A bad review of a book turns a woman’s life upside-down in this psychological horror novel. Emma Carpenter spends time reading and playing with her dog while housesitting an isolated, old beachfront property on the Washington coast. After reading a terrible book uploaded to her e-reader, she posts a one-star review online. The author, H.G.…
Y’all, my heart expanded two sizes at the end of this intense page-turner, which was not something I expected at all. But then, there was very little that I saw coming in this incessantly twisty, almost cinematic novel of suspense, as a young woman investigating the suicide of her twin sister puts it all on…
One of my favorite elements of storytelling is momentum. Reading a well-written thriller is a bit like standing in a river current—whether it’s a violent tug or a steady pull, the narrative is always moving inexorably forward and taking you along with it. With escalating stakes, white-knuckle action, or a dazzling concept explored to its…
No Exit by Taylor Adams is about four strangers, a blizzard, a kidnapped child, and a determined young woman desperate to unmask and outwit a vicious psychopath. What would you do if you were snowed in at a rest stop and someone, out of the four other people snowed in with you, had a little…
Storytelling is all about conflict, and conflict, in its purest form, is violence. That doesn’t mean violence is necessary in a thriller – far from it! – but it is a powerful item in any fiction writer’s toolbox, regardless of genre. That said… with pitfalls abound, it’s frighteningly easy to misuse. Here is the general…
