Reading Recommendations: Thrilling Twists

A new month means another batch of reading recommendations! November’s theme is Thrilling Twists! the books featured on this list are thrillers that are immersive and will keep you on the edge of your seat. I hope you enjoy these picks!

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Better Must Come

Deja is a “barrel girl”—one of the Jamaican kids who get barrels full of clothes, food, and treats shipped to them from parents who have moved to the US or Canada to make more money. Gabriel is caught up in a gang and desperate for a way out. When he meets Deja at a party, he starts looking for a way into her life and wonders if they could be a part of each other’s futures.

Then, one day while out fishing, Deja spies a go-fast boat stalled out by some rocks, smeared with blood. Inside, a badly wounded man thrusts a knapsack at her, begging her to deliver it to his original destination, and to not say a word. She binds his wounds, determines to send for help, and make good on her promise…not realizing that the bag is stuffed with $500,000 American. Not realizing that the posse Gabriel is in will stop at nothing to get their hands on this bag—or that Gabriel’s and her lives will intersect in ways neither ever imagined, as they both are forced to make split second choices to keep the ones they love most alive.

The two alternating point-of-views between Deja and Gabriel added depth to the story and gave their characters a solid background. It made me empathize with just how great the stakes were for each character and their determination behind their mission. The novel paints a vivid portrait of the harsh realities of gang life in Jamaica and how one is willing to go for family. Though Deja and Gabriel feel like their lives differentiate from each other they have more in common than they think. They strive for a better life for themselves and their loved ones promising a more hopeful future. (Review)

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Dear Killer

Rule One—Nothing is right, nothing is wrong.
Rule Two—Be careful.
Rule Three—Fight using your legs whenever possible, because they’re the strongest part of your body. Your arms are the weakest.
Rule Four—Hit to kill. The first blow should be the last, if at all possible.
Rule Five—The letters are the law.

Kit takes her role as London’s notorious “Perfect Killer” seriously. The letters and cash that come to her via a secret mailbox are not a game; choosing who to kill is not an impulse decision. Every letter she receives begins with “Dear Killer,” and every time Kit murders, she leaves a letter with the dead body. Her moral nihilism and thus her murders are a way of life—the only way of life she has ever known.

But when a letter appears in the mailbox that will have the power to topple Kit’s convictions as perfectly as she commits her murders, she must make a decision: follow the only rules she has ever known, or challenge Rule One, and go from there.

What makes this novel such a page turner is that it’s such a gritty psychological thriller. There are numerous twists and turns, and once you have a slight idea of where the story is going, it does a complete 180. On top of that, the reader is looking through the point the view of a serial killer. Everything is muddled, she’s an unreliable narrator, and you’re not sure if you can trust her. All these emotions tie in for a very climactic ending. (Review)

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Penance

The tense, chilling story of four women haunted by a childhood trauma.
When they were children, Sae, Maki, Akiko and Yuko were tricked into separating from their friend Emily by a mysterious stranger. Then the unthinkable occurs: Emily is found murdered hours later.
Sae, Maki, Akiko and Yuko weren’t able to accurately describe the stranger’s appearance to the police after the Emily’s body was discovered. Asako, Emily’s mother, curses the surviving girls, vowing that they will pay for her daughter’s murder.

Penance is a strong psychological thriller and the characters are faced with a flight or fight situation that takes them back to the day they’ve tried so hard to forget. They are given the chance to choose between penance and to find the true murderer, and we see how their final decision affects their daily life. As the book winds down to the end the tension arises, pieces start to come together and we learn more about what happened that fateful day. Minato has an easy to follow narrative that is also engrossing. I found her characters to be very complex and shrouded in mystery. On top of that, the women are unreliable narrators. (Review)

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The Wolf Road

Everything Elka knows of the world she learned from the man she calls Trapper, the solitary hunter who took her under his wing when she was just seven years old.

But when Elka sees the Wanted poster in town, her simple existence is shattered. Her Trapper – Kreagar Hallet – is wanted for murder. Even worse, Magistrate Lyon is hot on his trail, and she wants to talk to Elka.

Elka flees into the vast wilderness, determined to find her true parents. But Lyon is never far behind – and she’s not the only one following Elka’s every move. There will be a reckoning, one that will push friendships to the limit and force Elka to confront the dark memories of her past. 

There is so much attention to landscape in this novel as it takes place in a wilderness setting. Readers get this vivid imagery that immerses you into the novel such as the freezing waters of the river, snow-covered grounds, and types of various wildlife. You quickly see how cruel mother nature can be and how difficult it can be to survive in these conditions with no supplies. Readers also get a taste of what it’s like being alone in the woods for such long periods of time, how fast time elapses, and how long periods of isolation can play tricks on the mind. (Review)

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Behind Her Lives

Secrets, suspense, and a missing sister—who may not want to be found—are at the center of Brianna Cole’s latest enthralling multicultural drama. Will appeal to fans of psychological suspense, gritty drama, and readers of De’Nesha Diamond, Kiki Swinson, Saundra, Wahida Clark, Ashley & JaQuavis, Victoria Christopher Murray, and Shelly Ellis.

“That’s not my sister.” Overwhelmed by shock and relief, those are the only words Deven can muster when she is called to identify the body of a suicide victim. A body she was informed was her sister, Kennedy. But as she stares at the lifeless stranger, she’s filled with questions: Who is this woman? Why was Deven listed as family? And most important, where is Kennedy? Her intuition tells her just one thing: this can’t be a total coincidence.

Desperate to put the pieces together, Deven launches her own investigation. Soon, she finds herself tangled in a web of secrets and lies so twisted that it blurs the lines between fact and fiction. And between the sister she thought she knew and the one who seems to have many hidden, dangerous lives. But only Kennedy would have the answers to increasingly urgent questions. Just one possibility is clear: Kennedy isn’t missing. Maybe she just doesn’t want to be found. And maybe you can never truly know another person. Even your own sister.

I love a good mystery that feels like a puzzle and Behind really delivers on that aspect. Reading through this book had me struggle to put the puzzle pieces together as I worked along with Deven to solve the mystery. This thriller delivers on the suspense and at times is incredibly bone-chilling. Everything has the illusion of being “matter of fact” or perfect, but the façade quickly crumbles as the plot develops. While the novel is fast-paced the plot keeps a solid momentum throughout the course of the story. This novel was so engrossing it was hard to put down. (Review)

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The Good Goodbye

Two cousins, Rory and Arden, lie unconscious in a hospital burn unit. The fire, which broke out in their shared college dorm room, killed another student, and the police want answers. Tension between Rory and Arden’s parents was already at an all-time high before the fire, owing to a recent financial crisis and the decline of the family business. As the parents huddle anxiously in the waiting room, carefully avoiding the subject of their own unraveling relationships, disturbing truths come to light. This is the deeply moving story of a family’s struggle to hold together while their secrets threaten to tear them apart. 

From the beginning, The Good Goodbye also presents this picture perfect family. As the plot moves along you find out things are not as great as it seems and tensions arise between characters. As the story unravels you’ll keep guessing what was the motive behind the accident and why did it occur. With each flash back you get a puzzle piece that helps you tie together the mystery as well as seeing past the facades of each character. Nothing is as it seems and soon as you put in trust in one character, the next chapter you might rethink your choice. The novel was well written and what makes this story so good is the fact that you are placed inside the character’s head rather than be a bystander. (Review)

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That concludes my reading recommendations for Thrilling Twists! What books do you recommend or what are your favorites? Comment below!