Ten chilling thrillers to get you through a winter storm

Alice Blanchard is an award-winning author.

Her latest novel is The Wicked Hour.

At CrimeReads, Blanchard tagged ten chilling tales to get you through a winter storm, including:

Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin

Rosemary Woodhouse is so optimistic and naive, you just know the world is going to smash her. She loves her husband, who betrays her in the most vicious way imaginable, forcing her to become the primal mother who wields a knife to protect her first child. The coven of witches who are her next door neighbors are so humorously banal, it’s hilarious to find out that they are actual witches, when it seems as if Rosemary has landed in a happy retirement home. The older women fuss over her, suffocate her with their misplaced love and bad advice, and give her tinctures that make her vomit. Her spiraling paranoia, combined with her wide-eyed innocence, drives her directly into the arms of evil, and the biggest shock is that she ultimately embraces her fate.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Rosemary's Baby is among Ania Ahlborn's ten scariest books of all time, Jeff Somers's twenty-one books that will give you an idea of how the horror genre has evolved and "twenty-five books that might not necessarily be the best horror novels, but are certainly the scariest," Christopher Shultz's top ten literary chillers, and Kat Rosenfield's top seven scary autumnal stories.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five titles that are pulpy in all the right ways

James S. Murray is a writer, executive producer, and actor, best known as "Murr" on the hit television show Impractical Jokers on truTV. He is also one of the stars of the TV show The Misery Index on TBS along with his comedy troupe, The Tenderloins.

His new novel, with Darren Wearmouth, is Don't Move.

At Tor.com, Murray tagged five gory, creepy page-turners that still offer the best of modern storytelling. One title on the list:

The Mine by Arnab Ray

If you’re looking for a gore-fest, look no further. As my first foray into reading horror by an Indian writer, The Mine did not disappoint. Centered on a group of five miners through their descent into caves beneath a recently destroyed ancient place of worship, the story reignites our fascination with the underground as a realm of horrific mysteries. Bloody, claustrophobic, and gripping from the first page to the last, The Mine has all of the pulpy feel of films like The Descent and The Hills Have Eyes with gruesome details layered at every turn. Clever plot twists keep the story chugging along through the individualized hellscapes of the mine that will leave the reader feeling just as paranoid as the characters trapped underground.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Sixteen nonfiction books that attempted to define America

Tom Zoellner is the author of several nonfiction books, including Island on Fire: The Revolt that Ended Slavery in the British Empire and the newly released The National Road: Dispatches from a Changing America.

At Electric Lit, he tagged sixteen attempts at the "one nonfiction book that encapsulated the grandeur, folly, ugliness, bravado, idealism, and tempestuousness of the United States of America," including:

The Lost Continent, by Bill Bryson

A young male journalist jumps in a vehicle and makes a giant loop around the country making witty observations along the way. This idea is as least as old as the railroad, and has been seized on by a diverse cast including J. Ross Brown, Mark Twain, Matt Field, Josiah Gregg, Ian Frazer, Richard Grant, and Jonathan Raban. To this groaning table, Bryson brings his characteristic mix of casual erudition mingled with wit, though he mainly finds reasons to be grumpy. Rural folk don’t come off particularly well in this supposed paean to small-town America.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five SFF titles packed with twists and turns

Born and raised in the sunny lands of Portugal, Diana Pinguicha is a computer engineer graduate who currently lives in Lisbon. She can usually be found writing, painting, devouring extraordinary quantities of books and video games, or walking around with her bearded dragon, Norberta. She also has two cats, Sushi and Jubas, who would never forgive her if she didn’t mention them.

Pinguicha's new novel, her debut, is A Curse of Roses.

At Tor.com she tagged five sci-fi & fantasy "books that start one way, and by the time you’re done with them, there have been so many twists and turns your brain will feel like it’s completely lost in a maze," including:

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

I kid you not, all the lists I pitched for this article had Legendborn in it. It’s just a legendary book, and I’m sure most of you have heard of it. But, in case you haven’t, let me tell you about possibly the greatest YA Contemporary Fantasy that’s graced our shelves

Legendborn follows Bree Matthews, who just lost her mom in an accident. On her first days at her early-college program, she decides to go to a party. Which is all good, until a monster appears. The young mage who drives the beast away tries to erase Bree’s memories of that night—and fails, leaving Bree (and you!) with a whole lot of questions. What’s a Merlin? Legendborn? Secret Society? WHAT?

Not only is it a masterclass in worldbuilding, it’s full to the brim with surprises and twists, and a cast of characters you will love to death. I know I will lie down on the train tracks for them. And if you hear a small voice in the wind telling you to sit down and read this immediately, it’s me.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five unconventional fictional families

Katie Yee is a Brooklyn-based writer and the Book Marks associate editor at Lit Hub. If you follow @bookmarksreads on Instagram, you'll see lots of photos of her rescue dog, Oliver.

At Lit Hub she tagged five unconventional fictional families that’ll make you miss your own. (Maybe.) One title on the list:

Elf and Yoli in Miriam Toews’ All My Puny Sorrows

So maybe your sister is not a wealthy, world-renowned pianist, but the bond between Elf and Yoli feels incredibly relatable and true-to-life. (I think. I don’t have a sister. I have a brother who hates books who is thankfully not coming home for Thanksgiving.) Now, this is a very sad book. It takes place in the aftermath of the world-renowned pianist’s suicide attempt. But there are also so many surprising moments of genuine laugh-out-loud joy, too. If you need additional inducement to spend time with these sisters, here are their delightful plans for a future together: “…chop wood, pump water, fish, play the piano, sing together from the soundtracks of Jesus Christ Superstar and Les Miserables, re-imagine our pasts, and wait out the end of the world.” My heart!

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top mystery novels set on islands

Catriona McPherson was born in Scotland and lived there until immigrating to the US in 2010. She writes the multi-award-winning Dandy Gilver series, set in the old country in the 1930s, as well as a strand of multi-award-winning psychological thrillers. Very different awards. After eight years in the new country, she kicked off the humorous Last Ditch Motel series, which takes a wry look at California life. These are not multi-award-winning, but the first two won the same award in consecutive years, which still isn’t too shabby.

[My Book, The Movie: The Turning Tide; The Page 69 Test: The Turning Tide.]

McPherson is a proud lifetime member and former national president of Sisters in Crime.

Her latest Dandy Gilver mystery is The Turning Tide.

At CrimeReads, McPherson tagged five of her favorite mystery plots set on islands, including:

The Island: Mictlan
The Novel: They All Fall Down

Rachel Howzell Hall’s They All Fall Down is definitely the off-spring of Christie’s classic. She set out deliberately to write a modern twist on the “going down like ninepins” plot. But every child has two parents, right? Not only are the characters here about as different from Christie’s generals and schoolmarms as you could imagine—Miriam Macy is a terrific tragicomic invention—but the island itself is a good deal more thrilling than Purbeck. Mictlan, named for the Aztec underworld and reached on a boat called La Charon, is a private paradise off the Mexico coast in the Sea of Cortez. Another wonderful updating is that the guests gathered there to await their fate have been lured on the pretext of an appearance on a reality show. They’re told this in an email signed “A.Nansi”, by the way. So the signs are clear that they should have let the chance go by. I’m so glad they didn’t; this novel is a ton of fun.

Read about the other entries on the list.

They All Fall Down is among CrimeReads' ten best crime novels of 2019 and Kristen Lepionka's seven favorite unlikable female characters.

The Page 69 Test: They All Fall Down.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten top books about consent

Mia Levitin is a cultural and literary critic based in London. Her work appears regularly in publications including the Financial Times, The Spectator and the Guardian.

She is the author of The Future of Seduction.

At the Guardian, Levitin tagged ten of the "books that informed [her] understanding of the complexities of consent," including:

The Friend by Sigrid Nunez

Several novels in the past few years have delved into teacher-student relationships, including Susan Choi’s tricksy Trust Exercise, which expanded the question of consent to include who has the right to tell a story, and Kate Elizabeth Russell’s My Dark Vanessa. Among these narratives is The Friend, which features a college professor who regularly beds his students. When students complain about being addressed as “dear”, he stops, “but not without sulking”. What bothers him more than evolving standards of appropriateness, however, is his waning attraction as he ages. Submitting to him without desire, what drives the young women instead “is narcissism, the thrill of bringing an older man in a position of authority to his knees”.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Friend is among Lee Conell's seven books about New York City’s stark economic divide and Eliza Smith's twenty books to help you navigate grief.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six snowy thrillers

At Book Riot, Sophia LeFevre tagged six isolated, snowy thrillers to match the season, including:

A DEADLY INSIDE SCOOP BY ABBY COLLETTE

Recent MBA grad Bronwyn Crewse has just taken over her family’s ice cream shop and has big plans to restore the shop to its former glory. But due to unexpected construction delays, she misses her original summer season launch. Instead, on the day she opens shop, there’s a massive snowfall that keeps visitors away. Her day worsens when she finds a dead body outside her shop lying in the snow, a man who harbors an old feud with her family. When her father is implicated in the man’s murder, Bronwyn must balance running a new business with trying to clear her father’s name.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight top books about feminist folklore

Ruth Gilligan is a writer and academic from Dublin now based in the UK. She has published five books to date and was the youngest person ever to top the Irish Bestsellers’ List.

Her most recent novel, The Butchers [US title: The Butchers' Blessing], is set in the Irish borderlands during the 1996 BSE crisis, and was published to widespread acclaim in March 2020.

[Q&A with Ruth Gilligan.]

Gilligan holds degrees from Cambridge, Yale, UEA and Exeter. She contributes literary reviews to the Irish Independent, Guardian, TLS and LA Review of Books. She works as a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Birmingham and is an ambassador for the global storytelling charity Narrative 4.

At Electric Lit the author tagged eight weird and wonderful "books that combine feminism and folklore; books where uncanny tales are used to empower female voices (and, crucially, female bodies)." One title on the list:

The Harpy by Megan Hunter

Megan Hunter’s premise is as bizarre as it is simple—Lucy’s husband has been unfaithful, so now in return, she is allowed to cause him pain exactly three times. As the mythic and domestic begin to merge, Lucy becomes increasingly obsessed with harpies—those classical creatures of revenge—until she undergoes a shocking metamorphosis of her own.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven titles for fans of "The Queen’s Gambit"

Aisling Twomey was born in Cork and lived in Dublin for a few years before quitting her old life in 2015 and starting a brand new one in London. Forever reading books in the bath and consequently wondering why her paperbacks are a bit wobbly, Twomey has been a writer for almost ten years.

At Book Riot she tagged seven books for fans of Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit, including:

THE QUEEN OF KATWE BY TIM CROTHERS

Chess is fundamentally dominated by the achievements of white men who have received a large majority of the opportunities on offer. That’s not to say they’re not worthy players, but women and people of colour have been left behind. This nonfiction work focuses on Phiona Mutesi, a teenage girl and a chess prodigy from Kampala, Uganda. Many people online seem to be asking if Beth Harmon is real— alas, she isn’t, but Phiona Mutesi and the women who come after her could strike new paths for a more inclusive chessboard. This one is also a movie, which is getting to be a bit of a trend with this list.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eleven titles about midwesterners who aren’t trying to be nice

Rachel Mans McKenny was a graduate of the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts, a YoungArts Scholar, and a US Presidential Scholar in the Arts. She received a degree in creative writing at Creighton University and an MA in literature from Iowa State University. She teaches composition and public speaking at Iowa State.

A Midwesterner born and raised, Mans McKenny is a writer and humorist. Her work has been published in The New York Times, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Electric Literature, The Rumpus, and other outlets. Her debut novel, The Butterfly Effect, is forthcoming from Alcove Press in December 2020.

At Electric Lit, Mans McKenny tagged eleven books "in which Midwestern writers, poets, and characters are unwilling to demur or make apologies to smooth over an issue for the sake of social grace." One title on the list:

Marlena by Julie Buntin

Another Michigan novel, Marlena tracks the unhealthy friendship of Marlena and Cat. Mixing flashback with a present narrative, Buntin marks the threads of a disordered friendship, hedged by substance abuse, playing hooky, and ultimately the untimely death of the title character. This novel is just as much about poverty and class as it is about the either misunderstood or too well-understood title character.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five books about women fighting their way out

James S. Murray is a writer, executive producer, and actor, best known as "Murr" on the hit television show Impractical Jokers on truTV. He is also one of the stars of the TV show The Misery Index on TBS along with his comedy troupe, The Tenderloins.

His new novel, with Darren Wearmouth, is Don't Move.

At CrimeReads, Murray tagged "five books dedicated to women fighting their way out." One title on the list:

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

What happens when a group of Southern housewives in the 90s realize that their new neighbor might be a blood-sucking demon? That’s the question Grady Hendrix answers in his latest novel. In his protagonist Patricia Campbell, Hendrix has created a refreshing transformation of the common housewife trope into something more meaty and real. As the story heats up and the bloody consequences are revealed, Patricia and her book club achieve vigilante levels of determination to tackle the paranormal evil and social evils that have riddled their community. Not to mention the laugh out loud moments that are sprinkled throughout. Great read through and through.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue