Cross My Heart, I Hope You Die

 

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Three exes. One dead boyfriend. One very bad plan for revenge.

Cross My Heart, I Hope You Die by Mallory Arnold is a locked-room mystery that crashed into a slasher movie, and I am so here for it. Cham, Nora, and Ruby all find out they’re dating the same man, and that he’s swindled each of them too. So they do what any reasonable person would do: plot some harmless revenge at a secluded mountain cabin Ruby just inherited. A cabin that happens to sit on the old grounds of a cult that may or may not still have members wandering the woods. What could go wrong?

Everything. Everything goes wrong, and it's gory and ridiculous and so much fun. This is not a subtle book and it doesn’t want to be.

The multiple POV structure works because these three women are nothing alike, so I never lost track of who was who, even with the timeline jumping around a little. There’s real humor mixed in with the frights, which kept it from ever feeling too heavy.

The full cast narration seals the deal. Victoria Connolly, Stacy Gonzalez, Alexandra Hunter, and Gary Tiedemann all lean into the campy energy of this thing, and it makes the audio experience even better than reading it on the page would be.

Toss this in your beach bag or pool bag and binge it in a day or two. It’s popcorn thriller-slasher, and it knows exactly what it is. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Sourcebooks Audio for the gifted listen. 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 another campy thriller-horror mashup How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates.

About the Author

Mallory Arnold is the USA Today bestselling author of How to Survive a Horror Story. She writes creepy, mysterious fiction and lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband and three cats. Follow Mallory on Instagram for more news and information about Mallory and her books.

Buyer Beware

 

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Two women. One house. A whole lot of reasons to never trust a real estate listing again.

Buyer Beware by Catherine Ryan Howard is exactly the kind of layered thriller I can’t stop pushing on people. You’ve got Ellie, moving into 1 Delaney Row with one suitcase and a past she’s desperate to keep buried, except someone wants her out of that house fast, and that just screams something’s off. 

Then there’s Erin, a driven student with dreams of a virology career abroad until Jason enters the picture. And Hannah, an entrepreneur who built her business from nothing and is genuinely happy on her own terms, until she meets Jason too. 

You know these threads are heading somewhere. Howard just makes you wait for it, cranking the tension a little more with every chapter. When it all clicks into place your jaw will be on the floor. 

This is a full binge read. Atmospheric, unsettling, that creeping sense that the house is either haunted, cursed, or Ellie’s just losing it. I really couldn't tell which for most of the book. The multiple POVs and shifting timelines could’ve felt like a lot, but they kept me locked in trying to piece together where it was all going. 

Narrator Ayoola Smart brings each woman to life so distinctly you never lose track of whose head you’re in.

Underneath the twists, this one’s really about female rage, and how some men have a way of making women shrink themselves and hand over their own dreams without even realizing it’s happening.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Out today. Thank you to Simon Audio for the gifted early listen.

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 Killer Vibes. A directionless stoner inherits a house in a swanky neighborhood from an uncle her barely knew and quickly finds himself in a mess of trouble.

About the Author

Catherine Ryan Howard is an award-winning, #1 bestselling thriller writer from Cork, Ireland. Her work has been shortlisted for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best Novel, the UK Crime Writers Association John Creasey/New Blood and Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Awards, and the An Post Irish Crime Fiction Book of the Year multiple times. Her novels have been included in The New York Times Best Thrillers of the Year, The Washington Post’s Best Mysteries and Thrillers of the Year, and The Sunday Times (London)’s Best Thrillers of the Year. She is published in twenty languages, and a number of her titles have been optioned for the screen. Follow Catherine on Instagram and visit her website for more news and information about her books.

Brimstone Hollow

 

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Buried in 24 hours. Why the rush?

A snake-handling preacher dies of a snake bite and gets buried within twenty-four hours. That's not a funeral. That's a cover-up.

Annie Gore is back. If you missed The Witch's Orchard last year, she's a former Air Force Special Investigator turned PI working out of Louisville, and she's exactly the kind of female detective I'm always hunting for and rarely find. This time her client is a woman who's been estranged from her father for twenty years. He was one of the last infamous snake-handling preachers in Appalachia. He's dead from a bite, he was in the ground inside a day, and his daughter wants to know who was in a hurry.

Sullivan is a ninth-generation Appalachian and it shows on every page. The gossip moves through that town faster than Annie does. The sulfur smell sits over the hollers the whole book. You can smell this thing.

The first book had witchy folklore running underneath it. This one doesn't lean on old stories. What's moving under the surface here is human and it's worse for it.

The writing is sharp. The pace rises and falls the way a real investigation does. Every townsperson Annie interviews is a full person, not a plot delivery device. It's a series book that reads perfectly well as a standalone, so don't let book two stop you.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Brimstone Hollow is out August 11. Thank you to Archer and Minotaur for the gifted ARC.

You can preorder a copy of Brimstone Hollow from Bookshop.org and help an indie bookstore while you're at it.

If you enjoyed this review, check out my review of The Witch's Orchard. It's the first book in the Annie Gore series.

About the Author

Archer Sullivan is a ninth generation Appalachian. She's moved thirty-seven times and has lived everywhere from Monticello, Kentucky to Manhattan, New York and from Black Mountain, North Carolina to Beverly Hills, California. Her work has appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Tough, Shotgun Honey, Reckon Review, Rock and a Hard Place, and The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2024. Follow Archer on Instagram for more news and information about her books.

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. 

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.

 

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.

Hot Girl Murder Club

 

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There is so much going on in Hot Girl Murder Club that I sometimes needed a flow chart to keep it straight.

Scout and Isabel have been best friends since childhood, and they move to Hollywood together to chase acting careers. Scout's younger sister Georgia follows them out to California for college. When Georgia's socially awkward classmate, the creepy son of a rich guy, develops a crush on her and invites the girls to his father's party, it should be the night of their lives. Instead Georgia is killed there. Ten years later Scout is still clawing through the industry looking for justice, collecting a network of ambitious women along the way. Then a string of targeted murders hits LA and every arrow points at Scout, and the detective on her case is carrying some tragedy of her own that ties right into it.

There is a lot to love here. Winstead's writing is sharp and the twists come out of nowhere. I was all in for the story of rich powerful men doing terrible things and women who were done waiting around for justice. Scout and her girl gang looking out for other women in need? Yes. Grey, the relentless LAPD detective? Loved her.

Here is where it lost me a little. Once Luca and her agenda entered the picture, the whole thing started to feel bloated. Winstead pulls it all together, but the heart of the story got convoluted and Grey basically vanishes when the plot shifts. Sometimes less really is more.

Brittany Pressley does a phenomenal job with the narration, but this is a book crying out for a full cast. Another voice or two would have made the dual timeline and the parade of characters so much easier to follow.

Bingeable, entertaining, and it has real things to say about grief, abuse, female rage, and vigilante justice. I just wish the message had not gotten a little lost in all that plot. 3.5⭐ rounded up to 4.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the gifted early listen. Hot Girl Murder Club 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 might be interested in my review of Ashley's book This Book Will Bury Me.

About the Author

Ashley Winstead is the national bestselling author of many beloved thrillers, including This Book Will Bury Me, The Last Housewife, In My Dreams I Hold a Knife, and Midnight Is the Darkest Hour. In addition to being an acclaimed thriller writer, Ashley is also the author of two romantic comedies, Fool Me Once and The Boyfriend Candidate, with more on the way. Her novels have been optioned for television; chosen as Book of the Month, Best of Amazon, LibraryReads, Indie Next, Apple Books, and Lone Star picks; and received attention from major outlets, from The New York Times to The Washington Post. Follow Ashley on Instagram. Find more news and information about Ashley's books at her website.

Killer Vibes

 

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I think I found my favorite new detective of the year, and he’s a broke, bisexual stoner who trips into the case completely by accident.

Meet Peter Key. When we first find him, he’s a charming, aimless weed dealer living about an hour away from being either homeless or dead. Then a lawyer tells him he’s inherited a big rundown house in one of Austin’s swankiest neighborhoods from an uncle he barely knew. Good news, right? Except the uncle borrowed half a million dollars right before he died, the money’s vanished, and now the debt lands squarely on Peter. 

Everyone from the lawyer to a very intense real estate broker next door wants him to sell, pay up, and disappear. But Peter wants to keep the house. His only shot is finding the missing money before someone else does, and before he becomes the next body.

This one is a total romp and I loved every second, especially Peter’s laid-back charm, the quirky supporting cast, and the twisty hunt for the cash. It went places I never saw coming and stayed fun the whole way through. John Fram, writing here as Jack Friday, keeps the plot moving and the Keep Austin Weird energy cranked all the way up. On audio, narrator Max Meyers is fantastic. He runs the full range of Peter’s emotions and gives every character in the cast their own distinct voice.

If you like your mysteries offbeat, with great lgbtq+ representation and enough twists to keep any armchair detective guessing, bump this to the top of your summer list. It’s already one of my favorite reads of the year, and I’m thrilled it’s the first in a planned series. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the gifted early listen. Killer Vibes is out July 14.

One more thing: come hang out with us live. I’m interviewing Jack Friday himself this Thursday, July 9 at 4pm EST / 3pm CST. Join us!

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

Jack Friday is a new pen name for horror writer John Fram. Check out my review of his previous book The Midnight Knock.

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.

Lydia Cooper Is a Lie

 

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One photo. That’s all it took to turn Lydia Cooper’s quiet life with her dad into a full-on run for survival.

Lydia’s dad works in cybersecurity, so he knows exactly what the internet can do to a person. No social media, heavy parental controls, the whole lockdown. Lydia thinks he’s just being the most overprotective dad on the planet. So when she gets left out of yet another group chat and misses movie night at her crush’s house, she’s had enough. She figures out his password, makes the account everyone at school is on, and finally starts to feel like she belongs. Then an innocent group photo she’s tagged in changes everything, and suddenly she and her dad are running for their lives from people she didn’t know existed.  

Turns out her whole history is built on secrets, and she’s not even sure who she really is.

Lydia Cooper Is a Lie is smart, fast, and packed with twists. What I loved most is that Meaghan McIsaac writes Lydia as an actual kid. No eye-rolling sarcasm, no 13-going-on-30 attitude, just an earnest girl who wants to fit in, which makes you root for her hard when things go sideways. 

Jensen Olaya’s narration is a big part of why it works. Her voice sounds young, and she nails all the swirl of nerves and confusion Lydia’s feeling. It’s the everyday middle school stuff, fitting in, first crushes, the pull of social media, dropped into a movie-style thriller, and the combo really works. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Quick note for parents: this gives your middle grade reader a genuine thriller without anything beyond a PG-13 rating.

 

Thank you to Simon Audio for the gifted early listen. Lydia Copper Is a Lie is out tomorrow. Grab a copy on Bookshop.org and help an indie store while you're at it.

If you enjoyed this review, you might also be interested in Julie A. Swanson's book North of Tomboy.

About the Author

Meaghan McIsaac is the author of several books for young readers, including Lydia Cooper Is a Lie, Cheat Code, Movers, and The Bear House. She has an MA in writing for children from the University of Winchester and is also an illustrator for picture books and graphic novels. 

Follow Meaghan on Instagram and find more news and information about her books at her website.