Exiles

“Taut and suspenseful, smart and wickedly funny, Exiles is a white-knuckle read that you’ll want to devour without stopping. I couldn’t put it down until the last twisting page.” —Simone St. James, New York Times bestselling author of Murder Road

“[P]acey and taut . . . Exiles has the breathless pace of a thriller, the creeping dread of horror and the robots and alien landscapes of science fiction . . . Even if Exiles isn’t reinventing the extraterrestrial thriller, it’s still a standout example of the form: satisfying, entertaining and emphatically human.” —New York Times Book Review

“[A] taut, terrifying combination of science fiction and horror that doubles as a locked-room mystery on Mars . . . What begins as survival horror quickly becomes a meditation on AI, paranoia and the weight of grief in isolation. [Coile’s] final work is lean, propulsive and layered with existential dread, capped by a devastating emotional undercurrent. Exiles is both a gripping thriller and a poignant farewell, proof of [Coile’s] rare gift for marrying terror with tenderness.” —Seattle Times

“Exiles is a terrifying, taut, one-sitting read, and Mason Coile once again blends science fiction and psychological horror to engage some of humanity’s deepest questions.” —Reactor

“A locked-room mystery set in the near future . . . A fast and riveting read.” —CrimeReads

“This sci-fi horror novel delivers a gripping blend of psychological tension and fast-paced suspense. Structured like a locked-room mystery, where the locked room is an uninhabitable planet, the story builds an atmosphere of isolation and paranoia.” —Library Journal

“A taut, terrifying thriller.” —The Guardian

“A brilliant locked room-style horror, Exiles combines sci-fi with psychological horror, and at just shy of 200 pages, this is a book you can easily read in one sitting.” —IGN “A must-read author . . . Coile continues to build up the suspense chapter by chapter until all is revealed. It is well worth the wait. The finale will have your pulse racing as you try to piece together the mystery at the heart of this wonderful novel. Exiles is not to be missed and is one of the most satisfying reads of 2025.” —Bookreporter

“Exiles has the fleet, complex plot that a science-fiction thriller demands, full of gaspable moments, twists and turns, and hair-raising situations, with the parts in between often laced with sharp humor — making for an entertaining read.” —New Haven Independent

“Lean, mean, and propulsively paced . . . Nerve-shredding space whodunnitry with a side of existential dread.” —Kirkus

“With its tough-as-nails heroine and scheming robots, there’s plenty here to hold sci-fi fans’ interest.” —Publishers Weekly

“A sci-fi locked-room mystery set on Mars? Sign us up!” —Bookish

“An action-packed space opera.” —BookBub

“This slim, propulsive read follows the first human crew to colonize Mars . . . A blend of locked-room mystery, whodunnit, sci-fi, and good, old-fashioned jump-scare horror, this is the kind of thing you read in a single sitting then lose sleep over for days.” —TheSkimm

“Mason Coile just brought gothic horror to Mars. Don’t let its vast landscape fool you, there’s something haunting this planet—and these pages. I absolutely inhaled this propulsive gasp of a novel.” —Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes

“In Exiles, Mason Coile introduces the fiercest, most formidable female character I’ve read in a long time—beware, Dana Gold’s past and present will haunt you long after you’ve turned the final page. This brilliant novel reminds us that sometimes the monster to be most afraid of is lurking, just out of sight, in our own pasts.” —Rachel Eve Moulton, author of Tantrum

“At once a science-fiction whodunnit and a claustrophobic horror story, Exiles is a tour de force. You can’t stop turning pages.” —Andy Davidson, author of The Hollow Kind