Jessica Lourey | Thrillers & Suspense

Bloodline

Perfect town. Perfect homes. Perfect families. It’s enough to drive some women mad…

⭐ Winner of the International Thriller Writers 2022 Best Paperback Original Thriller Award! ⭐

In a tale inspired by real events, pregnant journalist Joan Harken is cautiously excited to follow her fiancé back to his Minnesota hometown. After spending a childhood on the move and chasing the screams and swirls of news-rich city life, she’s eager to settle down. Lilydale’s motto, “Come Home Forever,” couldn’t be more inviting.

And yet, something is off in the picture-perfect village.

The friendliness borders on intrusive. Joan can’t shake the feeling that every move she makes is being tracked. An archaic organization still seems to hold the town in thrall. So does the sinister secret of a little boy who vanished decades ago. And unless Joan is imagining things, a frighteningly familiar figure from her past is on watch in the shadows.

Her fiancé tells her she’s being paranoid. He might be right. Then again, she might have moved to the deadliest small town on earth.

⭐ Shortlisted for a 2021 GoodReads Choice Award ⭐

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“Fans of Rosemary’s Baby will relish this.” —Publishers Weekly

“Based on a true story, this is a sinister, suspenseful thriller full of creeping horror.” —Kirkus Reviews

Litani

Releases October 19, 2021

The Amazon Charts bestselling author of Unspeakable Things and Bloodline explores the darkness at the heart of the rural Midwest in a novel inspired by a chilling true crime.**

In the summer of ’84, fourteen-year-old Frankie Jubilee is shuttled off to Litani, Minnesota, to live with her estranged mother, a county prosecutor she barely knows. From the start, Frankie senses something uneasy going on in the small town. The locals whisper about The Game, and her mother warns her to stay out of the woods and away from adults.

When a bullying gang of girls invites Frankie to The Game, she accepts, determined to find out what’s really going on in Litani. She’s not the only one becoming paranoid. Hysteria burns through the community. Dark secrets emerge. And Frankie fears that, even in the bright light of day, she might be living among monsters.

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“Move over, Stephen King. Jess Lourey is a master at evoking the horror that lurks beneath the surface of a sleepy all-American small town. Vivid, consuming, and terrifying, Litani will haunt your dreams.” —Michele Campbell, internationally bestselling author of It’s Always the Husband

"Lourey serves up another terrifying reality-based thriller....a tale of horror, grit, and, ultimately, hope." —Kirkus Reviews

"With Litani, Lourey cements her position as the queen of melding small-town suspense and coming-of-age stories that creep into your bones and refuse to leave. An absolute must-read." —Brianna Labuskes, Washington Post bestselling author of Girls of Glass

"Imagine Mystic River meets Stranger Things; a perfect October read if you’re a fan of dark, true-crime-esque stories, and a fresh take on a bone-chilling mystery that you’re sure to devour in one sitting." —SheReads

Mercy's Chase

Second in the Salem's Cipher Series

What if everything you thought you knew about Stonehenge was wrong?

When agoraphobic genius Salem Wiley lands her dream job as an FBI cryptanalyst, she vows never to return to the witch hunt underworld, where ancient secrets encrypted by hunted women have the power to rewrite history. Her resolve disappears when sweet Mercy Mayfair, the child she is pledged to protect, is kidnapped. With the help of the enigmatic Agent Lucan Stone, Salem is forced to code hunt in Ireland, England, and Scotland to keep the girl alive. As the clock ticks, she must face the terrible truth that there is only one way to free Mercy: crack the unbreakable code of Stonehenge.

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Follow the Pinterest Mercy's Chase page to see some of this novel's fascinating research.

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“An immersive voice, an intriguing story, a wonderful character - highly recommended!”
—Lee Child, #1 internationally-bestselling author

"Action-packed, great writing taut with suspense, an appealing main character to root for―who could ask for anything more?" —Buried Under Books

The Quarry Girls

Killers hiding in plain sight. Small-town secrets. A girl who knows too much. From the Amazon Charts bestselling author of Unspeakable Things and Bloodline comes a nerve-twisting novel inspired by a shocking true crime.

Minnesota, 1977. For the teens of one close-knit community, summer means late-night swimming parties at the quarry, the county fair, and venturing into the tunnels beneath the city. But for two best friends, it’s not all fun and games.

Heather and Brenda have a secret. Something they saw in the dark. Something they can’t forget. They’ve decided to never tell a soul. But their vow is tested when their friend disappears—the second girl to vanish in a week. And yet the authorities are reluctant to investigate.

Heather is terrified that the missing girls are connected to what she and Brenda stumbled upon that night. Desperately searching for answers on her own, she learns that no one in her community is who they seem to be. Not the police, not the boys she met at the quarry, not even her parents. But she can’t stop digging because she knows those girls are in danger.

She also knows she’s next.

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"Lourey conveys the edgy, hungry, restlessness of teen girls with a touch of Megan Abbot, while steadily intensifying the claustrophobic atmosphere of a small 1977 Minnesota town where darkness snakes below the surface." —Loreth Anne White, Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestselling author of The Patient's Secret

"Few authors can blend the genuine fear generated by a sordid tale of true crime with evocative, three-dimensional characters, and mesmerizing prose like Jess Lourey. Calling it: The Quarry Girls will be one of the best books of the year." —Alex Segura, acclaimed author of Secret Identity, Star Wars Poe Dameron: Free Fall, and Miami Midnight

"Jess Lourey is a master of the coming-of-age thriller, and THE QUARRY GIRLS may be her best yet—as dark, twisty, and full of secrets as the tunnels that lurk beneath Pantown’s deceptively idyllic streets." —Chris Holm, Anthony Award winning author of The Killing Kind

Salem's Cipher

First in the Salem's Cipher Thrillers

A troubled codebreaker faces an epic plot reaching back through centuries of America’s secret history...

Salem Wiley is a genius cryptanalyst, courted by the world’s top security agencies ever since making a breakthrough discovery in her field of quantum computing. She’s also an agoraphobe, shackled to a narrow routine by her fear of public places. When her mother’s disappearance is linked to a plot to assassinate the country’s first viable female presidential candidate, Salem finds herself both target and detective in a modern-day witch hunt. Drawn into a labyrinth of messages encrypted by Emily Dickinson and centuries-old codes tucked inside the Beale Cipher, Salem begins to uncover the truth: an ancient and ruthless group is hell-bent on ruling the world, and only a select group of women stands in its way.

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Follow the Pinterest Salem page to see this novel's research unfold, real-time.

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"The fascinating historical information combined with a story line ripped from the headlines will hook conspiracy theorists and action addicts alike."
―Kirkus Reviews

"This suspenseful tale has something for absolutely everyone to enjoy."
―Suspense Magazine

"Troubled, razor-sharp Salem is truly a heroine to cheer for. I'd follow her anywhere."
―Alison Gaylin, USA Today bestselling author

The Taken Ones

A Reed and Steinbeck Thriller

Two girls vanished. A woman buried alive. Between two crimes lie decades of secrets yet to be unearthed in a pulse-pounding novel by the Edgar Award–nominated author of Unspeakable Things.

Summer 1980: Despite the local superstition that the Bendy Man haunts the woods, three girls go into a Minnesota forest. Only one comes out, dead silent, her memory gone. The mystery of the Taken Ones captures the nation.

Summer 2022: Cold case detective Van Reed and forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck are assigned a disturbing homicide—a woman buried alive, clutching a heart charm necklace belonging to one of the vanished girls. Van follows her gut. Harry trusts in facts. They’re both desperate to catch a killer before he kills again. They have something else in common: each has ties to the original case in ways they’re reluctant to share.

As Van and Harry connect the crimes of the past and the present, Van struggles with memories of her own nightmarish childhood—and the fear that uncovering the truth of the Taken Ones will lead her down a path from which she, too, may never return.

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“A master of building tension while maintaining a riveting pace, Lourey is a hell of a writer on all fronts, but her greatest talent may be her characters. Agent Evangeline Reed, an agent with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, is a woman with a devastating past and the haunting ability to know the darkest crimes happening around her. She is also exactly the kind of character I would happily follow through a dozen books. This is a 2023 must read.” —Danielle Girard, USA Today & Amazon #1 Bestselling author of Up Close

"Setting the standard for top-notch thrillers, The Taken Ones is smart, compelling and filled with utterly real characters. Lourey brings her formidable storytelling talent to the game, and, on top of that, wows us with a deft stylistic touch. This is a one-sitting read!" —Jeffery Deaver, author of The Bone Collector and The Watchmaker’s Hand

The Taken Ones has Jess Lourey’s trademark of suspense all the way. A damaged and brave heroine, an equally damaged evildoer, and missing girls from long ago all combine to keep the reader rushing through to the explosive ending.” —New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris

Unspeakable Things

Inspired by a terrifying true story from the author's hometown, a heart-pounding novel of suspense about a small Minnesota town where nothing is as quiet—or as safe—as it seems.

Cassie McDowell’s life in 1980s Minnesota seems perfectly wholesome. She lives on a farm, loves school, and has a crush on the nicest boy in class. Yes, there are her parents’ strange parties and their parade of deviant guests, but she’s grown accustomed to them.

All that changes when someone comes hunting in Lilydale.

One by one, local boys go missing. One by one, they return changed—violent, moody, and withdrawn. What happened to them becomes the stuff of shocking rumors. The accusations of who’s responsible grow just as wild, and dangerous town secrets start to surface. Then Cassie’s own sister undergoes the dark change. If she is to survive, Cassie must find her way in an adult world where every sin is justified, and only the truth is unforgivable.

The Unspeakable Things epilogue is available here. Read this Amazon Charts bestseller today!

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"A noose of a novel that tightens by inches. The squirming tension comes from every direction— including the ones that are supposed to be safe." —Marcus Sakey, Bestselling Author of Brilliance

Thrillers & Suspense

Bestselling books to keep you up well past your bedtime

Bloodline

Litani

Mercy's Chase

Read an Excerpt

The Quarry Girls

Salem's Cipher

Read an Excerpt (PDF)

The Taken Ones

Unspeakable Things