Ashe (The Sleeping Beauties) draws readers in with this seductive story of obsession centered on a young wife and her enigmatic therapist in 1960s London. Evelyn Westbrook has felt lost ever since her marriage brought an abrupt end to her modeling career. She’s spent recent months plagued by vivid nightmares and locked in a fight with her husband and his family about her decision to take birth control pills. To cope, she begins secret weekly therapy sessions with Dr. Daley, a Freudian psychologist. As Daley solicits intimate revelations from Evelyn, including that she was sexually abused as a teen, she grows both desperately attracted to him and infuriated by his dispassionate neutrality. Soon, Evelyn starts to unravel, and Ashe keeps readers deliciously uncertain about who’s manipulating whom. By depicting the domestic and social pressures on Evelyn with meticulous realism, Ashe makes the character’s possible descent into madness equal parts plausible and chilling. Evocative, empathetic, and ultimately empowering, this coiled psychological thriller will be catnip for fans of Alex Michaelides. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 01/30/2026 | Details & Permalink

The new hire at a Manhattan compliance company is fired during his first day on the job, then gets ensnared in a series of deadly games in this frenetic page-turner from Reid (The Hunter). Ben Cross has been eagerly anticipating his first day at DataDyne Solutions, a billion-dollar business that helps its clients avoid EPA fines, only to be locked out of his computer and escorted from the building by security without explanation shortly after he arrives. A disoriented Ben then boards the subway, where he receives anonymous text messages that promise certain passengers will die when they get off at their stop. Ben is unsure how seriously to take the messages until a man steps off the train and is fatally shot. Ben’s tormentor takes credit for the killing, then continues to taunt him, threatening to reveal a dark personal secret of Ben’s if he doesn’t meet their demands. Reid alternates claustrophobic sections from Ben’s perspective with chapters narrated by NYPD detective Kelly Hendricks, who investigates the first murder after being reassigned to the subway system for humiliating one of her superiors. Propulsive, unpredictable, and genuinely scary, this crackerjack thriller barrels forward like a runaway train. Readers won’t want it to end. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/23/2026 | Details & Permalink

Jackson (With My Little Eye) sticks a difficult landing in this Georgia-set thriller about a grieving cop probing a series of bizarrely personal murders. Rookie detective Penny Albright is one of first officers on the scene of a fatal stabbing in an upscale suburban shopping village. When she sees the face of the deceased, she’s stunned to recognize him as Danny Bowery, one of the men she blames for the death, five years earlier, of her twin sister, Nix. Penny quickly catches up with a woman drenched in blood near the scene who calls herself Thalia Grey. Though Penny is all but certain Thalia killed Danny, her cryptic comments about the situation (“This is not a story about a rookie who stumbles onto a killer and solves the case.... This is not a story about cops at all”) convince Penny to let her escape. Xav Castillo, another one of the men involved in Nix’s death, has also been murdered recently, leading Penny on a winding investigation into who might be avenging Nix’s death, and why. Though the wild setup requires some suspension of disbelief, Jackson rewards readers willing to go along for the ride with a whip-smart, consistently surprising procedural. It’s a job well done. Agent: Caryn Karmatz Rudy, DeFiore & Co. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/23/2026 | Details & Permalink

Pryor’s lively latest investigation for Hugo Marston (after The French Widow) finds the semiretired head of security at the U.S. embassy in Paris yanked back into the fray. Hugo is making arrangements to open Hugo’s Mystery & Antiquarian Bookshop in Paris’s fashionable Marais district when his superiors call and ask him to investigate a blackmail incident at Eclat de Chocolat, a chocolate factory housed in an 18th-century Catholic convent. Anya Delavigne, the company’s marketing director, has received a threatening note signed by “The Shadow” that promises to reveal her “darkest secret,” though she says she has no idea what that might be. Shortly after Hugo launches his inquiry, one of the company’s employees is killed. Teaming up with his old friend, police lieutenant Camille Lerens, Hugo tries to determine whether the blackmail and the murder are linked, and who’s responsible for each. Series fans will delight at Camille’s return, and Pryor’s depiction of the City of Light is intoxicating. If the investigation itself is somewhat underheated, readers are unlikely to mind. It’s a satisfying confection. Agent: Laura Gross, Laura Gross Literary. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/23/2026 | Details & Permalink

In Rosenfield’s slick latest (after You Must Remember This), a woman plots to kill her spouse on the Appalachian Trail with the help of her new lover. Emma Sharp has tired of living under the thumb of her controlling husband, Logan Grant, whom she met in a psychologically fragile state after founding a nutrition startup and then attempting suicide. At the time, Logan was a broke Uber driver, and he charmed Emma into marrying him before revealing his dark side. He’s since stonewalled her attempts at divorce, spurring her to find solidarity and unexpected romance with Taylor, Logan’s ex-girlfriend and former business partner. Together, Emma and Taylor devise a plan to murder Logan while hiking Maine’s Hundred Mile Wilderness, a remote section of the Appalachian Trail. When the trio enter the woods, however, their dynamics shift, and long-buried secrets bubble to the surface. Luckily for Emma, she was raised by a doomsday prepper who taught her how to withstand dire circumstances. Her shrewd efforts to outwit nature and her fellow hikers keep the pages turning, but Rosenfield skimps on emotional depth and character development. The result, while diverting, is unlikely to stay with readers. Agent: Yfat Reiss Gendell, YRG Partners. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/23/2026 | Details & Permalink

Leigh (Don’t Trust Her) follows troubled New York City accountant Ellie Taylor as she joins a mysterious secret society in this tiresome suspense novel. At the outset, 30-something Ellie—still haunted by the loss of her mother, who died when she was a child—is dealing with bouts of sleepwalking and mysterious bruises. She receives little comfort from her workaholic husband, Jack, an attorney at her father’s firm, who seems to prefer spending time with his boss to spending time with his wife. Then an ornate invitation, with Ellie’s name inscribed in gold on the envelope, is hand-delivered to her office one afternoon, inviting her to a “Spring Women’s Weekend” at an estate in Westchester and hosted by a group identified simply as “The Society.” With no idea of what the event entails, Ellie accepts. In Westchester, she’s warmly welcomed by a cabal of wealthy, well-connected businesswomen who speak proudly of their prolific charity work. Before long, however, Ellie learns that the group’s good deeds involve a healthy dose of violence and revenge. Leigh’s excessive plot twists swing between the predictable and the outlandish, resulting in a dull quasi-feminist thriller that’s more flat-footed than frightening. There’s not much here to recommend. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/23/2026 | Details & Permalink

A lifestyle influencer gets an unexpected chance to clear her name after she’s convicted of murdering her husband in this propulsive thriller from Keir (The Royal Game), a pseudonym for Keir Graff and Linda Joffe Hull. L.A. social media star Cara Campbell is the only real suspect when her husband, a wealthy older plastic surgeon, is found dead during a vacation. Despite Cara’s unwavering insistence that she’s innocent, she is tried and sentenced to life in prison. In an armored van on her way to a maximum-security facility, Cara survives a traffic accident that leaves the driver dead and offers her a narrow window to escape. L.A. sheriff Jordan Burke, who faces a ruthless challenger in an upcoming election, makes it his mission to capture Cara, igniting a tense game of cat and mouse as she tries to figure out who actually murdered her husband while keeping herself alive and under the radar in the Sierra Nevada. Short chapters, juicy cliff-hangers, and well-sketched characters will keep readers enthralled, even if the plot stretches on a bit too long. Adrenaline junkies should take note. Agent: Josh Getzler, HG Literary. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/23/2026 | Details & Permalink

Crime-fighting is hell in this gripping urban noir starring masked vigilante Matt Murdock from novelist and comic book writer Segura (Alter Ego). Blinded by a childhood accident that enhanced his other senses, Murdock lives as a Manhattan defense attorney by day and as Daredevil, unofficial protector of Hell’s Kitchen, by night. In both his law work and his superhero activities, Murdock regularly clashes with New York City crime kingpin Wilson Fisk, one of the few people who knows about his secret identity. Murdock is stunned, then, when Fisk is found shot to death in his office, leaving behind a power vacuum on the streets that’s sure to cause more bloodshed. Ultraviolent vigilante Frank Castle, aka the Punisher, turns himself in for Fisk’s murder, but Murdock is convinced that Castle is covering for someone else. Hell-bent on discovering the truth and hoping to quiet the uproar on the streets, Murdock agrees to defend Castle in court, risking his life and career in the process. Segura’s twin experience in prose and comics serves him well here: he effortlessly conjures the heightened atmosphere of a Marvel comic without tipping into cliché. Superhero fans will be delighted. Agent: Josh Getzler, HG Literary. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/23/2026 | Details & Permalink

Jackson’s perceptive debut introduces Martha Allen, a Scotland Yard detective who’s plunged back into a case that’s stayed with her for three decades. On an August night in 1990, five-month-old Bella Carpenter was reported missing from her London hotel room. Allen, then a newly minted detective inspector on the Metropolitan Police Force, was assigned to the case, and no leads emerged until her sharp-eyed subordinate, detective constable Manley Desbury, noticed that Bella’s father was only pretending to cry during a press conference. Spurred by Allen’s suspicion that Bella was dead before she disappeared, the detectives investigated the couple but failed to turn up anything conclusive. Eventually a teenager named Nell Beatty returned Bella to the police, and senior officers played it up as a triumphant resolution—even though Nell disappeared through a station window before she could be questioned. In the present, Nell’s body is found on a bench in Bristol, prompting Allen and Desbury to revisit Bella’s case off the books. Jackson gets the pace and details of a high-pressure investigation just right, mixing plodding procedural work and bolts of inspiration for a bracingly realistic depiction of crime-solving. Fans of moody British mysteries will cheer Jackson’s auspicious entry into the field. Agent: Laura Macdougall, United Agents. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/23/2026 | Details & Permalink

Crime reporter Charlie Shaw becomes a private investigator after he’s furloughed during the Covid-19 pandemic in the so-so debut from sports journalist Phillips. At the outset, Charlie struggles to balance his fledgling PI career with his responsibilities as a father to a six-month-old daughter, botching a routine assignment to take photos of a cheating spouse when his baby minder app drains the battery on his phone. Soon afterward, 16-year-old runaway Friday Finley asks Charlie for help finding her deadbeat father. Charlie quickly develops paternal affection for the traumatized teen, and his investigation reveals that Friday’s father has gotten mixed up with some dangerous Bay Area criminals. Soon, someone catches wind of his pursuit, and Charlie’s own family is threatened. Charlie’s incompetence as an investigator initially provides some satisfying narrative friction, but readers might have a hard time sympathizing with him as the stakes ramp up and his clumsiness starts to feel more like fecklessness. Phillips manages a handful of genuinely sweet father-daughter moments, but slack pacing and an undercooked explanation for Charlie’s pivot to PI work undermine them. For the most part, this misses the mark. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/23/2026 | Details & Permalink