I am a thriller junkie. TBH, sometimes I have to pry myself away from my dark and twisty reads just to include a little variety. And also to stop my husband from calling the psychologist. Now that fall is around the corner, there’s nothing quite like curling up with a good book, your favorite cozy blanket and a hot cocoa/cider/toddy or whatever your pleasure. Especially with Halloween on the horizon, there’s no time like the present to dive into a thriller or mystery for your next read.
If you’re new to the world of dark and twisty fiction, here are a few of my favorites.
Behind The Red Door by Megan Collins
I finished this new release recently and it was such a crazy read. It follows the story of Fern Douglas, a woman who has reoccuring nightmares that she believes to be memories about a girl who was kidnapped 34 years ago. Now that the girl, now a grown woman, is missing again, Fern has to quickly figure out what happened in her past that she is blocking out and where memory and reality meet.
Suspense factor: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Spooky factor: 🙀🙀🙀
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
This is the thriller I always recommend when people ask me for my favorite. I think this might be one of my favorite books, regardless of genre. Alicia Berenson is a famous painter with a perfect life…until she murders her husband. She shoots him in the face five times and then never says another word again. She refuses to speak to police and therapists, so she’s sent away to a secure forensic unit to be monitored. Her new criminal psychotherapist is determined to get Alicia to talk, but her case becomes far too engrained in his psyche and he goes down a dark path. It’s such an incredible read.
Suspense factor: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Spooky factor: 🙀🙀
Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris
This is a super gripping domestic thriller. I definitely think it should come with a trigger warning for emotional and physical abuse, so please take care if that’s a trigger for you. It’s a classic thriller plot. Is it the perfect marriage or the perfect lie? Jack and Grace, the couple at the center of this totally enthralling novel, are so clearly not what they seem you’ll have no choice but to read and read and read until their darkest secrets are revealed. Warning: brace yourself.
Suspense factor: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Spooky factor: 🙀
Here and Gone by Haylen Beck
I picked up this book on a whim at the bookstore (you know, back when we could amble aimlessly around bookstores). It’s also one of the few books I’ve read that made me audibly gasp out loud as I came across new plot points. It’s an intense read. I don’t want to give away too much, but the basic premise is about a woman who flees with her children to get away from her abusive husband. However, it’s not the clean getaway she was hoping for, and the bad guys aren’t who you’d expect.
Suspense factor: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Spooky factor: 🙀🙀
As Long As We Both Shall Live by Joann Chaney
This was a deliciously twisty read. Contrary to the title, it’s not your typical domestic thriller. If you enjoyed Gone Girl, this is right up your alley. Even until the end of the book you don’t know who is good and who is a murderer.
Suspense factor: 🔥🔥🔥
Spooky factor: 🙀
His Wife’s Sister by A.J. Wills
Mara vanished from her home 19 years ago, and when she turns up as an adult wandering through a remote woods, her sister is overjoyed to have her back. But Mara’s brother-in-law is another story. He is a little too interested in Mara’s case, but is he justified? When she moves into their home he fears for the safety of her children due to Mara’s erratic and scary behavior. It’s a page-turner until the very end.
Suspense factor: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Spooky factor: 🙀🙀🙀
Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
I’m much more a “psychological thriller” gal than a “ghost story” one, but I love Riley Sager’s latest book. Maggie Holt returns to the house made famous by her father’s bestselling horror memoir. But is the place really haunted by evil forces, as her father claimed? Or are there more earthbound—and dangerous—secrets hidden within its walls?
Suspense factor: 🔥🔥🔥
Spooky factor: 🙀🙀🙀🙀🙀
The Whisper Man by Alex North
I picked up this book at the recommendation of the author of The Silent Patient. This book scared the crap out of me. It’s a dark and suspenseful mystery that covers a multi-generational tale of a father and son caught in the crosshairs of an investigation to catch a serial killer preying on a small town.
Suspense factor: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Spooky factor: 🙀🙀🙀🙀🙀
One By One by Ruth Ware
I love most of Ruth Ware’s mysteries, but this one is my favorite so far. When a trendy company heads to the French Alps for a work retreat, they assume they’re in for a winter wonderland. But as an avalanche hits and one-by-one the employees start mysteriously dying, it becomes clear that someone in the group has a score to settle.
Suspense factor: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Spooky factor: 🙀🙀
They Never Learn by Layne Fargo
This is a super contemporary thriller that reads more like a telenovela. Think “Dexter” meets “Killing Eve.” Scarlett Clark is an English professor with a penchant for murdering bad men. Each year, she finds the worst man at Gorman University and murders him, and she’s never even been suspected, until now. Meanwhile, Gorman freshman Carly Schiller sets out to get revenge on the boy who sexually assaulted her roommate at a party.
Suspense factor: 🔥🔥🔥
Spooky factor: 🙀🙀
Faithful Place by Tana French
I’m slowly working my way through Tana French’s catalogue, and Faithful Place was my favorite so far. I highly recommend it if you’re new to thrillers and want something a bit “lighter.” I love French’s characters in each novel, but Detective Frank Mackey is my favorite. As a 19-year-old, he had plans to run away to England with his sweetheart, Rosie. When Rosie doesn’t show, Frank assumes she is dumping him and heads off on his own. When Rosie’s suitcase shows up in an abandoned house 22 years later, Frank returns home to his alcoholic father and dysfunctional family as a seasoned detective ready to find out what happened to Rosie.
Suspense factor: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Spooky factor: 🙀
The Last Flight by Julie Clark
Claire Cook’s life is perfect. She has all the money and power she could want thanks to her marriage into a political dynasty. But her seemingly perfect husband is abusive and controlling and Claire feels like she has no choice but to flee. She concocts a plan to escape to Puerto Rico when her husband finds out. At the last minute, she swaps flights with a woman she meets at the airport who is also looking to escape her life. But when the Puerto Rico flight, the flight Claire was supposed to be on, crashes and leaves no survivors, Claire has to assume Eva’s identity to start a new life. Unfortunately for Claire, Eva’s life isn’t without it’s own complications.
Suspense factor: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Spooky factor: 🙀
