Elisa Shoenberger has been building a library since she was 13. She loves writing about all aspects of books from author interviews, antiquarian books, archives, and everything in between. She also writes regularly for Murder & Mayhem and Library Journal. She's also written articles for Huffington Post, Boston Globe, WIRED, Slate, and many other publications. When she's not writing about reading, she's reading and adventuring to find cool new art. She also plays alto saxophone and occasionally stiltwalks. Find out more on her website or follow her on Twitter @vogontroubadour.
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Some secrets don’t stay buried.
When criminal lawyer Justine Stone is handed her first murder trial, she’s ready to prove herself—until she realizes the defendant is her ex. The boy who vanished. The boy who might be a killer.
To uncover the truth, she returns to the hometown she’s spent years avoiding. But with her brother missing and the past closing in, this case may cost more than her career.
Bad Blood by Sarah Hornsley is a jaw-dropping thriller about first loves, buried lies, and the deadly cost of coming home.
“I read it in a single sitting.” —Hayley Scrivenor
Thrillers are really popular right now and have been for quite a while. Many thriller books have become television shows and movies. For instance, Ruth Ware’s psychological thriller The Woman in Cabin 10 with Kiera Knightley will come out later this year. So, too, will the TV series adaptation for The Housemaid by Freida McFadden.
But what exactly is a thriller? How is it different from a murder mystery or from horror? MasterClass has a good definition:
A thriller novel devotes most of its focus to suspense, dread, and the fear of a future crime—instead of one that’s already happened. Most mysteries reveal a crime and then require their main characters to work backwards to figure out who committed that crime. In a thriller, the bad guy is often established early on, and the main characters must work to stop them from doing evil.
Writer’s Digest has another useful distinction between mystery and a thriller. It notes that a mystery begins where a crime committed and the story’s action is figuring out the solution to the crime (i.e., the who and why, alongside some kind of justice). Thrillers tend to be more emotional, with a focus on “the fear, doubt, and dread of the hero as she faces some form of what Dean Koontz has deemed ‘terrible trouble.'”
Thrillers often blend the best of horror and mystery.
But with any genre, there can always be crossover. So some books may qualify as both mystery and thrillers. With any book in the crime genre, there’s frequently a big twist and that’s what makes them so enthralling to readers.
You’re in for a treat with these eight twisty crime thrillers.
Missing White Women by Kellye Garrett
What do you do when a romantic getaway becomes a race to prove your own innocence? Brenna lands herself in the middle of a murder investigation when she finds a white woman’s body in the foyer of the rental. Her boyfriend Ty has gone missing. The dead woman’s disappearance had made the news and set the social media world aflame. Now everyone and the police think that Ty was behind the woman’s death–and Brenna may have played a part, too. With few resources and public opinion against her, Breanna has to find out who her boyfriend was, his connection to the dead woman, and save her own skin. It’s a smart novel exploring the white missing woman phenomena through the eyes of a Black woman. Garrett won Best Standalone Mystery Novel for ITW Thriller Awards 2025 and was nominated for the Anthony Award for Best Hardcover with this title.
Almost Surely Dead by Amina Akhtar
They say life can change on a dime, and Dunia Ahmed is proof of that. One day while waiting for a train, a man tried to throw her into its path before committing the same act to himself. Dunia thought it might be just a one off thing. But then another person tries to kill her and then another. Now Dunia is missing. Did one of her would-be assassins succeed? The story follows a crime podcast trying to get to the bottom of what happened to Dunia and why people were trying to kill her.
You’re Invited by Amanda Jayatissa
Amaya had not expected to be invited to her former best friend’s wedding in Sri Lanka. She had not talked to her friend in many years after they ended their relationship on bad terms. But when she finds out that her best friend is marrying her ex-boyfriend, Amaya decides that she not only has to attend the wedding but stop it. Even if that means murder. So when the bride goes missing, Amaya is suspected of murdering her former best friend.
The Sicilian Inheritance by Jo Piazza
Sara Marsala’s life is falling apart. Her restaurant has gone bust and she’s worried about losing custody of her daughter. So when her great-aunt Rosie passes away, she leaves Sara an unexpected gift that could change her life: a plane ticket to Sicily to visit their ancestral town and a deed to a parcel of land. Her great-aunt had thought that her mother Serafina had not died from an illness but was murdered, possibly over the land. Hoping to find new prospects for her future, Sara decides to travel to Sicily to find out what she can about her great-grandmother’s death and the plot of land. But Sara soon learns that some people do not want the past to be investigated. This story is told from both Sara and Serafina’s points of view. As a bonus, there’s a very real podcast with the same name about Jo Piazza’s real-life investigation into the possible death of her own Sicilian great-great-grandmother.
You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego
So yes, it has almost the same title as You’re Invited by Amanda Jayatissa (see above!), but the books are very different. In this one, a group of thriller writers are invited to a writing retreat on the private island by the anonymous J. R. Alastor. But neither Alastor or the woman leading the writing retreat named Mila del Angél intend for it to be a peaceful writing retreat. Instead, both Alastor and del Angél have planned some games and riddles to draw out secrets in the group. But when the bodies start to fall, it sounds like their mysterious hosts have something else up their sleeves.
Not So Perfect Strangers by L.S. Stratton
Tasha Jenkins was on the verge of leaving her abusive husband forever. But when her teenage son goes back to her husband, Jenkins feels no choice but to return. Just before she drives back home, a white woman knocks on the window in desperation. Seeing an angry man behind her, Tasha opens the door to her car for this woman and peels off. Now both are dealing with bad marriages–but they both have very different ideas on how to handle them.
Jill is Not Happy by Kaira Rouda
Jack and Jill may be married but a dark secret bounds them together. When their daughter goes off to college, Jack finally has had enough and wants to file for divorce. Jill won’t let her picture perfect marriage go without a fight. She plans a roadtrip for the two of them to Utah…but both have plans up their sleeves to get the future that they want.
The Long Weekend by Gilly MacMillan
For folks who want a little bit more of a taste of White Lotus, here’s a twisty thriller for you. A group of couples have planned a weekend away in Dark Fell Barn, which is set far from everyone on a farm in Northumberland. The women arrive first before their husbands, but when they arrive, there’s a note. One of the woman’s husbands is dead. On top of that, there’s a storm that makes their isolation complete. None of the three women can reach out to their husbands, nor leave the retreat. All they have are their secrets which are all about to come how.
Want more thrillers? Check out this list of the best thrillers in the past 10 years. Prefer a twisty mystery? We’ve got those, too.
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