Beach Reads
Summer is flying by, and I find myself already wondering where the time went. We have now hit the part of the summer where it’s just too hot to do anything unless you are in the water. Some of you will be surfing the waves and others might want to spend their days doing water sports in the bay. If you prefer to sit your chair in the water and read a good book, here are some thrillers that will give you chills!
“None of This Is True” by Lisa Jewell
Imagine going to a pub for your 45th birthday and meeting a woman who is also celebrating her 45th birthday! This is exactly what happened to Alix Summer when she met Josie Fair. A couple of days later, they bump into each other at Alix’s children’s school. Alix is a popular podcaster and Josie wants to be the next subject for her series. Josie’s life seems weird and complicated, and Alix can’t resist making the podcast. In the course of the interviews, Alix realizes Josie has some very dark secrets. Just when Alix is ready to start asking some serious questions, Josie disappears … but not before she made a mess of Alix’s life. Alix is now the subject of her own true crime podcast, fearing for her life and her family’s lives.
“After That Night” by Karin Slaughter
Sara Linton’s life was irrevocably altered 15 years ago when she went for a night out and was brutally attacked, changing her forever. Today, she has rebuilt her life and is now a doctor, engaged to the love of her life, and has managed to leave the past behind. Things are going well until a young woman comes into the emergency room after also being brutally attacked. As the investigation carries on, it becomes clear that Dani Cooper’s assault is linked to Sara’s. Now Sara and Will Trent, a special agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, are working fast to find the perpetrator before they strike again. This is the 11th thriller featuring Sara and Will.
“Just Another Missing Person” by Gillian McAllister
Olivia was last seen on video surveillance, entering a dead-end alley. It’s been more than a day and the 22-year-old has not come back out. Julia is the detective leading the search. She knows how this will go: a desperate family pleading for answers, time running out, and too much time away from her own family. But then things take a drastic turn, and now Julia is also a victim. The criminal responsible for Olivia’s disappearance has a secret about Julia – a secret that will ruin her life if it comes out. It is clear that Julia not only cannot find out what happened to Olivia, but she has to frame someone else for her murder. If she finds Olivia, she loses everything.
“Everyone Here Is Lying” by Shari Lapena
Stanhope is a small town that is known to be safe and perfect for families. William Wooler, by all appearances a family man, comes home one afternoon in a rage after his affair ended horribly at a motel up the road. He completely loses his temper when he finds his 9-year-old daughter, Avery, at home when she should have been at school. A few hours later, Avery is missing. Suddenly, everyone is a suspect, and the once-safe town has become anything but. More and more witnesses surface – some with truths, some with lies, and no one knows what or who to believe. Tensions are at a boiling point as everyone struggles to figure out who took Avery.
“The Only One Left” by Riley Sager
In 1929, the Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast. Everyone thought 17-year-old Lenora Hope was responsible, but the police were never able to prove it. Because the townspeople know who she is and what she was accused of, she never steps foot outside of Hope’s End, the cliffside mansion where the massacre occurred. She has never spoken publicly about what happened that night. More than 50 years later, Kit McDeere has been hired to look after Lenora after she suffered a series of strokes. Now in her 70s and confined to a wheelchair, Lenora can no longer speak and uses an old typewriter to communicate. One night, Lenora offers to share her story with Kit. Kit helps Lenora write about what happened, and it’s clear that there is much more to the story and to Lenora than people know.
“What Never Happened” by Rachel Howzell Hall
Colette “Coco” Weber was the lone survivor of a home invasion 20 years ago. Today she has returned to Catalina Island, to her Aunt Gwen, and to get back to the job she loves – writing. Her best friend from college owns the local paper and hired Coco to write the obituaries. This is proving to be busy work, given the elderly population on the island … and getting busier. As the obituaries pile up, Coco discovers a connection between all these deaths she is writing about: They weren’t from natural causes. Then Coco gets a threat in the mail. Someone has written her obituary. Coco sets out to pursue a serial killer not knowing that she is going to stumble onto the truth about her own past.
