suspense

August Snow is a former Marine, police officer, and a product of a loving Mexican/African American family. He loves his hometown of Mexicantown, Detroit and hates seeing the decay, drugs, violence and corruption running through the city.  He’s bought and renovated a number of houses on the street to bring them back to their former glory. After being fired by the police for uncovering high level corruption, August wins a $12 million lawsuit against the city for unfair termination. Traveling the world for year to regain his perspective and deal with his parents deaths, August yearns for his city

Truly one of the best books I've read this year. Very few books can balance heart wrenching grief as well as a mystery; a suspenseful thriller if you will.

Coen Caraway and Elias Santos are engaged to be married in a beautiful resort in Mexico. Just days before the wedding, with guests already en route, the plane Elias is co-piloting crashes into the ocean.  The last words heard on the 'black box' leave more questions than answers and Coen must now plan a memorial instead of a wedding.  

He tells friends and family that if they don’t believe in Elias’s innocence to not bother coming to the

“There was no honor among thieves. Boys in the game only respected you in direct proportion to how much they needed you divided by how much they feared you.”

Blacktop Wasteland is full of action and suspense.  Just when you think it may let up, S.A. Cosby shifts the action into another gear.  It is a nonstop adrenaline rush (You know it’s going to be good when the book starts out with a drag race). 

We ride along with Beauregard “Bug” Montage, who is a complex character with many titles: father, husband, son, car mechanic, and getaway driver. He struggles providing an honest living for his

The End of Her by Shari Lapena is a psychological, domestic suspense novel that is fast-paced and full of secrets, surprises, and twists. Patrick and Stephanie are a happily married, financially stable couple who are parents to 4-month-old colicky twin daughters. Both are sleep deprived when Erica comes into their lives. Erica is Patrick’s dead first wife’s best friend who comes to blackmail the couple by accusing Patrick of killing his first wife and threatening to go to the police to have the nine-year-old case re-opened and further investigated. Stephanie is shocked by the accusations Erica

In 2001, C.J. Box released his first novel featuring Joe Pickett, a game warden from Twelve Sleep Wyoming. Establishing Pickett as a man with a strong moral compass and fierce devotion to his friends and family, it isn’t hard to see why Box has written nineteen additional stories featuring this classic western archetype.

As an introduction to Joe Pickett, Open Season drops the reader into one of his first days on the job as the new game warden in town. Somewhat bumbling, but with a clear respect for the rule of law above all else, he is not well liked in town. This is to be expected, coming

One of the best things about working in a library is the regular opportunity to talk about books (and other media) with people. Often, I can provide a recommendation for something else to read or try in those conversations, but it isn’t always a one-way street. Sometimes, patrons put books on my radar that I overlooked, either because the cover or description didn’t grab me, or it’s just outside my usual genre preferences. One of these books was Simone St. James’s The Broken Girls.

As a story with a historical fiction subplot and an intrigued journalist starring in the other main plotline, Th

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

Ruth Ware, a well established mystery author, created a captivating novel with The Woman in Cabin 10. I am not overly familiar with Ware’s writing style, as I have only read two (this one included) of her mysteries. The formula of this particular book reminded me of an Agatha Christie novel, as it followed the same “trapped with a group of people, one of whom is a murderer” formula as many of Christie’s own books. Lo Blacklock, a travel writer, is given the chance to report on a luxury cruise with a select few passengers, when she hears a splash in the night

As and initial suspense thriller from this author, The French Girl is pretty well done. It follows the typical plot points used by many others: there's been a murder and our main character can't remember exactly what happened. Or she thinks she might remember, but she is constantly questioning herself and her memories based on what other 'friends' tell her and say. 

Back when Kate was a student at Oxford, she and five friends spent a week at a French farmhouse. The neighbor, Severine, had gone missing, but Kate didn't dwell much on the news. Now, ten years later, it turns out that Severine

And Then There Were None is the first Agatha Christie novel I’ve read, and I was not disappointed. This intense mystery follows ten strangers who have been invited to stay on an island by an unknown host. Trying to figure out which of the guests lured the rest to this remote location, and then committed murder, is what keeps the reader engaged. As I am often disappointed when I can foresee the conclusion of a book, I was delighted that Christie’s writing style kept me on my toes, and didn’t make any one suspect stand out consistently. Each flawed characters’ flashbacks show possible malice

Everyone has their path. The choices they've made. How any two people end up in the same place at the same time is a mystery. You get on an elevator with a dozen strangers. You ride a bus, wait in line for the bathroom. It happens every day. To try to predict the places we'll go and the people we'll meet would be pointless.

In a world of 24/7 news coverage, where is the line between news and entertainment? In our instant-access world, can we handle the unknown? Do coincidences happen or is everything connected by fate? Does correlation mean causation? Before the Fall by Noah Hawley may ask

It is 1974 and Gwendy Peterson is a twelve-year-old living in Castle Rock, Maine. She meets a strange man named Richard Farris, who says he has been watching Gwendy and that she is the person to whom he is entrusting a button box. The box has eight buttons and two levers. Farris is vague about the function of the buttons, but Gwendy quickly comes to her own conclusion about what they do. Almost immediately, she learns the result of pulling each lever, and is eager to repeat this for the prizes she receives.

At first, she is apprehensive about the buttons, and concerned about the consequences

Gregg Luke's work as pharmacist prepares him well for writing medical thrillers. As he researches new drugs, "what if? reigns supreme." 99% of the science in his novels is real and he strives to make it "easy to understand to a lay audience yet have it remain complex enough to fascinate and add credence to plausibility."

Luke will present sessions on suspense writing, prose writing, and offer a 3 Page Critique session at our 2016 Writers Conference.

Introduce yourself. Where do you live and work?

I live in a small town next to Logan, UT in beautiful Cache Valley. I have lived here since

After Tanya Dubois finds her husband's dead body at the bottom of the stairs she decides to run. Not because she's guilty, but because she is living under an assumed name and hiding from the past. She needs a new identity and the only way to get one is to call the man she's hated for 15 years. Roland Oliver has connections and money, two things Tanya needs. His reason for helping her? He has secrets of his own. "I want a clean identity, a name that's prettier than my own and if possible, I'd like to be a few years younger." Thus, Amelie Keen is born. 

Through a succession of events, Lutz

A private jet takes off from Martha's Vineyard for the New York City area with a family of four aboard, plus another couple, a security guard, a crew of three, and a forty-something painter who was invited along on a kindly impulse. Eighteen minutes later the plane has crashed into Long Island Sound, killing everybody on board except for the painter, Scott Burroughs, who swims through the night with the only other survivor, a four-year-old boy, on his back. He is, of course, hailed as a hero.

There are ample reasons either of the two tycoons on the flight might have been targets. David

In Playing with Fire, Tess Gerritsen takes a break from her Rizzoli and Isles series to bring us the tale of two people, separated by over 70 years, who connect through an extraordinary piece of music.

Julia Ansdell is a musician, a violinist. While in Rome, she discovers a book of Gypsy tunes in the window of an antique store. When she picks up the book, a piece of paper falls out. On it is a handwritten composition, entitled Incendio, by L. Todesco.

Looking over this waltz, Julia is unaware of the dramatic and traumatic effect it will have on her and her family. She only knows that she

Eight years ago newspaper reporter Scott Fleetwood became famous when a kidnapper dubbed "The Piper" used Scott's column to communicate with the FBI. It turns out the person communicating with Scott was a fake and the real "Piper" was able to escape capture.  Now The Piper is back and he's abducted Scott's twins and is leading Scott on a merry chase to safely rescue his sons. Scott's involvement in The Piper's final kidnapping lost him the two million dollar ransom and caused the death of the final young victim. This time The Piper is making it personal.  

Despite his remorse, Scott is an

Jack Till is a private investigator who helped a woman disappear six years ago. Now the woman’s ex-boyfriend is being set up for her murder, and Till must find her to prove to the District Attorney that she is alive. I really enjoyed the intelligent plot (in many ways, it resembles Narrow Margin, the 1990 film written and directed by Peter Hyams and starring Gene Hackman). When Till finds her, they have to avoid several attempts on their lives as they make their way back to Los Angeles. It is nonstop action as Jack Till negotiates his way against a full cast of tawdry characters.

Annie O’Sullivan is a realtor heading out to show a house one summer afternoon. Near the close of the open house, Annie is abducted by a potential client, a stranger who drugs and transports her to a remote mountain cabin on Vancouver Island where he repeatedly beats, rapes, and terrorizes her. As the days and nights of her captivity begin to blur together, Annie is forced to conform to the whims of a psychopath, "The Freak,” and to sacrifice parts of herself in an effort to survive. When she resurfaces a year later, it is as a shell of the person she used to be.

Annie’s story unravels in a

What are the limits of friendship? The Hunt explores this question when a misinterpretation of facts unleashes a chain of consequences in a small town in Denmark. Lucas, a newly divorced father and kindergarten teacher, is tested to the limits of his emotional endurance as he slowly becomes an object of suspicion and mistrust among his coworkers, the townspeople, and even his closest friends. The plot builds to a level of exquisitely wrought tension that keeps you holding out for some kind of relief as Lucas reaches his edge.

This film has many strengths but what stood out most for me was

This thriller slowly unravels to reveal the fragile and desperate mind of a woman with amnesia. Christine's amnesia is so severe that she can't retain memories for more than a day. She wakes up each morning with no idea of who and where she is. She is surrounded by her husband Ben, a doctor, and a friend. She starts keeping a journal on what she learns about herself each day. As Christine begins to rereads previous entries, she finds inconsistencies in what Ben is telling her about her accident, their son, and how all of their family photos disappeared. While Christine is trying to piece

Ten strangers have come together on a remote English island under false pretenses. Each one bears a dark secret that they have hidden from the world. Stranded on the island and as the guests begin to die one by one, they discover that someone in the company has uncovered those secrets and is willing to make them pay.

Before this classic plot became prominent in both literature and film, it was brought to the forefront by Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. Previously titled Ten Little Indians (changed and edited to make it more PC), it is not like any of the other Agatha Christie

James R. Hannibal’s novel titled Shadow Catcher reads like a Clancy thriller.

Nick Baron is an Air Force Major in charge of a failed B-2 stealth bomber mission that lands the fighter jet at the bottom of the Persian Gulf. Nick leads his Triple Chase team to find and dispose of the lost bomber before the enemy can get their hands on it.

Danger lurks around the corner as a US soldier sends a distress signal from the deep interior region of China, another far off country.  The only plane that can handle this mission is the Shadow Catcher, a highly-equipped, state of the art fighter plane.

This

High school seniors Tony and Ryan had a plan for after graduation.  They were going to get jobs and an apartment and live together—Toni to get away from her mom who favored her younger sister, and Ryan to leave behind his alcoholic and abusive father.  It all seemed so simple.  But that's not what happened.  Senior year the "mean girls" clique started harassing Toni, just to be mean.  Then, unbelievably, Toni's little sister, Nicole, starts hanging out with the clique and harassing Toni too.  Nicole has also changed a lot since starting high school; she's gotten secretive, and sullen, although

Tagged as a magical crime thriller, the movie Now You See Me is about four magicians (illusionists) who call themselves the Four Horsemen who get together to pull off some of the greatest tricks the world has ever seen.  Unfortunately, most of the magic tricks happen to be of a criminal nature.  Thus, the scenario sets up a fast-paced plot of cat and mouse between an FBI super sleuth (played by Mark Ruffalo) and the Four Horsemen (played by Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, and Dave Franco).

Now You See Me is by far the most entertaining DVD I have seen in quite a while.  The

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith is historical fiction set in Stalinist Russia when the Government was all powerful and all were constantly watched over by officials. One wrong move could send you to a work camp in Siberia, never to be seen again. Life was hard, and on top of that Smith throws in a serial killer that moves throughout Russia killing children and women at will. Defending this system is idealistic security officer Leo Demidov, a war hero who believes in the iron fist of the law. But when Leo begins to investigate the serial murders he makes a wrong move and becomes disliked by a higher

Some readers like their fictional friends kept safe, never truly in harm’s way, despite immediate apparent dangers; you just know they’ll make out just fine in the end. I am not one of those readers—I like it when happy endings are not guaranteed, and the protagonist gets knocked around a bit.

And hoo boy does October “Tobey” Daye, protagonist of Seanan McGuire’s Rosemary and Rue, get knocked around. A lot. The half-Fae private investigator was once a knight of the Fae court, until she lost 14 years of her life in the line of duty; now she wants nothing to do with them. Unfortunately, she

An unconventional telling of Jesus' forty days in the wilderness, Quarantine grips the reader in a mysterious world of deception and dream. We follow six characters' sojourn in the desert: a merchant and his wife, a wealthy but barren Jewish woman, an elderly Jewish man suffering from a tumor, a madman from the east, a philosophical young Greek, and Jesus the Galilean. It is a believable work of historical fiction with a twist of suspense. At the end the reader is left to interpret the meaning of events.

Crace's writing holds nothing back, exposing his characters' raw and unflattering motives

For those familiar with Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles, the story opens with Maura preparing for a two-week vacation in rural Maine at Evensong, the school that Julian “Rat” Perkins has been attending since he and Maura survived a harrowing ordeal in Ice Cold.  Julian, now 16, loves the unique and isolated school where all of the students have survived some tragedy and where science and investigation are emphasized in the curriculum.  Meanwhile, Jane is investigating the murder of Teddy Clock’s foster family of which Teddy is the only survivor.  Strangely enough, Teddy was the only survivor when

The setting is Berlin and the year is 1936.  In award winning author, Jeffrey Deaver’s book, Garden of Beasts, Germany is planning rearmament while Hitler is strengthening his rise to power. Main character, Paul Schumann, is a hit man for the mob who has been set up and caught by the Feds in New York during one of his assassination attempts.  He is brought to their offices and given a frightening choice: life in prison or go to Germany under the guise of an Olympic journalist and kill the head of Germany’s rearmament campaign, Col. Richard Ernst.  From the moment he steps off the boat and

The Inner Circle is a wonderful political thriller.  Beecher White is an archivist at the National Archives in Washington DC.  Clementine Kaye is a woman from Beecher’s past who asks him to help her find his father, a man who attempted to murder the current president’s predecessor.  Within the National Archives there is a room that only the President of the United States uses—a room that is used by the president to review classified documents.  While Beecher is giving Kaye a tour he takes her into this special room in an attempt to impress her.  By sheer accident they discover an old