Continuing my reading journey, I spent July and August diving into two of my favorite genres: psychological thrillers and introspective, melancholic fiction. Here are the four books that stood out to me over the past couple of months.
False Witness by Karin Slaughter
This psychological thriller had me hooked from the very beginning. The story follows a devastating secret from the main characters’ teenage years that resurfaces in adulthood with life-altering consequences.
I especially loved how the novel opened with a flashback (and revisited several more throughout), which added rich layers of backstory. The characters were well-developed, full of complexity and depth, and the plot was filled with enough twists to make it nearly impossible to put down. I think I finished it in just four days—always a sign of a good one.
All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall
This was an incredibly compelling read. Set in a post-apocalyptic world drowned by melting glaciers and plagued by storms, the story follows a teenage girl and her family as they attempt to escape a flooded New York City in search of safety.
It’s a survival story at its heart, but the book also explores how quickly order dissolves when society’s structures collapse. It’s both haunting and thought-provoking.
Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney
The structure of this thriller was one of my favorite parts. The main character spends nearly the entire book in a coma, with the story alternating between her past, the events leading up to her hospitalization, and the present day in her hospital room.
It’s the kind of book where you think you’ve figured it out early on—but you’re wrong. The real villain doesn’t fully emerge until the end, and the journey there is packed with twists that kept me second-guessing everything.
Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy
This novel made me wish I were an animal biologist. I learned so much about wolves that I found myself pausing because I was dumbfounded by the random wolf facts sprinkled in throughout the novel. I even went down a wolf fact rabbit hole because I wanted to make sure what the book was telling me was real.
But the book is more than just about wildlife—it’s about trauma, resilience, and identity. What starts as an introspective story about how our past shapes us evolves into an unexpected murder mystery. The blend of wolf fact detail with a gripping narrative kept me hooked. It’s the kind of book that proves learning and storytelling don’t have to be separate, and I wish there were more books that specifically intertwined animal facts and gripping narratives.
That wraps up my July and August reads. Psychological thrillers and introspective fiction continue to be my sweet spot, and these four books reminded me just how much range and depth both genres can hold.