June’s Top Picks in Thrillers

Finders Keepers, by Stephen King
Very few people need to be convinced to check out a new Stephen King novel, but Finders Keepers is worth reading whatever the name on the cover. Bringing back the trio of characters featured in his 2015 Edgar Award-winning Mr. Mercedes, King offers the story of intelligent, passionate, and deranged literary superfan Morris Bellamy, who murders his favorite author in 1978, stealing and hiding his secret notes for unpublished novels. When he is released from prison, Morris discovers the notes have been discovered by a teenage boy—a boy that Bill Hodges, Holly Gibney, and Jerome Robinson must protect.

Truth or Die, by James Patterson and Howard Roughan
Patterson is everywhere these days, and it’s easy to see why, as he once again delivers the clever premise, quick setup, engaging characters, and high-speed plotting that mark all of his work. In Truth or Die, Attorney Trevor Mann has put his life in order after some youthful mistakes, and he and his smart, beautiful reporter girlfriend are poised to take the world by storm—until a story she’s working on leads to tragedy. Mann desperately traces her leads in order to find out the reason behind what’s happened, and discovers a world-changing secret that governments and terrorists alike would kill for. Aided by a hilarious and charming teen genius, Mann’s mission becomes saving the world, a mission complicated by the fact that the good guys and the bad guys are suddenly difficult to tell apart.

The President’s Shadow, by Brad Meltzer
If the term “historical conspiracy fiction” excites you, then you likely have already read Meltzer’s previous entries in the Culper Ring series—or will, once you’ve read this: the Culper Ring is a secret organization founded by George Washington himself, charged with protecting the presidency. Beecher White, working at the National Archives, is one of six members of the Ring, and he’s contacted by the current president—an old acquaintance, and not necessarily a friend—when the First Lady discovers a severed arm in the White House rose garden. What’s clutched in the dismembered fist not only presents a puzzle and a threat against the presidency, it links to Beecher personally, setting up a mystery with a thrilling solution any student of history will love.

Tom Clancy: Under Fire, by Grant Blackwood
Every new Jack Ryan novel has a responsibility to honor one of the best protagonists in thriller history, and Blackwood does an admirable job of maintaining consistency with Ryan’s character, Clancy’s style and attention to detail, and a fun, twisting story with real stakes. Set in a world that’s just this side of reality, Ryan meets with an old friend while on a routine mission, and is slipped a mysterious key and cryptic message. The next day his friend disappears, and Ryan is warned to treat him as a traitor and stay out of it. As any Ryan fan knows, that’s never going to happen—and the trail he follows leads him halfway around the world, and possibly toward becoming a traitor himself.

The Melody Lingers On, by Mary Higgins Clark
When hedge fund manage and billionaire Parker Bennett disappears while sailing alone, his financial empire is revealed to be one gigantic scam, and his wife Anne and son Eric are left in the lurch. Forced to downsize, Anne hires Grady Harper to decorate her new condo in New Jersey, which introduces Grady’s assistant, Elaine “Lane” Harmon. As Lane and Eric begin to fall for each other, the FBI investigates Parker’s scheme, and the questions mount: what did Anne and Eric know? Did Eric have something to do with his father’s disappearance? And what really did happen to Parker out there on the ocean? Clark handles the tightening knots of her story expertly, offering up a solidly entertaining read for both longtime fans and those just discovering her magic.

Second Life, by S.J. Watson
A thoroughly adult thriller dealing in double lives, hidden desires and, of course, secrets upon secrets, Second Life tells the story of Julia Wilding, a contented recovering alcoholic who left her wild past behind for a loving family life in London with husband Hugh and adopted son Connor, who Julia’s sister Kate gave up when she was 16. When Kate is brutally murdered in Paris, Julia investigates, meeting Kate’s roommate Anna and a strange man named Lukas, and following her sister’s trail to a sketchy dating site that ignites desires and inspires decisions that may cost Julia everything. Watson writes Julia as a complex and fascinating woman struggling with unresolved grief and weaknesses that may be all too familiar, and with a verve and style that never bores.

The Fixer, by Joseph Finder
Finder’s new novel has an electrifying hook: when journalist Rick Hoffman’s life falls apart, he moves back into his childhood home, where miserable memories of his father and youth haunt him…and where he discovers more than $3 million in cash hidden inside the walls. It’s the sort of money that changes lives, but as Hoffman investigates the source of the money and his father’s past as a criminal “fixer,” his life grows steadily worse. Mining thrills from both the story’s crime aspects and the relationship between an estranged father and son, Finder has crafted an exciting novel that keeps the pulse pounding even as it affects you with its surprising emotional depth.

The Cartel, by Don Winslow
Some novels don’t need fictional detail to be mesmerizing, and Winslow’s sequel to The Power of the Dog is one of them. When former DEA agent Art Keller learns Adán Barrera, the man who cost him so much of his soul to put in jail, is free and working to rebuild his drug empire, he agrees to wade back into the fray to take him down again. The story is one of corruption, violence, and the damage inflicted by the drug trade, told with a depth of research that brings the cold reality of the world we live in right to the reader. Tense, heartbreaking, and compelling, this is a powerful thriller that you can’t put down.

Robert Ludlum’s The Janson Equation, by Douglas Corleone
Corleone brings us the return of former agents and current professional investigators Paul Janson and Jessica Kincaid in an exciting story that spans the globe and involves plenty of twisting, intertwined threads. The girlfriend of a U.S. senator’s son is murdered in a Seoul hotel room, and the son flees to avoid arrest. The senator, insisting his son is innocent, hires Janson and Kincaid to help, suggesting that the girlfriend, a translator, may have overheard something that put her in danger. When our heroes look into it, they slowly begin to realize that not only are they being pursued by a professional assassin, they may have stumbled on a plot to upset the fragile peace between North and South Korea. Corleone keeps the story bouncing along in true Ludlum style, surprising and confounding at every turn, and steering confidently to an exciting conclusion.

Invasion of Privacy, by Christopher Reich
Reich steals a riff from the headlines with a story that centers on the increasing reach and power of technology in our lives. When FBI agent Joe Grant is gunned down in the line of duty, his wife Mary receives a strange voicemail from him that doesn’t seem to make any sense—just like his death. When the voicemail mysteriously disappears, she digs into her husband’s tragic end and finds the FBI is not only unhelpful, but openly hostile. Leaning on her only allies—teen hacker daughter Jessie and handsome, troubled reporter Tank Potter—Mary finds herself on the trail of a secret that could transform the world, and the target of a powerful and dangerous psychopath.

A Head Full of Ghosts, by Paul Tremblay
Paul Tremblay’s new novel is a disturbing blend of pure horror and sly satire on our modern-day era of reality TV, self-serving internet celebrity, and the cult of victimhood. Marjorie, 14, the eldest daughter of a picture-perfect New England family, is diagnosed with schizophrenia. As medical bills pile up and Marjorie’s behavior becomes more and more unstable, the cash-strapped family seeks the help of a priest who suggests an exorcism—one captured on camera for a reality TV show that becomes a surprise hit. Years later, Marjorie’s younger sister is interviewed about the cultural phenomenon her family became, and as secrets are unearthed, the story begin turning in a whole new—and wholly horrifying—direction. Gripping and truly scary, this book feels of the moment in a way few thrillers do.