Keep Them Close

 

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Keep Them Close by David Ellis was one of my most anticipated books of the summer, and it delivered. I started with the ebook, then my Libby hold for the audio came in, and I ended up listening to about 75% of it. No regrets. Total binge.

Two siblings. One murder. A whole lot of secrets neither of them wants dug up. Allison is a high-powered defense attorney who has had it with her cheating husband, Finley. Her brother Luke is a good guy who has landed himself in real legal trouble. When Finley turns up dead, Detective Louise starts pulling threads, and the closer she gets, the more the family’s buried history threatens to come apart. Told across three points of view with timeline shifts, this one asks you to pay attention, and it rewards you for it.

Ellis’s writing is as sharp as ever and his plotting is diabolical. So many twists and turns, but he weaves every thread together without a single loose end. Masterful storytelling, plain and simple.

The full cast narration is a huge part of why the audio works so well. Kelli Tager as Allison, Sean Patrick Hopkins as Luke, and Robin McAlpine as Louise are all fantastic, and the distinct voices make the complex plot so much easier to track. Bonus points to whoever decided to note which character each narrator voiced up front. Small touch, big help.

Fast paced, complex characters, twisty, great writing, and narration that nails it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ all the way. Do not miss this one. Out now.

Grab a copy at Bookshop.org and help an indie bookstore while you're at it.

If you enjoyed this review, you might be interested in my review of Ellis's book The Best Lies.

About the Author

David Ellis is a judge and a #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling, Edgar Award–winning author of twelve novels of crime fiction, including Look Closer, as well as ten books coauthored with James Patterson. He has served as a justice of the Illinois Appellate Court since 2014. Ellis lives outside Chicago with his wife and three children. 

IG Live | a conversation with author Lauren Nossett

 

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I spent time talking with Lauren Nossett athis afternoon bout Indie Darling and she was so fabulous. You can watch the replay of our conversation here.

Kelly Williams is a Nashville private investigator who helps women: sisters looking for lost siblings, wives chasing affairs, daughters with men lingering outside their windows. She drives a little red sports car and loves Dolly Parton. Her newest client turns out to be Seraph, the polarizing frontwoman of indie band The Garden Snakes, and she’s been getting threatening messages. Then Seraph is shot on stage mid-performance and the ambulance carrying her disappears.

Lauren is a former professor with a PhD who turned novelist, and you can hear it in how she thinks about the book. We talked about writing Nashville as a city with two faces, what it costs to be a famous woman with opinions, and why Kelly’s whole practice is built on believing women when nobody else does. 

Indie Darling is out July 28 from Minotaur. If you like your mysteries with a strong sense of place and a detective you’d actually want to have dinner with, put this one on your list. Follow Lauren on Instagram to keep up with new about her book and book tour events. 

Thank you so much Lauren! It was a pleasure chatting with you! 

You can read my full review of Indie Darling here. Grab a copy at Bookshop.org and help an indie bookstore while you're at it.

The Death Row Club

 

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The daughter of a serial killer gets invited to an annual weekend retreat for the adult children of serial killers. I read a lot of these and I’d never seen that angle before.

Most serial killer thrillers focus on the victims, the killer, or the detective. The Death Row Club by V.A. Vazquez does something different. The focus is on the families left behind. The kids who share a last name with a monster and have to live in the wreckage of what he did. 

There were so many elements I love here: a locked room mystery, dual POV, and shifting timelines. Maybe it was my high expectations, but unfortunately, the premise was better than the execution. 

The story runs on two POVs. The first half belongs to Nicola. She loses her teaching job when her dad is convicted of multiple murders. She then gets invited to a secret weekend getaway for the adult children of serial killers. Bad choices are made and someone turns up dead. 

The other belongs to Steffanie, a young woman running from an abusive father who keeps finding her no matter where she hides. I’ll be straight with you: I liked Steffanie’s chapters more. They carried more tension and pulled me forward.

For a good chunk of the book, I felt like I was listening to two separate stories and couldn’t see how they fit. I really didn't know one of storylines was taking place in the past. Vazquez jams them together with the help of the reader’s suspension of disbelief. It left me with the feeling of "what the heck?" instead of a more satisfied feeling at the end. 

On audio, Meg Price and Stephanie Németh-Parker split the narration and both did strong work giving their characters distinct footing.

Sometimes less is more. Either timeline could have been fleshed out and would have stood up on their own. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Simon Audio for the gifted listen. The Death Row Club is out now. Grab a copy on Bookshop.org and support an indie store while you're at it.

I you enjoy enjoyed this review, you might be interested in my review of The Last Time We Drowned, another locked room mystery.

About the Author

V. A. Vazquez was born and raised in Buffalo, New York, where she currently teaches English. She received her BA in English from Barnard College and used to live in Scotland. Follow V.A. on Instagram and visit her website for more news about her work.

Thrillers Noboby's Talking About (But Should Be)

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You don’t need to read 60 thrillers a year. You just need someone who did.

I spent 20 years as a high school librarian matching readers with books, and if that job taught me anything, it’s that the best book on the shelf is rarely the one with the biggest display. Everyone’s read the thrillers the algorithm keeps pushing. These twelve are the ones it skipped: small presses, quiet releases, debut authors, and stories that got buried under bigger names the same week they came out. I’d press every one of these into your hands.

The Last Hitman by Robin Yocum. He killed for a living. Now lunch at the diner is the highlight of his day, until the FBI comes knocking. A character-driven mob story that deserves so much more attention. Grab a copy on Bookshop.org. Read my full review here.

Molka by Monika Kim. Feminine rage from page one. A dark, unflinching revenge thriller about hidden cameras and the women who fight back. Not an easy read, but a necessary one. Grab a copy on Bookshop.org. Read my full review here.

Dead Man Blues by S.D. House. Your ex-wife married your best friend. Now he needs your help solving a murder or two. Yes, it’s as good as it sounds. Grab a copy on Bookshop.org. Read my full review here.

Fun City Heist by Michael Kardos. A washed-up drummer, a dying friend, and one last job on a crumbling Jersey Shore boardwalk. Funny, chaotic, and with way more heart than a heist book has any right to have. Grab a copy on Bookshop.org. Read my full review here.

Where the Bones Lie by Nick Kolakowski. A drought reveals a barrel at the bottom of a dried-up lake with a long-missing mob boss inside. Sharp, twisty noir with a bourbon-loving Hollywood fixer you’ll root for. Grab a copy on Bookshop.org. Read my full review here.

Headlights by C.J. Leede. Part police procedural, part horror, completely gripping. An FBI agent pulled back into the bizarre unsolved case that broke him. I had no notes. None. Grab a copy on Bookshop.org. Read my full review here.

Saint of the Narrows Street by William Boyle. A gritty Brooklyn family crime drama where secrets and lies won’t hold. Atmospheric and quietly devastating. Grab a copy on Bookshop.org. Read my full review here.

Dark Neon & Dirt by Thomas Trang. A Vietnamese war orphan turned master thief in Los Angeles. One of the most original premises I’ve read in years, from an author nobody’s talking about yet. Grab a copy on Bookshop.org. Read my full review here.

Fadeaway Joe by Hugh Lessig. An aging enforcer whose boss goes legit and leaves him out in the cold. Tons of personality and a character who sticks with you. Grab a copy on Bookshop.org. Read my full review here.

Penitence by Kristin Koval. A small-community crime story that flew under the radar. A quiet, powerful debut worth finding. Grab a copy on Bookshop.org. Read my full review here.

Only Way Out by Tod Goldberg. A hapless lawyer engineers a heist, then dies before he can enjoy it, leaving a mess behind. Darkly funny with a great premise. Grab a copy at Bookshop.org. Read my full review here.

Dead Money by Jakob Kerr. A Silicon Valley fixer, a murdered tech CEO, and a debut author who came out swinging. Twisty and smart. Grab a copy at Bookshop.org. Read my full review here.

Want the whole dozen in one place? I put them all on a Bookshop list so you can browse the covers and grab whichever one calls to you.

Which one are you adding to your list? Tell me in the comments, and if you’ve got a hidden gem of your own, I want to hear about it.

 

Objects in Lakes

 

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A body in the lake on the Fourth of July. Again. 

Seven years ago, Olive and Richie’s four-year-old daughter drowned during their neighborhood’s big Fourth of July party on Duck Lake, Michigan. Olive has spent every day since numb with grief and pills while her oncologist husband thrives in the spotlight. Now it’s the Fourth of July again, and another body comes out of the lake. This time it’s a neighbor, a former NFL star with demons of his own. And suddenly Olive can’t stop asking questions about the night her daughter died.

My honest take as a retired librarian who has read a LOT of these: this is a solid debut. Entertaining, well paced, twisty, with a satisfying ending. Olive is a complex lead, and the backstories in this picture perfect neighborhood kept me interested. Did it break new ground? No. There were a couple of slow spots, and Richie is your standard issue pompous doctor.  But for a debut? Impressive. I’ll be watching what Ramas does next.

The dual narration by Rob Brinkman and Megan Tusing really made this one pop on audio. If you’re deciding between formats, go audio.

This one perfect for readers who love psychological thrillers, domestic suspense, and family drama. Fans of Shari Lapena and Stacy Willingham, this is one you should check out. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Simon Audio for the gifted early listen. Objects in Lakes by Rachael Ramas is out July 21. Grab a copy on Bookshop.org and support an indie store while you're at it.

If you enjoyed this review, you might be interested in my review of Before I Go to Sleep.

About the Author

Rachael Ramas is an American author, producer, and Michigan native who writes gripping thrillers rooted in emotional truth and moral complexity. A member of Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers, she co-owns a law firm with her husband in Boca Raton, Florida, where the legal world offers endless story inspiration. Living with a rare autoimmune disease and partial hearing loss, Ramas advocates for authentic disability representation in literature. Objects in Lakes is her debut novel. Follow Rachael on Instagram and visit her website for more news and information about her work.

Don't Look Away

 

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This is a pure popcorn thriller, and sometimes that’s exactly what I’m in the mood for.

Leslie Woodhouse, a former defense attorney, is living a quiet life as Florida retiree. She and her husband Robert have a condo on the beach and are enjoying their time together. Their lives are shattered when Robert is arrested and accused of being the Gulf Coast Killer, the man who’s been terrorizing the coast for months. She’s certain it’s a mistake, so she comes out of retirement to defend him herself. Problem is, his DNA was at one of the crime scenes.

Leslie carries this whole book. She’s smart, vivacious, down to earth, exactly the woman you’d want on your side of a courtroom. Robert, I’ll be honest, bored me a little. But the secrets and lies stacking up between him, Leslie, and his son Weston kept me locked in. The ending got a touch more complicated than it needed to be, but it still landed somewhere satisfying.

I did this one on audio and the full cast made it. Nancy Linari, Frederick Sanders, and Gary Tiedemann voice the three POV characters, and those three distinct voices really made the story pop.

Domestic suspense, serial killer, and legal thriller all rolled into one. Perfect for the pool or the beach bag. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Simon Audio for the gifted listen. Don't Look Away is out now. 

grab a copy on Bookshop.org and support an indie store while you're at it.

If you enjoyed this review, you may be interested in Two Kinds of Stranger, a legal thriller by Steve Cavanagh.

About the Author

Daniel Kenitz is the author of The Perfect Home and several short stories, including the Pushcart Prize–nominated “A Hand to the Plow” (2022, Red Rock Review). He lives in southeastern Wisconsin within jogging distance of dairy cows. Don’t Look Away is his second novel. Follow Daniel on Instagram and visit his website for more news and information about his books.

IG Live | a conversation with author John Fram (writing as Jack Friday)

 

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I just wrapped my Live with John Fram (writing as Jack Friday) and I’m still turning over half the things he said.

The whole conversation is right here, so if you missed us live, hit play. John writes some of the eeriest queer horror out there (The Bright Lands, The Midnight Knock), and now he’s stepped into crime fiction as Jack Friday with a series that’s funny, sexy, and soaked in Austin. We got into why he picked up a new name, how Peter Key showed up on the page, and what it actually takes to switch lanes from horror to mystery without losing the readers who came for the scares.

Quick refresher on the book if it’s new to you: Killer Vibes (out July 14) introduces Peter Key, a broke, bisexual, dedicated stoner who inherits a rundown house in one of Austin’s nicest neighborhoods from an uncle he barely knew. Then comes the half a million in debt, a bag of cash, and a growing suspicion that the death wasn’t an accident. Before he knows it he’s calling himself the laziest PI in Texas.

He was a fantastic guest. Warm, quick, and clearly having a blast building this world. Hit this link to pop over to my IG to watch the replay before you forget, and put this one on your July list.

Killer Vibes is out now — grab a copy on Bookshop.org and support an indie store while you're at it.

About the Author

Jack Friday is the pen name of John Fram, the author of several queer supernatural thrillers such as The Bright Lands and The Midnight Knock. He lives in Austin. Follow John on Instagram and visit his website for more news and information about hsi books.