Top 30 Crime Thriller Books
"The best crime novels are not about how a detective works on a case; they are about how a case works on a detective."
Crime Thriller books are like a cocktail of mystery, suspense, and crime, served up in a fast-paced, thrilling chase. Typically, you’re glued to the journey of a detective, an investigator, or a sharp amateur sleuth as they dig into the truth behind a crime—or a series of them—often with murder lurking at the center. These tales are famous for their rapid tempo, clever twists, and the nail-biting tension that keeps you on edge as you explore the minds of the criminals just as much as the detectives.
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⭐ Book Club Top Pick ⭐
Framed in Death by J.D. Robb
Manhattan is filled with galleries and deep-pocketed collectors who can make an artist's career with a wave of a hand.
But one man toils in obscurity, his brilliance unrecognized while lesser talents bask in the glory he believes should be his.
Come tomorrow, he vows, the city will be buzzing about his work.
Indeed, before dawn, Lt. Eve Dallas is speeding toward the home of the two gallery owners whose doorway has been turned into a horrifying crime scene overnight.
A lifeless young woman has been elaborately costumed and precisely posed to resemble the model of a long-ago Dutch master, and Dallas plunges into her investigation.
Beyond Her Reach by Melinda Leigh
In a quiet suburban neighborhood in upstate New York, single mom Kelly Gibson is slain in her home—the victim of a rage killing.
Right away, Sheriff Bree Taggert has three persons of interest: an angry soon-to-be ex-husband, a furtive rebound boyfriend, and an obsessive neighbor.
But as Bree and investigator Matt Flynn work together to narrow the field, there’s a shocking twist in the case: a second woman is murdered in the same brutal fashion.
While investigating, Bree is attacked and left for dead.
When another woman is kidnapped, Bree and Matt must act quickly to unravel the deceptions in Kelly’s life and death and find a killer before someone else dies.
Fallen Star by Lee Goldberg
A fifty-five-gallon drum washes up in the Malibu Lagoon stuffed with the corpse of Gene Dent, the key player in a bribery scandal that ensnared several local politicians.
LASD detectives Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone know the case—and all the likely suspects—well. Just as they begin their investigation, the sheriff publicly reveals evidence linking the crime to LA’s mayor.
But Eve and Duncan realize the bombshell allegation, true or not, arises from corruption within the sheriff’s own office…because they helped cover it up years ago. If the sheriff goes down, so will they.
Eve is agonizing over her moral dilemma when a helicopter crashes in the hillside below her Calabasas home.
It’s not a coincidence. Eve soon discovers among the twisted wreckage and dead passengers shocking connections to her own past…and they lead straight to a fight for her life.
The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman
Who's got time to think about murder when there's a wedding to plan?
It’s been a quiet year for the Thursday Murder Club. Joyce is busy with table plans and first dances. Elizabeth is grieving. Ron is dealing with family troubles, and Ibrahim is still providing therapy to his favorite criminal.
But when Elizabeth meets Nick, a wedding guest asking for her help, she finds the thrill of the chase is ignited once again. And when Nick disappears without a trace, his cagey business partner becomes the gang’s next stop. It seems the duo have something valuable—something worth killing for.
Joyce’s daughter, Joanna, jumps into the fray to help the gang as they seek answers: Has someone kidnapped Nick? And what’s this uncrackable code they keep hearing about? Plunged back into action once more, can the four friends solve the puzzle and a murder in time?
We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter
Welcome to North Falls—a small town where everyone knows everyone.
Or so they think.
Until the night of the fireworks. When two teenage girls vanish, and the town ignites.
For Officer Emmy Clifton, it’s personal. She turned away when her best friend's daughter needed help—and now she must bring her home.
But as Emmy combs through the puzzle the girls left behind, she realizes she never really knew them. Nobody did.
Every teenage girl has secrets. But who would kill for them? And what else is the town hiding?
The Black Wolf by Louise Penny
Several weeks ago, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec and his team uncovered and stopped a domestic terrorist attack in Montréal, arresting the person behind it. A man they called the Black Wolf.
But their relief is short-lived. In a sickening turn of events, Gamache has realized that plot, as horrific as it was, was just the beginning. Perhaps even a deliberate misdirection. One he fell into. Something deeper and darker, more damaging, is planned. Did he in fact arrest the Black Wolf, or are they still out there? Armand is appalled to think his mistake has allowed their conspiracy to grow, to gather supporters. To spread lies, manufacture enemies, and feed hatred and division.
Still recovering from wounds received in stopping the first attack, Armand is confined to the village of Three Pines, leading a covert investigation from there. He must be careful not to let the Black Wolf know he has recognized his mistake. In a quiet church basement, he and his senior agents Beauvoir and Lacoste, pore over what little evidence they have. Two notebooks. A few mysterious numbers on a tattered map of Québec. And a phrase repeated by the person they had called the Grey Wolf. A warning…
Gamache and his small team of supporters realize that for the Black Wolf to have gotten this far, they must have powerful allies, in law enforcement, in industry, in organized crime, in the halls of government.
From the apparent peace of his little village, Gamache finds himself playing a lethal game of cat and mouse with an invisible foe who is gathering forces and preparing to strike.
The Imperfect Murder by James Patterson
Wife. Writer. Murderer?
When Denise Morrow is discovered standing over the body of her husband, a bloody knife between them, Detective Declan Shaw thinks it’s an open-and-shut case.
But Denise is no ordinary murder suspect. She’s a famous true crime author, who knows how killers operate. And how they get away with it.
Then, Declan discovers the subject of Denise’s next book – the violent murder of a girl called Maggie Marshall. A case that Declan worked on. A case that has haunted him for years.
Denise knows much more about Declan than she’s letting on, and she might just be the slipperiest suspect he has ever encountered...
Her First Mistake by Kendra Elliot
Thirteen years ago, Assemblyman Derrick Bell was murdered in his home by an intruder. His wife, Noelle Marshall, was left for dead. The crime was unsolved, but it wasn’t forgotten.
Today the FBI is tackling a fresh perspective on the case and looking to Noelle, now a detective for the Deschutes County sheriff’s office, for new clues. It is reopening everything Noelle thought was behind her.
Memories of her escape from a traumatic childhood. A marriage that wasn’t the perfect love story she’d been promised. And a husband whose charm and privilege hid a dark side. But Noelle has been hiding something too: a secret about the night Derrick died that she has never told anyone.
As past and present and leads and misleads collide, one thing is frighteningly clear. Derrick’s murder wasn’t just unsolved. It’s unfinished. And only the truth—no matter the risk—can save the next victim.
The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith
A dismembered corpse is discovered in the vault of a silver shop. The police initially believe it to be that of a convicted armed robber - but not everyone agrees with that theory. One of them is Decima Mullins, who calls on the help of private detective Cormoran Strike as she's certain the body in the silver vault was that of her boyfriend - the father of her newborn baby - who suddenly and mysteriously disappeared.
The more Strike and his business partner Robin Ellacott delve into the case, the more labyrinthine it gets. The silver shop is no ordinary one: it's located beside Freemasons' Hall and specializes in Masonic silverware. And in addition to the armed robber and Decima's boyfriend, it becomes clear that there are other missing men who could fit the profile of the body in the vault.
As the case becomes ever more complicated and dangerous, Strike faces another quandary. Robin seems increasingly committed to her boyfriend, policeman Ryan Murphy, but the impulse to declare his own feelings for her is becoming stronger than ever.
Silent Bones by Val McDermid
Scotland, 2025. When torrential winter rain causes a landslide on a motorway, it dislodges more than mud and asphalt – it reveals a skeleton, concealed when the road was built eleven years prior.
Sam Nimmo, an investigative journalist who’d been poking his nose into the murky politics of the Scottish independence referendum, had become the prime suspect in the brutal murder of his girlfriend when he vanished.
Now he’s reappeared, buried under the motorway. It’s the perfect cold case for DCI Karen Pirie, chief of Police Scotland’s Historic Cases Unit.
What was Nimmo investigating that was worth killing over? Or was it revenge for murdering his girlfriend?
Meanwhile, an allegation of murder has surfaced over the supposedly accidental death of a hotel manager. It may have links to another accident on a remote Highland road.
It’s a series of puzzles that tests Karen and her team to their limits. And possibly beyond...
Murder by Firelight by Merryn Allingham
No one can hold a candle to amateur detectives Flora Steele and Jack Carrington as they ask the burning question… Who is the killer walking the cobbled streets of their historic little town?
Sussex, November 1959. There’s a chill in the air at the Lewes bonfire celebration. Carnival floats fill the narrow streets, fireworks crackle overhead, and Flora and Jack feel the heat of the burning torches lining the streets. But when Trevor French, chief of the Grove Bonfire Society, tumbles from his parade float, they know something is afoot. Trevor didn’t just fall – and amidst the crowds, his killer slips away through the smoke-filled night.
But who would want the respected Trevor dead? As Flora and Jack question the vying bonfire societies, they find a surprisingly competitive underbelly at play. Did Edwin Brooker, former chairman, stoke the flames of rivalry too far? Or are the tears of the victim’s friend, Leo Nelson, faked to keep himself safe?
Just as the sleuths believe they’ve figured it out, the body of a key suspect in the case is found dead on their hearth rug, and Flora and Jack realise that no one is safe – including themselves. Together, can they smoke the murderer out? Or will their chances of survival go up in flames?
Other People's Houses by Clare Mackintosh
You want what they have, but what price would you pay?
The Hill is the kind of place everyone wants to live: luxurious, exclusive and safe.
But now someone is breaking and entering these Cheshire homes one by one, and DS Leo Brady suspects the burglar is looking for something, or someone, in particular.
Over the border in Wales, DC Ffion Morgan recovers the body of an estate agent from the lake.
There's no love lost between Ffion and estate agents, but who hated this one enough to want her dead - and why?
As their cases collide, Ffion and Leo discover people will pay a high price to keep their secrets behind closed doors...
What Darkness Does by Jennifer Graeser Dornbush
Called in to investigate the body of a young mother found floating in a small Michigan lake, Freeport coroner Dr. Emily Hartford quickly determines that Savannah Browdey was murdered. Among the many questions circling this horrifying event is one that yanks hard on Emily’s heartstrings: Where is Savannah’s infant daughter? Working alongside police detective Ishkode Aditson, Emily becomes ferociously determined to find the missing baby, Brooklyn.
At the same time, Emily’s longtime boyfriend Nick Larsen has reappeared—after being missing, presumed dead, for over a year. But Nick has changed. Badly injured and severely traumatized, the ex-cop turned FBI agent is a different man, one who has endured unimaginable brutality and then buried his secrets deep. Nick has a long road ahead … but he’s not a patient man, and catching a sadistic killer seems like good enough therapy to him.
Emily has her doubts, but what’s clear is that a cruel killer’s reign of terror must be stopped, one way or another. Their foe is formidable, increasingly bold, and brutally reckless. To catch this monster, Nick must battle his own demons, while Emily puzzles together the mystery of Brooklyn’s whereabouts, in hopes of giving a grieving family a happy ending.
Sharp Force by Patricia Cornwell
NO ONE IS SAFE FROM THE SERIAL KILLER. NOT EVEN SCARPETTA…
During the early hours of Christmas morning, chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta receives a chilling call. The Phantom Slasher has struck again.
The serial killer has terrorized Northern Virginia for months. His pattern is to stalk with a sophisticated technology that enables him to invade his victims' homes and watch their every move. They wake up to a ghost-like hologram before being murdered in their beds.
Scarpetta is summoned to Mercy Island, the site of a notorious psychiatric hospital where two people have been brutalized, one of them from Scarpetta’s past.
It soon becomes apparent that she could be next…
Bless Your Heart by Leigh Dunlap
Anderson Tupper, a member of one of Atlanta’s richest families, has been murdered in the dugout of the Little League field where he was a volunteer coach, and it’s up to Detective Shay Claypool, a single mother from the other side of town, to find his killer.
With the exclusive area of Buckhead threatening to secede from the city of Atlanta and take its tax revenue with it, Shay is under pressure to solve the murder of one of Buckhead’s own. Accustomed to handling drug dealers and prostitutes, she must now contend with an even more sinister group: the Buckhead Betties, the insufferably entitled women of Georgia’s most affluent zip code.
One of them might be a murderer, but who? Is it the old-money queen of Buckhead? The mysterious new girl in town? The drug-dealing trophy wife?
It seems secrets and lies are as plentiful as luxury handbags in Atlanta and everyone’s guilty of something. Shay’s investigation will make her examine her own prejudices and discover that, as a woman and a mother, she might not be that different from the Betties after all. And if she isn’t careful, they just might take her down with them.
Some of Us Are Liars by Fiona Cummins
When Jen Miller entrusts her youngest child to the care of her beloved sisters, she has no idea of the devastating tragedy that is about to unfold.
To celebrate her sister's wedding, global superstar Winter Kellaway throws the party of the decade at her luxurious beachside estate. The decorations are flawless. The champagne is on ice. The guests have arrived. But one misstep will have heartbreaking consequences that will rock this close-knit family to their core.
With her life in pieces, how can Jen ever begin to forgive?
Saul Anguish, a brilliant but tormented young detective, is called in to investigate and uncovers a long-buried and shocking family secret. As the trail takes a dramatic turn, they must now all face the truth that you can never truly leave the past behind...
Nightshade by Michael Connelly
Introducing Detective Stilwell: a cop relentlessly following his mission in the seemingly idyllic setting of Catalina Island.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Detective Stilwell has been “exiled” to a low-key post policing rustic Catalina Island, after department politics drove him off a homicide desk on the mainland. But while following up the usual drunk-and-disorderlies and petty thefts that come with his new territory, Detective Stilwell gets a report of a body found weighed down at the bottom of the harbor—a Jane Doe identifiable at first only by a streak of purple dye in her hair. At the same time, a report of poaching on a protected reserve turns into a case fraught with violence and danger as Stilwell digs into the shady past of an island bigwig.
Crossing all lines of protocol and jurisdiction, Stilwell doggedly works both cases. Though hampered by an old beef with an ex-colleague determined to thwart him at every turn, he is convinced he is the only one who can bring justice to the woman known as “Nightshade.” Soon, his investigation uncovers closely guarded secrets and a dark heart to the serene island that was meant to be his escape from the evils of the big city.
The Killing Stones by Ann Cleeves
It's been several years since Detective Jimmy Perez left Shetland. He has settled into his new home in Orkney, the group of islands, off the northern coast of Scotland, with his partner Willow Reeve and their growing family. One stormy winter night, his oldest and closest friend, Archie Stout, goes missing. Ever the detective, Perez catches a boat to the island of Westray, where Archie worked as a farmer and lived with his wife and children.
But when he arrives he finds a shocking scene: Archie's body, on an archaeological dig site and an ancient Westray story stone with precise spirals carved into it beside him, the clear murder weapon. The artifact, taken from a nearby museum, seems to suggest a premediated murder.
But Perez is so close to the case that he struggles to maintain an objective distance from the potential suspects. He finds it difficult to question Archie's wife, whom he's known for years. Rumors swirl about the dead man's relationship with a young woman new to the island, an artist. With each new lead, the case becomes more twisted and Perez wonders if he will ever find out what happened in his friend's final days.
Cold Island by Peter Colt
When the remains of a young murder victim on Nantucket Island are discovered after thirty-five years, a detective begins to unearth the dark secrets of a community gone silent.
Massachusetts State Police detective Tommy Kelly is called to Nantucket Island, where a boy’s skeletal remains have been discovered at a construction site—interred for thirty-five years. The crime is especially gutting for Tommy, the father of two boys. It’s also the beginning of a grim mystery. Because no child during that period was even reported missing.
Tommy is partnered with Nantucket PD’s best detective, Jo Harris, who first chafes at the idea of a mainlander encroaching on her territory. And their work together is only raising more troubling questions. Then a possible link is found to the decades-old case of a serial killer—a vigilantly hidden part of the past that this tight-knit community would prefer to forget and never speak of again.
The secrets in their silence are so shocking they soon pull Tommy into a very dark place. Suddenly, offseason on Nantucket has never felt so cold, so isolating, or so dangerous.
Head Cases by John McMahon
FBI Agent Gardner Camden is an analytical genius with an affinity for puzzles. He also has a blind spot on the human side of investigations, a blindness that sometimes even includes people in his own life, like his beloved seven-year-old daughter Camila. Gardner and his squad of brilliant yet quirky agents make up the Patterns and Recognition (PAR) unit, the FBI’s hidden edge, brought in for cases that no one else can solve.
When DNA links a murder victim to a serial killer long presumed dead, the team springs into action. A second victim establishes a pattern, and the murderer begins leaving a trail of clues and riddles especially for Gardner. And while the PAR team is usually relegated to working cold cases from behind a desk, the investigation puts them on the road and into the public eye, following in the footsteps of a killer.
Along with Gardner, PAR consists of a mathematician, a weapons expert, a computer analyst, and their leader, a career agent. Each of them must use every skill they have to solve the riddle of the killer’s identity. But with the perpetrator somehow learning more and more about the team at PAR, can they protect themselves and their families…before it’s too late?
The Sister's Curse by Nicola Solvinic
Lieutenant Anna Koray thought she'd finally found solid ground and escaped her past as the daughter of a notorious serial killer. A loving boyfriend, a loyal dog, a life that almost feels normal—except darkness has a way of seeping in. When she saves a boy from drowning, the strange marks on his body tell a disturbing story: something in the depths tried to drag him under.
Days later, another victim surfaces with identical marks and Anna's instincts scream that these are no accidents. Both victims are connected to the Kings of Warsaw Creek—men of the town's wealthiest and most influential families. And they have enemies.
Others whisper that there are witches in Bayern County, seeking revenge for a long-ago murder. Perhaps it's the work of Vivian Carson, the enigmatic bartender who’s rumored to cast hexes on those who wrong her. Or maybe it’s a secret coven who’s been leaving serpentine symbols and skulls behind at the scenes of the drownings.
But Anna's investigation reveals an even more sinister truth: something is stirring in the water, and it wants the Kings to pay.
With time running out and more victims appearing, Anna must separate superstition from truth. But in Bayern County, where legends and curses run deep as the water itself, one wrong step could drag her into the depths—this time for good.
Fog and Fury by Rachel Howzell Hall
After ten years on the force, LAPD cop Sonny Rush relocates with her elderly mother to peaceful Haven, California, to join her godfather’s burgeoning PI business.
What crimes could possibly happen in a town nicknamed “Mayberry by the Sea”? Sonny’s first case: find Figgy, a missing goldendoodle last seen sporting a Versace collar. At least scouting out a dognapper gives Sonny a chance to get to know her new neighbors.
Forty-eight hours in town and Figgy’s disappearance entangles Sonny in an unwelcome reunion with her ex, one of Haven’s wealthiest citizens. And when the body of a teenage boy is found along a popular hiking trail, Sonny is drawn into a web of strange beyond anything she ever saw in LA.
Then comes a local’s warning: question everything. Haven hides secrets that could destroy its idyllic facade. Or destroy Sonny first.
Cold Reckoning by L.T. Ryan
FBI Special Agent Avril Dahl has spent a decade chasing shadows—the Frost Killer, a meticulous murderer who stole fifty-three lives, including her mother's. Now, after years of silence, Avril returns to her childhood home in the snowy streets of Täby, Sweden, desperate to leave the hunt behind. But as she sorts through the remnants of her past, she discovers eerie signs that the killer is not only alive but watching her.
When a postcard from Stockholm arrives with a cryptic message—This one is for Agent Dahl—her worst fear is confirmed: the Frost Killer has returned, and she’s his next target. As bodies begin to appear in the familiar, snow-covered woods, Avril must confront her haunting past and outwit the monster she’s been hunting her entire career.
But with the line between hunter and prey blurring, Avril faces an unsettling truth: the closer she gets to him, the more he seems to know about her deepest fears. And as the game of cat and mouse escalates, one question remains—will she catch the Frost Killer before he catches her?
The Fifth Victim by D.D. Black
With only two weeks until retirement, seasoned FBI Agent Claire Anderson is desperately trying to balance her work and complex home life when she's called in for one last job: lead a special task force to hunt down the enigmatic "Color Killer."
That task force is the FBI's Special-Washington-Oregon-Regional-Detachment—nicknamed S.W.O.R.D. Now, Claire must marshal the talents of an eclectic crew of agents, including a brilliant criminal psychologist, a street-savvy undercover prodigy, a rugged covert-ops specialist, and a quirky tech savant.
Pursuing the killer through the rain-soaked streets and deep forests of the Pacific Northwest, the men and women of S.W.O.R.D. must delve into an ancient lost religion, its shocking view of life and death, and the dark mind of a cunning psychopath. But when clues start intertwining with Claire's own life, she realizes she’s up against a predator who's always one step ahead.
The Somerset Slayings by David J. Gatward
Somerset, England. DI Gordy Haig is drowning in grief.
Devastated and heartbroken, the dedicated Scot questions her decision to transfer and take on a new role in a town full of strangers.
And just as she's tempted to give up, a body is found gruesomely displayed in the ruins of a castle.
Digging into the grisly crime, while still living out of a suitcase, the tenacious investigator puzzles over the staged homicide and its apparent mirroring of a death scene from a horror movie.
As she battles with nightmares and little sleep, and struggles to focus on the day job, a second body is found - once again mirroring another grotesque cinematic murder.
As the clues reveal a link to an unfinished horror movie, can Gordy roll the credits on a mystery steeped in history and deceit?
In a Place of Darkness by Stuart MacBride
Detective Constable Angus MacVicar has just landed his dream job – transferred out of uniform and assigned to Oldcastle’s biggest ongoing murder investigation: Operation Telegram, hunting the 'Fortnight Killer'.
Every two weeks another couple is targeted. One victim is left at the scene, their corpse used as a twisted message board. The second body is never seen again.
This should be the perfect chance for Angus to prove himself, but instead of working on the investigation’s front line, he’s lumbered with the forensic psychologist from hell. A sarcastic know-it-all American, on loan from the FBI, who seems determined to alienate everyone while dragging Angus into a shadowy world of conspiracies, lies, and violence.
It’s been twelve days since the Fortnight Killer last struck, and the investigation’s running out of time. Angus's shiny new job might just be the death of him…
The Unquiet Bones by Loreth Anne White
When human bones are found beneath an old chapel in the woods, evidence suggests the remains could be linked to the decades-old case of missing teen Annalise Jansen.
Homicide detective Jane Munro―pregnant and acutely attuned to the preciousness of life―hopes the grim discovery will finally bring closure to the girl’s family. But for a group of Annalise’s old friends, once dubbed the Shoreview Six by the media, it threatens to expose a terrible pledge made on an autumn night forty-seven years ago.
The friends are now highly respected, affluent members of their communities, and none of them ever expected the dark chapter in their past to resurface. But as Jane and forensic anthropologist Dr. Ella Quinn peel back the layers of secrets, the group begins to fracture. Will one cave? Will they turn on each other?
The investigation takes a sharp turn when Jane discovers a second body―that of the boy long blamed for Annalise’s disappearance. As the bones tell their story, the group learns just how far each will go to guard their own truth.
We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
Steve Wheeler is enjoying retired life. He still does the odd bit of investigation work, but he prefers his familiar routines: the pub quiz, his favorite bench, his cat waiting for him at home.
His days of adventure are over. Adrenaline is daughter-in-law Amy’s job now.
Amy Wheeler thinks adrenaline is good for the soul. Working in private security, every day is dangerous.
She’s currently on a remote island protecting mega-bestselling author Rosie D’Antonio, until a dead body and a bag of money mean trouble in paradise. So she sends an SOS to the only person she trusts . . .
As a thrilling race around the world begins, can Amy and Steve outrun and outsmart a killer?
The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen
Former spy Maggie Bird came to the seaside village of Purity, Maine, eager to put the past behind her after a mission went tragically wrong. These days, she’s living quietly on her chicken farm, still wary of blowback from the events that forced her early retirement.
But when a body turns up in Maggie’s driveway, she knows it’s a message from former foes who haven’t forgotten her. Maggie turns to her local circle of old friends―all retirees from the CIA―to help uncover the truth about who is trying to kill her, and why. This “Martini Club” of former spies may be retired, but they still have a few useful skills that they’re eager to use again, if only to spice up their rather sedate new lives.
Complicating their efforts is Purity’s acting police chief, Jo Thibodeau. More accustomed to dealing with rowdy tourists than homicide, Jo is puzzled by Maggie’s reluctance to share information―and by her odd circle of friends, who seem to be a step ahead of her at every turn.
As Jo’s investigation collides with the Martini Club’s maneuvers, Maggie’s hunt for answers will force her to revisit a clandestine career that spanned the globe, from Bangkok to Istanbul, from London to Malta. The ghosts of her past have returned, but with the help of her friends―and the reluctant Jo Thibodeau―Maggie might just be able to save the life she’s built.
The Taken Ones by Jess Lourey
Summer 1980: Despite the local superstition that the Bendy Man haunts the woods, three girls go into a Minnesota forest. Only one comes out, dead silent, her memory gone.
The mystery of the Taken Ones captures the nation.
Summer 2022: Cold case detective Van Reed and forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck are assigned a disturbing homicide―a woman buried alive, clutching a heart charm necklace belonging to one of the vanished girls.
Van follows her gut. Harry trusts in facts. They’re both desperate to catch a killer before he kills again. They have something else in common: each has ties to the original case in ways they’re reluctant to share.
As Van and Harry connect the crimes of the past and the present, Van struggles with memories of her own nightmarish childhood―and the fear that uncovering the truth of the Taken Ones will lead her down a path from which she, too, may never return.
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