Ronan Frost’s White Peak is a fast-paced action thriller full of death-defying adventure. Greg Rask, a dying tech billionaire, has invested millions chasing miracle cures. Now, he’s gathering a team willing to go to the ends of the earth chasing life. In an adrenalin-pumping quest through some of the most… Read more
Brandy Scott’s debut novel, Not Bad People, is about three friends who engage in what seems to be a harmless act, but instead results in tragedy. How will they react? Not Bad People is the first novel by writer Brandy Scott that tells the story of three 30-something friends who… Read more
The Confessions of Frannie Langton is a debut novel from Sara Collins. A servant and former slave is accused of murdering her employer and his wife in this historical thriller that moves from a Jamaican sugar plantation to the fetid streets of Georgian London. I’m forced to trot to keep… Read more
Ilaria Tuti’s debut thriller explores a remote community in Northern Italy—a place of secrets, eerie folktales, and primal instincts. Ilaria Tuti’s Flowers Over the Inferno is an action-packed thriller with a unique serial killer and a multilayered, deep, and incredibly entertaining main character battling at its core. Set in a… Read more
The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Juliet Grames is a debut novel about family transgressions as ancient and twisted as the olive branch that could heal them. Juliet Grames’ debut novel is a masterwork that will rightfully draw comparisons with Isabel Allende’s The House Of The Spirits… Read more
Sharp, mainstream fantasy meets compelling thrills of investigative noir in Magic for Liars, a fantasy debut by rising star Sarah Gailey—take a visual tour with GIFnotes! Ivy Gamble was born without magic and never wanted it. Ivy Gamble is perfectly happy with her life—or at least, she’s perfectly fine. She doesn’t… Read more
In David R. Dow’s suspenseful debut novel Confessions of an Innocent Man, restaurant owner Rafael Zhettah is wrongfully convicted of the murder of a celebrity philanthropist, but he fights—for his freedom, and to deliver justice to those who stole everything from him. David R. Dow, author of Confessions of an Innocent… Read more
Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton is an utterly wonderful debut novel of love, crime, magic, fate, and a boy’s coming of age set in 1980s Australia. Boy Swallows Universe is unlike any coming-of-age story I’ve ever read. Trent Dalton’s debut novel is a tale of “love, crime, magic, fate”—words… Read more
My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing is a wildly compulsive debut thriller about a couple whose 15-year marriage has finally gotten too interesting. Y’all, that was bananas. I read a lot of mystery novels, and I have done so since long before I started reviewing here for Criminal Element. Because of… Read more
Debut author S.A. Lelchuk’s Save Me From Dangerous Men is the first book in a series featuring Nikki Griffin, who uses her detective skills to take the law into her own hands to defend and protect women against toxic masculine predators. I waited until he was halfway out of the… Read more
