An utterly absorbing thriller

These past few years have witnessed an explosion of interest in psychological thrillers, in the wake of the “grip-lit” mega-trend launched by bestsellers such as “The Girl on the Train” and “Gone Girl.” We’ve seen countless chilling page-turners hit shelves, but few have captured the dark and twisted mind of a psychopath as well as Nathan Ripley’s debut novel, “Find You in the Dark.”

Nathan Ripley is the pseudonym for Journey Prize-winning Toronto writer Naben Ruthnum, whose stories and essays have appeared in the Walrus and Hazlitt, and who penned an acclaimed short memoir last year, “Curry: Eating, Reading and Race.”

But the emerging talent truly hits his stride with “Find You in the Dark,’ a well-crafted crime novel that proves utterly absorbing. The suspenseful story follows Martin Reese, a rich, retired Seattle tech mogul who harbours a secret obsession with amateur police work. Since his wife’s sister’s disappearance two decades prior, Martin has painstakingly researched serial killers, bribing cops for files, retreating deep into the forest for top-secret digs and, eventually, locating the missing bodies of victims. .

Just as Martin closes in on the ultimate goal of his clandestine work — locating his sister-inlaw’s remains — a wrench is thrown into his plans.