The Hunting Party By Lucy Foley And Other Thrillers We Can’t Stop Thinking About

A gang of friends heads to the Highlands for New Year, hoping for wilderness walks, exclusive malts and treasured time together. Instead, a decade's worth of secrets and resentments unravel and 2019 opens with a dead body, a fractured group and a police helicopter heading their way through a snowstorm. With a nimble back-and-forth structure which leaves you guessing who has even been murdered until over halfway, an epic, atmospheric location and a cast of characters who feel all-to-real as London's most entitled, this is a fresh, modern take on a whodunnit. And other thrillers to make staying in 'til payday a bit more bearable…

The author of Lie With Me has a ruthlessly sharp eye for the vanities of modern urbanites. A couple on holiday are momentarily distracted at the beach, leaving a stranger to save their toddler from drowning. A matter of seconds turns into months of terror as the kindly stranger turns into some-thing more menacing. She creates chillingly accurate characters then relishes putting them through dreadful things. So many of her protagonists are ghastly people, but it's still unnerving to see them unravel so swiftly and so thoroughly .. as well as fascinating to see the truth finally revealed from beneath layers of keeping up appearances.

The Widow introduced journalist Kate Waters, and she pops up again here in the story of two ordi-nary girls who go missing on their gap year in Thailand - just as Waters' son did a couple of years before. Waters is determined to get the scoop as the girls' parents find themselves having to navi-gate the media, but she also seizes the chance to try and solve the riddle of where her son might be. Conflicting professional and personal ambitions make it a white-white-knuckle ride. Barton cre-ates a great mystery told from multiple viewpoints with plenty of twists.

Last year's Dark Pines was an instant Scandi-noir hit despite the author only having moved to Swe-den a few years ago. But his heroine, journalist Tuva Moodyson is someone whose adventures you want to continue with, which makes this follow up a treat. A blizzard cuts off the small town of Gav-rik, bodies start to pile up and it's down to Tuva to unravel the mystery once again. The overbearing Swedish landscape adds to the drama, as well as the unusual setting (a liquorice factory!), and the tension created by Tuva's deafness which all makes for a cracking read.

A simmering sense of dread dominates this brilliant Brooklyn-set debut. A professor is down on her luck, with both marriage and career hitting the skids, when her attention turns to the glossy actress who lives on her block. Way, way too much attention. Dazzlingly creepy storytelling, an utterly ab-sorbing read. A simmering sense of dread dominates this brilliant Brooklyn-set debut. A professor is down on her luck, with both marriage and career hitting the skids, when her attention turns to the glossy actress who lives on her block. Way, way too much attention. Before long we are watching her watching the celebrity's daily family life, sharing opinions on everything from her parenting skills to her skincare. Told entirely in the first person dazzlingly creepy storytelling, reminiscent of Notes on a Scandal. It will leave you checking your curtains at night, but this is an utterly absorbing read.