Acclaimed crime writer Ruth Ware has shared some of the books she’s been enjoying recently in the Guardian newsletter. Read the full article here, especially if you are planning to attend the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival this weekend, as many of these authors will be in attendance. Subscribe to future issues of the Guardian’s free email newsletter here.

If you haven’t got your tickets yet – don’t worry –  they are still on sale! This year’s festival is chaired by Ruth and takes place in Harrogate from 18th-21st July. For more information, including how to book tickets, visit the festival website.

Ruth’s latest novel, the “innovative, endlessly interesting, and totally thrilling” (Gillian McAllister) One Perfect Couple, is out now. Get your UK copy here or your US copy here.

Lyla is in a bit of a rut. Her post-doctoral research has fizzled out, she’s pretty sure they won’t extend her contract, and things with her boyfriend, Nico, an aspiring actor, aren’t going great. When the opportunity arises for Nico to join the cast of a new reality TV show, One Perfect Couple, she decides to try out with him. A whirlwind audition process later, Lyla find herself whisked off to a tropical paradise with Nico, boating through the Indian Ocean towards Ever After Island, where the two of them will compete against four other couples—Bayer and Angel, Dan and Santana, Joel and Romi, and Conor and Zana—in order to win a cash prize.

But not long after they arrive on the deserted island, things start to go wrong. After the first challenge leaves everyone rattled and angry, an overnight storm takes matters from bad to worse. Cut off from the mainland by miles of ocean, deprived of their phones, and unable to contact the crew that brought them there, the group must band together for survival. As tensions run high and fresh water runs low, Lyla finds that this game show is all too real—and the stakes are life or death.

A fast-paced, spellbinding thriller rife with intrigue and characters that feel so true to life, this novel proves yet again that Ruth Ware is the queen of psychological suspense.

Follow Ruth on Instagram @ruthwarewriter and Twitter @RuthWareWriter