Meg's Picks: March 2016, part 2

I've got thrillers by the dozen coming in at the library these days, but how do you know what's good? How do you choose? Well, luckily you have me to help you out with that. If you're tired of the same old stuff, here are a few new titles that might help shake things up.

The Passenger, by Lisa Lutz. You may be familiar with Lutz's name from her bestselling Spellman novels (The Spellman Files, Curse of the Spellmans, etc.). She's treating readers to something a little different here, a blistering thriller that follows a woman crisscrossing the country  as she creates and sheds identities to try and escape her past, or her pasts. If you're looking for a new thriller that will keep the pages turning and your pulse racing, this is one to add to your list.

Shaker, by Scott Frank. If you're looking for a read that combines humor and thrills, Shaker should be on your list. Roy is a low-key, low-profile kind of guy, the kind of personality that well-suits his job as an "errand runner" for various New York criminals. When a job takes him to LA for a hit, just a week after a massive earthquake has knocked out cell service and buckled freeways city-wide, it goes off without a hitch. Until he realizes he can't remember where he parked his car. And then the stumbles across another crime-in-progress, only to find himself part of a video that goes viral. And then? Then Roy really gets into trouble. Fans of Carl Hiaasen, this is right up your alley. (Note: This novel was originally slated for release in March, but was bumped up and published in late January. So it's available now!)

No One Knows, by J.T. Ellison. Ellison's latest solo venture (she also co-writes with Catherine Coulter) is being likened to recent bestsellers like The Girl on the Train and The Husband's Secret, so get in early on this. The day Aubrey Hamilton’s husband is declared dead by the state of Tennessee should bring closure so she can move on with her life. But Aubrey doesn’t want to move on; she wants Josh back. It’s been five years since he disappeared, since their blissfully happy marriage—they were happy, weren’t they?—screeched to a halt and Aubrey became the prime suspect in his disappearance. Five years of emptiness, solitude, loneliness, questions. Why didn’t Josh show up at his friend’s bachelor party? Was he murdered? Did he run away? And now, all this time later, who is the mysterious yet strangely familiar figure suddenly haunting her new life?

Lie in Plain Sight, by Maggie Barbieri. It's a busy day at the bakery Maeve Conlon owns when she receives a phone call from the high school saying Maeve's employee's daughter, Taylor Dvorak, is ill. Taylor's mom is out on a delivery and Taylor has her own car, so harried Maeve gives the school nurse permission to send Taylor home on her own. But Taylor never makes it: Somewhere between the school and her house, she just vanishes.
Not only does Maeve feel responsible, but she can't shake the feeling that there's more to Taylor's disappearance than meets the eye. So Maeve decides to take matters into her own capable hands. She finds that Farringville has a lot more to hide than most small towns, from the secretive high school girls' soccer coach to Taylor's estranged father and her troubled mother, and she gets to work shining a light on all these mysteries.