Thriller Thursdays

I’m a sucker for thrillers, though they rarely live up to my expectations. (The ridiculous endings, the blindingly white characters, the cisheteronormativity, the copaganda… I could [and WILL!!] go on.) This feature will present the highlights (and lowlights) of recent releases, looking at disappointing norms and successful exceptions. Watch as I frequently binge-read myself into a rage.

Former feral tomcat Midnight presents this series, since he’s prone to freaking himself out and stampeding through the house at all hours. He also stares judgily at me when I find myself, a full grown adult, awake at 3am because “there’s only 50 more pages to go.”

  • Cover of "The Guest List," featuring the title in bold yellow font against a stormy island landscape in blue tones
    The Guest List by Lucy Foley
    This is a super-fast read, and even though I couldn’t get past page 3 in any other Lucy Foley thriller, for some reason this one worked for me.
  • Cover of "The House Across the Lake," featuring the title in bright, thin yellow letters against a photo of a lakehouse lit up from within, at dusk
    The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager
    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAHHHH! Oh my good lord, is this book a trip. It’s utter bonkers nonsense, but I had a good time.
  • Cover of "They Never Learn," with the title in thin white font behind a photo of an intricate, gothic gate. the background is red with black shadows.
    They Never Learn by Layne Fargo
    FUCK YES. I love this book.
  • Cover of "Darling," with the title in white font across the bottom, against a black backdrop and a centered image of a red rose on fire. There are glittery sparkles around the image.
    Darling by K. Ancrum
    Roughly halfway through the book, I was in love with this world and so many of the characters in it. By the two-thirds’ twist, though, I’d begun to fall out of love, and by the end I had the most mixed emotions about this novel that I’ve had about a book in a while.
  • Cover of "The Lost Village," with title in red font over the sky of a photo of a derelict, wooden spooky building next to a leafless tree
    The Lost Village by Camilla Sten
    Um. Y’all. I WANTED to love this book. I went in excited as hell by the premise. (YAY isolated ghost town, YAY modern film crew, YAY woman MC, YAY horror elements, bring on the ghosts and demons!)
  • Cover of 'Eight Perfect Murders,' with the title in light blue font over a stack of 5 books, pages-out, dripping blood
    Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson
    LOLOLOL This book was incredibly corny. 
  • Cover of 'Her Every Fear,' featuring the title in black text, chopped up, over a series of windows with sheer blinds. The image is split down the middle, and in the upper right corner a person stands in silhouette
    Her Every Fear by Peter Swanson
    I’m beginning to think that Peter Swanson distrusts cis white men as much as I do.
  • cover of "Every Vow you Break," with title in bold white font over a stormy sky. At the bottom is an image of a fancy white hotel on an ocean-surging coast, with pine trees in the background. The tagline reads (in yellow): "The lies started with 'I do'"
    Every Vow You Break by Peter Swanson
    Don’t pick this up if you’re looking for twists galore or staggering reveals. Consider it if you like luxe descriptions and a well-motivated dash of thematic misandry.
  • Cover of "Home Before Dark," with title and author Riley Sager's name in bold yellow font over a green-tinted photo of a chandelier attached to a ceiling
    Riley Sager: A Breakdown
    After going full Tazmanian Devil on Sager’s first 4 books, I couldn’t fully differentiate between them, and, much like Taz, I was left with the overwhelming need to spit all my takes out at once. Here they are. Spoilers: in Sager’s worlds, white isn’t just the default…it’s the only option. 
  • Cover of "The Burning Girls" with title and author C. J. Tudor's name in orange text over a white background, with a cutout illustration of orange and black flames engulfing a white church in the center
    The Burning Girls by C. J. Tudor
    This was my first CJ Tudor book, and I stayed up most of the night to finish it, so it clearly worked for me, on the whole. The ending was more satisfying than most thrillers I’ve read, though it did suffer from contemporary-thriller syndrome, where there practically have to be more twists than pages. Some of these twists were fun, some were ridiculous, and some were problematic, but there were definitely A LOT of them.