22 best thriller books to get your heart racing: from Gone Girl to Shutter Island

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Curl up in a comfortable chair with these heart-racing thrillers and prepare for a wild, wild ride.

22 best thriller books

1. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

A gripping psychological thriller about a woman who shoots her husband and then refuses to speak. Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia, who hasn’t spoken since that fateful day. But soon, Theo will be forced to confront his own motivations for pursuing the mystery of Alicia and her husband. The story is a clever twist on obsession, therapy and secrets that will have you questioning everyone’s motives. That ending? Completely jaw-dropping.

2. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

A dark, twisted tale of a marriage gone horribly wrong, and the birthplace of the ‘Cool Girl’ monologue that takes over social media every few months. Nick Dunne comes home on his fifth wedding anniversary to find his wife, Amy, is gone, leaving a scene of struggle in their home. It doesn’t take long for Nick to become the prime suspect, as secrets keep floating to the surface. The media jumps on the tale, with photos of Nick’s beautiful wife whipping the public into a frenzy.

With unreliable narrators and shocking plot twists, Flynn keeps you guessing until the very last page. The mix of suspense, social commentary, and sheer cruelty is addictively binge-worthy. If you loved the movie adaptation starring Rosamund Pike and Ben Affleck, you’re guaranteed to devour this thriller novel.

3. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Everyday life meets obsessive intrigue as an alcoholic commuter spies on a seemingly perfect couple. One day, Rachel witnesses the wife in an intimate embrace with another man. Later, she discovers that the wife, whose actual name is Megan, is missing. Rachel inserts herself into the investigation, and things take a turn for the worse. Hawkins masterfully blurs perception and reality, making you doubt yourself along the way. The suspense builds steadily to a gut-wrenching reveal.

4. The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

A domestic thriller filled with secrets, lies, and deadly consequences. You’ll likely recognise this unique cover from every airport bookstore, as this is Freida McFadden’s most popular series. The wealthy Winchester family hires Millie to clean and care for their immaculate home. But their behaviour worsens and the secrets begin to mount. The Winchesters aren’t quite what they seem, but neither is Millie, and so they all enter into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse. McFadden excels at ratcheting tension while keeping the twists believable. It’s a perfect combination of psychological tension and page-turning drama.

5. The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

Lucy Foley is one of the most popular thriller writers of the moment, and her unique location-centred style is perfectly captured in The Hunting Party. A weekend getaway with friends in a remote Scottish hunting lodge goes horribly wrong. Alternating between the present when a body has been found, and the day that led to the death, we begin to see the cracks in this perfect group of longtime friends. Foley’s skilful character development and creeping suspense make this murder mystery impossible to put down. Every secret revealed feels like a step closer to the ledge.

6. The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

An agoraphobic woman believes she witnessed a crime in her neighbour’s house. Finn blends Hitchcockian suspense with unreliable narration perfectly. Once again, we’re left to wonder what is real, what is bias, and what is going to happen by the end of it all!

Finn expertly captures both the fuzzy-headed confusion brought on by Anna's alcoholism and the suffocating claustrophobia of staying inside for almost a year. Every page ratchets up tension and paranoia, culminating in a shocking finale. You won’t want to leave your house until you’ve finished this book.

7. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

Let’s mix things up with a bit of sci-fi. Blake Crouch’s mind-bending sci-fi thriller delves into alternate realities and the choices that shape us. A masked stranger asks Jason, "Are you happy with your life?" before knocking him unconscious. Jason wakes up strapped to a gurney and surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Jason’s new life is nothing like his own; he isn’t married to his wife, his son was never born, and he is a celebrated genius.

But which life is real? How can he return home? Does he even want to? Crouch’s writing is taut, fast-paced, and emotionally gripping. You’ll finish it questioning your own life paths.

8. My Murder by Katie Williams

A gripping tale of a woman caught in a deadly game of manipulation and deception. Lou is happily married, the mother to a sweet toddler, and a recent victim of a local serial killer. She was brought back to life by a government project, but she can’t find her way back to her old life as questions remain around her brutal death. Lou needs to find out what happened to her, but she might not be satisfied with the answer. Williams keeps the suspense tight with shocking twists at every turn.

9. The Quiet Girl by S.F. Kosa

A suspenseful story about secrets, isolation, and the danger of underestimating the quiet ones. When Alex arrives to patch things up with his new wife, he finds an empty wine glass in the sink, her wedding ring on the desk, and a string of questions in her wake. The police don’t see anything suspicious about the matter, but Alex finds evidence of secrets his wife has been carrying for a long time. With the help of the near-silent Layla, Alex tries to find his wife and deal with the consequences it will bring. Kosa masterfully combines domestic tension with psychological insight. The ending sneaks up on you when you least expect it.

10. The Long Weekend by Gilly MacMillan

A seemingly perfect getaway turns into a tense psychological thriller full of secrets and betrayal. Three women—Jayne, Ruth, and Emily—arrive at an isolated retreat for a couples getaway, with their husbands expected to join them the next day. Instead of relaxation, they discover a chilling note warning them that one of their husbands will be murdered, with no phones or service to confirm their safety. As fear mounts, old wounds and buried secrets resurface, threatening their friendships as much as the unseen danger outside.

11. In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

A hen party in a secluded cabin turns deadly in this chilling thriller. When reclusive writer Leonora reluctantly accepts an invitation to a weekend in the English countryside, old friends, new faces, and unsettling memories quickly unravel her reserve. As night falls, chilling revelations emerge, and Leonora realises the party is not alone in the woods. It’s twisty, dark, and utterly addictive—remind us never to go to a hen do in the woods!

12. The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

Nellie believes she’s finally found happiness with Richard, but his ex-wife Vanessa still lingers like a shadow over their marriage. What seems like a simple story of jealousy and a failed relationship unravels into a web of secrets, lies, and shifting truths. In this twisting psychological thriller, nothing—and no one—is quite what they seem. Think this is a simple case of a jilted woman obsessing over the shiny new toy? Think again.

13. It's Always the Husband by Michele Campbell

A murder mystery centred on marriage, greed, and deadly secrets. Campbell keeps the suspense tight while exploring the dark side of domestic life. College roommates Kate, Aubrey, and Jenny formed an unbreakable bond despite their differences, but 20 years later, that friendship teeters on the edge of tragedy when one is pushed toward a fatal decision. As the story shifts between past and present, secrets, betrayals and toxic loyalties raise the question: is it murder, or will everyone assume it’s always the husband?

14. The Last Word by Taylor Adams

Emma Carpenter, living in isolation on the stormy Washington coast with only her dog and a reclusive neighbour for company, posts a scathing one-star review of a violent horror novel. When the furious author, H. G. Kane, engages her directly, unsettling events begin to unfold, making Emma suspect she’s being stalked. As she investigates Kane’s disturbing body of work, she realises his sadistic stories may be more than fiction, and her own life could be the next chapter.

15. Shutter Island by Dennis LeHane

We hope that you’ve somehow avoided the excellent movie adaptation of this book so that you can get the whole experience of the twists and turns while reading. In 1954, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his partner Chuck Aule travel to Shutter Island to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a dangerous patient from Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane. As a hurricane traps them on the island, the case spirals into chilling revelations of secret experiments, psychological manipulation and hidden agendas. Soon, Teddy realises that nothing here is what it seems.

16. The Hand That Feeds You by A.J. Rich

Morgan, a graduate student studying victim psychology, is newly engaged to Bennett, a man who seems both protective and passionate. But when she comes home to find him brutally murdered and her dogs covered in blood, her world shatters in an instant. As she searches for answers, Morgan uncovers shocking secrets about Bennett’s true life—and realises she isn’t the only woman caught in his dangerous web.

17. All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker

In 1975, as America shifts in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, is haunted by the disappearance of young girls. When Patch, a local boy with one eye, rescues the daughter of a wealthy family, his act of heroism sets off a chain of heartbreak and revelations. What follows is a gripping blend of mystery, thriller, and love story, exploring the fragile line between tragedy and hope.

18. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Cover for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Perhaps the most famous thriller novel on the list, which spawned an entire fandom and book series. It all started with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Forty years after Harriet Vanger vanished from her family’s private island, her uncle remains convinced she was murdered by someone within their powerful but fractured clan. He hires disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist and brilliant hacker Lisbeth Salander to uncover the truth, leading them to connect her disappearance with a series of brutal murders decades earlier. As they dig deeper, the pair discover the Vangers will go to terrifying lengths to keep their secrets buried.

19. Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

Fifteen-year-old Ellie vanished in an instant, and ten years later, her mother Laurel has never stopped searching for her. When she meets the charming Floyd and his nine-year-old daughter Poppy, Laurel is stunned to see the uncanny resemblance to Ellie, reigniting questions and secrets about her daughter’s disappearance. Jewell has a knack for writing thrillers with heart, which explore the after-effects of a traumatic event rather than just the mystery of them.

20. Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson

Imagine if 50 First Dates was a thriller and terrifying rather than hilarious. Before I Go to Sleep follows a woman with anterograde amnesia who wakes up each day with no memory of herself. Using a journal she’s been keeping, she pieces together fragments of her life, learning she is Christine Lucas, a 47-year-old married mother with a son, and that a doctor is helping her recover her memory. But as her entries accumulate, she begins to question the truth of what she’s been told and becomes determined to uncover her real identity. It’s that delicious cliche of an unreliable narrator, but this time through no fault of her own.

21. Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson

Holly Jackson delivers once more with Not Quite Dead Yet, a gripping, fast-moving murder mystery full of unexpected twists and captivating characters. Jet Mason, a 27-year-old from one of Woodstock, Vermont’s wealthiest families, suffers a violent attack on Halloween that leaves her with a catastrophic brain injury and a fatal prognosis: she has just seven days to live. As her condition worsens, she begins to see everyone around her—family, friends, and ex-lovers—in a new, suspicious light. With only her childhood friend Billy by her side, Jet is determined to use her final days to solve her own murder.

22. The Wrong Sister by Claire Douglas

Tasha and her sister Alice may share a bond and a resemblance, but their lives couldn’t be more different. Alice offers to watch Tasha’s kids so she can enjoy a romantic trip with her husband. But Tasha soon receives a call that a home invasion has left Alice hospitalised and her husband dead. To top it off, Tasha is blindsided by a chilling note warning that she was the intended target. As secrets surface, she realises that even the closest family ties can hide deadly truths.

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Fleurine Tideman