Home ownership feel like a distant dream? Zillow listings have you convinced you’ll be renting for the rest of your life? The woman at the heart of Carissa Orlando’s debut The September House feels your pain—and she’s prepared to put up with a lot if it means she and her husband can finally have a place to call their own. In this case, that might just mean living in a house that’s haunted. Playful and irreverent, spine-tingling and spooky, The September House puts a fresh spin on the classic haunted house story, delivering an immersive tale about the secrets lurking within one building’s walls, and within the lives of its inhabitants.
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Book Review: ALL THE DANGEROUS THINGS by Stacy Willingham
Stacy Willingham returns today with her sophomore thriller ALL THE DANGEROUS THINGS, a lyrical, immersive mystery that delves into one mother’s waking nightmare—and the dangerous secrets she will uncover as she seeks the truth about the two tragedies that have defined her life. I devoured ALL THE DANGEROUS THINGS over my holiday break this year, and found this to be one of those rare books that genuinely is impossible to put down. Moving between past and present, ALL THE DANGEROUS THINGS delves into the darkest corners of the life of one mother as she investigates the disappearance of her son one year prior—and, in the process, confronts long-buried secrets from her own childhood. Stacy Willingham’s masterful use of dual timelines adds intrigue and atmosphere to this compelling mystery, while her immersive writing draws readers into our protagonist’s increasingly unstable state of mind. Slow-burning yet simmering with tension and suspense, ALL THE DANGEROUS THINGS is hypnotic, immersive, and emotionally-impactful—the kind of mystery you’ll sink into, not coming up for air until you’ve turned the final page. Highly recommended for fans of Lisa Jewell’s THEN SHE WAS GONE and Jennifer Hillier’s LITTLE SECRETS, this is a 2023 mystery not to be missed.
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Book Review: THE FAMILY GAME by Catherine Steadman
Sometimes you just need to read a really fun psychological thriller—and that’s the boat I found myself in last week. After devoting my entire October to-read list to supernatural thrillers for spooky season, I was ready to get back to my psychological suspense roots this month—and ideally, I wanted something that was a little bit more lighthearted and “popcorn-y” for a change of pace. Luckily for me, I had the perfect book for the job waiting on my to-read pile: Catherine Steadman’s brand-new release, THE FAMILY GAME. THE FAMILY GAME is a page-turning suspense story about a writer, her fiancé, and her fiancé's dark family secrets. It was my first time reading a Catherine Steadman novel, and (spoiler alert!) it won’ t be my last. If you loved the movie Ready or Not or Jessica Knoll’s psychological thriller Luckiest Girl Alive, you’ll love Catherine Steadman’s THE FAMILY GAME. Page-turning, fresh, and just the right amount of weird, THE FAMILY GAME is a perfect choice for your winter to-read list. (Bonus: if you celebrate Christmas, this book takes place in the lead-up to the holiday! Plan accordingly.)
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Book Review: CURSE OF THE REAPER by Brian McAuley
There’s no better time to watch a slasher movie—or read a slasher book—than October, and if your idea of perfect Halloween entertainment involves villains like Michael Myers or Freddy Krueger, the book I’m recommending today is the Halloween read for you. Brian McAuley’s CURSE OF THE REAPER is a thriller tailor-made for, as his dedication so aptly puts it, the “Halloween people.” Bloody, meta, occasionally self-deprecating, and always wickedly entertaining, CURSE OF THE REAPER draws inspiration from the world of slasher films to tell a delightfully devious tale of an actor, the silver screen villain to which he devoted his entire career, and the grip that villain might just have on him in the real world. This book is all kinds of bloody fun, a perfect Halloween reading choice for anyone who has ever contemplated which Ghostface killer(s) they would be most likely to survive, attended a genre convention, or, yes, set a timer to buy tickets for Halloween Ends the moment they went on sale (guilty on all counts).
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Book Review: THE NIGHT SHIFT by Alex Finlay
More thrillers should be as fun to read as Alex Finlay’s THE NIGHT SHIFT. Available this week from Minotaur Books, Finlay’s newest thriller delivers a one-two punch of 90’s nostalgia and gripping, genuinely unputdownable plotting, and ties it all together with characters whose intertwining fates—and secrets—will keep you hooked from the book’s first page to its very last. It all begins on the eve of Y2K in New Jersey, when a group of teens are brutally murdered at a local Blockbuster. A suspect is named, but soon after skips bail and vanishes. The case is never solved. Fast forward fifteen years, and a similar tragedy takes place, this time at an ice cream shop. Could the original killer be back in town? THE NIGHT SHIFT unfurls at breakneck speed, practically daring readers to set it down. Readers who love fast-paced thrillers featuring FBI agents (think: books from authors like Lisa Gardner) will devour Finlay’s accessible and immediately-engaging writing; readers who loved Riley Sager’s recent ode to the 90’s in SURVIVE THE NIGHT will love being transported back to the end of the last century in Finlay’s immersive writing. THE NIGHT SHIFT is a full-throttle thriller that is, simply put, the most fun I’ve had reading in quite a while. Pick this one up, clear your calendar, and enjoy the ride.
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