Lucy’s Little Library: Three thoughtful thrillers with the capacity to haunt

“Hex” by Jenni Fagan, “My Husband: A Novel” by Maud Ventura and “All Our Yesterdays: A Novel of Lady Macbeth” by Joel H. Morris

Lucy’s Little Library is a monthly book column that recommends three must-reads to Ohio State’s literature lovers.

Dear reader, it’s time to swap cheap thrills for deep thrills.

The autumn chill may be tardy, but students’ bookshelves can possess a chilling quality all their own. The thrillers below strike a delicious balance between depth and suspense, leaving readers feeling dizzyingly destabilized in the best way possible.

The featured books are arranged in ascending order from lowest to highest page number. Moreover, Buckeyes who are also Ohio residents can apply for a free Columbus Metropolitan Library card online or at Thompson Library’s Circulation Desk, according to the University Libraries’ website .

“Hex” by Jenni Fagan

Genre(s): Historical fiction, thriller

Page Count: 101

Core qualities: vivid, transient and heartrending

“Hex” (2022) marks the second installment in the “Darkland Tales” anthology series, which fictionalizes significant but sinister chapters from Scottish history. The succinct novel pulls no punches, offering an ultra-sharp glimpse into a teenage girl’s final hours during the 16th century North Berwick witch trials.

Accused of cavorting with the devil, Geillis Duncan lies beaten and bruised in her filthy cell, awaiting death’s frigid embrace. That is, until an inexplicable encounter with Iris — a woman from over 400 years in the future, given spectral form — redefines the “rules” of Geillis’ imprisonment.

From page one to 101, Fagan’s storytelling is hypnotic, bridging the gap between past and present with terrifying ease. Despite the monstrous efforts of Geillis’ real-life abusers, she is exquisitely immortalized via “Hex,” with each word magnifying her rich inner light more than the last.

Standout quote: “The brightness of the stars! I needed them, so I did just the one thing. And it is really this they are killing me for. I went out at night. Alone.”

Rating: 4.5/5

“My Husband: A Novel” by Maud Ventura

Genre(s): Domestic fiction, thriller

Page Count: 256

Core qualities: Intimate, moody and playfully unsettling

This striking novel — originally penned in French — deposits readers into the mind of a woman obsessed with her husband, not unlike how a claw machine abruptly loses its grip strength before players claim their prize of choice.

The narrator’s thought processes are equal parts frantic and regimented, orbiting her husband’s everyday behaviors with exhilarating intensity; ergo, the foreboding phrase, “We need to talk,” sparks a searing fire inside her chest. Across one week, this initial flame develops into a raging blaze that consumes her very being.

Ventura pulled the rug out from my expectations again and again, delivering twist after twist in maddening fashion. An unconventional riff on the “good for her” subgenre, “My Husband” is a testament to romance’s exhaustive nature — for better or worse.

Standout quote: “Sometimes I ask myself whether I should feel guilty about going through my husband’s things. But I always come to the conclusion that I should not, for one simple reason: I wish he would do the same. I would finally have the proof of his jealousy and the confirmation of his commitment. Unfortunately, I know he doesn’t. Unfortunately, my husband trusts me.”

Rating: 4/5

“All Our Yesterdays: A Novel of Lady Macbeth” by Joel H. Morris

Genre(s): Historical fiction, Shakespeare retelling

Page Count: 353

Core qualities: Slow burning, ominous and profound

Before the tragic events of William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” unfold, the play’s titular character and his wife — Lady Macbeth — enjoy one of the most egalitarian unions in Shakespeare’s entire canon. But a sour concoction of ambition, pride and “fate” poisons their love from the inside out.

“All Our Yesterdays” digs into Lady Macbeth’s girlhood, expanding on Shakespeare’s infamous characterization to craft a fascinating origin story.

The book draws heavy inspiration from Lady Macbeth’s historical counterpart Gruoch, who married the Scottish thane Macbeth after he helped murder her first husband. Reportedly, Macbeth went on to adopt Gruoch’s young son as his step-child and rightful heir.

Guided forward by “The Lady” and “The Boy” — or rather, the charged dynamic between a determined mother and her emotionally adrift son — this narrative feels mature while never crossing into banal territory. Plus, Lady Macbeth fans can discover a fresh variant of their beloved heroine-villainess hybrid, fostering a newfound appreciation for 1100s femininity in the process. After all, forging an iron will is no easy feat.

Standout quote: “If only men could take a turn at childbirth, risk their lives for it. Let women rest, let women live on. Then what would the world become? It would be a world made of words and not of swords. The difference of a single letter. Yes, let women rule. Give the duties and death of life-bringing to the men.”

Rating: 4/5