The debut thriller boom is real. Five of this week's six book picks are first novels — and every one of them reads like a pitch deck. Meanwhile, the deals keep coming: Sony dropped $25 million on a creature feature at Berlin, Netflix scooped up a Lord of the Flies series from the creator of Adolescence, and 20th Century Studios locked Phoebe Dynevor for Emily Henry's Beach Read.

This edition: 5 debut thrillers with adaptation DNA, 3 announced books worth tracking (including a grown-up Nancy Drew), 2 podcasts built for the screen, 2 Dark Horse comics that could be the next mid-budget genre franchise, and a Guardian long read about a novelist who may have stolen a woman's life.