Books

7 Of This Year's Most Riveting Mystery Novels

Best friendships go awry, unrequited romance rekindles and old secrets come home to roost in these thrilling new mystery novels.

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The days are getting darker and Halloween is nigh. It’s the perfect time to lose yourself in a good mystery novel, like this year’s much-anticipated Into the Water, Paula Hawkins’ follow-up to The Girl on the Train. Or choose any one from this crop of worthy thrillers published in 2017 — from books with tough and sweet protagonists, to 20-year-old unsolved disappearances, to pitch-perfect portrayals of the agony of adolescence — and settle in because you’ll be hooked from the first page.

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Fall Mystery Novels 2017
<em>Odd Child Out</em>, by Gilly Macmillan, $20
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Odd Child Out, by Gilly Macmillan, $20

The three main characters in Macmillan’s third thriller flit across the book’s first three pages, to devastating effect. First come Noah and Abdi, 15-year-old best friends, the former chased by the latter after dark in a Bristol scrapyard and ultimately pleading — for what? — when they reach the edge of the canal that runs through the city like a “black ribbon.” And then comes Detective Inspector Jim Clemo, who kisses his therapist at the end of his last mandatory session — maybe because he’s so happy to be out of there, or maybe because her slim elegance makes him forget himself… In any case, you’re hooked.

 

 

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