Archives de catégorie : Fiction

TEMPER de Layne Fargo

A razor-sharp page-turner about female ambition and what happens when fake violence draws real blood.

TEMPER
by Layne Fargo
Scout Press, publication July 2019

After years of struggling in the Chicago theater scene, ambitious actress Kira Rascher finally lands the role of a lifetime. The catch? Starring in Temper means working with Malcolm Mercer, a mercurial director who’s known for pushing his performers past their limits—on stage and off. Kira’s convinced she can handle Malcolm, but the theater’s co-founder, Joanna Cuyler, is another story. Joanna sees Kira as a threat—to her own thwarted artistic ambitions, her twisted relationship with Malcolm, and the shocking secret she’s keeping about the upcoming production. But as opening night draws near, Kira and Joanna both start to realize that Malcolm’s dangerous extremes are nothing compared to what they’re capable of themselves.An edgy, addictive, and fiendishly clever tale of ambition, deceit, and power, Temper is a timely, heart-in-your-throat psychological thriller that will leave you breathless.

« Toying with the line between victim and villain, real life and fantasy, TEMPER revels in its mind games, delivering twist after twist as it races toward a Shakespearian climax. The final page will leave you gasping. » – Amy Gentry, author of Last Woman Standing.
“TEMPER alternates narrators between Kira and Johanna and builds a sense of suspense that will keep readers guessing, literally until the last page. Fargo’s first novel features complicated female characters and will be well received by fans of Gillian Flynn and Tana French.” – Booklist

With an announced first print run of 75,000 copies, TEMPER is a Publishers Marketplace Spring/Summer 2019 Buzz Book and a Lead Title for Simon & Schuster, with the support of S&S President and Publisher Jonathan Karp.

DOG ROSE DIRT de Jen Williams

A standalone, chilling thriller about a woman who discovers her late mother had been secretly corresponding with a serial killer for decades.

DOG ROSE DIRT
by Jen Williams
HarperCollinsUK , Publication 2021

When prodigal daughter Heather Evans returns to her family home, it’s for an unhappy reason: her mother Colleen has killed herself, and Heather must pick up the pieces. Sorting through her mother’s belongings Heather makes an alarming discovery – stacks and stacks of carefully preserved letters from the notorious serial killer Michael Reave. The Red Wolf, as the press dubbed him, has been in prison for over twenty years, serving a life sentence for the gruesome and ritualistic murders of several women across the country, although he has always protested his innocence. The police have had no reason to listen, yet Heather isn’t the only one to suddenly have cause to re-examine the Red Wolf murders – the body of a young woman has been found, dismembered and placed inside a tree, the corpse planted with flowers. Just as the Red Wolf once did. What did Heather’s mother know? Why did she kill herself? And with the monstrous Red Wolf safely locked inside a maximum security prison, who is stalking young women now? Teaming up with DI Ben Parker, Heather hopes to get some answers for herself and for the newest victims of this depraved murderer. Yet to do that, she must speak to Michael Reave herself, and expose herself to truths she may not be ready to face. Something dark is walking in the woods, and it knows her all too well.
Ideal for those who read BLACK EYED SUSANS or THE CHALK MAN, as well as fans of Mindhunter and the Ted Bundy tapes.
Jen Williams is an award-winning, very well-reviewed fantasy writer, but this is her debut thriller.

A haunting world of secrets and obsessions

GHOSTS OF THE MISSING
by Kathleen Donohoe
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt February 2020

In the vein of The Lovely Bones and The Little Friend, Ghosts of the Missing follows the mysterious disappearance of a twelve-year-old girl during a town parade and the reverberations of this tragedy throughout the town.
On Saturday, October 28, 1995, a girl vanished. She was not a child particularly prized in town…When questioned by reporters, those who’d known Rowan described her as ‘quiet’ and ‘loner’ and ‘shy’ and even ‘awkward.’ Words for pity.
Culleton, New York has a long history—of writers, of artists, and of unsolved mysteries. It’s where Adair grew up before she moved to Brooklyn to try to make it as an artist. But after years away from her hometown and little to show for it, Adair decides to return. She moves back in to Moye House, the old mansion, and current writer’s retreat, imbued with her family’s legacy. Ciaran is a writer staying at Moye House in the hopes of finally solving the mystery of what happened to Rowan Kinnane—his sister, and Adair’s childhood best friend. As the two begin investigating, secrets long buried rise to the surface, complicating their sense of themselves and their understanding of what happened on that fateful day.
With her “knack for capturing heartbreaking moments with a gripping simplicity” (Village Voice), Kathleen Donohoe lures us into and shows just how far people will go in order to find the truth.

Kathleen Donohoe’s stories and essays have appeared in The Recorder, New York Stories, and Washington Square Review. She serves on the Board of Irish American Writers & Artists. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and son.

NAT ENOUGH de Maria Scrivan

A hilarious new illustrated middle grade series about self-confidence and hidden talents

NAT ENOUGH
by Maria Scrivan
Scholastic / Graphix, 2020

In the spirit of The Dork Diaries and the work of Raina Telgemeier comes a hilarious new illustrated middle grade series about self-confidence and hidden talents.
Natalie has never felt that she’s enough—athletic enough, stylish enough, or talented enough. And on the first day of middle school, Natalie discovers that things are worse than she thought—now she’s not even cool enough for her best friend, Lily! As Natalie tries to get her best friend back, she learns more about her true self and natural talents. If Natalie can focus on who she is rather than who she isn’t, then she just might realize she’s more than enough, just the way she is. Written and illustrated in the form of Nat’s sketchbook, NAT ENOUGH is a story about the power of self-love and acceptance, told with warmth and humor.
Maria Scrivan’s cartoons have been published in magazines, newspapers, books, and on national television.

ATTRACTION de Ruby Porter

                                       ‘A melancholic and haunting meditation on postcolonial guilt

                                                                           ATTRACTION
                                                                                By Ruby Porter
                                                                                                                    Text publishingr, May 2019

In lyrical fragments, Ruby Porter explores what it means to be and to belong, to create and to destroy.
ATTRACTION is a meditative novel of connection, inheritance and the stories we tell ourselves.
Three women are on a road trip, navigating the motorways of the North Island of New Zealand, their relationships with one another, and the country’s colonial history. Our narrator doesn’t know where she stands with Ilana, her not-quite girlfriend. She has a complex history with her best friend, Ashi. She’s haunted by the memory of her emotionally abusive ex-boyfriend. And her period is late. Ruby Porter was born in 1993 and is a tutor of creative writing at the University of Auckland. She has been published in Geometry Journal, Aotearotica, Spinoff and Wireless, and a selection of her poetry is available on NZEPC. In 2018 she won the Wallace Foundation Short Fiction Contest.