AMY GENTRY is a book reviewer for the Chicago Tribune whose work has also appeared in Salon, LA Review of Books, and the Best Food Writing of 2014. She lives in Austin, where she volunteered for several years with victims of sexual and domestic violence. Good as Gone is her first novel.
A Likeable Woman (2023) May Cobb "Set among her trademark rich-b*tch Texan housewives, May Cobb's latest mystery delivers nail-biting suspense and Ruth Ware-worthy twists, all while asking just what makes a woman 'likeable' - and whether it's worth dying for."
The Last Housewife (2022) Ashley Winstead "Only fifty shades of grey? Please. Ashley Winstead's The Last Housewife is a technicolor rainbow, provocative and unflinching in its brilliant portrayal of female desire, male violence, and the unsettling link between them. A disturbingly sexy thrill-ride that does more than 'twist'--it explodes off the page, confronting dark truths about women in the patriarchy and forging weapons of resistance from the flames. You don't read The Last Housewife. You face it down."
Pay Dirt Road (2022) (Annie McIntyre Mystery, book 1) Samantha Jayne Allen "Rural noir has found a stunning new voice in Samantha Jayne Allen's Pay Dirt Road, a pitch-perfect literary mystery as beautiful and thrilling as a summer storm. Channeling Veronica Mars by way of Mare of Easttown, waitress Annie McIntyre investigates the murder of a girl everyone wants to forget in her hometown of Garnett, Texas. With its haunted setting and uncompromising voice, Allen's debut invokes the restless, melancholy backroads of the Lone Star State, ranking her with Kathleen Kent, Attica Locke, and the best of the new generation of Texas writers."
Good Rich People (2022) Eliza Jane Brazier "The most vicious thrill ride I've been on in years--a satirical, dead-eyed look at class and money in a world frighteningly like ours, but with just enough askew to feel deeply unsettling."
The Accomplice (2022) Lisa Lutz "There's no one in crime fiction more inventive than Lisa Lutz, and The Accomplice is her greatest sleight of hand yet. Wry and menacing, with the gravity-defying grace of a skipped stone, The Accomplice is at once a suspenseful thrill ride, a deep and disquieting meditation on friendship, and a Wes Anderson comedy rolled into one. After this, I'd read her grocery list."
All Her Little Secrets (2021) Wanda M Morris "Tense, taut, and relentlessly suspenseful, Wanda M. Morris's riproaring debut All Her Little Secrets delivers full-throttle twists reminiscent of The Firm with the winning characters and nuanced social justice commentary of an Attica Locke...Wanda Morris is the sharpest new voice in thrillers today. I'm hooked."
What's Done in Darkness (2021) Laura McHugh "Once again, Laura McHugh has written a gorgeously evocative and perfectly plotted rural thriller you’ll devour in one gulp or die trying. Thoughtful, compelling, and steeped in the secrets of its backwoods setting, What’s Done in Darkness is a cry for justice for the girls and women lost on the shadowy, ultrareligious fringes of the homeschooling movement. With every dark, unsettling twist, it becomes more and more apparent: The Ozarks belong to Laura McHugh."
The Other Black Girl (2021) Zakiya Dalila Harris "I tore through Zakiya Dalila Harris's The Other Black Girl, a hilarious yet spine-chilling send-up of the whiteness of the publishing world, with my jaw on the floor. Its detailed dissection of the complex forces that curtail Black ambition is by turns tender and utterly lacerating, combining the nuance of a Kiley Reid with the twisted gut-punches of Bamboozled. It draws you in with a laugh and a smile, then shoves you into a nightmare you won't be able to shake off. A simply brilliant debut."
You Will Remember Me (2021) Hannah Mary McKinnon "What if the man you thought you knew better than anyone woke up one day not even knowing himself--or what he was capable of? Hannah Mary McKinnon's masterfully plotted tale of broken identities and dark family secrets had me on the first page and never let go until its absolutely jaw-dropping conclusion. Like the perfect summer cocktail, You Will Remember Me goes down easy, but it packs a hell of a wallop."
Girl, 11 (2021) Amy Suiter Clarke "Amy Suiter Clarke comes out of the gate running with a confident and riveting debut perfect for fans of Karin Slaughter and Meg Gardiner. GIRL, 11 follows the host of an investigative podcast tracking a bloodthirsty serial killer as he counts down to his youngest victim yet. I bit my nails through every twist in this pitch-perfect thrill-ride--and teared up at its commitment to honoring victims of violence everywhere."
The Lady Upstairs (2020) Halley Sutton "I couldn't put The Lady Upstairs down. Halley Sutton's debut crackles with the unmistakable voice of its heroine, a cynical, wisecracking femme fatale straight out of a Raymond Chandler novel, who becomes enmeshed in a twisty tale of greed, betrayal, and vengeance. As dark as Megan Abbott and as voice-y as Lisa Lutz, this astoundingly self-assured debut ranks its author alongside the best in her genre. The Lady Upstairs is L.A. noir at its finest."
They Never Learn (2020) Layne Fargo "Sizzling with rage and wit, Layne Fargo's They Never Learn will delight fans of Karin Slaughter, Dexter, and Killing Eve with its deftly drawn portrait of a woman on fire and her unquenchable lust for revenge. Addictive, sensual, breathlessly plotted, and thoroughly unputdownable--this tightrope thriller feels a bit like getting away with murder."
Shadow Garden (2020) Alexandra Burt "Alexandra Burt's latest is a haunted and haunting read, rendered with her usual gift for psychological detail in stunningly atmospheric prose. In the gothic tradition of Rebecca, The Yellow Wallpaper, and The Bad Seed, Shadow Garden plunges readers into a clammy, chilly fog on every page. I won't soon forget the ending, and neither will you."
Follow Me (2020) Kathleen Barber "A thriller for the Instagram age, Follow Me doesn’t let up until the final twist. It had me looking over my shoulder, closing my social media apps with a shudder, and above all, flipping pages to find out what happened next."
Dear Wife (2019) Kimberly Belle "DEAR WIFE had me at hello. From the moment I met Beth, a smart, tough woman on the run from her abusive husband, I couldn't stop reading--and that was before the twists started coming fast and furious. Written with heart, humor, and a hefty dose of truth beneath the thrills, DEAR WIFE is a wild and massively entertaining ride."
Hunting Annabelle (2018) Wendy Heard "Is Hunting Annabelle an unconventional romance, a creepy psychodrama, or a detective story about a good kid stuck in a bad situation? I devoured this thrilling debut in one sitting to find out, and it took me on a wild, twisty ride until the very last page."
Leave No Trace (2018) Mindy Mejia "A tense and gripping read that plumbs the depths of grief and longing, LEAVE NO TRACE is as thrilling as a whitewater rapid and as dark as the Minnesotan wilderness itself. Mejia has a gift for creating characters who feel like family, and by the end of this book I would have followed her gutsy speech-therapist heroine Maya to the ends of the earth. Through twist after twist, this riveting story will have you asking yourself just how far you would go to find out exactly where you came from."
The Sisters Chase (2017) Sarah Healy "The Sisters Chase is a deliciously compulsive read, a miniature mystery of love, survival, and sisterhood written on the scale of the human heart. Deceptively simple, gracefully realized, and occasionally wicked, it lingers like a summer dream after the last page is turned."
