Karin Slaughter’s latest novel, *The Secrets We Hide*, confronts the grim realities of domestic violence within a small Georgia community. The story centers on Allison Vickery, a former police officer trapped in an abusive marriage. As Allison plans a perilous escape with her teenage daughter, the narrative opens with a violent attack resulting in Allison’s death and her daughter severely wounded. Slaughter’s second novel set in North Falls explores the pervasive impact of abuse on both individual lives and the wider community.

In *The Secrets from the Deep*, Finnish-Icelandic author Satu Ramo continues her series featuring Icelandic detective Hildur Runarsdottir. Set in the remote Westjords, the novel intertwines an investigation into a brutal assault on a cruise ship worker with a discovery of three skeletons on family property. Ramo uses these mysteries to paint a vivid picture of life in Iceland’s sparsely inhabited regions, revealing hidden family secrets against a harsh natural backdrop.

Gill Perdue’s *All of Them Lied* follows Thea, who awakens from a coma in an Italian hospital after a ravine fall, suffering severe injuries and amnesia about the incident. Returning to rural Ireland, Thea is surrounded by loved ones whose intentions feel increasingly restrictive, especially her fiancé’s. The novel, a tense entry in the woman-in-peril genre, gradually unravels Thea’s fragmented memories as she suspects concealed truths about her accident.

Croatian author Jurica Pavicic’s *Mother of Sorrows* opens with the discovery of a murdered 17-year-old girl’s body near an abandoned factory on the outskirts of Split. The victim, daughter of a prominent doctor, has left the community reeling. Pavicic’s narrative delves into the ripple effects of the crime on families and society, centering on Katja and her daughter Ines, who suspect that Ines’s younger brother, Mario, may be responsible. The novel explores themes of familial loyalty, denial, and the lingering shadows of the former Yugoslavia, establishing Pavicic as a key figure in European crime fiction.

Adam Weymouth’s *Lone Wolf: Walking the Faultlines of Europe* tells the true story of a young male wolf from Slovenia who, in 2011, ventured across the Alps wearing a GPS collar. His journey led him to meet and breed with a female wolf in Italy’s Lessinia region, marking the first return of wolves to Italy’s eastern Alps in over a century. Weymouth retraces this path on foot, reflecting on the history of wolves in Europe and the relationship between human and natural landscapes.

Ian McEwan’s *What We Can Know* presents an unconventional narrative combining elements of poetry, dementia, memory, human development, and murder. The story spans from a 2014 dinner party—where poet Francis Blundy shares an unpublished, mythic poem dedicated to his wife Vivien—to research conducted in 2119 by academic Tom Metcalfe. While the novel covers a broad range of topics with a sometimes fragmented approach, its ambitious scope and thematic layering contribute to a distinctive literary experience.