2 Thriller Authors I’ve Enjoyed Reading Recently (Writers Read)
Bestselling thriller author J.T. Ellison shares two thriller authors (and three thriller novels) she’s enjoyed recently.
In my many years as a thriller author, there has been nothing quite as fun as seeing other authors in my genre level up their craft and become deeper, stronger, more intense writers. One who I think is truly at the top of her game is Alice Feeney. I’ve read two of her books recently that absolutely bamboozled me. The first was My Husband's Wife, and the second was Rock, Paper, Scissors.
We’re talking first-class sleight of hand, which is an incredibly difficult move to pull off. It’s so much fun to set aside my own knowledge of the craft and get taken in by the story and the characters.
Feeney’s casts lie. They lie to one another; they lie to the reader. They are the most unreliable of unreliable narrators, and yet, you never feel cheated when the reveal happens. On the contrary, it’s usually a jaw-dropping how did I not see it moment, which is so much fun. The clues have all been laid out, a trail of breadcrumbs that, upon second reflection, are so incredibly obvious.
A master’s work, that.
The other book I read recently that truly moved me was The Correspondent, by Virginia Evans. Sybil Van Antwerp is her own kind of unrelateable narrator. Told in an epistolary style, we only hear what she wants us to, and the mystery of her life and the ultimate acts of self-forgiveness made me weep. Well worth a few days of your reading life––it’s a love letter to words, vocabulary, and the enduring power of personal connection.
Check out J.T. Ellison's You Know Why here:
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