Bookseller Favorites: Breathless Thrillers Arriving in November

Criss Cross, by James Patterson
James Patterson’s 27th Alex Cross thriller sets the bar high, as Cross and partner John Sampson bear witness to the execution of a killer they helped put behind bars. But then they’re called to a crime scene that seems to be the work of a copy-cat killer—except there’s a note telling Alex Cross that he “messed up big time.” A spree of killings seeded with subtle references to Cross’ career and family ensues, clearly the work of someone who knows everything there is to know about the skilled detective. As Cross desperately tries to piece the clues together, he realizes that the perpetrator has a horrifying goal in his sights.

A Minute to Midnight, by David Baldacci
David Baldacci’s second Atlee Pine novel follows the FBI agent back to her rural Georgia hometown, where she’s retreated from a professional setback to investigate the decades-old disappearance of her twin sister Mercy. Just as she begins to dig into the deeply-buried past, a woman is found dead—murdered ritualistically and dressed in a wedding veil. A second victim follows, and Atlee finds her search for her own truth complicated by the urgent need to stop a serial killer before they strike again.

The Andromeda Evolution, by Daniel H. Wilson
Robopocalypse author Daniel H. Wilson capably mimics the Crichton’s style and brings plenty of tech cred to this sequel, published 50 years after the now-classic The Andromeda Strain. Ever since that alien virus threatened humanity, Project Eternal Vigilance has monitored the world for any hint of a similar incident. When an anomaly is found in the Amazon, a team is quickly dispatched, including paraplegic astronaut Sophie Kline and roboticist James Stone, who has an intimate connection to the original encounter. They’re charged with containing the infection, but what they discover is terrifying: the Andromeda Strain has mutated and evolved, and is now something entirely different—and deadlier.

The Family Upstairs, by Lisa Jewell
Twenty-five years ago, a ghastly scene greeted police at a tony London address: three dead adults, four missing children, and one crying baby. A quarter-century later, that child—Libby Jones—has spent her life wondering about her what happened to her birth parents. But when she finally discovers their grisly fates, she also learns she’s inherited their house, worth millions. Even as she contemplates the ways her life is about to change, she has no idea that she’s not the only person who’s been waiting for this day—and that she’s about to meet the other interested parties, who are willing to do anything to keep her from learning the full truth of her past. This exclusive Barnes and Noble edition includes a discussion guide and an essay by the author.

Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry, by Mary Higgins Clark
Journalist Gina Kane receives an email from a woman named Ryan who wants to talk about the “terrible experience” she had working at television news network REL, she smells a story. But then her source goes dark, and she learns that Ryan has died in a freak jet ski accident. At REL, corporate counsel Michael Carter has received numerous complaints from women working at the network, alleging sexual harassment and worse. He begins a campaign to buy the women off, trading settlements for their silence. As more bodies turn up, Kane and Carter engage in a chess game as one tries to cover up the story and one tries to expose it—while someone else is killing to stop it cold.

Tom Clancy: Code of Honor, by Marc Cameron
Marc Cameron returns to the world and characters created by Tom Clancy in a story featuring U.S. President Jack Ryan at center stage. A brilliant computer scientist creates a game-changing artificial intelligence program, and is shortly thereafter murdered by agents of the Chinese government who want the technology for themselves. The killing is witnessed by an old friend of Ryan’s, Father Pat West, who manages to get in touch with the president and share what he knows. Ryan is concerned, and after West is abducted, enraged. He sets out to demonstrate to his enemies that the most powerful man in the world is the wrong person to make into a personal enemy.

The Siberian Dilemma, by Martin Cruz Smith
The ninth Arkady Renko book finds the investigator, a servant of the Moscow Prosecutor’s office, worried about his girlfriend Tatiana Petrovna: the journalist left for an assignment in Siberia and failed to return. When Renko is ordered there himself to supervise the prosecution of a terrorist named Aba Makhmud, he sees an opportunity to look for Tatiana as well. But no sooner has he arrived in in Siberia than he stumbles into a murder investigation, the victim a wealthy oligarch and a friend of the reclusive billionaire Tatiana was interviewing. Getting Tatiana—and himself—out alive will take every bit of Renko’s formidable skill.
What thrillers are giving you chills this month?