Angelo Marcos' 3 favorite reads in 2023

I've read all of Harlan Coben's books, but I realised I'd left this one out. As soon as I started reading it, I felt like I was having a chat with an old friend. 

The story revolves around Nap, who revisits his brother's death from years ago. Like with a lot of Harlan Coben's books, the "'official" version of events very quickly unravels.

I loved the questions posed by this book, especially around how far you would go to avenge – or even just find the truth about – a family member's death. Nap is constantly told to leave things alone but pushes forward - which is what I think we would all do in that situation - even at huge personal cost.

I’m a huge fan of Kia Abdullah, and was fortunate enough to be able to interview her for my website a while back, so I was genuinely excited for this release.

The story is essentially about a neighbourly dispute which snowballs massively, which sounds quite run of the mill, but the social commentary running through it is brilliant, as is the idea of miscommunication and misinterpretations being the spark for huge, irreversible damage. 

Kia Abdullah invites the reader to use their own judgement in terms of the motives of certain characters, and as ever, there are loads of twists and turns. This is a thought-provoking thriller that makes you wonder how far you’d go to protect your own family.

The premise of this story was immediately fascinating to me as someone with a background in psychology – two women find out they were born on the same day 45 years ago but in very different life circumstances. (Psychologists love twin studies!)

Alix is a podcaster, and Josie has the idea of being her next subject. The chapters alternate between the two and are also interspersed with interviews from a Netflix documentary about birthday twins. I really liked this structure as it felt quite different and was a good way to pile on the intrigue and suspense.

The themes of the book can be quite dark, and the way Josie integrates herself into Alix’s life is actually very creepy at times. I could not put this book down, though.