Fall Fiction Sizzlers: Award-Winning, Bestselling Author Beth Aldrich Shares Her Top 5 Favorite Thrillers for your fall cozy reading, (including her own, Pink Slips).
Gripping Thrillers are the must-have reading rage this summer, giving traveling, beach-going, and backyard readers a reason to get comfy and become immersed in a good scare. Whether it’s hardcover, paperback, or e-book, you’ll want to add a spine-tingling title or two from this list, to your summer reading list.
Following the 2012 release of my non-fiction book, Real Moms Love to Eat (Penguin/NAL, 2012), I started to transition from reading health and wellness books in my spare time, back to suspense thrillers—my post-college favs. My all-time favorite, Agatha Christie’s, Murder on the Orient Express kick-started my who-dunnit passion. The memorable line, “The murderer is with us—on the train now…” strikes to the core of what a mystery thriller is all about. The killer, bad guy, or attacker, is close at hand. When writing my debut suspense thriller, Pink Slips, my aim was to introduce a handful of characters who could be the stalker—people who are a part of Betsy Ryan’s everyday life—to keep the reader guessing. Much like what one of my favorite suspense writers, Dean Koontz (favorite title: Watchers), likes to do, I also have a loveable canine in my book. Barney the brown cocker spaniel is Betsy Ryan’s constant companion, and when things get tense, he’s always nearby to offer a supportive chuff or two.
Find a cozy spot on your couch or wait for your next flight with one of these action-packed books in tow or on your eReader.
Here are a five Suspense Thrillers that I recommend this fall:
1. Pink Slips by Beth Aldrich
Betsy Ryan is pregnant with her third child, and receiving threatening notes from an anonymous person. During what should be a joyful time in her life, she’s forced to face a decade old memory, and relive one of the most devastating nights of her life To uncover the mystery behind the threats, she enlists the help of an unlikely, but oddly reliable source, her dog Barney. As the menacing notes continue to arrive, her husband is called out of town for work, and she struggles to keep her composure while shielding her two young sons from danger. She trusts no one except her parents, best friend Misty, and her extraordinary dog—who has proven to literally understand everything she says. Is this person out to harm her? And how do they have so much personal information about Betsy? She can’t help but think it’s the same person who attacked her at the train station almost a decade ago, and changed the course of her life forever. To save herself and her unborn child—Betsy must face her fears and find her strength, to reveal who is after her and most importantly…why.
Like an Agatha Christie novel, the novel makes efficient use of misdirection while adding several suspicious suspects to the mix. The Characters are vividly drawn and believable. The story features an appealing and creative narrative voice.” ~BlueInk Review
Want a copy? You can grab it on Amazon
2. I See You by Clare Mackintosh
Every morning and evening, Zoe Walker takes the same route to the train station, waits at a certain place on the platform, finds her favorite spot in the car, never suspecting that someone is watching her…It all starts with a classified ad. During her commute home one night, while glancing through her local paper, Zoe sees her own face staring back at her; a grainy photo along with a phone number and a listing for a website called FindTheOne.com. Other women begin appearing in the same ad, a different one every day, and Zoe realizes they’ve become the victims of increasingly violent crimes—including murder. With the help of a determined cop, she uncovers the ad’s twisted purpose…A discovery that turns her paranoia into full-blown panic. Zoe is sure that someone close to her has set her up as the next target. And now that man on the train—the one smiling at Zoe from across the car—could be more than just a friendly stranger. He could be someone who has deliberately chosen her and is ready to make his next move…
“A well-told suspense story…refreshingly realistic.”~The New York Times Book Review
Want a copy? You can grab it on Amazon
3. You Belong to Me by Colin Harrison
Paul Reeves is a successful immigration lawyer, but his passion is collecting old maps of New York, tangible records of the city’s rich history in an increasingly digital world. One afternoon he attends an auction with his neighbor Jennifer Mehraz, the beautiful young wife of an Iranian financier-lawyer, but halfway through the auction a handsome man in soldier fatigues appears in the aisle and whisks Jennifer away… A long-lost lover from Jennifer’s rural Pennsylvania past, the man sets off a series of alarming events as those close to Jennifer try to figure out who he is and how the two are connected, including her high-powered and possessive husband, whose ultimate goal, is to make this embarrassing intrusion into his marriage disappear.
The long-awaited new novel by “the class act of the urban thriller” ~Entertainment Weekly
Want a copy? You can grab it on Amazon
4. Fractured by Catherine McKenzie
Julie Prentice and her family move across the country to the idyllic Mount Adams district of Cincinnati, hoping to evade the stalker who’s been terrorizing them ever since the publication of her bestselling novel, The Murder Game. Since Julie doesn’t know anyone in her new town, when she meets her neighbor John Dunbar, their instant connection brings measured hope for a new beginning. But she never imagines that a simple, benign conversation with him could set her life spinning so far off course. We know where you live…After a series of misunderstandings, Julie and her family become the target of increasingly unsettling harassment. Has Julie’s stalker found her, or are her neighbors out to get her, too? As tension in the neighborhood rises, new friends turn into enemies, and the results are deadly.
“Nail-biting suspense, deep conflict, intriguing mystery, and a dose of romance…McKenzie’s new novel is everything a good suspenseful read should be.” ~RT Book Reviews, Top Pick
Want a copy? You can grab it on Amazon
5. The Marriage Lie by Kimberly Bell
Iris and Will have been married for seven years, and life is as close to perfect as it can be. But on the morning Will flies out for a business trip to Florida, Iris’s happy world comes to an abrupt halt: another plane headed for Seattle has crashed into a field, killing everyone on board and, according to the airline, Will, was one of the passengers. Grief stricken and confused, Iris is convinced it all must be a huge misunderstanding. Why did Will lie about where he was going? And what else has he lied about? As Iris sets off on a desperate quest to uncover what her husband was keeping from her, the answers she finds shock her to her very core.
“Bestselling author Kimberly Belle is back with a “domestic thriller [that] will keep you reading into the wee hours of the night.” ~Redbook
Want a copy? You can grab it on Amazon
