Time for Some Thrillers and Suspense!
Tension that has a tidy solution! # 133
It is a truth universally acknowledged that when one has read literary fiction or something equally serious, one is in need of a palette cleanser. These are the facts of the case, and they are undisputed.
(If you are a youth or otherwise spent the early 90’s not re-watching this movie on cable, I *implore* you to go check out A Few Good Men. What a murderer’s row of talent! And Demi Moore and her absolutely inscrutable hairstyle were in it too!)
When in need of a lighter but gripping read, you can’t do better than mysteries, thrillers and/or suspense. And if you, like me, are someone who is curious about the distinction whilst also procrastinating actually writing your book newsletter (an admittedly small population of people) - permit the Internet to enlighten us all:
Thriller: the protagonist is in danger from the outset.
Mystery: the reader is exposed to the same information as the detective. A mystery is about the puzzle - the “who”?
Suspense: the main character may become aware of danger only gradually. The reader is aware of things unbeknownst to the character.
Welp, like everything on the Internet, this information comes from a questionably accurate source and clears up my question only somewhat!
Okay, so, regardless of exact categorization, what I can tell you is that I read each of this week’s selections in 24 hours or less. So if nothing else, I can guarantee an engrossing, gripping read to follow up your time with Adam Grant’s nutritious but probably slow-going latest. Enjoy!
Power summary: In Two Nights in Lisbon, Ariel Pryce wakes up in her Lisbon hotel room to find her new husband gone without a trace. The clock starts ticking as she enlists the police, the embassy, and anyone else to help find him - but as the story unfolds, we learn that no one is who they appear to be.
Category is: Thriller? Stuff starts going down RIGHT AWAY.
Why I liked it: From page one, this is as taut as a guitar string while also skillfully weaving in international espionage plots alongside #MeToo and gender politics (even more impressive from a male author writing a female main character.) So much was going on in this book but nothing ever felt extraneous.
I can say no more without spoiling, so just know that as soon as I finished it I said “WHAT” and wanted to immediately re-read. If you’ve read it please message me so we can discuss.
Gentle lamb math: nothing gory, very tense, but lots of trigger warnings. Thus, 2.5 lambs.
Power summary: In The 7/12 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, Evelyn Hardcastle will be murdered at 11 PM on the grounds of her own estate party unless Aidan Bishop can identify her killer. Each morning, he wakes up in the body of a new guest, with just the memories he’s gained the previous day - and he only has eight days to solve the crime before both Aidan and Evelyn are doomed forever.
Category is: Your guess is as good as mine but like - thriller mystery sci-fi/time travel?
Why I liked it: So this was published in 2019 but I only just read it because somehow I thought it was a weird zombie sendup of "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” (which you should read). You guys, even *I* can’t explain what Past Me thinks sometimes.
Anyway, The 7/12 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is not a zombie book. So if you haven’t read this yet, ooooooOOH is it a fun read. I often find time-turners really impressive but also super confusing (wait, who knows what when?) but that’s part of the game of this intricate cat-and-mouse. Part murder mystery, part character study, part moral debate - excellent. Enthralling. Accomplished. I didn’t get hung up on the time-twisting machinations and just let myself be carried away by the sheer imagination.
Gentle lamb math: Explicit murders on page, some menace. But also kind of like an Agatha Christie? I don’t know. This could be a 2.5 lamber too, actually.
Power summary: When Mrs. King, a con woman turned housekeeper, is dismissed from her job at one of London’s grandest estates, she decides to take her revenge, recruiting a group of “downstairs women” to rob the estate on the night of the lady’s grand ball.
Category is: Mystery / suspense? Probably more of a heist caper.
Why I liked it: Because The Housekeepers is Ocean’s Eight meets Downton Abbey, if Ocean’s Eight had actually been as good of a movie as Ocean’s Eleven. (I’m sorry, the actresses tried mightily and the clothes were great, but I think we can all agree that Ocean’s Eight was kind of a disappointing mess.)
Okay, this book doesn’t have quite the twinkle that those titles have - this is more serious in tone, with more weight of survival. But it’s extremely clever, deft, and super-duper fun the way a heist always is, with plenty of near-misses and double-crosses. Might be one of my top books of the year.
Gentle lamb math: this isn’t delightful in a funny way, but it is captivating and high-stakes without anything particularly deadly. Could be a 3.5 lamber but it won’t break your heart.
Am I actually going to read King; A Biography? I wanted to read it, and then I read the first forty pages and now I want to want to read it. I don’t know, you guys. It feels like remarkable scholarship but pedestrian writing so far. Who’s read it?
The Smoking Gun:
If thrillers are your jam, don’t miss past weeks of thrillers and more thrillers!
If thrillers are absolutely not your jam, no worries. The archive still has you covered with many other genres, or just come back next week for whatever overwrought theme I concoct!
This week’s links mostly go to The Mysterious Bookshop, a magical indie bookstore in NYC, where I picked up my signed copy of Two Nights in Lisbon due to their recommendation table.
Is there anything I like more than a book recommendation table at an indie bookstore? No, there is not.
The Housekeepers links to Books and Books Key West, because indie bookstores and Judy Blume! Also, because apparently even bookstores don’t know how to classify books so it’s not at the Mysterious Bookshop online store. You don’t know the lengths I go to for newsletter usefulness.
Seriously, though, thanks for being here. It is a tiny buzz of dopamine every time I’m made aware that someone reads this lil ol’ newsletter, and honestly, who doesn’t need that in These Devastating Times?
Great call on Two Nights in Lisbon! I picked up Chris Pavone's first book The Expats and have read all of his follow on books. Great international intrigue.