Possession

In this twisty, atmospheric psychological thriller from Lowe (The Furies), psychiatrist Hannah McLelland has painstakingly rebuilt normal for herself and her 16-year-old daughter in a remote countryside sanctuary in the decade since her husband's headline-grabbing murder in their London home, on a night she has never been able to remember, and the ensuing sensational trial of his alleged killer. Suddenly, everything threatens to come crashing down. A true-crime podcast goes viral with its reinvestigation of Hannah's husband's murder and attempt to win exoneration for the young man convicted of it. This involves fanning suspicion of Hannah herself, in part by exposing such skeletons as her possible culpability in a patient's suicide. Lowe all too believably depicts how in today's social media--driven milieu, anonymous commenters can quickly morph crusades for justice into an electronic lynch mob. Readers will keep flipping the pages right up to the gasp-worthy final bombshell. This author continues to impress. Agent: Juliet Mushens, Caskie Mushens. (Jan.)

Ten years ago, Hannah left London with her six-year-old daughter, determined to remake a life for herself after her husband's murder. Her sense of normality is about to be shaken as Conviction, a popular true-crime podcast, is about to begin its new season on her husband's death. Hannah cannot remember the events of that night, but as the podcast continues, snippets of what happened begin to coalesce. But is what she is remembering real or are there darker, hidden agendas that are haunting her? Lowe (The Furies) creates an aura of foreboding from the first page and delicately adds increasing tension on her characters that even the charged finale doesn't dissipate. The plot jumps between before the murder and present day, weaving a mysterious whodunit element to the tale, to keep readers guessing and trying to figure out the guilty. Even the characters themselves are not always what they seem. VERDICT Similar in vein to Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl and Paula Hawkins's The Girl on the Train, Lowe's chilling, atmospheric thriller will keep readers turning the pages all night.--Laura Hiatt, Fort Collins, CO