Thriller

Excerpt: THE EXCLUSION ZONE by Alexis von Konigslow (Wolsak & Wynn)

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Today we have an excerpt from The Exclusion Zone by Alexis von Konigslow. Due to be published by Wolsak & Wynn, on May 6th. It is a novel that takes a look at the impact of politics on science, and women in science in particular. It has been described as “part ghost story, part literary thriller”, and I am looking forward to giving it a try. Here’s the synopsis:

She would harness fear. And this terrifying place would help her do it.

Renya, a scientist who studies how people react to fear, flees a troubled marriage to conduct research on the scientists working in the “exclusion zone” around Chernobyl. In the eerily silent forests surrounding the research station, she finds more is haunting her than the dangers of radiation exposure. As she gathers data from her colleagues and probes historical records of the Chernobyl disaster, unsettling questions rise to the surface. Who is funding her research? Why are all the scientists’ findings off? And what do those who stalk the ruins of the abandoned city nearby want?

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Very Quick Review: HAUNT SWEET HOME by Sarah Pinsker (TorDotCom)

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PinskerS-HauntSweetHomeUSHCA novella with an interesting twist on haunting, and an amusing satire on “reality” TV

On the set of a kitschy reality TV show, staged scares transform into unnerving reality…

“Don’t talk to day about what we do at night.”

When aimless twenty-something Mara lands a job as the night-shift production assistant on her cousin’s ghost hunting/home makeover reality TV show Haunt Sweet Home, she quickly determines her new role will require a healthy attitude toward duplicity. But as she hides fog machines in the woods and improvises scares to spook new homeowners, a series of unnerving incidents on set and a creepy new coworker force Mara to confront whether the person she’s truly been deceiving and hiding from all along — is herself.

Eerie and empathetic, Haunt Sweet Home is a multifaceted, supernatural exploration of finding your own way into adulthood, and into yourself.

What if a fake reality show about haunted properties ends up… not so fake? In Sarah Pinsker’s latest novella, a newly-hired production assistant ends up right in the middle of a haunting, while still trying to figure out who she wants to be and what kind of life she wants. It’s an engaging story that feels a little like house-hunting during an episode of Supernatural. I enjoyed this. Continue reading →

Upcoming: THE SUMMER GUESTS by Tess Gerritsen (Penguin/Thomas & Mercer)

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GerritsenT-MC2-SummerGuestsUKHCIn March 2025, readers will be able to get their hands on The Summer Guests, the second novel in Tess Gerritsen‘s Martini Club series. The Spy Coast was, somewhat surprisingly, the first of Gerritsen’s novels that I read, and it left me very keen to read more. As I finished it, the sequel had already been announced by Thomas & Mercer (North American publisher), and yesterday I noticed that the cover artwork had been unveiled for both the UK and North American editions. One of my most-anticipated reads of next year, here’s the synopsis:

The chilling follow-up to The Spy Coast, plunging the Martini Club into the search for a missing teen — with a startling connection to their own pasts.

When former spy Maggie Bird retired to the seaside hamlet of Purity, Maine, she settled in for a quiet life with breathtaking views. But enemies from her past soon threatened to destroy everything.

Maggie survived, thanks to her wits and the collective intelligence of the Martini Club, the circle of ex-CIA friends in her cocktail-sipping book club. Their handiwork, however, caught the attention of young police chief Jo Thibodeau. Now Jo and her neighborhood ex-spies have an uneasy alliance.

GerritsenT-MC2-SummerGuestsUSHCAfter a teenager vanishes — and Maggie’s neighbor becomes the prime suspect — she joins the investigation, determined to prove her friend’s innocence. But the girl’s wealthy family pushes for an arrest. And when authorities discover a long-dead corpse in a nearby pond, the case becomes doubly complicated, with unthinkable ties to long-buried secrets.

As Jo grapples with two unexplained mysteries, the Martini Club races to uncover the truth behind shadowy secrets… before more lives are lost.

Tess Gerritsen’s The Summer Guests is due to be published by Bantam Books in the UK (March 27th, 2025) and Thomas & Mercer in North America (March).

Also on CR: Review of The Spy Coast

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, Twitter

Quick Review: DEVIL’S KITCHEN by Candice Fox (Forge Books)

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FoxC-DevilsKitchenUSHCAn undercover investigator works to bring down an arson crew in New York City

The firefighting crew of Engine 99 has spent years rushing fearlessly into the hot zone of major fires across New York City. This tight-knit, four person unit has faced danger head-on, saving countless lives and stopping raging fires before they can cause major destruction.

They’ve also stolen millions from banks, jewelry stores, and art galleries. Under the cover of saving the city, these men have used their knowledge and specialist equipment to become the most successful heist crew on the East Coast.

Andy Nearland, the newest member of Engine 99, is good at keeping secrets. She’s been brought on to help with their biggest job ever — hitting New York’s largest private storage facility, an expensive treasure trove for the rich and famous.

She’s also an undercover operative, charged with bringing the crew to justice.

Keeping Andy’s true motives hidden proves more and more dangerous as tempers flare and loyalties are tested. And as the clock counts down to the crew’s most daring heist yet, her cover might just go up in flames…

This is only the second novel by Candice Fox that I’ve read. Given how much I enjoyed this and Gathering Dark, it’s a bit strange that I haven’t read more. Devil’s Kitchen is a fast-paced, engaging mystery with great characters. I enjoyed this a lot. Continue reading →

Excerpt: THE TRAP by Ava Glass (Cornerstone)

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GlassA-EM3-TrapUKPBA few days ago (August 1st), Penguin Cornerstone published the latest novel by Ava Glass, The Trap. It’s the third novel starring investigator Emma Makepeace (after Alias Emma and The Traitor). As part of the blog tour to mark the release, the publisher has provided CR with an extract, drawn from Chapters 2 and 23 of the novel. (See full tour details at the end of this post.) First, here’s the synopsis:

How far would you go to catch a killer?

This is the question UK agent Emma Makepeace must ask herself when she is sent to Edinburgh for the upcoming global G7 Summit.

The Russians are in town and Emma and her team know a high-profile assassination is being planned.

But who is their target?

There is only one way to find out. Emma must set a trap using herself as bait.

As the most powerful leaders in the world arrive and the city becomes gridlocked, Emma knows the clock is ticking

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Excerpt: STORM WARNING by David Bell (Berkley)

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BellD-StormWarningUSHCNext week, Berkley is due to publish the latest novel from thriller author David Bell: Storm Warning. To mark the occasion, we have an excerpt to share. Here’s the synopsis:

A man living on a Florida barrier island must protect his family from both an approaching hurricane and a relentless killer.

Jake Powell is racing to get off the island as a powerful hurricane approaches. When he finds his best friend Dallas, the building manager, dead from a blow to the skull, Jake realizes there’s more than the storm to fear. There’s a murderer on the island, maybe even still inside the nearly abandoned building.

Dallas had repeatedly run afoul of the wealthy owners of the building by complaining about code violations and the precarious state of the condos. But he’d also once told Jake that every resident had a secret they’d come to Florida to escape. Had one of them killed to conceal their sins? As a dozen people shelter together in hopes of surviving the deadly hurricane, a second murder makes it all too clear: one of them is a dangerous killer.

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Quick Review: THE EDGE by David Baldacci (Grand Central)

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BaldacciD-TD2-EdgeUSHCTravis Devine returns, in a strange mystery in small-town Maine

The 6:20 Man is back, dropped by his handlers into a small coastal town in Maine to solve the murder of a CIA agent who knew America’s dirtiest secrets — can Travis Devine uncover the truth before his time runs out?

When CIA operative Jenny Silkwell is murdered in rural Maine, government officials have immediate concerns over national security. Her laptop and phone were full of state secrets that, in the wrong hands, endanger the lives of countless operatives. In need of someone who can solve the murder quickly and retrieve the missing information, the U.S. government knows just the chameleon they can call on.

Ex-Army Ranger Travis Devine spent his time in the military preparing to take on any scenario, followed by his short-lived business career chasing shadows in the deepest halls of power, so his analytical mind makes him particularly well-suited for complex, high-stakes tasks. Taking down the world’s largest financial conspiracy proved his value, and in comparison, this case looks straightforward. Except small towns hold secrets and Devine finds himself an outsider again.

Devine must ingratiate himself with locals who have trusted each other their whole lives, and who distrust outsiders just as much. Dak, Jenny’s brother, who’s working to revitalize the town. Earl, the retired lobsterman who found Jenny’s body. And Alex, Jenny’s sister with a dark past of her own. As Devine gets to know the residents of Putnam, Maine, answers seem to appear and then transform into more questions. There’s a long history of secrets and those who will stop at nothing to keep them from being exposed. Leaving Devine with no idea who he can trust… and who wants him dead.

The second novel in Baldacci’s 6:20 Man/Travis Devine series takes the action from New York to a small town in Maine; a town of secrets that stretch back a decade. This novel is a marked improvement on The 6:20 Man, and I think this character could stick around for a while. Continue reading →

Very Quick Review: THE 6:20 MAN by David Baldacci (Grand Central)

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BaldacciD-620ManUSHCA cryptic murder pulls a former soldier turned financial analyst deep into the corruption and menace that prowl beneath the opulent world of finance…

Every day without fail, Travis Devine puts on a cheap suit, grabs his faux-leather briefcase, and boards the 6:20 commuter train to Manhattan, where he works as an entry-level analyst at the city’s most prestigious investment firm. In the mornings, he gazes out the train window at the lavish homes of the uberwealthy, dreaming about joining their ranks. In the evenings, he listens to the fiscal news on his phone, already preparing for the next grueling day in the cutthroat realm of finance. Then one morning Devine’s tedious routine is shattered by an anonymous email: She is dead.

Sara Ewes, Devine’s coworker and former girlfriend, has been found hanging in a storage room of his office building — presumably a suicide, at least for now — prompting the NYPD to come calling on him. If that wasn’t enough, before the day is out, Devine receives another ominous visit, a confrontation that threatens to dredge up grim secrets from his past in the army unless he participates in a clandestine investigation into his firm. This treacherous role will take him from the impossibly glittering lives he once saw only through a train window, to the darkest corners of the country’s economic halls of power… where something rotten lurks. And apart from this high-stakes conspiracy, there’s a killer out there with their own agenda, and Devine is the bull’s-eye.

I’ve decided to get caught up on David Baldacci’s novels — he’s one of my favourite authors, but for some reason I’ve allowed myself to fall very far behind (he’s increased his output, lately, which is partly to blame for this). The 6:20 Man is the first in his Travis Devine series, and it’s an interesting, timely mystery set in the world of New York finance. Continue reading →

Excerpt: ROGUE SEQUENCE by Zac Topping (Tor Books)

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ToppingZ-RogueSequenceUSHCRogue Sequence is the latest near-ish future thriller from Zac Topping. Due to be published by Tor Books in June, it promises more of the action-packed intensity of the author’s previous novel, Wake of War (which I have, and is rapidly climbing my TBR mountain). The publisher has provided CR with an excerpt to share with our readers, to whet your appetite for the upcoming novel. Here’s the synopsis:

It’s 2091 and independent contract companies around the world are producing genetically modified soldiers… to be sold to the highest bidders.

Ander Rade is a super-soldier, a genetically engineered living weapon, and has been dutifully following orders since he gave himself to Xyphos Industries’ Gene-Mod Program several years ago. But when a mission goes sideways, he’s captured, imprisoned, and forced into brutally violent fighting pits for the better part of the next decade… until agents from the Genetic Compliance Department of the United American Provinces appear in the visiting room.

Things have changed since Rade was captured. Shortly after his incarceration, the World Unity Council banned human genetic engineering and deemed all modified individuals a threat to society. Overnight, an entire subculture of people became outlaws simply for existing. But instead of leaving Rade locked behind bars, the GCD agents have come with an offer: Freedom in exchange for his help tracking down one of his former teammates from that ill-fated mission all those years ago.

It’s an offer Rade can’t refuse, but he soon realizes that the situation is far more volatile than anyone had anticipated, and is forced to take matters into his own hands as he tries to figure out whose side he’s really on, and why.

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Excerpt: STILL WATERS by Matt Goldman (Forge)

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GoldmanM-StillWatersUSHCStill Waters, the latest thriller from Matt Goldman, is due to be published on May 21st. To celebrate the pending release, Forge Books has allowed CR to share the first two chapter from the book! Before we get to that, check out the synopsis:

If you’re reading this email, I am dead. I know this will sound strange, but someone has been trying to kill me.

Liv and Gabe Ahlstrom are estranged siblings who haven’t seen each other in years, but that’s about to change when they receive a rare call from their older brother’s wife. “Mack is dead,” she says. “He died of a seizure.” Five minutes after they hang up, Liv and Gabe each receive a scheduled email from their dead brother, claiming that he was murdered.

The siblings return to their family run resort in the Northwoods of Minnesota to investigate Mack’s claims, but Leech Lake has more in store for them than either could imagine. Drawn into a tangled web of lies and betrayal that spans decades, they put their lives on the line to unravel the truth about their brother, their parents, themselves, and the small town in which they grew up. After all, no one can keep a secret in a small town, but someone in Leech Lake is willing to kill for the truth to stay buried.

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