2 Books Like If Something Happens to Me

Thrillers that play with your expectations are always going to be high on any list of mine. Mary Kubica's latest, She's Not Sorry, perfectly encapsulates this, where you're given a relatively normal situation to begin with. It's not high octane, crazy events happening at warp-speed, just an intriguing scenario where you know there must be more lying just below the surface. With a thorough examination of our own actions, Mary Kubica weaves together the tale as we try to understand in real time just why this nurse is so taken by her patient. A bonus point, as if it needed it, for the perfectly compelling, draw-you-in, cover art.

Vera Kurian's sophomore novel, A Step Past Darkness, proves that the success of her debut was no fluke. Dynamically different, more of a tome than most thrillers are, and yet still a book that you compels you to keep going, just finish that one more chapter over and over again until you've completed the entire book. The dual timeline with a group of kids in the 90s and the counterpart adults coming back together in current day provided plenty of Millenial nostalgia, but not just the rose-tinted version. Her ability to describe the emotion of a scene sets Kurian apart from many others—you don't just feel like you're there with the characters, you're able to feel all the same emotions her ensemble cast does. A remarkably different tone than Never Saw Me Coming, but just as compelling, and a novel that sticks in your mind long after you've finished it.