The best page-turning books to pass the time during a global pandemic

Andrea Bartz’s twisty tale about two friends (aptly compared to Thelma and Louise), dead bodies piling up around them, and secrets they hold from the past is a fresh backdrop for a genre that has been dominated by domestic set-ups. Delving into the complexities of female friendships and how they can control and define us, I found this to be a thoroughly engaging read. A New York Times Bestseller and Hello Sunshine Book Club pick, you can’t go wrong with We Were Never Here!

Soon to be a major motion picture, this novel was an instant bestseller and for good cause. First, it takes us away to another place – the marshlands of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Dionne weaves atmosphere into every scene. Second – the set-up is emotionally compelling and fraught with personal and moral dilemmas. A woman who is the product of abduction and rape. A father who escapes from prison twenty years later. And now he’s fled back to the one place he knows how to evade capture - unless his estranged daughter can track him down in the remote wilderness where he raised her to survive. With dilemmas this deep, it is impossible not to become completely immersed. Plus, Dionne is a beautiful writer, and who doesn’t love that?

I am a sucker for a twisted first person narration so I knew this was the book for me after three sentences. It’s hard to write about this novel without spoiling the brilliant twist so I will just say that it is one of the finest executions of a psychological thriller twist I have ever read (and I’ve read a lot!). Aside from that, the writing is just flawless. Not one sentence made it to the page that didn’t move the plot along, create a diversion, or draw us further into the mind of our narrator. As a writer, I know how hard this is – deleting words which then requires that better ones be found. This book is meticulous, which probably explains why it was a monstrous bestseller.

Say what you will about highly commercial fiction, but no one – and I mean no one – keeps pages turning better than B.A. Paris. She is the only author whose books become glued to my hand until I know what happened. I have kept reading while making dinner, attempting to fold laundry, answering emails, walking the dog, taking out the garbage. I don’t know what her pages are laced with, but it goes right into my brain and hijacks all decision-making. Do not stop reading! Plus, who doesn’t love a story that goes behind the closed doors of a seemingly perfect marriage and finds something completely twisted? 

This recent phenom took the book world by storm with a premise that mainlines into a secret fear every one of us harbors – the plane going down! Rumor has it, this former flight attendant wrote this story in the jump seat on her flights, imagining what would happen if the pilot was forced with the decision to crash the plane or have his family killed. From there, it was honed and fine-tuned to be nothing short of riveting – each chapter doling out a teaspoon of satisfaction but ending with a new cliffhanger. The perfect recipe for addictive suspense. No wonder this debut landed Newman a seven-figure book deal, with movie option to boot. The perfect escape!