Who can trust who in this month’s best psychological thrillers: Watch Your Back by Emma
Watch Your Back by Emma Christie (Mountain Leopard Press £10.99, 352pp)
Jo has been hiding from her feelings about the murder of her mother 15 years ago. But she is forced to confront the truth when a mysterious box of letters suddenly emerges. Then the letters are stolen from her flat before she has a chance to read them.
After years of hiding from the violence of her past, Jo realises that, unless she deals with it, she is putting her future in danger.
The story is set in the rundown council estates of Edinburgh and there is a real gritty sense of place that adds to the intensity of the plot.
Jo is a carefully realised and consistent character who keeps the reader engaged through the twists and turns of a well-paced story until it’s extremely satisfying conclusion.
The Token by Sharon Bolton (Orion £22, 400pp)
There is more than a whiff of The Traitors TV hit about this set up.
Seven strangers are informed that they are to be heirs of billionaire Logan Quick. They each receive a token and have to meet on a boat – and it soon becomes apparent that their inheritances are not quite so straightforward.
First there is jeopardy and then there is real danger. The main theme of the book is to explore the power of great riches to distort realities and personalities.
The story takes us inside the lives of all seven characters in delicious and compelling detail. It also forces the reader to imagine what effect a situation like this might have on our own lives.
Bolton conjures up a very Traitors style feeling of menace in this original and tensely told tale.
The After Party is available now
The After Party by Ruth Kelly (Pan £9.99, 384pp)
A TikTok investigator elbows his way up in this otherwise sensitively written tale. These TikTokers are becoming a rather irritating trope in thrillers but thankfully it doesn’t spoil this one.
Becca, a neglected wife, has moved to Amsterdam to support her husband’s restaurant dream. She is up for a wild night out when her old friend Georgina turns up in town.
They end up at a glamorous private party. But the adventure turns nasty when Becca wakes up in hospital the following morning having lost her memory and discovers her friend Georgie has disappeared.
The Amsterdam backdrop is well drawn and Becca is a very relateable central character. Jamie, the TikTok guy, feels glued on to the plot but Kelly is a writer full of imagination so hopefully he will fail the character audition for her next book.