It’s been a rainy few weeks in Nashville, but that doesn’t mean I’m not counting down the days to days in the park reading under the shade. Summer is the perfect time for a thriller, and these new releases will not disappoint. Let’s get started!
one | Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Riva family is famous. Not only are a few of them pro-surfers and models, but they throw the wildest beach party every summer that anyone who is anyone always makes sure to attend. This year, things are different. This year, by 8 a.m., everything is up in flames. Reid tells the timeless story of what it means to be family — chosen and otherwise. She alternates between two timelines, the 80s with the current Riva family and telling the Riva family backstory, which, of course, is full of heartbreak.
Out June 1, 2021.
two | The Maidens by Alex Michaelides
Mariana Andros is a group therapist fixated on Edward Fosca. He’s a murderer, and she’s convinced she’s the only one that can bring him down. Edward is a Greek Tragedy professor at Cambridge University, and he is adored by everyone he meets, including a secret society of female students known as The Maidens. When a friend of Mariana’s niece is found murdered, nothing will stop Mariana from figuring out how Edward did it.
Out June 15, 2021.
three | The Husbands by Chandler Baker
Nora is a successful attorney, and while her husband works hard, it always seems like she’s working harder. From packing lunches to knowing where the extra paper towel rolls are, why is working double-time in her career and personal life? When her and her husband go house-hunting in Dynasty Ranch, Nora meets a group of high-powered women like herself who seem to have excessively supportive husbands. When she agrees to help with a resident’s wrongful death case, Nora finds out that some secrets, like the secret to having-it-all, may be worth killing for.
Out June 29, 2021.
four | Such A Quiet Place by Megan Miranda
Nothing ever happens in Hollow’s Edge. That is, until the murder of Brandon and Fiona Truett. Now, gossip circles the town as its residents contemplate how they implicated one of their own, Ruby Fletcher. While they are all stuck in their homes, unable to leave this now cursed town, Ruby’s conviction is overturned, and she’s back in Hollow’s Edge. Ruby is living with Harper Nash once again, and how is Harper to turn her away when she knows she has no where else to go? Within days of Ruby’s return, it becomes clear that not everyone was telling the truth when they took the stand, and now Harper has to figure out who the real killer is before someone else is murdered.
Out July 6, 2021.
five | She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
It is 1345, and two children from the Zhu family are given fates – the son is destined for greatness; the daughter for nothingness. The family doesn’t question either fate, but when the son, Zhu Chongba, dies after an attack, the daughter must take up his identity to escape her own fate. As she enters the monastery as her brother, Zhu learns that she is willing to do anything to avoid being nothing. This is the reimagined story of the rise of the founding emperor of the Mind Dynasty.
Out July 20, 2021.
six | The Family Plot by Megan Collins
Dahlia has a lot to learn about the real world. After being raised in a secluded mansion deep in the woods by her true-crime obsessed parents, Dahlia took the last few years to branch out on her own, learn about herself, and forget the one thing she is always running from, the disappearance of her twin brother, Andy, when they were sixteen. When Dahlia’s father’s death forces her to return home, the family finds the reserved plot for her father holding another body – her brother Andy’s. While each family handles the discovery in their own, twisted, way, Dahlia realizes that the answers to her brother’s disappearance may be in the very mansion she is staying in.
Out August 17, 2021.
seven | Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Maite lives an unassuming life as a secretary in Mexico City in the 1970s. She lives for the latest issue of “Secret Romance,” longing to lose herself in a story of passion rather than live in the student protests and political unrest that consume her city. When Maite’s neighbor, Leonora, goes missing, Maite can’t help but dive into her world and try to find her. But Maite isn’t the only person looking for Leonora. Elvis, a member of a goon squad is also on the lookout for Leonora , but as he looks for Maite’s neighbor, he grows more and more obsessed with Maite from a distance. As the pair come closer to finding Leonora, danger becomes an almost constant that they must escape.
Out August 17, 2021.
eight | A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins
Laura. Carla. And Miriam. Three separate women with ties to a murdered young man. When the young man is found, each woman is questioned to find out what they know. Laura has a past. She’s spent her life being judged, but she’s only a one-night stand, right? Carla is his aunt. She’s mourning the death of another family member, and she trusts no one to tell her the truth. And Miriam? Miriam is just a nosy neighbor who knows more than she’s letting on to the police. Three separate women with three separate reasons to want someone dead. Even good people can do bad things when pushed to the brink.
Out August 17, 2021.
Happy reading,
Kimberly
