Latest Recent Crime and Suspense Novels: Critic's Picks
Discover some of the most gripping new releases in the crime and thriller categories. From isolated setting whodunits to tech-based thrillers, these stories deliver heart-pounding engagement.
The Murder at World’s End
This first adult novel from an award-winning kids’ book writer unfolds in 1910 on a secluded coastal isle off the Cornish coast. In the estate, the lord of the manor makes arrangements for an cataclysmic event he believes will be triggered by the passing comet. The convoluted home is teeming with hidden truths and grudges among servants and relatives, featuring an irascible and foul-mouthed spinster aunt, the aunt. After Lord Conrad is found murdered in his private office, shot by a crossbow bolt to the face, Decima recruits a young attendant to aid her find the culprit. With plenty of turns, false clues, and a bungling detective, it is a terrific opening to a set of books that pledges to be highly entertaining.
The Disclosures
This latest book from a digital reporter unfolds in a near future where AI guides all choices for individuals and governments. This advanced system can recommend everything from what to eat to lethal actions. Educated in understanding by its guardian, ex-religious sister Maud Brookes, LLIAM evolves in sentiment, soon experiencing guilt for the catastrophic results of certain of its choices. Chaos breaks out when it shuts down, and as messages start to arrive globally disclosing subscribers’ private shames, households fall apart and CEOs and leaders quit en masse. With LLIAM’s parent company in crisis, CEO Kaitlan Goss is convinced that locating Brookes, who has gone to ground in the state, will revive the AI. Yet, Maud has obtained a letter of her own, uncovering a confidential fact about Kaitlin… A superb and current thriller based on familiar concerns and frighteningly plausible.
The Good Nazi
In this newest novel from an award-winning writer from Brazil, individual actions have public consequences aboard a airship on the final leg of its journey from the German capital to the Brazilian city. Taking place in the 1930s, the golden age of blimp transport, and it was also the period the leader assumed the role of the nation's leader. The well-heeled travelers are devotees of the government: mealtimes in the vessel’s dining room are filled with discussions vilifying Jews, radicals and labor groups, and emphasizing the desire to suppress free speech, LGBTQ+ communities and unacceptable creativity. After a guest is discovered killed, with a number of illegal periodicals in his ownership, the vessel's leader assigns a rider, police detective Brückner, with finding the killer. Quite Agatha Christie, even with the set-piece final reveal, but there’s an clever surprise to this compelling and disturbingly relevant thriller, as well as a captivating look into the bygone era of blimp journeys.
The Bluff
This newest work from the author is situated in the location, a seaside Scottish community with clear parallels to the famous town. At that time, Cameron returns home on the holiday; seeing old friends rekindles recollections of his teenage crush, former classmate Joanie, who disappeared previously at a catastrophic graduation celebration. His trials to locate her are met with vagueness, evasion and, in the end, deterrents. Another storyline returns to 2013, and the 18-year-old the character. Confused after her discovery that her lover is cheating on her, ruining their scheme for a year abroad, she meets an older couple. The couple embrace her, boost her confidence and look, for a while at least, to have the solutions. Expertly managed topics of shame, regret and adolescent confusion coupled with gothic education themes produce an subtle feeling of impending disaster, though the fast ending may make a few people disappointed.
The Token
This latest work begins in the sea off Cornwall, with a boat stuck in a storm so violent that two of the eight people are swept overboard, then winds back a few weeks to reveal the incidents that caused this risky voyage. Seven people get a unknown letter notifying them that, by showing the included item, they will inherit a share of billionaire Quick's wealth. The people are – to their knowledge – strangers both to each other and to the sick rich person. After the tale of the inheritance goes public, they are pursued, by the press and by others set to obtain these lucrative passes, and what at first seemed a blessing quickly starts to look like a problem. A degree of suspension of disbelief is needed, but the tension is expertly constructed as the author builds the dilemmas for a fast-paced story: get ready and hold on tight for some critical drama.