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From New York Times bestselling author Kate White comes a gripping novel about one woman’s dangerous quest to recover lost memories someone would rather she never find. On a cold, rainy morning, finance journalist Ally Linden arrives soaked to the bone at her Manhattan office, only to find that she’s forgotten her keycard. When her boss shows, he’s shocked to see her—because, he explains, she hasn’t worked there in five years. Written with Kate White’s signature wit and twists and turns, HAVE YOU SEEN ME? is a thrilling and entertaining read, sure to keep readers on the edge of their seats.
Hi mystery fans! I have a translated slowburn suspense from Korea, con women, and a graphic novel thriller where the cat and mouse game is literally up Mount Everest. Hopefully you’ll find some distraction in these books.
The Only Child by Mi-ae Seo, Jung Yewon (Translator): This is a slowburn suspense novel, with low grade creep factor, that doesn’t feel written for shock value but rather is an exploration of nature vs nurture. Seonkyeong is a recently married young criminal psychologist who finds her work and home life upended in different ways: an imprisoned serial killer suddenly decides he wants to talk, but only to Seonkyeong–this is why the book has comps to Silence Of The Lambs, which is the only similarity since tone and violence are all very different from each other. As she starts meeting with the serial killer, her home life suddenly changes when her husband’s young daughter, who she didn’t know of, has to come live with them. It seems that after the young girl’s mother died, and her grandparents took her in, her grandparents also died…
Readers follow as Seonkyeong tries to understand why the serial killer chose her, why her husband never mentioned a child, and questionable behavior from her stepdaughter. This is a great pick for fans of Kanae Minato and I really wish more crime novels would be translated. I love seeing the difference in society, investigation methods, laws, and even just the difference in what may be considered shocking or dark. (TW suicide mention/ child abuse/ animal cruelty)
Pretty Things by Janelle Brown: A layered crime novel that follows a con woman, Nina, and her mark, Vanessa, while exploring family, resentment, loyalty, and revenge. Nina grew up with a con woman mom who placed all her hope in her daughter never having to live that life and instead go to college and get a proper career. What Nina’s mom doesn’t know is Nina’s already a con woman. With a partner. So after her mom’s cancer returns and the treatment is too costly, Nina decides to pull a con that will solve their financial problems. Her mark? The sister of a high school boyfriend whose wealthy family ran her and her mom out of town years ago.
I’d say “let the games begin” but really this novel is more on the side of why people do what they do, giving us first row seats to the inner thoughts, behavior and life of Nina and Vanessa, alternating point of view between the two women now and their lives growing up. If you need something solid to sink into, this story will take you deep into the class war between these characters, while adding interesting things like what the life of a con woman and Instagram influencer are like. I recommend the multicast audiobook if you really want to be submerged into these women’s lives, dramas, and crimes. (TW parents with cancer, including death/ past child abuse/ mentions past molestation / past suicide, detail)
High Crimes by Christopher Sebela, Ibrahim Moustafa (Illustrations): This graphic novel has a hell of a premise and certainly one I’d never read before: two people who find dead climbers on Everest, chop off their hands to identify the person, then offer the person’s family a chance to get their loved one’s body back–for a fee of course. This is a crime thriller so, naturally, something goes wrong. The wrong just happens to be that a body they identify is from a secret agency and that agency is coming for the body and the retrievers. The cat and mouse game takes place mostly up Everest while you get flashbacks of the dead agent, slowly revealing more about the agency, and Zan Jensen, one of the “grave robbers”, who happens to be a disgraced Olympic snowboarder with a lot of baggage and demons that she’s kind of working through but definitely full-on struggling with.
I love graphic novels and find that even when I’m struggling to read ebooks/print I can always read a graphic novel. Plus, you get human and environmental dangers if you’re looking to get out of your head and your living quarters for a while. (TW torture/ addiction, overdose/ suicide, including thoughts, details)
Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See 2020 upcoming releases. An Unusual Suspects Pinterest board. Get Tailored Book Recommendations!
Until next time, keep investigating! In the meantime, come talk books with me on Twitter, Instagram, and Litsy–you can find me under Jamie Canavés.
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