The First Stop for Literature Lovers
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
Mary Burton has proven herself exceptionally capable at chasing after serial killers, at least where the realm of her novels is concerned. In her new thriller, Don’t Look Now, we follow Austin homicide detective Jordan Poe as she hunts for a serial killer who not only attacked her sister two years ago, but recently tried to claim her life as well, leaving her partially blinded, but ever-more determined to track him down.
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
Bob Van Laerhoven is the type of author whose works tend to defy traditional classification, more often than not merging elements from a number of different genres. In Alejandro’s Lie he tells a story part Noir, part historical fiction, and part human drama, following the story of the titular Alejandro, a broken musician desperately searching for meaning while living in a fictitious South-American dictatorship.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Robin James has an excellent grasp on how to fuse together the worlds of thriller novels and the law, and the acclaim received by his Mara Brent Legal Thriller Series can only testify to as much. In the second book of the series, Price of Justice, Mara Brent is faced with an unusual scenario: violent convicts are suddenly going free in her small town and quaint town. More specifically, two vicious lunatics are suddenly released on bail, and Mara must race against the clock to stop their seemingly inevitably killing spree.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
William Gibson seems concerned with humanity’s impending future and our overreliance on technology more than most, and in the second book of The Jackpot Trilogy, titled Agency, he tells a new story centred on a development most of us are already familiar with. It follows an app whisperer, Verity Jane, who takes up a job as a beta tester for a new AI assistant, soon realizing it has capabilities beyond anyone’s expectations.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
M.R. Forbes has begun an epic and promising saga with Foresight, the first novel in the Forgotten Space series, and in the second book, titled Formation, he picks up right where he left off. Captain Nicholas Shepherd and his crew have narrowly escaped total annihilation on Earth and have been flung halfway across the universe, where they come across a mysterious distress signal, which they can only hope is somehow connected with their arrival.
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
Danielle Girard has unexpectedly took the suspense genre by storm after proving herself as a romantic author, and the Dr. Schwartzman series is one of her most acclaimed works, beginning with the novel Exhume. It tells the story of Annabelle Schwartzman, a medical examiner for the San Francisco PD, and her foray into a case centred on a victim bearing strange resemblances to herself, leading on the trail of a killer far from finished in his work.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Marko Kloos has evidently settled in for the long run with his grandiose and ambitious series, The Palladium Wars, and in the third book, titled Citadel, he escalates the conflict in the Gaia system even further. To begin with, Commander Dunstan Park has been given control of an experimental ship capable of turning the tides of war. Meanwhile, conflict is renewed on Gretia in the wake of a terrorist attack, the insurgents threatening the precarious peace established there.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Arthur Hailey was perhaps one of the best at taking a small field and populating it with an interesting and diverse cast of characters, a talent quite well exemplified in his bestselling 1968 novel titled Airport. It follows, over the course of seven hours, the staff working at the Lincoln International Airport in the face torrid blizzard, as well as a lone airplane desperately trying to reach its destination.
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
Freida McFadden is a singular voice in the psychological thriller genre, able to concoct extravagant and offbeat scenarios almost faster than we can read them. In her latest offering, titled The Housemaid, she tells the story of Millie, a recently-paroled woman who takes on a live-in job out of pure necessity, in spite of the torment it might bring her. As the days go by her mistress seems to become increasingly unhinged, the strange occurrences multiply, and it seems to Millie as if she might have to bring her dark past back to life in order to survive the ordeal.
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
William Gibson hasn’t needed to prove his worth as an author for a long time now, consistently coming up with original, and perhaps even singular science-fiction stories, such as The Sprawl Trilogy. In 2014 he published The Peripheral, the first novel in The Jackpot Trilogy. The story follows Flynn Fisher and Wilf Netherton, separated by decades in the real world, but about to meet through a virtual world which seems to have sinister repercussions on real life.
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
Jack Hunt has ascertained his status as one of the most prolific authors in the post-apocalyptic and hard science-fiction genres with over fifty novels to his name, and recently he has done so again by beginning a new series, After it Turns Dark, with the first novel titled When The World Turns Dark. The plot follows an older man in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and his daughter in Florida, as they are both forced to make difficult decisions when faced with the total chaos following an EMP pulse.
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
Paul Vidich has a keen mind for weaving together complex and captivating espionage stories, and in The Mercenary he takes us towards the end of the Cold War, a time of uncertainty and shifting allegiances. The story follows a KGB agent who got his hands on some top secret weapons intelligence and is attempting to get exfiltrated by the CIA. They’ve taken up the task, but are cautious in their approach, fearing he might be playing a game a lot more complex than he’s letting on.
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
Marko Kloos began with Aftershocks a unique and captivating epic science-fiction series called The Palladium Wars, and in the second book, Ballistic, we witness a world increasingly plunged into chaos. While Aden Jansen ventures on a long journey of self-realization and frightening discoveries, his home planet Gretia is on the brink of an uprising in the face of its occupants.
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
Erich Maria Remarque captured like none other the chaos of an uncertain daily life in Germany between the two World Wars, and Three Comrades is one of his more iconic works on the subject. The story follows three friends earning a meagre living through a garage they own, searching desperately for a meaning to their wasting lives amidst the upheavals which shook Germany in 1928… a meaning they might just find when a new comrade enters the fold.
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
Caimh McDonnell never seem to run out of original scenarios for The Dublin Trilogy series into which he can insert the ever-captivating Detective Bunny McGarry, and in the fifth book, Dead Man’s Sins, he decides to crank things up a notch. Though McGarry thought he could enjoy a break from the force, his dead former partner’s murky past has resurfaced to haunt him, a boy and a former acquaintance desperately need his help, and someone decides it’s the perfect time to frame him for murder.