It’s possible that some of you might have noticed that we didn’t do a July Reading Guide last month.
Just kidding! I know hundreds, probably far more, caught on to the fact that I skipped right over July, but just to clear the air—it was, in fact, because I was so busy reading, prepping upcoming content both for The Real Book Spy flagship site and the TRBS Substack, that I didn’t have time to stop and crank out the month’s most important article. Also, full disclosure, I was on deadline, with one of my books due to the publisher by August 1st, so I was locked away for half the month, furiously trying to finish in time.
Whelp, I hit my deadline, so here’s a makeup article from me to you, dear readers, highlighting the very best of the best new mysteries and thrillers that came out in July.
(NOTE: Just like with all Reading Guides these days, I’ve also posted a premium version, which includes book reviews of each title below, over on TRBS Substack. To see my thoughts on each book, including the ones I loved and the ones that weren’t quite for me, see that article here.)
Happy reading!
Atria/Emily Bestler Books
INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
#1 New York Times bestselling author Brad Thor returns with an exhilarating new Scot Harvath thriller.
After six months abroad, America’s top spy returns to a new administration, a new set of global priorities, and a power struggle—the likes of which the United States has never experienced.
Drawn into a web of deceit and deadly politics, Scot Harvath is thrust into a high-stakes conspiracy that could change the course of history. A cabal of shadowy elites is maneuvering for control and if they succeed, they will bring the country to its knees.
When trust is fleeting and survival means making impossible decisions, Harvath finds himself at the precipice. The actions he takes will shape the future of America—and might cost him everything he holds dear.
With enemies at every turn, one wrong move could push the nation over the edge.
Harper
Art restorer and legendary spy Gabriel Allon must solve the perfect crime in the dazzling new tale of murder, greed, and corruption from #1 New York Times bestselling novelist Daniel Silva.
Sometimes the only way to recover a stolen masterpiece is to steal it back . . .
Gabriel Allon has been awarded a commission to restore one of the most important paintings in Venice. But when he discovers the body of a mysterious woman floating in the waters of the Venetian Lagoon, he finds himself in a desperate race to recover a lost masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci.
The painting, a portrait of a beautiful young girl, has been gathering dust in a storeroom at the Vatican Museums for more than a century, misattributed and hidden beneath a worthless picture by an unknown artist. Because no one knows that the Leonardo is there, no one notices when it disappears one night during a suspicious power outage. No one but the ruthless mobsters and moneymen behind the theft — and the mysterious woman whom Gabriel found in a watery grave in Venice. A woman without a name. A woman without a face.
The action moves at breakneck speed from the galleries and auction houses of London to an enclave of unimaginable wealth on the French Riviera — and, finally, to a shocking climax in St. Peter’s Square, where the life of a pope hangs in the balance. An elegant and stylish journey through the dark side of the art world and the Vatican’s murky finances, An Inside Job proves once again that Daniel Silva is the reigning master of international intrigue and suspense.
The Woman in Suite 11 by Ruth Ware
Gallery/Scout Press
In this follow-up to #1 New York Times bestselling author Ruth Ware’s multi-million copy mega-hit The Woman in Cabin 10, Lo Blacklock returns to attend the opening of a luxury hotel, only to find herself in a white-knuckled race across Europe.
When the invitation to attend the press opening of a luxury Swiss hotel—owned by reclusive billionaire Marcus Leidmann—arrives, it’s like the answer to a prayer. Three years after the birth of her youngest child, Lo Blacklock is ready to reestablish her journalism career, but post-pandemic travel journalism is a very different landscape from the one she left ten years ago.
The chateau on the shores of Lake Geneva is everything Lo’s ever dreamed of, and she hopes she can snag an interview with Marcus. Unfortunately, he proves to be even more difficult to pin down than his reputation suggests. When Lo gets a late-night call asking her to come to Marcus’s hotel room, she agrees despite her own misgivings. She’s greeted, however, by a woman claiming to be Marcus’s mistress, and in life-or-death jeopardy.
What follows is a thrilling pursuit across Europe, forcing Lo to ask herself just how much she’s willing to sacrifice to save this woman…and if she can even trust her?
The Unraveling of Julia by Lisa Scottoline
Grand Central Publishing
An international bestselling author crafts a gothic “thriller with dashes of romance and excellent twists!” (Karin Slaughter, New York Times bestselling author) in which a young widow inherits a Tuscan estate from a mysterious benefactor and finds herself thrust into the crosshairs of a dangerous conspiracy—twisty, transportive, and haunting, this is suspense with a passport.
Lately, Julia Pritzker is beginning to think she’s cursed. She’s lost her adoptive parents, then her husband is murdered. When she realizes that her horoscope essentially foretold his death, she begins to spiral. She fears her fate is written in the stars, not held in her own hands.
Then a letter arrives out of the blue, informing her that she has inherited a Tuscan villa and vineyard—but her benefactor is a total stranger named Emilia Rossi. Julia has no information about her biological family, so she wonders if Rossi could be a blood relative. Bewildered, she heads to Tuscany for answers.
There, Julia is horrified to discover that Rossi was a paranoid recluse, who believed herself to be a descendent of Duchess Caterina Sforza, a legendary Renaissance ruler. Stunned by her uncanny resemblance to Rossi, and even to Caterina, Julia is further unnerved when she unearths eerie parallels between them, including an obsession with astrology.
Before long, Julia suspects she’s being followed, and strange things begin to happen. Not even a chance meeting with a handsome Florentine can ease her troubled mind. When events turn deadly, Julia’s harrowing struggle becomes a search for her identity, a race to save her sanity, and ultimately, a question of her very survival.
Authors Equity
When an ex-Navy SEAL ends up injured and imprisoned, a shadowy ring of power brokers offers him the only way out—through a high-stakes military mission. A “searing, cerebral, high-stakes knockout” (Prairies Book Review) international political espionage thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kyle Mills.
“Wall to wall action. Great book,” as recommended by bestselling thriller author Brad Thor on Today.
“Fade is a badass operator whom even a coma can’t stop. . . . Plenty of action, plenty of fun.” —Kirkus Reviews
When ex-navy SEAL Salam “Fade” al-Fayed steps in front of a sniper’s bullet, he assumes that he’s reached the end of the road—his death wish has finally been answered.
Instead, he wakes in a hospital. As one of the deadliest operatives in U.S. history, he’s now incapable of even standing without assistance. Alone and wanted by authorities, he’s destined to spend the rest of his life lying in a prison infirmary.
So when a shadowy organization offers him a new identity and next-generation medical care, he has no choice but to agree. Nothing’s free, though. After a grueling rehabilitation, he’s drafted into an elite paramilitary unit. But who’s in charge?
When a dire threat—a highly contagious pathogen—explodes out of China, his question is quickly answered: A select group of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful people has decided that governments are no longer capable of controlling the chaos erupting around the globe. It’s a power grab by billionaires who’ve decided that it’s their time to rule.
With panic rising, the leaders of both democracies and dictatorships prove equally willing to destroy anything and anyone to save themselves. Forced into action before he’s fully ready, Fade finds himself at the sharp end of a mission to stop a menace unlike any he’s faced before. If he fails, the consequences will be unimaginable. But what if he succeeds?
No one elected the people he’s working for. And God sure as hell didn’t ordain them. Has he signed on to save the human race . . . or to help quietly enslave it?
Fade In tackles the complex threats of international espionage, power imbalances, and global terrorism–and introduces a character destined to take his place among legends like Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp, Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne, Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, and Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon. “The prose snaps and hums. . . Fade In is a gripping, violent, and often heartbreaking book. It’s for readers who like their thrillers with a sharp philosophical bite.” —Literary Titan
Kyle Mills is the author of nine New York Times bestselling Vince Flynn novels featuring Mitch Rapp.
The Hamptons Lawyer by James Patterson; Mike Lupica
Little, Brown and Company
Instant #1 New York Times bestseller!
“Great book. Great series. Best yet” (Morning Joe). Undefeated criminal defense attorney Jane Smith—known as the Hamptons Lawyer—never fails to make her case.
The Hamptons on Long Island is known for its beautiful beaches, its luxury lifestyle—and its exclusive legal advice.
When Jane Smith takes on a famous celebrity client, she’s armed and ready: with brilliant arguments, hard evidence—and two Glocks.
Yet she’s chased down, shot at, and risks contempt of court. That’s when mounting a legal defense turns into self-defense.
Knowing every day in court could be her last, she’s a survivor. For now.
Kensington
Deputy U.S. Marshals Arliss Cutter and Lola Teariki brave a brutal and unforgiving Alaskan winter on a desperate manhunt that takes a blood-chilling twist in New York Times bestselling author and former U.S. Marshal Marc Cameron’s breathless, taut new wilderness adventure thriller for fans of Paul Doiron, CJ Box, Taylor Moore, and William Kent Krueger.
Deputy U.S. Marshals Arliss Cutter and Lola Teariki are at frozen Cheney Lake, finally nearing their prey. He’s Butch Pritchard, a killer-for-hire as ruthless as the Anchorage wind, and wanted for the murder of a 25-year-old pregnant woman in Missouri. A cruel hit orchestrated by the victim’s husband, Royce Decker, a former member of the St. Louis Metro PD and on the run too. As quickly as Butch is in the marshals’ sight he disappears, abandoning a bear of a partner who’s terrified for his life. But it isn’t Butch or Royce he’s afraid of.
If it isn’t those two outlaws, then who? And why? Right now, the creep in custody has gone silent and Arliss and Lola soon realize there’s more to this manhunt than they ever imagined. To see it through to the end they’ll have to find Butch first, then close on the cold-blooded husband. There is one lead to go on: a woman Butch has been involved with. His number one. She’s ready to talk. Even as scared to death as she is. When Arliss and Lola suddenly face an all-new case linked to this one, they’ll find out what everyone is so afraid of. And how many ways things could still go terribly wrong.
“Cameron’s novels hook you from the first line, cement your eyes to the page, and grip your heart in a vice. I can’t think of another writer whose work I admire more.” —WILLIAM KENT KRUEGER
“A double-barreled blast of action, narrative, and impossible-to-fake authenticity.” —CJ BOX
Grand Central Publishing
In the vein of David Baldacci, John Grisham, and Harlan Coben—this is Steve Berry like you’ve never read him before.
After a ten-year self-imposed exile, Brent Walker is returning home to Concord, a quaint town in central Georgia nestled close to the Savannah River. Two years ago, his father died, and now Brent, hired by Southern Republic Pulp and Paper Company as its assistant general counsel, is returning to care for his ailing mother.
For decades, Southern Republic has invested heavily in Concord, creating a thriving community where its employees live, work, and retire. But the genteel sheen of this quiet town is deceiving, and when a list of cryptic code surfaces, Brent starts to see the cracks.
Southern Republic’s success is based largely on a highly unorthodox and deadly system to control costs, known only to the three owners of the company. Now, one of them, Christopher Bozin, has had a change of heart. Brent’s return to Concord, a move Bozin personally orchestrated, provides his conscience with a chance at redemption. So a plan is set into motion, one that will not only criminally implicate Bozin’s two partners, but also place Brent Walker square in the crosshairs of men who want him dead—with only one course left available.
Find and reveal the shocking secret of the list.
Our Last Resort by Clémence Michallon
Knopf
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the bestselling author of The Quiet Tenant comes an immersive new suspense novel: Fifteen years ago, Frida and her brother escaped a cult. Now her brother is the prime suspect in a murder investigation—and it isn’t the first time.
“Michallon masterfully weaves past cult abuse into a taut present-day procedural, blending psychological complexity with enough terror to make you white-knuckle your beach chair.”—Oprah Daily
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE SUMMER: The New York Times, USA Today, Oprah Daily, Boston Globe, Marie Claire, CrimeReads, Apple Books, Goodreads, Brit + Co, She Reads, BuzzFeed, BookBub, Tag24
“Clémence Michallon is one of the most daring, exciting new voices in psychological suspense; she writes page turners with stunning and surprising depths.” – #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jewell
Innocence doesn’t bail you out; it just makes you easier to trap.
Frida and Gabriel arrive seeking a fresh start at the stunning Ara Hotel in the secluded desert of Escalante, Utah. Once so close they were able to finish each other’s sentences, they’ve grown apart in recent years after a sudden, unspeakable tragedy. Now, at the luxe resort, they are ready to reconnect between dips in the pool and hikes on spectacular desert trails. It all feels like paradise—until the dead body of a beautiful young woman who was vacationing at the Ara with her powerful, much older husband is discovered.
When the local police arrive and suspicion quickly falls on Gabriel, Frida is forced to revisit memories from their upbringing in a cloistered cult in upstate New York, their dramatic escape, and the scandal that followed. Frida’s belief in Gabriel’s innocence never wavered at the time, but now even she can’t ignore the evidence mounting against him.
Alternating between past and present timelines, Our Last Resort builds toward a shattering climax that uncovers the fate of the murdered Ara guest and poses the question: how well do we ever really know those we love? Multi-layered, gripping, and intense, Clémence Michallon’s latest suspense novel is a nail-biter until the last page, cementing her status as a major new talent in the genre.
Sons of Valor IV: False Flag by Brian Andrews & Jeffrey Wilson
Blackstone Publishing, Inc.
New York Times bestselling authors Andrews & Wilson bring readers another heart-stopping thriller in Sons of Valor IV: False Flag.
A murder in the Royal House of Saud, a secret alliance between two powerful rivals, and a race to upend the balance of power in the Middle East …
Lieutenant Keith “Chunk” Redman is no stranger to uncertainty. It’s what they train for in the Tier One. But when President Kelso Jarvis tells Gold Squadron the shocking news—that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia has been murdered, the King is missing, and the House of Saud has framed two Mossad agents—it’s clear the Middle East has become a powder keg just waiting to explode.
To get to the bottom of it, Gold Squadron must split up: Chunk leading a team of Israeli operatives; sniper Saw taking the helm of Gold; while CIA analyst Whitney Watts heads into the belly of the beast itself, the Royal Palace in Saudi Arabia, where she must risk her life to uncover the truth about the Crown Prince’s murder. Meanwhile, unseen by any of them, new alliances are forming orchestrated by a VEVAK operative who spent decades working in deep cover to unsettle the balance of power. Soon it’s a race against time to find the truth, and stop a false flag operation that threatens the very existence of Israel itself.
She Didn’t See It Coming by Shari Lapena
Pamela Dorman Books
“Stunning. Fiendishly plotted with whiplash twists and turns — Shari Lapena is at the very top of her game here. [She Didn’t See It Coming] might be my favorite yet!” —Lucy Foley, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Apartment
The new gripping novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Couple Next Door
When a beloved wife and mother disappears, a luxurious condo building transforms into a potential crime scene, and the investigation begins: can the detectives find her before it’s too late?
Bryden and Sam have it all: thriving careers, a smart apartment in a luxury condominium, supportive friends and a cherished daughter. The perfect life for the perfect couple.
Then Sam receives a call at his office. Bryden – working from home that day – has failed to collect their daughter from daycare. Arriving home with their little girl, he finds his wife’s car in the underground garage. Upstairs in their apartment her laptop is open on the table, her cell phone nearby, her keys in their usual place in the hall.
Except Bryden is nowhere to be seen. It’s as if she just walked out.
How can she have disappeared from her own home? And did she even leave the building at all?
With every minute that passes – and as questions swirl around their community – Bryden and Sam’s past seems a little less perfect, their condominium less safe, their friends, neighbors and relatives no longer quite so reliable . . .
Mulholland Books
In this provocative mystery from beloved crime writer Denise Mina, new evidence in an old murder case forces one woman to make an impossible choice.
WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO TELL THE TRUTH WHEN YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON A LIE?
A year ago, a father and his fiancée were brutally murdered in their opulent London townhouse, sparking the most high-profile murder investigation in recent history. Blood spatter expert Doctor Claudia O’Sheil’s evidence put the killer behind bars—or so everyone believes. But since the trial, Claudia’s learned a horrific truth: her evidence and her testimony were wrong. And someone she knows made sure of it.
Now, as she takes the stage to give a career-defining speech before London’s elite, Claudia faces a devastating choice. Protect her children and her career with her continued complicity, or blow the whole conspiracy apart and reveal the truth: not only is the real murderer still out there, but they’re in the audience.
As Claudia steps toward the microphone, she revisits that fateful night. What really happened? And what will Claudia say?
We Won’t All Survive by Kate Alice Marshall
Viking Books for Young Readers
fans of Karen McManus and Holly Jackson!
Two years ago, Mercy Gray was hailed as a hero for saving lives during a mall shooting. She still carries souvenirs from that day: the fragment of a bullet lodged in her back, a mountain of medical debt, and guilt for ignoring her sister’s warnings that the sweet boy next door was anything but.
So when billionaire turned TV host Damien Dare recruits Mercy to compete on his new survivalist reality show, she can’t turn down a chance at the whopping cash prize that could send her sister to college. But when she and the other contestants arrive at the off-grid location, something isn’t right. The set is empty. The gates close without warning, trapping them inside. And then one of them turns up dead. What appeared at first to be a tragic accident quickly transforms as more contestants start dropping like flies. With time and resources running low, surviving this show takes on a whole new meaning. Mercy must figure out who to trust. Before she’s next.
Mulholland Books
Three women in one twisted family race for answers in this “stunning” mystery set in the Mexicali borderlands that “breathes new life into the myth of Persephone and Demeter” (Ana Reyes, author of The House in the Pines).
At the edge of the Salton Sea, in the blistering borderlands, something is out hunting. . .
Malamar Veracruz has never left the dust-choked town of El Valle. Here, Mal has done her best to build a good life: She’s raised two children, worked hard, and tried to forget the painful, unexplained disappearance of her sister, Elena. When another local girl goes missing, Mal plunges into a fresh yet familiar nightmare. As a desperate Mal hunts for answers, her search becomes increasingly tangled with inscrutable visions of a horse-headed woman, a local legend who Mal feels compelled to follow. Mal’s perspective is joined by the voices of her two daughters, all three of whom must work to uncover the truth about the missing girls in their community before it’s too late.
Combining elements of Latina and Indigenous culture, family drama, mystery, horror, and magical realism in a spellbinding mix, Salt Bones lays bare the realities of environmental catastrophe, family secrets, and the unrelenting bond between mothers and daughters.
“Taut with a mother’s fierce love and the corrosive power of secrets . . . this is storytelling at its most urgent and haunting.” —Morgan Talty, author of Night of the Living Rez
You Belong Here by Megan Miranda
S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books
A decades-old secret that drove a young woman from her hometown now threatens her college-bound daughter in this twisty new thriller from New York Times bestselling author Megan Miranda.
Beckett Bowery never thought she’d return to Wyatt Valley, a picturesque college town in the Virginia mountains steeped in tradition. Her roots there were strong: Beckett’s parents taught at the college, and she never even imagined studying anywhere else—until a tragedy her senior year ended with two local men dead, and her roommate on the run, never to be seen again…
For the last two decades, Beckett has done her best to keep her distance. Then her daughter Delilah secretly applies and earns a full scholarship, and Beckett can only hope that her lingering fears are unfounded. But deep down she knows that Wyatt Valley has a long memory, and that the past isn’t the only dangerous thing in town…
Love You To Death by Christina Dotson
Bantam
When two best friends’ hobby of crashing weddings takes a deadly turn, they’re forced to embark on a road trip of survival in this addictive thriller.
“The hairpin turns and killer twists of this propulsive bad-girls-gone-worse thriller will have you hanging on for dear life!”—Layne Fargo, bestselling author of The Favorites and They Never Learn
How well do we really know our friends?
As the only Black women at an antebellum-themed wedding, Kayla and Zorie should’ve known this heist was doomed from the start. They should never have come, but when their financial situation became dire, they agreed to hit one last wedding.
Jaded and cynical Kayla has spent the last decade trying to fix her life since an angsty teen prank led to her arrest. Now, with her housekeeping job at a subpar hotel and her disappointing, Cinderella-esque relationship with her dad and obnoxious stepsister, she hates the life she’s built. Her only bright spots are her best friend, Zorie, and their favorite weekend pastime of crashing weddings to steal the money and pawn the gifts. But what started as a lark has evolved into a greedy obsession, making each wedding haul riskier than the last.
While trying to avoid the angry bride and groom, Kayla and Zorie’s getaway takes a gruesome turn and suddenly the “Wedding Crasher Killers” are national news. The best friends are forced to hit the road to dodge the authorities, but their escape plan leaves behind a bloody trail of destruction from Georgia all the way to the bayou. As past grudges resurface, Kayla realizes that the best friend she thought she knew is more dangerous than she could ever have realized.
Sharp, unpredictable, and madcap from start to finish, Love You to Death is the most fun—and deadly—road trip you’ll ever take.
Praised as “One of the hardest working, most thoughtful, and fairest reviewers out there” by New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline, Ryan Steck has “quickly established himself as the authority on mysteries and thrillers” (Author A.J. Tata). Steck also works full-time as a freelance editor in addition to running TRBS. He is the author of FIELDS OF FIRE, which #1 New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr says “will leave you speechless and begging for more,” LETHAL RANGE, OUT FOR BLOOD, GONE DARK, and TED BELL’S MONARCH. For more information, follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and BookBub. For even more content and book news, subscribe to The Real Book Spy Substack!