ON THE SHELF: This week’s column features thriller titles from the New Adult Fiction collection.
Published 2:47 pm Sunday, August 17, 2025
This column features suggested reads from the Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library.
This column was submitted by Evangeline Cessna, local technical services librarian at the Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library.
Brent Walker is returning to Concord, Georgia after ten years of self-imposed exile in “The List” by Steve Berry. Since his father’s death two years ago, Brent has taken a job as assistant general counsel for Southern Republic Pulp and Paper Company and is returning to care for his ailing mother. Southern Republic has invested heavily in the quaint little town and has created a thriving community where its employees live, work, and retire. There are cracks forming in this genteel façade, however. A list of cryptic code surfaces and Brent sees that Southern Republic’s success is based largely on an unorthodox and deadly system—a system only known to three owners of the company—used to control costs. One of the owners, Christopher Bozin, has a change of heart and he is the one who orchestrated Brent’s return to Concord. A plan is set into motion, one that will not only criminally implicate Bozin’s two partners, but it also places Brent in the crosshairs of men who want him dead.
“In Dead Line” by Marc Cameron, Deputy U.S. Marshals Arliss Cutter and Lola Teariki are getting close to their target near frozen Cheney Lake. The target is Butch Pritchard, a ruthless killer-for-hire who’s wanted for the murder of a 25-year-old pregnant woman in Missouri. The hit was orchestrated by the victim’s husband, Royce—a former member of the St. Louis Metro Police Department—who is also on the run. Just as the Marshals move in on Butch, he disappears, abandoning a partner who is terrified for his life. It isn’t Butch or Royce the man is afraid of and he goes silent when Arliss and Lola take him into custody. Still tracking Butch, they come across a woman he’s involved with who is willing to talk, though she’s extremely afraid. When Arliss and Lola suddenly get a new case linked to this one, they’ll find what everyone is so afraid of. They’ll also find out how many ways things can go horribly wrong.
The latest from author Elly Griffiths is titled “The Frozen People.” Alie Dawson and her cold case team investigate crimes so old, they joke about them being frozen. Nobody knows, however that the team actually travel back in time to look for evidence. Their latest case sees Ali venture back to 1850s London to clear the name of Cain Templeton, an eccentric art collector. The rumor is that Cain is a part of a sinister group called The Collectors. When Ali arrives in Victorian London, there’s another dead woman and too many unanswered questions. She soon finds herself trapped, unable to get back to her beloved son, Finn, who is facing his own accusations in the present day. Are these two cases related?
Lisa Jewell explores what happens when the perfect man is a perfect lie in her book “Don’t Let Him In.” Nina Swann is puzzled when she receives a condolence card from Nick Radcliffe, an old friend of her late husband. He is looking to connect with her after her husband’s untimely death. Nick appears to be a man of substance and good taste. He has a smile that melts hearts and a way of putting others at ease, but Nina’s adult daughter, Ash, sees Nick as too slick and polished, too good to be true. Ash begins digging into Nick’s past and finds Martha, a florist living in a neighboring town with an infant and her devoted husband Alistair. Lately, Alistair has been traveling more and more for work, disappearing for days at a time. When Martha questions him, he always has a legitimate explanation, but she can’t shake the feeling something isn’t right. Nina, Martha, and Ash don’t know it, but they are about to uncover a shocking and dark truth. The past doesn’t stay buried forever.
“An Inside Job” is the latest from Daniel Silva. Gabriel Allon has been awarded the commission to restore one of the most important paintings in Venice. When he discovers the body of a mysterious woman floating in the waters of the Venetian Lagoon, he is thrust into a race to recover a lost da Vinci masterpiece. Because no one knows that the da Vinci is in the Vatican Museum, no one notices when it disappears during a power outage. No one except the ruthless mobsters and moneymen behind the theft—and the mysterious woman found in a watery grave. She has no name and no face. The race to find her identity and the missing painting will take Gabriel from the galleries and auction houses of London to an enclave of extreme wealth on the French Riviera, and, finally, a shocking climax in St. Peter’s Square, where the life of a people hangs in the balance.
Ruth Ware’s “The Woman in Suite 11” begins with an invitation to attend the press opening of a luxury Swiss hotel owned by reclusive billionaire Marcus Leidmann. Three years after having her youngest child, Lo Blacklock is ready to reignite her journalism career, but post-pandemic travel journalism is very different from when she left ten years ago. The chateau is located on the shore of Lake Geneva and is everything Lo has ever dreamed of. She hopes she can get an interview with Marcus, but he proves to be quite difficult to pin down. Then Lo gets a late-night call to come to Marcus’s hotel room. She agrees but has some misgivings. She is greeted by a woman who claims to be Marcus’s mistress and to be in mortal jeopardy. What follows is a thrilling chase across Europe, forcing Lo to ask just how much is she willing to sacrifice to save this woman—and if she can even trust her?