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Brazier, Eliza Jane. Good Rich People. Berkley. Jan. 2022. 336p. ISBN 9780593198254. $27. Downloadable. THRILLERS/PSYCHOLOGICAL

Successful people who have made it on their own might count themselves lucky when they are invited to live in the guesthouse of a Hollywood Hills mansion owned by Graham and Lyla, but not so. The wealthy couple revels in wrecking the lives of their guests, whom they see as intolerable upstarts. But their latest guest is downtrodden Demi, who has secretly taken over another person’s life, and she knows how to fight back. Won in a boiling-over six-way auction, this book from the author of two YA thrillers has been bought for television.

Kukafka, Danya. Notes on an Execution. Morrow. Jan. 2022. 272p. ISBN 9780063052734. $27.99. lrg. prnt. THRILLER

One cannot expect Kukafa, author of Girl in Snow, a much-praised best seller proclaimed a Best Summer Read by over a half-dozen venues, to turn in anything ordinary. Her second novel concerns serial killer Ansel Packer, about to be executed, who wants his bad deeds to be understood. His life is told through the lives of three women: his frantic mother, who gave birth at 17; his wife’s twin sister, who watched Ansel destroy all that was good in their lives; and the homicide detective whose goal is to track down evil men.

Mann, Peter. The Torqued Man. Harper. Jan. 2022. 384p. ISBN 9780063072107. $26.99. lrg. prnt. THRILLER

What was the truth about German spy handler Adrian de Groot and his Irish agent, friend, and sometimes lover Frank Pike during World War II? With two very different manuscripts dug out of the rubble of 1945 Berlin, it’s hard to tell. One shows de Groot wresting IRA fighter Pike from prison in Spain to facilitate a German invasion of Ireland, while another shows Pike assuming the mantle of Celtic hero Finn McCool and planning the assassination of bigwig Nazi doctors. An intriguing debut from Whiting Fellowship winner Mann.

Newman, Jay. Undermoney. Scribner. Jan. 2022. 496p. ISBN 9781982156022. $28. CD. THRILLER

Drawing on four decades’ worth of experience in international finance, debuter Newman introduces a group of former military men intent on getting their favorite candidate elected president so they can step in and restructure foreign policy and U.S. society itself. That means forming alliances with the people who know where the illicit money is. Along the way, readers pass through New York and Washington, then on to the Middle East, the French countryside, and Putin’s private restaurant in St. Petersburg. With a 150,000-copy first printing.

Willingham, Stacy. A Flicker in the Dark. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. Jan. 2022. 368p. ISBN 9781250803825. $27.99. CD. THRILLERS

When Chloe Davis was 12, her father was convicted of killing six girls who vanished from their small Louisiana town. Now she’s a Baton Rouge–based psychologist prepping for her wedding, and it’s happening again: local teenage girls are starting to vanish. What’s going on? A big debut with a 150,000-copy first printing.

Young, Erin. The Fields. Flatiron: Macmillan. Jan. 2022. 352p. ISBN 9781250799395. $27.99. CD. THRILLER

A woman lies dead in an Iowa cornfield (one of the few spreads around that’s still family-owned), and for Sgt. Riley Fisher of the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office, it’s personal: the victim is a childhood friend, which reminds Riley of a past she had hoped to escape. Soon, more bodies are discovered, and the case isn’t local anymore. From the author of numerous UK historical best sellers, who arrives in the United States with a first thriller granted a 150,000-copy first printing.

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