Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney (Flatiron) is the top holds title of the week. LibraryReads and Library Journal offer read-alikes for patrons waiting to read this buzziest book.

Eager to give his wife, Abby, the exciting news that he’s just made the New York Times bestseller list, Grady Green calls her while she’s driving. She tells him she sees a woman lying in the road; he urges her to stay in the car, but she does not heed his warning. The police later find Abby’s car with the door open and her phone on the seat, but no one is inside. As the days and weeks pile up, Grady is no longer able to write, such is his grief and worry over his missing wife. Then Grady’s literary agent, a longtime friend of the couple, suggests he visit her cabin on a Scottish island. It’s remote, beautiful, and a good place to recover and write again. The island is idyllic, the cabin quaint, but Grady keeps seeing Abby’s ghost. The longer he stays, the more foreboding it becomes. VERDICT Feeney (Rock Paper Scissors) pens another superb domestic psychological thriller with plenty of twists, as her readers have come to expect. Demand will be high.—Cynthia Price

A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins (Riverhead)

Appeared on the August 2021 LibraryReads list

 “A brutal crime is committed on a London houseboat, and numerous friends, family, neighbors, and lovers seem to have a motive for the fatal stabbing. As the number of suspects grows, the lies begin to unravel in what promises to be a hit summer read. For fans of Shari Lapena and Mary Kubica.”—KC Davis, Fairfield Woods Library, Fairfield, CT

The Replacement Wife by Darby Kane (Morrow)

Appeared on the December 2021 LibraryReads list

“Elisa's best friend, fiancée to her brother-in-law Josh, has disappeared and no one else seems worried. Elisa is suspicious of Josh, especially since he already has one dead wife. Will anyone believe her before it’s too late? For readers of The Girl on the Train and other unreliable-narrator thrillers.”—Chris Markley, Kingsport Public Library, Kingsport, TN

One of Us Knows by Alyssa Cole (Morrow; LJ starred review)

Appeared on the April 2024 LibraryReads list

With her latest thoughtfully crafted novel, Edgar-winning author Cole (When No One Is Watching) brings her own inventive flair in the form of a twist-laden plot told in multiple viewpoints with a protagonist who has dissociative identity disorder. Kenetria “Ken” Nash should have trusted her instincts—and the voices in her head—that something was off about Daybreak Island. However, given the spectacular manner in which Ken blew up her academic career, the opportunity to work as a caretaker for the historic Kavanaugh home on an island in the Hudson River seems too good to pass up. But why does the castle-like Kavanaugh house seem so familiar, and why does the only other resident on the island, a grumpy groundskeeper named Celeste, warn her that surviving the night on Daybreak Island is just the first test she must pass? When strangers arrive on the island just ahead of a Nor’easter and one of them is killed, Ken and her alters work together to prove her innocence and solve a murder. VERDICT Cole mixes a spooky, isolated setting with a hint of the gothic and a storyline that isn’t afraid to tackle tough social issues, and creates a book that is both entertaining and insightful.—John Charles