August 22, 2025
New Fiction
Dead of Summer by Jessa Maxwell – Faith finds the extravagant ring on the first day of what is to be a summer of luxury. David Clarke, scion of the billionaire Clarke family, has brought her to his “cottage” for the season, and though it wasn’t initially part of her plan to get married, the obvious wealth on display is seductive. Especially for someone who came from where she did. But while the Clarkes’ money provides resort style accommodations on a sun-soaked island, it might also gloss over secrets and stories of long ago betrayal. Stories about a man ostracized from his community who lives in a house surrounded by the ocean. Stories about David Clarke’s childhood best friends – two girls, one who died at his family’s Fourth of July party and the other who fled to New York to study art, never to be seen again. Soon Faith isn’t sure what to believe – about Hadley Island or her soon-to-be fiancé. When another young girl goes missing, it becomes clear while the wealthy love Hadley Island for its seclusion, small communities never forget, and bodies long thought gone have a nasty habit of returning with the tide.
Bad Juliet by Giles Blunt – Recently jilted by his fiancé, Paul Gascoyne takes a job as a tutor to the patients at the Trudeau Sanitarium in upstate New York. There, in the icebound beauty of the Adirondack Mountains, he finds himself drawn to Sarah Ballard, a beautiful but enigmatic young woman, traumatized by her past abroad the ill-fated Lusitania. To rouse her out of her gloom, Paul encourages her to write a memoir. As Paul reads her words, it gradually becomes clear that Sarah’s memories are a tangle of truth and fiction that he can’t begin to unravel. And yet he cannot overcome his attraction to her. When a terrible relapse leaves Sarah worried that she has little time left, she begs Paul to be the one person in the world who will truly know her.
The Deepest Fake by Daniel Kalla – Liam Hirsch has everything he ever wanted: a loving family, a thriving career as CEO of an AI company, financial security, and a bright future. But when he’s diagnosed with a terminal illness, just weeks after discovering his wife’s infidelity, his perfect lie unravels. As he grapples with his fate, he prepares to face his final days on his own terms. However, unexplained events inside his company make him question everything, including his diagnosis. In a world of deepfake videos, synthetic voices, and digital deception, couldn’t these technologies be weaponized against him? What if nothing is as it seems? With time running out, Liam turns to Andrea DeWalt, a private investigator contending with her own feelings of betrayal, to help him uncover a conspiracy that threatens his life, his family, and their future. When nothing is as it seems and every digital footprint can be manipulated, whom can Liam trust?
She Didn’t See It Coming by Shari Lapena – 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 pick up their daughter from day care. 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. But 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, neighbours, and relatives no longer quite so reliable.