sO! Many thRiLLeRs

your guide to

THRILLERS THRILLERS THRILLERS

I love a thriller in the summer! Something about a devious crime, a ton of clues to unravel and a fast-paced plotline make for the perfect summer read. I rounded up 15 of my faves, broken down by category (yup, there’s even stuff in here for you scaredy-cats!)

psychological thrillers

Prefer thrillers that play with your head instead of relying on scares? I gotcha. These all will freak you out (major mind games in these!) but won’t keep you up at night, unless of course, you’re so into the story that you can’t put the book down!

The Push

Ashley Audrain

In a reading slump? Pick this book up. I guarantee you’ll be so simultaneously horrified and engrossed that you won’t be able to put it down. Blythe is convinced that there is something wrong with her daughter Violet. She’s cold and detached and they never formed that mother-daughter bond, while Violet and Blythe’s husband Fox are close. When Blythe has her second child, a son named Sam, she’s relieved as the two of them develop a deep connection. When a tragic event that alters their lives occurs, Blythe is forced to confront the truth about the relationship with her daughter. I could. not. put. this. book. down.

We Came Here To Forget

Andrea Dunlop

Katie Cleary seems to have it all: she’s an Olympic skier who has tons of sponsors and gets to travel the world, a skier best friend turned boyfriend and a loving family. So why does she throw it all away to become Liz Sullivan living in Buenos Aires? In dual narratives, the tragedy that forever alters Katie’s life is revealed, as she further enmeshes herself in her new life, focusing on tango and her new beau Giancarlo. The plot line was so engaging and I loved the back and forth timeline. So unexpected, fascinating and original!

Too Good To Be True

Carola Lovering

Skye has romantically struggled in part due to her OCD. When she meets Burke, an older man, the pair are head over heels in love and quickly marry. The catch? Burke is still married to his childhood sweetheart Heather, and is using Skye (and her trust fund) in a twisted scheme to save his marriage and bring his family back from financial ruin. This book pretty much checks all of my boxes. Rich people problems? Yup. New York City? Of course! Love triangle? Got it! Adored the entire thing and wish I could go back and read it all over again!

beach read thrillers

Is there any better feeling than sitting by the pool with a marg and a completely unputdownable beachy thriller? No, there’s not. These are gossipy and fun but with an edge.

The Lion’s Den

Katherine St. John

Do you like beachy books about rich people who have creepy killer tendencies? Belle and her group of friends who spend the week on a luxurious yacht in the Mediterranean courtesy of her best friend Summer and her much older and very wealthy new boyfriend. As the week goes on, things aren’t quite as they seem, as the guests are treated like prisoners, only there to make John look good for his business deals, seen and not heard. The tension comes to a head as Belle witnesses Summer doing something incredibly terrifying, turning a dream vacation into a life or death situation.

The Hunting Wives

May Cobb

This book is basically Real Housewives with a deadly twist. Sophie is a Texas transplant having left her high-powered city job for small town life. Bored at home, she becomes enamored with some of her small town’s most prominent socialites. She’s delighted when she’s invited to join some of them in their secret Friday night skeet shooting club. Sophie is especially drawn to Margot, the ringleader of the group. When their Friday night shooting parties turn deadly, Sophie is shocked, especially when all of the crimes seem to point back to her. Have her new friends framed her?

All These Beautiful Strangers

Elizabeth Klehfoth

Years ago, Grace Fairchild disappeared, leaving her real estate mogul husband and young daughter Charlie behind. Years later, Charlie is still struggling with her mother’s disappearance. In an attempt to fit in, she embraces her tony boarding school’s “it” crowd after she’s tapped to join their secret society. She’s forced to play the “Game,” a mysterious semester-long series of tasks to prove she’s worthy and learns some terrible truths in the process. This was an ideal summer thriller! It’s juicy and gossipy and easy to tear through poolside, but it’s also smart and well-written. Loved it!

read ‘em in a day thrillers

A stormy day + a thriller that you can power through in a single sitting is just what you need this summer. You will be physically unable to put these down, I promise.

The Last Flight

Julie Clark

Claire Cook is desperate to escape her life, which to an outsider, seems perfect. She’s the wife of a Senate hopeful from a Kennedy-esque family, but behind closed doors, he’s manipulative and abusive. Claire has spent months staging a plan to escape but a chance meeting at an airport bar derails the entire plot, as she meets Eva, another woman desperate to escape her own life. They make a last-minute ticket switch, with Claire taking Eva’s flight to Oakland and Eva heading to Puerto Rico. When the flight to Puerto Rico crashes, leaving no survivors, Claire decides to assume Eva’s old life in Oakland, learning a slew of dangerous secrets about the life Eva left behind. Read this in a sitting and LOVED!

Necessary People

Anna Pitoniak

If you like GOSSIP GIRL (which how could you not?) I highly highly suggest picking this novel up. It follows Stella and Violet who have been best friends since college. Stella is beautiful and used to getting everything she wants, while Violet has to work hard for everything she achieves. After graduation, Violet moves to New York and gets a job working for a cable news network, finally freeing herself from Stella’s shadow, until Stella’s jealousy catches up to her. She uses her wealthy parents’ connections to score a on-camera anchor job at the same network, causing tension and a dangerous act between the friends turned foes.

Bonfire

Krysten Ritter

This one is by the actress Krysten Ritter and I had no idea she could write like this. I mean, when your book is blurbed by Gillian Flynn, you must be doing something right. Abby Williams works as an environmental lawyer in Chicago, leaving her dark past and hometown behind. When a case takes her back to her Indiana small town, she starts investigating a high-profile company headquartered there and finds they have some dark connections to the disappearance of a local girl a decade earlier. This novel honestly blew me away! It’s twisty and suspenseful and really well-written.

i’ll see you in court

A courtroom drama is like music to my ears. Throw in some politics, a rogue jury member or two, maybe a lil romance and a twisty murder or two and I’m yours.

The Holdout

Graham Moore

The jury from a high-profile murder case involving a young white teen who is the daughter of one of Los Angeles’ richest developers and Bobby Nock, her African-American teacher is reassembled to film a docuseries about the trial. Ten years before, they shocked the world by delivering a not guilty verdict. Rick, a juror who struggled with the not guilty verdict, is determined to show everyone new evidence that proves that they were wrong and that Nock is truly guilty. As he prepares to tell all, he is found murdered in his hotel room and Maya, a juror turned criminal defense lawyer is accused of the killing.

While Justice Sleeps

Stacey Abrams

Avery Keene is trying to keep it all together. She’s juggling a clerkship for Supreme Court Justice Howard Wynn and her addict mother. When Justice Wynn slips into a coma, Avery’s life changes as she’s named his legal guardian and power of attorney, bypassing his family and setting off a media firestorm. As Avery dives into his files, she finds that Justice Wynn has been researching a dangerous conspiracy and that the Justice has left behind a series of clues for Avery, creating an IRL chess game. Loved every second of this one, from the DC conspiracy angle to the way Avery absolutely NAILS those clues.

Miracle Creek

Angie Kim

In Virginia, an immigrant family owns and runs a hyperbaric chamber for those who could benefit from the therapies those machines provide. When it mysteriously explodes during a session, killing a mother and a young child, there’s not an immediate culprit. Through multiple POVs, we meet the immigrant owners who are blamed for the explosion, their daughter, one of the men involved in the accident and the mother whose son was killed in the blast, as we follow the case and unravel what truly happened on the chamber’s last dive.

literary thrillers

I get it, sometimes thrillers can feel a bit low-brow. If you’re in the market for something on the suspenseful side that has a little bit of literary heft, try these three which fit that bill perfectly.

Long Bright River

Liz Moore

I could wax poetic on the sheer genius of this book for hours. I loved it so much! At its core, LONG BRIGHT RIVER is a novel about family and addiction, with a breathless mystery that will keep you turning the pages. Mickey and Kacey are sisters on opposite sides of the opioid epidemic in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. Kacey has long struggled with addiction, while Mickey is a police officer helping to combat the crisis. When Kacey disappears at the same time a series of murders begins, Mickey is convinced that Kacey is in danger and becomes consumed with finding both Kacey and the culprit.

Before The Fall

Noah Hawley

On a foggy summer night, a private plane takes off from Martha’s Vineyard. On board are ten rich, privileged people and a down-on-his-luck painter. The plane crashes and the painter and a young boy, who is now the heir of a massive media fortune, are the only survivors. The crash seems like a tragic accident at first, but questions begin to emerge about what really brought the plane down. Was it really an accident or was it an attempt to take down some of Manhattan’s most influential people? Suddenly, Scott, the painter, is thrust into the public eye as he is accused of something more sinister. Felt so cinematic!

Sunburn

Laura Lippman

Laura Lippman is the queen of the crime/modern-noiresque thriller! Polly and Adam meet in a local tavern in Delaware. Both claim to be just be passing through, but as time passes, it’s evident that they’re both have some long-term plans to stay in the small coastal town. Over the course of the summer, the pair fall into a steamy affair, even though they both share doubts about the other’s intentions. As they start to plan for the future, a mysterious murder throws a wrench in their plans. Both are so ensnared in each other’s lives that the murder might destroy them.