Narrative theme: interior life / psychological fiction

Book SynopsisIn a small Appalachian town, an amateur detective unearths a dark conspiracy and his own haunted past, in a chilling novel about sacrifice, art, and revenge. Med school dropout Harlan Winter returns to his impoverished West Virginia hometown, where the law is scarce, arsonists are turning everything to ash, and his family’s turbulent history lingers. All he wants is to keep the peace in a community cowering from the Lighthouse, a local cult preying on people’s fears. Harlan’s own fears, too, when he’s hired to play detective and find a young couple gone missing. The vanished artist and his girlfriend have left behind a series of paintings that enrage the Lighthouse’s Pastor Logan, who believes art can have divine power. It’s not easy to believe for a rational man like Harlan. And impossible to ignore when his investigation is haunted by visions of the dead lurking in the shadows of his own violent past. Revelations about the disappearances are being unearthed. The Lighthouse’s grip on the community is tightening. And Harlan fears he’s losing control. As the threats against his town, his sanity, and his life begin to mount, Harlan doesn’t know which is more terrifying: what’s real, or what’s in his mind.Trade ReviewPraise for Jordan Farmer The Poison Flood “A near-Shakespearean snarl, a mad, seven-day action crucible set in the West Virginia wild…The Poison Flood is an ambitious saga, cockamamie and passionate. Through Hollis, Farmer produces a pocket Hillbilly manifesto.” — Atlanta Journal-Constitution “Hollis himself is vivid…When the novel focuses on a musician’s creative struggles, it sings.” —Kirkus Reviews “Affecting…[It] combines an unconventional lead with a sobering portrayal of an environmental disaster’s impact on a small community. Readers who like their fiction to have a social conscience will want to take a look.” —Publishers Weekly “[A] bizarre and fascinating read that proves that anything is possible in the capable hands of author Jordan Farmer. The novel is immediately engrossing, its characters uniquely memorable, its prose both heartfelt and stunning. The novel takes a number of unexpected and thrilling turns…[and is] rich in compassion and empathy.” —BookPage “Darkly brilliant and beautifully written…[Farmer’s] similes, metaphors, and turns of phrase are worth underlining and rereading over and over. They are equaled, if not exceeded, by his sharply drawn characters, who you will remember long after you finish this book.” —Bookreporter “[The Poison Flood] had one of the most satisfying endings I’ve read in a while, capping what was overall one of the best novels I’ve ever read of modern-day rural America.” —Criminal Element “In his narrator, Hollis Bragg, Jordan Farmer has created a compelling character whose personal story and damaged body become emblematic of a whole region devastated by environmental destruction. The Poison Flood is a timely and important novel.” —Ron Rash, PEN/Faulkner finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Serena “The Poison Flood is thrilling, poignant, and full of music, a forceful counterpunch to the usual expectations about poverty, trauma, and physical difference.” —James A. McLaughlin, author of Bearskin “Jordan Farmer’s novel is both a gripping page-turner and a stunning meditation on body and place. The Poison Flood will punch you right in the throat with its honesty and its heart. Farmer is a singular talent, with a voice I won’t soon forget.” —Nick White, author of Sweet and Low “Once again, Jordan Farmer has written a darkly urgent book. The Poison Flood is not only a story about the redemptive power of art—it is itself a redeeming and beautiful work.” —Smith Henderson, author of Fourth of July Creek “Jordan Farmer’s immense talent shines with the creation of Hollis Bragg, an indelible character at the heart of this perfect ballad to rural West Virginia.” —Devin Murphy, author of The Boat Runner and Tiny Americans “Once in a great while, a book appears that gives voice to multitudes living just beyond our everyday scope. The Poison Flood establishes Jordan Farmer as a writer whose lyricism and unflinching search for truth place him among those artists who carry our deepest concerns and very best possibilities across time. This is a profoundly good book.” —Jonis Agee, author of The Bones of Paradise “A fascinating exploration of character, with a story that captivates with suspense and heart, The Poison Flood is a book about the influence of music, the power of art, and the complexities of luck. Irresistible and original.” —Timothy Schaffert, author of The Swan Gondola

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Book SynopsisFor a brilliant forensic linguist, crimes of the past hold clues to new series of murders in a twisting novel of suspense by the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of A Familiar Sight. The double murder of a married couple in a small Washington town draws FBI forensic linguist Raisa Susanto into an investigation that mirrors a decades-old crime. Twenty-five years ago—to the day—Alex Parker murdered his parents, then took his own life, leaving behind a note admitting everything. Raisa, paired with forensic psychologist Callum Kilkenny, uses her skills to read between the lines. Especially now that paranoid postings on a conspiracy thread suggest that Alex was a victim himself—theories that have piqued the interest of a perceptive content moderator and a true-crime podcaster eager for a big break. As old and new crimes converge, messages from the living and the confessions of the dead take on new meaning for Raisa. Something more sinister than a copycat crime is at play, and plundering the darkest corners of a killer’s mind leaves her vulnerable to a deadly twist even she never saw coming.Trade Review“Labuskes' series starter lays solid groundwork for future episodes featuring agents Susanto and Kilkenny, both complex characters with intriguing backstories, motivations, and personal blind spots. Hand to fans of Iris Johansen's forensic sculptor Eve Duncan and other detectives who take an unconventional approach to solving crime.” —Booklist “Women pathologists (Patricia Cornwell) and forensic anthropologists (Elly Griffiths) have starred in recent mysteries that appeared on best-of-the-year lists. Through her terrific new heroine, Labuskes has the fire and smarts to join them on the award dais.” —Library Journal (starred review) Praise for Brianna Labuskes What Can’t Be Seen “The book’s well-constructed plot matches its three-dimensional characters. Psychological-thriller fans will be eager for more.” —Publishers Weekly A Familiar Sight “A horrific brew for readers willing to immerse themselves in it.” —Kirkus Reviews “A strong plot and unforgettable characters make this a winner. Labuskes is on a roll.” —Publishers Weekly “A Familiar Sight has everything I crave in a thriller: a shocking, addictive female lead; unexpected twists that snapped off the page; and an ending that made me gasp out loud. I never saw it coming, but it was perfectly in sync with the razor-sharp balance between creepy and compelling that Labuskes carries throughout the novel. This is a one-sitting read.” —Jess Lourey, Amazon Charts bestselling author Her Final Words “Labuskes skillfully ratchets up the suspense. Readers will eagerly await her next.” —Publishers Weekly “Labuskes offers an intense mystery with an excellent character in Lucy, who methodically uncovers layers of deceit while trusting no one.” —Library Journal Girls of Glass “Excellent…Readers who enjoy having their expectations upset will be richly rewarded.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) It Ends with Her “Once in a while a character comes along who gets under your skin and refuses to let go. This is the case with Brianna Labuskes’s Clarke Sinclair—a cantankerous, rebellious, and somehow endearingly likable FBI agent with a troubled past. I was immediately pulled into Clarke’s broken, shadow-filled world and her quest for justice and redemption. A stunning thriller, It Ends with Her is not to be missed.” —Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times bestselling author “It Ends with Her is a gritty, riveting roller-coaster ride of a book. Brianna Labuskes has created a layered, gripping story around a cast of characters that readers will cheer for. Her crisp prose and quick plot kept me reading with my heart in my throat. Highly recommended for fans of smart thrillers with captivating heroines.” —Nicole Baart, author of Little Broken Things “An engrossing psychological thriller filled with twists and turns. I couldn’t put it down! The characters were filled with emotional depth. An impressive debut!” —Elizabeth Blackwell, author of In the Shadow of Lakecrest

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Book SynopsisA Wall Street Journal bestselling series.The mystery of three missing teens and a traumatizing murder unearths decades of buried secrets in a shocking novel of suspense by a Wall Street Journal and Amazon Charts bestselling author.Twenty years ago, five teenage campers disappeared. Two eventually turned up, bound and left for dead on the Columbia River’s rocky shore. Only Devin Bonner miraculously survived, but with no memories of what happened in the Oregon forest.After decades, the cold case generates heat for FBI Special Agent Mercy Kilpatrick and her husband, Police Chief Truman Daly. They’re investigating the murder of a true-crime podcaster found at the river’s edge in the same location, and with the exact same manner of death. With the discovery, Devin’s nightmares return. His only real friend is Ollie Smith, Truman’s orphaned ward, whose own search for the truth sucks Ollie into a mystery far greater and more dangerous than anyone imagined.Following a trail of fresh blood and an escalating series of murders, Mercy and Truman must work fast to unlock whatever traumas are buried in Devin’s memories before the secrets of the past claim another victim.

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Book SynopsisA Wall Street Journal bestselling series.The mystery of three missing teens and a traumatizing murder unearths decades of buried secrets in a shocking novel of suspense by a Wall Street Journal and Amazon Charts bestselling author.Twenty years ago, five teenage campers disappeared. Two eventually turned up, bound and left for dead on the Columbia River’s rocky shore. Only Devin Bonner miraculously survived, but with no memories of what happened in the Oregon forest.After decades, the cold case generates heat for FBI Special Agent Mercy Kilpatrick and her husband, Police Chief Truman Daly. They’re investigating the murder of a true-crime podcaster found at the river’s edge in the same location, and with the exact same manner of death. With the discovery, Devin’s nightmares return. His only real friend is Ollie Smith, Truman’s orphaned ward, whose own search for the truth sucks Ollie into a mystery far greater and more dangerous than anyone imagined.Following a trail of fresh blood and an escalating series of murders, Mercy and Truman must work fast to unlock whatever traumas are buried in Devin’s memories before the secrets of the past claim another victim.

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Book SynopsisIn this richly unnerving tale about family secrets and expectations, two sisters are at lifelong odds with each other, their mother, and themselves—and as every hour becomes more twisted than the last, they are all pushed to their breaking point. Lovely and Beauty know their place: at home, beneath the watchful eye of their mother. Life has never included friends, an education, or anything the sisters can call their own. Their comings and goings are supervised by Farida. Otherwise, they don’t come and go at all. That changes on Lovely’s fortieth birthday. In a stroke of inexplicable fortune, Farida permits her eldest daughter to go to the Gausia Market alone, with no instructions but to abide by her curfew. For once on her own, Lovely is goaded by the voice in her head to push her mother’s—and her own—boundaries. New experiences and old memories abound as her family awaits her return. But with the taste of freedom so fresh on her tongue, Lovely is spurred on by her disembodied companion to hang on to her newfound independence. When home isn’t a safe haven, Lovely must find somewhere else to turn.Trade ReviewPraise for Good Girls “Gazi aids her brisk plotting with flashbacks that emphasize the family’s abusive dynamics…” —Publishers Weekly “Written in lyrical prose, with nuanced characters, Gazi's first novel translated into English deftly unravels the complicated relationships between the sisters, their mother, and the secrets they’ve harbored.” —Booklist “Taut, unsettling, and at times wickedly funny, this sly novel will hold you in its thrall until the very last page.” —Ash Davidson, author of Damnation Spring

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Book Synopsis“A courageous novel, beautifully imagined and written.” —Elena Lappin, The Washington Post"De Cespedes' work has lost none of its subversive force”—The New York Times Book Review* "De Céspedes’s melancholy testament to a hidden life feels timeless and vital." —Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)From the author of Forbidden Notebook, Alba de Céspedes, a richly told novel she called “the story of a great love and of a crime.”As she looks back on her life, Alessandra Corteggiani recalls her youth during the rise of fascism in Italy, the resistance, and the fall of Mussolini, the lives of the women in her family and her working-class neighborhood, rigorously committed to telling “her side of the story.” Alessandra witnesses her mother, an aspiring concert pianist, suffer from the inability to escape her oppressive marriage. Later, she is sent away to live with her father's relatives in the country, in the hope she’ll finally learn to submit herself to the patriarchal system and authority. But at the farm, Alessandra grows increasingly rebellious, conscious of the unjust treatment of generations of hardworking women in her family. When she refuses the marriage proposal from a neighboring farmer, she is sent back to Rome to tend to her ailing father.In Rome, Alessandra meets Francesco, a charismatic anti-fascist professor, who ostensibly admires and supports her sense of independence and justice. But she soon comes to recognize that even as she respects Francesco and is keen to participate in his struggle to reclaim their country from fascism, this respect is unrequited, and that her own beloved husband is ensnared by patriarchal conventions when it comes to their relationship. In these pages, De Céspedes delivers a breathtakingly accurate and timeless portrayal of the complexity of the female condition against the dramatic backdrop of WWII and the partisan uprising in Italy.Trade Review"Alba de Céspedes wrote novels in the 1940s and 1950s that were radically contemporary, both then and now . . . [her] fiction is written with an acute sense of responsibility to tell the truth. . . . Her Side of the Story is a courageous novel, beautifully imagined and written.”—Elena Lappin, The Washington Post"Her Side of the Story is an achievement that warrants not only a second look at this forgotten writer, but also an important place in the canon of women’s literature."—Margarita Diaz, The Chicago Review of Books ★ "De Céspedes’s melancholy testament to a hidden life feels timeless and vital."—Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)"A lavishly detailed critique of romantic ideals and social constrictions."—Kirkus Reviews"De Cespedes' work has lost none of its subversive force."—The New York Times Book Review"Asks perennial questions about the value and dangers of an examined life."—Lara Feigel, The Guardian

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Book Synopsis?Astonishingly timely and clever, utterly gripping.? ?Lucy Foley, #1 New York Times bestselling author ?Sarah Vaughan has done it again. Superb.? ?Shari Lapena, New York Times bestselling author The bestselling author of Anatomy of a Scandal?now a hit Netflix series?returns with a psychological thriller about a politician whose less-than-perfect personal life is thrust into the spotlight when a body is discovered in her home.As a politician, Emma has sacrificed a great deal for her career?including her marriage and her relationship with her daughter, Flora. The glare of the spotlight is unnerving for Emma, particularly when it leads to countless insults, threats, and trolling as she tries to work in the public eye. As a woman, she knows her reputation is worth its weight in gold but as a politician, she discovers it only takes one slip-up to destroy it completely. Fourteen-year-old Flora is learning the same hard lessons at school as she encounters heartless bullying. When another teenager takes her own life, Emma lobbies for a new law to protect women and girls from the effects of online abuse. Now, Emma and Flora find their personal lives uncomfortably intersected?but then the unthinkable happens. A man is found dead in Emma?s home. A man she had every reason to be afraid of and to want gone. Fighting to protect her reputation and determined to protect her family at all costs, Emma is pushed to the limits as the worst happens and her life is torn apart. Another breathless and twisty novel from an absolute ?master of suspense? (CrimeReads), Reputation brilliantly illustrates that it isn?t who you are that matters?it?s who people think you are.

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Book SynopsisIn this “sinister, jaw-dropping” (Sarah Penner, author of The Lost Apothecary) debut novel from the author of Saltwater, a circle of researchers uncovers a mysterious deck of tarot cards and shocking secrets in New York’s famed Met Cloisters.When Ann Stilwell arrives in New York City, she expects to spend her summer working as a curatorial associate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead, she finds herself assigned to The Cloisters, a gothic museum and garden renowned for its medieval art collection and its group of enigmatic researchers studying the history of divination. Desperate to escape her painful past, Ann is happy to indulge the researchers’ more outlandish theories about the history of fortune telling. But what begins as academic curiosity quickly turns into obsession when Ann discovers a hidden 15th-century deck of tarot cards that might hold the key to predicting the future. When the dangerous game of power, seduction, and ambition at The Cloisters turns deadly, Ann becomes locked in a race for answers as the line between the arcane and the modern blurs. “A tour de force by an important new voice” (Rachel Kapelke-Dale, author of The Ballerinas), The Cloisters is a haunting and magical blend of genres that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

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Book SynopsisA classic thriller from New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver featuring the intricate forensic detail, masterful plot twists, and harrowing breakneck pace that made A Maiden’s Grave, The Bone Collector, and The Coffin Dancer national bestsellers.It’s New Year’s Eve, December 31, 1999, and Washington, DC, is under siege. Early in the day, a grisly machine gun attack in the Dupont Circle Metro station leaves dozens dead and the city crippled with fear. A note delivered to the mayor’s office pins the massacre on the Digger, a robotlike assassin programmed to wreak havoc on the capital every four hours—until midnight. Only a ransom of $20 million delivered to the Digger’s accomplice—and mastermind—will end the death and terror. But the Digger becomes a far more sinister threat when his accomplice is killed in a freak accident while en route to the money drop. With the ransom note as the single scrap of evidence, Special Agent Margaret Lukas calls upon Parker Kincaid, a retired FBI agent and the top forensic document examiner in the country. Somehow, by midnight, they must find the Digger—before he finds them.

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Book SynopsisThe bestselling author of the The Swap and The Party takes you “on a wild psychological ride with this addictive thriller” (Palm Beach Daily News) about what happens when a seemingly perfect family is pushed to the edge.Thomas and Viv Adler are the envy of their neighbors: attractive, successful, with well-mannered children and a beautifully restored home. Until one morning, when they wake up to find their porch has been pelted with eggs. It’s a prank, Thomas insists; the work of a few out-of-control kids. But when a smoke bomb is tossed on their front lawn, and their car’s tires are punctured, the family begins to worry. Surveillance cameras show nothing but grainy images of shadowy figures in hoodies. And the police dismiss the attacks, insisting they’re just the work of bored teenagers. Unable to identify the perpetrators, the Adlers are helpless as the assaults escalate into violence, and worse. And each new violation brings with it a growing fear. Because everyone in the Adler family is keeping a secret—not just from the outside world, but from each other. And secrets can be very dangerous…. “Unsettling and darkly sublime, Robyn Harding deftly explores twisted family dynamics and devastating secrets in suburbia in this stunning novel that will shock readers by the final page” (Christina McDonald, USA TODAY bestselling author of The Night Olivia Fell).

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Book Synopsis?A deliciously twisted thriller!? People A shocking murder rattles an exclusive London neighborhood in this ?fast-paced, decadent skewering of upper middle-class motherhood? (Sarah Bonner, New York Times bestselling author) from the author of Greenwich Park. Four new mothers...one exclusive playgroup...two murders. New mom Tash is intrigued when a young nanny is found dead under mysterious circumstances. She has been searching for a story to launch her career as a freelance journalist. But she has also been searching for something else new friends to help her navigate motherhood. She sees them at her son's new playgroup: the other mothers. A group of sleek, sophisticated women who live in a neighborhood of tree-lined avenues and stunning houses. The sort of mothers Tash would like to be. When the mothers welcome her into their circle, she discovers the kind of life she has always dreamt of their elegant London townhouses a far cry from her cramped basement flat and endless bills. She is quickly swept up into their wealthy world via coffees, cocktails, and playdates. But when another young woman is found dead, it's clear there's much more to the tight-knit community than meets the eye. The more Tash investigates, the more she's led uncomfortably close to the other mothers. Are these women really her friends? Or is there another, more dangerous reason why she has been so quickly accepted into their exclusive world? Who, exactly, is investigating who? The author of Greenwich Park returns with this whip-smart novel that ?pulls out all the psychological thriller stops and then some? (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

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Book SynopsisDiscover an American masterpiece. This unassuming story about the life of a quiet English professor has earned the admiration of readers all over the globe. William Stoner is born at the end of the nineteenth century into a dirt-poor Missouri farming family. Sent to the state university to study agronomy, he instead falls in love with English literature and embraces a scholar’s life, so different from the hardscrabble existence he has known. And yet as the years pass, Stoner encounters a succession of disappointments: marriage into a “proper” family estranges him from his parents; his career is stymied; his wife and daughter turn coldly away from him; a transforming experience of new love ends under threat of scandal. Driven ever deeper within himself, Stoner rediscovers the stoic silence of his forebears and confronts an essential solitude. John Williams’s luminous and deeply moving novel is a work of quiet perfection. William Stoner emerges from it not only as an archetypal American, but as an unlikely existential hero, standing, like a figure in a painting by Edward Hopper, in stark relief against an unforgiving world.

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Book SynopsisNow a major motion picture from Academy Award–winning director Guillermo del Toro and starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, and Toni Collette.Nominated for 4 Oscars, including Best PictureNightmare Alley begins with an extraordinary description of a carnival-show geek—alcoholic and abject and the object of the voyeuristic crowd’s gleeful disgust and derision—going about his work at a county fair. Young Stan Carlisle is working as a carny, and he wonders how a man could fall so low. There’s no way in hell, he vows, that anything like that will ever happen to him.And since Stan is clever and ambitious and not without a useful streak of ruthlessness, soon enough he’s going places. Onstage he plays the mentalist with a cute assistant (before long his harried wife), then he graduates to full-blown spiritualist, catering to the needs of the rich and gullible in their well-upholstered homes. It looks like the world is Stan’s for the taking. At least for now.

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Book SynopsisArmed with extraordinary medical talent and a winning smile, newly trained surgeon, Chase Callaway, enters the world of private practice in Los Angeles, only to be greeted by a wall of stunning peer rejection. A charge of malpractice is levied a mere three days into his career, followed by professional attacks intended to ruin, effectively ending his surgical practice after only one month. Battling back to respectability takes many years, but even then, dark clouds linger. Significant mental injuries still fester, reinforcing his growing fear and belief in a multi-generational family curse, eventually prompting a return to academic medicine at his alma mater, Far West Texas University. Under the direction of his former mentor, he is given the charge to develop a multidisciplinary breast center, a new concept in the late 1980s, in the midst of a controversial revolution in breast cancer management. Energized by his abiding belief that the California experience served a Providential purpose to strip away personal gain in favor of group excellence, Dr. Callaway''s indomitable spirit meets head-on with unrelenting tribulation.

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