12 Books More Scandalous Than Scandal

A seemingly perfect suburban family is in for a rude awakening when the eldest daughter becomes a high school senior. Angela Hawthorne has always been the overachieving straight-A student her parents hoped for, but soon she gets distracted by her crush on the cute baseball player in her English class. Angela finds herself on the brink of insanity trying to become class valedictorian when all she can think about is her crush. Meanwhile, her mother, Nora, is also under pressure, juggling motherhood and her career, and as the story unfolds, you discover all the Hawthorne family members have their own issues. This topical book shows that even the most grounded families can unravel at the seams of high achievement.

A disappearance, a mystery, and a frantic search for truth make for a thriller like no other. Retired head of homicide Armand Gamache and his wife have just settled in a Quebec village when 9-year-old Laurent Lepage disappears. Lepage, famous in the village for crying wolf, told extraordinary lies about aliens, beasts in the woods, walking trees, and dinosaurs outside the village. But as the desperate search for him begins, the search also unfurls a series of murder, crimes, and betrayal, and the sinking fear that Lepage may have not been crying wolf at all . . .

The future is always bright with possibilities — until tragedy strikes. When Rita Feuerstahl arrives at the university in Krakow in 1935, she is looking forward to her freedom until a child, a marriage, and a world war consume life as she knows it. While trying to survive and keep from becoming one of the last victims of the Nazis, Rita is also armed with a secret — one so enormous that it has the potential to cost the Allies the war. Spanning Paris, Moscow, Warsaw, and Nazi Germany, Rita's will to survive will be tested as nations are stripped down around her.

When you can see another's past, the future suddenly becomes a series of haunting and dangerous possibilities. Fourteen-year-old Juan Diego is living in Mexico with his 13-year-old sister, Lupe, when she thinks she sees their futures unfolding. Lupe has a unique gift — the ability to read most people's pasts and, as a result, infer about the future. But Lupe is not always accurate, and knowledge can be a terrible burden. As an adult, Juan Diego finds himself in the Philippines when his childhood in Mexico goes careening into his future.

Looking for something to keep you on the edge of your seat? From debut novelist Siobhan Adcock comes this psychologically thrilling tale of motherhood, the supernatural, and what it means to "have it all." Two women separated by 100 years grapple with their infant children as well as their marriages, and while Bridget feels a frightening presence in her Texas home, Rebecca, in 1902, devotes all of her attention to her young son, effectively turning her back on her husband, John. An extreme depiction of what it means to fill the role of a mother, Bridget and Rebecca will eventually find themselves alone at the helm of terrible ordeals.

Margaret Atwood's latest novel will leave you terrified and rooting for her characters in a chilling and deceptive new world. Married couple Stan and Charmaine are living in their car after an economic and social collapse and dangerously susceptible to street gangs and violence, until they catch wind of The Positron Project, a place where everyone gets a clean house to live in . . . for half of the year. The catch is that every other month, residents must function as inmates at the local prison while other civilians take their place in their home for the month. But as Charmaine begins a relationship with the man who takes over their house while she and Stan live in the Positron prison, a series of events threaten Stan's life and turn the town from the answer to their prayers to a deadly nightmare.

The Good Neighbor is a suspenseful tale of a seemingly perfect town, perfect friends, and a perfect life that will have you turning pages as fast as you can. Sarah and Johnny McDonald have just settled in the quaint town of Shadow Cove, WA, when Sarah discovers traces of deception that lead to a sudden tragedy that dazes and destroys the McDonalds' happiness. Piecing together their broken lives, Sarah uncovers shocking secrets that lead her to doubt her neighbors, her friends, and her husband and lead her to question how well she knows the ones she loves.

You don't have to be guilty to be burned at the stake. From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Cleopatra comes this twisted psychological thriller of America's first widespread panic: the 1692 Massachusetts witch hunt that left 20 men and women dead. When a minister's daughter began to convulse and scream, friends accused friends and families turned on one another, accusing parents and children of witchcraft. Less than a year later with the mystery still unsolved, the Salem Witch Trials, which concluded in the wake of subdued panic and death, shaped the colonies' futures.

Here's a romance sure to leave you short of breath: millionaire Jay McManus is learning the hard way that owning pro football team Baltimore Blaze may be harder than he first imagined, what with an anonymous blogger out to get him and the cheerleaders suing their own team. Then there's Bridgett Janik, Jay's former flame turned team attorney who's anything but thrilled to be defending the man who has already broken her heart once. But as the two are thrown together and secrets rise to the surface, Jay and Bridgett will have to decide whether or not their relationship has the potential to be anything more than simply sleeping with the enemy.

Carmen and Nicolai are unable to resuscitate their son, a toddler with Down syndrome named Tommy, when he wanders into and drowns in their backyard pond — or at least, that's what they tell Inspector Skarre when he arrives to investigate the child's death. Feeling uneasy, Skarre and his colleague, Inspector Sejer, investigate further when the autopsy reveals that Tommy's lungs were filled with soap when he died. As the case progresses and Skarre and Sejer continue to doubt Carmen's story, they dig deeper into what secrets she is hiding and to what lengths she will go to keep them.

Have you ever been in the middle of a heart-stopping crisis? When Lauren Wilder nearly hits a young man named Bo Laughlin with her car on a crisp October morning, he seems fine . . . but Lauren's intuition tells her otherwise. And since an accident two years ago left neither Lauren nor her family able to trust her instincts, Lauren is terrified of what she doesn't remember when Bo vanishes and the police show up on her doorstep. Determined to search for the answers to his disappearance herself, Lauren uncovers shocking lies and truths as her investigation leads her to tragic repercussions.

Molly Arnette is guarding terrible, heartbreaking secrets. Twenty years ago, Molly ran away from her family following a devastating and shocking event that left her distrustful of her loved ones. Now living in San Diego with her husband and trying to adopt a baby, Molly is paranoid that with the questions and background checks, the secrets she's kept about her childhood will not only ruin her chance at having a child but will also destroy her marriage. It's steeped in suspense and mystery, so you won't want to miss the most recent adventure from Diane Chamberlain.