The personal assistant

Alex Hutchinson, aka UnapologeticallyAlex, is an Instagram influencer who just broke a million followers. Her twin 12-year-old daughters don't love that she makes her life so public, but her husband, Patrick, the girls' stepfather, is proud. Then someone posts a controversial video on UnapologeticallyAlex, one of Alex bashing a popular teen actress, and her assistant AC is nowhere to be found. Internet trolls descend, but losing followers is the least of Alex's problems. She is doxxed, fake photos appear online, and a dead body shows up in her carriage house office. The narrative alternates between Alex and Patrick each narrating their troubles and the story of Anna Claire, a motel maid who meets a man who promises to make all her money troubles go away. Soon it becomes clear that AC and Anna Claire are not the same person, leaving readers to wonder what the connection between the two stories is, which Belle (Stranger in the Lake, 2020) reveals in an explosive climax. This taut and twisty domestic thriller will keep readers guessing until the very end. Copyright 2022 Booklist Reviews.

Following a misjudged post gone nastily viral, popular mommy blogger Alex discovers that The Personal Assistant who knew too much about her has vanished, with USA Today best-selling author Belle shifting perspectives between the two (75,000-copy paperback and 10,000-copy hardcover first printing). In Small Game, a fiction debut from Braverman (Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube), survival instructor Mara lands on a reality TV show with a mixed bag of teammates hoping to win a pile of money by camping out in some undisclosed woodlands but not counting on being stranded (150,000-copy first printing). Slipped into German intelligence by the Soviets (and by Single Spy author Christie), Double Agent Alexsi Smirnoff is captured in 1943 by the British, who recruit him for their own purposes (50,000-copy first printing). In Connelly's Desert Star, LAPD detective Renée Ballard rejoins the force to run the newly minted Open-Unsolved Unit, where Harry Bosch volunteers so that he can pursue a psychopath who slaughtered an entire family (750,000-copy first printing). In this follow-up to Graham and Land's The Rising, high school seniors Alex Chin and Samantha Dixon must counter a threat to all humanity, signaled by the ascent of a Blood Moon over the vanished Mayan city of El Mirador (75,000-copy first printing). "Beware of The Couple at the Table nearest to yours" says the note to honeymooners Jane and William, but the tables at their swanky resort are all equidistant—New York Times best-selling Hannah's way of chilling protagonists and readers alike (50,000-copy first printing). Searching for a mountain caribou reportedly spotted in Washington State— A Ghost of Caribou because this subspecies was thought extinct in the contiguous United States—wildlife biologist Alex Carter instead encounters environmental conflict and a murdered forest ranger; wildlife researcher Henderson follows up A Blizzard of Polar Bears (75,000-copy first printing). Living in the Soviet Union in 1973, above the Arctic Circle—Winterland, indeed—eight-year-old Anya is tapped as a promising gymnast even as she mourns her mother, who vanished after challenging state policies; following Meadows's LJ-starred I Will Send Rain (75,000-copy first printing). Having built a successful life for herself in London after being orphaned as a child in Paris, Amelie marries dashing billionaire Jed—and realizes when she's kidnapped that she feels less like The Prisoner now than she did in her marriage; from the mega-best-selling Paris (200,000-copy first printing). Grandson of action hero Doc Savage, nerdy professor Brandt Savage is pressed into a top-secret training program that re-creates him mentally and physically as The Perfect Assassin; following Patterson's first comic-book hero foray, The Shadow (250,000-copy paperback and 45,000-copy hardcover first printing). In Steadman's latest, emerging novelist Harry husband loves her husband, Edward, but he's one of the Holbecks—filthy rich and dangerous—and though he's tried to be shot of them, the couple is soon dragged into The Family Game. In Unger's Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six, Hannah's rich techie brother is graciously facilitating a weekend getaway for themselves, their spouses, and another couple, but an intrusive rental host, the personal chef's creepy stories, and a sneaking suspicion that someone in the group has a vendetta put a damper on things (150,000-copy first printing).

Following a misjudged post gone nastily viral, popular mommy blogger Alex discovers that The Personal Assistant who knew too much about her has vanished, with USA Today best-selling author Belle shifting perspectives between the two (75,000-copy paperback and 10,000-copy hardcover first printing). In Small Game, a fiction debut from Braverman (Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube), survival instructor Mara lands on a reality TV show with a mixed bag of teammates hoping to win a pile of money by camping out in some undisclosed woodlands but not counting on being stranded (150,000-copy first printing). Slipped into German intelligence by the Soviets (and by Single Spy author Christie), Double Agent Alexsi Smirnoff is captured in 1943 by the British, who recruit him for their own purposes (50,000-copy first printing). In Connelly's Desert Star, LAPD detective Renée Ballard rejoins the force to run the newly minted Open-Unsolved Unit, where Harry Bosch volunteers so that he can pursue a psychopath who slaughtered an entire family (750,000-copy first printing). In this follow-up to Graham and Land's The Rising, high school seniors Alex Chin and Samantha Dixon must counter a threat to all humanity, signaled by the ascent of a Blood Moon over the vanished Mayan city of El Mirador (75,000-copy first printing). "Beware of The Couple at the Table nearest to yours" says the note to honeymooners Jane and William, but the tables at their swanky resort are all equidistant—New York Times best-selling Hannah's way of chilling protagonists and readers alike (50,000-copy first printing). Searching for a mountain caribou reportedly spotted in Washington State— A Ghost of Caribou because this subspecies was thought extinct in the contiguous United States—wildlife biologist Alex Carter instead encounters environmental conflict and a murdered forest ranger; wildlife researcher Henderson follows up A Blizzard of Polar Bears (75,000-copy first printing). Living in the Soviet Union in 1973, above the Arctic Circle—Winterland, indeed—eight-year-old Anya is tapped as a promising gymnast even as she mourns her mother, who vanished after challenging state policies; following Meadows's LJ-starred I Will Send Rain (75,000-copy first printing). Having built a successful life for herself in London after being orphaned as a child in Paris, Amelie marries dashing billionaire Jed—and realizes when she's kidnapped that she feels less like The Prisoner now than she did in her marriage; from the mega-best-selling Paris (200,000-copy first printing). Grandson of action hero Doc Savage, nerdy professor Brandt Savage is pressed into a top-secret training program that re-creates him mentally and physically as The Perfect Assassin; following Patterson's first comic-book hero foray, The Shadow (250,000-copy paperback and 45,000-copy hardcover first printing). In Steadman's latest, emerging novelist Harry husband loves her husband, Edward, but he's one of the Holbecks—filthy rich and dangerous—and though he's tried to be shot of them, the couple is soon dragged into The Family Game. In Unger's Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six, Hannah's rich techie brother is graciously facilitating a weekend getaway for themselves, their spouses, and another couple, but an intrusive rental host, the personal chef's creepy stories, and a sneaking suspicion that someone in the group has a vendetta put a damper on things (150,000-copy first printing).

At the start of this riveting thriller from Belle (My Darling Husband), Alex Hutchinson, an Instagram influencer known to her legion of fans as Unapologetically Alex, is overjoyed when the number of her followers hits one million. In a celebratory mood, she and her personal assistant, AC, whip out the tequila, and one drink leads to too many. The next morning, Alex finds that a vitriolic post denigrating a former Disney star-turned-scandal magnet has been uploaded to her social media platform. While Alex has indeed dissed the former actor in the privacy of her own home, she can't remember posting these thoughts for all to see. Within minutes, the trolls are out in force, and Alex and her family become the target of death threats. She calls AC to help with damage control, but the young woman has disappeared. As Alex searches for AC, every new piece of information suggests unexpected possibilities that leave readers reexamining what they have accepted as the truth. As Alex says, "perception is reality." This twisty, multilayered tale should win Belle new fans. Agent: Nikki Terpilowski, Holloway Literary. (Nov.)