Happy August! Here we are with another batch of anticipated reads. I have some fantastic thrillers & one historical fiction that I am so excited for – some from beloved authors and one from a debut novelist.
DIRT CREEK by Hayley Scrivenor
Pub date: August 2nd, Flatiron Books
Summary:
When twelve-year-old Esther disappears on the way home from school in a small town in rural Australia, the community is thrown into a maelstrom of suspicion and grief. As Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels arrives in town during the hottest spring in decades and begins her investigation, Esther’s tenacious best friend, Ronnie, is determined to find Esther and bring her home.
When schoolfriend Lewis tells Ronnie that he saw Esther with a strange man at the creek the afternoon she went missing, Ronnie feels she is one step closer to finding her. But why is Lewis refusing to speak to the police? And who else is lying about how much they know about what has happened to Esther?
Punctuated by a Greek chorus, which gives voice to the remaining children of the small, dying town, this novel explores the ties that bind, what we try and leave behind us, and what we can never outrun, while never losing sight of the question of what happened to Esther, and what her loss does to a whole town.
In Hayley Scrivenor’s Dirt Creek, a small-town debut mystery described as The Dry meets Everything I Never Told You, a girl goes missing and a community falls apart and comes together.
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YOU’RE INVITED by Amanda Jayatissa
Pub date: August 9th, Berkley Books
*** I loved this author’s debut novel and just finished reading this one – my review will be up soon! I loved it!!!
Summary:
What could be worse than your ex-boyfriend marrying your childhood best friend? Getting accused of her murder…
From the author of My Sweet Girl comes a dangerously addictive new thriller about a lavish Sri Lankan wedding celebration that not everyone will survive.
When Amaya is invited to Kaavi’s over-the-top wedding in Sri Lanka, she is surprised and a little hurt to hear from her former best friend after so many years of radio silence. But when Amaya learns that the groom is her very own ex-boyfriend, she is consumed by a single thought: She must stop the wedding from happening, no matter the cost.
But as the weeklong wedding celebrations begin and rumors about Amaya’s past begin to swirl, she can’t help but feel like she also has a target on her back. When Kaavi goes missing and is presumed dead, all evidence points to Amaya.
However, nothing is as it seems as Jayatissa expertly unravels that each wedding guest has their own dark secret and agenda, and Amaya may not be the only one with a plan to keep the bride from getting her happily ever after…
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MADWOMAN by Louisa Treger
Pub date: August 23rd, Bloomsbury Publishing
*** Kinda obsessed with Nellie Bly…very excited to read this one!
Summary:
Based on a true story, a spellbinding historical novel about the world’s first female investigative journalist, Nellie Bly.
In 1887, young Nellie Bly sets out for New York and a career in journalism, determined to make her way as a serious reporter, whatever that may take.
But life in the city is tougher than she imagined. Down to her last dime and desperate to prove her worth, she comes up with a dangerous plan: to fake insanity and have herself committed to the asylum on Blackwell’s Island. There, she will work undercover to expose the asylum’s wretched conditions.
But when the asylum door swings shut behind her, she finds herself in a place of horrors, governed by a cruelty she could never have imagined. Cold, isolated and starving, her days of terror reawaken the traumatic events of her childhood. She entered the asylum of her own free will – but will she ever get out?
An extraordinary portrait of a woman ahead of her time, Madwoman is the story of a quest for the truth that changed the world.
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GIRL, FORGOTTEN by Karin Slaughter
Pub date: August 23rd, William Morrow & Company
*** Love her books and this one is a follow-up to Pieces of Her, which was so good!
Summary:
A small town hides a big secret…
Who killed Emily Vaughn?
Prom Night. Longbill Beach, 1982. Emily Vaughn dresses carefully for what’s supposed to be the highlight of any high school career. But Emily has a secret. And by the end of the night, because of that secret, she will be dead.
Nearly forty years later, Andrea Oliver, newly qualified as a US Marshal, receives her first assignment: to go to Longbill Beach to protect a judge receiving death threats. But Andrea’s real focus isn’t the judge – it’s Emily Vaughn. Ever since she first heard Emily’s name a year ago, she’s been haunted by her brutal death. Nobody was ever convicted – her friends closed ranks, her family shut themselves off in their grief, the town moved on – so the killer is still out there. But now Andrea has a chance to find out what really happened…
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DAISY DARKER by Alice Feeney
Pub date: August 30th, Flatiron Books
*** She is one of my favorite authors – she always has the best twists!!!
Summary:
The New York Times bestselling Queen of Twists returns…with a family reunion that leads to murder.
After years of avoiding each other, Daisy Darker’s entire family is assembling for Nana’s 80th birthday party in Nana’s crumbling gothic house on a tiny tidal island. Finally back together one last time, when the tide comes in, they will be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours.
The family arrives, each of them harboring secrets. Then at the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages, Nana is found dead. And an hour later, the next family member follows…
Trapped on an island where someone is killing them one by one, the Darkers must reckon with their present mystery as well as their past secrets, before the tide comes in and all is revealed.
With a wicked wink to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, Daisy Darker’s unforgettable twists will leave readers reeling.
Do any of these sound good? Let me know!
I’ve seen the Amanda Jayatissa book on several blogs, but the others are new to me. Thanks for the update.
Author
I hope you get a chance to read them…they all sound so good!!!