Thriller Archives - The Litertarian

Book Review:: Where He Left Me | Nicole Baart

Sadie Sheridan almost gave up on finding the one. But then, in her 40s, she fell in love with another professor at her university. Felix. He’s smart, and quirky, and sweeps her off her feet. Once they’re married, he sweeps her off to the remote mountain cabin he grew up in. Then, he disappears.

Where He Left Me by Nicole Baart Book Cover

Sadie is alone, and terrified. Winter is coming, and her husband should be home from his conference by now. It’s her first time in a place like this, and she doesn’t know the first thing about life on the mountain.

Then one of the trail cam’s picks something up. A shadowy figure in the woods, and it’s headed for her property.

Where He Left Me is masterful suspense novel. Every sentence is dripping with mystery and tension and I had no idea where the story was going. I wouldn’t have been surprised at anything with how much tension was set up in this book. What ended up happening though, was a very endearing story of strength, determination, and mama bear energy.

There were a few things that bothered me, ultimately, which is why I’ve rated it four stars instead of five. I don’t want to spoil anything though, so I will keep them to myself. Was it still worth reading though? Absolutely. Especially in these new dark days of fall/early winter, this is the perfect type of book to curl up with and get lost in the suspense!

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Details

Title:: Where He Left Me
Author:: Nicole Baart
Genre:: Suspense Thriller
Publisher:: Atria Books
Length:: 336 pages
Audio Length:: 11h 36m
Audiobook Narrator:: Amanda Dolan
Published:: November 4th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

Book Review:: Something in the Water | Catherine Steadman

Chance is a funny thing. Everyone knows they are not technically promised tomorrow. “You could be hit by a bus,” is such a common phrase I think people have become numb to what it implies. But the spirit of it isn’t only applicable to longevity. Anything could happen to us at any time that has the potential to change the trajectory of our lives. Something lost. Something gained. And on another level, is passion or love enough to sustain your strongest relationships through any radical change?

Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman Book Cover

This is one of the more complex and thrilling suspense novels I’ve read. The kind that consumes your thoughts during times you have to put it down, and for a long time after you’ve turned the last page. I would say it ranks low on a spectrum of how sinister it might have been – most of the tension is psychological. It keeps your brain engaged and interested as you turn over all the implications and possibilities over and over, looking for the truth.

Erin and Mark are passionate about one another. That is the best word to describe it. Yes, they love one another, but it’s a devouring sort of love, as in, it devours every other emotion and every other thought when they’re together. The world gets simplified into overwhelming love when they’re together. When Mark loses his high-profile job just before their wedding, they decide to go all out for their honeymoon before getting back to “real-life” where Erin is in the middle of shooting a crime documentary. They book a trip to Bora Bora that will change their lives when they find something in the water.

I like Erin, who we experience this story through. She’s a smart, strong, rational woman, and braver than me by multitudes. I can tell you with certainty if I were ever in her situation, I would never entertain the ideas she has about how to deal with their problems. But, this is a novel, and she is not me. The only thing I didn’t quite understand about her is this drive to continue down the same path she continually vows she’ll veer off of. There is a deeper part of her that is willing to consider darker possibilities that I think has been nurtured by her work in documentary film making and the research for her current project. Her work adds a lot of intrigue and depth to the story.

We never seem to get a complete grasp on her husband, Mark. He seems like a great guy – maybe even a perfect guy, on the surface. He’s compassionate and tender with Erin, usually. But he’s under the most stress of his life right now, having lost his job (they have a mortgage!), and there are glimpses of a person Erin doesn’t recognize a few times as the narrative unfolds, which leaves her wondering if she knows her new husband quite as well as she thought.

This is the kind of book you wish you could read again for the first time. So savor it! I will console myself with the fact that Cathine Steadman has other books I can add to my TBR in hopes they will reach the same level in the stratosphere as this one did for me.

As always, if you can think of a comparable book to this one you loved, please leave it in the comments! I live for book recs, as all readers do!

Details

Title:: Something in the Water
Author:: Catherine Steadman
Genre:: Mystery Thriller
Publisher:: Ballantine
Length:: 342 pages
Audio Length:: 11h 41m
Audiobook Narrator:: Catherine Steadman (the author)
Published:: June 5th, 2018
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

The Unraveling of Julia | Lisa Scottoline
The Truth About the Devlins | Lisa Scottoline
These Summer Storms | Sarah MacLean
The Last Thing He Told Me | Laura Dave

Book Review:: Remain | Nicholas Sparks & M. Night Shyamalan

I have to say I never expected to see Nicholas Sparks and M. Night Shyamalan on the same book cover. Like, ever. But here we are, with their new co-authored supernatural thriller, Remain. My early 2000s millennial heart was pumped for this.

What an interesting story!

Remain by Nicholas Sparks and M. Night Shyamalan Book Cover

Tate came to town to help an old friend from college design his house. He’s an award-winning architect, and he’s just coming back to work after an extended leave due to health related issues. He’d stay with his friends if they didn’t have a million kids and a cramped space, so instead, his friend rented out an old house in town.

The house has a history, and so does Tate.

While he’s staying there, he strikes up an acquaintanceship with one of the other lodgers, who fascinates him. Not only her personality and strange beauty, but the fact that when he mentions her to his friend, he is skeptical. There’s no one else staying at the house. He rented out the whole thing.

While this story didn’t necessarily feel ground-breakingly original (something I think we’ve all come to expect from M. Night Shyamalan), it was almost preternaturally compelling. As a storyteller, it fascinates me how I was propelled through the story so well when there wasn’t necessarily groundbreaking conflict pulling us through. There’s a mystery, yes, but it wasn’t necessarily a frantic thing. The next time I read this, it will be with a closer eye for the storytelling elements employed to make this work so well! I think it was a combination of M. Night Shyamalan’s careful revelations, and Nicholas Sparks’ powerhouse skill of weaving a compelling narrative out of occasionally mundane events.

It’s a really good book to pick up if you’re a fan of character driven stories, supernatural elements, or murder mysteries. There are some somewhat dark moments, but this is not a horror novel. I really enjoyed it!

Let me also mention here that if you have not seen M. Night Syamalan’s movie Signs with Mel Gibson, Juaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, and Abigail Breslin — go watch it. It is required watching. My husband and I recently watched it, me for the first time in years, him for the very first time, and it HELD UP. Talk about powerful storytelling!

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Details

Title:: Remain
Author:: Nicholas Sparks & M. Night Shyamalan
Genre:: Supernatural Thriller
Publisher:: Random House
Length:: 352 pages
Audio Length:: 8h 55m
Audiobook Narrator:: Ari Fliakos, Julia Whelan, & Nicholas Sparks
Published:: October 7th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

Wrong Place Wrong Time | Gillian McAllister
Every Moment Since | Marybeth Mayhew Whalen
The Truth About the Devlins | Lisa Scottoline

Book Review:: Listen for the Lie | Amy Tintera

Wow – I was blown away by this book. From the title, which has to be one of my favorites of all time, to the intricate and relentless mystery, I was inexorably hooked from the get.

Ben Owens investigative crime podcast, Listen for the Lie, has a new season and a new case to unravel – the brutal murder of a woman named Savannah, colloquially called Savvy, in the small Texas town of Plumpton. The prime suspect, Lucy Chase, has a new life in LA, but the popularity of the up-and-coming podcast has her new life crumbling around her. Who wants to hire a murder suspect of an unsolved crime? Who wants to live with one? The answer, clearly, is no one.

Returning to Plumpton for the first time for her grandmother’s birthday celebration, Lucy is confronted with the dark past and the community that was all too ready to shun her. She genuinely has no memories of that night, and with everyone so certain she was the killer, she’s not completely convinced of her own innocence. She loved Savannah, and she sustained serious injuries of her own that night. Isn’t it finally time to find out the truth, if it’s even possible?

The web of suspects is small at first, until lies about alibis come to the surface, and suddenly there is real doubt about whodunnit. It seems there isn’t much to do in Plumpton than drink and knock boots, two things sure to muddle the facts and motives. Thrown in the unreliability of Lucy’s memories and this mystery will keep you up way past your bedtime.

What a treat of a thriller. Absolutely recommend!

Details

Title:: Listen for the Lie
Author:: Amy Tintera
Genre:: Mystery Thriller
Publisher:: Celadon Books
Length:: 352 pages
Audio Length:: 9h 18m
Audiobook Narrator:: January LaVoy & Will Damron
Published:: March 5th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

Book Review:: All That We See or Seem | Ken Liu

Fan of tech thrillers? Ken Liu’s newest novel, All That We See or Seem is a must read! In the world of developing AI and the surveillance we already have, this break-neck paced ultra-tech world really isn’t that far out of reach.

All That We See or Seem by Ken Liu Book Cover

Julia knows things because she knows how to find them, but she doesn’t do that anymore. Hacking was a way of life once, and the skills (and her personal AI) are incredibly useful in her day job, but she’s reformed. Her past comes back to bite her when a lawyer in trouble comes to visit her, drawing unwanted attention to her door. When it becomes clear she’ll have to bug out, she decides instead of leaving him high and dry, she’ll help him figure out what it is these thugs want to get them both out of this mess.

This book was a wild ride, and I loved it! Ken Liu’s Dandelion Dynasty series has been on my TBR forever, so when I saw an opportunity to read his new work, I jumped on it. It’s suddenly quite clear why he’s an award-winning writer. He’s got incredibly skill at weaving this kind of horrific world where you can tell how many people are in a room by the thermostat and where you are in the world without tracking a call, but by triangulating the background noise using data from tons of other sources. This is the world on AI, and it’s a cautionary tale.

If you enjoy something fast paced and twisty with interesting sci-fi worldbuilding and a mystery at its core, this is one you won’t want to miss.

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Details

Title:: All That We See or Seem (Julia Z #1)
Author:: Ken Liu
Genre:: Sci-fi Thriller
Publisher:: S&S/Saga Press
Length:: 416 pages
Audio Length:: 10h 58m
Audiobook Narrator:: Kat Cleave
Published:: October 14th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

I Think I Was Murdered | Coleen Coble & Rick Acker
All the Water in the World | Eiren Caffall
The Vanishing Year | Kate Moretti

Book Review:: Forget Me Not | Stacy Willingham

Nothing pulls me out of a reading burnout better than a really compelling mystery thriller. Sometimes you just want a book where you can’t stop turning the pages, and for me, Forget Me Not, Stacy Willingham’s newest release, was exactly that.

Forget Me Not by Stacy Willingham Book Cover

After her sister disappeared as a teenager, Claire left home and never went back, eager to escape the weight of the memories. Now as an adult she’s an investigative reporter and she gets a call from her father that her mom needs some help. She feels like she has to go home, despite their difficult relationship. She only lasts a day or two under the same roof before she’s desperate to find an alternative temporary residence. When she visits a local muscadine vineyard and they have an opening, she agrees immediately. Her sister worked there before her disappearance, and they have a live in cabin for her to stay in – a perfect setup for her to do some digging into her sister’s case. But something is a little bit strange at Galloway, she just can’t quite put her finger on it.

I thought this book played perfectly between is Claire just on edge and looking for things to be suspicious when it’s really just a quirky little farm, or is there actually something else going on here? There’s a secret journal, homemade teas, complete seclusion, and lots of room for tension between these pages, and the author uses all of them.

This is a perfect book for an escape. A creepy escape, perhaps, but certainly transportive. I recommend the audiobook. It definitely pulled me in and made the experience quite atmospheric.

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Details

Title:: Forget Me Not
Author:: Stacy Willingham
Genre:: Mystery Thriller
Publisher:: Minotaur Books
Length:: 336 pages
Audio Length:: 9h 30m
Audiobook Narrator:: Helen Laser & Karissa Vacker
Published:: August 26th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

Sunburned | Katherine Wood
The Ghostwriter | Julie Clark
Saltwater | Katy Hays

Book Review:: The Book of Lost Hours | Hayley Gelfuso

A big idea can change the world, for what is the world as we know it, but ideas? It starts small, inside the mind of one person, who grapples with it, tries to fully understand it, articulate it into words to share with another mind, who will poke and it, test it, expand it. Some of them wither and die under scrutiny, and others balloon with importance and have the power to change the world as we know it. Democracy. Germ theory. And in the case of The Book of Lost Hours, the manipulation of time.

The Book of Lost Hours by Hayley Gelfuso Book Cover

This book is a wonder. Any book about time is going to bend our ideas of a timeline, and this one plays with the strings of time beautifully, skillfully, coherently, it will have you enthralled. This is a page turning thriller with so much heart and intellectual stimulation it will grip you and not let go until the final dang sentence.

It’s also the kind of book with twists and turns and the simple joys of small discoveries. With that, I don’t want to spoil one detail of the plot for those of you who go on to read this, which I very much recommend you do. It is marketed as a mashup of The Ministry of Time and The Midnight Library and I could not come up with a better description of this impressive novel.

Hayley Gelfuso, you are a genius and I think I will pick up anything you put down. Also, what do you mean this is a debut novel. Masterful work. Thank you, sincerely, for writing this fascinating book.

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Details

Title:: The Book of Lost Hours
Author:: Hayley Gelfuso
Genre:: Sci-Fi/Fantasy Romance
Publisher:: Atria Books
Length:: 400 pages
Audio Length:: 13h 41m
Audiobook Narrator:: Carlotta Brentan
Published:: August 26th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

The Ministry of Time | Kaliane Bradley (review coming soon)
The City in Glass | Nghi Vo
The Gravedigger’s Almanac | Oliver Potzsch

Book Review:: Love at First Sighting | Mallory Marlowe

Love at First Sighting is no ordinary romance. You might say…ahem…it’s out of this world.

Just kidding. It takes place on Earth. But it is tightly wrapped up in a mystery that has more at stake than broken hearts. It’s fun, it’s a little bit silly, it’s tender-hearted, and absolutely worth a read.

Love at First Sighting by Mallory Marlowe Book Cover

Mallory Marlowe is also the author of Love and Other Conspiracy Theories, so I think she’s nicheing down into a pretty distinctive brand here, and I love that for her.

A close encounter of the romantic kind?

Come on. Pure gold.

El is an influencer who encounters something she cannot explain. An Unidentified Flying Object. Naturally, she livestreams it following her. Carter is the agent assigned to her case, but this time it’s different…because it’s the very same thing Carter saw the night his father died. Together they uncover the truth of what it really was up there.

So it’s a little cheesy, but this book will leave you with a full heart by the time you’re done turning pages. Carter’s story is tragic, and completely entwined in the plotline. It’s El’s background and profession that is honestly kind of hilarious. There is certainly some mild commentary about the career of an influencer, but when it comes up in the climax crisis, it just had me rolling.

The best part of this novel, as all romances should be, is the budding romance between El and Carter. Their connection is genuine and so sweet, and is what will bring me to pick up this book again in the future for a reread. It’s exciting, it’s action-packed, and it has a big, mushy, heart at it’s center. Can’t go wrong!

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Details

Title:: Love at First Sighting
Author:: Mallory Marlowe
Genre:: Romantic Comedy Mystery
Publisher:: Berkley
Length:: 352 pages
Published:: August 12th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

Sounds Like A Plan | Pamela Samuels Young & Dwayne Alexander Smith
Burn for Me | Ilona Andrews

Book Review:: Not Quite Dead Yet | Holly Jackson

What do you do with the time you have left after you find out a traumatic brain injury will kill you within days? For Jet, it is catching the one who did this to her. Solving her own murder.

Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson Book Cover

After a vicious attack that left her for dead, Jet is determined, despite objections from her family, to refuse surgery that will almost certainly kill her, to unravel the mystery of her attack. With the help of her oldest friend, Billy, they track down every lead and analyze every lie until they get to the truth. Jet’s injury informs the urgency of their search. Finding her killer is her dying wish and last request, and Billy would do anything for her.

Wow – what a ride. A seemingly normal cuburb family is surprisingly dark and twisted, and history is never erased, only buried, ready to be uncovered again someday.

This story is exciting and tragic, and I couldn’t stop turning pages. Jet’s fate is sealed, but that doesn’t make her story any less interesting. In fact, it maybe makes it more interesting. If it weren’t for her insistence and knowledge of those around her, who knows if the case would ever be solved? No one cares more about a crime than the victim herself, right?

Readers of crime mysteries will love this unique take on a murder investigation. Slam dunk, Jackson.

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Details

Title:: Not Quite Dead Yet
Author:: Holly Jackson
Genre:: Mystery Thriller
Publisher:: Bantam
Length:: 400 pages
Audio Length:: 13h
Audiobook Narrator:: Alex McKenna
Published:: July 22nd, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

The Ghostwriter | Julie Clark
Closer Than You Know | Debra Webb
Famous Last Words | Gillian McAllister
A Sea of Unspoken Things | Adrienne Young

Book Review:: The Unraveling of Julia | Lisa Scottoline

Julia, still grieving the loss of her older adoptive parents, finds out she is the recipient of an old Italian villa from a woman she’s never heard of. At first she is convinced it is a misunderstanding, but once she arrives in Italy it becomes clear that there’s been no mistake, and that perhaps Emilia Rossi knew something Julia didn’t.

The Unraveling of Julia by Lisa Scottoline Book Cover

There are many mysteries to uncover in the old Italian villa, about the proprietress and the family that once lived there. Julia begins almost immediately having vivid visions once she arrives that has her convinced there is a tether somewhere there of Julia’s biological family.

Like any good psychological thriller, the lines of reality get a little bit blurry, and almost everything we think we know is constantly in doubt. Who is this woman who left Julia this decrepit property? Did she really have ties to an ancient Italian duchess with a scandalous history? Are either or both of them of any relation to Julia? And why is she feeling so much pressure to sell and leave the past to be buried with the old crone who left it to her?

This book explores something I don’t often encounter in books: a spiritual intuition. Astrology, horoscopes, intuition, and even communicating beyond the veil as a medium. I tend to believe there is a spiritual realm of some sort of which we normally do not have access to. I love the idea that sometimes, under the right circumstances, or with the right people, we can connect over that bridge. If you are fully anti-‘woo-woo’, you will probably not enjoy this book.

While I did really enjoy this story, it didn’t really grab me fully under its spell. Theoretically I really enjoy the idea of this book, but I just wasn’t able to fully sink in the way I like. It might have been a timing issue, or something about trying to juggle so many theories without knowing up from down for so much of the novel. Was it a good book? Absolutely. Will I continue to read every Lisa Scottoline book I can get my hands on? Also yes. If you’re a fan of the ol’ psychological thriller, I think you’ll find a lot to enjoy about The Unraveling of Julia.

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Details

Title:: The Unraveling of Julia
Author:: Lisa Scottoline
Genre:: Psychological Thriller
Publisher:: Grand Central Publishing
Length:: 400 pages
Audio Length:: 12h
Audiobook Narrator:: TBA
Published:: July 15th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 3-Stars