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Hunger by Choi Jin-young: A brutal, unforgettable descent into love, poverty, and desperation

There are books that entertain, and then there are books that settle somewhere in your body and refuse to move—Hunger by Choi Jin-young is firmly the latter, a slim novel that opens with a shocking act and only grows more unsettling from there. If the premise alone—compared to Parasite as a kind of dark, romantic counterpoint—sounds extreme, the reality is even harsher. This is, at its core, a tale of absolute misery. And it’s almost a relief that the book is so brief, because lingering in its world for too long would be difficult to bear.

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The story begins with Gu’s death, though the cause is initially unknown. Dam, his lifelong counterpart in a relationship defined by separation and reunion, is inconsolable. The idea of losing him—not just emotionally, but physically through burial or cremation—is unbearable. So she makes a choice that is as horrifying as it is, in her mind, logical: she will consume him, ensuring they are never apart again.

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Sorry for Your Loss by Georgia McVeigh: A deliciously twisted game of obsession, grief, and control

Grief can make people do strange things—but in Sorry for Your Loss by Georgia McVeigh, releasing March 31, 2026, grief is just the starting point for a psychological duel between two people who may be far more dangerous than they first appear. What begins as a chance meeting in a grief support group quickly turns into a tense, unsettling cat-and-mouse game where the real question isn’t whether someone is lying—it’s who’s manipulating whom.

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At the center of the story is Iris, a woman who is clearly out of touch with reality. She attends a local grief group to keep herself “grounded,” but from the start it’s obvious that Iris is holding onto far more than grief. Her childhood offers clues about how she became the person she is. Iris grew up in the shadow of her twin sister, Marcie—the golden child who their mother adored. Marcie’s birth came easily, while Iris reportedly took days to arrive, a story their mother never let her forget. Even after Marcie’s tragic death at seventeen, their mother openly wished it had been Iris instead. It’s the kind of emotional wound that never quite heals, and as an adult Iris is still searching for the love and validation she never received.

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Dirty Metal by Allison LaMothe: A gritty debut that barrels ahead, even when logic struggles to keep up

Dirty Metal by Allison LaMothe drops readers into pre-Giuliani New York City with a pill-popping, rule-breaking tabloid reporter at its center—and it does so with real confidence for a debut. Set in 1992, the novel follows Parker Snow, a 27-year-old crime reporter whose last big story went spectacularly wrong. Now sidelined onto organized crime coverage, Parker is desperate to prove she still belongs on the streets, no matter how questionable her methods become.

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LaMothe’s biggest strength is atmosphere. The city feels grimy, volatile, and alive, especially as Russian organized crime begins asserting power in Brighton Beach. Parker herself fits this world: reckless, sharp-tongued, and driven more by obsession than good judgment. She steals, trespasses, manipulates sources, and self-medicates her trauma, all while insisting she’s chasing the truth. It’s not hard to see how she landed in professional trouble—and why her boss tries to keep her on a short leash.

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Heap Earth Upon It by Chloe Michelle Howarth: Obsession, family loyalty, and the danger of loving too much

Heap Earth Upon It by Chloe Michelle Howarth is a gothic, psychologically rich literary novel that burrows under your skin and stays there. Set in 1965 in the quietly watchful town of Ballycrea, the story opens with the arrival of the O’Leary siblings, whose carefully guarded past and tightly bound loyalty to one another immediately raise questions no one is quite asking out loud.

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Following her acclaimed novel Sunburn, Howarth once again writes with precision and restraint, layering unease rather than rushing toward easy answers. At its heart, this is a novel about grief and survival, and about what happens when sibling devotion turns inward and begins to do real harm. The O’Learys have lost their parents and, in the absence of any other safety net, have clung to one another so fiercely that none of them are truly allowed to grow.

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Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino: A darkly funny exploration of obsession, envy, and the American Dream

The first thing you need to know about Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino is that it’s about far more than real estate. Yes, the book follows 37-year-old publicist Margo Miyake as she becomes dangerously fixated on buying the perfect house in an impossibly competitive Washington, DC housing market—but Kashino turns what could have been a simple story about bidding wars into a biting, darkly funny character study of ambition and envy. The novel releases November 25, 2025.

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After losing out on eleven homes, Margo learns about a property that hasn’t yet hit the market—a charming house in the exact neighborhood she’s been dreaming of. It’s got everything she’s ever wanted, right down to the tire swing in the backyard. That tire swing isn’t just decor; it’s a symbol of everything Margo has been chasing since childhood. As a kid, she watched other families—more stable, more put-together, more normal—and believed that owning a home like theirs would finally make her feel whole. Now, as an adult, she’s convinced that the right house will fix her strained marriage, her stalled plans to have a baby, and her crumbling sense of self-worth.

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One Small Mistake by Dandy Smith: A dark, addictive tale of ambition, manipulation, and the lies we tell ourselves

How far would you go to make your dreams come true? That’s the haunting question at the heart of One Small Mistake by Dandy Smith, a psychological thriller that pulls no punches in its exploration of obsession, abuse, and the dangerous allure of ambition. Set to release November 25, 2025, this gripping novel follows Elodie Fray, an aspiring author who quits her job to chase her dream of literary success—and ends up caught in a web of manipulation spun by a man who knows exactly how to pick his prey.

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At first glance, Elodie’s story might sound like a familiar tale of envy and rivalry—she’s the overlooked sister, forever in the shadow of Ada, who seems to have it all. But Smith skillfully turns the narrative inside out, showing how ambition and vulnerability can intersect in terrifying ways. As Elodie’s world begins to unravel, it becomes clear that she isn’t the architect of her own downfall—she’s the victim of a master manipulator.

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The Trap you won’t see coming: Catherine Ryan Howard’s masterclass in modern crime fiction

Catherine Ryan Howard’s The Trap is a masterfully crafted psychological thriller that deserves far more attention than its underwhelming cover might suggest. Inspired by the real-life disappearances of women in 1990s Ireland, the novel is as unsettling as it is propulsive, offering a chilling and suspenseful exploration of grief, obsession, and the desperate human need for answers.

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The story unfolds through three distinct perspectives: Lucy, a woman determined to catch her sister’s killer after her mysterious disappearance; Angela, a civilian working with the Irish police whose side investigation threatens both the case and her career; and a nameless predator whose terrifying narration will keep your heart pounding. These shifting points of view give the book its pace and emotional heft, and Howard moves between them with expert precision.

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