Cry Havoc By Jack Carr

Jack Carr’s Cry Havoc is a relentless plunge into the shadows of the Vietnam War where history and fiction collide in a way that feels frighteningly real. At the center is Tom Reece, a Navy SEAL attached to MACV SOG, whose call sign “Havoc” marked the men willing to go behind the fence on missions no one else would dare take. This isn’t just a war story; it is the origin of the Reece legacy, showing exactly where James Reece inherited his grit, skill, and uncompromising sense of justice (aka badassery). From covert operations in Laos to Soviet spies feeding intelligence to the North Vietnamese, Carr pulls readers into a world of betrayal, sacrifice, and ruthless courage.

Carr does not flinch from the brutal realities. The USS Pueblo incident, the tangled web of espionage with Soviets inside the United States government and Americans in the GRU, and the devastating reality of SOG teams ambushed because of leaks are all presented with a rawness that cuts deep. The battles are cinematic, the tension is suffocating, and the moral weight is unforgettable. Tom Reece himself embodies everything readers crave in a hero. He is ruthless when justice demands it, guided by a moral compass that will never allow harm to the innocent. He is loyalty, ferocity, and courage personified, the definition of an authentic American forged in war. Retribution by his hand is not just payback; it is a reckoning.

This is Carr’s most military history-rich and factually grounded thriller yet, and the effect is stunning. His author’s note reveals that many of the operations woven into the narrative are based on actual events, and that knowledge makes the story reverberate even more. The emotional punch is lasting. Images of what these soldiers endured and the creed of “leave no man behind” will stay with you long after the last page. Cry Havoc is not just a book you read; it is a book you feel in your bones. Do not hesitate. Just read the book. It is that good.

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Victim #8 By Traci Hunter Abramson

Traci Hunter Abramson’s Victim #8 picks up right where Hometown Vendetta left off, throwing readers straight back into the lives of Luke Steele and Amberlyn Reiner. Still reeling from the trauma of their last mission, both characters are learning to navigate loss and healing while realizing just how much stronger they are together. Their next challenge comes quickly when eight stabbing victims are discovered along the banks of Istanbul’s Faith District—one of them an American journalist. With stakes that stretch from Turkey to Azerbaijan, Russia, Washington D.C. and other places across the globe, Luke and Amberlyn are once again pushed into a deadly game of espionage and betrayal. And while nothing is ever a coincidence in this world, their partnership might be the only constant they can truly rely on.

What makes this book so easy to recommend is the perfect blend of high-stakes international intrigue and emotional depth. Abramson gives us that ticking-clock thriller energy—murders to solve, conspiracies unraveling, and nuclear threats looming—while never losing sight of the human core of the story. Luke and Amberlyn aren’t just operatives; they’re two people healing, learning to trust, and letting a believable and slow-burn romance unfold in the middle of chaos. Readers will love the globe-spanning settings that feel like a spy movie come to life, the authentic detail Abramson brings to intelligence work, and the irresistible chemistry between her leads.

By the end, it’s impossible not to root for this dynamic duo. Luke and Amberlyn are kindred spirits who balance grit with vulnerability, attraction with loyalty, and patriotism with personal sacrifice. Abramson has a gift for writing clean, heart-pounding stories that leave readers both satisfied and impatient for the next installment. Victim #8 is proof that this series is only gaining momentum—and if you’re not already invested in these two, now is the perfect time to dive in.

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Silent Creek By Tony Wirt

Tony Wirt is firmly on my auto-read list, and Silent Creek proves exactly why. He’s a master of slow-building dread—the kind that doesn’t just sneak up on you, it moves in, settles on the couch, and dares you to look away. His take on small-town life is dead on: the gossip, the grudges, the way people cling to tradition like it’s gospel. In Wirt’s world, secrets don’t just stay buried—they ferment, sour, and eventually explode. And wow, does it get messy.

What I loved most is how real these characters feel. Wirt doesn’t do cardboard cutouts; he gives us flawed, complicated people you might actually bump into at the gas station, went to high school with—or secretly cross the street to avoid. Each fractured friendship, every layer of jealousy or regret, feels like it’s been simmering for decades. By the time everything boils over, you’re clutching the book tighter than a cup of bad diner coffee, desperate to know how it all ends. And trust me—the ending? Shocking, in the best way.

This is dark tension at its finest—an emotional reckoning that drips with suspense and nostalgia, twisted together in a way only Wirt can pull off. He doesn’t just hand you a thriller; he hands you a story about people, about the ways hate and love can coexist in a single heartbeat, and about the fallout of never letting go. If slow-burn suspense is your jam, and you like your small towns served with a side of secrets and revenge, Silent Creek is an absolute must.

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Photograph By Brian Freeman

Brian Freeman’s standalones never miss, and Photograph proves it yet again. One old snapshot—just a little girl in the rain—turns into a live wire of secrets, lies, and danger. Shannon Wells a PI who runs her business out of a high-top table at a tiki bar in Daytona called  Beachside, charges into the case with grit sharpened by her own bruised past, her trauma and tangled family history pushing her to dig deeper when anyone else would’ve walked away. She’s strong, she’s flawed, and she’s relentless—exactly the kind of protagonist you want leading you through a maze where every clue cuts a little deeper.

And oh, the way he weaves this web. The layers and connections between characters that span twenty-six years, looping and tangling in ways you’ll never predict. Every time you think you’ve got it pinned down, another revelation flips the board. It’s proof of just how much history, heartbreak, and even the keys to the future a single photograph can hold. Lean in, because this isn’t just a mystery— it’s a relentless, twist-loaded chase through the shadows of the past, and it will not let you go.

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The Hitchhikers By Chevy Stevens

The Hitchhikers transported me straight back to 1976 in the most vivid, immersive way. From the setting of the Olympics to the prices at thrift shops and grocery stores, every detail felt authentic and alive. Rotary phones, hitchhiking culture, hippies passing joints on the roadside—Chevy Stevens captured it all. I was hooked from the very first page.

The story follows Tom and Alice, a couple on a road trip, who cross paths with Ocean and Blue, two strangers camping under the same summer sky. What begins as an act of kindness soon turns into something far more dangerous. Tom and Alice couldn’t have known that their friendly gesture would thrust them into the lives of two young people fleeing a violent, chaotic past—leaving behind a trail of unpredictable chaos and death.

Told through dual points of view—Alice and Jenny (a.k.a. Ocean) —the novel explores the inner lives of two strong women, each shaped by their own trauma and survival. Their voices are raw, compelling, and heartbreakingly real. I loved the way their backstories were slowly revealed, adding tension and emotional depth as the story unfolded. It reminded me that life is like a chess game: every move is a reaction, and the past always has a way of catching up.

What stood out most to me was the unshakable suspense. Stevens expertly weaves a psychological thriller that is not only chilling, but deeply human. The realism is partly what makes it so haunting—the fear and vulnerability of hitchhiking in the '70s, inspired by real-life dangers, feels both distant and disturbingly familiar.

If you're a fan of character-driven thrillers with immersive settings and emotional weight, this one delivers!

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Denied Access By Don Bentley

Don Bentley’s Denied Access hits like vintage Rapp with a fresh emotional charge. Yes, it’s book #24, but it’s not in series order—it snaps back to the early days, not long after Mary’s murder. That loss lit the fuse on Mitch Rapp’s vengeance arc, and Bentley leans into the fallout. Now Mitch is with Greta, and for the first time you feel him reaching for something beyond payback—a chance to make amends and move on. Greta isn’t just a love interest; she’s the granddaughter of an ex-Soviet banker-turned-spy who once worked with Thomas Stansfield, now serving as interim CIA director. The past refuses to stay buried, and Bentley wrings both menace and meaning from it.

Bentley gives voice and depth to threads fans have been following for years. You see Irene Kennedy, Stan Hurley, Thomas Stansfield, Greta, and other side characters from a fresh perspective—not just as archetypes, but as people with histories, loyalties, and vulnerabilities. The mission itself is a powder keg: Irene, Hurley, and Stansfield are scrambling to stop a war between Russia and Latvia, and there’s only one man they can call to get the dirty work done. Enter Mitch Rapp.

As the capstone to the origin arc that began with Vince Flynn’s American Assassin and Kill Shot, Bentley had enormous shoes to fill. He meets the challenge by leaning into the series’ core elements—broken intelligence networks, betrayals in the shadows, and the lingering shockwaves of the Soviet collapse. And while the novel is rooted in the post–Cold War era, the parallels to today’s Russia–Ukraine conflict ripple off the page. It’s eerie—in the best way—to read a story that feels both historical and urgently current. That resonance gives the action extra voltage and the quieter moments unexpected weight.

Bottom line: chronology buffs will love where this book lands (early in Rapp’s life, late in publication), and longtime fans will appreciate how it deepens the canon. A true Mitch Rapp fan devours each book, and this is exactly the kind of payoff that loyalty deserves—high-stakes, tightly wound, and surprisingly moving. If you want Rapp both lethal and human, Denied Access delivers.

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The Whisper Place By Mindy Mejia

The Whisper Place is Book 3 in the Iowa Mystery Series following Jonah Kendrick and Max Summerlin and their not so traditional private investigation firm, Celina Investigations.   First of all, let me say the first two books are fabulous and the more you read, the more invested you are in Jonah and Max and their quirky but fun relationship as friends and co-workers, but if you don’t have time to read those, it is safe to jump in here.  The author will give you just the right amount of information to catch up and not be repetitive for the series readers. 

With Max Summerlin’s law enforcement past and Jonah Kendrick’s psychic gifts, they’re an unlikely pair—but exactly the team you’d want on your side when someone goes missing.  One day Charlie walks into their office and asks them to find his girlfriend.  This is where the questions start. (1) He does not know her last name and a lot of other basic information;  (2) He has stacks and stacks of cash and; (3) It is obvious he is holding some secrets of his own. 

This story tells us about Darcy (maybe Kate) who is running from something, but what or who is unknown.  The Whisper Place  is told in a linear timeline, through multiple POV’s with gut wrenching and heart-breaking flashbacks.  This book is part mystery and part psychological thriller.  Mindy Mejia doesn’t just tell a story—she drops you right into the heart of it. You feel every ounce of the trauma and terror the main character endures. The pacing? Flawless. Just when you think things are settling down, Mejia hits you with a twist that pulls you right back in. The red herrings? Constantly keep you guessing. I won’t be missing a single thing she writes.

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Scar The Sky By J. Todd Scott

One moment. One spark. One chance encounter—and Andi Ellis's entire world changed. Once a vibrant teacher who lit up every room and loved her work, her life took a drastic turn when she was struck by lightning during a field hockey game. She died… and was brought back. But the woman who returned was no longer the same. Unable to find understanding in her hometown, she sets out in search of others who have experienced what she has—other lightning strike survivors.

Enter Adan Rio and Linnea Wren—former FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit agents turned private detectives with a bond forged through past trauma and years of unshakable trust. Linnea possesses a near-supernatural ability to draw meaningful conclusions from the faintest of clues, while Rio brings emotional intelligence, physical strength, and social finesse to their partnership.

Years later, Andi and her young daughter Ruby are living in quiet seclusion in New Cornelia, Arizona, when Rio and Linnea are pulled into the search for a senator’s missing daughter. What begins as a separate investigation slowly unravels into something much larger and darker. Two paths, thousands of miles apart, collide—connected by a serial killer obsessed with Lichtenberg figures and the power of lightning.

J. Todd Scott is completely in his element here. This story is a masterful blend of suspense, horror, and science fiction, wrapped in themes of trauma, isolation, and survival. I love how he messes with my head just enough to make me wonder—have I met Rio and Linnea before? He subtly builds their backstories and trauma across the pages, grounding their characters in a deeply human way as the tension escalates.

The pacing is tight, the red herrings are devious, and just when I thought I had it all figured out—boom, the suspect slips away. This is not a story you skim. It’s one you live in, every single page pulling you deeper into its electric current.  In Scar the Sky, lightning rewires fate and unleashes a killer obsessed with scars, storms and anyone left in its wake.

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The Wasp Trap By Mark Edwards

Mark Edwards’ The Wasp Trap is the very definition of a wickedly clever thriller—ingenious, chilling, and impossible to put down. What begins as a nostalgic dinner among six former college friends quickly mutates into the dinner party from hell, where secrets are the only currency and survival depends on revealing them. Edwards traps his characters—and his readers—in a grand house where phones die, the internet vanishes, and escape is impossible. The tension builds with every page as Will, Sophie, Rohan, Lilly, Theo, and Georgina realize their captors don’t want money—they want truth, and they’ll stop at nothing to get it.

Told through dual timelines, the novel shifts seamlessly between the summer of 1999—when a dating app experiment spiraled into a test to identify psychopaths—and the present, where the fallout of that fateful summer crashes down. Each flashback peels away layers of betrayal, ambition, and regret, while the present-day scenes escalate into a claustrophobic game of “who has the secret?” Edwards saves his sharpest blows for Part 3, where the pace becomes so relentless you’ll be glued to the pages until the very end.

With locked-room suspense, morally tangled questions, and secrets sharp enough to sting, The Wasp Trap is fast-paced, binge-worthy, and completely unpredictable.

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Family Ties By Michele Packard

Michele Packard has done it again—but not in the way you’d expect. I’ve read everything she’s written, and Family Ties is not even remotely in the same wheelhouse…and I am absolutely here for it. This book is a barn burner, the perfect genre mashup of psychological thriller and horror, with a tension that grips you by the throat and refuses to let go.


The patient’s journal entries are chilling and disorienting, and the fact that the book is split into two parts only heightens the madness—you’re constantly questioning whether you’re reading the truth, the dangerous unraveling of lies, or if you’re the one losing it. Packard leans hard into the unreliable narrator trope, and she nails it. The ambiguous, unpredictable ending left me reeling and clutching the book with a million questions—will there be more? Can there please be more? Family Ties is the kind of story that makes you want to text your bookish friends at 2 a.m. just to scream, “you are NOT ready for this ending.”

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The Quietist By Daniel David Gothard

At just 168 pages, The Quietist is proof that brevity can be powerful. There isn’t a single wasted word—every page carries weight, and every scene feels essential. What impressed me most was how fully formed the three characters, Dr. Christopher Lansing, Catherine Stannard and Patrick Hawton are; they’re not just figures on a page but living, breathing people whose inner lives you can feel. Each of them reacts to grief and trauma in such different ways that their stories become a mirror for how grief, trauma and survival reshape us all—sometimes breaking us down, sometimes allowing unexpected strength to surface.

As I read, I found myself deeply moved by the way each character reflects on their life before and after the accident. Their thoughts reach across time—about the joy they once had, the regrets they carry, the futures they imagine, and the pasts they wish they could rewrite. It’s a haunting, beautiful meditation on loss and possibility, one that I’d recommend to anyone who appreciates character-driven fiction that goes straight to the heart.

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Leverage By Amran Gowani

Leverage is a whip-smart, punchy debut that drags the high-powered, low-morality world of hedge funds straight into the light—and doesn’t care who it offends along the way. Al Jafar, our quick-tongued antihero, is losing millions by the minute, his life is on the line and still somehow managing to make us laugh out loud with deadpan one-liners and spot-on pop culture jabs. Team America, superheroes, corporate buzzwords (and I think I remember Monty Python being referenced in ‘your general direction) —it’s all fair game, and Al’s sarcasm isn’t just sharp, it’s survival. In a world this toxic humor might be the only thing keeping him from going under.

The title isn't just a nod to financial jargon—it’s a razor-sharp metaphor for the pressures, power plays, and moral compromises that define the protagonist’s world. On the surface, it refers to the risky borrowing tactics hedge funds use to amplify profits (and losses), but for Al Jafar, it’s also the emotional and psychological weight used against him. His firm leverages his identity, his fear, and his desperation to protect itself, while Al scrambles to hold onto his career, his sanity, and his sense of self-worth. Gowani uses the concept to explore who gets power, who gets crushed by it, and what it really costs to survive in a system where everything—including people—is currency.

Gowani doesn’t flinch from the ugly stuff either. The racism? Constant. The bullying? Corporate and casual. The gaslighting and moral rot? Oh, it’s thriving. Everyone in this world has sold their soul, but Al is still clinging to a receipt—and watching him maneuver through the greed and hypocrisy is part thrill ride, part slow-burn tragedy. Leverage is biting, bold, and brutally honest.

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The Witch's Orchard By Archer Sullivan

The Witch’s Orchard is steeped in Appalachian folklore and small-town tradition in a way that feels both timeless and dead-on accurate. From whispered variations of the witch legend to small town life revolving around church activities and judging people by their last names, every detail rings true. The setting isn't just a backdrop—it's alive. You can almost taste the homemade desserts on the table, feel the tension of old family reputations, and, yes, crave the pepper chicken from the local Chinese restaurant (my personal favorite). The cultural nuance is rich and specific, making the story deeply immersive and undeniably atmospheric.

This is book one in the Annie Gore series, and I’m already counting down for the next. Annie is the kind of protagonist I love—tough, grounded, smart, and carrying just enough of a complicated past to keep things interesting. She’s not a superhero, but she’s resourceful and real, and her emotional depth adds a layer of authenticity to the investigation. Whether she’s facing small-town politics, buried secrets, or her own ghosts, Annie brings a quiet strength and compassion that’s easy to root for.

The pacing in The Witch’s Orchard is pitch perfect. The tension simmers early, then ramps up into a full-on race to the truth that never lets up. Each chapter propels the story forward with urgency but never sacrifices character or atmosphere. The mystery itself is one that needs to be uncovered in a town that needs answers and Annie Gore is determined to do so. If you like your mysteries with grit, folklore, and heart, this one delivers—and then some.

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The Art Of A Lie By Laura Shepherd Robinson

Step inside 1749 London and you’ll find yourself elbow-deep in sugar, scandal, and schemes. Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s The Art of a Lie doesn’t just recreate the past—it wraps you in it, from the grime of the streets to the tension in the gambling halls and the shady characters behind those doors. The level of historical detail is extraordinary, from the confectionery craft to the way characters speak and carry themselves. I was completely transported—lost among the pages in a world I did not want to leave.

Told in four parts from two sharply drawn points of view, we follow Hannah Cole, a recently widowed confectioner trying to survive in a man’s world, and William Devereux, a mysterious “entrepreneur” with his own secrets and connections to Hannah’s late husband. Their narratives twist around each other, full of guarded truths, a list of lies and secrets each character wants to keep guarded and unspoken tension, until the arrival of a third force—former author turned magistrate Henry Fielding (yes that Henry Fielding author of The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, 1979) —ratchets up the stakes. What begins as a slow unraveling of a possible inheritance turns into a dangerous game of deception and survival.

This is more than a cat-and-mouse thriller—it’s a masterclass in manipulation, where trust is fleeting and everyone is vulnerable to being molded to someone else's purpose. Hannah and William are both prisoners of their past, haunted by the lies they’ve told and the truths they fear. As alliances shift and the pressure builds, the question becomes not just who will win, but who will survive the lies intact.

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In Deadly Company By L. S. Stratton

In Deadly Company by L.S. Stratton is the kind of thriller that earns its place on your must-read list—not just for the mystery, but for the way it captures ambition, power, and the cost of staying silent. With its mix of corporate satire and psychological suspense, it delivers twists you won’t see coming, while also peeling back layers of what it means to survive in environments built to break you. Stratton’s background as a crime reporter shows in her razor-sharp details and her unflinching take on human behavior—this is storytelling with teeth.

What makes this book stand out is how it refuses to give you just one thing. It’s a murder mystery, yes, but also a character study and a social critique—cleverly told through dual (and very unique) timelines that make you question who to trust and what really happened that weekend. Nicole Underwood’s evolution from overburdened assistant to someone finally stepping into her own power is gripping and relatable. Her story reflects how easy it is to get lost in someone else’s shadow—and how powerful it is to step out of it.  The best part is that Nicole is a main character you will genuinely root for.

Stratton also has a knack for slipping humor into the tension. Lines like “a shark in the henhouse” and “the fairy godmother of bad decisions” cut through the darkness with bite and charm, reminding readers that survival sometimes comes with snark.  With perfectly timed twists, several ‘I did NOT see that coming!’ moments,  a dual timeline that keeps the tension high, and moments of unexpected humor that make the pages fly, this is the kind of book you’ll want to talk about the moment you finish.

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Breathe In, Bleed Out By Brian McAuley

Brian McAuley knows exactly how to deliver what horror and thriller fans crave in Breathe In, Bleed Out. This final girl slasher ticks all the right boxes, serving up inventive, fast-paced, and satisfyingly gory kills that never feel recycled. At the heart of the story is Hannah—a grieving woman struggling with vivid hallucinations and a borderline addiction after losing her fiancé. When her former college friends take her to a remote wellness retreat near Joshua Tree, the lines between healing and horror quickly blur. Is this a sanctuary, or a cult with something far more sinister lurking beneath the surface?

Set in a tech-free, isolated desert, the story turns isolation into pure dread—no help, no signal, and no one you can truly trust. Hannah’s trauma becomes a living nightmare, as her emotional unraveling and ghostly visions make her a classic unreliable narrator. Perfectly placed red herrings keep readers guessing, while the deaths—tied chillingly to hot springs, yoga studios, and spiritual rituals—stay true to slasher roots but feel fresh and brutal. Hannah’s Final Girl status is far from typical; she’s flawed, vulnerable, and deeply human. Her survival isn’t about perfection, but resilience in the face of grief, fear, and disbelief. Breathe In, Bleed Out is a tense, twisted ride that cuts deep and refuses to let go.

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Spider To The Fly By J. H. Markert

If J. H. Markert writes it, I will read it.  Period.  No questions asked. Every. Single. Time.  Add in a serial killer and I-64 in Kentucky – well – hot damn – excuse me while I read.  HA!

A chilling game of cat and mouse like nothing I’ve read before. Meet Ellie Isles—mother, survivor, and unwitting link to a serial killer known only as The Spider. Leaving a trail of bodies along the I-64 corridor between Lexington and Louisville, The Spider’s victims all share a gruesome detail: each one has died from multiple spider bites. But everything changes when the latest victim is identified. Staring back from the TV screen is a woman who could be Ellie’s twin. From that moment on, Ellie’s life spirals into obsession. She becomes consumed with the victims, their eerie similarities, and the invisible threads that connect them. What begins as a personal investigation evolves into a best-selling true crime book and an online community determined to expose the truth. But the closer Ellie gets to the web’s center, the more dangerous the game becomes.

Spiders and their webs have long symbolized the quiet, creeping danger of deceit—and in the hands of an author like JH Markert, that danger becomes hauntingly vivid.   Deceit, manipulation, betrayal and the devastating consequences are meticulously woven onto each page as the reader is taken through a journey to find the truth while living the consequences of decisions made decades earlier.  Innocence is destroyed and the world is changed in ways that you will never see coming.  The twists and turns are relentless, leaving you never really knowing what the truth is and how deep the secrets go. I can promise you this – (1) You will have questions (2) You will want more  and (3) You will agree this book needs to be made into a series ASAP.

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8114 By Joshua Hull

Paul Early is a podcaster, mostly because he really doesn’t know what else to do.  He starts with a story of a student that he went to school with, Adam Benny, who was missing.  Paul did not think about the repercussions of his actions from this podcast.  When his world starts to crumble around him, Paul is suddenly called back to his hometown where he finds that one of his best friends committed suicide in the house where he was raised.   

8114 South State Road 67 is more than a childhood home, it is a place of history and horror.  A place of secrets, infection, disease, rot and contagion.   It is a place that is calling Paul Early back because of his mistakes, and it is hungry.  This book is both immersive and graphic. The reader will begin to wonder if they can actually see and smell what is happening.  Hull perfectly mixes supernatural, horror and psychological thriller elements, peppered with some dark humor making this a must read for horror fans. Warning - read with the lights on.

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The Poisoned Pen

A Noble Sin By Andrew Bridgeman

Welcome back, Emma Noble — took you long enough! (Just kidding… mostly.) Emma returns in full force, breaking arms and belting Dancing Queen when she spots a girl in trouble during a routine traffic stop on I-95. True to form, she’s relentless in following her moral compass. She never backs down from a fight and often charges straight into one — always in pursuit of the truth and to protect those around her. But this time, what she uncovers hits too close to home.

When Emma’s brought in for a polygraph, she’s quickly entangled in a string of murders — a coder, a software engineer, and a banker, all somehow connected. And when her father, Sam Noble, becomes a person of interest, Emma knows something doesn’t add up. She's granted (and sometimes takes) just enough space to do her own digging — with Uncle Gunny by her side. (Side note: Uncle Gunny is hilarious and easily my favorite character. If there's a spin-off in the works, count me in!)

I loved how the story is laid out in two parallel timelines, each from a different POV across nine days, before colliding in a powerful final act.

Bridgeman drops readers straight into the action — from Burger King wrappers to roadside oddities, from the stifling tension inside a cult compound to the chaos of a shootout. The pacing is spot-on, with perfectly timed reveals that let you piece the mystery together alongside Emma. The characters are raw, real, and unforgettable. By the end, you’ll feel like you know them.

All I can say is — I need the next chapter. ASAP.

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Purchase A Noble Sin
(Note: most indie bookstores can fulfill an order as quickly as larger retailers. Please consider contacting them for your next purchase.)

Barrington Books
Chapter 2 Books
Murder By The Book
Once Upon A Crime
The Book Dragon
The Poisoned Pen

The Locked Ward By Sarah Pekkanen

Sarah Pekkanen - this is a banger. Every book you have written or co-written just seems to get better! The Locked Ward is best going in blind, so avoid spoilers. Just know that there will be plenty of perfectly placed red herrings on this journey! Told between two alternating POV’s with two unreliable characters - Mandy, who owns a bar and recently lost her parents and Georgia, a wealthy socialite accused of murder - the reader follows these to women finding out how they and their families are connected. The novel delves into complex themes like family dynamics, politics, wealth and power, and the deep, often complicated bond between sisters, especially twins.

This book grabbed my attention right from the start. Sarah Pekkanen's portrayal of a mental hospital ward is unmatched. The eerie mix of unsettling tension and the complexities of misunderstood individuals make a challenging environment to maintain your sanity. I genuinely believe Sarah did her research while writing this novel; it felt like I was right there on the locked ward with Georgia from the very first page. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good mystery. It’s a nail-biting, can't-put-it-down story that keeps you hooked until the very end. So, prepare for a thrilling ride!

Follow Teresa on Twitter or Instagram or contact her via the site.

Purchase The Locked Ward
(Note: most indie bookstores can fulfill an order as quickly as larger retailers. Please consider contacting them for your next purchase.)

Barrington Books
Chapter 2 Books
Murder By The Book
Once Upon A Crime
The Book Dragon
The Poisoned Pen

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