Flashlight Worthy Reads...

Expect The Unexpected…

Have you ever been reading a thriller just before bedtime, promising yourself you’re going stop soon, just five more minutes? But then a truly crushing, blow-your-hair-back plot twist goes down and suddenly it’s two AM and all hope of a good night’s rest is gone? Evaporated like smoke? No? Maybe it’s just me.

A well written thriller offers ceaseless suspense, jaw-dropping, out-of-nowhere narrative curveballs, a pace to keep the reader rapidly turning pages, and characters you are happy to let take you on a wild ride. The result is an exhilarating and seductive form of escapism that allows us to immerse ourselves in a world completely apart from our humdrum every day lives.

I have curated for you a collection of reads sure to provide you with plenty of thrills, even if only vicariously.

Hang on tight…

Past Your Bedtime…

King Sorrow – Joe Hill

Arthur is a reader and a dreamer, but his burgeoning romance with Gwen is shattered when a local drug dealer and her partner con him into one of the worst crimes he can imagine: stealing rare books from the library. Trapped and desperate, Arthur turns to his closest friends for comfort and help. Together they dream up a wild scheme to free Arthur from the cruel trap in which he finds himself. Wealthy, irrepressible Colin suggests using the Crane journal, bound in the skin of its author, to summon a fantastical creature to do their bidding. But this creature demands a sacrifice, one that feeds its hunger. And likely not just one. I have waited a long time for a new book from this author, and he has delivered a monster of a book.

The Big Fix – Holly James

This is the screwball, whirlwind action/romance road trip book I didn’t know I needed. Professor Penny reluctantly lets her meddling sister drag her to an estate sale at a neighbor’s house, and what starts out as a diversion from her work ends up being a colossal failure on her sister’s part at a fix-up with the hot beneficiary/nephew of the dead guy. But alas, love at first sight must take a back seat when a dead body tumbles out of the closet. This book was an absolute joy to read. I was simultaneously on the edge of my seat and swooning over the yummy sexual tension. A perfect balm for the harshness of the real world.

Whistle – Linwood Barclay

Annie has had an unimaginably terrible year. First, her husband was killed in a tragic hit-and-run accident, then one of the children’s books she’s built her writing and illustrating career on ignited a major scandal. Desperate for a fresh start, she moves with her son Charlie to a charming small town where they can begin to heal. But Annie’s year is about to get worse. Bored and lonely in their isolated new surroundings, Charlie is thrilled when he finds a forgotten train set in a locked shed on their property. Annie is glad to see Charlie happy, but there’s something unsettling about his new toy and bizarre things begin happening. Wondering if it's grief doing strange things to her mind, Annie realizes she walked out of one nightmare and straight into another. Brilliant!

13 Months Haunted – Jimmy Juliano

Piper, a public library clerk in charge of liaising with the local middle school, can tell right away there’s something strange about the new girl in eighth grade. Avery won’t touch any kind of technology, not even the computers at the library, and her mother comes to school with her every day, refusing to leave her side, not even when Avery uses the restroom. And then there are the rumors, the whispers Piper hears from kids in the hallway and parents around town: Avery’s mother is a witch, and her sister and father were killed by something supernatural. An unnerving tale about the unspeakable evil that awaits you in your inbox. You won’t be able to look away!

The Doorman – Chris Pavone

A doorman’s job is not an easy one. They can never fail to remember a resident’s name or the names of regular visitors. They can never call in sick, never leave early, never arrive late. They can never complain or roll their eyes at a request, no matter how ridiculous. They must be unerringly patient and relentlessly nice. You could know that they are proud of, what they are most ashamed of. All the dirty details of their most private problems. But they can never know yours. Not ever. Chicky is flawless at this, and when he gets a feeling that trouble is on its way, he never even considers leaving his post. This excellent thriller lets the reader peak behind the door of several residents of a luxury building!

White King – Juan Gomez-Jurado

Antonia has an unusually gifted forensic mind, with an ability to reconstruct crimes and solve baffling murders. She’s the lynchpin of a top-secret project, Red Queen, created to solve the most devious and dangerous crimes, those that are beyond the skills of the regular police forces. But the project is under attack on all fronts. Across Europe, its agents are murdering each other and cases long believed resolved are rearing their deadly heads again. At the center of it is the mysterious Mr. White, who is as smart and capable as her but, unlike her, he's a psychotic killer. Jon, the only person she trusts, has been kidnapped. With his life at stake, Mr. White gives her a seemingly innocuous challenge: solve three crimes and bring the perpetrators to justice. The only way to keep Jon alive is to play Mr. White’s game, but can even Antonia win a game when she can only see part of the board? So smart!

Departure 37 – Scott Carson

On a clear October day, the American skies empty after hundreds of pilots refuse to fly, triggering a complete grounding as authorities seek to explain an act of baffling coordination that the pilots insist was anything but planned. The pilots received disturbing, middle-of-the-night calls from their mothers, and each mother had a simple and urgent request: do not fly today. There are a few concerning elements to the calls. None of the mothers remember making them, and some of the mothers are dead. And then things get really weird. Prepare yourself for a mashup of espionage, techno thrills and coming of age in this wildly imaginative tale!

Leave No Trace – Jo Callaghan

When the body of a man is found crucified at the top of a hill, AIDE Lock, the world’s first AI detective, and Detective Kat Frank are thrust into the spotlight as they are given their first live case. When a second body is found, the police issue an extraordinary warning to local males aged between thirty and forty years old: avoid drinking in pubs, if you insist on going to a pub, do not leave alone, and definitely do not leave a pub with a stranger. A clever and immersive thriller not to be missed!

Nightwatching – Tracy Sierra

There was someone in the house. We open with a woman standing immobilized by fear, in the shadows that exist between her, the intruder who has invaded her home, and her children. With a blizzard raging outside, she is frantic with the need to protect them from whatever might be about to rage inside. Will she succeed before she becomes overwhelmed by the awareness that she has failed them? She told them that monsters didn’t exist. She lied. A razor sharp, tension filled cat and mouse game ensues, as she tries to reach her children and hide them where he cannot find them. One of the best unreliable narrator dynamics I’ve come across. The only question left to the reader is whether she’s the unreliable one, or they are.

Plot Twist…

The Impossible Thing – Belinda Bauer

How do you find something that doesn’t exist? 1926. On the cliffs of Yorkshire, men are lowered on ropes to steal the eggs of the sea birds who nest there. The most beautiful are sold for large sums. A small girl, penniless and neglected by her family, retrieves one such treasure. Its discovery will forever alter the course of her life. A century later. In a remote cottage in Wales, Patrick finds his friend, Nick, and his mother tied up and robbed. The only thing missing: a carved case containing an incredible scarlet egg. On the hunt to retrieve it, they soon find themselves on the trail of a priceless collection of eggs lost to history. Until now. Wonderfully imaginative!

Medusa Protocol – Rob Hart

When Astrid, known in her assassin days as Azrael, stopped showing up to Assassins Anonymous, the group assumed her past had caught up with her. Only her sponsor Mark, formerly the deadliest killer in the world, holds out hope that she’s okay. Then, during a meeting, the group gets a sign, or rather, a pizza delivery. Is there a psychopath out there who likes olives on their pizza, or is Astrid trying to send Mark a message? When Astrid wakes up in a prison on a remoted island, she realizes she may be forced to do the one thing she can’t to escape, kill someone. Ingenious and action packed!

Dead Money – Jacob Kerr

In her job as unofficial “problem solver” for Silicon Valley’s most ruthless venture capitalist, Mackenzie is used to playing for high stakes. Even if none of those tech-bro millions she’s so good at wrangling ever make it into her pockets. But this time, she’s in way over her head, or so it seems. The lightning-rod CEO of tech’s hottest startup has just been murdered, leaving behind billions in “dead money” frozen in his will. As the company’s chief investor, Mackenzie’s boss has a fortune on the line, and with the police circling, it’s up to Mackenzie to step up and resolve things, fast. Fiendishly clever! And the twist…

Sheepdogs – Elliot Ackerman

Skwerl and Cheese are down on their luck and about to find themselves tangled in the heist of their lives. Skwerl, once an elite member of the CIA's paramilitary unit, was cast out after a raid gone wrong in Afghanistan. Big Cheese Aziz, a former Afghan pilot of legendary skill, now works the graveyard shift at a gas station. Recruited into a shadowy network of "sheepdogs," they embark on a mission to repossess a multi-million-dollar private jet stranded on a remote African airfield. But as they wind through a labyrinth of lies and hidden agendas, they discover that nothing is as it seems. Their contact vanishes, their handler's motives are suspect, and the true source of their payday remains a mystery. Two misfits, one mission and zero back-up…sounds like a blast!

With A Vengeance – Riley Sager

Under false pretenses, Anna has lured those responsible for her family’s downfall onto a luxury train for an overnight journey. Her goal? Confront the people who’ve wronged her, get them to confess their crimes, and deliver them into the hands of authorities waiting at the end of the line. Justice will at last be served. But Anna’s plan is quickly derailed by the murder of one of the passengers. As the train barrels through the night, it becomes clear that someone else on board is enacting their own form of revenge, and that they won’t stop until everyone else is dead. A clever mashup of two of the greats; Murder on the Orient Express & And Then There Were None.

Seesaw Monster – Kotaro Isaka

Miyako suspects her mother-in-law is a murderer. It’s not just a case of them rubbing each other the wrong way. But Miyako isn’t exactly what she seems either. Her husband has no idea about her past life as a secret agent. When she decides to use her professional skills to investigate her mother-in-law, the delicate equilibrium of their lives is thrown wildly out of balance. In a future world dominated by surveillance, facial-recognition software, and AI, the most sensitive information lives only on paper, and confidential messages must be delivered by trusted couriers like Mito. But one delivery pulls Mito into a conspiracy beyond his wildest imagination and forces him into a race against time to defeat a world-changing technological threat. Kinetic and awash in carnage!

The Devil’s Advocate – Steve Cavanagh

He’s won every trial…because he’s behind every murder. Ambitious District Attorney Korn lives to watch prisoners executed. Even if they are not guilty. An innocent man, Andy Dubois, faces the death penalty for the murder of young girl. Korn has already fixed things to make sure he wins a fast conviction. The one thing Korn didn't count on was Eddie Flynn. Slick, street smart, and cunning, the former con artist and now lawyer has only seven days to save an innocent man against a corrupt system and find the real killer. Great plotting and amazing characters…this author delivers every time.

Think Twice – Harlan Coben

Sami, a college grad backpacking in Spain with friends, wakes up one morning, covered in blood. There’s a knife in his hand. Beside him, the body of his girlfriend. Anna. Dead. He doesn’t know what happened. He chooses to run. Twenty-two years later, now a private investigator and new father who’s working off his debts by doing low level surveillance jobs and teaching wannabe sleuths at a night school. One evening, he recognizes a familiar face at the back of the classroom. Anna. It’s unmistakably her. As soon as he makes eye contact with her, she bolts. He is thrown into doubt about the truth of all those years ago and needs answers. Coben is a master at writing thrillers, no list would be complete without him.

The Woman In Suite 11 – Ruth Ware

The chateau on the shores of Lake Geneva is everything Lo’s ever dreamed of, and she hopes she can snag an interview with reclusive billionaire Marcus. Unfortunately, he proves to be even more difficult to pin down than his reputation suggests. When Lo gets a late-night call asking her to come to his hotel room, she agrees despite her own misgivings. She’s greeted, however, by a woman claiming to be Marcus’s mistress, and in life-or-death jeopardy. And so begins a cat and mouse pursuit with no one to trust.

Secrets & Lies…

The Wasp Trap – Mark Edwards

Six friends reunite in London to celebrate the life of their recently deceased ex-employer, a professor that brought them together in 1999 to help build a dating website based on psychological testing. What is meant to be a night of bittersweet nostalgia soon becomes a nightmare when the old friends find themselves caught up in a deadly game. They are given an ultimatum: reveal their darkest secrets to the group or pick each other off one-by-one. Turns out the love questionnaire they helped develop for the dating site was also turned into a tool for weeding out psychopaths: The Wasp Trap. Clearly, it didn’t trap the one playing with them. Sharp and sinister!

So Far Gone – Jess Walter

Rhys has gone off the grid. At Thanksgiving a few years back, he punched his conspiracy-theorist son-in-law in the mouth, chucked his smartphone out a car window and fled for a cabin in the woods, with no one around except a pack of hungry raccoons. Now his old life is about to land right back on his crumbling doorstep. Can this failed husband and father, a man with no internet and a car that barely runs, reemerge into a broken world to track down his missing daughter and save his sweet, precocious grandchildren from the members of a dangerous militia? With the help of his caustic ex-girlfriend and a bipolar retired detective, he heads off on a wild journey through cultural lunacy and the rubble of a life he thought he’d left behind. A rollicking tale full of humor and heart!

Secret Of Secrets – Dan Brown

Robert Langdon, esteemed professor of symbology, travels to Prague to attend a groundbreaking lecture by Katherine, a prominent scientist with whom he has recently begun a relationship. Katherine is on the verge of publishing an explosive book that contains startling discoveries about the nature of human consciousness and threatens to disrupt centuries of established belief. But a brutal murder catapults the trip into chaos, and Katherine suddenly disappears along with her manuscript. Langdon finds himself targeted by a powerful organization and hunted by a chilling assailant sprung from Prague’s most ancient mythology. In a thrilling race through the dual worlds of futuristic science and mystical lore, he uncovers a shocking truth about a secret project that will forever change the way we think about the human mind. A propulsive thrill of a read!

The Death Of Us – Abigail Dean

One spring night, Isabel and Edward’s lives were torn apart. A night they have never spoken about. Decades later, when their attacker is caught, will the divorced couple finally tell the story of that night? Not to the world, but to each other? While waiting to give their victim impact statements, the author takes us through their relationship, its build up and its breakdown. Leaving the reader to wonder if they ever stopped loving each other. This author’s books tell a fictional story based on real crimes, not like the deluge of crime shows and documentaries might, but in the voice of a would-be victim. It never feels salacious or gratuitous, but rather intimate and introspective.

Serial Killer Support Group – Saratoga Schaefer

When Cyra younger sister is murdered by a serial killer, she knows better than to expect justice from the hands of the police department. With the investigation already dying its own slow death, Cyra follows the blood trail and finds her own way forward. Using insider information (don’t ask), Cyra infiltrates a support group for serial killers by pretending to be one herself in the hopes of finding the person who ended her sister’s life. Proving herself to them comes at a cost, but it’s one Cyra is willing to pay in the name of revenge. Dark and witty, you may end up wondering how many monsters walk among us.

The Deepest Fake – Daniel Kalla

Liam has it all, a loving family, a thriving career as CEO of an AI company, financial security, and a bright future. But when he’s diagnosed with a terminal illness, just weeks after discovering his wife’s infidelity, his perfect life unravels. As he grapples with his fate, he prepares to face his final days on his own terms. However, unexplained events inside his company make him question everything, including his diagnosis. In a world of deepfake videos, synthetic voices, and digital deception, couldn’t these technologies be weaponized against him? What if nothing is as it seems?

Killer Potential – Hannah Deitch

A scholarship kid with straight As and big dreams, Evie always thought she was special, that she’d be someone. But after graduating from an elite university, she finds herself drowning in debt and working as an SAT tutor for the super-rich of Los Angeles. Everything changes one Sunday, when she arrives for her weekly lesson at a Beverly Hills estate and, in lieu of a bored teenager, finds the bloody remains of the parents strewn through their beautiful back garden, and a woman crying for help within a closet. As Evie works to free her, the two are spotted and within moments, they go from bystanders to suspects to fugitives. Cunning and hilarious.

Man Made Of Smoke – Alex North

Dan’s life has been haunted by the crime he witnessed as a child, narrowly escaping an encounter with a notorious serial killer. He has dedicated his life since to becoming a criminal profiler, eager to seek justice for innocent victims. So, when his father passes away under suspicious circumstances, Dan revisits his small island community, determined to uncover the truth about his death. Is it possible that the monster he remembers from his childhood nightmares has returned after all these years?

King Of Ashes – S.A. Cosby

When eldest son Roman Carruthers is summoned home after his father’s car accident, he finds his younger brother, Dante, in debt to dangerous criminals and his sister, Neveah, exhausted from holding the family, and the family business, together. Neveah and their father, who run the Carruthers Crematorium see death up close every day. But mortality draws even closer when it becomes clear that the crash that landed their father in a coma was no accident and Dante’s recklessness has placed them all in real danger. Roman, a financial whiz with a head for numbers and a talent for making his clients rich, has some money to help buy his brother out of trouble. But in his work with wannabe tough guys, he’s forgotten that there are real gangsters out there. As his bargaining chips go up in smoke, Roman realizes that he has only one thing left to offer to save his brother: himself, and his own particular set of skills. He is willing to do anything to save his family. Anything.