Alexandra Andrews
Who is Maud Dixon? (Little, Brown and Company 2021) is the story of Florence Darrow, a junior employee at the Forrester publishing house in New York City. Florence is awkward and shy, hovers at the edge of groups, and longs to be a writer herself. The gossip at the office holiday party is about Maud Dixon, the pen name of a mysterious author who published a fantastically successful debut novel two years earlier: Mississippi Foxtrot. Now in production as a mini-series, the book features two teenage girls desperate to escape their small Mississippi hometown, ending with a murder. An unfortunate one-night stand with a superior at Forrester leads to Florence’s dismissal from the company, leaving her unable to pay more than one month’s rent on her tiny shared apartment. She submits a collection of stories to Frost/Bollen and is thrilled to receive a call from Greta Frost. The agency isn’t interested in her writing, but Greta offers Florence the chance to apply to be Maud Dixon’s live-in assistant if she is willing to sign a non-disclosure agreement prohibiting Florence from revealing the author’s real name or that she ever worked for her. Sure that this is the chance she has been waiting for on her path to success, Florence agrees to be the only person other than Greta who knows Maud Dixon’s real identity, and is soon traveling to work for Helen Wilcox in the small town of Cairo at the foot of the Great Norther Catskill Mountains. Helen reveals that she is not writing the sequel Greta is expecting, and is vague about how the work in progress is going. Florence is given the task of typing up Helen’s scrawled handwritten pages, and is disappointed that the novel set in Morocco is nowhere near as compelling as Mississippi Foxtrot. Helen snaps at her when she asks for clarification of indecipherable words. Florence begins by adding her best guess, and is soon rewriting entire sentences. She is thrilled when Helen asks her to accompany her on a research trip to Morocco and begins replacing her brightly colored clothing with the elegant muted pallet Helen wears. It’s not until Helen gives Florence her driver’s license to rent the car that Florence realizes how alike they look: slight, pale, and blond. This clever debut novel is deviously plotted.

Ashley Audrain
The Push (Pamela Dorman Books 2021) is the story of Blythe Connor, whose mother Cecilia and grandmother Etta were both terrible mothers, neglectful and cruel. Blythe and Fox fell in love in college, totally smitten with each other. Blythe also falls in love with Fox’s family: close, supportive, and loving — so different from her own. Fox is eager for a family of their own. Blythe is consumed with fear that she won’t be a good mother, but finally gives in. The birth is difficult and Violet is not an easy baby, crying constantly when Blythe holds her though smiling and content with Fox. Other mothers are in love with their babies, but Blythe finds it impossible to connect, withdrawing from the new mothers group and isolating in their apartment. Fox can’t understand why Violet doesn’t respond to Blythe, though she does all the right things: nursing, cuddling, rocking, feeding, bathing. Desperate to rediscover herself, Blythe returns to writing, using headphones to block out Violet’s crying. Violet becomes more defiant as she grows: kicking, scratching, refusing to eat. Blythe is sure something is wrong with their daughter, but Fox believes she is exaggerating behavior he never sees while he is at work. The preschool teacher reports incidents when Violet is four: she is cruel to other children. This confirms Blythe’s worry, but Fox concludes his bright daughter is just acting out because she is bored, and the couple grows further apart. When a classmate falls to his death from a playground structure Blythe is positive Violet was right next to him before he fell. Was she responsible? Desperate to hold their marriage together, Blythe becomes pregnant again. Everything is different when Sam is born: Blythe bonds instantly to her son and caring for him is pure bliss. Even seven-year-old Violet seems to love her little brother, but Blythe can’t shake the feeling that something untrustworthy is lurking behind her daughter’s angelic smile. This intense debut psychological thriller brilliantly exposes the dark side of motherhood.

Anna Bailey
Where the Truth Lies (Atria Books 2021) is set in the small town of Whistling Ridge, Colorado. High school seniors Emma Alverez and her best friend Abigail Blake attend a late night party in the woods near a rock structure called Tall Bones. As the party winds down, Abi heads off into the dark to meet a shadowy figure, telling Emma she will find her own way home. But she is never seen again. The police think Abi ran away, which is believable since her father Samuel is an abusive man, lashing out at his wife Dolly and children whenever is believes they are challenging his masculine authority. His behavior is reinforced by Pastor Lewis, the charismatic preacher at First Baptist Church who preaches damnation for those who disobey his teaching. Samuel’s wife and older son Noah are often covered with bruises, and his younger son Jude can only walk with the help of a cane after his father threw him down the stairs in a fit of rage after discovering homosexual images on his older brother’s computer. Only Abi usually escapes his wrath, able to sooth his ego while dreaming of escaping to Denver after graduation. Consumed with guilt, Emma begins asking questions, soon drawing the attention of Hunter Maddox, the son of a racist wealthy businessman who supports Pastor Lewis and despises Emma as the daughter of a Mexican. Depressed by her inability to find the truth, Emma begins drinking with Rat Lă custă, a young Romanian immigrant who offends Jerry Maddox simply by living in “his” town. Alternating sections set before Abi’s disappearance and afterwards fill in the backstory of Emma’s anguish over her father’s desertion, Samuel’s struggles with PTSD, and the secrets the Blake children hide from their friends and neighbors. This suspenseful debut thriller sets the fear of a killer against the perhaps greater threat of the menacing insular town.

Ava Barry
Windhall (Pegasus Crime 2021) begins with the murder of a young art student, her body found posed on a patch of wild flowers, one arm draped over her forehead, a puncture wound through the breast of her dark green silk dress. Posed exactly like the 1948 murdered body of starlet Eleanor Hayes, discovered by movie director Theo Langley during a midnight game of hide-and-seek at a wild Hollywood party in the garden of Windhall, his Los Angeles estate. Investigative reporter Max Hailey has been obsessed with Eleanor’s murder for years, convinced that Theo was guilty and escaped justice. Theo was arrested and charged, but the case was thrown out before trial because of compromised evidence. This new murder occurred on the date Theo was released from all charges and disappeared, leaving Windhall to fall into ruin. Since Theo is now in his early 90s, Hailey knows Theo is far too old to have committed the new murder, if he is even still alive. Hoping to find a connection between the two murders, Hailey sneaks into Windhall, but is caught by two men who already know he is a journalist with an arrest record from his wild youth. Hailey escapes with a phone one of the men left unguarded, finding an email from Theo saying he will arrive soon to manage the sale of Windhall. Hailey’s editor kills his story and threatens to fire him if he keeps causing problems. The Laurel Canyon cottage Hailey inherited from his grandmother is falling apart, and the estimate to repair the roof is far out of his reach, so when Heather Engel-Feeny, the daughter of a deceased MGM producer, offers him $30,000 for advance warning of anything he discovers about Theo, he can’t say no. Eleanor and Theo were working on a new film when she was killed: The Last Train to Avalon, which Theo discovers was a controversial exploration of sexual exploitation in the Hollywood film industry. Though nearly completed, the film was banned by the studios and never released to the public. As Hailey digs into the past, he begins to wonder if the film was the reason for Eleanor’s murder, and perhaps Theo was framed after all. This debut thriller features dynamic characters and a complex set of motives originating in the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Marco Carocari
Blackout (Level Best Books 2021) begins in 2016 when 43-year-old photographer/bartender Franco DiMaso brings a man home to his dark Manhattan rooftop one hot July night. Whatever the man he met through the MeatUp app gives him to smoke makes him dizzy and sick. The scene he sees through the 4th story window of the brownstone across the street looks like a movie at first, but Franco is sure he is witnessing a murder. He tries to call the police, but passes out instead. Waking up alone on the street more than an hour later, he summons the police, but they don’t find anything in the empty apartment. Noticing his dilated eyes, they assume he imagined the whole thing. Franco tries to contact the MeatUp man, but he doesn’t answer his messages, and then deletes his account. Franco tries to forget he may have witnessed a murder until the apartment of his upstairs neighbors/landlords is broken into, and one of men is attacked. The light in their apartment was on a timer, and Franco worries the murderer may have broken into the wrong apartment. Flashbacks to 1977, when Franco was four years old, reveal the murder of his father Frank, shot by a masked gunman while Franco was in the back seat of the car. The killer searched Frank’s pockets and pulled the cross from his neck, vanishing just as the 12-hour blackout descended on Manhattan. When a cache of drugs and money are discovered in Frank’s locker, it’s assumed he was a dirty cop killed by his underworld contacts. The nightmares Franco suffered after his father’s death forty years earlier return, mixed with his hazy and frightening recollection of the night of the new murder. A few days later the police link a body to the apartment, and Franco is stunned to realize he knows the man, a buisness owner who hired him to take photos of his staff. Franco’s fingerprints are found in the apartment, moving him from witness to prime suspect. This debut thriller is a finalist for the 2022 Lefty Award for Best Debut Mystery.

Mary Dixie Carter
The Photographer (Minotaur Books 2021) begins when New York City photographer Delta Dawn arrives at the home of Amelia Straub to take pictures of her daughter Natalie’s eleventh birthday party. After a decade working as a family photographer Delta knows all the tricks to capture happy beautiful children and their families on film, captivating Natalie and her friends with balloon animals. Amelia and her husband Fritz designed the interior of their stunning home, and Delta snaps pictures of her favorite rooms as the children play. After the party ends, Natalie begs Delta to stay and make her one more balloon animal, and Delta agrees, accepting the offer of a glass of wine with Amelia and Fritz. When they compliment her skill with children, Delta shares a picture of her five-year-old son Jasper, currently in California with her ex-husband Robert. As she is about to leave, Amelia gets a phone call saying their babysitter has just cancelled. Learning that the Straubs have an important client dinner, Delta offers to stay. Natalie, often left alone by her busy parents, bonds with Delta over dinner. When Natalie goes to sleep, Delta prowls through the house, discovering that Amelia had multiple miscarriages and was beginning to research adoption. Back in her own tiny and lonely apartment, Delta goes through the photographs, pleased that she won’t have to do much editing of those of Natalie. Instead she pastes her own image next to a picture of Fritz, angling their faces into a kiss, and replaces Fritz’s image with her own face eating cake off Amelia’s fork, saving those photoshopped images into a secret folder. By being always available when Amelia needs a babysitter, Delta is soon enjoying bathing in Amelia’s luxurious bathtub with a glass of expensive wine, and plotting to convince their tenant to move out so she can live in their beautiful garden apartment. This creepy debut psychological thriller is mesmerizing.

Bryan Christy
In the Company of Killers (G.P. Putnam’s Sons 2021) begins in Samburu County, Kenya. Tom Klay, an American investigative wildlife journalist for the respected magazine The Sovereign, is working to protect Voi, Kenya’s largest elephant. Klay’s recent article about Voi put the elephant in danger, his enormous tusks coveted by ivory poachers. Kray’s old friend Captain Bernard Lolosoli and his Green Guardians, a privately funded counter-poaching force composed of Samburu warriors, guard the elephant with the help of a tracking collar provided by the Perseus Group, an American private military company owned by Terry Krieger. Bernard accepted the tracking collar, but refused the drones and facial-recognition trackers at the Wildlife Reserve gates, uncomfortable with gathering data about local tribes. Kray and Bernard fear that Ras Botha, who runs arms, diamonds, and drugs throughout Africa, has been hired by the Chinese to poach Voi’s tusks. The Perseus Group engineer helps track the collar, but the elephant isn’t where he should be. Instead sniper bullets kill Bernard and his men, and badly wound Klay. When he recovers Klay sets out to track Botha, positive he is responsible for the murders. Klay has been a CIA secret asset for years, recruited by Sovereign editor Vance Eady and collecting information about warlords and corruption as he travels the globe. Kray hopes Eady’s CIA connections will help him track Botha, but Perseus Media takes over the Sovereign and Klay learns he will be confined to a desk job. One final field assignment gives him access to Botha in prison, and a growing suspicion that Krieger and the Perseus Group are the real villains. This intense debut thriller by the founder of Special Investigations at National Geographic presents a frightening view of the global reach of private military and security groups.

Elle Cosimano
Finlay Donovan Is Killing It (Minotaur Books 2021) begins on one of Finlay’s worst days. Her five-year-old Delia has cut her own hair and is in tears at the results, her two-year-old Zach is covered in waffle syrup, she is late to a meeting with her agent Sylvia about the book she can’t seem to write, and her nanny Vero hasn’t shown up to work. In desperation she calls her ex-husband Steven, now engaged to their former real estate agent Theresa, only to learn he has fired Vero and will be suing for full custody of their children. Steven agrees to take Zach for a short time and Finlay reschedules her meeting to Panera, the closest restaurant she can think of, dropping Delia off at school wearing a hat with some hair duct taped to it to appease her tantrum. Squashed at a small table, Finlay, wearing a blond wig to cover her own messy hair, notices the woman at the neighboring table is staring into the diaper bag under her chair, but focuses on trying to convince Sylvia to ask for another advance and extend her time to finish the romantic suspense book, which she hasn’t really started. Sylvia tells her to knock them dead with this one and Finlay declares she won’t take a penny less than fifteen thousand for the next one. Leaving the restaurant Finlay finds a note: “$50,000 cash, Harris Mickler,” and realizes the woman at the next table has mis-heard their conversation, drawn the wrong conclusion from the blood and hair covered duct tape in her bag, and believes she is a contract killer. Things go downhill from there and Finlay and Vero soon find themselves with a body to dispose of and $50,000 hidden under the broccoli in the freezer. This funny series opener featuring the stressed-out single mother thrust into the plot of her next novel is great fun.

Abigail Dean
Girl A (Viking 2021) is the story of Alexandra “Lex” Gracie, who escaped from chains at the age of 15, stumbling to the road to get help for her older brother and four younger siblings from imprisonment by their parents. Known as Boys A to D and Girls A to C, the emaciated children were nursed back to health in hospital and then separated for adoption or foster care, believing they wouldn’t recover mentally and emotionally if kept together. Identified as Girl A, Lex was lucky in the psychologist assigned to her: Dr. K, who helped her work through her terrors and guilt for not escaping earlier when the punishments weren’t so severe. Their father Charles took poison as the police arrived, and their mother Deborah spent the rest of her life behind bars. The younger children are adopted first, and the policeman who carried the little ones from house adopts Lex, who misses her sister Evie the most, her constant companion chained to the other bed in the small room with covered windows. While dying of cancer, Deborah appoints Lex executor of her will, a small portfolio of assets and the house. Lex at first refuses to accept the job, but Evie suggests using the money to transform the House of Horrors into a community center to provide services for abused children. Lex must convince each of her siblings, some she hasn’t seen since the rescue, to agree to the plan. As she reconnects with each one, Lex is forced to confront deeply buried questions: Why didn’t Ethan, who was not chained to a bedframe like the other children, stay in the house? What happened to the baby who disappeared? Do all of the children contain seeds of their father’s madness? This devastating debut thriller is a finalist for the 2022 Barry and Thriller Awards for Best First Mystery/Crime Novel.

Tracy Dobmeier and Wendy Katzman
Girls with Bright Futures (Sourcebooks Landmark 2021) is the story of three mothers and their daughters who attend the exclusive Elliott Bay Academy (EBA) in Seattle, a prep school with a high admission rate to top colleges. Alicia Stone, a multi-millionaire in the tech industry, is a Stanford grad serving on Stanford’s Board of Trustees. She is determined that her daughter Brooke, only a middling student, will attend Stanford and has made a 15 million donation to the university to enhance Brooke’s chances. Kelly Vernon, a well-to-do stay-at-home mom who is the school’s ultra-volunteer to compensate for not being able to donate huge amounts of money, is also determined that her daughter Krissie will attend Stanford. Krissie is a double legacy since both Kelly and her husband attended Stanford. Maren Pressley, the barely-making-ends-meet personal assistant to Alicia, has supported her daughter Winnie, first in her class, in her decision to apply for early admission at Stanford. Then Ms. Lawson from EBA’s college counseling office calls Winnie and Maren in for a meeting. Four EBA student athletes have already committed to Stanford, and the Stanford admissions office has informed the school they will be accepting only one more EBA student for the incoming class. Ms. Lawson, who previously encouraged Winnie to consider Stanford because of her excellent grades and first-generation college hook, now strongly suggests that Winnie consider another college for her early admission application. Winnie is horrified that she is expected to not compete with Brooke, but Maren knows they don’t have a choice. Alicia doesn’t pay her much or provide health insurance, but has paid Winnie’s EBA fees and promised to help with college. If she loses her job Maren knows they may be homeless again. Krissie hopes that Winnie will choose another school, increasing her own chances, and falls back into trichotillomania, an anxiety disorder that causes her to pull out her own hair. Kelly spends money they don’t have on essay tutors while Alicia pays a professor to write Brooke’s essays for her, and both search for ways to discredit Winnie and Maren. The week before early admissions are due, Winnie is a victim of a hit-and-run that Maren is sure was arranged by either Alicia or Kelly. This debut thriller set in the cutthroat world of college admissions presents an over-the-top view of an all too real modern issue.

Chris Hadfield
The Apollo Murders (Mulholland Books) is set in 1973 as NASA is preparing to launch Apollo 18, the final scheduled lunar landing mission. Though promoted as a scientific mission, Kazimieras ”Kaz” Zemeckis is sent to Houston as flight controller, sharing the top-secret information that the Russians are preparing a secret launch of Almaz, a space station to spy on America. Almaz’s cameras will be powerful enough to identify objects down to the size of small cars, a security disaster for the secret testing at remote airfields like Edwards in California and Area 51 in Nevada. Apollo 18’s mission changes to fly close enough to Almaz to take pictures, and then to land near the Russian’s lunar rover Lunokhod, which has clearly discovered something of great interest to the Russians, perhaps uranium. Five years earlier Kaz’s own chances of becoming an astronaut were destroyed when he lost an eye when his F-4 Phantom jet fighter collided with a bird. After earning his doctorate at MIT, he was recruited by the National Security Agency, which headed NASA’s lunar landing program through the 1960s. Meanwhile in Moscow, Vitaly Sergeievich Kalugin is elated to find the name of his sleeper agent in the NASA press release about Apollo 18. A few days later mission commander Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Hoffman is killed in a helicopter crash, and Major Chad Miller is appointed to take his place along with Lieutenant Michael Esdale and Captain Lucas Hemming. When Apollo 18 lands on the Moon, prepared to disable Lunokhod, they are startled to discover that two armed Cosmonauts are already there. A communication glitch leaves Apollo 18 unable to talk back to Houston, their only option to transmit zeros or ones for yes or no. This exciting debut thriller by a former astronaut and commander of the International Space Station maintains a high level of suspense to the very end.

Tamron Hall
As the Wicked Watch (William Morrow 2021) introduces Jordan Manning, an ambitious crime reporter who moves from Texas to Chicago for a new job at a television station. Jordan has a master’s degree in forensic science and takes pride in her ability to read a crime scene, usually the first to arrive in her signature designer stiletto heels, and often noticing details others miss. There have been several unsolved murders of Black women in Chicago in the past two years, and Jordan is concerned when MISSING posters for 15-year-old Masey James appear around the city. The police treat Masey’s disappearance as a typical teenage runaway, but Masey’s mother is sure something has happened to her daughter. Masey reminds Jordan of herself at that age — ambitious, smart, confident, stylish — and her usual ability to maintain an emotional detachment begins to crumble. Masey’s body is discovered in an abandoned lot three weeks later; sexually assaulted, strangled, eviscerated and then burned. Jordan becomes obsessed with the case, struggling to balance her drive to be the one to break big stories against her compassion for Masey and her mother. Neglecting her other assignments and putting her personal life on hold, Jordan struggles to keep Masey’s story at the top of the news while researching the earlier murders, coming to the conclusion that there is a serial killer targeting Black women. This accomplished debut and series opener by the Emmy Award–winning broadcast journalist explores themes of journalistic ethics, the tendency of police to under-investigate crimes involving people of color, and the intense competition in the newsroom for air time and promotions.

Zakiya Dalila Harris
The Other Black Girl (Atria Books 2021) is the story of Nella Rogers, a 26-year-old over-worked editorial assistant, the only Black employee at Wagner Books in New York City. Nella has been at Wagner for two years, working under demanding editor Vera Parini, and still makes less than $20 an hour. Nella dreams of becoming the next Kendra Rae Phillips, the Black Wagner Books editor who helped launch Diana Gordon’s bestseller Burning Heart, Nella’s favorite book of all time. Kendra Rae disappeared right after the book was released in 1983, and Nella always wondered what happened to her. Owner Richard Wagner encourages Nella to organize Diversity Town Halls, but her attempts fall flat. The wealthy white employees don’t see a problem with diversity at Wagner: “No one really knew what the elephant was.” Nella is given a draft about the opioid epidemic by best-selling author Colin Franklin to read, and is horrified by the character of Shartricia Daniels, a 19-year old Black drug addict pregnant with her fifth child. Her boss Vera is thrilled that Colin has added a Black character to his novel, and Nella is torn between telling the truth and perhaps losing her job or sugar-coating her opinion and allowing the racist portrayal to stand. The scent of Brown Buttah, Nella’s favorite brand of cocoa butter, alerts her to the presence of another Black female in the office. Hazel-May McCall, a stylish dread-locked young woman from Harlem, has just been hired as the assistant to Maisy Glendower, the non-fiction editor right across the hallway. Thrilled to have a potential friend in the office, Nella helps Hazel get oriented to Wagner, hoping she will last longer than Maisy’s other assistants who never achieved the six-month mark. The two bond over comparing natural hair care regimens, and Hazel invites Nella to her aunt’s Curl Central hair salon, offering her free samples of her aunt’s creations. Hazel advises Nella to tell the truth about her reservations about Colin’s book, and when she does he storms out of Vera’s office. Vera gives Hazel the next draft to read, and Nella finds herself sidelined as the other Black girl becomes the office darling, somehow managing to please everyone while threatening notes begin appearing on Nella’s desk: LEAVE WAGNER NOW. Interspersed sections from Shani Edward’s perspective in 2018 explore Hazel’s past, while those from 1983 reveal Kendra Rae’s experiences at Wagner Books. This darkly humorous debut thriller full of witty dialog explores competition and diversity in the publishing industry.

Nicole Glover
The Conductors (Mariner Books 2021) begins in 1871 Philadelphia when Hetty Rhodes and her husband Benjy rescue a dozen people from kidnappers, using magical star sigils (symbols) that draw power from the constellations. Hetty has a permanent scar around her neck from the collar used to prevent her from using magic while she was enslaved, now covered with a band of fabric embroidered with constellation signs she can activate at will. She and Benjy were renowned Conductors on the Underground Railroad, beginning with her own 1858 escape from Boykin Farm in South Carolina after she managed to open her punishing metal collar. Hetty was separated from her sister Esther during the trek north, and spends any extra coins she earns to send letters and telegrams in search of Esther. Hetty works as a seamstress and Benjy as a blacksmith, and together they solve mysteries and murders that the white authorities have no interest in. Their current investigation is the murder of their friend Charlie Richardson, found dead in an alley with his face disfigured and a star sigil carved into his chest — Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer. Known as the cursed sigil, it is the one star sigil Hetty never uses. The only sigil Nat Turner knew, it was burned into land and flesh alike during the uprising. It’s the only sigil white folk recognize, making the murder too dangerous to involve the police, so Benjy takes Charlie’s body to Oliver for examination and burial while Hetty erases all signs of magic from the alley. Oliver discovers Charlie was stabbed in the back, but no one has any idea who killed him or why he was marked with the cursed sigil. As Hetty and Benjy try to track down the killer, they uncover secrets and lies and betrayals among the group of friends who have become almost family. This debut novel, the first in a planned series, is a deft mix of mystery and magic set in a fully developed alternate reality.

Paul Herron
Break Out (Grand Central Publishing 2021) is set in Ravenhill Correctional Institute, a maximum security prison in Miami, Florida, adjacent to the Glasshouse, an abandoned military prison. Jack Constantine is a former cop serving 10 years for killing one of the three men who murdered his wife and their unborn baby. Hurricane Josephine threatens other prisons, and the warden is ordered to prepare the Glasshouse to receive transfers. While on the work crew, Constantine recognizes the other two men who murdered his wife and attacks them. The guards subdue him with stun guns and he he sent to the infirmary. Kiera Sawyer, a correctional officer on her first day of work, is assigned to the Northside section of Ravenhill by a fellow officer who tells her they will be evacuated by the National Guard soon. Hurricane Hannah merges with Josephine, creating a superstorm heading directly for Ravenhill. As the warden evacuates his staff in their only van, the young officer sent back to open the gate flips the switch to unlock all the cells, freeing the 800 inmates and leaving the warden’s keys in Admin by mistake. Sawyer hears the announcement to meet in the staff cafeteria but becomes disoriented and is left inside. She rescues Constantine who convinces her that they may survive if they get to the Glasshouse. Armed with the warden’s keyring, they begin moving cautiously through the prison as the storm outside begins to crumble and flood the building. Inside, the gangs are thrilled to finally be able to get at each other, leaving bodies in the corridors. Two men are even more dangerous: Malcolm Kincaid, a psychotic killer Constantine framed when he couldn’t get enough evidence, and Preacher, a serial killer who tortured young couples in the basement of his church and then ate their remains. Constantine and Sawyer join up with Constantine’s cellmate Felix on an epic journey searching for a way out of Ravenhill before they are killed or drowned in this intense debut thriller.

Amanda Jayatissa
My Sweet Girl (Berkley 2021) begins in a Sri Lanka orphanage when Paloma and her best friend Lihini are 12. Everyone is excited because an American couple are coming to visit, hopefully donating money for new books and maybe even a music teacher. The excited girls are telling ghost stories after lights out, deliciously scared by tales of Mohini with her red eyes and long sharp nails. As usual Shanika creeps out later that night, taking her dirty plastic doll to the playground, her scarred face glowing in the faint light. When Mr. and Mrs. Evans arrive the next day, Paloma and Lihini are posed near the window reading, slightly breathless after rushing to see who can grab Wuthering Heights first. The two girls introduce themselves, and Mrs. Evans is enthusiastic about Paloma’s choice, declaring it is her own favorite book and calling her a sweet girl. Everyone is surprised when the director reports that the Evans want to adopt Paloma; usually much younger girls are chosen. Paloma is thrilled to be going to America and escaping being transferred to the convent on her 15th birthday, but terrified to be leaving the only home she’s every known and her beloved friend Lihini. Interspersed chapters set in San Francisco 18 years later find Paloma estranged from her adoptive parents, reduced to renting part of her expensive apartment to Arun, recently arrived from India. Returning home after drinking far too much, she discovers Arun dead in the kitchen, covered in blood. Panicked, she sees Mohini lurking in the corner, runs from the apartment, and passes out in the hallway. Awakening hours later she calls the police, but neither a body nor any sign of blood is found in her kitchen. The two timelines gradually converge, revealing Paloma’s current mental instabilities and the truth of what happened in the orphanage during the month Paloma was waiting for Mr. and Mrs. Evans to return with the adoption paperwork. This dark debut psychological thriller exploring the intricacies of identity and belonging is a finalist for the 2022 Thriller Award for Best Debut.

Mia P. Manansala
Arsenic and Adobo (Berkley 2021) introduces Lila Macapagal, a 25-year-old Filipino-American who moves back home to Shady Palms, Illinois, after a bad experience caused her to drop out of restaurant school in Chicago. While helping at her Tita Rosie’s restaurant, Lila is distressed to discover her ex-boyfriend Derek Winter, a food blogger and critic for the local paper, waiting to be seated with his stepfather Mr. Edwin Long, the restaurant landlord. Derek’s scathing review of Tita Rosie’s Kitchen has caused a drop in customers, but Tita Rosie insists on giving them the best service and Lila brings Mr. Long her new ube (purple yam) crinkle cookies for dessert. While shoveling his own dessert into his mouth, Derek convulses and is rushed to the hospital. Mr. Long accuses the restaurant of poisoning his step-son, and Lila dashes next door to Java Jo’s, hoping her best friend Adenna Awan can locate her lawyer brother Amir before the police arrive. Adenna is working as a barista to pay for pharmacy school, but she longs to open her own cafe serving her coffee creations and Lila’s unique desserts. Back at Tita Rosie’s Kitchen, Lila finds Detective Park suspicious that the table has already been cleared, treating both Lila and Rosie as suspects. Lila’s late mother’s best friends April, Mae, and June are always available for mothering as well as a smothering interest in her life, which she finds alternately comforting and infuriating. Fearing that the police aren’t looking outside the family for murder motives, Lila begins her own investigation, discovering that their restaurant isn’t the only one Derek systematically criticized. This funny debut mystery includes recipes for some of the delicious-sounding Filipino dishes.

David McCloskey
Damascus Station (W. W. Norton & Company 2021) is the story of CIA case officer Sam Joseph, who is sent to France to recruit Mariam Haddad, a Syrian Palace official temporarily in Paris to persuade exile Fatimah Wael to renounce her frequently televised opposition to President Assad. Mariam’s cousin Razan was recently arrested for protesting against the government in Damascus, and the CIA hopes Mariam also has sympathy for the opposition. Colonel Daoud Haddad, Mariam’s uncle and Razan’s father, works at the Scientific Studies and Research Center, Branch 450: chemical weapons security and transport. Sam orchestrates a meeting with Mariam at a Paris party, rescuing her from an over-attentive Bulgarian diplomat. In gratitude, she agrees to meet him for a drink the next day, and a spark of attraction grows between them. Mariam describes the wonderful sense of freedom she feels in Paris, and Sam shares his talent for poker, which attracted the attention of the State Department and an embassy job. Mariam tells Sam that there are two Palace factions in Ali Hassan’s Security Office, the central hub for Syria’s security services. One team is led by her boss, Presidential Advisor Bouthaina Najjar. The other faction is led by Jamil Atiyah, a powerful pedophile who detests Bouthaina. When Bouthaina presented Assad with proof of Atiyah’s corruption, he sent men to attack one of her aides, nearly killing him. Three Syrians attack Mariam when Sam escorts her back to her hotel room, and together they kill all three men, presumably sent by Atiyah as another warning to Bouthaina. Sam admits he is CIA, and Mariam tells him she has tracked secret purchases of isopropyl alcohol, used in the production or sarin, a deadly chemical warfare agent. Deeply disturbed by what is happening in her country, Mariam agrees to help gather evidence about the manufacture of sarin gas. The two travel separately to Damascus, using spycraft to communicate. This excellent debut spy thriller by a former CIA analyst highlights the human aspect of working against one’s own country.

Peter Mohlin & Peter Nyström
The Bucket List (Harry N. Abrams 2021) begins in 2019 when FBI agent John Adderley wakes up in a hospital bed in Baltimore with extensive gunshot wounds. John had been working undercover in Baltimore’s Nigerian drug cartel, barely escaping with his life, his cover blown. John is offered witness protection anywhere in the world with no connection to his life, but he chooses Sweden, where his mother and half-brother live. John’s father was Nigerian, moved to New York City, and met John’s Swedish art-student mother in a bar. When his mother became pregnant with John, they moved to Karlsad, Sweden, separating when John was 12 when his father took hm back to America, leaving John’s half-brother Billy behind. Now John’s mother has sent him a flashdrive of information about the 2009 disappearance of Emilie Bjurwall from her wealthy neighborhood just outside Karlsad, dubbed the Hämptons. Emilie’s mother Sissela manages the family clothing empire AckWe, and her father Heimer is a serious wine collector and amateur runner. Emilie had just returned from a stay at an exclusive drug treatment center, and her parents hoped she was now drug free. Then Emilie attends a Midsummer party, and doesn’t return home. The other young people at the party were drunk, remembering Emilie left around midnight but not much more. A picture posted on her Facebook page at 1:48 AM shows a “bucket list” tattoo on her forearm: three squares in a row, two with tattooed v-shaped ticks, the final square with a bloody tick carved into the skin with a sharp object. The last ping from Emilie’s phone is traced to the deserted tip of a promontory called Tynäs, where the police discover blood and semen, but no trace of Emilie or any of her belongings. The semen is matched to 19-year-old Billy Nerman, John’s younger half-brother, who denies being at Tynäs or having anything to do with Emilie. No body is found, and Billy isn’t prosecuted, though everyone believes he is guilty. Ten years later a new unsolved cases team is created, their first mission to re-examine the disappearance of Emilie Bjurwall. John hasn’t seen Billy since they were separated as children, but can’t resist the plea from his dying mother, and insists on being relocated to Sweden, despite the FBI’s concern that the Nigerians may be able to trace him there. Struggling with debilitating headaches, panic attacks from his near execution, and paranoia about the Nigerian cartel, John assumes the new identity of Fredrik Adamsson: an adopted Swedish child whose family moved to Massachusetts when he was young. After their death in a car accident Fredrik, now a police officer, returns to Sweden, and has just been transferred to the Karlsad station, using his American training to assist the cold case team. This intense debut noir thriller featuring the talented and troubled John Adderley is the first in a series.

Wanda M. Morris
All Her Little Secrets (William Morrow 2021) is the story of Ellice Littlejohn, a successful corporate attorney for Houghton Transportation Company in Atlanta, the only Black employee outside the security department. Eillice escaped her neglectful controlling mother with the help of a neighbor who facilitated her acceptance as a scholarship student to elite boarding school at the age of 14. Eillice has always felt guilty for abandoning her younger brother Sam, who has had several brushes with the law. Ellice has been sleeping with her boss Michael Sayles for years now, trying to convince herself she is satisfied with the role of mistress and the frequent early morning assignations in his office on the 20th floor. One fateful morning she enters the building before security goes on duty, and discovers Michael’s body, shot through the temple with a gun in his hand. Horrified, Ellice flees down to her tiny office on the 18th floor, protecting their secret affair. Late that day she is called to CEO Nate Ashe’s executive suite. Head of HR Willow Somerville joins them and Ellice is sure they know of the affair and that she is being fired now that Michael is no longer there to protect her. Instead, she is offered Michael’s job as Houghton’s executive vice president and general counsel. Though a promotion is to the executive team is what Ellice dreamed of, she is startled by the offer until she realizes it’s all about PR. Protesters have been picketing outside the building for three months, accusing Houghton of discriminatory hiring practices, and promoting the lone Black attorney is good optics. After the funeral Elise is flown by private jet to Nat’s country club in Savannah, which has only one token Black member. She is shunned by most of the guests, and overhears conversations objecting to her promotion. Michael’s wife gives her an envelope containing Michael’s resignation letter from Houghton, and email printouts indicating financial discrepancies. Ellice considers resigning herself, but Nate’s second in command threatens to reveal events from her past that could ruin her. And the police detective investigating Michael’s murder shows her a security tape of a man in a hoodie that looks a lot like her brother Sam. This debut legal thriller by a former corporate lawyer is a deft mix of corporate politics and the importance of family.

Stacie Murphy
A Deadly Fortune (Pegasus Crime 2021) is set in 1893 New York City. Orphan Amelia Matthew and her foster brother Jonas have made a comfortable life for themselves working at a nightclub — Amelia holding séances and telling fortune while Jonas serves as the bouncer. Every once in a while Amelia has a flash of insight about a customer, but usually she relies on her skills at reading people’s expressions and body language. One evening Amelia is in an accident and sustains a head injury, ending up in a coma for weeks. When she finally comes to herself again, she is plagued by headaches and predictive dreams. She collapses on the street and is taken to the city lunatic asylum at Blackwell’s Island, misidentified as Carolina Casey because of the name label in her second-hand cloak. At the asylum Amelia is unable to convince anyone that she is sane, suffering abuse by the sadistic head nurse. Young Doctor Andrew Cavanaugh comes to work at the asylum after his beloved sister commits suicide, leaving his medical career behind to devote himself to the study and treatment of mental disease. Unlike the other doctors, Andrew actually listens to his patients and tries to help them recover rather than drugging them into submission. Amelia channels his dead sister during a session, terrifying him into taking her story seriously. A woman comes to the asylum searching for her missing daughter, and Andrew discovers the records are in disarray, either through carelessness or intentionally, and asks Amelia to help him discover if the woman’s daughter is being kept there against her will. Meanwhile, Jonas is searching everywhere for Amelia, and takes a job as orderly after he learns only a woman’s father or husband has the power to release her from the asylum. Fearing that women are being committed to the asylum by their relatives and eventually murdered, Amelia insists on remaining until the killer is identified. This chilling debut thriller reveals the horrors of early treatment of mental illness and the helplessness of women to fight against the control of the men in their lives.

T.J. Newman
Falling (Avid Reader Press 2021) begins the morning veteran pilot Bill Hoffman is heading off to the Los Angeles airport for a Coastal Airlines flight to New York City when Sam, a technician from CalCom arrives to fix their Internet. His wife Carrie has just finished feeding breakfast to their two young children, baby Elise and ten-year-old Scott, and Bill takes her into the living room to say a private goodbye. At the airport, Bill completes the pre-flight checklist of the Airbus A320 along with co-pilot Ben Miro while experienced flight attendant Jo oversees the cabin preparation. After reaching cruising altitude, Bill checks his computer to find an email from Carrie containing a picture of his wife wearing an explosive suicide vest next to their tearful children. Another email ordering him to put on his headphones arrives followed by a FaceTime call from a man wearing another explosive suicide vest and holding a crude hand-made detonator device. The man tells Bill to check his messenger bag for a privacy screen for the computer and Bill realizes why he looks vaguely familiar — the CalCom technician who was alone with Bill’s bag while he talked to Carrie. Saman Khani gives Bill an ultimatum: crash the plane or he will kill Bill’s family. Bill responds via chat that he will not crash the plane and Sam will not kill his family, pointing out that the co-pilot would not let him. Sam reveals that he has placed a white powder in the bag that Bill can put in Ben’s coffee right after his final bathroom break before landing, killing Ben instantly. Also in the bag is a canister for Bill to toss into the cabin from the cockpit door, which will take care of the passengers. Bill takes a bathroom break and defies Sam’s order to keep his mouth shut, telling Jo about the situation. Jo texts her nephew, FBI Special Agent Theo Baldwin, who tries to convince his boss that the plane and its unknown target are in danger. Jo shares the news with the other two cabin crew, experienced “Daddy” and novice Kellie, and the three frantically begin trying to come up with a plan to protect the passengers from the unidentified lethal contents of the canister while searching for the second terrorist who is on the plane. This fast-paced debut thriller was written by a former flight attendant during red-eye flights while the passengers slept.

Fabian Nicieza
Suburban Dicks (G.P. Putnam’s Sons 2021) begins when West Windsor, New Jersey, police officers Michelle Wu and Niket Patel respond to an early morning anonymous call: gas station attendant Sakunananthan Sasmal has been shot. The first murder in West Windsor in 30 years, both young police officers are unprepared. They are struggling with the yellow police tape when a blue minivan roars into the station, containing a very pregnant woman and four noisy children. Andrea Stern rushes toward the bathroom with a small child, who pees all over the pavement when they encounter the tape. Andie scans the crime scene, noticing the bullet strikes on the building, the closed cash drawer inside, the blood spatters on the gas pump, the wet stain on Sakun’s pants, and the tire marks her daughter is peeing on. Advising the officers to take notes and pictures, Andie roars back out of the station. Trained as an FBI profiler, Andie solved one big case while still an intern at the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit before becoming pregnant with her first child, now 10 years old. Though she loves her children, Andie has always regretted giving up the career she was perfectly suited for. The police report the murder was a result of a robbery, and Andie decides to volunteer to help. Kenneth Lee, a disgraced young New York Daily News investigative reporter now working for the local weekly paper, gets a tip that the police suspects Sakun was selling drugs and heads to Tharani Sasmal’s home, arriving just as Police Chief Bennett Dobeck arrives to break the news of their nephew’s murder. After filming a flustered Dobeck responding to his question about drugs, Kenny heads off to his assignment to cover a Girl Scout tree-planting project. While still a student at Columbia University, Kenny won the Pulitzer Prize, but has been on a downward spiral since falsifying information while chasing another big story. Missing her diverse group of friends from the city, Andie joins a group of Indian women at the pool that afternoon, asking if they know the Sasmals. The women report that Sakun was a good boy and agree his death was probably the result of a robbery. Their homes are broken into frequently because they wear gold jewelry, but the police don’t investigate. West Windsor was originally a farming community, exclusively white except for day laborers. The influx of Indian, Chinese, Pakistani, and Korean families has caused tension. Andie learns the Indian families are frequent targets of racism, ranging from jokes when ordering pizza to being turned down for mortgages and having pool permits denied. In fact, the Sasmals just filed a protest after their pool permit was denied and their white neighbor’s approved. Andie and Kenny form a partnership when both are rebuffed by the police, investigating Andie’s hunch that the murder is a coverup for something that happened decades earlier. Andie creates a workspace in the basement, and carts her children to the library for research or trades child care with her friends, feeling more alive than she has in ten years. This funny series launch starring the pair Kenny dubs Suburban Dicks is a finalist for the 2022 Edgar Award for Best First Novel.

Richard O’Rawe
Northern Heist (Melville House 2021, UK 2018) is the story of James “Ructions” O’Hare’s ambitious plan to rob the National Bank in Belfast with the help of his former IRA friends. Ructions initiated an affair with bank employee Eleanor Proctor, who explains the bank’s security system: two men currently hold master keys, but those master keys will be withdrawn in a few days and replaced with a modern system. The funding for the robbery comes from gangster Panzer O’Hare. Ructions trusts his uncle to keep the plan secret, but not Panzer’s 22-year-old son Finbarr, who is eager to get started in the family business. Ructions enlists Seamus McCann to kidnap two bank employees and hold them for 24-36 hours: branch manager Liam Diver and young bank official Declan Butler. McCann’s men take Liam’s wife away at gunpoint and move in with Declan’s parents and younger sister. The two bank employees are held together, warned to follow directions to the letter if they want their families to survive the next two days. Ructions knows his plan is perfect except for the human element: Panzer decides Eleanor should be “clipped” though Ructions has fallen in love, Finbarr is caught having sex with children, Panzer is being blackmailed by the IRA for a large share of the money, and fence Serge Mercier says the 36 million pound haul in mainly new notes will only net about 50%. This debut thriller by a former IRA operative and bank robber is inspired by the unsolved bank robbery of 1998 that nearly scuttled the Good Friday Agreement.

A.E. Osworth
We Are Watching Eliza Bright (Grand Central Publishing 2021) begins when young self-taught coder Eliza Bright is promoted at Fancy Dog Games to become the first woman on a three-person team to work on their enormously popular multiplayer online superhero role-playing game Guilds of the Protectorate. It’s a tradition at Fancy Dog that a new addition to a team picks a new feature or update, and Eliza chooses the sex patch, code that allows players to interact sexually. After working all weekend, Eliza arrives to find “//80085 Fix” scattered through all the code she wrote. She checks her local copy and finds it’s flawless, and assumes something got mangled in the upload. She emails team members Lewis Fleishman and Jean-Pascale Desfrappes reassuring them that she’s uploaded a fresh copy and everything works perfectly, and asking what the mysterious code 80085 means. Chats between Lewis and Jean-Pascale reveal their distain for having a woman added to their team, assuming she slept with someone to get promoted. When Eliza tells her friend Devonte that she feels excluded, he tells her to give them time. When she asks about the code, he doesn’t answer in person, but in chat later advises her to write it down, and she realizes it stands for BOOBS. He advises they are just being idiots and are not used to working with women, but Eliza is uncomfortable. Her friend Suzanne also suggests Eliza just let it go, saying even if she does file a report the two will only get assigned to sensitivity training or something. But Eliza can’t let it go and asks Preston Waters, co-founder and CEO of Fancy Dog Games, for a Conversation — his idea for establishing a positive corporate culture. Preston takes her out to dinner, which only confirms Lewis and Jean-Pascale’s suspicion that she slept her way to promotion. Preston calls them into his office with HR and assigns them to sensitivity training but does nothing else. Eventually Eliza shares her story with a reporter interested in digital harassment and things spiral completely out of control. Eliza is fired for violating her NDA, and the headline the following day is Gamer Girl Fired for Speaking Out. The negative press threatens a new release from Fancy Dog Games, activating anti-Eliza actions from fanatic fans. The HR rep leaves Eliza’s personnel file out, Jean-Pascale picks it up by accident, and Lewis shares her phone number, personal email, and physical address resulting in identity theft. Eliza soon realizes someone is monitoring her personal chat and sharing information on Internet forums, she is targeted on social media with rape and death threats, unordered deliveries are sent to her home, and photos taken in real time appear online. Interspersed sections from a vicious male super-fan known as The Inspectre document the escalation of those willing to go to any extreme to protect Fancy Dog Games and the game they cannot live without. This intense debut thriller exposes the misogyny that lurks online and the terrifying power of anonymous attacks.

Sarah Penner
The Lost Apothecary (Park Row 2021) begins in 1791 London, when 12-year-old Eliza Fanning arrives at Nella Clavinger’s Apothecary Shop, hidden behind a movable shelf in a deserted room, to pick up an order for her mistress. While Nella’s mother was still alive, the shop behind Bear Alley was a respectable women’s apothecary shop specializing in female maladies. Nella continued after her mother’s death until being horribly betrayed by a man she trusted, shifting to providing desperate women with the means of removing dangerous men from their lives. For this order she has prepared two chicken eggs laced with poison for the abusive Thompson Amwell. Mrs. Amwell suffers from palsy, and has taught Eliza to read and write in order to take over her letter writing, and the curious Eliza prowls the tiny apothecary shop, asking questions about everything and offering to help write labels when she notices Nella suffers from arthritis. Nella shoos her away, but the girl returns a few days later, begging to be allowed to stay for a few days. Mrs. Amwell has gone to be with her family in the country after her husband’s death, and Eliza is frightened to remain in the house with only Mr. Amwell’s ghost. Nella is just ordering Eliza to leave when Lady Clarence arrives to pick up the poison she has ordered, a difficult one Nella has spent the last two days creating from roasted Cantharieds, tiny blister beetles. Nella is horrified when Lady Clarence reveals the poison is not for her adulterous husband, but instead for his mistress, and impulsively throws the jar of shimmering green powder into the fire, refusing to harm a woman. Lady Clarence threatens to report the secret shop to the authorities if Nella doesn’t provide the poison, and Nella has no choice but to accept Eliza’s help to collect 100 more beetles and create a new batch by the following evening. Eliza unwittingly packages the powder into one of the old jars Nella’s mother used, engraved with a small bear to identify her shop. In present day London Caroline Parcewell has just arrived alone for the 10th anniversary trip paid for before she discovered her husband was having an affair. Caroline planned to study history at Cambridge before their marriage, instead ending up in Cincinnati, working at the family farm. While walking off her jet lag, Caroline meets a group of mudlarkers sifting through the mud of the Thames for relics of the past. She finds a tiny vial with a rough engraving of an animal. The leader explains it is probably an apothecary vial, and quite old judging by the uneven glass. Caroline visits the British Library to learn more about her find, and discovers the scan of a note from 1816, describing a female apothecary in Bear Alley, a friend to all women whose “men are dead because of us.” The two interwoven storylines in this engaging debut follow Nella and Eliza in the past and Caroline in the present as her reawakened passion for historical research helps her deal with the pain of betrayal.

Jesse Q. Sutanto
Dial A for Aunties (Berkley 2021) introduces Meddelin “Meddy” Chan, a young Chinese-Indonesian-American raised by her single mother and three aunts: Big Aunt, Second Aunt, Fourth Aunt. The four sisters squabble constantly but are very close, cherishing Meddy as the daughter who stayed home while all the sons moved away. Meddy studied photography at college and fell in love with Nathan Chan, but ended their relationship when Nathan got an internship in New York, knowing her family would be devastated if she moved away from San Gabriel, California. Her family now has a wedding business: “Don’t leave your big day to chance, leave it to the Chans!” Big Aunt creates amazing wedding cakes, Second Aunt does hair and make-up, Ma does the flowers, Fourth Aunt sings, Meddy takes the pictures and wishes she hadn’t given up her dream of becoming a real photographer and a life with Nathan. At their regular weekly dim sum lunch Meddy learns that her mother has signed her up on a dating site. The sisters are fluent in Mandarin and Indonesian but struggle in English while Meddy is fluent in English but only has the rudiments of Mandarin and Indonesian, so at first she hopes she has misunderstood, but her mother has set her up on a blind date that evening with wealthy Jake, owner of the island hotel that’s the venue for their next wedding. The date goes far worse than Meddy feared and she ends up with a dead body in the trunk of her car, which travels to the island in Big Aunt’s largest cooler while they figure out how to dispose of it. They are terrified that the hotel will be in shambles since the owner is missing, but the manager turns out to be Nathan, working his first big event. This amusing light mystery has been optioned as a Netflix original movie.

JoAnne Tompkins
What Comes After (Riverhead Books 2021) is set in a small town on the coast of Washington. Two teenage boys are dead, Daniel Balch murdered by his close friend Jonah, who later commits suicide, leaving a one-sentence confession to the murder. Daniel’s father Isaac lives alone with his dog Rufus next door to Jonah’s widowed mother Lorrie, who lives with her young daughter. Isaac and Lorrie haven’t spoken since Jonah’s suicide. Isaac has retreated into his Quaker faith, unable to forgive Jonah and by extension his mother, while Lorrie is wracked with guilt over her son’s violent action and grief over his death. Then Evangeline McKensey appears. Barely sixteen, Evangeline has been scrabbling to survive after her drug-addicted mother deserted her, leaving $200 in an envelope in their rented trailer three months earlier. About to be evicted, Evangeline discovers she is pregnant, and wanders along the street where Daniel and Jonah lived, taking shelter in Isaac’s back yard. When Isaac lets Rufus out late that night, he discovers the cold and hungry teenage girl, and takes her in for the night. Evangeline eats like a starving person and then takes her first shower in weeks, luxuriating in the soft bed with clean sheets. The presence of a guest motivates Isaac to clean the house he has neglected since Daniel’s death, and actually eat something himself. Isaac doesn’t believe Evangeline’s story about how she came to be in his back yard, but soon realizes she is pregnant and suspects she knew both Daniel and Jonah. Realizing he can’t deal with her alone, he asks Lorrie for help. When the doctor says she’s about six weeks pregnant, they all realize that was just before Daniel disappeared, though Evangeline doesn’t admit she knew both boys. As the weeks pass, Daniel struggles to get past his anger against Lorrie and his growing suspicion that Evangeline may have had a part in his son’s death. Evangeline works hard to catch up with her class in high school while cautiously beginning to trust the two new adults in her life. Jonah’s story is revealed thought interspersed sections narrated on the day of his death. This complex exploration of guilt and grief and anger is a finalist for the 2022 Edgar Award for Best First Novel.

Nancy Tucker
The First Day of Spring (Riverhead Books 2021) is the story of Chrissy, an eight-year-old child who kills a toddler named Steven. Chrissy is half-starved, her neglectful mother never keeps food in the house and Chrissy survives mainly on the milk and biscuits she is given at school and whatever she can steal from the corner store. Chrissy overstays her welcome at her friend Linda’s house as often as possible, hoping Linda’s mother will let her stay for tea. Chrissy is also starved for love. Her mother never cuddles or cares for her, and her alcoholic father left the family when she was very young. Her mother told Chrissy he was dead, and when he reappears, Chrissy believes he came back from the dead, and that Steven will too after being gone for a time. Twenty years later Chrissy is living as Julia, an assumed name to protect her from the ravenous press anxious to track down the child-killer who was released after serving only nine years in Haverleigh Home, a secure facility for children. Chrissy now has a daughter of her own: five-year-old Molly. Fearing that she doesn’t know how to be a good mother, Chrissy obsesses about doing everything correctly: feeding Molly only healthy food, sticking to the recommended routine for meals and bedtimes, buying the proper shoes, giving herself points in the tally machine in her head for everything she does right. When Molly starts school she watches the other mothers, jealous of how effortless being a mother is to them. Walking home on the first day of spring, Molly falls and breaks her arm. Chrissy takes her to the hospital, and knows why the nurse insists on asking Molly how she fell. When the social worker calls requesting a visit the next day, Chrissy panics and flees with Molly, sure they will try to take her daughter. Alternate chapters from Julia’s adult perspective and Chrissy’s child perspective reveal the long-lasting damage caused by the trauma of trying to survive without the most basic necessities: food, safety, and love. This haunting debut novel is highly recommended.

Caitlin Wahrer
The Damage (Pamela Dorman Books 2021) is the story of a the Hall family living in the small town of Salisbury, Maine. When Julia married Tony she was worried about his need to take care of her and fix everything, but soon realized that personality trait came from growing up in a dysfunctional family. When Tony was 17 his abusive father and new wife had a baby. Tony took responsibility for his half-brother Nick, making sure he was fed and clothed and cherished. Now 18 and a college student, Nick is the victim of a violent rape by a handsome older man he met in a bar. Instead of his parents, Nick asks the police to call Tony to meet him at the hospital. Detective John Rice is assigned to the case, and is pleased to learn that one of Nick’s friends took a picture of the man, who paid a transient woman to rent the motel room with cash. Rice is concerned that Nick has no memory of the rape or beating, he blacked out after being hit over the head soon after entering the room. Julia, a lawyer experienced in sexual assault cases, trusts that Rice is a good detective capable of handling the investigation. The man Nick knew as Josh is soon identified as Raymond Walker, a respected businessman with no history of violence. Walker admits the sexual encounter, but insists it was consensual and that Nick was eager for rough sex. Walker’s mother leaps to her son’s defense, flooding Facebook with accusations against Nick. As the legal system slowly cranks through the process, Nick’s self-worth and mental stability begins to crumble, and Julia realizes Tony is prepared to do something stupid to fix the situation, saving his brother from further anguish. This stunning debut thriller is a finalist for the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Debut Novel.

Brandon Webb & John David Mann
Steel Fear (Bantam 2021) begins when Chief Finn, a Navy SEAL sniper, boards the USS Abraham Lincoln for transport home from Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. Finn is being sent home in disgrace: an entire settlement of Yemeni locals were slaughtered in Mukalla, and he has no memory of the event. Finn tries to locate the official reports, but is told he no longer has access. Finn spends most of his time wandering the multiple decks of the huge aircraft carrier, making a mental map of entries, exits, choke points, hatches, etc. Like all snipers, Finn has extraordinary powers of observation, automatically scanning for anything unusual or out of place. He notices morale is low and leadership is weak: Captain Eagleberg doesn’t give the usual morning announcement and rarely interacts with anyone. Monica Halsey is a helicopter pilot, close to earning her helicopter aircraft commander qualification. Unfortunately her commanding officer Nikos Papadakis is in charge of that, and he doesn’t like Monica one bit. Monica spends most of her free time reviewing a recent helicopter crash that killed four of her friends, searching for the cause. As the days pass, morale grows worse when first Sam Schofield and then Kristine Shiflin, a jet pilot and Monica’s best friend, disappear overboard leaving typed suicide notes behind. Finn finds the cap to a hypodermic needle on the deck, leading him to believe that neither Shiflin nor Schofield committed suicide — there is a serial killer on board. Command Master Chief Robbie Jackson fears Finn may be right, but the Captain refuses to authorize an investigation. The next death is impossible to ignore, and the Captain decides Finn himself must be the culprit. There were no problems before he boarded the ship, and the Captain and others are suspicious of the mystery surrounding Finn’s past. This complex thriller featuring the enigmatic Finn is the fiction debut of the non-fiction co-authors: former Navy SEAL Brandon Webb and award-winning author John David Mann.