August’s Top Picks in Thrillers

The Murderer’s Daughter, by Jonathan Kellerman
Jonathan Kellerman includes a cameo from Alex Delaware for good measure in this satisfying and tricky standalone book. After a horrific childhood during which her parents died in a murder-suicide, leaving her to forage for food as a five-year-old, Grace Blades has become a world-renowned, independently wealthy psychologist. Blades has a dark side; she’s not always as sympathetic to her patients as you might want, and she spends her evenings seeking out casual hookups with men in bars. When one of those hookups shows up as a patient, she is convinced to overlook their connection—something she regrets when he turns up dead. As Grace investigates, she discovers her connection to his death may be much stronger than she suspected, as a past she thought long-buried comes back to haunt her. Kellerman can captivate with just a few words, and this novel presents the perfect opportunity for anyone unfamiliar with his work to discover a new favorite author.

Alert, by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge
If there’s a better pairing of writers in the thriller world than Patterson and Ledwidge, we’d like to hear about it. In Alert, a series of terrorist attacks on New York City that seem almost magical in their technological mastery have the city’s citizens near panic. Old friends Detective Michael Bennett and FBI Agent Emily Parker are on the case—but as the attacks scale up in terms of destruction, Bennett realizes there’s a method to the madness, and that he’s running out of time to avoid a horrific endgame. With typically tense Patterson pacing and a surfeit of surprising twists, this is the book that will make the familiar phrase “This is not a test” a terrifying one.

Deadly Assets, by W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV
The newest book in the Badge of Honor series returns us to the gritty streets of Philadelphia in a story that feels ripped from the headlines. Set in Philadelphia—or “Killadelphia,” thanks to having one of the highest murder rates in the country—tension between the police and the citizens they’re sworn to protect reaches a boiling point after Homicide Sergeant Matt Payne, nicknamed “Wyatt Earp of the Main Line,” is targeted by the Citizens Oversight Committee…and the committee’s brash leader is shot dead on his front porch. Griffin and Butterworth spin a dense story involving drug gangs, violent protests, and the death of a famed reporter that feels current and unnervingly real.

Last Words, by Michael Koryta
Any time a writer of Koryta’s caliber launches a new character and series, it’s worth paying attention, and Last Words is a full-throated success from start to finish. Investigator Mark Novak is still reeling from the murder of his wife (and investigative partner) two years ago. In danger of losing his job working for a Florida law firm specializing in death row appeals, he’s called in to investigate a decades-old cold case involving a teenage girl who disappeared while exploring local caves in Indiana. Koryta paints Novak with a fine brush, letting the reader feel the anguish and anger that affects the character’s every move, resulting in a story that bruises even as it ratchets up the tension and mystery.

Iron Wolf, by Dale Brown
Brown demonstrates his formidable imagination in this fun, fast-paced near-future political thriller that imagines the first woman president dealing with an aggressive Russian state disguising aggression as revolution in a premise stolen right from today’s headlines. What isn’t from the headlines is the next step: Operation Iron Wolf, a secret partnership between the U.S. and Poland launching a counterattack using Cybernetic Infantry Devices (CID), essentially manned robots. With the balance of power in the region shifted forever, the U.S. must marshal all its political acumen and espionage muscle to stay one step ahead of the Russians. Fun and surprisingly grounded despite the high-concept premise, this is a solid thriller you’ll tear through.

Protocol Zero, by James Abel
Marine doctor Col. Joe Rush returns, drawn into the investigation of what appears, at first, to be a brutal murder-suicide of an entire family in an isolated cabin in the Alaskan wilderness. Rush, an expert in pathogens and disease, gleans clues from a phone call transcript and physical evidence at the scene to conclude a new and incredibly deadly disease is in the wild. Just as quickly, Rush realizes he’s not the only one who knows this, and that the soldiers cordoning off the area may not have everyone’s best interests at heart. Balancing plausible and well-researched science with a human element, Abel once again offers up a taut, gripping thriller that channels some of our worst fears.

Clear by Fire, by Joshua Hood
With authentic boots-on-the-ground details, Hood has created a searing story of shadow warfare and betrayal. Mason Kane is an elite soldier and a member of the officially-doesn’t-exist Anvil unit, a group of warriors from each branch of the military who conduct Black Ops against America’s enemies anywhere in the world. When Kane refuses a horrific order, he realizes Anvil’s purpose may not be as heroic as he once thought, and his unit commander tries to have him killed. When that fails, the blame for an atrocity is laid at Kane’s feet, making him an official fugitive. Suddenly this deadly soldier is the most wanted man in the world, and his only ally is the beautiful—and deadly—Special Operations operative Renee Hart. Together they have to prove Kane’s innocence while tracking a conspiracy that goes literally all the way to the top.

The 3rd Woman, by Jonathan Freedland
The best thrillers take the real world and play a game of realistic “what if?” Freedland imagines a world just barely into the future, where America’s decline has put it under China’s thumb. Beijing and Washington have made a deal wherein China forgives the U.S.’s crippling debt in exchange for establishing a military presence in America’s port cities, ostensibly to protect Chinese customs officials after a violent attack. When Madison Webb, a tenacious and talented reporter, begins investigating the death of her sister, she quickly realizes it isn’t the isolated accident the police insist it is, and that it may dovetail with her corruption investigations. Personal, current, and tautly written, this is a great candidate for book of the summer.

The Lightning Stones, by Jack Du Brul
Not every writer can take geology, deep mining, climate change, cosmic rays, and, yes, Amelia Earhart and mix them together into a thrilling, page-turner of a novel—but Du Brul, who frequently collaborates with Clive Cussler, is the right man for the job. Philip Mercer is back for an eighth go-round, visiting the Leister Deep copper mine where his mentor and father figure, Abraham Jacobs, is conducting an experiment. He arrives to find Jacobs and his team dead, efficiently executed. The investigation and battle to discover who and why goes tearing off in a fast-paced and scientifically fascinating direction that never fails to surprise, and Mercer remains one of the more interesting thriller heroes to grace the page.

News from Berlin, by Otto de Kat
What would you do if, during the greatest and bloodiest war ever fought, you were suddenly given information that could change the course of history? That’s the central question in this smart World War II thriller by de Kat. Oscar Verschuur is a Dutch diplomat posted to neutral Switzerland. During a rare meeting with his daughter, who is living in Germany with her husband (who works for the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs), he receives from her a date and a code name: June 22, Barbarossa. Verschuur knows Stalin thinks he is protected from Hitler by treaty, but the reader knows the German invasion of Russia on that date changes the course of the war—and history itself. de Kat paints a vibrant picture of a past world, and Verschuur’s struggles concerning what to do with this information lead to a surprising plot you won’t be able to predict, even if you know your history very well.

Darkness the Color of Snow, by Thomas Cobb
Cobb returns with another book that tells a simple human story thrillingly. A small-town cop pulls over an old high school friend for drunk driving. An argument ensues, then a struggle, and the young driver is hit by a car and killed. While the police chief believes his officer followed procedure, many in the depressed, seen-better-days town see an opportunity to manipulate the tragedy to their own benefit, and the story begins mounting in tension with every line, resulting in a novel that keeps you white-knuckled on the page despite its distinct lack of secret agents, deadly plagues, or assassination plots. Cobb once again creates masterfully written characters, teasing out their joy, nobility, selfishness, and rage in an affecting and surprising way as the town collectively seeks to assign blame—and punishment—for the tragic events out on the frozen road that night.

In a Dark, Dark Wood, by Ruth Ware
It’s not often a debut thriller is as confidently and expertly handled as In a Dark, Dark Wood. Without cheap tricks or loud bangs, Ware crafts a psychological thriller that plays with memory, old friendships, and long-simmering mental and emotional damage to produce something you won’t be able to put down. Nora Shaw is invited to the bachelorette party for a woman who used to be her best and closest friend, but whom she hasn’t spoken to in a decade. A night and a day after gathering at a remote cabin for the “hen do,” Nora awakens in the hospital, her memory addled. Eeerie flashbacks slowly bring the ominous situation to a boil as the reader scrambles to put the clues together to discover what happened. Ware grabs the reader from the first line and doesn’t let go until she surprises them with the last one.