The dark side has fascinated me since I was a child. I've always had a love for the villains in movies and books. I particularly like Alfred Hitchcock's thrillers. Because the tension is not created through bloodshed but through twists and psychology. As a full-time thriller writer, I write my stories in such a way that my main character has to overcome the dangers on their own, mostly without the help of the police. I live in Germany, but I grew up with stories from the USA. If you like stories with a twist, feel free to check out my recommendations, which also feature two German authors.
This was my first book by Colleen Hover because the blurb immediately appealed to me.
I love stories about female writers. I immediately sympathized with her unsuccessful career and was happy that she received an exciting job offer. And then immediate skepticism that everything couldn't be going smoothly there. The fear came slowly and made me look ever deeper into the abyss.
I read the book before going to sleep, which meant I stayed up late.
OVER 3 MILLION COPIES SOLD - THE NO.1 BESTSELLER AND TIKTOK SENSATION, FROM THE AUTHOR OF IT ENDS WITH US Are you ready to stay up all night? Rebecca meets Gone Girl in this shocking, unpredictable thriller with a twist that will leave you reeling . . .
Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.
I have a passion
for writing, and whenever I can, I try to help new writers improve their
expertise so that one day they’ll complete their first book. My first book,
born from a few-hundred-word short story at my writing group, turned into a
three-book thriller series called FAVOURS. Since then, I’ve branched out by
publishing a rom/com, a humorous ghost story as well as a standalone thriller.
Agatha Christie published her first book as the result of a dare, which proves
you can do it if you really want to.
As a multi-genre author, I was interested
to see how the creator of a world-famous boy wizard was going to change her
name and turn her hand to crime writing. I relished the result: the first outing for
a new private investigator, a character called Cormoran Strike.
Known simply as
Strike, he is a P.I. with a handicap (aren’t they all?). Not just the common
ones; excessive drinking, difficult relationships, and so on, Strike lost half
his right leg whilst serving in Afghanistan. Retiring from service, the ex-MP becomes a
private investigator. He has few clients, no money, and is scruffy and unkempt
because he sleeps in his office. But he does have a motto, "Do the job and do
it well."
In social relationships, Strike isn’t a
likable character; demanding and sometimes just plain rude. He has lost his
last assistant. I warmed to him the more his traits…
'The Cuckoo's Calling reminds me why I fell in love with crime fiction in the first place' VAL MCDERMID
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Now a major BBC drama: The Strike series
When a troubled model falls to her death from a snow-covered Mayfair balcony, it is assumed that she has committed suicide. However, her brother has his doubts, and calls in private investigator Cormoran Strike to look into the case.
Strike is a war veteran - wounded both physically and psychologically - and his life is in disarray. The case gives him a financial lifeline, but it comes at a personal cost: the…
This is one that’s often recommended in the “best climate
fiction” lists, and I can see why.
Set in a depressed area of Appalachia, the
story hinges on the arrival of a huge number of monarch butterflies, whose
annual migration pattern has been disrupted, and the effect this has on the
local community.
But worked into the main story are some important, closely observed messages: how climate change feels insignificant to people who
are struggling to cope, how journalists and others can promote climate change
denial, and how scientists need to get angry.
As with other Kingsolver novels
like The Poisonwood Bible, the characterisation is closely-observed and
highly believable. A rich and rewarding read.
"The flames now appeared to lift from individual treetops in showers of orange sparks, exploding the way a pine log does in a campfire when it is poked. The sparks spiralled upward in swirls like funnel clouds. Twisters of brightness against grey sky."
On the Appalachian Mountains above her home, a young mother discovers a beautiful and terrible marvel of nature: the monarch butterflies have not migrated south for the winter this year. Is this a miraculous message from God, or a spectacular sign of climate change. Entomology expert, Ovid Byron, certainly believes it is the latter. He ropes in…
To be honest, and this will sound strange, but suspense is the air I breathe. I’m a pretty calm, boring human being, and the only thing that gets my heart pumping are films, TV, books, and video games in this genre. Suspense and thrillers are genres that make up ninety percent of the entertainment that I consume, and one hundred percent of the entertainment that I write.
I can only speak from my experience and, wow, this book hooked me right at the end of that first chapter, “but it’s happening faster.” Now to go into what that means, I will remain spoiler-free, but my jaw dropped. And the story only ramped up after that.
I love stories where the protagonist finds themselves in genuine peril, and Claire puts Harry August in a particular type of peril that truly had me terrified for his well-being in every chapter. The best type of suspense escalates in every chapter and it escalates here in this book in the best possible ways.
'ONE OF THE FICTION HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DECADE' Judy Finnigan, Richard and Judy Book Club
Featured in the Richard and Judy Book Club, the BBC Radio 2 Book Club and the Waterstones Book Club Winner of the John W. Campbell Award Shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award
SOME STORIES CANNOT BE TOLD IN JUST ONE LIFETIME
No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before.
I’m a Romanian American author who arrived in the US with a job in software development. In more than twenty years as an immigrant, I’ve struggled with the same problems these novels explore: how to build a home in a new land, away from my family; how to fit in or make my peace with not belonging; how to be the parent of American-born children whose culture is different from my native one. I’m familiar with the US immigration system from my yearslong citizenship application, and I also interviewed an immigration lawyer extensively for my thriller.
This riveting whodunit captures the tension between native and naturalized citizens, something I’m familiar with. A Moroccan American man is killed in a hit-and-run in a small desert town in California. His daughter Nora returns home to the Mojave, determined to find the killer. The story is told through multiple voices, some of them immigrants: Nora’s mom, who still dreams of her old life in Casablanca; an undocumented man who witnessed the incident but is afraid to come forward; and the victim himself in the days before dying, when his future looked bright. The secrets Nora discovers about her family and her town, heartbreaking as they are, help her find love and also a sense of home that immigrants like me spend our entire lives trying to reach.
Finalist for the National Book Award 2019
An Observer, Literary Review and Time Book of the Year
'One of the most affecting novels I have read. Subtle, wise and full of humanity' The Times
Late one spring night, Driss Guerraoui, a Moroccan immigrant in California, is walking across a darkened intersection when he is killed by a speeding car. The repercussions of his death bring together a diverse cast of characters, deeply divided by race, religion and class. As the characters tell their stories and the mystery unfolds, Driss's family is forced to confront its secrets, a town faces its…
USA Today and #1 internationally bestselling author of The Marsh King's Daughter - “Subtle, brilliant and mature . . . as good as a thriller can be.” – The New York Times Book Review, and soon to be a major motion picture starring Daisy Ridley and Ben Mendelsohn, and The Wicked Sister, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2020. "Massively thrilling and altogether unputdownable. Dionne is proving to be one of the finest suspense writers working today.” – Karin Slaughter
Rose Carlyle’s debut psychological suspense left me gobsmacked.
Set against a backdrop of sparkling tropical islands, ocean storms, and outrageous wealth, the novel explores the terrible consequences of greed, deadly lies, and out-of-control jealousy. With an ending I absolutely did not see coming, Carlyle doesn’t just knock the ball out of the park—she sends it flying into the next universe.
* * THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER * * ________________________________
'Fresh, flavorful, and utterly intoxicating' A. J. Finn, author of The Woman in the Window
'It's impossible to do justice to the twists and turns ... riveting' New York Times ________________________________
She already has your looks. Now she wants your life...
Beautiful twin sisters Iris and Summer are startlingly alike, but beneath the surface lies a darkness that sets them apart. Cynical and insecure, Iris has long been envious of open-hearted Summer's seemingly never-ending good fortune, including her perfect husband Adam.
Called to Thailand to help sail the beloved family yacht to…
I walked to the library every Saturday to find a new mystery. I think I read everyone and read some more than once. As I matured, I discovered the mixture of romance and suspense I was hooked. I literally read every book in the genre’ at my local library.
The damaged heroine and the cocky MC. The dialogue and writing are fun and the ‘who-dun-it’ kept me guessing. The beauty of the Grand Tetons is so well described you feel like you there and in awe of the backdrop.
The sole survivor of a brutal crime, Reece Gilmore is on the run, desperately fighting the panic attacks and the nightmares that haunt her. She doesn't intend to stay in the sleepy town of Angel's Fist one second longer than she needs to, despite its friendly - if curious - inhabitants, and the irresistible attraction of local writer Brody.
However, on a hike into the mountains she witnesses a couple having a vicious argument that culminates in murder. Faced with a lack of evidence, the authorities in Angel's Fist find it hard to believe Reece's story. But when a series…
I’ve heard stories of the 1918 Influenza pandemic, how the soldiers returning from WWI were infected and then spread the disease to every town throughout the United States, and that most who died were very young. The Twenties were exciting times and came immediately after the pandemic. With so much death among young people, those who survived wanted to live life recklessly.
This Picoult novel, written close to the time I began to shape my book, asks whether we can love across time. While the theme is much more grounded in practical and natural circumstances, the fact that the question is teased out in this novel helps shape the same question my character, Adelyn, finds herself embroiled in. Is Innis capable of breaking the barrier using the strength of a first love?
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER 'Compelling, surprising and entertaining' Heat
Since the death of his fiancee Aimee, Ross Wakeman has been unable to fill the hole she has left in his life. Seeking to end his pain, he becomes a ghost hunter, despite never having seen a ghost.
However, when his job leads him to the town of Comtosook, it becomes apparent that Ross isn't the only one haunted by the past. When he meets the mysterious Lia, who brings him to life for the first time in years, redemption seems around the corner.
My administrative career covered a mix of legal and hospital work which provided a wealth of real-life scenarios to fuel my own convoluted story ideas. Thrilled to take early retirement and pursue a writing career, I have since published five romantic suspense novels. I strive to produce quality stories on par with the countless amazing romantic suspense authors I have enjoyed since my teen years. Storyline prompts surround us. A dark bunkie, screaming neighbor, or even an oddly shaped bag of garbage can trigger my suspicion. My favorite spot to walk is the peaceful shores of Lake Huron, where my twisted imagination soars, and my best stories come to life.
From the first page of Shelter in Place, the characters sucked me into their lives, had me cheering for them, crying for them, and holding my breath through terrifying situations.
The feisty female main character doesn’t want romance nor rescuing but that doesn’t mean she won’t get it. The “bad guy” comes up with enough getaway tricks to rival James Bond, and will leave you asking, “wow, what next”? I read this in one riveting stretch; absolutely could not put it down.
From Nora Roberts comes the #1 New York Times bestseller Shelter in Place (June 2018)―a powerful tale of heart, heroism...and propulsive suspense.
It was a typical evening at a mall outside Portland, Maine. Three teenage friends waited for the movie to start. A boy flirted with the girl selling sunglasses. Mothers and children shopped together, and the manager at the video-game store tended to customers. Then the shooters arrived.
The chaos and carnage lasted only eight minutes before the killers were taken down. But for those who lived through it, the effects would last forever. In the years that followed,…
I'm a shameless people-watcher. There's nothing I like better than sitting in a cafe, or an airport, or on a bus, and observing the people I see (and yes, I admit, eavesdropping on their conversations). What are they wearing and what does it say about them? Who are they with, and what's their relationship? What are they saying to each other - and what are they not saying? So it's not surprising the most important element of a book for me is the characters, and my favourite characters are women who are a little bit different, who don't fit the mould - because you just never know what they'll do.
This one’s a story of obsessive love, with a heroine who is undoubtedly flawed, but who you can’t help cheering on, even when she’s doing very bad things.
You wouldn’t want her to be your brother’s girlfriend, but she’d be hilarious company on a night out. The story is darkly funny, but ultimately uplifting, which I think is a great combination in a book.
