For an author writing for over twenty years with a book released almost every year, Karin Slaughter is one of the hardest working women in crime fiction. Responsible for the Grant Co. series, the Will Trent series (soon to be a television show), and standalone novels such as the ever popular Pretty Girls and Pieces of Her, Karin Slaughter is a household name in crime fiction. If you’re anxiously awaiting the newest release, check out some of these recommendations to kill some time until you get your hands on Girl, Forgotten this summer.
Here’s what Karin Slaughter reads>>
Toxic Deception by K.C. Gillis
A gutsy journalist is tipped off about blood money changing hands at a pharmaceutical company and decides to investigate. With an insider ally and a small team helping her, Jordan tries to go against big pharma. But when she notices similarities between her case and a medical trial on the other side of the globe, she realizes that if she doesn’t figure out the truth, she and her team might be the next victims.
The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewel
One summer night, a young woman and her boyfriend go missing after a party at a massive country estate. One year later, a writer moves into a cottage on the edge of that estate. The vast forest surround the place is known as “The Dark Place”, and it is there that the writer discovers a note that reads “DIG HERE”. Does this have something to do with the mysterious disappearance that took place a year prior? And what exactly is buried under there?
We Lie Here by Rachel Howzell Hall
Yara Gibson returns to her hometown for her parents’ anniversary party. Everything is fine until she gets a text from Felicia, an estranged friend of Yara’s mother. Felicia claims she has life changing information and that they must meet before it’s too late. But the next day, Felicia’s body is found floating in the lake. Left with a key to a remote cabin, Yara finds files related to an unsolved tragedy from 1998. She soon realizes that Felicia had been right. This new information will change Yara’s life, unless it ends it first.
When I Was You by Minka Kent
Brienne rarely leaves her house after suffering a brutal attack and dealing with memory loss. Dr. Niall Emberlin is her new tenant and a welcome distraction from her new reality. But when Brienne discovers that someone else is living as her, she’s forced to leave the safe bubble of her home and hunt down a stranger. What she finds is more disturbing than she ever imagined.
The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes
In high school, Maya’s best friend dropped dead in front of a man named Frank. Years later, she sees a video showing a girl dropping dead in front of the same man. Set on getting some answers, Maya heads back to her hometown to relive the memories of the summer that changed her life. She discovers secret messages from her late father and realizes that this story is much larger than herself, and it seems like all roads are leading to Frank’s cabin in the woods.
The Widowmaker by Hannah Morrissey
Clive Reynolds has been missing for twenty years. Photographer Morgan Mori has just returned to Black Harbor and has been hired to take the Reynolds family holiday photos when she finds herself the witness in a homicide shortly after leaving the house that sparks the police to revisit Clive’s disappearance when a clue is discovered.
The Wrong Woman by Leanne Kale Sparks
FBI Special Agent Kendall Beck still deals with the ghosts of her past as she is the only survivor of the notorious Reaper serial killer. Kendall has enough on her plate trying to handle the case of a five-year-old who has disappeared when her roommate and best friend is found dead in a lake. As Kendall investigates her best friend’s death, she realizes she may not have known the woman as well as she thought she did just in time for The Reaper to return to Denver.
Trace of Evil by Alice Blanchard
The small town of Burning Lake, NY is infamous for its dark history. Detective Natalie Lockhart knows Burning Lake like the back of her hand and is still trying to deal with the unsolved murder of her sister. When a schoolteacher is found murdered, Natalie immediately believes she knows who the killer is, but that person is in a coma. The further Natalie gets into her investigation, the more she realizes even her victim has been hiding some deadly secrets in this small town.
Girls Like Us by Cristina Alger
FBI Agent Nell Flynn hasn’t been home to Suffolk County in a decade. Her hometown has some dark memories as Nell’s mother was murdered when Nell was a child. Now, Nell has just received the news that her father has just died in a motorcycle accident. Things become even worse when Nell returns home and is dragged into the investigation of two murdered women and the prime suspect is her father.
Run on Red by Noelle W. Ihli
Laura and Olivia are two best friends driving on a rural country road with no cell service. Then, they notice two headlights tailgating them and believe this to just be a quick scare of an incident regarding road rage, but this is only the beginning. This is not road rage and the two find themselves battling the elements and fighting for their lives from the two men in the truck.
Gone for Good by Joanna Schaffhausen
Twenty years ago, a serial killer known as the Lovelorn Killer murdered seven women and then would send horrific love letters for them in the local paper. One day, the killer suddenly disappeared. Detective Annalisa Vega lost someone close to her to this killer and now she’s reporting to a recent murder in which the murder is very similar to the Lovelorn Killer. Now, she must face her past as well as search for a killer that has returned out of nowhere.
The Night Shift by Alex Finlay
New Year’s Eve 1999, four teenagers working at Blockbuster are attacked leaving only one survivor. The boyfriend of one of the victims is the prime suspect, only to flee and never be seen again. Fifteen years later, teenage employees are attacked at an ice cream shop with only one survivor yet again. This crime causes three lives to intersect including the survivor from the Blockbuster attacks, the brother of the accused, and an FBI agent who is investigating both crimes. All three wonder if the two cases could be connected or are eerily just isolated incidents.
Those Girls by Chevy Stevens
On a remote ranch in Canada, the Campbell sisters Dani, Jess and Courtney work hard and try to avoid their father’s violent temper. One night, a horrific event forces the three girls to go on the run that puts them in a dangerous situation when their truck breaks down in a small town. Forced to change their names and start new lives, the sisters never looked back. Eighteen years later, one of the sisters disappears, and they are all forced to revisit the past they have been trying so hard to leave behind.
Here’s some must-read thrillers about small towns with big secrets>>
Pretty Little Wife by Darby Kane
Months ago, in a small college town, a student mysteriously vanished. Now, Lila’s husband has gone missing and police have connected his disappearance to the student while the whole town is praying for the beloved teachers return. But not Lila. The last time she saw her husband was when she was staring at his dead body.
Nice Girls by Catherine Dang
Mary has just returned home to Liberty Lake, Minnesota and is completely different than the chubby, quiet, whiz kid she was when she left. Now she is thinner, and hiding from everyone the reason she was kicked out of college. Shortly after she arrives home, the beautiful social media star Olivia goes missing. Olivia and Mary used to be best friends, and if anyone knows the real Olivia, it’s Mary. As the town is frantic over Olivia’s disappearance, Mary finds another local teen who has also gone missing under mysterious circumstances, dismissed as a runaway, and believes the two are connected.
Find Her by Lisa Gardner
Flora Dane was kidnapped seven years ago on spring break and spent 472 days with her captor, enduring psychological and physical torture, and has spent the last five years trying to go back to her normal life. When Detective D.D. Warren is called to a crime scene involving a dead man and Flora, the woman is shocked to find Flora is connected to three other victims. Is Flora a vigilante—or just running on a string of bad lucky by being at the wrong place at the wrong time?
The Corpse Flower by Anne Mette Hancock
No one has seen or heard from Anna Kiel since she was caught on camera leaving a crime scene covered in blood three years ago where a lawyer was fatally stabbed. But now Journalist Heloise Kaldan has started to receive letters from the missing woman. Meanwhile, detective Erik Schafer is investigating the murder of a reporter who had originally wrote about Anna’s crime. As Heloise continues to receive letters and Erik’s investigation leads him to Heloise, the two realize there is a connection between the two women that will require Heloise to confront a past she’s been trying to keep buried.
Don’t miss these must-read kidnapping thrillers>>
And There He Kept Her by Joshua Moehling
Two teenagers in search of prescription drugs have broken into the wrong house and haven’t been seen since. Emmett Burr is a reclusive man with more than just secrets he’s been hiding in his basement for twenty years. Now, Officer Ben Packard has returned to the small town of Sandy Lake for a fresh start after a personal tragedy. Ben is in charge of the investigation into the missing teens and is forced to dig up things from the past he’s been trying to escape from, as well as long-buried secrets in the town he once called home.
Don’t miss this ultimate guide to psychological thrillers>>
First Victim by Debbie Babbitt
Alice D. McKerrity is a judge in Manhattan who thought she’s seen it all in her courtroom. That is until a defendant charged with murdering a pregnant woman enters her courtroom, and her life completely unravels every way possible once the trial begins. As Alice tries her best to keep a secret she’s been holding onto for most of her life from being exposed, her daughter is on a mission to find her biological father. Then, Alice makes a discovery that is so bone-chilling, she’s going to have to fight like hell to survive it.
The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead
When she was in college in upstate New York, Shay Evans and her friends were beguiled by a man who had a ruinous effect on them, and by her senior year, only Shay and her friend Laurel were able to escape. Eight years later, Shay is attempting to live a normal life when she hears of Laurel’s sudden death. Joining her favorite true crime podcaster, Shay revisits her past and is quickly pulled back into the world she tried so desperately to escape.
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