Michelle Rao

Nemesis, a Winning Psychological Thriller by Julie Hodgson

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Bottom Line: A blistering psychological thriller that will have readers begging for a sequel. Buy it. When it comes to her clientele, psychologist Kathy Smith – who is also a gifted psychic – has become something of a specialist. Smith takes on murderers, rapists, pedophiles, thieves, violence, junkies and other “generally nasty people.” But she’s taking a year off from her practice to take on […]

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The Crooked Staircase: A Jane Hawk Novel by Dean Koontz

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The Bottom Line: Koontz lives up to his reputation as one of the most reliable crime thriller novelists of our time. In Koontz’s latest outing, his fierce heroine Jane Hawk picks up right where she left off in The Whispering Room. That’s great news for Koontz completionists, but this won’t be a great entry point for anyone not already invested in the series. With that said, this

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The President is Missing, a Political Thriller by James Patterson and Bill Clinton

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The Bottom Line: Easily the best James Patterson novel in years. Highly recommended. On a recent Stephen Colbert show appearance, Stephen King mused that James Patterson spends approximately 12 hours working on each book. True, Patterson has become notoriously prolific in recent years as more than 100 books a year are churned out in his name (Patterson still does the outlines). Nobody’s saying how much

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In Your Head, a Series-Worthy Supernatural Thriller by Matthew Tamney

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The Bottom Line: A series-worthy supernatural thriller about a gifted telepath who finds himself over his head in murder and mayhem. Expat Pete Erickson had left the U.S. for Taiwan to escape the labels he had grown up with: loner, sociopath, narcissist. But only a select few know that Peter, in fact, has a superpower: the ability to plant ideas in unsuspecting stranger’s heads (think

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It Ends With Her, a Satisfying Serial Killer Thriller by Brianna Labuskes

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The Bottom Line: Redheaded readers may be looking for a dye job after finishing Brianna Labuskes’ new thriller. Troubled FBI special agent Clarke Sinclair knows that serial killer Simon Cross preys on redheads. She also knows that Cross likes to play mind games. The one he’s playing right now has taken Sinclair all over the United States. Sadly, no good deed goes unpunished. The moment Sinclair

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A Different Kind of Fire & Fury: Revenge, by Julie Reichwein

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The Bottom Line: A timely, high-octane revenge thriller for the #metoo era. Julie Reichwein’s new thriller is a raw revenge fantasy where fiction meets the real-world fight to stop sexual assault. The story begins as Detective Michelle Velasquez is assigned to two cases, the first of which is the rape of financial company intern Maria Acevedo. The second is a 30-year-old murder case involving her

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The Woman in the Window, an Addictive Psychological Thriller by A.J. Finn

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The Bottom Line: Rear Window meets Gone Girl. You’ll love it. The similarities between A.J. Finn’s The Woman in the Window and Hitchcock’s Rear Window are, shall we say, undeniable. But just because a novel is highly derivative of a master work doesn’t mean it isn’t good. In this case, it’s damn good, and in some ways, an elevation. Finn’s Anna Fox – a recluse

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One of Us, an Essential YA Whodunnit by Karen M. McManus

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The Bottom Line: An essential whodunnit for both YA and adult crime fiction fans. Karen M. McManus’ teen murder mystery is the perfect antidote to Netflix’s Riverdale, the Twin Peaks-meets-Archies mashup that never really feels set in high school. By contrast, McManus artfully sets up a believable single-setting high school atmosphere that feels inspired by both Clue and the Breakfast Club. On Monday afternoon, five

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The Wife Between Us, a Crime Thriller by Greer Hendricks

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The Bottom Line: Fans of Gone Girl will love Venessa Thompson, the book’s deliciously unreliable narrator. From the start, The Wife Between Us is a grand setup, a literary house of mirrors intended to invite expectations and then destroy them one by one. So yes, it’s contrived. But is it good? You betcha. This fast-paced story about a love triangle gone really wrong is driven

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Rising Fury, an Explosive Action Thriller by Wayne Stinnett

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The Bottom Line: Can you think of a better way to spend a few hours than with sunny killing machine Jesse McDermitt in the Florida Keys? Read it. Retired Marine-turned-charter boat captain Jesse McDermitt is back for another adventure. As thriller characters go, Jesse isn’t all that unique. His skills as a sniper, diver and sailor are simply table stakes. What makes Wayne Stinnett’s highly entertaining

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