Recommendations based on "Cursed"

Internationally acclaimed crime writer Jo Nesbø’s antihero police investigator, Harry Hole, is back in a bone-chilling thriller that will take Hole to the brink of insanity.Oslo in November. The first snow of the season has fallen. A boy named Jonas wakes in the night to find his mother gone. Out his window, in the cold moonlight, he sees the snowman that inexplicably appeared in the yard earlier in the day. Around its neck is his mother’s pink scarf.Hole suspects a link between a menacing letter he’s received and the disappearance of Jonas’s mother—and of perhaps a dozen other women, all of whom went missing on the day of a first snowfall. As his investigation deepens, something else emerges: he is becoming a pawn in an increasingly terrifying game whose rules are devised—and constantly revised—by the killer.Fiercely suspenseful, its characters brilliantly realized, its atmosphere permeated with evil, The Snowman is the electrifying work of one of the best crime writers of our time.

A young woman is murdered in her Oslo flat. One finger has been severed from her left hand, and behind her eyelid is secreted a tiny red diamond in the shape of a five-pointed star — a pentagram, the devil’s star.Detective Harry Hole is assigned to the case with his long-time adversary Tom Waaler and initially wants no part in it. But Harry is already on notice to quit the force and is left with little alternative but to drag himself out of his alcoholic stupor and get to work.A wave of similar murders is on the horizon. An emerging pattern suggests that Oslo has a serial killer on its hands, and the five-pointed devil’s star is key to solving the riddle.

NOW A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIESIf you find one, he's already found you ....From the creator of The Killing, “a full-throttle thriller in the tradition of classic Stieg Larsson” (A.J. Finn, author of The Woman in the Window).Winner of the Barry Award for Best First Mystery/Crime Novel * A New York Times Book Review Best Book of the YearA psychopath is terrorizing Copenhagen.His calling card is a “chestnut man”—a handmade doll made of matchsticks and two chestnuts—which he leaves at each bloody crime scene.Examining the dolls, forensics makes a shocking discovery—a fingerprint belonging to a young girl, a government minister’s daughter who had been kidnapped and murdered a year ago.A tragic coincidence—or something more twisted?To save innocent lives, a pair of detectives must put aside their differences to piece together the Chestnut Man’s gruesome clues.Because it’s clear that the madman is on a mission that is far from over.And no one is safe.

“A thrilling tale of abduction and escape in North Korea....highly entertaining." —The Washington PostA propulsive and ambitious thriller about a woman trying to rescue her twin sister from captivity in North Korea, and the North Korean citizens with whom she forms an unlikely allianceStar of the North opens in 1998, when a Korean American teenager is kidnapped from a South Korean beach by North Korean operatives. Twelve years later, her brilliant twin sister, Jenna, is still searching for her, and ends up on the radar of the CIA. When evidence that her sister may still be alive in North Korea comes to light, Jenna will do anything possible to rescue her--including undertaking a daring mission into the heart of the regime. Her story is masterfully braided together with two other narrative threads. In one, a North Korean peasant woman finds a forbidden international aid balloon and uses the valuables inside to launch a dangerously lucrative black-market business. In the other, a high-ranking North Korean official discovers, to his horror, that he may be descended from a traitor, a fact that could mean his death if it is revealed. As the novel progresses, these narrative strands converge and connect in surprising ways, ultimately building to an explosive and unforgettable climax.

An Instant New York Times BestsellerNamed a Most Anticipated Book of 2024 by the Washington Post, TIME Magazine, BBC, TODAY, Elle, CrimeReads, and more"Hailed as the queen of Irish crime fiction, French spins a taut tale of retribution, sacrifice, and family."—TIMEFrom the New York Times bestselling author of The Searcher and “one of the greatest crime novelists writing today” (Vox), a spellbinding new novel set in the Irish countryside.It’s a blazing summer when two men arrive in a small village in the West of Ireland. One of them is coming home. Both of them are coming to get rich. One of them is coming to die.Cal Hooper took early retirement from Chicago PD and moved to rural Ireland looking for peace. He’s found it, more or less: he’s built a relationship with a local woman, Lena, and he’s gradually turning Trey Reddy from a half-feral teenager into a good kid going good places. But then Trey’s long-absent father reappears, bringing along an English millionaire and a scheme to find gold in the townland, and suddenly everything the three of them have been building is under threat. Cal and Lena are both ready to do whatever it takes to protect Trey, but Trey doesn’t want protecting. What she wants is revenge.From the writer who is “in a class by herself,” (The New York Times), a nuanced, atmospheric tale that explores what we’ll do for our loved ones, what we’ll do for revenge, and what we sacrifice when the two collide.

In the thirteenth novel in the New York Times best-selling series, brilliant rogue police investigator Harry Hole is back, this time as an outsider assembling his own team to help find a serial killer.Harry has gone to Los Angeles to drink himself to death, in the wake of his life back in Oslo falling to pieces. He’s nearly managed to, but Harry has been helping an older film actress, Lucille, to get away from the grips of a drug cartel to which she owes one million dollars, and in return she’s given him shelter, company and a tailored suit.In Oslo, two girls have disappeared and been found murdered and one of the suspects is a well-known real estate magnate. Katrine Bratt wants to bring in the country’s foremost serial killings expert, but the idea of collaborating with Harry Hole is out of the question for the chiefs of police. The real-estate magnate under suspicion on the other hand wants to hire Harry as a private investigator to clear his name from the case. Harry declines, but that’s before the drug cartel takes Lucille hostage. If Harry achieves the task, the real estate magnate will award him a bonus enough to cover Lucille’s debt. He puts together a team consisting of a cocaine-dealing childhood friend, a corrupt police officer and a cancer-stricken psychologist. The drug cartel has given them ten days. The clock is ticking, and a blood moon has been forecast over Oslo.

'It may take you a while to sleep after you finish it' Daily Express The most chilling and terrifying serial killer thriller of the year, from international bestseller Lars Kepler. Sweden's most notorious serial killer. Jurek Walter was shot and killed years ago. The police moved on and managed to forget the darkness that had tainted their lives. Has come back from the dead. But now someone is leaving a trail of broken bodies across Sweden and the clues all point to Walter. Detective Joona Linna is convinced his worst nightmare is becoming a reality: the man who tore apart his family has returned to finish the job. He doesn't just kill you. He buries your loved ones alive. When Joona's partner is taken - and locked inside an underground coffin - he finds himself with an impossible choice: leave her to die or walk into the trap set by the only man he ever feared. 'Wraps you in a cloak of darkness' Daily Mail 'A thrilling, terrifying, dark and disturbing read. Loved it' Patricia Gibney, no.1 bestselling author of the Lottie Parker series

Someone is lying... and someone is dead. When a young woman is found dead in her own bedroom, the Canterbury police are baffled. There's no sign of a break-in and no evidence. It's as though the killer has vanished overnight. DI Edina Ogborne is determined to uncover the truth and, when another young woman survives a similar attack, she's convinced the two incidents are connected. But the new victim, Gina, has her own ideas about how to bring her attacker to justice. As Ed investigates, she soon realises not everything is quite what it seems - and that someone close to the case is lying. But will she find out who before it's too late? The second instalment in the DI Ogborne Mystery series is a heart-pounding crime thriller perfect for fans of Louise Candlish and S. E. Lynes. What others are saying about THE VICTIM: 'Fast-paced, twisty, original and hugely entertaining.' J. P. Carter, author of In Safe Hands. 'Another gripping read from a strong new voice in police procedurals.' Claire Allan, author of Her Name Was Rose. 'This is definitely my favorite mystery thriller for 2019! Wow!' Reader review 'Could easily be read as a stand-alone... the twists and turns were excellent.' Reader review 'Absolutely loved this book...full of twists.' Reader review 'Bloody Brilliant!... a simply superb addition to the series. It's tense, dark and highly twisty! Its everything I look for in a good thriller... a complex, twisted yet intriguing plot.' Reader review 'Kept me racing through the pages... the surprises kept coming as the investigation intensifies... looking forward to another in this series and want to go back and read THE TAKEN GIRLS as well.' Reader review 'I read this in one sitting, could not put it down! ' Reader review 'I loved it! Well written, good pace, strong characters, I felt tense and scared like I was in the story!' Reader review 'Perfect psychological thriller! It moved at a fast pace with twists and turns throughout! I couldn't put it down! ' Reader review

Karin Slaughter's new novel is an epic tale of love, loyalty, and murder that encompasses forty years, two chillingly similar murder cases, and a good man's deepest secrets. Will Trent is a brilliant agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Newly in love, he is beginning to put a difficult past behind him. Then a local college student goes missing, and Will is inexplicably kept off the case by his supervisor and mentor, deputy director Amanda Wagner. Will cannot fathom Amanda's motivation until the two of them literally collide in an abandoned orphanage they have both been drawn to for different reasons. Decades before—when Will's father was imprisoned for murder—this was his home. . . . Flash back nearly forty years. In the summer Will Trent was born, Amanda Wagner is going to college, making Sunday dinners for her father, taking her first steps in the boys' club that is the Atlanta Police Department. One of her first cases is to investigate a brutal crime in one of the city's worst neighborhoods. Amanda and her partner, Evelyn, are the only ones who seem to care if an arrest is ever made. Now the case that launched Amanda's career has suddenly come back to life, intertwined with the long-held mystery of Will's birth and parentage. And these two dauntless investigators will each need to face down demons from the past if they are to prevent an even greater terror from being unleashed. A masterpiece of character, atmosphere, and riveting suspense, Criminal is the most powerful and moving novel yet from one of our most gifted storytellers at work today.Advance praise for Criminal “Karin Slaughter's best yet by far: All her signature strengths are amplified a hundredfold by the past explaining the present. Reading this book was like watching a great athlete having a career year.”—Lee Child “Fascinating . . . Slaughter delivers another riveting, pulse-pounding crime novel.”—Booklist (starred review)

'Mesmerising, macabre and magnificent. The Mercy Chair is truly terrifying, laugh-out-loud funny, and impossibly clever. Poe and Tilly are unstoppable' Chris Whitaker 'Washington Poe is a brilliant creation, from one of the finest and most inventive crime writers of today' Peter James ---- Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin . . . Washington Poe has a story to tell. And he needs you to listen. You'll hear how it started with the robber birds. Crows. Dozens of them. Enough for a murder . . . He'll tell you about a man who was tied to a tree and stoned to death, a man who had tattooed himself with a code so obscure, even the gifted analyst Tilly Bradshaw struggled to break it. He'll tell you how the man's murder was connected to a tragedy that happened fifteen years earlier when a young girl massacred her entire family. And finally, he'll tell you about the mercy chair. And why people would rather kill themselves than talk about it . . . Poe hopes you've been paying attention. Because in this story, nothing is as it seems . . . ---- 'Craven renders the darkness of the human condition with immense skill, ratcheting the tension to a nails-on-chalkboard pitch. Don't turn out the lights.' Vaseem Khan MORE PRAISE FOR MW CRAVEN: 'The kind of novel that inspired me to write fiction in the first place. A guaranteed great time.' Chris Brookmyre 'Darkly entertaining' The Telegraph 'If you haven't read any M.W. Craven yet, fix that immediately' S. A. Cosby 'I've been following M.W. Craven's Poe/Tilly series from the very beginning, and it just gets better and better' Peter Robinson 'Poe and Tilly books are a joy' Steve Cavanagh 'In Tilly and Poe, M.W. Craven has created a stand-out duo who are two of the most compelling characters in crime fiction in recent years' Fiona Cummins 'Darkly comic . . . Thrilling' The Independent 'Clever, sophisticated, utterly gripping thriller from one of the best writers around' Mari Hannah 'Craven has unleashed Ben Koenig into the thriller world. Long may he raise hell in the pages. A superb thriller that will have everyone talking, and gasping.' David Baldacci 'Paging Lee and Andrew Child: you've got company' The Times