like The Practice of Deceit—thrillers that keep me turning the pages even if my alarm is going off early the next morning; thrillers that don’t rely on violence to propel the story forward but rather on interesting, richly drawn, complex characters who are not portrayed in black and white.

Charming bachelor Eric Lavender, a psychotherapist, falls for Colleen O’Brien Golden, a lawyer, but when a conflict of interest with Colleen’s client implodes Eric’s idyllic suburban life as a husband and father to an adorable stepdaughter and a newborn, he learns the dark truth about Colleen’s past. Eric’s flaw is, to me, the one that makes a character most sympathetic—being blinded by love and desire. I love that this book is in the male point of view, and it’s done so well that when Colleen tries to destroy Eric, it is a gut punch.

This fabulous story is more or less historical fiction adventure.

From the first page when a Pakistani village wakes up, the exotic tone is set. Add a burned-out war correspondent and a young Afghan man with a wild, dangerous family steeped in warring traditions and you get a tale like no other. Crossing into Afghanistan for them is fraught with peril, suspicion, deceit, and suspense as both risk their lives in separate agendas. Loved it.

A slice of a time period in Afghanistan which is in a state of flux after the Russians retreat and before the U.S. gets involved. And a shocking twist.

Based on the case of child killer Mary Bell this book is an unexpected page-turner and is written with so much heart. It’s dark, compulsive, and the prose sparkles.

This is another dual timeline book we follow Chrissie as a child living a hard life and eventually committing murder. We meet her again as an adult with a new identity and a daughter of her own. Nancy Tucker is a psychologist I believe and it certainly comes across.

The entire cast in this book is written with such tenderness and insight. A really difficult book dealing with a tough topic but also a story of redemption and understanding.

This story is told from the perspective of a serial killer's stepdaughter, Sophie, and I swallowed it in two sittings.

Matty Melgren, Sophie’s stepfather, is dying and wants to meet. He’s in prison and his imminent death takes Sophie right back to her childhood. The story is told from Sophie’s perspective as a twelve-year-old observing the breakdown of her mother and Matty’s relationship and as an adult debating how much she wants answers and what they might cost her.

I loved the dual timeline and thought it was a really fresh way to approach a serial killer novel. 

This book came at a time when publishing was receiving a lot of flack for its treatment of editors. This book touches on themes such as the toxic work environment for editors, again, how editors from marginalised backgrounds can barely survive in the recent publishing ecosphere.

But also, it's got a very Get Out—esque twist that readers will never see coming!

The title isn’t kidding. This story—of a psychic thronged by the ghosts of the loathsome men who abused her in childhood—is one of the darkest books I’ve ever read.

I also found it incredibly funny, though the humor is black as ink. I love how, in its perverse way, is also becomes a story about recovering hope after profound trauma: one of the major themes in my own books.