💀 Author: William Bear
🆓 FREE
Crime Action Fiction

Because Happy Endings Only Happen in Massage Parlors.

Opportunity knocked, and he answered.

It’s 1997, and Abraham “Abe” Lincoln is a homeless punk rocker scraping by on the streets of Redlands, California. He’s got no plans, no prospects, and no illusions about how the world works. But when a drug deal goes sideways and leaves a dozen people dead, Abe stumbles into the aftermath and walks away with a duffel bag full of drugs and cash that doesn’t belong to him.

Now, every choice he makes matters.
The local biker gang wants to save their reputation.
A psychotic meth cook wants blood.
And the police want a nice neat end to the whole thing.

Abe has to stay ahead of all of them while dragging K.O. Katie O’Hara, his sharp-tongued, battle-hardened girlfriend (sorta) with her own demons, along for the ride. Together, they’re two street-smart outcasts trying to outrun a system that was never built for people like them.

Set in the sweat-stained streets and desert outskirts of late-90s Southern California, No Clean Hands is a hard-hitting crime thriller that blends raw realism, emotionally scarred characters, and razor-sharp dialogue. This is not a story about clean getaways or easy justice. It’s about what happens when survival is the only plan, and whether two people with nothing can somehow find a way out.

If you like:
Crime thrillers with heart, edge, and no easy answers
Gritty, realistic fiction about life in the margins
Antihero protagonists and morally grey decisions
Stories like Winter’s Bone, Savages, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, or Joe
Books with punk attitude, desert heat, and emotional scars

…you’ll find No Clean Hands impossible to put down.

No Clean Hands isn’t about heroes.
It’s about the forgotten, the desperate, and the ones who slip through the cracks.

If you’re tired of polished thrillers with perfect characters and predictable endings, this book will remind you what real crime fiction feels like.

William Bear writes crime fiction that refuses to romanticize or sanitize life on society’s margins. His debut novel No Clean Hands has attracted readers who want their crime thrillers grounded in the reality of poverty, homelessness, and desperation rather than glamorized heists or criminal masterminds. Bear’s punk rock sensibility—DIY ethics, distrust of authority, survival by any means—permeates the narrative, creating a voice that feels authentic to the world he’s depicting.

What makes this special: The opening line (“Because Happy Endings Only Happen in Massage Parlors”) immediately signals this isn’t your typical thriller—it’s dark, cynical, and unapologetically raw. Abraham “Abe” Lincoln isn’t a criminal genius or an action hero; he’s a homeless punk rocker who happens to stumble into the aftermath of mass murder and makes the very human decision to grab the money and run. The late-90s Southern California setting—desert heat, biker gangs, meth culture—provides gritty authenticity rather than neon-noir glamour. Katie O’Hara being described as his girlfriend “(sorta)” with “her own demons” suggests a relationship as complicated and damaged as everything else in their lives. Bear’s comparison points are telling: Winter’s Bone (poverty and survival in rural America), The Friends of Eddie Coyle (working-class crime without glamour), Joe (damaged people trying to do right in a world that won’t let them)—these are crime novels about people society has written off. The “no clean hands” title works on multiple levels: nobody in this story is innocent, not the protagonists, not the antagonists, not even the police trying to tie things up neatly. If you’ve loved Donald Ray Pollock’s rural noir, the Coen Brothers’ bleaker films, or Dennis Lehane’s exploration of working-class crime, Bear delivers similar unflinching realism. And it’s free, making it a risk-free way to discover whether Bear’s punk-rock crime fiction becomes your next obsession.

✨ Author: Linsey Hall
🆓 FREE
Paranormal Witches & Wizards Romance

So here’s the deal—I’m a magical disaster. A witch from a family of witches, and the only one whose magic blows up in her face. Which is why I came up with my rules…

1. Never get involved with magic
2. If you must get involved, do not enter a competition to win the biggest magical fortune in England
3. And definitely don’t fall for Callan Hawthorne, the sexy billionaire mage who you’ve hated for years

So how the heck do I end up in a situation that promises to break all those rules? It’s the only way to save Seaside Spells, my family’s magical potion shop.

But it’s cool. When I go back home to Charming Cove—a village of ancient pubs and foul-mouthed familiars—I will totally ignore Witch Weekly’s Sexiest Man of the Year. I’ll win the competition, and if I’m lucky, I won’t turn myself into a toad in the process.

This’ll be fine. It’ll all be fine.

Riiiight.

The Modern Girl’s Guide to Magic is a fun, frothy romantic comedy full of laughter, love, and magical hijinks. It’s the first in a series of stand alone romances set in the seaside village of Charming Cove.

Linsey Hall writes paranormal romance that prioritizes humor and heart over dark brooding, creating magical worlds where the biggest danger might be accidentally turning yourself into a toad rather than facing apocalyptic threats. Her Charming Cove series has attracted readers who want their witchy romance light, fun, and featuring heroines who are endearingly incompetent rather than effortlessly powerful. Hall’s strength lies in creating magical settings—quaint British villages with foul-mouthed familiars and ancient pubs—that feel cozy rather than dangerous.

Why I’m including this: The self-aware heroine who has very specific rules designed to keep her out of trouble, then immediately breaks all of them, is peak romantic comedy. She’s a magical disaster whose spells blow up in her face, making her the opposite of the all-powerful witch heroines that dominate paranormal romance. The fact that saving her family’s potion shop requires entering a magical competition and working with Callan Hawthorne—”Witch Weekly’s Sexiest Man of the Year” who she’s hated for years—sets up classic enemies-to-lovers tension with magical stakes. “Foul-mouthed familiars” promises the kind of sassy animal sidekicks that make paranormal romance fun, while “ancient pubs” signals British coziness rather than American urban fantasy grittiness. The “This’ll be fine. It’ll all be fine. Riiiight” perfectly captures the tone—self-deprecating humor, awareness that everything is about to go hilariously wrong, and the kind of light touch that makes this comfort-read territory. Hall’s promise that these are standalone romances in a shared setting means you can read them in any order without commitment anxiety. If you’ve loved Nora Roberts’s witch trilogies, Deborah Harkness’s A Discovery of Witches but want it funnier and lighter, or any cozy paranormal romance where the magic is whimsical rather than deadly, this delivers frothy escapism. And it’s free, making it perfect for testing whether Charming Cove becomes your next cozy magical happy place.

✈️ Author: Audrey J. Cole
🆓 FREE
Action Thriller Fiction

Welcome aboard Pacific Air Flight 385, with nonstop service from Seattle to Honolulu.

Cora is scared to fly again after her husband died in a recent helicopter crash in Pago Pago.

A thousand times she has told herself to turn around, not get on the flight, go back to her young children.

But now, she’s seated in first class across the aisle from the girlfriend of a famous billionaire pharmaceutical entrepreneur.

Halfway across the Pacific, the flight is hijacked. Six people are dead—including the pilots.

Cora is a young widow, mother, and emergency room nurse…but as the world closes in around her, she’s also a pilot’s daughter.

Lost off radar in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean, the motive behind the hijacking remains a mystery. Not knowing who to trust, Cora works with the man seated beside her, Seattle Homicide Detective Kyle Adams, to save herself along with the remaining one hundred and fifty-four souls on board.

Don’t miss Audrey J. Cole’s chilling new thriller, Missing In Flight, about a woman faced with the unthinkable when her infant goes missing aboard a plane to New York…

Audrey J. Cole writes aviation thrillers that tap into every traveler’s worst nightmare—being trapped in a metal tube at 30,000 feet when something goes catastrophically wrong. Her novels have attracted readers who love the claustrophobic tension of airplane thrillers, the ticking-clock urgency of disaster scenarios, and heroines who must draw on hidden reserves of courage and competence to survive. Cole’s background research into aviation makes her scenarios feel disturbingly plausible.

Here’s what you’re getting: Cora boarding the flight despite her fear after her husband’s helicopter crash immediately establishes emotional stakes—she’s already traumatized by aviation tragedy, and now she’s walking into another one. The detail about her sitting across from a billionaire’s girlfriend suggests the hijacking may target specific passengers rather than being random terrorism, adding mystery to the action. Six people dead including both pilots means Cora and the passengers face not just hijackers but the technical reality that nobody qualified is flying the plane. This is where “pilot’s daughter” becomes crucial—Cora has aviation knowledge from her father that might be their only hope of survival, forcing a grieving widow and ER nurse to become an unlikely hero. The partnership with Seattle Homicide Detective Kyle Adams adds investigative skills to survival skills, creating a team that can both figure out who’s behind the hijacking and try to keep everyone alive. Being “lost off radar in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean” means no rescue is coming—they’re completely on their own. Cole’s setup is essentially Die Hard meets Sully with a grieving widow protagonist, which is premium thriller territory. If you’ve loved T.J. Newman’s Falling (flight attendant saving a hijacked plane), Lisa Gardner’s D.D. Warren thrillers (competent female protagonists under extreme pressure), or any high-concept airplane disaster thriller, Cole delivers similar white-knuckle tension. And it’s free, making it a risk-free way to discover whether Cole’s aviation thrillers become your next adrenaline fix.

🔍 Author: Heather Haven
🆓 FREE
Humorous Cozy Mysteries

THE FIRST THREE DELICIOUSLY FUNNY DETECTIVE COZIES!

Here is the start of the series starring PI ferret, Lee Alvarez. She’s not the cute, 4-legged kind of ferret but the cute 2-legged kind. She sniffs out dastardly cybercrimes from the comfort of her gilded office. But when she gets up from her desk, she occasionally falls over a dead body or two. Not to worry. Solving murders is what she and her family are good at. They run Discretionary Inquiries, a family-owned detective agency in the heart of Silicon Valley.

This set is for cozy readers who can’t get enough of a smart-mouthed woman sleuth out to please her never-had-a-bad-hair-day mother, computer-genius brother, gourmet chef uncle, and energetic orange and white cat, Tugger. Now you can get the first three with one click—a delicious Kindle deal!

“One of the funniest mystery authors around. You won’t be able to put her books down. A must-read 5-star series!” —National Best Selling Author, Cindy Sample

MURDER IS A FAMILY BUSINESS
Just because a man cheats on his wife and makes Danny DeVito look tall, dark, and handsome, is that any reason to kill him? Lee Alvarez, half Latina, half WASP, and 100% detective doesn’t think so. Guilted by her aristocratic mother into tailing a friend’s husband to a seedy warehouse, he’s killed on her watch. She also finds an abandoned kitten destined to become hers. But in between kitty litter, kibble, and purrs, she’s determined to find out whodunit.

Fans of Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone, Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum, and Lisa Lutz’s The Spellman Files will get a kick out of the Alvarez clan.

Heather Haven writes humorous cozy mysteries set in Silicon Valley, combining tech-world satire with family dynamics and murder investigations. Her Lee Alvarez series has attracted readers who want their mysteries funny without being silly, their family interactions genuinely warm despite the chaos, and their protagonists competent enough to solve crimes while still making hilariously bad decisions. Haven’s Silicon Valley setting provides both tech-industry commentary and the kind of wealth disparity that makes for interesting crime fiction.

What makes this special: Getting three books in one collection for free is exceptional value, letting you fully commit to the Alvarez family world without financial risk. Lee Alvarez being described as a “ferret” (the human detective kind, not the animal) immediately signals this is cozy mystery with wordplay and humor baked in. The family detective agency setup—”never-had-a-bad-hair-day mother,” computer-genius brother, gourmet chef uncle—promises ensemble cast dynamics where solving murders is a team sport with personality clashes. The Silicon Valley setting distinguishes this from small-town cozies, providing tech money, startup culture, and cybercrimes alongside traditional murder. The comparison to Sue Grafton (smart female PI), Janet Evanovich (humor and chaos), and Lisa Lutz’s Spellman Files (dysfunctional family detective agency) are spot-on genre markers. The first book’s setup—Lee’s mother guilts her into tailing a friend’s husband, he gets murdered on her watch, and she adopts a kitten in the middle of the investigation—is quintessential cozy chaos. That opening line about the victim making “Danny DeVito look tall, dark, and handsome” shows Haven’s comic sensibility: sharp, character-driven humor rather than slapstick. If you’ve exhausted Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum and want similar energy with Silicon Valley flavor, or you loved the family dynamics in The Spellman Files and want more detective family chaos, Haven delivers. Getting three books free means you’re set for a weekend binge without spending anything.

🚀 Author: G.J. Ogden
🆓 FREE
Space Fleet Science Fiction

From Kindle Storyteller Award Winner, G.J. Ogden

Their mission wasn’t supposed to find anything – least of all the truth.

Captain Taylor Ray commands a deep-space recon crew on a mission scouring the far reaches of the galaxy for signs of the Hedalt; Earth’s long-defeated alien enemy.

No-one really expects him to find anything because no-one ever has. After decades of hunting the remnants of the Hedalt across light years, all that remains are ghosts – long-dead outposts of a long-dead civilization.

But Captain Ray enjoys the company of his tight-knit, specialist crew, and the ten years’ worth of pay for just four years in the wilderness also helps.

When his ship detects a faint Hedalt signal and he orders his crew to investigate, Captain Ray couldn’t possibly know what he is about to discover.

Everything he thinks he knows is a lie. The Hedalt war didn’t end. It hasn’t even begun.

The Contingency War takes the alien invasion sci-fi genre and turns it on its head. Buckle up for action, mystery, adventure, and a twist that you won’t see coming…

G.J. Ogden is a Kindle Storyteller Award winner who has built a devoted following in military science fiction by creating space opera that balances action with genuine mystery and world-building that subverts genre expectations. His novels have attracted readers who want their space fleet adventures to have twists beyond “humanity fights aliens,” combining the military camaraderie of The Expanse with the conspiracy reveals of Battlestar Galactica.

Why I’m including this: The premise is a slow-burn hook: Captain Ray’s crew has a cushy job hunting for an enemy everyone knows is extinct, basically getting paid to find nothing for four years. That “no-one really expects him to find anything because no-one ever has” creates the perfect setup for “oh shit, we found something.” The ten years’ pay for four years’ work detail suggests this is essentially a government make-work program, keeping military crews busy and employed while pretending there’s still a threat. When they detect that faint Hedalt signal and actually find something, the revelation that “everything he thinks he knows is a lie” and “The Hedalt war didn’t end. It hasn’t even begun” suggests a conspiracy-level paradigm shift. This isn’t just “the enemy is back”—it’s “everything you were told about the war was false.” That kind of world-shattering reveal requires careful setup, suggesting Ogden is playing a longer game than typical military SF. The promise to “take the alien invasion sci-fi genre and turn it on its head” is a bold claim that works only if the twist genuinely surprises, and Ogden’s Kindle Storyteller Award suggests he has the chops to deliver. If you’ve loved the conspiracy elements in Battlestar Galactica (everything you know is wrong), the crew dynamics in The Expanse, or Peter F. Hamilton’s space opera with genuine mystery, Ogden offers similar sophisticated space opera. And it’s free, letting you test whether The Contingency War becomes your next space opera obsession without risk.

🐺 Author: Veronica Douglas
🆓 FREE
Werewolves & Shifters Suspense

Werewolves are hunting me.

I was just an ordinary girl waiting tables in a small-town bar. I had no idea magic was real. That was, until I backed my car over a werewolf a couple times.

In my defense, the wolf was trying to murder me, and I was all out of mace.

Now I’ve got a cult of rogue wolves on my heels, and the only one who can protect me is Jaxson Laurent—the alpha of the Chicago pack.

He suspects I’m special and can’t take his eyes off me, but the problem is—he’s the sworn enemy of my family. Every time we get close it feels like something is going to rip out of my soul, but the heat between us is irresistible.

Like it or not, the fates are pushing us together.

With danger around every corner and wolves howling in the night, I need to master my magic and stand my ground, or I’ll be dead before the next moon rises.

Book 1 of 4

An action-packed urban fantasy, Wolf Marked features a kick-ass heroine, a dangerous hero, and a slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance.

Prepare to be drawn into a mysterious and magical world, full of demons, shifters, and sorcerers.

Veronica Douglas writes urban fantasy romance that leans heavily into the fated mates trope while maintaining high-stakes action and genuine danger. Her Magic Side: Wolf Bound series has attracted readers who want their shifter romance with serious bite—literal and figurative—featuring heroines who discover hidden powers and alphas who are genuinely dangerous rather than just possessive. Douglas balances the romance elements with urban fantasy world-building that includes multiple supernatural species and pack politics.

Here’s what you’re getting: The opening “I backed my car over a werewolf a couple times” immediately establishes both voice and tone—this heroine is practical, darkly funny, and will do whatever it takes to survive. “In my defense, the wolf was trying to murder me, and I was all out of mace” shows she’s not apologizing for protecting herself, setting up a protagonist who won’t be a damsel in distress. The “cult of rogue wolves” hunting her suggests larger supernatural conspiracy beyond simple pack rivalry. Jaxson Laurent being “the sworn enemy of my family” creates Romeo and Juliet forbidden love dynamics, while “every time we get close it feels like something is going to rip out of my soul” hints that their connection isn’t just attraction but something supernatural and possibly dangerous. The “fates are pushing us together” signals fated mates territory, which is catnip for paranormal romance readers. Douglas promising a “kick-ass heroine” and “slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance” tells you exactly what you’re getting—no insta-love, no weak heroine who needs constant saving. The world-building includes “demons, shifters, and sorcerers,” indicating this isn’t just werewolf romance but a full urban fantasy universe. If you’ve loved Patricia Briggs’s Mercy Thompson series (competent heroine in werewolf world), Ilona Andrews’s Kate Daniels books (urban fantasy with romance), or Jennifer L. Armentrout’s shifter romances, Douglas delivers similar energy. And it’s free for the complete four-book series starter, letting you discover whether the Magic Side world becomes your next supernatural obsession.

💕 Author: Amy D’Orazio
💰 Regularly $5.95, Today $2.99
Adaptations & Pastiche Fiction

Perhaps this concealment, this disguise, was beneath me… It is done, however, and it was done for the best.

Elizabeth Bennet, walking in Kent the day after Mr Darcy’s proposal meets with an unfortunate mishap. A meeting with an adder has disastrous consequences for her and when she wakes from a period of unconsciousness, she has no memory at all of the last ten months of her life. To her complete shock she learns that she is engaged to a man called Darcy, a man she has no recollection of meeting before.

Darcy is shocked himself to realize that Elizabeth thinks she is engaged to him but his efforts to correct her misapprehension are thwarted by those around her who believe that to learn the truth will be detrimental to her recovery. As the days go by, Darcy and Elizabeth spend time together, reading and driving out around Kent, behaving as the lovers Darcy always dreamt they would be. To continue in the disguise, to forget the contentions and misunderstandings of their past proves an unbearable temptation.

When the worst happens and Elizabeth learns that not only did she refuse Darcy’s proposal, she hated him. What she learns seems completely incongruous with the man she has fallen in love with…and yet she simply does not know if she can forgive him for deceiving her.

Amy D’Orazio writes Pride and Prejudice variations that explore “what if” scenarios with emotional sophistication and genuine stakes. Her Engaged to Mr Darcy series has attracted readers who want their Austen retellings to honor the original characters while pushing them into new territory that tests their relationship in ways the source material couldn’t. D’Orazio understands that the best variations aren’t just about getting Elizabeth and Darcy together through different circumstances—they’re about exploring facets of their personalities and relationship dynamics that Austen only hinted at.

Here’s what you’re getting: The amnesia trope could be melodramatic disaster, but D’Orazio uses it brilliantly to create a scenario where Elizabeth falls for Darcy without the baggage of Wickham’s lies, Darcy’s disastrous first proposal, and all the pride and prejudice that kept them apart. She wakes up believing she’s engaged to him, and everyone around her—worried that the truth will harm her recovery—lets the misunderstanding continue. Darcy gets to experience what he’s always wanted: Elizabeth looking at him with affection, spending time with him willingly, believing they’re in love. The moral complexity is delicious—he knows he should tell her the truth, but the temptation to have just a few more days of her believing she loves him proves impossible to resist. When Elizabeth’s memory returns and she learns the truth—that she refused him, that she hated him, that he’s been deceiving her—the betrayal is doubly devastating because she’s now genuinely fallen for the man he’s revealed himself to be. The setup forces both characters to confront difficult questions: Is the Darcy that Elizabeth fell in love with during her amnesia the “real” him, or was he performing for her? Can Elizabeth forgive his deception even though it came from love? If you’ve loved Abigail Reynolds’s Pemberley variations, Mary Lydon Simonsen’s sequels, or any P&P retelling that digs into psychological complexity rather than just rearranging plot points, D’Orazio delivers the emotional depth and moral ambiguity that makes great variations work. At $2.99, it’s an affordable entry into a series that promises to make you fall in love with Darcy and Elizabeth all over again.

⛳ Author: Jeff Benedict, Armen Keteyian
💰 Regularly $15.99, Today $1.99
Golf Biographies

#1 New York Times Bestseller * “A whirlwind of a biography that reads honest and true.” —The Wall Street Journal * “There is beauty and awe in this perfectly pitched biography.” —The New York Times * “Comprehensive, propulsive…and unsparing.” —The New Yorker

Based on years of reporting and hundreds of interviews with people from every corner of Tiger Woods’s life this is “a searing biography of golf’s most blazing talent” (GOLF Magazine)—who has made one of the most remarkable comebacks of all time.

In 2009, Tiger Woods was the most famous athlete on the planet, a transcendent star of almost unfathomable fame and fortune living what appeared to be the perfect life. But it turned out he had been living a double life for years—one that exploded in the aftermath of a Thanksgiving night crash that exposed his serial infidelity and sent his personal and professional lives over a cliff. In this “searing biography of golf’s most blazing talent” (GOLF magazine), Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian dig deep behind the headlines to produce a richly reported answer to the question that has mystified millions of sports fans for nearly a decade: who is Tiger Woods, really?

Drawing on more than four hundred interviews with people from every corner of Woods’s life—many of whom have never spoken about him on the record before—Benedict and Keteyian construct a captivating psychological profile of a mixed race child programmed by an attention-grabbing father and the original Tiger Mom to be the “chosen one,” to change not just the game of golf, but the world as well. But at what cost? Benedict and Keteyian provide the starling answers in this definitive biography that is destined to linger in the minds of readers for years to come.

Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian are investigative journalists who have written multiple New York Times bestsellers by combining meticulous reporting with narrative drive. Benedict’s previous sports biographies have set the standard for unauthorized but fair-minded portraits that neither lionize nor destroy their subjects. Keteyian spent decades as a CBS investigative correspondent and has broken major stories across sports and politics. Together, they brought the resources and access necessary to produce the definitive Tiger Woods biography—one that Woods himself didn’t authorize but couldn’t prevent, built on 400+ interviews with people from every phase of his life.

Why I’m including this: Tiger Woods is simultaneously the most famous golfer in history and one of the most mysterious—a man who performed miracles on the course while hiding a secret life that eventually exploded in spectacular public fashion. This biography answers the question everyone’s been asking since that Thanksgiving 2009 car crash: who is Tiger Woods when the cameras are off? Benedict and Keteyian go beyond the tabloid scandals to explore the psychological damage of being programmed from childhood to be a world-changer, the cost of maintaining a perfect public image while living a double life, and the mixed-race identity complexities that shaped how Tiger saw himself and how the world saw him. The “original Tiger Mom” reference to his mother Kultida is pointed—she and Earl Woods didn’t just raise a golf prodigy, they created someone who couldn’t separate his identity from his performance, couldn’t fail without feeling he’d betrayed his destiny. The book captures both Tiger’s athletic genius (the shot-making, the mental toughness, the dominance that redefined golf) and his human frailty (the affairs, the addiction issues, the inability to connect authentically with people). What makes this essential reading even for non-golf fans is that it’s ultimately about what happens when we turn children into products, when parents project their dreams onto kids, when fame and perfection become prisons. If you’ve read Andre Agassi’s Open, David Maraniss’s biographies, or any sports book that goes beyond statistics to explore psychology, this delivers similar depth. At $1.99 (down from $15.99), you’re getting a #1 New York Times bestseller praised by every major publication for less than a cup of coffee—an exceptional value for a biography that will change how you see one of sports’ most complex figures.

😱 Author: Antoine Wilson
💰 Regularly $13.99, Today $1.99
Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

A NATIONAL BESTSELLER * ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE SUMMER * An NPR and Time Best Book of the Year * Longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize (Canada) * Finalist for CALIBA’s Golden Poppy Awards

A successful art dealer confesses the story of his meteoric rise in this “powerful, intoxicating, and shocking” (The New York Times) novel that’s a “slow burn à la Patricia Highsmith” (Oprah Daily). “You’ll struggle not to rip through in one sitting” (Vogue).

In a first-class lounge at JFK airport, our narrator listens as Jeff Cook, a former classmate he only vaguely remembers, shares the uncanny story of his adult life—a life that changed course years before, the moment he resuscitated a drowning man.

Jeff reveals that after that traumatic, galvanizing morning on the beach, he was compelled to learn more about the man whose life he had saved, convinced that their fates were now entwined. But are we agents of our fate—or are we its pawns? Upon discovering that the man is renowned art dealer Francis Arsenault, Jeff begins to surreptitiously visit his Beverly Hills gallery. Although Francis does not seem to recognize him as the man who saved his life, he nevertheless casts his legendary eye on Jeff and sees something worthy. He takes the younger man under his wing, initiating him into his world, where knowledge, taste, and access are currency; a world where value is constantly shifting and calling into question what is real, and what matters. The paths of the two men come together and diverge in dizzying ways until the novel’s staggering ending.

Antoine Wilson writes psychological fiction that explores obsession, identity, and the stories we tell ourselves about who we are and why we do what we do. Mouth to Mouth earned comparisons to Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley for its exploration of a man who insinuates himself into another’s life, though Wilson’s approach is more philosophical than Highsmith’s—less about con artistry than about fate, obligation, and whether saving someone’s life creates a bond that can’t be broken.

What makes this special: The framing device—a chance encounter in an airport lounge where one man confesses his entire strange story to a former classmate who barely remembers him—creates immediate tension. Why is Jeff telling this story? What does he want from the narrator? The premise is both simple and deeply unsettling: Jeff saves Francis Arsenault from drowning, then becomes convinced their fates are linked, leading him to insert himself into Francis’s life without revealing who he is. When Francis takes Jeff under his wing in the art world, it’s unclear whether Francis truly doesn’t recognize his rescuer or whether he’s playing his own game. The art world setting—where value is subjective, authenticity is debatable, and reputation is everything—provides the perfect backdrop for a story about identity and truth. Wilson uses the mentor-protégé relationship to explore questions about debt, gratitude, and whether one person can ever truly own another’s life just because they saved it. The “staggering ending” promise suggests revelations that recontextualize everything, the kind of twist that makes you want to immediately reread the book knowing what you now know. If you’ve loved Patricia Highsmith’s psychologically twisted character studies, Ottessa Moshfegh’s morally ambiguous protagonists, or Kazuo Ishiguro’s unreliable narrators, Wilson offers similar literary sophistication with page-turning suspense. At $1.99 (down from $13.99), you’re getting a book that made Barack Obama’s summer reading list for the price of a bottle of water at that airport lounge—an absolute steal for literary thriller that Vogue says you won’t be able to put down.