When Sasha receives a call from her old university friend Gabby inviting her to spend Christmas at Gabby’s remote Scottish lake house, Sasha knows she shouldn’t go. Twelve years ago, on Christmas Eve, when Sasha and her five closest friends were celebrating the festive season, something truly horrific happened that would change the course of their friendship forever. Something that meant Sasha hasn’t spoken to any of them since that night.

After the killing of a prominent mob lawyer, NYPD homicide detectives Jacob Jackson and Caitlin Grimes start receive chilling, written “rules” for how to commit the perfect murder. "Rule number one for the perfect murder: Evidence is your enemy. Leave none behind." Jackson (Reid Scott) and Grimes (Cobie Smulders) race to find the killer, setting them on a collision course with the city’s crime underbelly, and a perpetrator who seems happy to toy with them. “Rule number two. No crimes of passion. The perfect murder is always business, never pleasure.”

Jenny sits in the same seat on the same train every week, seeing familiar faces come and go. Until a chance encounter shatters her world. Sixteen years ago, Jenny survived a traumatic ordeal that left her best friend, Susie, missing and presumed dead. The world has its theories about what happened to Susie Patterson, and one of those theories points the finger at Jenny. Now she lives a quiet life, volunteering at a crisis helpline while trying to deal with her own anxiety and the true crime fans obsessed with finding her missing friend.

Kidnappers grabbed Jenna in broad daylight, right in front of her children and their horrified classmates. Her family was issued an insane ransom demand: $25 million in cash and jewels, payable by the end of the school day, otherwise they’ll never see her again. As Jenna’s mother scrambles to gather the money, detectives Mo Butler and George Ortega follow the trail of the kidnappers, which will lead them through a sordid landscape of jealous lovers, broken dreamers, and twisted schemers. But every second counts, and there’s one thing Jenna Wade doesn’t have: very much time.

Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of best-selling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish. Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity's notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn't expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read.

Cassie thinks she has met the perfect man. Joel is sweet, handsome, romantic, and best of all, he’s crazy about Cassie. She thinks she’s found the guy she’ll spend the rest of her life with. Have children with. Grow old with. Yes, she knows about his perfect ex-girlfriend, Francesca. The beautiful, brilliant chef, beloved by all his friends. But she thinks Francesca is out of the picture. She thinks Francesca is gone for good. Think again, Cassie.

It’s 1984, and life has changed beyond recognition. Airstrip One, formerly known as Great Britain, is a place where Big Brother is always watching, and nobody can hide. Except, perhaps, for Winston Smith. Whilst working at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history, he secretly dreams of freedom. And in a world where love and sex are forbidden, where it’s hard to distinguish between friend and foe, he meets Julia and O’Brien and vows to rebel.

Jazz Bashara is a criminal. Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you're not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you've got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent. Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down.

Sloan will go through hell and back for those she loves. And she does so, every single day. Caught up with the alluring Asa Jackson, a notorious drug trafficker, Sloan has finally found a lifeline to cling to, even if it’s meant compromising her morals. She was in dire straits trying to pay for her brother’s care until she met Asa. But as Sloan became emotionally and economically reliant on him, he in turn developed a disturbing obsession with her—one that becomes increasingly dangerous every day.

They were madly in love. The perfect couple. That was the story everyone in South River believed...until Gin Talcott and Adam Archer are found shot in their bed. Adam is dead at the scene. Gin is fighting for her life. Detectives Greta Jessup and Finn Pate are assigned to the case. Greta has a long history with Gin’s first husband, Eddie, and is determined to protect his 18-year-old twins. Piper discovered the bodies. Daniel is missing—and so is Adam’s gun.

For Dr. Siena Dupont and her ambitious team, the Alpenglow glacier expedition is a career-defining opportunity. But 30 miles into the desolate Deadswitch Wilderness, they discover a missing hiker dangling from a tree, and their satellite phone fails to call out.

Blythe has accepted her fate and is tired of running. Who would miss her anyway? She attends her new and eccentric town’s month long Halloween masquerade for one last party before meeting her end. But what will she find...and what will find her?

In the sultry heart of New Orleans, a city haunted by the legacy of Jack the Ripper’s reign of terror in London, a new menace emerges. The year is 1918, and the Axman of New Orleans prowls the cobblestone streets, targeting the city’s large population of Sicilian immigrants. Retired detective Giancarlo Rabito is reluctantly drawn into the shadows, entangled in the pursuit of the Axman, challenging the wide-spread belief that the Mafia is responsible.

Julian Baker has heard hushed whispers about the mystery from his family his entire life. In his senior year in high school, he vows to uncover the secret kept by those closest to him. What he discovers will change the lives of an entire town. High atop Crumpton Hill in Harris, Indiana there is a place locals shun once night falls. A place where the dead reach out to the living and nightmares come to life to walk the grounds.

Teeny Voix lies burritoed in her blanket, girded by Lego landmines, protected by her plushy opossum when the bedroom door creaks, and her lecherous stepfather enters . . . again, while her momma ignores. Weeks earlier, the mute girl penned a mysterious letter, unwittingly hailing a goliath who mauls then kills Teeny's stepfather. The bizarre death forces Teeny to use wit, fortitude, and an eclectic collection of combatants to brave life and death battles with the wicked White Van People, an organized and well-financed child trafficking operation.

Paranormal enthusiast Jack will stop at nothing until he understands the afterlife while his partner, Daniel, hates ghostly antics. But after Jack is called into a paranormal investigation—then abandoned after the homeowner goes missing, leaving behind nothing but her bloody clothes—Daniel must come to his rescue. Soon they discover that the house has a darkness and deadly secrets that threaten to make them the next victims.

After a painful breakup with her long-term partner, Ivy is determined to pick up the pieces and rebuild her life. She lands a new job at a makeup company, hoping for a fresh start. But her plans are quickly dashed when she meets her grumpy, infuriating boss. He seems hell-bent on testing her patience at every turn and Ivy can't stand him—or so she thinks.

On the first night of their third year of university, five students disappear without a trace. Three days later, Will Campbell is found miles away, in the middle of the countryside, covered in somebody else's blood. His friends are nowhere to be found. And Will can't remember anything except a fairground and a haunting man with a crooked smile.

Jessica Cleary took up running the Arizona hiking trails as a way to cope with the recent loss of her father. While out on a run in Wasp Canyon, Jessica stumbles upon a gruesome scene and finds herself injured and running for her life. There is something lurking inside Wasp Canyon—something vicious, cunning, and with an insatiable appetite. When people in town start falling victim to a mysterious predator and the police are unable to offer any explanation, Jessica decides it's time to stop running—it's time to stop running and fight.

It begins with cicadas. It will end with the swarm. When a bizarre murder case lands on the desk of Detective Vicky Paterson, it's just the start of her nightmare. On the same day, her young daughter, Sadie, is swarmed by cicadas emerging off-cycle from their seventeen-year pattern. Sadie barely survives, and her condition is critical. Across town, Will and Alicia, two dysfunctional private investigators, are on the trail of a missing girl and the shadowy cult involved in her disappearance.

These new, recent, and reformulated stories by Joyce Carol Oates showcase a wide range of crime fiction and psychological suspense. A young, insecure woman finds her relationship changing as she grows more and more dependent on a man who likes to take her on long walks beside a dangerously roaring creek. Another woman, nervous around men, not quite knowing how to act when paid a compliment, becomes flustered when a doctor suggests they go out for coffee, or possibly a drink.

Most of the successful private prospectors who’d struck it rich during the California and Nevada gold rushes during the mid- to late-1800s, had journeyed westward with a specific plan from which they never deviated. Upon achieving their pre-defined goals, they packed up and returned to their original homes in distant regions of the United States. There were also plenty of others, who’d been unable to pull the plug after striking it rich, believing their lucky streak to be a never-ending one.

In 1625, the Franconian village of Eisbach has been plagued by disease, famine, heinous crimes, and a merciless winter. Katarin Jaspers is the maidservant to the enigmatic Reverend Zacharias Engel, appointed by Rome to cure the village of suspected diabolism and save every God-fearing soul.

Two teens appear out of nowhere, ransacking a small-town grocery and attacking the police officers who come to investigate. Their clothes are torn and filthy, their hands and bare feet callused, they have fangs. They’re sister and brother, alone against the world. Where did they come from? Raised by wolves, they say. Kai and Holo are taken in by the police chief and his wife, and begin adjusting to life in a small town, attending school and going on dates. But humans, they find, are the most vicious animals. And the mystery of their upbringing brings dark and powerful forces to Kokanee Creek.

Martin Lorensen is a twenty-three-year-old counselor for disturbed teenagers. He’s bright, compassionate, attractive, and outgoing. He’s also—and this is the most interesting thing—not dead. Martin has improbably survived not one but two deadly disasters that claimed dozens of lives. The kid is riding one hell of a lucky streak. Two federal agents think there is something darker at play. Now that they’ve arranged to interview Martin, they want answers. Martin is ready to share everything he knows. One thing is for certain: when it comes to escaping death, luck doesn’t figure into it at all.