Good morning everyone and happy Friday.
I love a good thriller, especially when I’m in a reading slump so I wanted to share some of the thrillers I’m looking forward to reading in 2024.
Find out more below!
Huge thanks to all the lovely publishers for sending me copies of these books.
Are any of these on your radar?
Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead by Jenny Holland
Nine years ago, Charlie Colbert’s life changed for ever.
On Christmas Eve, as the snow fell, her elite graduate school was the site of a chilling attack. Several of her classmates died. Charlie survived.
Years later, Charlie has the life she always wanted at her fingertips: she’s editor-in-chief of a major magazine and engaged to the golden child of the publishing industry.
But when a film adaptation of that fateful night goes into production, Charlie’s dark past threatens to crash into her shiny present.
Charlie was named a ‘witness’ in the police reports. Yet she knows she was much more than that.
The truth about that night will shatter everything she’s worked for. Just how far will she go to protect it?
The Stranger At The Wedding by A.E Gauntlet
The beautiful bride
Annie never believed in true love. Not until she caught sight of Mark on a crowded commuter train. It wasn’t until months later that they finally had their picture-perfect first date and after a whirlwind romance, they are now about to tie the knot.
The handsome groom
Both Annie and Mark have suffered tragedy – their shared experience of sorrow has brought them together, but at times the pressure of those losses has also threatened their happiness. Today they will leave all of that in the past, and forge a new life. But not everyone gathered here has come to toast the new couple.
The stranger
And Annie quickly realises that her new life isn’t going to be the happily ever after she had planned.
A completely unputdownable, brilliantly sharp, dark and twisty story of love, lies and obsession that is set to be one of 2024’s most talked about debuts.
Whose side are you on?
One Of The Good Guys by Araminta Hall
If most men say they’re one of the good guys, then why are so many women afraid to walk alone at night?
Cole is the perfect husband: a romantic, supportive of his wife, Mel’s career, keen to be a hands-on dad, not a big drinker. A good guy.
So when Mel leaves him, he’s floored. She was lucky to be with a man like him.
Craving solitude, he accepts a job on the coast and quickly settles into his new life where he meets reclusive artist Lennie.
Lennie has made the same move for similar reasons. She is living in a crumbling cottage on the edge of a nearby cliff. It’s an undeniably scary location, but sometimes you have to face your fears to get past them.
As their relationship develops, two young women go missing while on a walk protesting gendered violence, right by where Cole and Lennie live. Finding themselves at the heart of a police investigation and media frenzy, it soon becomes clear that they don’t know each other very well at all.
This is what happens when women have had enough . . .
Butter by Asako Yuzuki
The cult Japanese bestseller about a female gourmet cook and serial killer and the journalist intent on cracking her case, inspired by a true story.
There are two things that I can simply not tolerate: feminists and margarine
Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in Tokyo Detention Centre convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, who she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation’s imagination but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is, until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew and Kajii can’t resist writing back.
Rika, the only woman in her news office, works late each night, rarely cooking more than ramen. As the visits unfold between her and the steely Kajii, they are closer to a masterclass in food than journalistic research. Rika hopes this gastronomic exchange will help her soften Kajii but it seems that she might be the one changing. With each meal she eats, something is awakening in her body, might she and Kaji have more in common than she once thought?
Inspired by the real case of the convicted con woman and serial killer, “The Konkatsu Killer”, Asako Yuzuki’s Butter is a vivid, unsettling exploration of misogyny, obsession, romance and the transgressive pleasures of food in Japan.
The Final Hours Of Muriel Hinchcliffe by Claire Parkin
Muriel, a former bestselling romantic novelist, and Ruth, a journalist, are best friends. Inseparable since they were little, they’ve shared everything; unable to be without each other, even after the most vicious of fights.
Now fate has left them living together in a North London home, with Ruth caring for Muriel in her deteriorating health, playing Scrabble, arguing and making up, passing the days in monotony, ignoring the scars of their relationship. Then one afternoon, Muriel makes a shocking and sinister announcement, sending Ruth’s world into chaos. Only one thing is certain. Life, as she knows it, will never be the same again. . .
The Final Hours of Muriel Hinchcliffe M.B.E is the deliciously dark debut novel from Claire Parkin. An intensely gripping story of toxic friendship, jealousy and revenge, it is perfect for fans of A Tidy Ending and Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine.
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