The Drowned, by John Banville
Those touched by a possible drowning on the Irish coast guard their secrets so closely that Detective Inspector John Strafford is baffled. The truth lies in what isn’t said, notably by the husband who acts as if his wife’s disappearance is a naughty trick she’s playing and by a passerby who has everything to lose by getting involved. The Drowned is simultaneously sinister and heartbreaking.
Havoc, by Christopher Bollen
It’s hard to say who’s more wicked, the manipulative widow Maggie Burkhardt or her nemesis, an eight-year-old bad seed named Otto. When these two face off amid the faded grandeur of a hotel in Luxor, it’s bad news for those who accidentally cross their path. Christopher Bollen brings a Hitchcockian sense of humor and taste for the macabre to the twisted proceedings.
