Books like The House of Stairs

I was glued to every page of this book!

It’s a claustrophobic thriller with a startling visual image at its heart: an ultra-modern glass cabin in the middle of a deep, dark wood. At night, the light against the glass means you can’t see out – but anyone outside can see right in. I loved the way Ruth Ware turned the rickety old building cliché on its head, turning light from a source of comfort into a threat. 

I love books set in the exotic Middle East, and Morocco is by far my favorite country to visit, so I was immediately attracted to this book. It is a mind-bending psychological thriller that wound me up until my head spun, trying to unravel a plot filled with obsession, identity, and power.

A longtime friend visits Alice in Tangier, but is she a friend or a frenemy? Is Alice the fly and her friend the spider? The batteries in my ear-pods died several times as I became lost in the crowds and noise in the bustling medina while trying to keep track of Alice’s confused perceptions of reality.

The first of a trilogy about backwoods Florida criminals and the man who wants to leave his life behind, this book shows Post’s talent for real emotion and pathos in the middle of the chaos of a full-on thriller.

Judah Cannon is a man with morals and a will to do the right thing, but he also comes with skills and experience to bring the fight to those who have wronged him. And, of course, any great protagonist needs a great antagonist, and Post writes them as well as anyone. Sister Tulah is a villain for ages.

Monday Charles is missing, so why is only her best friend looking for her? The answer had my jaw dropping to the floor. Tiffany D. Jackson is the queen of twists and turns, and this thriller is her twisty-est yet.

I love a thriller with heart, and the friendship between Monday and the protagonist, Claudia, definitely broke mine.

James Lovegrove’s pastiches are among the best I’ve ever read!

I happen to be a horror and mystery fan, and Lovegrove’s stories are not only fun, they’re frightening. In this book, Holmes and Watson must solve a mystery involving an evil Christmas spirit called the Black Thurrick. They also must contend with a family who wants them to return to London above all else.

I received this book as a Christmas gift from my husband a few years ago, and it was my introduction to Lovegrove, who also writes The Cthulhu Casebooks, a series of Sherlock Holmes books concerning H.P. Lovecraft’s creations.

Fun Fact: James Lovegrove and Nicholas Meyer (author of The Seven-Per-Cent Solution) share the same birthday, December 24th.

While the setting and characters are standard for cozy mysteries, some elements make this a favorite series of mine. The setting is pretty typical–the second-hand up-cycling shop in a small New England town is run by a single woman. Elvis the cat helps solve the mysteries in a perfectly logical and cat-like manner.

Where this series differs is the tension of the long romance arc that lands exactly where I thought it should–after being afraid Sarah would go for the wrong Mr. Right. Additionally, in some cozies, the team-of-little-old-ladies trope is bland.

Ryan’s characters are distinct, with varied personalities and life experiences. While meeting the expectations of the cozy reader, the formula has been refreshingly improved, lifting this author above others in the genre.

I read this book as a contest judge. I’d never heard of the author before. Little did I know that I’d fall in love with Morgan and Lance. Hooked from the first book. Morgan is caught between a rock and a hard place. Tessa, who couldn’t be more ‘girl next door’–also Morgan’s kids’ babysitter–was murdered. Her neighbor needs Morgan to defend her son, who is accused of the murder. Morgan has known him for years and is determined to prove his innocence.  

Morgan asks her friend Lance, an ex-cop turned private investigator, to help solve the murder. I loved how they formed a relationship that developed with each new book of the series. I love series, especially when I love the author. I highly recommend this book. 

Anthony Boucher straddles the history of both crime fiction and science fiction.

As the founding editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction he has an oversized role in the history of the genre. As a crime writer, he gave his name to the Anthony Awards, which are handed out every year at the annual Bouchercon.

His SF story “The Quest for Saint Aquin” is a classic. None of this, admittedly, has much to do with Rocket to the Morgue, Boucher’s roman-à-clef mystery set in pre-WW2 California in which the emerging world of science fiction comes to glorious life. A young L. Ron Hubbard makes an appearance, as do Robert A. Heinlein and the rocket scientist and occultist Jack Parsons.

The mystery matters less than the characters, who though moving under different names are all very much true to life.

The complicated and wonderful characters in Mia’s family really drew me in. They all have enough to deal with: the pandemic; Mia’s first breakup; her complicated relationship with her twin, who seems to do everything right; their brother Eugene’s disabilities, which mean he’s often discriminated against or underestimated; and their parents’ struggles to keep it all together and move on from heartbreaking false hopes.

When her father disappears, Mia doesn’t let her other problems or even the fear and heartbreak get in the way of her determination to find out the truth–no matter how painful–and protect Eugene from unjust suspicion.

I loved the role the complex bonds between the various family members came to play in unraveling this case and coping with its ramifications.

A Japanese ghost story, set in an imaginary, contemporary, Japanese town by a Singaporean first novelist.

I picked this out at Brighton Library because I liked the cover, but Clarissa Goenawan's Rainbirds has survived the goodreads treatment, so hopefully she's a writer to watch (I mean, there will be more of these).

Readers have recalled Haruki Murakami, because it's allegedly Japanese, and a bit off-kilter, but to me this dreamlike narrative seemed fresh and floating: ungrounded, not alienated. I thought of another Japanese writer, Kazuo Ishiguro, & The Buried Giant: a misty, off-kilter take on Arthurian Britain, in which everyone seems either asleep, or else making the journey the dead make to wherever they go, while dreaming the novel's action...

No, I give up, I can't explain the charm, you'd have to try it and see, & yes, those are goldfish, not any kind of birds on the cover, and… show more.