The Most Exciting Books of 2018

We’ve been reading more than breathing in 2018, so we decided to put together a list of what we’ve read so far, and also what we’re excited to read next. Not all of them have been published yet, so keep your eyes peeled for the next round of exciting fiction in your local bookstore: 

The Chalk Man by C J Tudor

This is a big debut crime thriller about the Chalk Man, who leaves little clues in secret drawings.

Looking back, it all started on the day of the fair and the terrible accident. When twelve-year-old Eddie first met the Chalk Man. It was the Chalk Man who gave Eddie the idea for the drawings: a way to leave secret messages between his group of friends. And it was fun, to start with, until the figures led them to the body of a young girl.

That was thirty years ago and Ed thought the past was behind him. Then he receives a letter containing just two things: a piece of chalk, and a drawing of a stick figure. As history begins to repeat itself, Ed realises the game was never over… Everyone has secrets. Everyone is guilty of something. And children are not always so innocent.

The Woman in the Window by A J Finn

It’s been ten long months since Anna Fox last left her home. Ten months during which she has haunted the rooms of her old New York house like a ghost, lost in her memories, too terrified to step outside. Anna’s lifeline to the real world is her window, where she sits day after day, watching her neighbours. When the Rusells move in, Anna is instantly drawn to them. A picture-perfect family of three, they are an echo of the life that was once hers. But one evening, a frenzied scream rips across the silence, and Anna witnesses something no one was supposed to see. Now she must do everything she can to uncover the truth about what really happened. But even if she does, will anyone believe her? And can she even trust herself?

‘One of those rare books that really is unputdownable.’ – Stephen King

‘Full of suspense and surprises and told with heart.‘ – Jane Harper

The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan (19 February 2018)

Cormac Reilly is about to reopen the case it took him twenty years to forget. Responding to a call that took him to a decrepit country house, young Garda Cormac Reilly found two silent, neglected children – fifteen-year-old Maude and five-year-old Jack. Their mother lay dead upstairs.

Since then Cormac’s had twenty high-flying years working as a detective in Dublin, and he’s come back to Galway for reasons of his own. As he struggles to navigate the politics of a new police station, Maude and Jack return to haunt him. What ties a recent suicide to that death from so long ago? And who among his new colleagues can Cormac really trust?

Betrayal is at the heart of this unsettling small-town noir and the Ireland it portrays. In a country where the written law isn’t the only one, The Ruin ask who will protect you when the authorities can’t – or won’t.

Redemption Point by Candice Fox

Ostensibly Redemption Point is the sequel to Candice Fox’s Crimson Lake, but like all great thrillers it can read as a standalone. Ted Conkaffey once again teams up with an unlikely partner – this time the father of the girl he was accused of abducting . . .

When former police detective Ted Conkaffey was wrongly accused of abducting thirteen-year-old Claire Bingley, he hoped the Queensland rainforest town of Crimson Lake would be a good place to disappear. But nowhere is safe from Claire’s devastated father.Dale Bingley has a brutal revenge plan all worked out – and if Ted doesn’t help find the real abductor, he’ll be its first casualty. Unpredictable, gritty, and insatiably readable, Candice Fox

Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan

Ripe for summer reading is Sarah Vaughan’s Anatomy of a Scandal, a psychological drama like no other. Sophie’s husband James is accused of a malevolent crime that goes against everything she’s ever known. The James she married is a loving father and charismatic, successful gentleman. More than anything else, she wants to believe he’s innocent.

But Kate, the lawyer hired to prosecute James, is convinced he’s guilty and determined to make him pay for his crimes.

What unfolds is an unpredictable, heart pounding court thriller, portrait of marriage, and exploration of how memories haunt us.

The Whole Bright Year by Debra Oswald

How do we protect the people we love? In the summer of 1976 it’s picking season on an Australian stone-fruit orchard run by Celia, a hard-working woman in her early forties. Years ago, when her husband was killed unexpectedly, Celia left the city and brought her newborn daughter Zoe to this farm for a more secure life. Now sixteen, Zoe is a passionate, intelligent girl, chafing against her mother’s protectiveness and yearning for intensity and experience. 

Barging into this world as itinerant fruit-pickers come a desperate brother and sister from Sydney. Hard-bitten Sheena has dragged her wild, ebullient eighteen-year-old brother Kieran out west, away from trouble in the city. Kieran and Zoe are drawn to each other the instant they meet, sparking excitement, worry, lust, trouble . . .

From the creator of Offspring and author of Useful, The Whole Bright Year is a gripping, wry, and tender novel about how holding onto too tightly can cost us what we love.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

Graeme Simsion has lauded Morris’ debut novel for the past couple of months, and there’s good reason why. In The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Morris portrays a Jewish man called Lale, who is forced to become an obedient prisoner in Auschwitz as the privileged Tetovierer – the tattooist. One day as Lale is tattooing the arm of a young woman, he looks into her eyes and falls instantly in love.

‘Extraordinary – moving, confronting, and uplifting . . . a story about the extremes of human behaviour: calculated brutality alongside impulsive and selfless acts of love. I recommend it unreservedly’ 

 – Graeme Simsion, author of The Rosie Project. 

Birthright by Fiona Lowe (19 February 2018)

Australian author Fiona Lowe returns with a juicy family saga, set against the backdrop of Victoria’s high country, about unforgettable characters tangled together by a wealthy inheritance, secrets and betrayal.

Is an inheritance a privilege or a right?

Does it show love? The Jamiesons are a wealthy family in the heart of Victoria’s high country. But Margaret, the matriarch, has always been as tight–fisted with the family money as she is with her affection. Her eldest daughter, Sarah, is successful in her own right as a wife, mother and part owner of a gourmet food empire. But it’s not enough to impress her mother. Always in the shadow cast by the golden glow of her younger brother, Sarah feels compelled to meet Margaret’s every demand to earn her love.

Will longheld secrets and childhood rivalries smash this family into pieces?