This morning, I know the scientific term for the vermilion star, Mediaster aequalis, but I have trouble remembering my name. I reach into the icy water to touch the sea star’s bumpy exoskeleton, and I feel like a child full of fascination, not a thirty-four-year-old marine biologist recovering from a head injury. They say I […]
Dear Mr. Wrexham, You have no idea how many times I’ve started this letter and screwed up the resulting mess, but I’ve realized there is no magic formula here. There is no way I can make you listen to my case. So I’m just going to have to do my best to set things out. […]
IT’S EASY TO remember the exact moment I stopped believing in my father. It happened right before I discovered that Bigfoot wasn’t real and right after I was nearly mauled in the woods by a full-grown black bear. So yeah, kind of hard to forget. I was ten years old and lying on my belly […]
I can’t see it, but I know it’s there. Always. Beat. Beat. Flash. Beat. Beat. Flash. One persistent pulse of the red message light for every two beats of my heart. Beat. Beat. Flash. Under the bed, in the arms of a stuffed bear, wrapped in a sweatshirt, zipped in a duffel bag, the flash […]
Seeing the body was supposed to be cathartic, but the man in the lipstick wasn’t my dad. I mean, he was. But he wasn’t. There was so little Dad left in him that the emotional experience wasn’t too dissimilar from gazing upon a giant steak in a suit: there was discomfort, and a sick sort […]
“THEY SAY it’s bad luck to buy yourself an opal.” My first customer of the day brushes a strand of silky-blonde hair from her ageless face and gifts me with a lip-bitten smile from the other side of the glass counter. “But I’m feeling lucky today and that piece is to die for. Would you […]
Anyone who claims chocolate cake is better than sex has never had the privilege of Andrew Price between their legs. The snow-dusted Eiffel Tower stands tall outside our hotel window, and most of our bedding lies in a tangled mess on the floor. This . . . this is a honeymoon. Andrew climbs over me, […]
Fifty-nine seconds. From the time the first car entered the Avenue du Général Leclerc and blocked the prince’s route to the moment the assault squad regained their vehicles, hijacked the two BMW touring sedans, and departed the scene, no more than one minute had passed. No one screamed. No shots were fired. The robbery was […]
There is a rising sense of panic; horror hanging in the air like smoke. ‘They’re such a lovely couple. Do you think they’re okay?’ says the woman, but the flurry of emergency service vehicles crammed into the quiet cul-de-sac, the blue and white crime scene tape stretched around the perimeter of the property, indicate things […]
The night it all ended, Vivian was alone. That was fine with her. She preferred it. It was something she’d discovered, working the night shift at this place in the middle of nowhere: Being with people was easy, but being alone was hard. Especially being alone in the dark. The person who could be truly […]
It was just a peep, the tiniest little chirp. But Rain’s eyes flew open and she lay there in the dim morning, listening. She could tell by the light outside the window, by the bubbling of nausea in her stomach that it was way too early. Hours before the alarm would go off. Now a […]
The outcropping of limestone on which Michelle Hannon struck her head had been a part of the hillside for three thousand years, before there were trees in sight taller than a scrubby pine. It was thicker and a dozen feet broader back then, but storms and earthquakes came, and chinkapin oaks and butternut trees sank […]
I woke early. My husband, Tom, was still sleeping. It was 5.30 a.m. and I usually slept through until Tom’s alarm went off at 7.30. I listened to the sounds of our home. There was nothing unusual, yet something had woken me. My mind was fully alert, like a light switch had been turned on. […]
The voice comes out of nowhere. I don’t have to turn around to know how unfortunate this situation is. The sound is male, all male, hard and rough. Breathless and edgy. “Give me the purse,” he demands. I exhale slowly. Steady my breathing. Ball my fists. Release them. Flex my fingers. Jesus. I turn in […]
The desert tent was sumptuous and meant to impress, but it was not wasteful. Spiked into the shifting sands, its billowing fabric roof dipped and swayed in the desert breeze. Inside the tent, a long table was centered on a wooden platform covered with a red-and-orange oriental rug. Five falcons with leather cords on their […]
The first bulletin came on the seven o’clock morning news while I was doing sit-ups in front of the TV. It said there’d been a shocking murder in Central Park. The body of a young woman had been found in a wooded area near the Park Grille Restaurant on the west side of the park. […]
I tilt my head to listen. Hold my breath. I’m sure I heard an odd sound coming from downstairs. But all is quiet. I’m in the house alone. Or at least I thought I was… Leaving my bedroom, I pause on the landing, listening… Silence. And then, again, that same irregular sound making the hairs […]
y psychology to heal ourselves. Whether we are prepared to admit this or not is another question. As human beings, in our earliest years we reside in a land before memory. We like to think of ourselves as emerging from this primordial fog with our characters fully formed, like Aphrodite rising perfect from the sea […]
I offload the last armful of red and blue toddler painting smocks and push the empty delivery box away with my foot, sinking down on a nearby chair. ‘I thought we’d never get to the end of that lot.’ I stick out my bottom lip and blow air up onto my face, damp wisps of […]
due out?’ ‘His is a whole life sentence.’ DCI Shipwright smiled. It lifted the craggy jowls an inch and transformed the grizzly into a teddy bear. ‘You meet the nicest people in this job. Shall we?’ They’d redecorated the interview room. This time there were drab grey walls, black plastic chairs and a metal-legged table […]
Shadow and Bone – Leigh Bardugo
One of Us is Next – Karen M. McManus
The Dragon Republic – R.F. Kuang
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder – Holly Jackson
The Lightning-Struck Heart – T.J. Klune
Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes – Roshani Chokshi
We Hunt the Flame – Hafsah Faizal
A Face Like Glass – Frances Hardinge
A Tale of Magic… – Chris Colfer
Emma in the Night – Wendy Walker
Lock Every Door – Riley Sager
The Language of Thorns – Leigh Bardugo
Archenemies – Marissa Meyer
Crooked Kingdom – Leigh Bardugo
The Rise of Kyoshi – F.C. Yee
The Scandal of the Deceived Duchess – Hanna Hamilton
Secrets of the Lore Keepers – Angela J. Ford
Between the Devil and the Duke – Eva Devon
The Wicked Wife – Mary Lancaster
Lover of Thorns and Holy Gods – Grace Draven