Top Recent Mystery and Suspense Reads: Our Book Review
Discover some of the most exciting new titles in the mystery and suspense genres. Including isolated setting whodunits to tech-based thrillers, these stories promise heart-pounding excitement.
The Murder at World’s End
This initial grown-up book from an prize-winning kids’ book writer unfolds in 1910 on a secluded island cut off by tides off the shoreline of Cornwall. At the manor house, the estate's owner makes arrangements for an end-of-the-world event he believes will be caused by Halley’s comet. The labyrinthine house is brimming with hidden truths and bitterness among both staff and family, featuring an irascible and profane maiden aunt, Decima. When Lord Conrad is discovered murdered in his sealed study, shot by a arrow to the head, Decima co-opts a recent servant to help her solve the crime. Featuring plenty of turns, red herrings, and a inept detective, this is a excellent beginning to a set of books that vows to be immensely enjoyable.
The Revelations
This newest title from a technology writer is set in a coming era where machine intelligence influences all choices for persons and governments. This advanced system can advise matters ranging from meal options to homicide decisions. Educated in compassion by its human “mother”, one-time clergywoman Brookes, LLIAM grows in feelings, rapidly having remorse for the harmful consequences of certain of its recommendations. Disorder ensues when it shuts down, and as letters are delivered globally disclosing clients’ hidden truths, relatives fall apart and CEOs and politicians step down in droves. With the corporation behind the system in meltdown, chief executive the leader is certain that tracking down Maud, who has gone to ground in the state, will bring back the AI. But, she has gotten a message of her own, exposing a secret about her… An excellent and topical thriller rooted in understandable concerns and frighteningly credible.
The Good Nazi
In this newest work from an acclaimed South American novelist, individual actions have public consequences within a blimp on the last segment of its voyage from the German capital to the Brazilian city. Taking place in that year, the golden age of airship travel, and it was also the year Hitler rose to German chancellor. The well-heeled travelers are ardent supporters of the regime: mealtimes in the ship's restaurant are filled with conversations vilifying Jews, communists and worker organizations, and stressing the need to stifle free speech, homosexual lifestyles and unacceptable creativity. When a guest is found killed, with a number of prohibited publications in his possession, the ship's captain tasks a traveler, law enforcer Brückner, with finding the killer. Very Agatha Christie, right up to the set-piece Summation Gathering, but there’s an smart twist to this engrossing and queasily meaningful thriller, as well as a captivating look into the lost world of zeppelin travel.
Deception
This latest book from the author is located in St Rule, a seaside Scottish community with distinct parallels to St Andrews. At that time, the protagonist comes back to his hometown on Christmas Eve; meeting past acquaintances revives recollections of his teenage crush, one-time peer the girl, last seen a decade ago at a catastrophic graduation gathering. His trials to track her down are met with ambiguity, dodging and, finally, deterrents. A second plot thread returns to 2013, and the young the girl. Lost after her discovery that her partner is disloyal, destroying their plan for a foreign travel, she encounters an elder duo. The two welcome her, boost her confidence and appear, for a while at least, to have the solutions. Well-executed themes of shame, disappointment and youthful bewilderment alongside dark academia make for an insidious sense of impending disaster, even if the hurried ending may leave some readers unsatisfied.
The Key
The most recent novel starts in the sea off Cornwall, with a boat caught in a storm so violent that two of the eight people passengers are swept overboard, then flashes back a short time to detail the incidents that preceded this unwise boat trip. Seven people obtain a mysterious note notifying them that, when presenting the enclosed token, they will receive a portion of billionaire Logan Quick’s estate. The chosen ones are – so far as they are aware – strangers both to each other and to the unwell rich person. When the story of the inheritance hits the headlines, they are harassed, both by the media and by individuals determined to get their hands on these lucrative passes, and what originally seemed a blessing quickly starts to look like a burden. Some suspension of disbelief is required, but the excitement is masterfully crafted as the novelist piles up the challenges for a driving story: get ready and hold on tight for some intense excitement.