Thrillers I Recommend Reading
As an avid thriller reader, I know there are hundreds of thrillers to choose from, whether they are standalones or part of a series. It also depends on the types of thrillers youâre interested in, too, and whether you prefer reading one from the first-person point of view (usually an unreliable narrator or detective), or third person (an external narrator telling the story). Whilst theyâre all incredible in their own ways, some might be a hit or miss for you.
To help you (hopefully!) find your next thriller to enjoy, here are some I recommend picking up:
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
The Silent Patient revolves around two main characters: Alicia Berenson and Theo Faber. Alicia is a famous painter whoâs married to a fashion photographer and living a perfect life in London. Until, on one evening, she shoots her husband five times in the face and refuses ever to speak again. Sheâs placed into this psychiatric facility called âThe Groveâ and becomes infamous for being the woman who killed her husband. Theo Faber, on the other hand, is a criminal psychotherapist who got a job at âThe Groveâ to try and get Alicia to open up and talk to him about what happened the night she murdered her husband. As the narrative progresses, we slowly learn that things arenât what they seem, and you should be careful with whom to trust.
Guys, Iâm not kidding when I say that this one blew my mind when I picked it up because itâs crazy; the most unexpected things happen, and there is an insane plot twist at the very end that will make your jaw drop! If you havenât read The Silent Patient yet, Iâm so jealous! Iâd honestly do anything to read it again for the first time.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
I think most people have heard of or are familiar with this one, since there is also a movie adaptation of the same name starring Rosamund Pike and Ben Affleck. The premise of Gone Girl focuses on Nick and Amy Dunne, a married couple living in Missouri, and on the morning of their fifth wedding anniversary, Amy suddenly disappears. No traces, no evidence, nothing. Itâs as if she were never at the house at all. The rest of the narrative deals with the repercussions Nick has to face for his missing wife, and being at the centre of the investigation that quickly starts to turn into something more sinister.
What I love about Gone Girl is how the story is told through the alternating perspectives of the main characters. We have Nickâs present-day account of dealing with the investigation, and Amy's diary entries about the history and development of their relationship. Both characters are also unreliable narrators, meaning weâre constantly questioning everything, everyone, and wondering whoâs telling the truth.
Flynn also comments on social themes in this book that hit close to home, such as marriage, performance, and the way women are expected to present themselves to the world (aka through the âcool girlâ concept). Trust me, Gone Girl is the kind of book that you read and then immediately want to analyse and write essays on because itâs incredibly thought-provoking and opinionated.
Bird Box by Josh Malerman
A little different from the first two, but Bird Box by Josh Malerman is just as intense.
Bird Box takes place in a world similar to ours, where a figure has appeared. Nobody knows exactly what it isâa creature, an entity, or a spiritâbut anytime someone sees them, they go insane and commit suicide. This means no one is allowed to look outside with their eyes and has to be blindfolded when leaving their houses or a building. This is what Malorie, a woman who is pregnant, goes through. And, similar to The Silent Patient and Gone Girl, the narrative kind of moves between two timelines; we have the past, which shows how the world collapsed and how Malorie ended up where she is, and the present, where she is making a desperate journey down a river with her two young children, heading towards what she hopes is safety.
If the synopsis hasnât freaked you out enough, I can assure you that the book is really intense and suspenseful. I remember reading this at my boyfriendâs house in broad daylight during the summer, and I was freaked out! I managed to finish it before the sun set, but it gave me the biggest goosebumps. I could not stop thinking about it afterwards, or sleep properly for a few nights; it was just that scary. Iâve neverm Iâve never been so grateful to be able to physically see the world until I read this book. Donât trust me? Try watching the Netflix adaptation with Sandra Bullock, the movie will give. You. The. Creeps.
Malermanâs writing is also amazingâhis wording and descriptions of the struggles the characters go through really enhance the suspense and dread we frequently experience. The fact that weâre forced to rely on sound, touch and survival instincts makes the mystery of what is causing people to go crazy all the more terrifying.
Honestly, after reflecting on Bird Box, Iâd say it sits on the border between thriller and horror. If you like your books with a dark, atmospheric, and creepy edge, then this one is for you.
Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak
If you like books such as Strange Pictures by Ukestu or The Housemaid by Freida McFadden, then youâll have a fun time with this one. This book centres around a girl also called Mallory, who, in this case, is a young woman in her early twenties recovering from addiction and takes on a job as a nanny for a family in the New Jersey suburb. She looks after their five-year-old son called Teddy; Teddy is a sweet, imaginative kid who likes to draw.
However, Teddy only started to enjoy drawing when the family moved into this specific house. Mallory also starts to notice that his drawings get stranger and more detailed, before realising they seem to be telling a disturbing story. And the more drawings that appear, the more she becomes convinced that something is very wrong. The rest of the narrative follows her journey investigating what is going on and unravelling the truth behind these pictures.
The best thing I love about Hidden Pictures is that Mallory is an unreliable narratorâneither we nor the other characters really believe what she discovers because she's a recovering addict and has a history that makes people question her perceptions. As a result, weâre left not knowing who to trust, believe, and have to try to piece together the mystery of the drawings into one coherent story.
The pacing in this book is fast-paced and really gripping; youâre sucked into the action from the get-go. I couldnât put the book down when I picked it up, and I finished reading the whole thing in 4 hours. Iâm serious when Iâm telling you itâs that good!
Additionally, there are actual illustrations of the pictures drawn by Teddy inside the book for you to refer to, which adds a visual eerie layer to the narrative. I donât know how the illustrators do it, but the pictures look very realistic and true to a 5-year-old's drawings. If you want to see it for yourself, then youâll need to pick up the book!
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Compared to the other four books, Dark Matter is a Science Fiction Thriller, and the only way I can describe it is: mind-bending.
This book follows Jason Dessen, a physics professor in Chicago with a wife, a teenage son and a comfortable home. His life didn't turn out exactly as he once dreamed because he wanted to be a scientist when he was younger and didnât take that path growing up. Heâs happy with what he has, though. Then one night, he gets abducted. And when he wakes up, he's somewhere else, surrounded by people who seem to know him but whom he doesnât recognise. And the worst part? His wife and son donât exist. And apparently, the version of Jason Dessen in this reality is a brilliant, celebrated scientist who made very different choices. Our Jason has no idea how he got to this universe, and he has no idea how to get back. The deeper he tries to understand what's happened to him, the more the reality of his situation â and the nature of reality itself â starts to fracture.
Now, Iâm not a Science major or familiar with scientific jargon, but I thought the content on cross-dimensionality and physics in this book was written in a way that was accessible to understanding what was going on in the story. Crouch is excellent at taking complex theoretical physics concepts and making them feel both comprehensible and thrilling at the same time.
Dark Matter is more than a thriller and science fiction novel; it also touches on emotional ties to family. The ending especially, will hit you in the gut. Every time I recommend Dark Matter to a friend or colleague, I always say that the book didnât just break my brain; it broke me emotionally too. The things Jason goes though is painful, and it was difficult witnessing him suffer.
This book is truly one of its kind, and one to pick up if you want your world and emotions flipped upside down.
Some honourable mentions
Here are some honourable mentions that didnât make it into the list but are just as good and shocking to read:
The Fury by Alex Michaelides
Enjoy theatre and want a âclosed-circleâ mystery with a group of characters trapped on an island? Then this one might be up your alley.
In The Fury, Lana Farrar, a Hollywood star, invites her closest friends to a Green island for vacation. We follow the narrative through Elliot Chaseâs eyes as he takes us through the journey of how all the friends, including himself, get invited, and how the discovery of a dead body unravels the ugly sides of Hollywoodâjealousy, career comparison, and resentment.
Now, Elliot is an unreliable narrator; we cannot and should not believe everything he says or describes to us. Can you get through the book without falling for his traps or being misdirected by his words? Iâve definitely been misled a few times, and Michaelides includes an element that makes you do a one-eighty on everything you read up to a certain point.
Black Summer by M.W. Craven
Black Summer is a psychological thriller and the second book in the Washington Poe series by M.W. Craven, and it is by far my favourite out of all of them.
The book (and the whole series) follows Detective Sergeant Washington Poe and his fellow data analyst, Tilly Bradshaw, as they solve a crime that Poe was confident he put to rest six years ago: a celebrity chef who murdered his daughter, Elizabeth. Poe doesnât believe his eyes when a young woman walks into his police station and claims to be Elizabeth. Yet, Elizabethâs body was never found at the original crime scene six years ago. A DNA test with this woman confirms her identity, causing Poe to panic and worry that he framed an innocent person all this time. However, the woman disappears a second time, leading him to discover what truly happened six years ago and what will happen next.
One of the things I love about this book and the series in general is how Craven balances the tense thriller with humour. Tilly is absolutely hilarious in this, which often softens the intensity and enormity of the crime being solved. You also donât need to have any prior knowledge of the previous book before diving into this one, so getting to read this as a standalone is a win!
Malice by Keigo Higashino
If you want a locked-room mystery with an added thriller component, then Malice by Keigo Higashino is for you.
The book centres around Detective Kyoichiro Kaga who is tasked to solve the case of bestselling author Kunihiko Hidaka. Kaga pins and arrests his childhood friend as the perpetuate for the crime. But why did his friend do what he did, and how does Hidaka know it was him who did it?
I read Malice back in 2023, and it has left a major impact on me. Although I remember the storyline, I actually forgot that it was a locked room mystery! The whole narrative is told through excerpts of journal entries and police reports, explaining the âhowâ and âwhyâ this crime was committed in the first place. Itâs incredibly fast-paced and one I would 100% pick up to read again!
None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell
None of This Is True is perhaps my favourite thriller written by Lisa Jewell.
The narrative focuses on two women, Alix Summers and Josie Fair, the former a famous true crime podcaster and the latter a seamstress who dreams of having a better life. They also happen to share the same birthday and birthplace, which Alix finds fascinating and decides to focus her podcast on this coincidence. However, Josie isnât all that she seems, and Alix gradually realises sheâs made a big mistake bringing her on.
I love this book because the medium used to tell the narrative is mixed; itâs told in regular text, but also through podcast transcripts and a future Netflix documentary, which is creative and makes the story both engaging and interactive. Josie is also a very unreliable narrator, whose words you should be cautious of.
Verity by Colleen Hoover
Okay, so Iâm not the fondest of Colleen Hooverâs books, but I read this when I was at university and remember staying up all night to finish it. This one had me by the throat and I could not put it down!
Verity is about Lowen Ashleigh, a writer who is struggling to make ends meet before scoring an opportunity that changes her life forever. She lucks out on being hired by the husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford to finish writing his wifeâs books after a tragic accident stops her from being able to write again. In order to write as Crawford, Lowen in many ways needs to become her. And to do that, she has to move into the Crawford house and use Verityâs notes to complete what she started. As Lowen goes through the various notes and outlines, she encounters an autobiography that was not made for the public eye to read. In it reveals Verityâs true intentions, motives that can shatter the family, ruin her career and hurt everyone in the process.
Iâm putting Verity on this list for its shocking plot twist at the end. Whilst Iâve read and encountered many twists that are considered more starling and jaw-dropping since picking this up, this plot twist was one of the first to ever make me go: âOh my god, what did I just read?â Itâs really unsettling and I hope it makes you feel the same too!
The Whisper Man by Alex North
The Whisper Man was a slow start for me, but it picked up really quickly after a few chapters and after I got used to Northâs writing style.
A little similar to Hidden Pictures, this book deals with family drama in a small neighbourhood. But instead of the horror being a childâs drawings, it is a serial killer called âThe Whisper Manâ notoriously known for luring young boys by whispering at their windows. Our main character, Tom Kennedy, moves into this neighbourhood with his son for a fresh start, yet ends up experiencing anything but. This killer is and should be in prison, yet another child goes missing, and his son starts to hear a voice outside his bedroom window. This turns into a race against time for Tom and the local police to figure out whatâs happened and is happening to the missing children, whilst protecting the other children and Jake from ending up in the same predicament.
This book makes it to this list for being incredibly dark and reminds us of all the times we were told as children not to speak to or trust strangers. If you want to find out what happens if you donât listen to this precaution, then give The Whisper Man a read.
So there you have it, some thrillers I highly recommend picking up for your next read or to get you out of your reading slump. I also talk about these recommendations in an episode of my podcast, which you can find below. If youâve read any of these books, let me know your thoughts!
