Ivy Pochoda recommends
Distant Sons (2023)Tim Johnston"Tim Johnston has once again raised the bar for the literary thriller. Distant Sons is elegant and edgy, refined and complex. It excavates the truth from the darkest recesses of the past and shines a light towards the possibility of a redemptive future."The Hurricane Blonde (2023)Halley Sutton"The Hurricane Blonde is a splashy thrill ride through the dark side of Hollywood. Sutton has delivered a glitzy noir and a gripping crime story. Empowering, engaging, and a worthy addition to the Los Angeles canon." Night Will Find You (2023)Julia Heaberlin"Night Will Find You is a rare thriller that seamlessly straddles the mystic and the scientific. Compelling and compassionate, Heaberlin's novel has one foot firmly planted in our world of misinformation and the other reaching for the inexplicable. I loved it." You Know Her (2023)Meagan Jennett"With a naturalist's soul and a killer's heart, Meagan Jennett has delivered a debut that seethes with graceful rage. Angry, smart, propulsive-You Know Her is an unforgettable crime novel." Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions (2022)Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi"In her debut collection of interwoven stories, Lola Ogunyemi has reinvented the classic narrative of diaspora. She reaches into Nigeria's past and far into the speculative future, travels from Africa, to Poland, to America, drawing together an unforgettable group of characters whose shared struggles and triumphs are delivered with profound feeling, inspired insight, and careful humor. Each story is unique in tone and structure, but together they crystallize into a remarkable and important vision of heritage, culture, and an indelible sense of home." We Lie Here (2022)Rachel Howzell Hall"We Lie Here is definitive proof that it's impossible to be disappointed by Rachel Howzell Hall, who just gets better and better with each book. She has tools and tricks to spare as she pulls you to the edge of your seat with her razor-sharp plotting and keen eye for the darker side of human behavior that's too easily obscured by the California sunshine." Jobs for Girls with Artistic Flair (2022)June Gervais"June Gervais has delivered an uncommonly assured debut, equal parts subculture and style. Smart, confident, witty, and tender, Jobs for Girls with Artistic Flair is a love song to those dreams that resist obstacles and the young women who dare to dream them." Sleepwalk (2022)Dan Chaon"Filled with brilliantly bleak humor, unflinchingly raw emotional insight, and an unforgettable journeyman mercenary, Sleepwalk takes us on a riveting road trip through a county past the point of no return. A marvel in the offing." Mecca (2022)Susan Straight"Mecca is an essential California epic--layered and vibrant--that is as anchored in the past as it is alive to the present. Susan Straight's novel amplifies voices too often unheard and conjures an unforgettable vision of the golden state both heartbreaking and glorious that is destined to be canonical." Like a Sister (2022)Kellye Garrett"Like a Sister is a marvel and a must-read story for the current moment. Garrett, with deft humor and perfect eye for the blurred lines of social media and reality TV, has crafted a gripping narrative of domestic suspense which delivers hard, essential truths about race, class, and makes us question why some women's stories are too often disbelieved." Notes on an Execution (2022)Danya Kukafka"Notes on an Execution is seriously important crime fiction that trains the lens on a serial killer's victims rather than on the criminal himself and shows how the legacy of violence endures for decades, leaving a tidal wave of collateral damage in its wake. Kukakfa's story is unflinching and unromantic yet wrenching and devastating in equal measure. Never falling into the easy trap of sensationalism, Notes on an Execution pushes women to the forefront of a narrative that has too often overlooked them and all they suffer." The Survivors (2021)Alex Schulman"The Survivors is a tight, tense marvel of emotional and psychic pain that is as chilling as it is heartbreaking. With precise, evocative prose it winds and coils towards a remarkable conclusion that left me breathless." The Night Always Comes (2021)Willy Vlautin"The Night Always Comes is a masterclass of scope and scale - a nail-biting thriller of everyday survival. Relatable, terrifying, impassioned, and compassionate, Vlautin's latest will elevate you on one page and tear your heart out on the next. A marvelous novel that bleeds real, cuts deep, and offers just the right dose of hope." A Man Named Doll (2021)(Happy Doll, book 1)Jonathan Ames"A Man Named Doll is a smart, sharp, and stylish noir for the modern day. In his cinematic tour of Los Angeles that is both gritty and gorgeous, Ames has delivered a novel that is both current and timeless and has introduced a sleuth who fits all the old traditions while creating his own. Crime at its finest!" Forget Me Not (2021)Alexandra Oliva"Alexandra Oliva pulls off a stunning feat in Forget Me Not, effortlessly toeing the line between humanity and technology, virtual reality and the physical world. Her novel overflows with heartbreak, loneliness, terror, and compassion but never once sacrifices the propulsion of story. She presents the reader with a difficult choice—linger over the finely crafted prose or tear straight through to the stunning conclusion. Either way, you can't go wrong." U Up? (2021)Catie Disabato"Disabato is a generational voice and a voice of a generation. U Up is smart, sharp, wise, and wrenching in equal measure . . . An enviable book by an enviable writer. I loved it." The Low Desert (2021)Tod Goldberg"The Low Desert is a powerhouse. Each story is finely crafted and flawlessly executed--gripping, surprising, and satisfying. Goldberg finds humanity in what others overlook, beauty in what many ignore. He seamlessly marries violence and grace to understand both the root and the aftermath of crime. And in doing so he tells a damn fine tale over and again." At the Edge of the Haight (2021)Katherine Seligman"At the Edge of the Haight brims with empathy for the overlooked and the underserved. It's a deep, dark, and necessary look into lives often discarded and disregarded—an urgent and important read and a startling debut." Santa Monica (2020)Cassidy Lucas"Santa Monica is a juicy yet profound thriller that seamlessly glides between the sun kissed beaches and the long shadows of seemingly glamorous Southern California. Cassidy Lucas has delivered a deft page turner and a topical mystery that is fully three dimensional in every way. Santa Monica is filled with complex characters who may act but never are superficial and at its core is a deft, twisty story that’s both witty and wise about marriage, friendship, aging, and the deadly quest for perfection." Make Them Cry (2020)Smith Henderson and Jon Marc Smith
"In their debut thriller Make Them Cry, Smith and Henderson burst onto the scene with muscular style, a blockbuster plot, and flair to spare. Intelligent, informed, important, humane, and remarkably witty, Make Them Cry arrives like a bullet train to your cerebral cortex...No doubt, Agent Diane Harbaugh, a bad-ass woman for our times, is here to stay and will take her rightful place alongside Bourne and Reacher before long." The Body Double (2020)Emily Beyda"The Body Double is a deft, dark, and surprisingly unusual Hollywood story, cinematic in both substance and in style. Beyda's confident debut is both assured and unsettling. It's a noir, sure, but so much more—a tale for our times about the dangers of artifice, identity, and fame." Pretty as a Picture (2020)Elizabeth Little"Pretty as a Picture is a remarkable thriller that succeeds on almost too many levels. It's sharp and stylish, witty and fierce, not to mention extremely intelligent. Little perfectly and expertly conjures the unglamorous side of filmmaking--the gruesome grind of a movie shoot--in meticulous detail. This is no mere crime novel, but a must read for anyone with a passion for movies or the industry." November Road (2018)Lou Berney"NOVEMBER ROAD is a thriller that defies categorization. A triumph of plot and prose and a brilliant depiction of the contradictions of 1960s America, the innocence, the violence, and the longing." The Captives (2018)Debra Jo Immergut"The Captives is psychologically astute and wise with equal doses of power and pain. Immergut mines the depths of the human psyche to reveal how weakness can turn into obsession and how a single misstep can send a life careening off course." Blown (2018)Mark Haskell Smith"Blown is a riotously funny, perfectly observed, and maddeningly engaging roller coaster that tears through a world dominated by greed, cunning, sex, and the extraordinary and ludicrous measures people will go to in order to be happy. Mark Haskell Smith takes you on a wild ride you won't dare get off until the very end." Heart Spring Mountain (2018)Robin MacArthur"A revelation... As rich as the fertile earth and as powerful as a surging storm. Every page is filled with wonder and beauty, compassion and longing. The women MacArthur has brought to life... will haunt and inspire and stick around long after their stories are told." Poison (2017)Galt Niederhoffer"It will grab you...unsettle you...make you question the things you hold dear - family, marriage, and sanity. And it won't let go until the very end." The Resurrection of Joan Ashby (2017)Cherise Wolas"Cherise Wolas has delivered an audacious and dynamic first novel. The Resurrection of Joan Ashby is a remarkable tapestry of literary skill, emotional insight, and sensational storytelling." The Convert's Song (2014)(Valentine Pescatore, book 2)Sebastian Rotella"The Convert's Song is a revelation. Sure, it's a smart, gripping thriller that will have you turning the pages at high speed. But it's also a deep, emotionally resonant story of identity, friendship, and faith. I loved it." Visitors also looked at these authors
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