In Translation: Thriller Previews, Mar. 2022, Pt. 2 | Prepub Alert

Three distinctive titles reflecting the ongoing appeal of Scandinavian thrills and the rising power of Korean literature. 

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Gu Byeong-mo. The Old Woman with the Knife. Hanover Square: Harlequin. Mar. 2022. 304p. tr. from Korean by Chi-Young. ISBN 9781335425768. $19.99. THRILLER/PSYCHOLOGICAL

At 65, Hornclaw is slowing down at work and content to live quietly in a small apartment with her rescue dog. She should be cashing out her share of the company, but she’s made the mistake of growing close to a doctor and his family after an emergency visit. Such connections are dangerous stuff in her business—actually, she’s an assassin routinely hired to do in cheating spouses, corporate enemies, and the like—and there are repercussions. From an award-winning, internationally best-selling South Korean author making her English-language debut; with a 50,000-copy first printing.

Sten, Camilla. The Resting Place. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. Mar. 2022. 336p. tr. from Swedish by Alexandra Fleming. ISBN 9781250249272. $27.99. THRILLER/SUSPENSE

Here’s more from the author of the nerve-scraping debut The Lost Village, a LibraryReads pick that sold to 17 countries. Eleanor walks in on her grandmother’s murder but won’t be able to identify who did it; she suffers from prosopagnosia, the inability to recognize faces. Obviously, she’s worried about what she doesn’t know —the assailant could be sitting right next to her—and her fears intensify when she inherits a house from her grandmother. It’s chilly, remote, and the place her grandfather died unexpectedly. With a 150,000-copy first printing.

Ulstein, Silje. Reptile Memoirs. Grove. Mar. 2022. 400p. tr. from Norwegian by Alison McCullough. ISBN 9780802158864. $26. THRILLER/PSYCHOLOGICAL

New to the Kristiansund police at age 60, Det. Roe Olsvik is investigating the disappearance of 11-year-old Iben, abandoned on a shopping trip by her exasperated mother, Mariam, because of repeated pesky requests to buy a magazine. Naturally, Roe suspects Mariam of malfeasance, and naturally things aren’t as they seem. The very suggestion that this story is linked to a young woman’s purchase of a baby python 13 years earlier is enough to bring on shivers. A big-deal best seller in Norway, with rights sales to 13 territories, this debut plays to thriller and literary fans alike.

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Barbara Hoffert

Barbara Hoffert (bhoffert@mediasourceinc.com, @BarbaraHoffert on Twitter) is Editor, LJ Prepub Alert; winner of ALA's Louis Shores Award for reviewing; and past president, awards chair, and treasurer of the National Book Critics Circle, which awarded her its inaugural Service Award in 2023.

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