A British war photographer travels to Cambodia seeking to escape a personal tragedy, only to become entangled in the region’s criminal underworld, in Herat’s ambitious debut. Joseph “Fearless” Nightingale, who is reeling from the death of his pregnant wife, heads out drinking with his longtime friend and travel companion, Alyosha, shortly after they arrive in Cambodia. Their night takes a perilous turn when Fearless is drugged by strangers, then left for dead. Song, an 18-year-old Cambodian woman enslaved at the apartment complex where Fearless is staying, discovers his limp body and nurses him back to health. Sensing that Fearless might help her and her twin sister, Sovanna, who is enslaved in a nearby villa, Song sneaks out of the complex and leaves behind a videotape for him, which offers evidence of a sex trafficking ring involving several international power brokers, including Alyosha. As Fearless figures out what to do next, Song frees Sovanna by setting her villa ablaze, triggering a violent retaliation that touches each of the novel’s main characters. Herat impresses on his first time out, with well-shaded characters and gripping suspense, though things start to feel overstuffed by the final act. Still, this is worth seeking out. (June)

Reviewed on 05/24/2024 | Details & Permalink

Chavez (Before She Finds Me) blends simmering suspense and domestic drama in this slow-burning thriller. Sixteen years ago, when waitress Leyna Clarke was 12, her 16-year-old sister, Grace, disappeared from their home with her boyfriend, Adam Duran. The mothers of the missing pair blamed one another, and soon launched into a feud that took over their lives. Leyna ditched that toxic atmosphere for Reno, while continuing to hold out hope that she’d eventually find Grace alive. One sweltering July afternoon, a woman who looks like Grace walks into the café where Leyna works. When a stunned Leyna starts asking her questions, the woman flees; a few days later, Adam’s brother, Dominic, calls Leyna to say a stranger has been poking around their old neighborhood, asking questions about Grace and Adam. Leyna returns home to investigate, reuniting with her mother, Meredith, and encountering Adam and Dominic’s mother, Olivia, who still blames Leyna’s family for the disappearance. As a dangerous forest fire crackles nearby, Leyna uncovers family secrets that shed new light on what happened to her sister. Chavez keeps the pace slack, building perhaps a touch too sluggishly to a resolution that nevertheless satisfies. Patient readers will be rewarded. Agent: Peter Steinberg, UTA. (July)

Reviewed on 05/24/2024 | Details & Permalink

Edgar winner Lansdale excels in his savagely funny 13th case for East Texas PIs Hap Collins and Leonard Pine (after The Elephant of Surprise). When Minnie Polson consults with Hap and his wife, Brett, about the blackmail she’s been subject to, the duo’s off-color jokes dissuade her from hiring them. Hap brushes off the encounter, but when Minnie dies in a suspicious house fire, he and Brett feel compelled to investigate. With Leonard’s help, they turn up evidence of a complicated insurance money scheme, with suspects including Minnie’s missing daughter, Alice, and Minnie’s estranged husband, Al, who left her for a gold-digging stripper named Earline. As the detectives tease out the motivations of each of Minnie’s relatives, they run afoul of a ruthless crime ring and have little choice but to employ the services of mercenaries Vanilla and Jim Bob. Blood-splattered action and a welcome spoonful of irreverent humor make this a surefire hit. It’s a high-water mark for the series. Agent: Danny Baror, Baror International. (July)

Reviewed on 05/24/2024 | Details & Permalink

An aspiring novelist rebounds from a bad breakup by becoming the assistant to a Hollywood it-couple in Cobb’s deliciously twisty if flawed latest (after A Likeable Woman). When Cassidy Foster’s film producer best friend offers her a job working for director Nate Sterling and his supermodel-turned-actor wife, Marisol Torres, it sounds too good to be true: she’ll make a handsome salary and be in proximity to some of L.A.’s brightest stars. But Cassidy soon discovers that in the privacy of their Malibu mansion, Nate and Marisol’s relationship is far more tempestuous than it appears in the tabloids. In spite of herself, Cassidy falls for Nate, and agrees when he asks her to tail Marisol and find out if she’s cheating on him. Four weeks later, in flash-forward chapters sprinkled throughout the narrative, homicide detectives come knocking at Cassidy’s door with news that one of her employers has been killed, and Cassidy waffles over whether to come forward with crucial information related to the case. As in her previous novels, Cobb maximizes suspense by intersplicing timelines and withholding crucial bits of information. Unfortunately, this time out, the late reveals spin a once-credible narrative into absurdity. This has its glossy charms, but it fails to stick the landing. Agent: Victoria Sanders, Victoria Sanders & Assoc. (July)

Reviewed on 05/17/2024 | Details & Permalink

In Jade’s inventive if implausible debut, five privileged New Yorkers join a weekend-long astrology retreat in a Victorian mansion on Long Island’s North Fork. Each guest is seeking wisdom from the stars: Aimee is looking to rekindle her spark with her writer husband, Adam, who’s been brought along by his attorney sister, Margot; obstetrician Farah is reconsidering both her marriage to local politician Joe and her friendship with Aimee. None of the guests know that Rini, the astrologer, plans to bring each of their overlapping conflicts to a head, for reasons that gradually click into focus. As the weekend progresses, Rini manipulates her clients to ensure their latent resentments—familial and professional—escalate in predictable fashions until things take a turn for the dangerous. Rini’s Machiavellian moves, ostensibly rooted in her sincere consultations with the stars, are too transparent, and Jade fails to convince readers that her characters wouldn’t see right through them. Those willing to suspend their disbelief may be charmed by the novel premise, but seasoned genre fans are likely to be disappointed. Here’s hoping Jade’s sophomore effort is an improvement. Agent: Claire Friedman, InkWell Management. (July)

Reviewed on 05/17/2024 | Details & Permalink

The plot reversals come fast and furious in this unconvincing legal thriller from Edgar winner Ellis (Look Closer). Illinois attorney Leo Balanoff, a diagnosed pathological liar, is back in trouble after successfully fighting to have his law license reinstated. Leo’s DNA has been found on the shirtsleeve of murdered human trafficker Cyrus Balik, making him the prime suspect in the slaying. Though Leo maintains his innocence, his alleged motive is clear-cut: he represented Bonnie Tressler in a lawsuit against Balik for hooking her on narcotics and raping her when she was 14 years old. Bonnie overdosed before she could be called to the stand in that case, and Leo and the cops suspected Balik of having her killed. The FBI cuts Leo a deal: they’ll keep him out of prison if he helps take down Balik’s syndicate. That mission puts him back in touch with his ex-girlfriend, a former cop who’s now working for a company developing a mysterious cure for cancer. The overstuffed plot also includes flashbacks to Leo’s long history of deceit that continually recast the present-day action in a new light. Ellis’s storytelling gets too tangled, and his characters are too implausible, for this to cohere. Here’s hoping Ellis’s next outing marks a return to form. Agent: Susanna Einstein, Einstein Literary. (July)

Reviewed on 05/17/2024 | Details & Permalink

King proves he’s still a master of short fiction in his sterling seventh collection (after The Bazaar of Bad Dreams). Standouts from the five previously unpublished entries include “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream,” in which the title character has a psychic vision and then accidentally incriminates himself in a murder he didn’t commit, and the eerie yet touching “Two Talented Bastids,” in which a young man discovers the dirty secret that helped his famous father and successful best friend develop their artistic prowess. Among the notable entries previously published elsewhere are “The Fifth Step,” about a recovering alcoholic making amends for his more sinister impulses, and “On Slide Inn Road,” which traces a family’s wrong turn en route to a family reunion in Maine. Themes of fate, morality, and heartache crop up again and again in these tightly coiled tales, and King expertly utilizes them to make every twist of the knife all the more terrifying. This remarkably assured collection will thrill the author’s fans. Agent: Liza Darhansoff, Darhansoff & Verrill. (May)

Reviewed on 05/17/2024 | Details & Permalink

Ross (Ski Weekend) cleverly toys with serial killer tropes in this tense locked-room thriller set during a Florida hurricane. After Riley March’s father was arrested for embezzlement, she was forced to transfer high schools for her senior year and managed to get in with the ultrapopular “10-Squad” at Bishop Prep. Now, Riley and the squad have just graduated, and she’s been invited to the group’s final weekend getaway in the Florida Keys. Initially, the teens dismiss reports that Hurricane Helena is expected to slam the region, but when the storm ramps up, they’re trapped inside their rental house, with little to do but taunt one another about the mass killing that took place there 20 years earlier. A few hours into the storm, a member of the squad goes missing, and then others start turning up dead. Is the mass murderer back for seconds? Or might someone be seeking revenge against the 10-Squad for a classmate’s suicide a year earlier? Ross enlivens her familiar premise with quippy, Scream-style metacommentary (“Police are usually the first to bite it in horror movies,” one teen warns an officer who arrives at the house) and brings the proceedings to a rewarding conclusion. This is good fun. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 05/17/2024 | Details & Permalink

Carver (A Haunting in the Arctic, as C.J. Cooke) delivers an engrossing if uneven destination thriller about three friends whose vacation goes sideways when a past tragedy rears its head. Darcy Levitt has splurged on a nine-day holiday with her best friends, Pilates instructor Camilla and ghostwriter Kate, at the luxurious Sapphire Island Resort in the Maldives. Ostensibly there to celebrate Darcy’s divorce from her tech mogul husband, Jacob, the 40-somethings also share a connection to a grisly murder spree that took place in Dover, England, 22 years earlier. When one of the resort’s guests turns up dead, the friends fear that history may be repeating itself. Flashbacks reveal how each woman was involved in the Dover massacre, and as the trio’s vacation turns into a sprint for survival, Carver cannily drops in clues as to their true natures, occasionally dipping into the viewpoints of Darcy’s husband and a honeymooning fellow guest for additional context. It all works like magic until the book’s final quarter, when Carver rushes to tie up too many loose ends. Still, readers will have fun predicting how the pieces of this puzzle fit together. Agent: Ariele Fredman, UTA. (July)

Reviewed on 05/17/2024 | Details & Permalink

Canadian crime novelist Harding (The Drowning Woman) examines the murky netherworld of internet trolling in this sturdy thriller. High school guidance counselor Camryn Lane is over the moon: she’s just published her debut novel, Burnt Orchid, to rave reviews and much admiration from her 17-year-old daughter, Liza. During the launch event, Camryn pauses to check her email and finds a scathing message that accuses her of exploiting her students’ lives for the book’s material. A shaken Camryn brushes the message aside, but then the same person posts an even angrier one-star review online, opening the floodgates for an all-out smear campaign. Before long, Camryn is doxxed, hacked, and heckled at publicity events, and she loses the support of her colleagues, boyfriend, and even Liza. After Camryn hires a digital expert to expose her harasser, he turns up dead, kicking the stakes up several notches. Harding alternates the main action with excerpts from and reviews of Burnt Orchid, slyly building suspense in the process. While the scenes detailing Camryn’s harassment can grow repetitive, Harding makes the most of her chilling premise. This provides some satsifying shocks. Agent: Joe Veltre, Gersh Agency. (July)

Reviewed on 05/17/2024 | Details & Permalink