A Wound That Will Not Heal By Eric Beetner

In February 2024, Eric Beetner introduced readers to Carter McCoy.  A vigilante born not from recklessness, but from a terminal diagnosis and the realization that the systems meant to deliver justice were failing the very people they claimed to protect. A Wound That Will Not Heal brings that journey to its most devastating and urgent chapter. Carter moves through a world where grief, violence, and moral consequence are his constant companions.  Carter is a man who has buried his wife and daughter, taken a life, and still carried a stubborn belief that the world should be better than what it is. In this installment, the threat cuts especially deep: men posing as immigration officials exploit fear and power, rounding up vulnerable people for profit under the protection of authority. When their cruelty touches someone connected to Carter, his fight becomes inevitable. What follows is not simply a confrontation, but a reckoning with corruption, with truth, and with the cost of doing what is right when nothing else works.

What makes this book, and the entire trilogy, my absolute favorite is Carter McCoy himself (well I love Chester too!). He embodies a kind of moral clarity and courage the world often seems to lack. He acts when others hesitate. He confronts injustice directly. He protects those who cannot protect themselves. Carter represents a quiet but persistent longing for accountability, truth, and decisive action in a world that can feel indifferent, manipulated, or broken. He is deeply kind-hearted and genuinely wants what is best for others, yet he carries a warning edge, being a man shaped by loss who refuses to tolerate cruelty. Across the series, the stakes grow heavier as his illness advances, and every act of resistance demands more from a body that is failing him. The tension between his weakening physical state and his unyielding sense of justice gives the trilogy its pulse.

I cried reading this book and not only because of its tragedy, but because of the fragile hope threaded through every page. It is powerful, unsettling, and deeply human.  I will miss Carter and Chester and even that old truck, but what I will never forget is the feeling that goodness, determination, and integrity can still exist in a damaged world. These novels offer more than suspense; they offer the possibility that one person’s refusal to look away can still matter. The Carter McCoy series is not an escape from reality — it is a confrontation with it, demanding readers wrestle with justice, accountability, and what it means to stand for what is right when the consequences are permanent.

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Nothing Tastes As Good By Luke Dumas

Nothing Tastes as Good by Luke Dumas is a chilling and unsettling look at diet culture wrapped in a disturbing horror story that feels uncomfortably close to reality. Emmett Truesdale has struggled with his weight his entire life, and living in image-obsessed Southern California only magnifies every insecurity. After years of failed diets, social rejection, and feeling like he will never measure up, Emmett enrolls in a clinical trial for a revolutionary weight-loss drug called Obexity. The results are immediate and dramatic—pounds drop quickly and for the first time people begin to see him differently. But the miracle treatment comes with side effects that no one fully understands, and with enormous money and reputation riding on the drug’s success, some consequences are quietly pushed aside as Emmett’s transformation takes a far darker turn.

This novel feels painfully real. Beneath the body horror and moments of gore is a heartbreaking exploration of diet culture, social media pressure, and the cruel expectations placed on bodies in our society. My heart genuinely broke for Emmett. All he wanted was to feel comfortable in his own skin and be accepted for who he was. Even as he begins achieving the results he thought he wanted, he remains trapped in the same emotional isolation. The structure of the book adds another layer of immersion with the inserts from Emmett’s blog posts, social media updates, and the clinical notes tracking his progress. Watching the numbers on the scale drop while simultaneously seeing the shifts in his physical, mental, and emotional state was both fascinating and disturbing, and the small satirical jabs at diet culture (EmaC-8 and more) along the way were brilliantly done.

After speaking with Dumas at Bouchercon and reading the author’s note at the end (which is absolutely worth your time), it becomes clear that there is a deeply personal element woven into this story. That authenticity shines through on every page. This is horror that is disturbing, a little gory, and thought-provoking in equal measure, forcing readers to confront the uncomfortable reality of how much value our culture places on appearance and acceptance. And just when you think everything has wrapped up neatly, Dumas delivers a final twist that lands perfectly. If you enjoy horror that unsettles you while also giving you something meaningful to think about long after the last page, this one is definitely worth picking up.

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The Survivor By Andrew Reid

Told in alternating points of view, the story moves between Ben Cross—an anxious, seemingly unremarkable young man harboring lethal secrets from his past—and NYPD Transit Detective Kelly Hendricks, who is just as determined and dangerous in her pursuit of justice.

The Survivor by Andrew Reid is a white-knuckle thriller that grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go. Set almost entirely on a hijacked New York City subway train, the novel creates an atmosphere of claustrophobic tension that feels both cinematic and immediate. With each new car, the stakes rise, the body count climbs, and Ben Cross is pushed to his limits—not just physically, but emotionally. Reid’s ability to balance breathless action with psychological depth keeps the reader on edge, questioning not just who’s behind the terror, but how far one man will go to survive.

No matter how much time passes, the past doesn’t stay buried—it waits. And when it rises, it does so piece by piece like the delicate clicks of tumblers turning in a lock. A flash of memory here, a whispered lie there—each revelation falling into place with precision. Until, finally, with a deep metallic clunk, the last secret is exposed, and everything once hidden swings wide open.

This is a lean all the way in and hold the hell on kind of book.  

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Dig By J.H. Markert

Dig drops you onto Crow Island, a fictional coast near Savannah that feels real enough to raise goosebumps. The Geechee and Gullah folklore is not window dressing. It is the heartbeat of this story. Boo hags, haints, rituals — they are alive on these pages. And yes, I fully went down the rabbit hole on boo hags and immediately regretted it because nothing prepares you for a skin-shedding spirit that rides your sleeping body and steals your breath. If that doesn’t terrify you, I cannot help you. 

This book blends horror, history, supernatural dread, generational trauma, and buried family secrets until you have no choice but to dig for the truth right alongside the characters. Every layer uncovers another lie and another echo from centuries past. Markert handles it with intention. The human darkness and the otherworldly darkness show up with no apology.

I’m not gonna lie — this one got under my skin. I had nightmares. I switched to daytime reading like a coward and still couldn’t look away. Markert, a Kentucky author with a fearless storytelling style, built a world soaked in atmosphere and dread. If you’ve ever wondered what happens to your dreams, or what would happen if your worst one came true, Dig belongs on your list immediately.

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She Fell Away By Lenore Nash

In She Fell Away, Lenore Nash introduces Lake Harlowe, a U.S. State Department diplomat whose new posting in New Zealand quickly turns into a search for a missing American teen, Bowie Bishop. What begins as a disappearance unfolds into something far darker, pulling Lake into a web of power, secrets, money and buried truths. As the investigation deepens, so does the story’s emotional core, revealing Lake’s own past growing up in a cult and the lingering trauma that still shapes her choices. The case becomes more than a mission. It becomes personal, especially as the connections between Lake, Bowie, and the complicated relationships with their mothers begin to surface.

I was pleasantly surprised by the emotional depth running beneath the tension. Nash’s background in historical romance shines through in the immersive writing and carefully built atmosphere. This is not a breakneck thriller chasing plot alone. It is deeply character driven, spending real time inside Lake’s grief, guilt, and internal struggles. The dynamics between Lake and her mother, Bowie and her mother, and the growing connection between Lake and Bowie give the story weight and urgency. Lake’s childhood trauma unfolds slowly, revealing pieces of a painful past that adds another layer of intrigue and keeps the emotional stakes high.

Pick this up if you want a thriller with substance and mood, one that values psychological complexity as much as suspense. The tension is steady, the emotional threads are compelling, and Lake Harlowe feels like a character with much more to reveal. I am genuinely excited this is the start of a series because her story feels far from finished, and I want to see where her journey goes next.

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Judge Stone By James Patterson & Viola Davis

Set-in small-town Alabama, Judge Stone by Viola Davis and James Patterson introduces Judge Mary Stone, a woman whose family has been woven into the fabric of Union Springs for generations. She is respected, resilient, and shaped by experiences most people could never imagine surviving. As the town wrestles with its own slow transformation, deep divisions simmer beneath the surface. Issues like racism, religion, politics, class, and education are all pressing in when a devastating case lands in her courtroom. A thirteen-year-old girl is raped and undergoes an abortion, and when complications arise, the doctor who performed the procedure is arrested. What follows is a storm of public outrage, threats, and political pressure as Mary Stone must uphold the law while confronting impossible moral questions about faith, justice, and the cost of forcing a child to carry a pregnancy born from violence.

Patterson and Davis fearlessly lean into the discomfort that is caused by the issues on these pages. This book does not present easy answers or tidy resolutions. Instead, it exposes the fractures within a community and challenges readers to examine their own beliefs about bodily autonomy, religion, and legal responsibility. The story forces you to sit with questions most people would rather avoid. Where does justice truly live — in the letter of the law or in compassion? What happens when personal faith collides with professional duty? The emotional weight here is immense on so many levels and on so many characters. The tension builds not just through courtroom drama but through the psychological strain placed on Mary Stone as she navigates threats to her safety, her reputation, and her conscience.

This is a devastatingly beautiful read that demands engagement rather than passive consumption. It asks the right questions and refuses to soften their impact. The writing balances urgency with emotional depth, creating a story that feels both intimate and relevant. Judge Stone is more than a legal thriller, it is a meditation on power, beliefs, and the human cost of laws and legal systems that often fail the very people they claim to protect. Sometimes there simply is no right or wrong answer.  

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Turn Off the Light By Jacquie Walters

Turn Off the Light unfolds across four hundred years, anchored to one house that refuses to stay quiet. In the past, Edith is a healer whose knowledge of plants and nature makes her useful and feared in equal measure, a woman labeled dangerous simply for knowing too much. In the present, Claire returns home carrying her own grief, a sister who vanished, a father slipping away into end stage dementia, and a life already frayed at the edges. The story moves between their perspectives, stitching together history and horror as the house reveals its long memory of fire, loss, and unanswered questions. Walters lets the pieces surface gradually, trusting the reader to connect them, until the past and present finally speak to each other in ways that feel both inevitable and unsettling.

This is a haunting, slow burn kind of read, the kind that creeps under your skin leaving you wanting more and needing to know the truth. The house is more than a setting, it is a witness, a keeper of secrets, and sometimes the loudest voice in the room. Walters blends supernatural tension with historical weight, giving the story depth beyond the scares and reminding us how often women like Edith were punished for knowledge instead of praised for it. It is a smart, patient novel that rewards attention, tying its threads together with care and confidence. This is one of those books you do not rush through or overshare about. You turn the pages, lower the lights, and let it do what it came to do, then sit there afterward thinking about how much the past loves to linger and how rarely it ever lets go.

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One Beautiful Year Of Normal By Sandra K. Griffith

When August Caine was eleven, her father was murdered and the crime was never solved. In the aftermath, her mother, Claire, fell into debilitating depression, leaving August largely on her own in New York City until her Aunt Helen intervened and Claire was placed into care. August then spent a single year in Savannah with her aunt, a brief and defining period where life felt safe and ordinary. Years later, August receives a phone call informing her that Aunt Helen has died and that she is the sole heir to her estate. The news is jarring. August had been told her aunt died fifteen years earlier. Returning to Savannah means stepping back into a history shaped by omission, loss, and carefully maintained silence.

This mystery is rooted in mental illness, generational secrecy, and withheld truth. The novel unfolds through alternate timelines that slowly expose the fractures in August’s understanding of her own life. As she moves through Savannah, the family history she was never allowed to know emerges in pieces, each revelation complicating the last. The suspense here is character driven rather than plot heavy, built on what August remembers, what she was protected from, and what was deliberately hidden. Griffith allows tension to grow through emotional recognition instead of shock, creating a quiet unease as August begins to see how survival shaped the version of reality she was given.

I am a sucker for a debut author, and this one earned my trust early. Set in Savannah, the novel immerses the reader in a Southern atmosphere that feels lived in and intimate, where history, old money, and secrets exert quiet pressure all around August. Griffith’s background in psychology is evident in her careful handling of trauma and perception, allowing pain to exist without spectacle. By the end of the book, I found myself longing for normal alongside August, hoping she might reclaim what was taken from her before she understood its value. One Beautiful Year of Normal is thoughtful, restrained, and deeply compassionate. This book had a heart, and it never lost sight of it.

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Adrift By Will Dean

Adrift by Will Dean follows Peggy and her son Samson as a spontaneous move onto a rundown canal boat becomes a slow tightening trap. What begins as Drew’s dream of a quieter life to fuel his writing; slowly turns into a world of isolation, control, and fear, where freedom disappears inch by inch. Told through dual points of view, the story pulls you inside a family where love runs deep, even as emotional damage quietly reshapes everything. As Peggy and Samson try to survive the life Drew has chosen for them, the walls close in until escape feels almost impossible.

I will read anything Will Dean writes, and this novel reminded me why. He has an uncanny ability to grab hold of your emotions and refuse to let go. The story is dark, unsettling, and deeply sad, but it also carries an aching tenderness, especially in the unconditional love between a mother and her child. The claustrophobic tension builds with every chapter, mirroring the control tightening around Peggy and Samson, until you feel as emotionally drained as they do. I was grateful I read all the way through the author’s notes, which add even more weight to the story and its real world relevance.

This book comes from a painful place, yet it is one that deserves attention. It explores grief, love, and the quiet ways people can hurt one another even if they are doing what they believe is best. Adrift resonated with me and challenged me to step into someone else’s experience of trauma and survival. It is intense, heartbreaking, and beautifully written. Ten out of ten, an incredible story I will not soon forget.

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Children Of The Savage City By Elizabeth Heider

Children of the Savage City pulls you straight into its world and refuses to let your attention drift for a single moment.  Nikki Serafino is back in Naples working with the Phoenix Seven, the liaison group navigating the impossible space between the police and the US military, and while it is possible to read this as a standalone, you are only cheating yourself. This is book two, and the continuity between the stories is half the thrill, because every character carries history, every choice has weight, and every secret has its own echo. This time the death of a young woman inside the historic Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo spirals into something far darker, all while dangerous debts cling to both Nikki and Valerio like smoke. Then there is Beatrice, Nikki’s mother, and the long shadow cast by her death and the death of her brother Adriano. When Nikki’s father arrives asking for three names she never expected to hear, she knows the past is alive and kicking and not finished with any of them.  The way clues are dropped into place is masterful, like someone feeding you crumbs that you think you understand, until the final pages and one final clue is dangling in front you leaving you needing the next installment.

The multiple story lines in this book are incredible, but it is the texture of Naples that takes center stage. You feel the pulse of the city in its churches, its food, its traditions, and its fierce families who hold their love as tightly as their secrets. Yes, there are a lot of characters.  Get to know them. You need them. Every one of them. They move across both books with purpose and carry their own stories like they have lived there forever. Naples in this series is a maze of beauty and danger built on Il Sistema, the system that shapes its children from the moment they can walk. Crime and survival blur until the difference becomes almost philosophical. The beasts of Naples hunt anywhere they please. Churches. Alleys. Market squares. Homes. Young or old, innocent or guilty, no one is exempt. Cops can be bought. Judges can be bent. People with money can be just as dirty as those with nothing. Everyone needs something from someone else, and no one seems to know who sits at the top of this food chain or if that person even exists.

The plot moves like a chase from beginning to end because Nikki never gets a moment to breathe. She trusts almost no one and with good reason. Trouble loves her and follows her like a dark shadow. And Valerio, who continues to make me root for him at every turn, carries his own broken corners that make him both dangerous and deeply human. As the two of them work to uncover the truth behind the murder at Chiesa del Gesu Nuovo, their own pasts drag them into the underworld of Naples where survival is a skill and loyalty is currency. This story is dark, smart, and emotionally honest. It asks what power does to people and what people will do to protect whatever is left when power strips everything else away. It is atmospheric. It is character driven. It is crime fiction at its finest, and I will keep saying that until everyone listens. Clear your schedule.  Thank me later.

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Murder At 30,000 Feet By Susan Walter

I binge read Murder at 30,000 Feet last night and I have zero regrets. This is a high altitude whodunit with tension that never lets up. When Federal Air Marshal Carlos Renaldo boarded Flight 866 to San Juan, he didn’t expect anything more than a smooth flight. After all, in all his years on the job, no one had ever been in real danger. But this flight was different. A violent storm with a lightning strike that causes a power glitch and when the lights flickered back on one passenger was dead. And suddenly, the calm skies turned into a full-blown crime scene. 

This story moves fast and doesn’t waste a moment. There are so many intersecting threads and multiple narrators including a bridal party, a high school baseball team, solo travelers, and plenty of drama unfolding at 30,000 feet. As the clues come together and the chaos builds in the air, all signs begin to point to one big secret that started in the small town of Crestwood and the suspicious death of Matthew Kessler, a high school baseball player who died in a hit and run accident three years earlier. Everyone has something to lose, and no one is completely innocent

Murder at 30,000 feet  balances action and emotion. The story feels cinematic but still grounded in raw human fear and guilt. It’s more than a murder mystery; it's a collision of past and present, of lies that refuse to stay buried. It's a story of cause and effect and the impact of decisions made. Susan Walter has been, and will stay, on my radar; she knows exactly how to keep the tension tight, the story moving, and the reader hanging on every word until the wheels hit the runway.

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The Hard Line By Mark Greaney

He is known by many names - Courtland Gentry, Sierra Six, The Gray Man, The Violator. Different names, one singular purpose, and in this book that purpose is sharpened to a razor’s edge. From the opening pages, the action never lets up. This story revolves around Gauntlet, a private company contracted by the United States to handle black ops and deniable missions. At the center of it is James Arthur Westwood, a man selling secrets to the Chinese while quietly harvesting intel from inside nearly every three-letter agency. To protect himself, he unleashes hired assassins and sets off a chain reaction that pulls Court into a fight that feels both global and deeply personal.

Things turn brutal when Bulgarian mobsters snap Gentry’s photo, threatening to blow his cover. There is only one solution, and it is absolute. Cleaning house draws the attention of Whetstone through his son, tying revenge directly to Court’s actions. At the same time, Matt Hanley and his Ghost Town team operate in the deepest shadows imaginable. Ghost Town is darker than Gauntlet, more deniable, more dangerous, and when Gauntlet realizes their assassins are being eliminated, they bring the war straight to Ghost Town’s doorstep. Travers, Hightower, Gentry, and the rest suddenly find themselves hunted by another black ops group, and the story becomes a collision of secret worlds that were never meant to touch.

The Hard Line is a little different in how much emotional weight Greaney allows into the story without slowing it down. Court is sometimes fueled by blind rage that is unstoppable and ferocious, but there is also vulnerability I did not expect. Not just from him but from the other operatives as well. Their histories surface, old connections return, and longtime readers will recognize how many threads are finally coming full circle. The dialogue between characters is sharp, revealing, and often electric, easily my favorite part of the book. The technology, the globe-trotting, the relentless pace all hit hard, but it is the humanity beneath the violence that makes this one stand out. This is my favorite book in the series so far, a full throttle story that still manages to dig deep and hit with real force.

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The Better Mother By Jennifer van der Kleut

This is madness, meticulously crafted. Twisted taunting and utterly intoxicating.

I had the chance to meet debut author Jennifer van der Kleut at Bouchercon this year in New Orleans, and when the opportunity came to read her first novel, The Better Mother, I jumped on it faster than my TBR pile could protest. The story follows Savannah Mitchell, who finds herself unexpectedly pregnant after what was supposed to be a casual hookup. Enter Max’s ex, Madison. A charming, helpful, and just a little too eager to be involved. What starts as an uneasy truce between two women quickly unravels into a dizzying descent into obsession and control. It’s a slick, modern psychological thriller that digs into the dark side of motherhood, obsession, and the illusion of control.

I love it when an author can make me anxious in the best possible way. My eyes couldn't move fast enough across the page making it that I physically needed to know what happened next. The Better Mother delivers exactly that kind of high. It’s smart, unsettling, and eerily believable, the kind of psychological thriller that keeps you up way past your bedtime muttering, “just one more chapter.” Warning - for the love of your nerves, clear your schedule because you’re going to binge this in one sitting.

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Antihero By Gregg Hurwitz

Evan Smoak is many things—Orphan X, government-trained assassin, and to those who find his untraceable number, the Nowhere Man. Stolen from a foster home and forged into a weapon by a covert program that erased names and replaced them with letters, Evan became the perfect operative—silent, precise, unstoppable and living back Jack John’s 10 Commandments. But he walked away, turning his lethal skills toward a new mission: saving the helpless when no one else will. To the outside world, he’s just a ghost, but to the desperate, he’s a last chance. Always hunted, always alone, Evan lives by a strict code—protect the innocent, punish the guilty—no matter the cost.

In Antihero, Evan is challenged on so many levels.  He is still the smart ass, calculated, OCD, vodka drinking, magnet shirt wearing guy we love, but his feelings are a constant tug-of-war between isolation and connection, duty and humanity. He is deeply disciplined and controlled on the surface, but underneath he wrestles with loneliness, guilt, and the heavy weight of what he was trained to do. Evan is a man caught between two worlds: the weapon he was made to be and the human being he wants to become and after losing Tommy and watching Joey grow up, the unknown softer side (yeah I said softer)  of Evan is winning, and I am so here for it.

This mission just hits differently.  It is raw, real and relevant and is happening every single day in the world that we live in.  When Luke Devine calls for some help, Evan is put on track to find and help a young woman, Anca Dumitrescu, and American Romanian who had a seizure on a subway train.  She was taken, assaulted and abandoned.  Evan and Joey head to New York to find her, help Devine calm the hell down, and uncover a dirty wretched world that will simply turn your stomach knowing that crimes against the unwilling happen every single day.  Evan must balance mercy with vengeance per the request of the young woman who was defiled and abused yet finds the light even in the worst situations and that light is what Evan needs.

If you haven’t started the Orphan X series, stop everything and dive in—you won’t regret it.  The Nowhere Man, pulls you straight into the action and refuses to let you go, leaving you desperate for the next mission. Antihero might just be my favorite installment yet. Gregg Hurwitz crafts Evan with meticulous precision—every detail matters, from the smudge of bird droppings on a window, to the way Evan scans a room, to the quiet complexity of how he navigates the women in his life. It’s that level of detail that makes this story tangible, authentic and one I need to see on the big screen. And yes—he even gets a brand-new commandment. I cannot wait to see where it takes him next.

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In Her Defense By Phillippa Malicka

I have a particular weakness for debut psychological thrillers, especially when a new author comes out swinging, and In Her Defense absolutely earns that attention. This story unfolds around a very public libel case, where a powerful media figure stands accused of destroying a therapist’s reputation, and the courtroom becomes less about facts and more about perception. The narrative moves between the legal spectacle and the quieter moments that led everyone there, slowly revealing how memory, influence, and fear distort the truth. At the center is Augusta “Gus” Bird, a woman who appears peripheral at first, almost forgettable, until it becomes clear she may be the only person capable of untangling what actually happened. 

What impressed me most is how character driven this novel is. The internal lives of these people are as tense and volatile as the external plot, and the emotional stakes inside the courtroom feel just as dangerous as the verdict itself. The unreliable narration keeps you constantly recalibrating your loyalties, questioning motives, and wondering who is being manipulated and who is doing the manipulating. Malicka digs into mental health, vulnerability, therapy, queer identity, consent, boundaries, and toxic mentorship with a precision that feels unsettlingly believable. The exploration of cult-like influence and psychological control is especially effective, forcing you to sit with how fragile our sense of self can be, how easily it can be shaped, and who benefits when it is.

This is not a book that tells you who to root for. You are left circling every character, asking whether they are obsessed, fulfilling a need, protecting themselves, or simply lying to survive. The tension builds slowly but deliberately, rewarding patience rather than rushing to satisfy expectations. Slow burn thrillers aren't for the faint of heart, but stick with it because the ending is...chef's kiss.   Philippa Malicka is officially on my radar, and if this is what her debut looks like, I am very ready for what she does next.

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Impostor By L. J. Ross

This was my first L.J. Ross book, and what an introduction. We meet Dr. Alexander Gregory, a forensic psychologist with a rare gift who can read the darkest corners of the human mind, a skill that makes him both brilliant and haunted. Gregory works with violent offenders, the kind of people most would rather forget, yet their thoughts and actions follow him long after the day is done. Beneath his calm professional exterior lies a man carrying secrets of his own, hidden deep for reasons we can only begin to guess.

The prologue sets the stage with a chilling tale of a mother with Munchausen Syndrome, seemingly killing her own children, though one survives. It is a disturbing and unforgettable opening that lingers as the story unfolds. Soon, Gregory is drawn into a small Irish community where a brutal murder has shattered the calm. His task is to unravel the mind of a killer hiding in plain sight. But as dreams bleed into reality and old wounds resurface, the truth becomes as elusive as the killer he is trying to profile.

Ross’s writing is taut and cinematic, almost claustrophobic in how it traps you inside this tight-knit community and keeps the list of suspects painfully close. Every page hums with tension, and just when you think you have found your footing, Ross tilts the ground beneath you. The ending lands with a sharp cliffhanger that leaves you desperate for the next installment. Impostor is dark, psychological, and utterly consuming.

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The Cormorant Hunt By Michael Idov

ARI FALK IS BACK!!! (and yes that is me yelling) I loved The Collaborators, so there was zero hesitation when I got the chance to read The Cormorant Hunt. This is not a standalone, and I strongly recommend starting with book one because the payoff here is worth the investment. Michael Idov drops us straight into a world rich with current geopolitical intrigue, where the stakes feel immediate and uncomfortably real. The settings are vivid and global, grounding the story in a reality that gives the tension real weight and urgency.

What Idov does best is keep the story moving with precision. The dialogue is sharp, the momentum never drags, and the characters operate where ethics are flexible and consequences are unavoidable, which is exactly where this series thrives. Ari Falk continues to be compelling, but it’s his dynamic with CIA officer Asha Tamaskar that truly elevates the book. Their connection is tense, intelligent, and layered, adding real substance to the suspense and giving the story its edge.

This is spy fiction without padding. No fluff, no wasted space, just tight storytelling and an attention to detail that brings humanity to the chaos of espionage. And just when you think you understand where it is all heading, the ending proves otherwise. Hold your breath, clear your schedule, and be prepared to want the next installment immediately. This series continues to deliver, and I am fully locked in. 

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

Detour By Jeff Rake & Rob Hart

I went into Detour completely blind because when Jeff Rake and Rob Hart team up, you just show up and buckle in. What I did not expect was the way this book grabbed my face, turned my head, and said “look closely,” only to twist everything in the final moments and leave my jaw on the floor. It feels like binge-watching your newest obsession right before a global shutdown, only to learn the next episode is delayed indefinitely. So here I am, sitting in the wreckage of my own brain, trying to piece together the shards of what I just read and wondering how I’m supposed to function until the next installment exists.

The setup already sounds like reality TV meets prestige sci-fi: three astronauts and three civilians get handpicked for a bold mission to Titan, Saturn’s famous moon, and the expectations are sky-high. Part of the goal is pure political theater.  Billionaire John Ward wants shiny “I care about the planet” points as a third-party presidential candidate, and part of it is a genuine Hail Mary for a dying Earth cooked crispy by climate change. The astronauts bring the skill, the civilians bring the chaos, and together they launch into a mission that is equal parts noble, messy, and deeply suspicious from the jump.

And then the book detonates. Explosions, betrayals, weirdness in deep space, and a return to Earth that feels like stepping into the uncanny valley with a badge and a pulse oximeter. The final twist is so bold, so unhinged, so absolutely “wait, WHAT?” that I had to sit there in silence like someone just unplugged me. Detour is fast, fun, stressful in the best way, and full of that serialized cliffhanger energy that demands a season two immediately. If you like your sci-fi thrillers with high stakes, political shade, and endings that leave dents in your soul, this book is going to break you — and you’ll thank it.

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Purchase Detour
(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

Very Slowly All At Once By Lauren Schott

Mack and Hailey Evans have done everything right. A custom home in a coveted neighborhood. Prestigious careers—Hailey as a high-powered divorce attorney, Mack as a celebrated professor who quietly fancies himself the next Hemingway and two wonderful daughters. But beneath the polished surface, cracks (iykyk) are already spreading. Hailey is staring down a client who owes her firm a staggering sum. Mack is hiding both an investigation into inappropriate relationships with students and a family history he has never fully shared. Then the checks start arriving. Large ones. Unexplained ones. And with each deposit, the question sharpens—is this money solving their problems, or engineering something far more dangerous?

Told through alternating points of view between Mack, Hailey, and a chilling unknown narrator with a godlike vantage point, Lauren Schott builds tension with surgical precision. This is a story about erosion. Small compromises stack quietly. Boundaries blur. Then, all at once, everything gives way. The unknown narrator doles out just enough backstory to keep you guessing, pulling strings you didn’t even realize were there. The red herrings are perfectly placed, the moral ground constantly shifting, and the constant reminder that no one here is innocent. As their professional and personal lives collapse in tandem, Mack and Hailey find themselves unable to trust each other—or their own judgment.

What makes this novel hit so hard is how deeply relatable its descent feels. Financial pressure. Career anxiety. Aging parents. The quiet terror of realizing that “enough” never really feels like enough, always wanting more, chasing a dream and what boundaries are we willing to push to get those things.  Schott shows us how fragile stability really is, and how quickly security can curdle into chaos.  The result is an unhinged, slow burn, domestic thriller that tightens page by page, choice by choice. If this is her debut, sign me up immediately for whatever she writes next.

PS - I love how the title of the book Very Slowly All at Once is a nod to Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises since Mack had dreams of being the next Hemingway.

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Purchase Caller Very Slowly All At Once
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Barrington Books
Chapter 2 Books
Murder By The Book
Once Upon A Crime
The Book Dragon
The Poisoned Pen

All The Little Houses By May Cobb

All the Little Houses by May Cobb absolutely delivered and then some. I am genuinely thrilled I chose this as one of my most anticipated reads of 2026 because it earned that spot without breaking a sweat. Set in a small Texas town from the tail end of the school year straight through a sweltering summer, the tension rises with the temperature. Every day the dial turns higher. This story is juicy, sassy, and soaked in gossip, the kind that dares you to put the book down and then laughs when you cannot. Cobb leans fully into the mess and makes no apologies for it, creating an unhinged thrill ride that feels bold, scandalous, nostalgic, and completely addictive.

The novel unfolds in three parts with multiple points of view, each one sharp and delicious in its own way. Nellie, Charleigh, Jane, and Jackson guide the chaos, and every chapter feels like another secret slipping loose. These characters are authentic, catty, and wildly self interested, though never in the same way or for the same reason. Whether they are dripping in wealth or scraping by in a hand me down dress, the backstabbing is ruthless and the motivations are layered. Cliques, infidelity, swindling, manipulation, secret pasts, overprotective parents, and betrayals pile up fast, turning this into a dark, gossipy thriller that thrives on social tension and quiet cruelty.

And then there is the ending. A full on cliffhanger ending that will leave you staring at the final page and immediately demanding more. This book practically begs to be adapted for television, with its sharp dialogue, volatile relationships, and escalating drama. All the Little Houses is the kind of story you inhale in one sitting, equal parts wicked fun and psychological suspense, and proof that May Cobb knows exactly how to keep readers hooked and hungry for whatever comes next.

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

Purchase All The Little Houses
(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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