While You Wait for Gone Girl

I just finished Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, the plotty thriller that everyone and their brother has a hold on this summer. No spoilers: it's as good as they say it is, keep it on your list! Here are some lesser-known titles to tide you over until your hold arrives.

Last year's must-read plot twist novel was Before I Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson. Reminiscent of Memento, the main character wakes up every morning missing most of her memory. She sees a forty-something in the mirror, but the last thing she remembers is being a twenty-something college student. This is not her beautiful house, and certainly not her beautiful husband. If you haven't read it yet, now is the perfect chance to peer into her diary as she tries to piece together the missing years. Read on for more ominous thrillers!

COOLER THAN A CUCUMBER

     Taylor Clark's impetus for writing Nerve : Poise Under Pressure, Serenity Under Stress and The Brave New Science of Fear and Cool was deeply personal. He had experienced a persistent stretch of anxiety and despite his best mental efforts and a devoted perusal of available stress-related books (some too clinical, others too preachy self-help) Clark remained clueless. Eventually, cluelessness evolved into curiosity.  He began to study and synthesize the latest research from neuroscientists, psychologists and scholars that cut to the heart of fear and its formidable first cousins - anxiety and stress.