Harlan Coben has made a career out of transporting readers into the darkest realms of the human psyche. He narrows that scope in Hold Tight (Dutton, 416 pages, $26.95) to a simple question: How far would you go to protect your children?

That’s the dilemma facing Tia and Mike Baye when their son Adam becomes increasingly withdrawn in the wake of a friend’s suicide. Their decision to install high-tech software to eavesdrop on his every computer keystroke leads to unexpected ramifications that will change their family dynamic forever. Into that already complex web, Coben weaves an especially nasty serial killer tandem whose path is destined to cross that of the Bayes.

This emotionally riveting tale features monsters of our own moral making, taking us to an equally dark place just down the hall. Harrowing and blisteringly intense, Hold Tight is one of those rare books that won’t just make you think, it might change the way you do it. One of the very best of the year so far.

Lost Souls by Lisa Jackson (Kensington, 404 pages, $22) has the kind of high-concept, can’t-miss premise that often does. Not so here, as Jackson’s latest sprints out of the gate and runs supercharged until the very end.

Ambitious and fledgling crime writer Kristi Bentz enrolls at Baton Rouge’s All Saints College where four coeds have disappeared in recent years. She proceeds to sign up for the very same classes all of them took and before long has infiltrated a cult of would-be vampires. What starts out as simple research turns into a life-and-death struggle that threatens Kristi’s sensibility as much as her life.

Not since Anne Rice in her heyday has a writer explored such a sultry netherworld of human depravity so masterfully. But Jackson outdoes Rice in the sense that the evil spawned there only purports to be supernatural. The fact that it’s ultimately quite the opposite makes Lost Souls all the more terrifying and solidifies Jackson’s status as the queen of the modern-day suspense thriller.

David Baldacci expands his literary arena instead of shrinking it in The Whole Truth (Grand Central, 416 pages, $26.99), marking his stellar debut in the international thriller genre with a tale that’s frighteningly prescient.

A Haliburton-like conglomerate called the Ares Corporation, run by the power-crazed Nicolas Creel, has unleashed a complex plot to assure U.S. hegemony by starting a war. Unfortunately for Creel, award-winning journalist Katie James catches wind of his plan. Even worse for Creel, murdering Katie unleashes the wrath of her lover, a burned-out intelligence operative known only as Shaw, who rediscovers his deadly self in a quest for vengeance that threatens to forestall Ares’ plans.

Baldacci brings the tight characterizations and human pathos he has always done so well into a realm that isn’t always known for such subtleties. And the result is a tale that instantly places him alongside Vince Flynn and James Rollins, modern masters of a genre practically invented by Robert Ludlum. Truth be told, The Whole Truth is terrific and timely.

Speaking of genres, the one Carla Neggers writes in is generally referred to as romantic suspense. I’m not really sure what that entails, but the blend of paranormal mysticism and traditional suspense in The Angel (Mira, 336 pages, $24.95) makes for a tight, twisty and exceedingly well-told thriller.

Folklore expert Keira Sullivan journeys to Ireland in search of a legendary ancient Celtic stone angel that may or may not possess magical powers. Along the way, and at the risk of her own life, Keira encounters both those determined to stop her and those devoted to protecting her. The secret of the stone angel’s mysterious power becomes central to both her survival and obsession to uncover the truth.

The Angel reads much like a postmodern gothic tale, a kind of hybrid fashioned in the tradition of David Morrell in his brilliant Creepers and John Saul at his best. In all, the smooth and satisfying mix of mythology and derring-do adds up to a surefire winner.

jonlandauthor@aol.com