Others: Positive 16-year-old Margaret Larkin is found murdered: tied to her own bicycle and drown in the Styx River where her parents died in an accident ten years before. Her murderer, wealthy and insane Nathan Redfield, believes he got away with the crime. But soon he begins to see not only the ghost of Margaret, but other watery spirits that pursue him. The fever of a guilty conscience? Encroaching insanity? Or has Nathan inadvertently awaken the sinister and vengeful spirit of the river itself?
Lists: …
Johanna van Veen
2025 · 352 pages · 5 reviews
Others: MixedThe Netherlands, 1887. Lucy's twin sister Sarah is unwell. She refuses to eat, mumbles nonsensically, and is increasingly obsessed with a centuries-old corpse recently discovered on her husband's grand estate. The doctor has diagnosed her with temporary insanity caused by a fever of the brain. To protect her twin from a terrible fate in a lunatic asylum, Lucy must unravel the mystery surrounding her sister's condition, but it's clear her twin is hiding something. Then again, Lucy is harboring secrets of her own, too. Then, the worst happens. Sarah's behavior takes a turn for the strange. She becomes angry… and hungry. Lucy soon comes to suspect that something is trying to possess her beloved sister. Or is it madness? As Sarah changes before her very eyes, Lucy must reckon with the dark, monstrous truth, or risk losing her forever.
What made the match, strongest first
Celeste Ng
2014 · 301 pages · 8 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positive"Lydia is dead. But they don't know this yet. So begins the story of this exquisite debut novel, about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee; their middle daughter, a girl who inherited her mother's bright blue eyes and her father's jet-black hair. Her parents are determined that Lydia will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue-in Marilyn's case that her daughter become a doctor rather than a homemaker, in James's case that Lydia be popular at school, a girl with a busy social life and the center of every party. When Lydia's body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together tumbles into chaos, forcing them to confront the long-kept secrets that have been slowly pulling them apart. James, consumed by guilt, sets out on a reckless path that may destroy his marriage. Marilyn, devastated and vengeful, is determined to find a responsible party, no matter what the cost. Lydia's older brother, Nathan, is certain that the neighborhood bad boy Jack is somehow involved. But it's the youngest of the family-Hannah-who observes far more than anyone realizes and who may be the only one who knows the truth about what happened. A profoundly moving story of family, history, and the meaning of home, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, exploring the divisions between cultures and the rifts within a family, and uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another"-
What made the match, strongest first
Josh Malerman
2001 · 149 pages · 8 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveIn an apocalyptic near-future world, a mother and her two small children are followed as they make their way down a river, blindfolded, in order to avoid seeing a terrifying entity. The plot contains profanity and graphic violence.
What made the match, strongest first
Michelle McNamara
2018 · 352 pages · 6 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveFor more than ten years, a mysterious and violent predator committed fifty sexual assaults in Northern California before moving south, where he perpetrated ten sadistic murders. Then he disappeared, eluding capture by multiple police forces and some of the best detectives in the area. Three decades later, Michelle McNamara, a true crime journalist who created the popular website TrueCrimeDiary.com, was determined to find the violent psychopath she called "the Golden State Killer." Michelle pored over police reports, interviewed victims, and embedded herself in the online communities that were as obsessed with the case as she was. I'll Be Gone in the Dark-the masterpiece McNamara was writing at the time of her sudden death-offers an atmospheric snapshot of a moment in American history and a chilling account of a criminal mastermind and the wreckage he left behind. It is also a portrait of a woman's obsession and her unflagging pursuit of the truth. Utterly original and compelling, it is destined to become a true crime classic-and may at last unmask the Golden State Killer.
What made the match, strongest first
Liane Moriarty
2014 · 480 pages · 13 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positivePirriwee Public is a beautiful little beachside primary school where children are taught that ‘sharing is caring.’ So how has the annual School Trivia Night ended in full-blown riot? Sirens are wailing. People are screaming. The principal is mortified. And one parent is dead. Was it a murder, a tragic accident or just good parents gone bad? As the parents at Pirriwee Public are about to discover, sometimes it’s the little lies that turn out to be the most lethal… Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, school-yard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive. - author's website.
What made the match, strongest first
Denise Mina
2001 · 421 pages · 1 review
Others: PositiveA New York Times Notable Book of the Year"Resolution can stand alone, battered and proud, as a class-conscious crime novel that dares to tell the ugly truth." -New York Times Book ReviewJust as Maureen O'Donnell is struggling to give up drinking, she faces her most formidable challenges yet: testifying against her boyfriend's murderer and the return of her abusive father. Irresistibly blending suspense, compassion, raw instinct, and grim wit, Resolution provides a wrenching conclusion to Denise Mina's universally acclaimed Garnethill trilogy."For anyone who thinks Western civilization too comfortable or crime novels no more than entertainment, Denise Mina's Garnethill trilogy will come as a salutary surprise. It will also make them laugh and keep them reading. It is a great achievement." -Times Literary Supplement"If you want a reason to try the crime genre, get yourself a novel by Denise Mina." -Rocky Mountain News"Mina depicts a Scotland so hard that merely living there can cut you like a shard of glass." -Baltimore Sun
What made the match, strongest first
Loved itI'll be honest I feel them need to push Michael McDowell on anybody who is a horror lover only because I feel like he unfortunately passed away before people were really aware of how beautiful his writing is. It's just some true gothic core and if you're in the mood for some definitely check out one of the audiobooks.
