Major reading slump

We can’t wait to see the other suggestions, but have you read The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth? I don’t read a ton of psychological thrillers, but I couldn’t put that one down.  We hope that the 2nd have of 2023 is better than the first for you! -Melissa

Try The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian. For mystery, try The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman or Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto. Both are twisty murder mysteries with a lot of humor.

If you haven’t read The Silent Patient yet, that is the book that made me like thrillers a lot. Highly recommended!

If you like Stephen King, and haven’t read it, try “The Green Mile”.  Not as long as many of his books, was originally published as a 6 part serial novel.  Also, there is an excellent movie. It may not be a thriller, but is amazing.  One of my favorite Stephen King books.

I just finished The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard. It was an original approach to the crime/thriller genre that I really enjoyed. I there are two perspectives. The first is that of the Nothing Man himself, a serial rapist/killer. The second is the sole survivor of his final attack, who tells her story in a book she has written about him. We get her POV as he reads her book! It’s cool! The reader is put right between the protagonist and the antagonist! And the predator becomes the prey!

I really like the Rizzoli and Isles series by Tess Gerritsen. When I need a break from heavier reads I tend to like murder mysteries (I know, it seems a little strange to consider that a “light read”). Also, when I was kind of struggling to get going with reading again a few years ago I found this series and read every book within a few months. Hope you find something!

The Witch Elm by Tanya French as well as her The Searcher. So well crafted. I thought Louise Penny was great until I read Tanya French.

I really enjoyed The Housemaid by Freida McFadden. It kept me reading way too late into the night. I think it is definitely a slump-buster.

I know someone mentioned Tana French above and I’d second that recommendation – I really loved her Dublin Murder Squad series (you don’t have to read them in order). I would also recommend William Kent Krueger’s Cork O’Connor series (the first one is Iron Lake) – I’ve read all of them and really enjoy them. His standalone books are wonderful too, but they’re not murder mysteries so might not be what you’re looking for right now. I have been enjoying Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache series (up to book 8 right now). I also really liked Anthony Horowitz’s Magpie Murders (it kind of has a Knives Out feel, great homage to Agatha Christie style mysteries).

The Echo of Old Books, The Lost Manuscript, The Thursday Murder Club, Broken Girls, The Book of Cold Cases, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride, What’s Done in Darkness, Carmilla, The Lost Melody, When We Were Bright and Beautiful and Darling Girl.

Several are Christian (The Lost Manuscript, The Lost Melody) or at least have some Christian leanings. Carmilla is the first vampirism tale and precedes Dracula. There is a sapphic element to it as well, but does read like an OG fairy tale. Darling Girl is a Peter Pan retelling and I found it quite captivating. Broken Girls and The Book of Cold Cases both have supernatural elements in them and are written by the same author. What’s Done in the Dark and When We Were Bright and Beautiful are both family secrets and past trauma. Both have significant trigger warnings in case the subject matter is problematic. The Echo of Lost Books and The Thursday Murder Club are both cozy mysteries, The Thursday Murder Club is a cozy murder mystery.

Darling Girl, Broken Girls and When We Were Bright and Beautiful were instrumental in breaking my own reading slump.

On a side note, the audiobook for Remarkably Bright Creatures is narrated by a very lovely, charming  pair of individuals. I fell in love with the characters and story in part because of the male narrator.

Good luck and happy reading.

I really enjoyed Killers of a Certain Age.
A group of 4 women assassins (who worked for a clandestine agency ridding the world of terrible people for 40 yrs) decides to retire. But they find themselves targets  and need to find out why.  It was a much deeper and complicated plot than I expected!