New crime novels and thrillers to read this July from Karin Slaughter to Steve Cavanagh
Our thriller and crime critic Myles McWeeney on the best new novels to read this month.
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Irish Examiner
09-08-2025
- Irish Examiner
Book review: Karin Slaughter revisits familiar territory — but this time it's personal
Readers familiar with Karin Slaughter's Grant County and Will Trent series, or her three standalone thrillers, will be delighted with this, the first of a new series. It's set in the fictional North Falls, a small town where everyone seems to know everyone else and is reminiscent of the rural Georgia scenery of her Grant County. Emmy Clifton belongs to a family which has dominated the town for decades. Her father Gerald is the sheriff and, when we first meet her, she is a young police officer struggling with a failing marriage to a husband who is a useless parent to their young son. Another challenge she is facing is her mother Myrna's failing health. Two teenage girls, Madison and Cheyenne, go missing the night the town is celebrating the Fourth of July with a fireworks display. For Emmy, the quest to find them is personal. Distracted by a row with her husband, she turned Madison away when she sought help; the teenager is the stepdaughter of her best friend Hannah, and Emmy has known her since she was little. As Emmy investigates, she quickly realises that, like most teenagers, the girls have secrets, but they are not the only ones, they are surrounded by adults, including members of her own family, who are not always telling the truth. When the bodies of the girls are found, the murder investigation intensifies. 'We Are All Guilty Here' by Karin Slaughter The novel jumps forward 12 years to the present. Emmy is divorced, she's become her father's deputy, and her son Cole has become a police officer. Emmy and Hannah's friendship has not recovered. She and her father have consoled themselves with the fact they succeeded in catching the killer — but did they? He is released from jail when a new witness comes forward. Shortly afterwards, another girl disappears. In this second part of the novel, Slaughter introduces a new character, Jude, an FBI agent known for her success in hunting down child predators. She appears to be taking a surprising interest in the latest disappearance, arriving in North Falls to help find the teenager. Readers will be surprised to discover her motivation. Emmy begins to wonder if she and her father locked up the wrong man. That's painful for her as she admires her father so much. When the original suspect is released, it forces her and those working with her to revisit the original investigation. Emmy is driven by instinct and very much influenced by her father. Gradually, she begins to suspect that maybe someone pointed the police in the wrong direction 12 years before, and is trying to do so again. As each layer is peeled away, the suspense builds up. As fans familiar with her work expect, Slaughter does a great job developing the characters and their lives, so readers feel they know the Clifton family and community of North Falls. The Clifton family are as messy as they are fascinating, and hopefully we will learn more about some of them in future novels in the series. Slaughter's writing always reflects real life, this time touching on sexual assault, child abuse, and exploitation. She is adept at exposing the complexities of relationships, between family and friends, and exploring how misunderstandings develop. In this novel, she exposes how easily tensions can develop between parents and teenagers as the young people try to become independent. The novel ends in an interesting place for several characters, which means its sequel will be eagerly anticipated. For now, enjoy this absorbing read.
Irish Independent
18-07-2025
- Irish Independent
Ruth Ware's Suite 11 alpine sequel to cruise-ship thriller The Woman in Cabin 10 stretches credulity
Fiction The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware was a global bestseller. Ten years on, with The Woman in Suite 11, Ware has brought back heroine Lo Blacklock, and some of the other characters from the original story. While it's a sequel, Suite 11 also works as a standalone novel as the events that occurred on the cruise ship Aurora, are explained. Lo is now living in New York with her American husband Judah and two small sons, and is attempting to relaunch her freelance writing career. An unexpected invite to the launch of an uber-swish hotel in Switzerland, owned by reclusive billionaire Marcus Leidmann, looks like it might be the break she needs.
Irish Examiner
12-07-2025
- Irish Examiner
Book review: Twisty thriller keeps us guessing
The Woman in Suite 11 is Ruth Ware's tenth novel. With books such as One Perfect Couple, Zero Days, and The Turn of the Key, she is now firmly entrenched as a force in the psychological thriller genre. This latest offering is a follow-on to the hit The Girl in Cabin 10, which is set to be a Netflix movie starring Keira Knightley this autumn. In The Woman in Suite 11, Laura 'Lo' Blacklock is back and it's 10 years after the traumatic events she experienced on board the luxury cruise ship Aurora. We reunite with Lo in New York where she now lives with her husband Judah and their two young boys Eli and Teddy. A travel journalist, Lo has been busy raising her boys for the past three years and is on the cusp of returning to work when she receives an invitation to the opening of a luxury hotel in Switzerland owned by the reclusive billionaire Marcus Leidmann. With Lo trying to re-establish herself in the world of travel journalism, it's an invite too appealing to pass up. In the Grand Hotel du Lac on the banks of Lake Geneva Lo encounters some familiar faces from Cabin 10 — a trio of travel journalists with whom she has somewhat strained relationships. There's also the matter of the book Lo wrote about her experience on the Aurora, with some of these fellow journos coming in for criticism in the book. It's a fraught, and somewhat unsettling start to the press trip for Lo, and memories of her time on the Aurora are thrust to the fore. We're reminded throughout the novel of the events of Lo's time on the luxury cruise ship where she was gaslit, trapped, and in imminent danger — and this old trauma resurfaces when another, more shocking, familiar face reaches out to Lo for help escaping an abusive relationship with the billionaire Leidmann. And so Lo and her old frenemy take off on a chase through Europe, as they try to out-run Leidmann and his influence. While it's not completely necessary that readers have read Cabin 10, it would help to understand some of the choices Lo makes. On the face of it, some of these, frankly unwise, decisions reveal a gullibility in Lo, or perhaps she just feels she owes this person something. There is twist upon twist in this pacy thriller (arguably a couple of twists too many?). One twist setup peters out entirely and rather unsatisfactorily doesn't lead us anywhere. But where Ware shines is building that psychologically-edgy environment where Lo doesn't know who to trust. A shocking murder in the very hotel Lo and her companion are staying further ramps up the jeopardy and Lo finds herself at the centre of police attention. Away from the calming security of her husband and family, Lo is alone and faced with increasingly stressful situations. Her old trauma haunts her and panic attacks threaten as she spirals from one crisis to another. Can she figure out who to trust or see who's playing her for a fool? This is the ideal holiday read for those who enjoy tense, psychological thrillers. Ware has created a realistic protagonist in Lo Blacklock. Sure, she's flawed and makes some questionable decisions, but you're still rooting her — there's a humanity to her and a willingness to believe in people that overrides the slight annoyance readers may feel with her naivete. It's the definition of a page-turner — as the plot hurtles towards the end, readers will find themselves unable to put the book down. Read More Book review: Gripping tale of right v wrong
