The Inmate

What it costs to answer no questions when the charge is murder.

The following day, she lay in bed in a private room at the hospital. The police questioned her in the presence of her lawyer. Alicia remained silent throughout the interview. Her lips were pale, bloodless; they fluttered occasionally but formed no words, made no sounds. She answered no questions. She could not, would not, speak. Nor did she speak when charged with Gabriel’s murder. She remained silent when she was placed under arrest, refusing to deny her guilt or confess it.

The Silent Patient · Alex Michaelides

What it costs to make yourself unnoticeable in a crowded room.

She was trying to make herself as small as possible, blending into the background, going unnoticed. But to me, she was the only person in that room.

The Perfect Marriage · Jeneva Rose

When the details become a way of not looking.

I understand that urge for more information, that longing for details. But in this case, I’m fine without them. I know what happened at Pine Cottage. I don’t need to remember exactly how it happened. Because here’s the thing about details-they can also be a distraction. Add too many and it obscures the brutal truth about a situation. They become the gaudy necklace that hides the tracheotomy scar.

Final Girls · Riley Sager