Summer Of Suspense
Looking for page-turners to fill your summer with suspense? Here’s a slate of some of 2021’s most-buzzed-about thrillers.
“That Summer” by Jennifer Weiner
Like Jennifer Weiner’s other hit books, “Big Summer” and “Mrs. Everything, this one is being hailed as one of the summer’s ideal beach reads. It has the classic elements: drama, romance, a beautiful beach setting, and relatable contemporary female characters.
Two very different women, both named Diana, seemingly meet by chance and become fast friends. One is tormented by a secret past trauma. The other grapples with motherhood, marriage, and an unfulfilling present life. The intriguing and complex inner-lives of these women are cleverly portrayed, lifting this novel to more than a beachy book.
This emotionally charged story confronts the #MeToo movement with an arresting depiction of the repercussions of sexual assault and is reminiscent of the recent thriller “Promising Young Woman.” Weiner takes a hard look at the psychological damage, and the lengths a woman might go to seek accountability and closure.
Abuse comes in many forms, and this is also is an insightful examination of how an abuser, bolstered by wealth and privilege, can continue to undermine his victims.
We are left with the recognition that some relationships threaten to pull us under, but others have the power to rescue us.
“The Other Black Girl” by Zakiya Dalila Harris
The publisher describes this hot-off-the-presses “The Other Black Girl” as “Get Out” meets “The Devil Wears Prada.” And it delivers.
Inspired by author Zakiya Dalila Harris’s personal experiences as a black woman working in the predominately white world of publishing, this is a relevant, smart and sly social commentary on race and class. Hulu has already inked a deal to bring this literary thriller to its streaming audience.
The story centers on Nella, a Black editorial assistant, trying to work her way up in a prestigious, established publishing firm. When a new Black co-worker is hired, Nella’s initial excitement about having a potential ally turns to suspicion with the colleague’s increasing popularity and backstabbing manipulations. After Nella receives mysterious threatening notes to leave the company, she begins to ponder whether her rival is a dangerous enemy. Things get sinister and weird in Harris’s modern, satirical, and edgy debut novel.
“The Push” by Ashley Audrain
What’s a “good” mother? Are maternal instincts real? How well can we know our children? In this intense, psychological thriller, author Ashley Audrain compels us to watch one woman’s harrowing journey into motherhood.
Troubled by her own mother’s abandonment, Blythe Connor hopes to become the loving mother she never had. But early on she struggles to connect with her baby and later senses there may be something wrong with her little daughter’s behavior. Even as her suspicions turn to visceral fear, she and her husband question if the problem is her own nature and sanity.
With the raw telling of Blythe’s struggles, the author elevates this thriller into a cleverly crafted and thought-provoking examination of society’s mores about motherhood, marriage, and how we sometimes treat women who speak their truths.
This is a provocative and disturbing story that’s hard to put down and will have you second-guessing to the very last page.
“Girl A” by Abigail Dean
The suspense of Abigail Dean’s gripping novel, “Girl A”, lies not in whether seven siblings escape being held captive by their abusive parents — we learn that in the opening chapter — but finding out how they survive the aftermath of their traumas.
Dean takes us on a psychological family journey, from the parents who chain children to their beds, to each sibling’s varying degree of luck and love they receive after they are rescued into separate new homes.
The story’s primary narrator is “Girl A”. To protect their identities, she, and her siblings, are referred to by letters in case documents. It’s the understated, matter-of-fact telling of their house of horrors that makes the portrayal of their imprisonment all the more haunting and heartbreaking for the reader.
Their individual circumstances are a study in the complexities of family hierarchy, sibling loyalties, rivalries, and betrayal. The indelible dynamics of the personalities and relationships molded by living hidden in a home with boarded up windows and locked doors, aren’t things we leave behind when we flee.
This skillfully written survival story has been sold to Sony Pictures for a television adaptation. It’s been compared to the novel “Room”, but unlike Emma Donaghue’s story, running from captivity is only the beginning here. The story of escaping from what follows is powerful, devastating, hopeful, and beautiful.
“The Turnout” by Megan Abbott
Due out next month, “The Turnout”, Megan Abbott’s dark thriller is a twisty tale set in the subculture of a family-owned ballet studio. Dara and Marie, two sisters dancing since childhood, take over their mother’s ballet school after her tragic death. They, along with Dara’s former-dancer husband, are the trio that keeps the studio going.
The introduction of a new presence in their lives, a contractor hired to renovate their building, exposes some unsettling history and threatens to fracture the deep ties that bind them together. Despite a series of suspicious mishaps, the trio struggles to make the opening of their annual Nutcracker ballet performance.
Underneath the tulle tutus and pink satin shoes, the author reveals the darker side of a dancer’s world… bruised bodies, bloodied feet, and competitive stress. And, like the façade the trio sustains to hide the unsettling reality of their bonds, things are not what they seem…but which things?
Megan Abbott’s skillful writing builds tension with looming suspense and surprises. She has signed on as co-writer and creator to adapt this highly anticipated book into a limited series. It’s a taut and unnerving read. After finishing this, I won’t be able to think about the “The Nutcracker” ballet in the same way.
