New Girls in Town
Riffing on the success of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl, and The Girl on the Train, The Wall Street Journal picks five candidates to become the “world’s biggest thriller of 2016.” [link may require subscription]
The list should please Penguin Random House as all five titles are published through their imprints. Pleasing librarians who want to second-guess the WSJ, all five are available to request in e-galley.
First up is 
The Widow, Fiona Barton (PRH/NAL; BOT; OverDrive Sample; pubbed today)
As we reported earlier, it is a People and an Indie Next pick and that Entertainment Weekly thinks it “might have more of a right to the [Girl] comparison than most.” The Wall Street Journal also notes film have been sold to Playground Entertainment, one of the production companies behind the adaptation of Wolf Hall.
Maestra, L.S. Hilton (PRH/Putnam; BOT; April 19). WSJ reports the “steamy femme fatale story,” expected to be the first in a trilogy, sold in a seven-figure deal. Film rights were optioned by TriStar Pictures, with a screenplay in development by the writer behind The Girl on the Train film.
I Let You Go, Clare Mackintosh (PRH/Berkley; BOT; May 3) makes the WSJ list due to its “twisty” nature and its reception in the UK, where it ended 2015 as “the seventh best-selling product—not just book—on Amazon.co.uk last year (with Adele’s 25 coming fourth and The Girl on the Train claiming first).” [NOTE: you can chat with author Clare Mackintosh, as part of the EarlyWord/Penguin First Flights program on April 20th)
The Crow Girl, Erik Axl Sund (PRH/Knopf; BOT; June 14). WSJ writes that this book about a serial killer of children in Stockholm leads to “something even bigger and more sinister. “An international best seller, it’s the first in a trilogy that has already been published in 38 countries. At 758-pages, the WSJ calls it a “doorstopper.” Knopf, of course, has had success with other Scandinavian doorstoppers that feature “Girl” in the title.
Dark Matter, Blake Crouch (PRH/Crown; BOT; Aug. 2). Rounding out the list, is a novel by the author of the Wayward Pines trilogy. adapted by Fox TV. Based on just a particle manuscript, the author scored $1 million dea. Film rights sold soon after. The WSJ says the novel “has drawn comparisons to [the movie] Inception, is slated to be published in 20 territories.”