THRILLERS GEOFFREY WANSELL
END OF STORY by A J Finn
(Hemlock Press €14.99, 416 pp) FINN announced himself as a remarkable talent six years ago with his multi-million selling debut The Woman In The Window, which became a big hit on Netflix. The wait for his second thriller is well worth it — and underlines his gifts.
The hero, Sebastian Trapp, is a famous mystery novelist — but also possibly a murderer — who has been told he has just three months to live. He invites his longtime correspondent and fellow mystery buff, Nicky Hunter, to write his life story.
She travels to the Trapp home in San Francisco, where she is welcomed as a guest. But all is never what it seems in the house, and Trapp’s second wife Diana, together with Madeleine, his daughter by his first wife, contrive to unsettle Hunter. This is a labyrinthine story circling around whether Trapp did or did not kill his first wife and son. Elegant and serpentine, it grabs the imagination and never lets go.
ORIGINAL SINS by Erin Young (Hodder €25, 352 pp)
FORMER historical novelist Robyn Young launched her career as a thriller writer two years ago, using the pseudonym Erin Young, with the ferociously good story The Fields. Here, she triumphantly returns to the genre, again using Riley Fisher — now a minted FBI agent — as her central character, who was a police sergeant in the debut.
A serial attacker is brutally targetting the women of Des Moines, Iowa, apparently at random. It looks as though a man they called the Sin Eater has returned. The state governor Jess Cook receives a threatening letter that might have come from the attacker. Fisher is detailed to find out who is behind the threat.
Then it emerges there may be more than one Sin Eater. The plot explodes with excitement and suspense, proving that Young has become a thriller writer to treasure.
THE DREAM HOME by T M Logan (Zaffre €21.99, 432 pp)
A DECEPTIVELY simple premise lies behind this snappy story that moves like a rocket. Adam and Jess, together with their three young children, have moved into what they believe is going to be their dream home, a Victorian villa in a select part of town. It cost them more than they can truly afford, but they are convinced it’s worth it.
Yet no sooner have they moved in than Adam discovers a secret door behind an old wardrobe, which contains all manner of odd memorabilia, including an expensive, antique watch. Now without a job, having been made redundant without telling his wife, Adam decides to sell it and the plot begins to thicken.
The previous owner had been in his 80s, but a man turns up, pretending to be one of his relations, and asks about the watch. Adam denies all knowledge, but then starts to explore the history of the house and the secret room. As he does, so the twists multiply until the dream house becomes a nightmare for the family: it is quite delicious.