Best New Crime and Thriller Reads: Our Book Review

Discover some of the most compelling new books in the crime and thriller categories. From locked-room mysteries to AI-driven dilemmas, these stories promise edge-of-your-seat entertainment.

The World’s End Homicide

The first adult novel from an prize-winning kids’ book writer unfolds in 1910 on a secluded island cut off by tides off the Cornish coast. In Tithe Hall, the estate's owner prepares for an end-of-the-world event he thinks will be caused by Halley’s comet. The labyrinthine house is brimming with hidden truths and grudges among household members and kin, including an cantankerous and vulgar maiden aunt, Decima. After the lord is found dead in his locked room, struck by a projectile to the head, she recruits a recent servant to aid her find the culprit. With many twists, false clues, and a blundering detective, it is a terrific beginning to a series that vows to be a lot of fun.

The Revelations

This newest title from a technology writer takes place in a coming era where artificial intelligence directs each selection for persons and authorities. The smart program can suggest everything from what to eat to whether to commit murder. Taught in empathy by its guardian, former nun Brookes, LLIAM develops emotionally, soon experiencing remorse for the disastrous outcomes of certain of its choices. Disorder ensues when it shuts down, and as letters are delivered globally disclosing subscribers’ private shames, relatives collapse and executives and leaders quit en masse. With the AI's owning firm in crisis, head Goss is convinced that tracking down the former nun, who has gone to ground in the West Coast, will bring back LLIAM. Yet, the woman has gotten a note of her own, uncovering a hidden truth about her… A superb and topical mystery based on relatable issues and frighteningly credible.

The Noble Nazi

In this most recent work from an acclaimed writer from Brazil, the personal is political on a blimp on the final leg of its trip from the German capital to the Brazilian city. Set in 1933, the peak of airship travel, which was additionally the period Hitler became German chancellor. The well-heeled travelers are enthusiastic Nazis of the regime: meal services in the airship's eatery are filled with chats vilifying Jews, leftists and worker organizations, and highlighting the wish to curb free speech, gay culture and banned artworks. When a guest is discovered killed, with several banned magazines in his belongings, the ship's captain charges a traveler, investigator Brückner, with finding the killer. Quite Agatha Christie, including the set-piece Summation Gathering, but there’s an clever turn to this engrossing and queasily meaningful suspense story, as well as a interesting insight into the forgotten time of airship voyages.

Deception

The newest work from the author is located in the town, a Scottish coastal town with clear resemblances to St Andrews. In 2023, the protagonist returns to St Rule on the festive night; seeing old friends brings back memories of his youthful infatuation, former classmate Joanie, who disappeared a decade ago at a catastrophic school's end celebration. His trials to locate her are met with ambiguity, avoidance and, in the end, deterrents. A second plot thread takes us back to that year, and the teenage the girl. Adrift after her discovery that her lover is disloyal, wrecking their plan for a foreign travel, she encounters an older couple. The two embrace her, give her significance and look, temporarily at least, to have all the answers. Well-executed subjects of remorse, sorrow and adolescent confusion combined with mysterious scholarly elements create an insidious feeling of fate, though the fast conclusion may make a few people feeling shortchanged.

The Pass

The latest novel begins in the ocean off Cornwall, with a yacht caught in a storm so fierce that two of the eight people travellers are thrown into the sea, then goes back a short time to detail the happenings that preceded this ill-advised boat trip. Seven individuals receive a mysterious note telling them that, when presenting the included item, they will receive a part of wealthy man the magnate's estate. The people are – so far as they are aware – unacquainted mutually and to the unwell billionaire. When the news of the bequest becomes news, they are harassed, both by the press and by individuals intent to acquire these lucrative passes, and what at first seemed a blessing rapidly starts to look like a problem. Some willingness to believe is necessary, but the suspense is expertly constructed as the writer builds the problems for a propulsive story: prepare yourself and buckle up for some critical drama.

Thomas Hendricks
Thomas Hendricks

A wellness coach and writer passionate about integrating mindfulness into daily routines for holistic growth.