March’s Best New Thrillers

The Black Book, by James Patterson and David Ellis
Patterson and Ellis team up on a standalone that offers up some classic, old-school thriller pleasures. Bill Harney is a cop from a long line of Chicago police; the son of the chief of detectives, he’s dedicated to the job and willing to give his life for the law. Which he almost does, waking up after being left for dead next to his partner and a crusading assistant district attorney—who weren’t so lucky. Billy doesn’t remember what happened, and as it becomes clear he’s being investigated for their murders, he hears about a mysterious little black book—a book everyone in Chicago wants to get their hands on. Certain the information in it will clear his name, Billy goes on the hunt, once again risking his life for justice.

Mississippi Blood, by Greg Iles
Iles’ concluding novel in the Natchez Burning trilogy starts off at a tense boil…and then somehow increases the tension. Penn Cage, now mayor of Natchez, Mississippi, finds himself—and his family—targeted by the Double Eagles, a splinter KKK group led by the loathsome and deadly Snake Knox. Penn’s father, Tom, heads to trial for the killing of his nurse and lover, Viola Turner, and Penn turns to author Serenity Turner for assistance chasing down witnesses. As the racial violence escalates, everyone’s commitment to their ideals is tested, and Iles brings all of the plot threads together in well-constructed trail scenes that offer plenty of surprises.

The Cutthroat, by Clive Cussler and Justin Scott
Cussler and Scott’s tenth Isaac Bell novel explores a killer concept: Jack the Ripper, alive and gleefully murdering his way across the globe in the early 20th century. Initially hired to find the runaway daughter of a wealthy businessman, Bell is too late, discovering the girl murdered in gruesome fashion. When this leads to the discovery of similar murders around the world, Bell forms a “Cutthroat Squad” to locate the serial killer behind it, a group of the toughest and smartest agents in the Van Dorn Detective Agency. The result is a globe-trotting adventure that incorporates Cussler’s love of authentic historical technology with his usual panache while sketching out a plausibly terrifying alternate world where one of history’s worst killers flew under the radar for decades.

Dangerous Games, by Danielle Steel
Steel demonstrates why she’s a master of the form with her new thriller, focusing on television journalist Alix Phillips, a strong, experienced woman who thinks nothing of flying into the world’s danger zones for a story, accompanied by her quiet, reserved ex-Navy Seal cameraman, Ben. When Phillips begins looking into Olympia Foster, widow of a popular Senator assassinated before he could fulfill his political potential, she uncovers an explosive story that could transform the balance of power in the country and around the world. Foster’s relationship with Vice President Tony Clark leads to a federal investigation—and to threats against Alix and her family. Alix and Ben find themselves pitted against forces they couldn’t have imagined as secret after secret reveal just how much danger they’re really in.

Without Warning, by Joel C. Rosenberg
The third J.B. Collins novel begins with a determined, triumphant president of the United States ready to declare the imminent destruction of ISIS at the State of the Union. Collins, foreign correspondent for the New York Times, makes the case that the opposite is true, that the chaos in the Middle East (including the death of the Israeli Prime Minister) means only one thing: ISIS is planning an attack on the U.S. at a scale never before imagined. Collins urges the president to hunt down Abu Khalif, leader of ISIS, before it’s too late. When the capitol is attacked, the president’s reaction causes Collins to head out on his own—to track down Kalif himself.

The Cutaway, by Christina Kovac
Kovac’s debut novel is a crackling thriller starring Virginia Knight, a TV producer in Washington, D.C. At work Knight finds herself pitted against a new boss intent on cutting staff and taking over Virginia’s job himself, but that doesn’t stop her from looking into the murder of attorney Evelyn Carney. The investigation leads the resourceful and intelligent Knight down a slippery slope into a conspiracy as she realizes information is being withheld from the police, and soon enough she’s uncertain who she can trust—but Knight isn’t someone who gives up easily.

Never Let You Go, by Chevy Stevens
Lindsey Nash thought she’d escaped her abusive, controlling husband, Andrew, eleven years ago. When she fled with daughter Sophie, a drunken Andrew chased them and killed a women in the resulting car accident, which sent him to jail. But after he’s released, a series of disturbing, threatening events convince Lindsey Andrew has come for his revenge…and the local police refuse to help her. Lindsey turns to her self-defense coach and friend Marcus, a man of hidden talents—a man who might be more than a friend. The tension rises as Andrew’s determination to control what he sees as his property brings them closer and closer to a direct confrontation.

Ill Will, by Dan Chaon
Chaon weaves a complex, emotionally wringing story that begins when Dustin Tillman was just 13—the night his mother, father, aunt, and uncle were murdered. Dustin accused his adopted brother, Rusty, a troubled boy who flirted with Satanism, and Rusty was charged and convicted. Three decades later, Dustin, now a psychologist whose Ph.D. dissertation dealt with Satanic ritual abuse, has a wife slowly dying and sons who are sliding into trouble—with his youngest, Aaron, turning to drugs. When he hears Rusty has been exonerated and released, he doesn’t realize Rusty has made contact with Aaron, urging him to talk to a cousin who might know the truth behind the murders. Meanwhile, one of Aaron’s friends turns up dead, and one of Dustin’s patients urges him to investigate. Slowly, all of these threads tie together with confidence and surprises.

Follow Me Down, by Sherri Smith
When Mia Hass, a pharmacist who’s battling an addiction to pills, hears from her North Dakota hometown’s chief of police, she knows it can’t be good news. Her brother, Lucas, who stayed behind to teach high school and care for their alcoholic, unstable mother, has been accused of murdering one of his own students, and has since gone missing. Mia reluctantly goes home, becoming the one person in town convinced of Lucas’ innocence and pitting herself against a local police department uninterested in investigating anything that hints otherwise. Smith expertly tightens the knots as Mia struggles with her family history, her brother’s situation, and her own issues as she slowly extracts the shocking truth.

Lola, by Melissa Love
Love’s debut is a bracingly original story blending traditional thrills with a modern sensibility. A representative of the Los Liones drug cartel visits the home of Lola and her boyfriend, Garcia, leader of local gang the Crenshaw Six. The Los Liones have an offer: ambush a former Liones associate at his meeting with a new drug supplier, and the Crenshaw Six can have his territory. Fail, and the Liones Cartel will kill Lola. The first twist is essential: the leader of the Crenshaw Six isn’t Garcia at all, but secretly Lola herself. When the ambush goes wrong, she has to reveal herself and begin the fight of her life as the story deepens into a contemplative look at violence in America, the struggles of women in authority everywhere, and the role of addiction in modern society—all without sacrificing an iota of the tension.