Reading Lists
What To Read While You’re Waiting for the Next Season of Yellowjackets
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How do you know someone just finished binging both seasons of Yellowjackets? A. They roam around in a daze grabbing random people and asking, “Who is pit girl? Who is pit girl?” I know I’m not the only one obsessed with the Showtime series about a New Jersey high school soccer team, the unspeakable things…
Wilderness Thrillers Featuring Fearless Women
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I’m what you might call a mini-adventurer. I’ve climbed rockfaces, rafted rivers, backpacked into the wilderness and once slithered through a cave tunnel so tight that the only way through was to lie flat, turn my head sideways and push with my toes. I’ve never done anything as daring as free-climbing the 3,000-foot granite wall…
Crime and the City: Monte Carlo
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How could there not be a lot of crime in Monaco – a tightly packed nest of wealth, sex and power all in the sunshine of the Riviera. Officially the Principality of Monaco, with its main conurbation being Monte Carlo, set between France and Italy on the Mediterranean. Roughly 40,000 residents of whom about 10,000…
The Magic of Sisterhood: Five Supernatural Sister Stories
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Halloween season has always been steeped in sisterly magic. Think of the Sanderson sisters in Hocus Pocus or the Owens sisters in Practical Magic. They set the stage for powerful supernatural stories in the 90s, and we adored them. That’s because there is magic in stories about sisters. When we discover sisters on the page,…
The Dead Girl and the Survivor Trope
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When I first picked up crime thrillers as a teenager, I remember being fascinated by how many plots begin with the discovery of a dead girl. What was it exactly that I found so intriguing about these novels, considering I was often in the same age demographic as many of their victims, not to mention…
What Are Thriller Authors Truly Afraid Of?
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At Halloween, fear is an emotion that is universally celebrated, but for me, terror has been an ever-present source of inspiration for fiction. My fears are vast, ever-encroaching, sensual. Claustrophobia, subterranean cities, the idea of being buried alive. Falling from a great height or watching someone I love plummet into an abyss as I stand…
Spooky Shenanigans for Halloween
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I’m such a sucker for holidays. I love to completely immerse myself in a theme: holiday decorations, holiday meals, holiday baking. As soon as the leaves start to turn amber and scarlet; the air goes crisp; and when the windows have that little bit of frost in the mornings, it’s time to think of pumpkins…