Get ready to look forward to some great fiction book releases in 2025! We’ve rounded up just a few fiction books releasing between January and June from thrillers and historical fiction, to stories of friendship and family, and more. With releases from Megan Collins, Scott Turow, Kate Alice Marshall, Jojo Moyes, Elle Cosimano, Stephen Graham Jones, Alex North, Fredrik Backman, Maggie Stiefvater, and many more, plus those making their debut.

Read on to discover new books hitting shelves in the first half of the year and be sure to check out our other 2025 round-ups too, including our Most Anticipated, Romance, Fantasy & Sci-Fi and Young Adult lists.

JANUARY 2025 FICTION BOOK RELEASES

Old Soul by Susan Barker

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The Historian meets Under the Skin in this searingly provocative literary horror novel about one woman’s determination to stay alive at any terrifying cost.

The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis

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From New York Times bestselling author Fiona Davis, an utterly addictive new novel that will transport you from New York City’s most glamorous party to the labyrinth streets of Cairo and back.

A Serial Killer’s Guide to Marriage by Asia Mackay

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Two former serial killers trying to keep their past buried realize that old habits die hard in this “wildly original, razor-sharp thriller” (Chris Whitaker, New York Times bestselling author of All the Colors of the Dark).

Tell Me What You Did by Carter Wilson

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From the USA Today bestselling author of The Dead Girl in 2A and The New Neighbor comes a chilling new thriller that forces the question: are murderers always the bad guys?

The Inheritance by Trisha Sakhlecha

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A billionaire is primed to announce the succession plan for his company to his family at a lavish reunion, but at least one person won’t make it through the week alive. . . Most family reunions end in tears. This one will end in murder. 

Head Cases by John McMahon

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Head Cases follows an enigmatic group of FBI agents as they hunt down a murderer seeking his own justice in this electrifying―and commercial―series debut.

We Rip the World Apart by Charlene Carr

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Weaving the women’s stories across multiple timelines, We Rip the World Apart reveals the ways that simple choices, made in the heat of the moment and with the best of intentions, can have deep and lasting repercussions―especially when people stay silent.

The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan

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The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets First Lie Wins in this electric, voice-driven debut novel about an elusive bestselling author who decides to finally confess her true identity after years of hiding from her past.

Cross My Heart by Megan Collins

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She has his wife’s heart; the one she wants is his. The author of The Family Plot brings her signature “taut, emotionally charged, and propulsive” (Jeneva Rose, New York Times bestselling author) prose to a twisty novel about a heart transplant patient who becomes romantically obsessed with her donor’s husband.

We Could Be Rats by Emily Austin

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A moving story about two very different sisters, and a love letter to childhood, growing up, and the power of imagination—from the bestselling author of Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead and Interesting Facts About Space.

Presumed Guilty by Scott Turow

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New from the author of Presumed Innocent, the #1 bestseller that redefined the legal thriller and is the basis for Apple TV+’s most-watched drama series ever.

The Crash by Freida McFadden

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A gut-wrenching story of motherhood, survival, and twisted expectations, #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden delivers a snowbound thriller that will chill you to the bone.

FEBRUARY 2025 FICTION BOOK RELEASES

A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall

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A woman invited to her wealthy fiance’s family retreat realizes they are hiding a terrible secret―and that she’s been there before, by the bestselling author of What Lies in the Woods.

Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstine

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A young girl must face a life-altering decision after awakening her sister’s ghost, navigating truths about love, friendship, and power as the Civil War looms.

Maya & Natasha by Elyse Durham

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This stunning debut novel set in the fascinating world of Cold War Soviet ballet follows the fates of twin sisters whose bond is competitive, complicated, but never broken.

The Garden by Nick Newman

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An eerie, hypnotic, darkly beautiful novel about two elderly sisters living alone at the edge of the world and how their lives unravel when their sanctum is breached, for fans of Piranesi and The Testaments.

The Lamb by Lucy Rose

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From an incendiary new talent, a contemporary queer folktale about a mother and daughter living in the woods, for fans of Angela Carter, Margaret Atwood, and Julia Armfield.

Last Twilight in Paris by Pam Jenoff

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A Parisian department store, a mysterious necklace and a woman’s quest to unlock a decade-old mystery are at the center of this riveting novel of love and survival, from New York Times bestselling author Pam Jenoff.

We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes

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The #1 New York Times bestselling author, whose books so many love, brings us a fresh, contemporary story of a woman and her unruly blended family.

Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray

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She found the literary voices that would inspire the world…. The extraordinary story of the woman who ignited the Harlem Renaissance, written by Victoria Christopher Murray, New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Personal Librarian.

You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego

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An exclusive thriller writer’s retreat hosted on a private island turns lethal when one of the authors is found murdered.

The Lost Passenger by Frances Quinn

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An immersive historical drama about a young mother who starts a new life with her son in New York after faking their deaths on the Titanic—the U.S. debut of acclaimed British novelist Frances Quinn.

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler

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A new Anne Tyler novel destined to be an instant classic: a socially awkward mother of the bride navigates the days before and after her daughter’s wedding.

Isola by Allegra Goodman

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A young woman and her lover are marooned on an island in this breathtaking saga, an epic story of love, faith, and defiance from the bestselling author of Sam

MARCH 2025 FICTION BOOK RELEASES

The King’s Messenger by Susanna Kearsley

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New York Times, USA Today and international bestselling author Susanna Kearsley explores romance, court alliances, and the limits of one’s duty in this rich story of an honorable man in service to a treacherous king, and the mission that brings him to love and his true calling.

Broken Country by Clare Hall

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A sweeping love story with the pace and twists of a thriller, Broken Country is a novel of simmering passion, impossible choices, and explosive consequences that toggles between the past and present to explore the far-reaching legacy of first love.

Jane and Dan at the End of the World by Colleen Oakley

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Date night goes off the rails in this hilariously insightful take on midlife and marriage when one unhappy couple find themselves at the heart of a crime in progress, from the USA Today bestselling author of The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise.

This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead

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From the national bestselling author of In My Dreams I Hold a Knife and Midnight is the Darkest Hour comes a chilling, compulsive story of five amateur sleuths, whose hunt for an elusive killer catapults them into danger as the world watches.

The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry

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Inspired by a true literary mystery, New York Times bestselling author of the mesmerizing The Secret Book of Flora Lea returns with the sweeping story of a legendary book, a lost mother, and a daughter’s search for them both.

Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave by Elle Cosimano

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From New York Times bestseller and Edgar-Award nominee Elle Cosimano, comes Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave―the hugely anticipated next installment in the fan-favorite Finlay Donovan series.

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

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A novel of breathtaking twists, dizzying beauty, and ferocious love, Wild Dark Shore is about the impossible choices we make to protect the people we love, even as the world around us disappears.

Count My Lies by Sophie Stava

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A read-in-one-night suspense thriller narrated by a compulsive liar whose little white lies allow her to enter into the life and comfort of a wealthy married couple who are harboring much darker secrets themselves. For the millions of us still chasing those gone girls, this is perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Lucy Foley, and Laura Dave.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

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A chilling historical horror novel set in the American west in 1912 following a Lutheran priest who transcribes the life of a vampire who haunts the fields of the Blackfeet reservation looking for justice.

Retreat by Krysten Ritter

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A beautiful con artist insinuates herself into a wealthy socialite’s life . . . with deadly consequences, in this serpentine thriller about identity and obsession, from actress, director and bestselling author Krysten Ritter.

Dissolution by Nicholas Binge

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A woman dives into her husband’s memories to uncover a decades-old feud threatening reality itself in this staggering technothriller from the bestselling author of Ascension.

Early Thirties by Josh Duboff

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A hilarious and painfully relatable debut novel about two thirtysomething best friends’ messy search for connection and love in New York, perfect for fans of Rebecca Serle, Gabrielle Zevin, and Dolly Alderton.

APRIL 2025 FICTION BOOK RELEASES

The French Honeymoon by Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau

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The Paris Apartment meets A Simple Favor in an unputdownable thriller about a honeymoon gone horribly wrong.

Coram House by Bailey Seybolt

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Sharp Objects meets I Have Some Questions for You in this haunting novel—inspired by a true story—about a crime writer who risks everything as she investigates the mystery of two deaths, decades apart, at a crumbling Vermont orphanage.

Passion Project by London Sperry

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A compassionate and hopeful romantic comedy, Passion Project is a reminder that love is waiting for us to let it in.

Happy Land by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

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A woman learns the astonishing truth of her family’s ties to a vanished American Kingdom in this riveting new novel from the New York Times bestselling, NAACP Image Award-winning author of Take My Hand.

Bad Nature by Ariel Courage

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Armed with a terminal diagnosis, a grudge, and a rental car, Hester sets out to fulfill her lifelong dream of killing her father in this brilliantly subversive and bleakly funny debut novel.

What If I Never Get Over You by Paige Toon

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One Day meets a contemporary Bridgerton in this high-drama, escapist wonder of a love story, Paige Toon’s best yet.

A Town with Half the Lights On by Page Getz

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For readers of J. Ryan Stradal and The Music of Bees (with a dash of FX’s The Bear) comes a quirky and refreshing epistolary novel about family of culture-shocked Brooklynites transplanted to Goodnight, Kansas and their fight for their unexpected lifeline: the legendary May Day Diner.

The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff

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One family. Four generations. A secret son. A devastating addiction. A Texas family is met with losses and surprises of inheritance, but they’re unable to shake the pull back toward each other in this big-hearted family saga perfect for readers of Mary Beth Keane and Claire Lombardo.

Bearer of Bad News by Elisabeth Dini

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A sharply funny and moving debut in which a young woman accepts a job that takes her though the Italian Dolomites and into an international mystery far greater—and more personal—than she could have ever expected.

The Strange Case of Jane O. by Karen Thompson Walker

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In this spellbinding and provocative novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Age of Miracles, a young mother is struck by sudden and puzzling psychological symptoms that illuminate the mysterious dimensions of the human mind—and of love.

The Murder Show by Matt Goldman

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The Murder Show is a pulse-racing novel about secrets, old friends, and how the past never leaves us by New York Times bestselling and Emmy Award winning author Matt Goldman.

The Amalfi Curse by Sarah Penner

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Powerful witchcraft. A hunt for sunken treasure. Forbidden love on the high seas. Beware the Amalfi Curse…

MAY 2025 FICTION BOOK RELEASES

Austen At Sea by Natalie Jenner

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Two pairs of siblings, devotees of Jane Austen, find their lives transformed by a visit to England and Sir Francis Austen, her last surviving brother and keeper of a long-suppressed, secret legacy.

All the Mothers by Domenica Ruta

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From New York Times bestselling author Domenica Ruta comes a heartfelt, hilarious novel about a single mom reimagining what the perfect family can look like.

Girls of Good Fortune by Kristina McMorris

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A captivating tale of resilience and hope, The Girls of Good Fortune explores the complexity of family and identity, the importance of stories that echo through generations, and the power of strength found beneath the surface.

The Retirement Plan by Sue Hincenbergs

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Three middle-aged best friends turn to murder in order to collect on their husbands’ life insurance policies…but are unaware that their husbands have a devious plan of their own, in this darkly funny debut—perfect for fans of The Thursday Murder Club and Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone.

The Manor of Dreams by Christina Li

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Mexican Gothic meets The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in Christina Li’s haunting novel about the secrets that lie in wait in the crumbling mansion of a former Hollywood starlet, and the intertwined fates of the two Chinese American families fighting to inherit it.

Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle

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What if you could have one last meal with someone you’ve loved, someone you’ve lost? Combining the magic of Under the Whispering Door with the high-stakes culinary world of Sweetbitter, Aftertaste is an epic love story, a dark comedy, and a synesthetic adventure through food and grief.

The Missing Half by Ashley Flowers

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Two women haunted by their sisters’ unsolved disappearances band together in this captivating mystery from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of All Good People Here and host of the #1 true crime podcast Crime Junkie.

Immaculate Conception by Ling Ling Huang

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From the author of Natural Beauty, set in the fiercely competitive art world, a novel about an obsessive friendship upended by a cutting-edge technology purported to enhance empathy and connection

My Name Is Emilia del Valle by Isabel Allende

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In this spellbinding historical novel from the New York Times bestselling author of A Long Petal of the Sea and The Wind Knows My Name, a young writer journeys to South America to uncover the truth about her father—and herself.

The Man Made of Smoke by Alex North

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With his signature shock and suspense, Alex North brings us The Man Made of Smoke. In turn emotional, introspective, and utterly terrifying, this is a story of fathers and sons, shadows and secrets, and the fight we all face to escape the trauma of the past.

Slaying You by Michelle Gagnon

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A wildly funny thriller about reluctant partners who hit the danger jackpot when they discover that a serial killer is on their heels . . . again.

The Night Birds by Christopher Golden

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The next gripping, atmospheric horror novel from New York Times bestselling author Christopher Golden, set in a deteriorated, half-sunken freighter ship off the coast of Galveston, TX.

JUNE 2025 FICTION BOOK RELEASES

My Friends by Fredrik Backman

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#1 New York Times bestselling author Fredrik Backman returns with an unforgettably funny, deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a complete stranger’s life twenty-five years later.

Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewell

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From #1 New York Times bestseller Lisa Jewell, an author “at the very top of her game” (Lucy Foley)—three women are connected by one man in this kaleidoscopic thriller.

The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater

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#1 New York Times bestselling novelist Maggie Stiefvater dazzles in this mesmerizing portrait of an irresistible heroine, an unlikely romance, and a hotel—and a world—in peril.

A Language of Limbs by Dylin Hardcastle

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A beautifully inventive, tender novel—the author’s first to be published in the U.S.—following two lives as they almost intersect over three heartbreaking yet euphoric decades

The Accidental Favorite by Fran Littlewood

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From the New York Times bestselling author of Amazing Grace Adams comes a wryly resonant and deeply moving family dramedy investigating the question so many of us have asked ourselves: do my parents have a favorite?

The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau by Kristin Harmel

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Kristin Harmel, the New York Times bestselling author who “is the best there is at sweeping historical drama” (Kelly Harms, author of The Seven Day Switch), returns with an electrifying new novel about two jewel thieves, a priceless bracelet that disappears in 1940s Paris, and a quest for answers in a decades-old murder.

The Bachelorette Party by Camilla Sten

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Scream meets The Guest List in this wickedly compelling and compulsively page-turning thriller of friendship and murder from the author of The Lost Village, Camilla Sten.

Confessions of a Grammar Queen by Eliza Knight

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There are no female publishing CEOs in 1960’s New York. And that is exactly what savvy, ambitious Bernadette Swift plans to change.

Tell Me Something Good by Court Stevens

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This is a story of the rich and the very poor. This is a story of an illegal auction with dire consequences. This is a story of murders past and present. This is a story of intertwined relationships and the silent ripples they leave behind, where love becomes a guiding force, revealing the lengths one will go to protect those they cherish.

The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark

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A blistering literary suspense novel about a ghostwriter who is hired to write the last book for her estranged father and finds herself investigating the brutal murder of both his siblings in the summer of 1975.

The Other Side of Now by Paige Harbison

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A hilarious and heartfelt novel about how loves and lives are never truly lost, for fans of Rebecca Serle and Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Park Avenue by Renée Ahdieh

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#1 NYT-bestselling YA author Renee Ahdieh’s adult debut novel, about a young lawyer who gets pulled in to manage a crisis with her firm’s biggest client, a family whose Korean beauty brand is worth a billion dollars, pitched as Crazy Rich Asians meets Succession.

What releases are you looking forward to? Any other recommendations for us? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Fiction Book Releases To Check Out In 2025 appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Intrigued? Well read on to discover the synopsis and first chapter from The Ways We Hide by Kristina McMorris, which releases on September 6th 2022.

As a little girl raised amid the hardships of Michigan’s Copper Country, Fenna Vos learned to focus on her own survival. That ability sustains her even now as the Second World War rages in faraway countries. Though she performs onstage as the assistant to an unruly escape artist, behind the curtain she’s the mastermind of their act. Ultimately, controlling her surroundings and eluding traps of every kind helps her keep a lingering trauma at bay.

Yet for all her planning, Fenna doesn’t foresee being called upon by British military intelligence. Tasked with designing escape aids to thwart the Germans, MI9 seeks those with specialized skills for a war nearing its breaking point. Fenna reluctantly joins the unconventional team as an inventor. But when a test of her loyalty draws her deep into the fray, she discovers no mission is more treacherous than escaping one’s past.

CHAPTER 1
September 1942
Brooklyn, New York

Deep within me, a sense of dread buzzes and crackles, an electrical wire threatening to short. I’m trapped by the stage lights, the performance well in motion. I assure myself that Charles’s behavior, subtle oddities throughout tonight’s tricks, falls within reason. It was at his prodding, after all, that a top New York critic agreed to attend. As a faceless judge in the shadows, the lone man can render a verdict that could pack future shows—or trigger a decline.

Even so, what I detect from Charles differs from nerves.

Only with disciplined effort do I resist rushing through the grand finale. I distribute a padlock to each of the volunteers: two airmen, a banker type, and a trio of sprightly ladies. With all the poise and undulating cadence of a showman’s assistant, I encourage their inspection. My narration flows out, as programmed as a song on a player piano. On this stage alone, it’s my fourth performance in two days.

Stewing in a haze of cigarette smoke, aftershave, and floral perfume, the medium-sized theater could be any one of a hundred. The attendance is respectable at two-thirds full. Largely from the “cheap seats” of the balcony, periodic catcalls remain standard fare, with no help from my galling if customary outfit. Astoundingly, the sequined halter and midthigh skirt are rather modest for my role.

Displayed on the prop table are two pairs of handcuffs and a set of minuscule keys. I’m retrieving them all when Charles reappears in the right wing of the stage to await my cue. He’s traded his top hat and tails for a black bathing costume that hugs his lean build from shoulders to thighs. All in line with our usual act, save for the object in his grip.

An ax.

I bristle, less from startle than confusion. A stagehand was supposed to brandish the tool, not Charles. And certainly not yet.

For a show that blends illusion and danger—from the magical mending and vanishing of items to mind reading and death-defying feats—there’s purpose to every step, glance, and gesture. To timing above all. At the climax of the act, as fears arise over the escape artist’s ability to elude his bonds, a harried display of the ax implies need for its imminent use, amplifying suspense.

It’s hardly to be used as—what? A parading of bravado?

Still, we’ve performed together with such frequency over three years of touring that my speech hitches only slightly. “Now…that our ‘committee’ of volunteers from the audience has keenly inspected the padlocks for authenticity”—I pause, prompting nods from the lock- bearing group—“death-defying escapologist Charles Bouchard shall be sealed into the galvanized-iron milk can, airtight and filled with water to its very brim.” Grandly I gesture toward the barrel-size container, just as Charles interjects.

“Een fact!” He reemerges prematurely with his faux French accent, turning the sea of heads. “So superior are my abilities to those of Harry Houdini himself, I balk at even zee most basic safeguards.”

The affront to my late idol, a legend for this very trick, irks me but briefly. More pressingly, I struggle to decipher Charles’s intentions as he strides past the volunteers to reach center stage, his slicked ebony hair tousled from his costume change. “Observe, for instance, zis emergency tool, which I have primed with a hacksaw. For what, you ask? Why, to do…zis.” Against an edge of the milk can, he slams the ax handle—once, twice—and breaks the handle in two.

My chest tightens, despite murmurs of surprise and delight. Charles slings the pieces aside with a hearty “voilà,” barely missing my T-strap heels. Even the four-piece band, routinely dispassionate in the pit, gawks with interest.

“What is more,” he proclaims, swooping toward me barefoot, “one with supernatural gifts has no need for caution. Is it not so, Mademoiselle Vos?” I’m still eyeing the can—finding no damage, gratefully—when he snatches from me the tiny ring of keys. He jangles them high, pinkie in the air, as if ringing a bell for tea service, before tossing them into his mouth and swallowing them whole.

A ripple of gasps. A mix of groans. Another maddening, bewildering detour.

Unless vitally called for, never stray from the act. Of the many rules I’ve taught him, this was the first. The most crucial.

I dredge up a smile nonetheless, bright with Victory Red lips, ever accustomed to wearing a mask as much onstage as off. And besides, I’m well aware the keys are unnecessary, the padlocks a ruse. The neck of the can is, after all, rigged with an outer and inner wall. Telescoped upward, the lid detaches with secured locks intact. It’s a deceit based on presumption, a twist on a story viewers convince themselves to be true. Just as experience tells them a book holds full-sheeted pages and a shoe heel is built solidly through, to their minds, a milk can opens only one way.

Mind you, Charles’s ingesting of the keys is real. For escapologists, a trained resistance to gagging is required to handily swallow an item, then reproduce it on cue. Compliments of a sword swallower, I learned the rather unsavory skill while on breaks from my old sleight-of-hand acts. It was at the very dime museum where I first met Charles, back when his unruly black hair wasn’t yet slicked with tonic, his average if pleasing face still free of smugness; when labeled a “curiosity,” he drew the upper crust of society to point and cringe.

Who could have guessed he’d become my greatest illusion?

“Alors, zee final touches!” Charles holds out his wrists and regards me with a jerk of his chin, a sign to administer the handcuffs and resume my patter. His granting of permission.

Annoyance curls my fingers, interrupted by a heckling sailor. “Hey, honey, I could think of some better ways to use those handcuffs!”

“Yeah, Kazlowski, like to lock up your ugly ass,” calls another. “Pipe down, all you! We got ladies here!”

The exchange is typical nowadays, with an abundance of enlisted boys high on hormones and sips from their flasks, antsy for glory half a world away. For people like me, the war could as easily be set in another universe.

Ordinarily I’d toss out a clever comeback, but distracted, I simply reassume control with a clearing of my throat. Somewhere in the room, a critic looks on.

“As you will see,” I declare in a voice that, based on a rare press mention, outsizes my graceful ladylike frame, “both pairs of handcuffs, also diligently inspected by our committee, will be fastened to Monsieur Bouchard’s wrists.”

More nods from the group. Back on script.

I apply the cuffs, tempted to attach them overly tight. Evading my glare, Charles makes a display of being firmly bound. After I remove the milk-can lid, he wriggles into the container with more sloshing than usual. The theater’s stagehands—one burly, one bearded—join us with prefilled buckets and quickly remedy the water displacement.

I discovered long ago, for help with shows and rehearsals in any theater, advance gratuity ensures a job done right. Or done at all.

“Once sealed,” I continue, “the milk can will be enclosed by a three-walled cabinet. Its triangular shape allows no room for trickery and, most notably, can be unlatched only from the inside.” The stagehands are now fetching the roofless structure from just offstage. “Upon a countdown of five, I challenge each of you fine ladies and gentlemen to hold your breath along with Monsieur Bouchard, who shall be submerged in five…four…”

The audience joins in. Charles inhales and exhales in exaggerated preparation. On the collective utterance of “one,” he plunges below the surface. My internal timer begins as I affix the cover, catching a whiff of his breath. Under the faint sweetness from his usual cherry Luden’s drops comes a citric-juniper scent, one I know well from my past.

Gin.

God in heaven…

The root of his behavior is finally clear.

But the volunteers have descended on the can. They’re securing padlocks to the latches as I’ve instructed. The band launches into a peppy tune—“Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition”—as the stagehands heft the wooden cabinet into place. Swiftly assembled, the tall but sturdy barrier obscures Charles from everyone’s view.

Including mine.

A surge of fear shoots through my veins. I manage to point the volunteers back to their seats, where the audience has gone silent, breaths held. In the front row, a pigtailed girl puffs her cheeks with all the verve of Dizzy Gillespie.

Thirty seconds.

Beside the cabinet, I wait on my mark, hand on hip. Calm and confident. Already Charles should be free of his cuffs. They’re merely trick pairs, the norm for underwater acts. I deftly swapped out the real ones after the volunteers examined them. Though certain of this, I furtively confirm their distinctive weighted feel in the lower pockets of my skirt, among the many hidden compartments I’ve designed for our acts.

Forty-five seconds.

A good portion of the crowd yields to their lungs. A smattering of ladies giggle at their own folly. Fellows tend to hold out longer, surely sneaking air through their noses while attempting to impress their dates or protect their pride, likely both.

All the while, through the strategically blaring music I listen for hints of the outer neck sliding from the can. That simple step is all the escape requires. A person could finagle it deaf or blind. Drunk, even—not that Charles is. Yes, he’s become one to indulge, at times heavily these days, but after the show, never before.

Until now.

One minute.

Heat pours from the stage lights in compounding waves. Sweat prickles my scalp, my updo tightening against its pins. The last few holdouts in the auditorium are gasping for air. At any moment, a stagehand should emerge with an ax to boost anticipation, as if ready to bust through the cabinet and break off the padlocks. But that ax now lies in pieces.

At least destroying the handle didn’t damage the can, so far as I could tell.

Oh, why didn’t I stall for a closer look?

One minute thirty.

Thoughts of another escape artist barge into my mind: Genesta. His is a cautionary tale to promote double- and triple-checking. The famed performer failed to notice a critical dent in his milk can from being dropped during setup, preventing the lid’s upward slide. His fatal, final act.

It’s for this reason I demanded Charles practice for months, stretching his lungs in baths—up to three minutes, three seconds by my pocket watch—and why we use only a lid that reserves air at the very top.

Granted tonight his compromised state could make all those precautions worthless.

Two minutes.

“Hey, toots!” The same heckling sailor. “So much for your pal’s superpowers, huh?”

His jeering this time is largely lost to others’ worries, evident in faces and fidgets and murmurs. The reactions, which I normally relish, feel like viruses invading the room.

I train my gaze on the cabinet hinges. Only recently did I agree to remove the outer latch—Charles’s idea, for heightened drama—but with one provision: an inch-wide gap at the corner would allow me a peek if needed.

My yearning to do so swells, bridled by his own stipulation: even if concerned, I wasn’t to look until the three-minute mark. We’re not there yet, I know this, with every second an impossibly slow tick. Charles’s reasoning is technically sound; he’s never once faltered escaping the can, and an overt gauging of progress would dilute the act. Particularly in the mind of a critic.

But then, so would a drowning.

The decision is my call, and I’m making it.

I move with a purposeful stride to the far corner of the cabinet, as if following a choreographed routine. With a few sharp tugs, I form a narrow opening and glimpse inside. The lid appears in place, same for the padlocks, a sign of all going right. Or horrendously wrong.

My eyes strain for a fuller view, for any sight of Charles. But there’s nothing…

Scenarios skitter through my head, of his fainting underwater—as even Houdini’s skillful brother once did—or passing out from the booze, or having the keys lodged in his throat. Whichever the case, the trick is over.

“Charles! Can you hear me?” The musicians trample my voice, their notes like bootheels squashing each syllable. I snap toward the pit. “Stop!”

The song ends raggedly, giving way to dull thunks. Not from the musicians but from Charles. Muffled by water, handcuffs are striking the can. The lid must be stuck!

Suddenly there’s quiet, an audible ceasing of metal against metal. The absence of sound is smothering. I stave off panic, remembering the ax—what’s left of it.

“Hold on, I’m coming!” Heart hammering my ribs, I scramble to retrieve the head of the ax from the stage floor. I clutch its handle, a jagged stump, and thrust the blade through the cabinet gap, trying, trying to break the latch. Failing. Pain shoots through my palm. Splintered wood tears at my skin.

At the vision of him inside, trapped in darkness and starved for air, ancient memories creep from the caverns of my mind, of tangled limbs and muffled cries, an endless procession of caskets in the snow.

I block them out, seeking a solution.

Whatever am I doing? The cabinet can be toppled. This is the means of backup that Charles claimed would never be required. Like the ax he destroyed, the keys he swallowed.

I drop the blade and start shoving the cabinet with both hands. The triangular structure slides and clunks against the can, refusing to tip. I scan the wings for the stagehands. Why aren’t they there? Where did they go?

I’ve forgotten the crowd. Patrons stare with hands over mouths, perplexed, questioning. Many are half-risen from their seats, clutching the arm of a neighbor. Unblinking eyes stare down from the balcony.

“Please, help,” I yell. “Anyone!”

Comprehension flashes. Frightful cries erupt. I push at the cabinet again, fruitlessly, as a blur of uniforms and suits scurry for the aisles. I search for a military nurse or medic’s insignia, anticipating Charles’s next need, but the strangers freeze. All of them. Turned to statues.

Are they still deliberating, doubting if this is real? A fierce command gathers in my throat, ready to burst, when a noise sweeps through the room. A pattering, like drizzle growing to a downpour.

Clapping. People are applauding.

No—stop! I think as their grimaces morph into smiles, gasps reversing into sighs.

And then I see it. A metallic glint swings me around. Two sets of handcuffs hang from the crook of a finger. Charles—he made it out, alive and safe! Panting with a look of exhaustion, he stands sopping wet at the opened cabinet. The milk can looms in the background, sealed with all six locks.

Zealous hollers and whistles bloom. Many in the crowd pat their chests, calming their hearts, laughing from the thrill. Charles absorbs it all with grandeur, bidding “Merci.” His grin widens with his every bow.

Still overcome, I command myself to breathe, to repel the memories stacked on my chest.

Nudged by Charles, I stiffly join his side and catch sight of the child in front. Her face bears the light-headed shock of a near plummet from a cliff. Though equally dizzy, I seek to uphold the facade that nothing actually went astray. My sense of relief gains purchase until a pointed wink from Charles. Appreciative, it seems.

But not for me. Not even for some bombshell in the audience as I’ve come to expect.

This wink is for the right wing of the stage. More aptly, for the pair of stagehands who have conveniently reappeared. From their boastful smirks of those in the know, every obstacle of the act floats back through my mind. They join like patches of clouds, snips of a riddle, conjuring a whole: the ax and keys, the newly added latch, Charles’s urgent pounding that halted at my calls…

My attention cuts back to his face.

There’s arrogance in his eyes, underscored by his stance. No authentic trace of fear, nor true relief from a tragedy averted.

Why would there be? All had gone according to plan, his plan, including my role as an unwitting pawn.

The post Read The First Chapter of ‘The Ways We Hide’ by Kristina McMorris appeared first on The Nerd Daily.