Five top thrillers where writers are at the center of the action

Jamie Day, author of the new Beach Thriller, lives in one of those picture-perfect, coastal New England towns you see in the movies. And just like the movies, Day has two children and an adorable dog to fawn over. When not writing or reading, Day enjoys yoga, the ocean, cooking, and long walks on the beach with the dog, or the kids, or sometimes both.

At CrimeReads the author tagged "five books I’d recommend that give an inside look at the life (and grief) of a wordsmith," including:

The Writing Retreat — Julia Bartz

In this gripping psychological thriller, Bartz takes the cutthroat business of writing the best book quite literally when ambition turns to murder. Alex, the writer taking her last career gasp, can’t pass up the invitation to the isolated Blackbriar estate, the home of her idol, controversial feminist horror writer Roza Vallo. But when the competition is announced and the best book written in a month is guaranteed a life-changing contract, the typically collegial and supportive writing community turns inward, revealing our darker human nature.

Read about the other novels on the list at CrimeReads.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten top soccer titles

One title on Tertulia's list of ten soccer books to read during World Cup 2026:

The History of the World in 12 Soccer Matches
Stefano Bizzotto

An Italian broadcaster and veteran World Cup commentator explores moments when soccer collided with war, revolution, dictatorship, and social change. From the Christmas Truce of World War I to matches shadowed by coups and national upheaval, these twelve games reveal how events on the pitch often echo far beyond it.

Read about the other titles on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nonfiction books for Caribbean Heritage Month

At Book Riot Kendra Winchester tagged three top nonfiction books for Caribbean Heritage Month, including:

Brother, I’m Dying by Edwidge Danticat

Edwidge Danticat is truly a treasure of Haitian Literature, and this is her story. When she was just a girl, her parents left her in the care of her uncle, Joseph. When her parents finally sent for her, she struggled to remember them and grieved for the parental figure she had left behind. Later in 2004, when the political situation in Haiti began to deteriorate, Uncle Joseph was forced to flee to Miami in search of safety. In a whirlwind story of family connection and the tender ties that bind one person to another, Danticat illustrates the strength of familial love, even from across the ocean.

Read about the other titles on the list.

Brother, I’m Dying is among Joe Meno's seven true tales about the journey to seek asylum in the U.S.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six thrillers with troubled parent-child relationships

Leah Rowan is an author living in Brooklyn and the Catskills.

Marion is her new thriller.

Megan Collins, author of Cross My Heart, called Marion a "pitch-perfect thriller that feels like the primal scream every woman has been holding back her entire life."

At CrimeReads Rowan tagged "six scintillating stories where the parent-child relationship is a little (or a lot) off." One title on the list:

Ainslie Hogarth, Motherthing

We’ve all heard of the mother-in-law from hell trope, but what if your vengeful mother-in-law was actually a ghost? Abby had a traumatic childhood, and so when she marries Ralph, she’s desperate to heal old wounds and bond with the new maternal figure in her life, her mother-in-law, Laura—but Laura’s cruelty and vitriol make that impossible, and when she takes her own life, her ghost threatens to destroy all that Abby cherishes.

Equal parts fierce and funny, Motherthing is a cathartic balm for anyone who’s ever had issues with their in-laws.

Read about the other thrillers on the list at CrimeReads.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five Gothic novels about cults

Catriona Silvey was born in Glasgow and grew up in Scotland and England. After collecting an unreasonable number of degrees from various universities in the UK and the US, she moved to Edinburgh where she lives with her husband and children. She is the author of Meet Me in Another Life (2021), Love and Other Paradoxes (2025), and the newly released Vervain Hollow.

At The Nerd Daily she tagged five "Gothic novels about cults, where the aesthetic and thematic tropes of the Gothic marry perfectly with the authors’ explorations of brainwashing, groupthink, and coercive control." One title on the list:

Bunny by Mona Awad

Like Catherine House, Bunny takes an elite college as its setting. But the focus here, as in Bunny’s Gothic predecessor Frankenstein, is on the perilous allure of creation. When misfit MFA student Samantha discovers that the other women in her cohort, the creepily identical Bunnies, are transforming rabbits into uncanny simulacra of men, she gets sucked into their world and into their hive-mind. As Samantha gradually loses her identity, the Bunnies cannibalize her creativity, rooted in hardship, to lend some grit to their insipid creations.

Bunny is both an allegory about privilege and authenticity, and a very funny satire of critique workshop culture. It’s also extremely Gothic, from the aching isolation that pushes Samantha toward the Bunnies, to the eldritch, horrifying version of Providence, RI that she scurries through ‘like prey from some unknown but imminent beast’. Like a classical Gothic heroine reclaiming her agency, Samantha can only escape from the Bunnies’ control once she discovers the extent of her own creative power.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Bunny is among Isabelle McConville's six novels for novelists, Chris Wheatley's six top dark academia novels, and Gnesis Villar's seven books about the struggle of being a writer.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven titles about deep human-animal connections

Lauren Acampora is the author of The Animal Room, The Hundred Waters, The Paper Wasp, and The Wonder Garden. Her work has won or been nominated for the GLCA New Writers Award, the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, the Story Prize, and the New England Book Award, and she’s been named an Artist Fellow in Fiction by The New York Foundation for the Arts. Her writing has appeared in publications such as The Paris Review, One Story, and The New York Times Book Review and has been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories.

At Lit Hub the author tagged "seven standout works of fiction that illuminate the inextricable links we share with our animal compatriots." One title on the list:

Lydia Millet, Love in Infant Monkeys

Madonna hunts pheasant in the English countryside, Thomas Edison electrocutes an elephant, Harry Harlow conducts callous experiments on monkeys, and Jimmy Carter fends off a swamp rabbit attack. Millet’s collection of tight and unsettling short stories operates through the conceit of fictionalized true tales about famous people and the animals associated with them. At times comical, each of these stories swerves and plunges deep into dark truths of human nature. Here, animals serve as vessels for our worst impulses, suffering at the point where curiosity turns to sadism, domination to cruelty, and self-interest to neglect. In the brilliant story “Sir Henry,” a dedicated dogwalker to the stars remarks, “Dogs were the martyrs of the human race.” And yet, while the animals in these stories are sacrificed to selfish purpose and whim, the human characters are astonished and haunted by them. Like Thomas Edison’s electrocuted elephant, they glow like saints, symbols of innocence and divinity, embodying the impossibility of human perfection and the original sin of our nature. As the guilt-ridden Edison imagines of his executed elephant: “I hear you. You say: I do not forgive. You say: this is my gift to you. I will never forgive.”

Read about the other entries on the list at Lit Hub.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five dual-timeline historical fiction titles

Rachel Brittain is a writer, Day Dreamer, and Amateur Aerialist. Her short fiction has appeared in Luna Station Quarterly, Andromeda Spaceways, and others. She is a contributing editor for Book Riot, where she screams into the void about her love of books. Brittain lives in Northwest Arkansas with a rambunctious rescue pup, a snake, and a houseful of plants (most of which aren’t carnivorous).

At Book Riot she tagged "five dual-timeline historical fiction novels that bring past and present together." One entry on the list:

The Seven Daughters of Dupree by Nikesha Elise Williams

1917, 1934, 1980s, and 1995 United States

In this multi-generational saga, seven generations of women in the Dupree family navigate love, loss, and generational trauma even as the ties that bind them prove to be the strongest force of all. When fourteen-year-old Tati begins asking questions about the identity of her father in 1995, she’s met with secrets and silence. Her mother and grandmother don’t talk about the past. They won’t talk about who Tati’s father is or why Gladys left Alabama in the 1950s. As the narrative weaves back through generations of women, it becomes clear why the Dupree women keep their secrets close and their family even closer.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top mysteries set in the Boston area

Hannah Selinger is a James Beard Award-nominated lifestyle writer and mother of two based in Boxford, MA, and the author of the memoir Cellar Rat: My Life in the Restaurant Underbelly. Her print and digital work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, Eater, Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and elsewhere. Her 2021 Bon Appétit essay, “In My Childhood Kitchen, I Learned Both Fear and Love,” is anthologized in the 2022 Best American Food Writing collection.

Selinger's new novel is Valley of the Moms.

At CrimeReads the author tagged "five titles, set in Massachusetts towns, [that] bring together people, plot, and place." One novel on the list:

Hank Phillippi Ryan, All This Could Be Yours

The 2026 winner of the Edgar Award, All This Could Be Yours traces the fly-by-night success of debut New York Times-bestselling author Tessa Calloway. Calloway, who recently relocated from Boston to the North Shore’s Rockport with her family, must dodge nefarious forces at every stop of her tour: apparent stalkers, fans who want to dig deep into her hidden past, and even duplicitous livery drivers.

Rockport makes a pivotal appearance in this work, a place meant to provide respite but that haunts the protagonist as she spins farther and farther from the life she knows.

Read about the other books on the list at CrimeReads.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six titles with actually realistic sex

Brodie Crellin lives in London and is an editor at Granta Magazine.

A Sense of Occasion is their first novel.

At Lit Hub the author tagged six books by "writers whose depictions of sex had most closely held my attention." One title on the list:

Simple Passion by Annie Ernaux

Telephones, in any era, carry a specific erotic potency. Everyone can relate to a character waiting for a phone call, or a text, that feeling of being stuck in a purgatorial gap that won’t end until the other person has made contact. It’s so intense, and carries so much weight, that it’s unsurprising that for Ernaux, the waiting starts to feel like a precursor to the sexual act itself. The sex is brilliantly written in this book—intentional and unabashed—but the strength of Ernaux’s obsession makes every moment feel sexual. Whether she is getting dressed, sitting in the kitchen, or going to the university, each small gesture or decision is implicated in the game of her desire. It can’t really even be argued that this is a game unfolding between two adults. This pair seem incompatible, with little chance at a future, but Ernaux is so immersed in her passion, that she is can quite easily sustain the narrative singlehanded. A perfect object lesson in the distorting impact of good sex.

Read about the other entries on the list at Lit Hub.

Simple Passion is among Bronwyn Fischer's seven obsessive love affairs in literature.

--Marshal Zeringue

Four books where the dog survives

Camille Perri is the author of The Assistants and When Katie Met Cassidy. She has worked as a books editor for Cosmopolitan and Esquire. She has also been a ghostwriter of young adult novels and a reference librarian. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from New York University, where she majored in English and gender and sexuality studies, and a masters of library science degree from Queens College. She splits her time between New York City and the Hudson Valley with her wife and their Brussels Griffon named Pip.

Perri's new novel is Social Animals.

At People magazine the author tagged twelve books, shows, and movies where the dog survives. One book on the list:

Six-Thirty from Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Six-Thirty, named after the time he was found by Elizabeth Zott, is a highly intelligent Goldendoodle who has a key role in the story and serves as its narrator. Although not all the novel’s major characters make it to the end of this uplifting yet tear-jerking work of historical fiction, Six-Thirty safely perseveres.

Read about the other dogs that survive.

Lessons in Chemistry is among Ruth F. Stevens's five novels on smart, quirky women facing personal struggles, Lorna Graham's seven top workplace novels, and Claire Alexander's five books to read for when you’re lonely.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six YA thrillers about friendship

Katie Moench is a librarian, runner, and lover of baked goods. A school librarian in the Upper Midwest, Moench lives with her husband and dog and spends her free time drinking coffee, trying new recipes, and adding to her TBR list.

At Book Riot she tagged six thrillers about friendship, including:

The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson

A modern twist on the Golden Age mysteries of Agatha Christie, The Agathas starts off with the disappearance, and then reappearance, of Alice Ogilvie. After getting dumped by her basketball star boyfriend Steve, Alice disappeared for five days and then came back, refusing to talk about where she went and what happened. Then, Steve’s new girlfriend, and Alice’s ex-best friend, Brooke, disappears as well, but Brooke doesn’t come back. Armed with the complete works of Agatha Christie and the motivation of a hefty reward for information about what happened to Brooke, Alice becomes determined to solve the mystery of Brooke’s murder with the help of her new friend Iris, a less popular girl from her school who has become Alice’s tutor.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven thrillers that mine the depths of confession and revenge

Christine Carbo is a recipient of the Women’s National Book Association Pinckley Prize, the Silver Falchion Award, the High Plains Book Award, and has been a finalist for the Barry Award. She has an MA in English/Linguistics and taught college-level courses for over a decade. She still teaches, in a vastly different realm, as a Pilates instructor. She lives in Montana where she finds inspiration from the wild beauty surrounding her.

Carbo's new novel is The Confession Artist.

At CrimeReads the author tagged seven thrillers that let "us imagine someone taking matters into their own hands and then asks what it cost them to do so." One title on the list:

Alison Gaylin, The Collective

Revenge as identity is also carefully crafted by Alison Gaylin in The Collective (2021), where a grieving mother is drawn into an underground network of women whose children were killed by men the courts let walk. Gaylin is shrewd about how the seductiveness of finally being accepted can quietly transform into permission, and how easily a movement built on grief can curdle into something harrowing.

Read about the other entries on Carbo's list at CrimeReads.

The Collective is among Sian Gilbert's nine novels featuring complex female friendships and Wendy Corsi Staub's six top twist endings in contemporary fiction.

The Page 69 Test: The Collective.

--Marshal Zeringue