Hey, it’s Diego.

I just finished reading I Came Back for You by Kate White.

And it follows a mother who goes back to the place where her daughter was killed to find answers.

There is something about a protagonist returning to a place they hoped to never see again that makes for a great setup.

Here are a few that do it well.

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Going Back Thrillers

Broken Bayou by Jennifer Moorhead

Dr. Willa Watters reluctantly returns to her childhood home in Broken Bayou, Louisiana, only for a decades-long mystery involving a serial killer to pull her in.

In Broken Bayou by Jennifer Moorhead, we follow Willa as she goes back to the town she grew up in and gets tangled in its dark history. If you like Southern Gothic settings with your thrillers, this one is a great pick.

The Fourth Girl by Wendy Corsi Staub

Three women reunite in their hometown of Mulberry Bay, twenty-five years after their friend Caroline vanished on prom night. New threats and buried secrets tied to that night begin to surface.

In The Fourth Girl by Wendy Corsi Staub, we follow Midge, Kelly, and Talia as they return to the place where everything changed and try to piece together what really happened to Caroline.

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth

Three foster sisters are forced to confront their traumatic past when human remains are discovered beneath their former foster home.

Like other entries on this list, in Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth, the women are forced back to a place they never wanted to see again because the past won't stay buried.

And the newest addition to the list:

I Came Back for You by Kate White

Ten years after her daughter Melanie was murdered, Bree has finally started to move on. New love, new home, new beginning. Then the convicted killer makes a deathbed confession: he killed four girls, but not Melanie. As Bree digs into the inconsistencies, the only way to get answers is to return to the university town in upstate New York where her daughter's life came to a brutal end. What she finds there calls into question everything she believed about the crime and about Melanie herself.

I Came Back for You by Kate White is a domestic thriller set in a small university town in upstate New York.

White's prose reads very naturally. Plot and conversations flow perfectly, and descriptions were kept to functional and emotional beats. It makes for an easy read.

We follow Bree in a single continuous timeline as she investigates what happened to her daughter. The story starts slow, taking its time to set things up, but picks up pace once Bree moves to the town where it all happened. The story revolves around the mystery, finding leads, and following them, which kept me engaged throughout. Bree is a proactive protagonist, driving the investigation herself rather than waiting for things to come to her.

There is some romance, and while it is not central to the plot, it is prominent throughout. There are no explicit sexual scenes or detailed graphic violence, though the aftermath of graphic violence is described in some scenes. There is swearing.

So, what about the ending? (No spoilers, obviously)

I found the ending a bit anticlimactic. The mystery is resolved, and we get our answers, but I was hoping for a bigger payoff after all the buildup. The denouement was super short, barely giving us time to sit with the characters before the book wraps up, which gave the whole thing a sense of an abrupt ending.

I Came Back for You by Kate White is a solid domestic thriller with a proactive protagonist and a mystery that unravels through their own actions. If you are into these kinds of thrillers, you'll love this one.

Latest Updates

• Killing Me Softly by Sandie Jones comes out March 31. Sandie Jones is the author of The Other Woman, which sold really well, and this new one is a domestic thriller set in the Cotswolds. A couple's perfect life unravels after a hit-and-run, and they turn on each other in a cat-and-mouse game told from both perspectives.

• Thrillers are thriving. A recent industry report shows mystery, thriller, suspense, and crime novels captured 30% of the top 100 best-selling Kindle books in 2025. The genre ranks #2 on Amazon after romance, and The Housemaid's film adaptation, which grossed nearly $400 million, gave the entire psychological thriller segment a visibility boost. Good time to be a thriller reader.

That’s all for this week. See you next time.

— Diego Dunne

P.S. Let me know how I did today by replying to this email.

P.P.S. I would love to hear your recommendations for thrillers you loved. Reply to this email, and I’ll add them to my TBR list. Thanks!