There’s nothing like a lakeside lounger, a cool cocktail in hand and a heart-pounding thriller to carry you through the last days of summer.

So, here are three thrillers to move to the top of your To Be Read list and I’m starting with one of the new queens of suspense, Megan Abbott.

Her new book, “The Turnout” unfolds in a world that — according to movies like Black Swan — is rife with naked ambition and tough as nails competition: ballet.

When two sisters inherit a ballet school, they are persuaded to undertake an extensive renovation by a carpenter who will exert his ever-growing influence over one of the sisters.

Anguish, sibling rivalry and high drama will ensue. New York Times reviewer Maggie Shipstead says of the novel: 

"...the key to this novel is that while the narration sometimes feels omniscient, the story is refracted through one particular lens: Dara’s. Her consciousness is given to the reader impressionistically, through memories and associations and washes of emotion…"

“Turnout” by Megan Abbott published earlier this month.

My second summer thriller comes from the author of “Mexican Gothic,” Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I have to say I liked that novel much more than I thought I would, so I’m all in on “Velvet Was the Night,” Moreno-Garcia’s newest.

It’s a story set in 1970s Mexico where a young man is running errands and enforcing the violent orders of a government-funded gang leader.

When the enforcer, 21-year-old El Elivs, is given the job of finding a missing college student, he encounters the college student’s friend, Leonora, and the two develop a surprising bond over a love of reading and 50s ear crooners.
The writing is punchy and the characters are richly drawn.

Listen to how Moreno-Garcia introduces us to Elvis: “He didn’t like beating people. El Elvis realized this was ironic considering his line of work. Imagine that: a thug who wanted to hold his punches.”

And my third summer thriller isn’t new but if you’ve missed "The Gray Man" series, you’ll want to dig in — a movie made from the books had just wrapped up shooting.

"The Gray Man," published in 2009 by Mark Greaney introduces us to Court Gentry, exiled from the CIA, now an assassin for hire with endless and creative ways of getting out of tight spots and a complex moral code for who deserves his ultimate justice.

Greaney learned his writing chops as a collaborator with Tom Clancy before Clancy died, and the novels have what I like in a thriller: glittering international settings and a dry wit.

There are now nine books in "The Gray Man" series, with the latest out in 2020.