Growing Things and Other Stories is a chilling collection of psychological suspense and literary horror from multiple award-winning author Paul Tremblay. Paul Tremblay and I have something in common. We’re both high school teachers. That being said, he’s more likely to teach Calculus while I teach English. One of my most well-worn rules when teaching…
Into the Black Nowhere by Meg Gardiner is the second book in the Unsub series, an exhilarating thriller inspired by real-life serial killer Ted Bundy, where FBI profiler Caitlin Hendrix faces off against a charming, merciless serial killer (available January 30, 2018). Sequels have some inherent advantages. The characters have already been established, the setting…
Butterfly Skin by Sergey Kuznetsov, translated from Russian by Andrew Bromfield, is a dark thriller featuring a brutal serial killer at loose in Moscow and a young journalist in pursuit, who discovers, amid the acts of sexual sadism, an echo of her own desires (available September 23, 2014). This book plays by its own rules.…
Decoded by Mai Jia is the story of a legendary codebreaker who is tasked with solving two devilish codes that seem to be the product of his old mentor (available March 18, 2014). Decoded is the American debut of Mai Jia, one of China’s bestselling and most acclaimed authors. In China, Mai pulls off the…
The Three-Day Affair by Michael Kardos is a thriller featuring three ordinary men who test the limits of their friendship when a robbery goes wrong (available September 4, 2012). Will, Jeffrey, and Nolan are lifelong friends. They went their separate ways as adults, living their own lives while forging their own careers. They have no…
Gangster Squad by Paul Lieberman is a true crime novel based on the experiences of eight covert cops waging war on L.A.’s biggest gangsters (available July 31, 2012). In the late 1940s, a secret squad was created inside the Los Angeles Police Department. Eight men were tasked with keeping “eastern hoodlums” from taking over L.A.…
People Who Eat Darkness by Richard Lloyd Parry is the true crime story of Lucie Blackman, who stepped out on the streets of Tokyo and disappeared in the summer of 2000 (available May 22, 2012). The research montage. CE readers know what I’m talking about. Whether it’s Cumberbatch sherlocking around a crime scene, the Doctor…
Thomas Jefferson, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Zora Neale Hurston, Katherine Anne Porter, Philip Roth. These are just six of the classic American authors collected in gorgeous, limited-edition volumes by The Library of America (LOA). The aim of the Library is to “preserve the nation’s cultural heritage by publishing America’s best and most significant writing” in…
Liar Moon by Ben Pastor is the second book in a series of World War Two-era thrillers featuring Major Martin Bora. This book takes place in fascist Italy, and Martin Bora is a Major in the Wehrmacht. Let me repeat that. Bora is a German army officer during World War Two—you know, Nazis, the bad…
A wide variety of writers and artists have been drawn to New Mexico. D.H. Lawrence spent the end of his life there, as did Roger Zelazny. Both Cormac McCarthy and George R.R. Martin live near Santa Fe—have fun picturing the two of them getting together for a bowl of green chile stew. N. Scott Momaday,…
