I love to read first novels to find new authors I’ve never read. There’s no expectations from previous books and basically you just never know what you’re going to get. Here are a couple of my recent favorites.

In Daniel Palmer’s debut thriller Delirious, Charlie Giles, an up-and-coming software developer, has it all. His start-up company has just been bought by a major firm and his “In Vision” software will be the next big thing on everyone’s car. When strange things begin to happen at work, Charlie becomes paranoid because he can’t remember doing them. Soon he can’t tell if he’s becoming like his schizophrenic brother, or someone is really out to get him. Could he really murder someone and not remember?

This book is full adrenalin with an incredible “can’t put it down” plot. To me it felt a little like some of Joseph Finder’s books with the “ordinary man in too deep in a business setting” so I wasn’t surprised that Daniel is a friend of Joe Finder. I guess it shouldn’t have surprised me that his dad is Michael Palmer either because I’ve loved his books for years.

When middle-class college student Karen Clarke agrees to tutor the rich, free-spirited young actress Biba Capel,she soon becomes addicted to Biba’s bohemian lifestyle, friends, and ends up falling for Biba’s brother Rex. Karen learns that the Capel family has many secrets, but when Rex goes to prison for murder, Karen keeps the biggest secret of all.

The Poison Tree by Erin Kelly is a deep, dark, compelling story told in alternating chapters ten years apart. Not only will you not want to put it down, but you’ll want to find someone else who’s read it to talk about the shocking ending.

~Evelyn