★Someone in the Attic. Andrea Mara. Pamela Dorman: Viking. Aug. 2024. 368p. ISBN 9780593831434. $29. SUSPENSE

It isn’t real. That is Julia Birch’s initial thought when her daughter Isla shows Julia a video posted anonymously online of a masked figure who seems to be creeping out of the attic of the house Julia and her family are renting in Dublin. Almost immediately after Julia watches the video, it disappears. However, soon afterward, another similarly styled video appears, only to vanish as well. Is this someone playing around with AI-generated images and riffing on a popular reality show game called The Loft? Or is it someone targeting Julia and her family? More importantly, should Julia now be worried about those odd noises she hears late at night? Bestselling Irish crime fiction writer Mara makes her U.S. debut with a meticulously crafted suspense tale replete with fiendishly clever twists and turns and a claustrophobic sense of menace that will have readers themselves wondering about the odd noise or two they hear at night in their own homes. VERDICT A highly readable suspense novel in the style of Riley Sager, Alice Feeney, and Lisa Jewell, with a dash of Liane Moriarty thrown in for good measure.