Thriller
The whisper man
Alex North
FICTION North Alex
Thriller, Suspense, Horror
"After the sudden death of his wife, Tom Kennedy believes a fresh start will help him and his young son Jake heal. A new beginning, a new house, a new town. Featherbank. But the town has a dark past. Twenty years ago, a serial killer abducted and murdered five residents. Until Frank Carter was finally caught, he was nicknamed "The Whisper Man," for he would lure his victims out by whispering at their windows at night. Just as Tom and Jake settle into their new home, a young boy vanishes. His disappearance bears an unnerving resemblance to Frank Carter's crimes, reigniting old rumors that he preyed with an accomplice. Now, detectives Amanda Beck and Pete Willis must find the boy before it is too late, even if that means Pete has to revisit his great foe in prison: The Whisper Man. And then Jake begins acting strangely. He hears a whispering at his window." --Amazon.com.
Melmoth : a novel
Sarah Perry
FICTION Perry Sarah
Suspense, Thriller, Horror
"It has been years since Helen Franklin left England. In Prague, working as a translator, she has found a home of sorts--or, at least, refuge. That changes when her friend Karel discovers a mysterious letter in the library, a strange confession and a curious warning that speaks of Melmoth the Witness, a dark legend found in obscure fairy tales and antique village lore. As such superstition has it, Melmoth travels through the ages, dooming those she persuades to join her to a damnation of timeless, itinerant solitude. To Helen it all seems the stuff of unenlightened fantasy. But, unaware, as she wanders the cobblestone streets Helen is being watched. And then Karel disappears. . ."--
Helen Franklin, a British translator living in Prague is told the legend of Melmoth, a lonely, dark figure that wanders the earth, witnessing our crimes and our sins, a personification of our guilt. The story shakes Franklin and she becomes desperate to know more. As she reads through a professor's research on people who believed they saw Melmoth, the collected knowledge takes its toll and she beings to feel she is being followed. Is it Melmoth? This is a fantastic book. It is truly frightening. It is also rich in narrative and description. I craved the cafes, the music hall, and the food on the pages. I loved the nod to 19th century Gothic novelists. Perry is a talented writer. -Anne M
The silent patient
Alex Michaelides
Criminal psychotherapist Theo Faber becomes dangerously obsessed with uncovering the truth about what prompted his client, an artist who refuses to speak, to violently murder her husband in a way that triggers mass public speculation.
I haven’t read a good thriller in awhile, and this one did the trick. A painter with a seemingly perfect life is charged with the violent murder of her husband, but won’t speak to defend herself. A therapist who is obsessed with the case accepts a job at the care facility with the goal of helping her speak. Through diary entries and therapy sessions the truth is revealed...and it’s a pretty good twist! -Mari
The night gardener
Jonathan Auxier
jFICTION Auxier, Jonathan
Kids, Thriller, Suspense, Mystery, Horror
Irish orphans Molly, fourteen, and Kip, ten, travel to England to work as servants in a crumbling manor house where nothing is quite what it seems to be, and soon the siblings are confronted by a mysterious stranger and secrets of the cursed house.
Added by Anne W
Recursion : a novel
Blake Crouch
FICTION Crouch Blake
Thriller
New York City cop Barry Sutton investigates the devastating phenomenon the media has dubbed False Memory Syndrome-- a mysterious affliction that drives its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived. Neuroscientist Helena Smith dedicated her life to creating a technology that will let us preserve our most precious moments of our pasts. If she succeeds, anyone will be able to re-experience a first kiss, the birth of a child, the final moment with a dying parent. Together they face a force that attacks not just our minds but the very fabric of the past. Memory makes reality-- and the force is beginning to unmake the world as we know it. -- adapted from jacket
Added by Beth
Elevation
Stephen King
FICTION King Stephen
Thriller
"Set in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine The latest from legendary master storyteller Stephen King, a riveting, extraordinarily eerie, and moving story about a man whose mysterious affliction brings a small town together--a timely, upbeat tale about finding common ground despite deep-rooted differences. Although Scott Carey doesn't look any different, he's been steadily losing weight. There are a couple of other odd things, too. He weighs the same in his clothes and out of them, no matter how heavy they are. Scott doesn't want to be poked and prodded. He mostly just wants someone else to know, and he trusts Doctor Bob Ellis. In the small town of Castle Rock, the setting of many of King's most iconic stories, Scott is engaged in a low grade--but escalating--battle with the lesbians next door whose dog regularly drops his business on Scott's lawn. One of the women is friendly; the other, cold as ice. Both are trying to launch a new restaurant, but the people of Castle Rock want no part of a gay married couple, and the place is in trouble. When Scott finally understands the prejudices they face-including his own--he tries to help. Unlikely alliances, the annual foot race, and the mystery of Scott's affliction bring out the best in people who have indulged the worst in themselves and others. From Stephen King, our "most precious renewable resource, like Shakespeare in the malleability of his work" (The Guardian), Elevation is an antidote to our divisive culture, as gloriously joyful (with a twinge of deep sadness) as "It's a Wonderful Life.""--
Added by Beth
Queenpin : a novel
Megan E. Abbott
FICTION Abbott, Megan E.
Thriller
This is an older (2007) novel, and is the first I've read by Megan Abbott. What a great crime novel from a female perspective! A little trashy, a little dark, but still well written. Shows us the mob underworld circa 1950's. This was lots of fun for a summer read. -Heidi K
Fever dream : a novel
Samanta Schweblin
FICTION Schwebli Samanta
Fiction, Thriller
"A young woman named Amanda lies dying in a rural hospital clinic. A boy named David sits beside her. She's not his mother. He's not her child. Together, they tell a haunting story of broken souls, toxins, and the power and desperation of family. Fever Dream is a nightmare come to life, a ghost story for the real world, a love story and a cautionary tale. One of the freshest new voices to come out of the Spanish language and translated into English for the first time, Samanta Schweblin creates an aura of strange psychological menace and otherworldly reality in this absorbing, unsettling, taut novel"--
If you enjoy surrealist fiction, you may like Samantha Schweblin’s “Fever Dream,” which is best described as a ghost story, but that label still doesn’t feel quite right. The narration follows a conversation between a hospital-bound woman and a neighbor’s son. However, it is unclear if either are still of this world. This book is a puzzle in both subject and form. -Anne M
The girl on the train : a novel
Paula Hawkins
FICTION Hawkins Paula
Thriller
Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She's even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. 'Jess and Jason', she calls them. Their life - as she sees it - is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy. And then she sees something shocking. It's only a minute until the train moves on, but it's enough. Now everything's changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she's only watched from afar. Now they'll see; she's much more than just the girl on the train...
Three unreliable narrators set the tone for this Hitchcockian thriller. You’ll be drawn into the story not knowing who to believe or trust, just like the characters themselves. Rachel takes the train into London every day, watching the same scenery pass day after day, the same houses, the same strangers. But are they really strangers? Is Rachel really just watching the story unfold? Or is she hiding from something. Full of twists, turns and lies, The Girl on The Train will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. -Beth
This book was very riveting and frankly creepy. After losing his wife, Tom and his young son move into an old house in a town that was plagued by a serial killer decades ago. Real life monsters feel supernatural in this scary thriller! -Mari