2023’s Most Anticipated New Thrillers, Suspense and Mystery Books

Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAllister
Out August 1, 2023

For fans of: suspense, unique police procedural/crime fiction, missing woman story, books by Alice Feeney and Lisa Jewell, twisty moral conundrums

As lead detective, Julie knows what to expect in the coming days on her most recent missing person case — the case of a 22 year old woman last seen on CCTV entering a dead end alley and never being seen again.

But solving this case becomes rather difficult when the criminal involved with the missing woman blackmails Julie into not solving the case (and by framing someone else) by revealing they know a damaging secret about Julia and her daughter.

Delicate Condition by Danielle Valentine
Out August 1, 2023

For fans of: spooky psychological thrillers, The Push (but more horror feeling), American Horror Story, Rosemary’s Baby (This has been called a modern feminist update of sorts), social horror, Nightbitch

This one is the basis for the new season of American Horror Story and just be aware off the bat it contains elements of IVF, miscarriage and pregnancy trauma.

Actress Anna Alcott, in her late 30’s, has been trying desperately to get pregnant and has been trying to balance her career (which she feels like could be on the verge of a breakthrough) and the grueling IVF journey she’s been on — especially when things strange things happen that make her feel like someone is trying to get in the way of her getting pregnant.

When she finally does get pregnant, even stranger things begin happening — like her ultrasound photo going missing — and then at 15 weeks the doctor tells her she’s had a miscarriage. However, Anna is certain she is still pregnant as she feels the baby moving and then her symptoms become even more alarming.

Is it all in her head like everyone around her thinks? Is something sinister at work?

Someone You Trust by Rachel Ryan
Out August 1, 2023

For fans of: domestic suspense, thrillers featuring the nanny/babysitter, short thriller books, authors like Freida McFadden or Ruth Ware, book set in Ireland

Amy, a woman running from her past and with secrets to hide, takes a job as a live-in nanny for what looks like the perfect family in a remotely located home in West Cork.

She soon learns that they too are hiding secrets just like as she has — the husband’s behavior not being what he initially presented or a reclusive teen son they never told her about living in the room next to her. And then threatening graffiti messages around the village making her question whether this was the safe haven she thought it would be.

The Trap by Catherine Ryan Howard
Out August 1, 2023

For fans of: crime thrillers, missing person cases, books set in Ireland, thrillers with the “bad guy” POV

Inspired by a series of still-unsolved disappearances in Ireland in the 90s, this one is about the search for answers through the lens of two women taking matters into their own hands.

One is the sister of one of the missing women who has decided to try to bait the man who might have taken her sister to find answers after living in agony not knowing what happened to her sister.

The other is a woman, a civilian in the Missing Person’s Unit and who dreams of being on the Irish police force, who just might have some information that could blow the case wide open with the help of a female detective on the case.

Add to that the perspective of the man who has been luring women in and is sharing it all with his next victim in the car will tie it all together.

Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen
Out August 1, 2023

For fans of: psychological suspense thrillers, domestic thrillers/drama, mother/daughter stories, slower burn thrillers

Catherine and Ruth, mother and daughter, have always been super close — the two of them against the world moving from place to place.

But when Catherine is about to leave for a new job, her mother shows signs of dementia leaving her to wonder if she should put a halt on her plans — that is until she discovers something that makes her wonder if she knows her mother the way she thinks she does and her mother desperately wants to keep a lid on the past to keep them together.

Sun Damage by Sabine Durrant
Out August 1, 2023

For fans of: psychological thrillers, Lucy Foley, con & grifter stories, vacation thrillers, domestic dramas, books set in France (Provence)

A con artist on the run from her partner after a con gone wrong and a group of vacationers — some who harbor their own secrets — collide in an idyllic vacation villa in the south of France.

The Hurricane Blonde
Out August 8, 2023

For fans of: thrillers, Hollywood settings, true crime/unsolved murder mysteries, family secrets, dark side of Hollywood books

Former child actor and sister of a slain actress whose murder from the 90’s was never solved, now spends her day as a tour guide for the Six Feet Under Tour — a tour that takes tourists around to the spots where actresses have met untimely ends. That’s the closest this daughter of Hollywood royalty gets to acting these days.

During one of her tour stops at her sister’s former address, a dead body is discovered — the body of a woman who looks just like her sister and who was supposed to be playing her sister in an upcoming film about her sister made by her sister’s ex.

Determined to figure out who killed her sister and this woman, she plunges back into the case and the tangled web of secrets related to her sister’s life and her family.

None Of This Is True by Lisa Jewell
Out August 8, 2023

For fans of: thrillers, psychological suspense, Ruth Ware & Gillian Flynn, true crime

Two women, celebrating their birthday in the same pub, cross paths and find out that they are both celebrating their 45th birthday and were actually born at the same hospital.

When Alex — a popular podcast host — ends up running into her birthday twin (Josie) a few days later, she is intrigued by the pitch Josie gives her as the next subject of her podcast which will help give her podcast some new life.

As the two decide to test the waters and Josie begins to tell her story for the podcast, Alex realizes Josie has been hiding some dark secrets and she has also slowly wormed her way into the whole of Alex’s life and home.

And then one day Josie is gone…

I’m Not Done With You Yet by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Out August 17, 2023

For fans of: suspense novels, books about writers/set in publishing, twisted/dark friendship plots, book with unhinged women, cat/mouse vibes, obsession stories

Much different from her cozier mysteries, this is a twisted suspense thriller!

It’s about a struggling author, Jane, who is drowning in her lifeless marriage and their mortgage payment. But when she finds out that her estranged college best friend is now a best-selling author who wrote a book that seems to be based on their past friendship, she decides to reunite with her at a book convention her friend is set to attend. The two share a dangerous secret that broke their friendship and Jane is determined to make them be close again.

Come With Me by Erin Flanagan
Out August 22, 2023

For fans of: character driven psychological thrillers, toxic friendship thrillers/books

Gwen and her friend Nicola — both interns together ten years ago — reconnect when a newly widowed Gwen, who is also a mother to a six year old, is in need of help.

Nicola comes sweeping in to take charge with a high paying job for her and apartment for Gwen and her daughter to live in (on the same street as her!) back in the town where Gwen grew up and where her own mother still lives.

The two women’s lives become intertwined as her friend Nicola showers them with support and help and Gwen’s daughter adores Nicola.

But soon the help and control over Gwen’s life by Nicola is becoming too much and she starts to wonder about Nicola’s motives.

Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney
Out August 29, 2023

For fans of: psychological suspense, mother/daughter relationship centered books

“Twenty years ago, a baby was stolen from a stroller. Now, when someone at a care home is killed, four women are snared in a complicated web.

Edith may have been tricked into a nursing home, but at eighty-years-young, she’s planning her escape. Patience works there, cleaning messes and bonding with Edith, a kindred spirit. But Patience is lying to Edith about almost everything.

Edith’s own daughter, Clio, won’t speak to her. And someone new is about to knock on Clio’s door and their intentions aren’t good.

With every reason to distrust each other, the women must solve a mystery with three suspects, two murders, and one victim. If they do, they might just find out what happened to the baby who disappeared, the mother who lost her, and the connections that bind them.”

Happiness Falls by Angie Kim
Out August 29, 2023

For fans of: literary mysteries, family dramas, missing persons stories, authors like Celeste Ng, Kate Atkinson & Liane Moriarty

A family is upended when their father and husband has gone missing and the only person who could have a clue on what happened is the son, who has a rare genetic condition and can’t speak, who returns bloodied and without his father long after they first went out for a routine walk together.

Now it’s a race against time to find out what happened to her father and wonder if anyone knows each other as well as they think they do even in a tight-knit family like theirs.

The Followers by Bradeigh Godfrey
Out August 29, 2023

For fans of: juicy psychological suspense, dark side of social media/influencer thrillers, books in the vain of May Cobb & Eliza Jane Brazier

Popular influencer and single mom, Molly Sullivan, is used to sharing so much of her life — motherhood, dating, etc — so she is taken aback when her new fiance has a negative reaction to her posting a photo of him on her account.

She agrees to delete it and keep him and his daughter off of her account and maintain their privacy.

The problem is her followers has already seen it including a woman who believes he’s the man who killed her sister and kidnapped her infant niece and decides to take matters into her own hands by masterminding her way into Molly’s life (thanks to social media!).

But someone else has also seen the photo and has been watching them — someone who poses even more of a threat.

September 2023 Mystery & Thriller Books Coming Out

Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon
Out September 5, 2023

For fans of: fun cozy whodunits, amateur detectives, mother-daughter dynamics, dysfunctional families

A grandmother-mother-daughter trio, with a complicated dynamic after being estranged for many years, must come together to solve a murder in their coastal California town when the youngest of the trio becomes suspect in the murder. (TW — be forewarned that the grandmother has been diagnosed with cancer and is now living with her daughter/granddaughter which is why they are no longer estranged.)

Suddenly A Murder by Laura Munoz
Out September 5, 2023

For fans of: YA mysteries, locked room murder mysteries, Knives Out

Seven friends throw a 1920’s-themed party in a secluded mansion to celebrate graduating but the party goes downhill when one of them is murdered the rest of them are suspects.

This Is How We End Things by R.J. Jacobs
Out September 12, 2023

For fans of: dark academia, psychological suspense, psychology, books set on college campuses, locked room mysteries, wintry thrillers

A small group of graduate students, studying the psychology of lying, conducts an experiment that goes wrong and one of them is discovered dead.

With a snowstorm trapping them on campus, the hunt for the killer is on as the detective starts to question everyone — made more difficult by the fact that everyone is a strong liar (many with their own secrets to keep) and witnesses are being targeted faster than answers can be found.

The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin
Out September 12, 2023

For fans of: gothic suspense novels, psychological suspense, murder houses, books with bloggers/influencers as main characters, creepy thrills

Social media influencer/blogger Sarah Slade and her husband, both with secrets to hide, buy a infamous murder house that has set empty for 40 years to renovate and flip for profit all the while detailing her progress for her blog and social media.

But between the neighbors wanting nobody to live there, big disagreements with her husband (who never wanted this house and this hasn’t helped their failing marriage), her cat becoming very ill and an assortment of other very strange happenings — the renovation has become more than she bargained for. Especially when she gets menacing notes that have her convinced someone is trying to kill them.

It seems the house — or someone else out there – is out to get her and foil her plans for the house. Sarah doesn’t know what to believe anymore.

Perfectly Nice Neighbors by Kia Abdullah
Out September 12, 2023

For fans of: domestic suspense, neighborhood drama, thrillers/suspense that tackle race & class

Bangladeshi mother, Salma Khatun, and her family need a fresh start and they move into a suburban development, Blenheim, that they hope will be just that.

Her hopes are a bit dashed when she spies her White neighbor ripping out the anti-racist banner from their yard. Not wanting to back down but not wanting a confrontation with new neighbors, she decides to hang it in their window inside — only to find paint smeared all over the same window.

Unable to avoid confrontation now, battle lines are drawn between the neighbors and tensions rise just as much as the stakes for both families leading to many repercussions.

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
Out September 19, 2023

For fans of: serial killer thrillers (inspired by Ted Bundy), dark crime/investigative fiction, more literary crime books, serial killer books that focus more on the victims and their loved ones, 1970’s settings

Two women, on opposite sides of the country, come together in the pursuit of truth and for justice for their friends who they think have been killed by the same serial killer.

One is Pamela who in 1978 is the sole witness when two of her sorority sisters are killed and two others are badly hurt. The other is a woman who believes that her partner, who had disappeared in broad daylight at a State Park in Seattle, was taken by the same man years before.

The Golden Gate by Amy Chua
Out September 19, 2023

For fans of: historical mysteries & thrillers, hard boiled detective books, Bay-area settings, murder mysteries with a bit of family saga drama, 1940’s set novels, historicals with rich social commentary and historical insight

Detective Al Sullivan is nearly at the scene of the crime at The Claremont Hotel, just having left after having a drink, when a controversial presidential candidate is found murdered.

As the detective starts investigating the many possible avenues for suspects, he unearths some connections between the murder and that of the death of a seven year old 10 years ago at the same place — a little girl who was a member of one of the wealthiest Bay Area families.

He is steadfast in his pursuit of the truth — even with meddling political figures trying to influence the outcome of the investigation and the wealthy Bainbridge family not exactly cooperating when he starts asking questions about the girl’s death.

How To Find A Missing Girl by Victoria Wlosok
Out September 19, 2023

For fans of: YA thrillers, A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder, Veronica Mars (but sapphic), missing persons plots

A 17 year old amateur sleuth — and menace to the police — named Iris and her sapphic detective agency — formed after her own sister’s disappearance — decide to investigate the disappearance of her ex-girlfriend and find the possible connection between the two disappearances. Especially considering her ex-girlfriend had a polarizing true crime podcast about Iris’s own missing sister who disappeared a year ago.

Murder in An Italian Village by Michael Falco
Out September 26, 2023

For fans of: cozy murder mysteries, books set in Italy, slower paced mysteries, vivid settings, cozy mystery series (this is book 1)

A recent widow and mom, Bria, is about to open the B&B that was her and her late husband’s dream to open along the Amalfi coast. But before she can even officially open, a dead body is found in one of the guest rooms. The police think the murderer is someone who works at or is connected to Bria’s B&B — something she doesn’t believe — so in order to prove the innocence of the staff and save her and her B&B’s reputation she sets out to find the killer.

October 2023 Mystery & Thriller Books Coming Out

Midnight is the Darkest Hour by Ashley Winstead
Out October 3, 2023

For fans of: Southern Gothic-feeling thrillers, psychological thrillers, dark and atmospheric books, books set in Louisiana

One of my top picks on this list — I loved both The Last Housewife and In My Dreams I Hold A Knife!

“In a small bayou town in Louisiana, people fear God’s wrath and local superstitions – like the story of the Low Man, a vampiric figure who steals into sinners’ homes to kill them on moonless nights.

The daughter of the town’s fire-and-brimstone preacher is not immune to the fear. But when a skull found deep in the swamp reunites her with a man from her past with a dark reputation, she’ll do whatever it takes to protect her town from evil: not the horrors rumored to dwell in the swamp, but the real evil that walks among them.”

A Traitor in Whitehall by Julia Kelly
Out October 3, 2023

For fans of: historical mysteries, historical mystery series, WW2 settings, London-set books, Agatha Christie-esque mysteries, amateur sleuthing

Julia Kelly is one of my favorite historical fiction writers ever so even if you don’t normally gravitate towards historical mysteries, put this one on your list to try!

Evelyn Redfern, lover of British detective books and daughter of a notorious family, is recruited by a friend of her father’s to take a job as a typist in Churchill’s underground war rooms and observe things in an attempt to uncover a mole.

But when one of the women in murdered on her first day on the job, she puts her amateur sleuthing skills to the test and teams up with a Minister’s Aide to help investigate the murder as well as keep her eye on the potential mole.

The Death Of Us by Lori Rader-Day
Out October 3, 2023

For fans of: domestic suspense, slow burn mysteries/suspense, small town settings, family secrets

Liss’s life is changed forever when one night a woman named Ashley hands over her brand new baby Callan and is never heard from again. Liss raises the baby as her own — even though it’s her husband’s unfaithful ways that brought the baby to her — and she often wonders what happened to Ashley.

Everything is then upended when, many years later, Ashley’s car is found — at the bottom of the pond on the family’s property — and brings up with it the dark past, secrets and many questions to what really happened to Ashley.

The Intern by Michele Campbell
Out October 3, 2023

For fans of: thrillers, cat-and-mouse thrillers, legal settings

Madison Rivera, a Harvard law student, is thrilled when she gets the chance to intern under a judge she has idolized for years. But Madison is keeping a secret — her brother has been arrested and Conroy is the judge on his case and she plans to do her best to help her brother while still concealing that fact.

Things get even more complicated when her brother goes missing after accusing the judge of being corrupt.

But Judge Kathryn Conroy is keeping her own secrets and past that could come back to haunt her and Madison could very well find herself caught up in them.

Close Enough to Hurt by Katherine A. Olson
Out October 10, 2023

For fans of: psychological thrillers, romantic suspense, revenge/vigilante stories, sexy/steamy thrillers, fans of Jeneva Rose

Dylan Truman is in the business of revenge-for-hire along with her best friend who is also a hacker. And when she receives a prospective client who brings a case against a pharmaceutical billionaire, the revenge gets personal as the man assaulted Dylan’s sister years ago and nothing ever happened.

As Dylan acts with her personal need for revenge and worms her way into their life, her best friend and partner is thinking about leaving the business and wanting a life of more stability and safety and Dylan becomes close to losing her close relationship — one that might actually be more than platonic — and dangerously close to her target for the sake of revenge.

You Always Come Back by Emily Smith
Out October 10, 2023

For fans of: domestic suspense, small town crime/mystery, serial killer books, dysfunctional families

July Weaver left home and never planned to come back until her family desperately needs her help after her brother tries to kill himself — even if she very much feels unwelcome being home from her siblings and small town alike.

9 years ago her youngest sister was one of the first victims of the Pacific Lake Killer and her own testimony is what put her father in jail for the murders.

But the longer that she’s home and new evidence comes into view, she starts to wonder and question everything about back then — particularly if her father was wrongly blamed and the real killer is still out there.

Sweet Pea by CJ Skuse
Out October 31, 2023

For fans of: dark humor thrillers, serial killer POV/diary

Rhiannon looks like your average girl next door — minus the fact that her childhood was haunted by a famous crime and she has a secret kill list she’s been making to get revenge from people she thinks has it coming and who won’t see her coming.

The Paleontologist by Luke Dumas
Out October 31, 2023

For fans of: slow burn psychological thrillers (with a spooky supernatural lean), murder mystery, dinosaurs/Jurassic Park , Simone St. James

Still haunted by guilt and grief, a paleontologist returns to the museum where he sister was abducted when he was a boy and evidence was never found.

But things aren’t what he expects in certain ways when he returns, the museum isn’t what it used to be and especially struggling financially as it is closed during the ongoing pandemic.

But even more so — he starts hearing and seeing things he can’t explain like animal sound and bloody footprints from no modern animal. Fearing he’s losing it, he turns to his predecessor’s research diaries and realizes the answers might be within a huge mystery he finds within the pages.

The Social Climber by Amanda Pellegrino
Out January 3, 2023

For fans of: slow burn but taut thrillers, rich people behaving badly, haves versus have-nots, revenge thrillers

Eliza Bennet has reinvented herself and become one of the elite after much planning and scheming and is close to her impending wedding to a wealthy and handsome man. But Eliza has secrets from her past that are threatening to ruin her perfect plan and expose her true motives for getting married.

Bright & Deadly Things by Lexie Elliott
Out February 14, 2023

For fans of: locked room mysteries, slower burn suspense, isolated settings, atmospheric settings

A recently widowed Oxford fellow is invited, with other selected colleagues and students, to take part in a retreat at a remote & rustic mountaintop chalet in the French Alps. Things get off to a strange and unnerving start before she even gets there and the tension is palpable when she arrives only to escalate further when a student disappears and people start acting strange.

Stone Cold Fox by Rachel Koller Croft
Out February 14, 2023

For fans of: domestic suspense, fun & juicy psychological thrillers, grifters & con stories, larger than life narrators (very strong voice), morally grey goodness, cat & mouse shenanigans, mother/daughter relationships

An ambitious woman, who has spent a lifetime of conning alongside her mother, has decided she wants to leave her past behind and plans her one last con to help her escape comfortably into the next phase of her life — marrying the heir to one of the country’s wealthiest families. The only thing she didn’t plan for is the man’s childhood friend standing in the way of her plan which goes from amusing to a dangerous cat-and-mouse chase that could expose her past.

On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel
Out February 14, 2023

For fans of: literary mysteries, true crime, Long Bright River, family/sibling stories, books inspired by real events

The story of two twins, born to a heroin addict who turned to prostitution for her next fix, who endured a traumatic childhood. Now as adults, danger threatens the sisters when a body of a woman is found in the river and their friends start disappearing around them. They worry they could be the next victims of this serial killer or the harshness of the life they have lived.

The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz
Out February 21, 2023

For fans of: psychological thrillers with horror elements, wintry thrillers, locked room mystery thrillers, a little bit of spice

When a famous author invites a group of up and coming female writers to her home in the Adirondacks for a month-long writing retreat, the stakes become higher when the opportunity becomes something potentially life-changing. As the competition heats up, so does the fact something sinister is at play when women start disappearing.

I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai
Out February 21, 2023

For fans of: slow burn mystery/thrillers, literary fiction, true crime, campus mysteries, boarding school settings

A 40-something podcaster and film professor has all but put her time at a prestigious New England boarding school behind her until she’s offered a position to teach there. Upon taking it, the seemingly case closed (yet hotly debated) murder of her former roommate is re-examined by two of her students — a case that was pinned on the school’s Black athletic trainer and that was a flimsy case at best. As she dives into the case and her past she begins to see her time at the school, and the people she interacted with, in a different light that could shed new information on the case.

It’s One of Us by J.T. Ellison
Out February 21, 2023

For fans of: domestic suspense, a little more emotional thrillers (deals heavily with infertility/miscarriage), family dramas, thought-provoking books that will give good discussion (good book club book), Shari Lapena

The life of a married couple, who has been unable to have children, is upended when the police knock on the door claiming that DNA evidence shows that the husband’s son is a prime suspect in a murder.

The Angel Maker by Alex North
Out February 28, 2023

For fans of: dark crime thrillers with a dash of horror, The Whisper Man by Alex North (highly recommend!), serial killer thrillers, creepy reads, very sophisticated thrillers (not a breeze-through read)

When a local philosophy professor is murdered, a connection is made between two old cases — a famous serial killer who could allegedly see the future and the gruesome attack on a teenager many years ago who has, now as a grown man, just gone missing and is being looked for by his older sister who is still haunted by what happened in the past.

A Death At The Party by Amy Stuart
Out March 7, 2023

For fans of: domestic suspense, neighborhood drama, family secrets, books that take place in one day

Told in reverse and set over the course of one day, a woman prepares for and throws a summer garden party that ends with secrets exposed and a dead body found in the basement while the party is in full swing.

The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell
Out March 7, 2023

For fans of: locked room mysteries, Clue, Only Murders In The Building, baking shows, cozier whodunits

The 10th season of tv’s hottest baking competition is underway at the Vermont estate where it is filmed and things go awry when small acts of sabotage turn into a dead body on the set.

All That Is Mine I Carry With Me by William Landay
Out March 7, 2023

For fans of: legal/crime thrillers with are heavy parts family saga and mystery

One afternoon in 1975 a mother goes missing without a trace and, while the husband is a suspect, there is never any evidence linking anybody to her disappearance. Then, two decades later, her remains are found. The now grown children, who already had complicated feelings about what really happened all those years ago and if they believed their father was a murderer, are now forced to face what really happened to their mother when the case is reignited.

The Kind Worth Saving by Peter Swanson
Out March 7, 2023

For fans of: The Kind Worth Killing (companion novels), P.I./detective mystery thrillers

Private eye Henry Kimbell is hired by an old student, a woman who he has always thought there was something off about, to investigate her possible adulterous husband only for the trail to turn up two dead bodies and secrets that lead back to the woman who hired him.

What Have We Done by Alex Finlay
Out March 7, 2023

For fans of: mystery thrillers, over-the-top popcorn thrillers, dual timelines

Twenty five years ago a group of teens bonded over their time living at a foster home for homeless teens that was not the safe haven it was supposed to be — their shared secret still bonding them long after the home closes and they all go their separate ways into adulthood. The estranged group is reunited when one of them is murdered and attempts are being made on the rest of their lives forcing them to reopen old wounds and secrets.

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice For Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Out March 14, 2023

For fans of: cozy murder mysteries, heartwarming and humorous books, amateur sleuths, foodie books, character driven mysteries, Finlay Donovan is Killing It, Arsenic and Adobo, Knives Out

A lonely shopkeeper takes it upon herself to solve a murder when a dead man shows up on the floor of her tea shop holding a flash drive — a flash drive she decides to swipe before the police arrive to help aid in her investigation.

I Love It When You Lie by Kristen Bird
Out March 14, 2023

For fans of: a dash of domestic suspense in a family drama/women’s fiction novel, Liane Moriarty, character-driven mysteries, family secrets, revenge

The messy lives of three Southern sisters (and their reluctant sister-in-law) get even more complicated when they have to work together to cover up a crime right after burying their grandmother.

The New One by Evie Green
Out March 28, 2023

For fans of: futuristic speculative thrillers, domestic thrillers, books about clones

When a troubled teenager is in an accident and put on life support that insurance will only cover for a few weeks, the parents jump at the chance to move to Switzerland to join a trial experiment in which all their expenses will be covered and their daughter will be cared for to given her time to potentially wake up. The catch? Their daughter will be cloned and the copy will live with them as their daughter — an arrangement that is great at first (especially with the clone being the sweet daughter they remember before things got bad) until their real daughter wakes up.

Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman
Out April 4, 2023

For fans of: mysteries, books about friendship, suspense, character-driven books, literary escapes (Greece setting!)

Three best friends spend the summer together in Greece before they go off to college but only two come back when a tragic accident happens involving one of the girls. The other two, cleared of any wrongdoing, still face media/public scrutiny and must navigate life with the guilt of everything that went wrong and the loss of their friend. Ten years later another accident, involving one of the women, calls into question everything that happened that summer in Greece.

Dirty Laundry by Disha Bose
Out April 4, 2023

For fans of: domestic suspense, Desperate Housewives meets Big Little Lies-esque books, people behaving badly

When a mother, queen bee of her small town and picture-perfect social media influencer, is found murdered in her home it exposes the lies of her carefully curated life and sends the clique of town moms into a frenzy with dirty laundry being aired and accusations flying as to who would have the most to gain by her death.

You Know Her by Meagan Jennett
Out April 4, 2023

For fans of: crime thrillers, female serial killer stories, Killing Eve, police procedurals, cat & mouse suspense

The story of a young female bartender who is a fledgling serial killer (of men) and the female detective who unknowingly becomes friends with the serial killer she’s hellbent on catching.

The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth
Out April 4, 2023

For fans of: domestic suspense/thrillers, fast-paced thrillers, popcorn thriller type

Pippa and Gabe live with their two daughters in their dream home on a cliff — a spot that unfortunately has become a place where people go to end their lives. Over time Gabe has become a bit of a hero when he manages to talk a number of people down from the cliff until one night he doesn’t — a night where his wife watches the situation unfold and isn’t so sure if the woman’s death was actually a suicide or not.

Homecoming by Kate Morton
Out April 4, 2023

For fans of: mysteries, family sagas, small town settings, dual timelines, chunky reads

A reporter, returning home to Sydney to take care of her grandmother after a bad fall, discovers that a terrible crime and tragedy in 1959 could have a shocking connection to her family and sets out to uncover it fully.

The Only Survivors by Megan Miranda
Out April 11, 2023

For fans of: slow burn mystery thrillers, survivor/”secrets that bind us” trope in thrillers (a la Yellowjackets), suspenseful reads, atmospheric reads

Ten years ago, a tragic accident killed twelve classmates and changed forever the remaining 9 students. After losing one survivor, the remaining survivors meet for a week every year at an isolated beach house.

As the 10th anniversary trip is coming up, a survivor named Cassidy is hoping this will be her last after trying to fully distance herself from the group over the years — that is until the day of the reunion another one of them is found dead and she finds herself diving headfirst back into the group.

As the week gets underway things feel very off and, when one of them goes missing, everyone starts to get suspicious — especially when it seems that one of them has not kept the secrets from 10 years old.

The Tip Line by Vanessa Cuti
Out April 18, 2023

For fans of: psychological thrillers mixed with literary fiction (think a bit like Otessa Moshfegh), unique narrating styles/experimental prose, books based on a true crime (Gilgo Beach Murders)

30 year old Virginia’s goal is to find a husband — an obsession that lands her at a new job as a tip line operator at a police station where she thinks plenty of husband options await her. Things are starting to fall into place until a tip called in to her from a mysterious woman reveals four bodies on a beach, launching a serial killer investigation, and suspicions from the woman that a police officer (and potentially one of her future husband) could be the one doing it.

The Last Word by Taylor Adams
Out April 25, 2023

For fans of: psychological suspense, the style of this author’s previous books, outlandish/unhinged thrillers, fast paced and exciting reads

A woman and avid reader living in a remote beach location gives a negative 1 star review of a self-published horror novel she read which leads to the author responding angrily for her to take down the review and being dragged into an online argument with the man — the correspondence becoming more menacing. When disturbing incidents begin to happen at night, she wonders if the author is stalking her or is it just a coincidence?

With My Little Eye by Joshilyn Jackson
Out April 25, 2023

For fans of: slower burn thrillers/suspense, stalker storylines, unhinged fan plots, books that share the villain POV

An actress and mom moves from California to Georgia to escape a stalker whose tactics escalated only to find that her stalker may have followed her when the letters written in his signature scented markers appear again and starts to get the sense she’s being watched.

The Eden Test by Adam Sternbergh
Out April 25, 2023

For fans of: psychological thrillers, domestic suspense, books with Gone Girl vibes, troubled marriage stories

A husband and wife sign up for week-long, device-free retreat designed to help troubled couples repair their relationships but both of them are harboring their own secrets and intentions for the week.

Without Saying Goodbye by Laura Jarratt
Out May 2, 2023

For fans of: dramas with a touch of suspense, mom noir (domestic suspense tackling motherhood), more emotional stories with your mystery/thrillers

Two desperate mothers in different stages of life, both with their own secrets about their past and who they really are, are thrown into each other’s paths and strike a tentative bond that turns more familial/safe — a bond they will need when the past catches up and endangers them.

The Nigerwife by Vanessa Walters
Out May 2, 2023

For fans of: domestic thrillers, murder mysteries, books set in Nigerian high society, family secrets, books with a strong sense of place/culture

A young woman, London-born but now married into a wealthy Nigerian family and part of high society’s Nigerwives*, goes missing without a trace and the investigation yields dead ends. The woman’s estranged auntie decides to come to Lagos to find out what happened to her niece and uncovers the darkness behind her seemingly picture perfect life.

* a Nigerwife — a well known term in Nigeria talking about a foreign wife of a Nigerian man.

The Perfect Ones by Nicole Hackett
Out May 2, 2023

For fans of: psychological thrillers, books about the ~dark side~ of social media/influencer culture, great settings, character driven

A picture-perfect influencer trip to Iceland goes horribly wrong when one of the influencers goes missing and the facade behind the picture perfect feeds is cracked.

Adrift by Lisa Brideau
Out May 2, 2023

For fans of: disaster/climate thriller & suspense books, eerie feeling books, books with a little speculative edge to them

A woman wakes up on a boat in the remote Pacific Northwest, in a world at the brink of climate disaster, with no memory of who she is and a note warning her to start over and not look back — a warning that makes her think she was definitely in danger. She sets sail desperate for answers to find out who she is, what she is running from and just who might be watching her to make sure she doesn’t find any of those answers.

No One Needs To Know by Lindsay Cameron
Out May 9, 2023

For fans of: domestic suspense/thrillers, NYC-set books, books set in elite circles, scandalous & juicy reads

An anonymous neighborhood forum, a place where lots of juicy and dark secrets were shared, gets hacked and exposes its users identities sending New York’s wealthiest residents into a frenzy to protect themselves and their families from what came to light — a pursuit that will end with one of them winding up dead.

Killing Me by Michelle Gagnon
Out May 16, 2023

For fans of: thrillers/suspense novels that are funny, voice-driven books, morally grey characters, things that are a bit camp in the best way, Stephanie Plum books

A woman gets captured by a serial killer but is saved from death by a random woman only to, after fleeing to a new city to keep outrunning her past, get stalked by yet another serial killer — an even more dangerous one that she must figure out how to survive.

Mothers’ Instinct by Barbara Abel
Out May 16, 2023

For fans of: domestic thrillers, books like The Push/The Perfect Mother/Little Disasters, dark thrillers

The bond of two couples, close friends that become even closer as their sons begin to grow up together, is broken after an accident results in the death of one of the young boys. Grief and emotions are high, as well as guilt and blame, but things start to escalate when strange accidents start happening to the other boy leaving his mother to wonder if her friends blame her and are behind the threats.

The Chateau by Jaclyn Goldis
Out May 23, 2023

For fans of: juicy mysteries with Real Housewives-esque drama, locked room murder mysteries, vivid settings, books by Lucy Foley & Ruth Ware

Four friends are invited to reunite at the luxurious French chateau of one of the girl’s grandmother’s where they spent a lot of time 20 years ago during a study abroad. When a tragedy ensues and secrets start to spill out, the girls must figure out who is behind the sinister turn of events and why before they turn on each other.

The Revenge List by Hannah Mary McKinnon
Out May 23, 2023

For fans of: domestic suspense, angry women in fiction, Lisa Unger

As a therapy exercise in anger management, a woman writes a list of people she’s angry and wants to forgive, and thinks nothing of it when she forgets the list in an Uber — until one by one the people on the list become victims of freak accidents.

Sing Her Down by Ivy Pochoda
Out May 23, 2023

For fans of: gritty thrillers, modern Westerns, feminist thrillers, Killing Eve, cat-and-mouse chases

Two prisoners and former cellmates gain early release due to the pandemic and a deadly cat-and-mouse ensues when one woman, who doesn’t believe the other about her claimed innocence, becomes obsessed with not letting the other go.

The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman
Out May 30, 2023

For fans of: historical mysteries, Regency era historicals, amateur sleuthing, feminists bucking society while righting wrongs & having adventures

Two high society spinsters and twins use their wits and their societal invisibility as older women to help protect other women — the first case being rescuing a friend’s goddaughter from her violent husband that takes them on quite the adventure.

The New Mother by Nora Murphy
Out May 30, 2023

For fans of: domestic suspense, cat-and-mouse games, books exploring motherhood, The Couple Next Door, The Push

An exhausted new mom is having a tough time and is super lonely after moving into a new neighborhood. But things change when she meets her neighbor Paul who offers her friendship and support that helps her feel like she can relax. But Paul is not just the selfless and kind-hearted neighbor she thinks he is — Paul has his own motives for befriending the new mom.

A Good Family by Matt Goldman
Out May 30, 2023

For fans of: domestic thrillers, slow burn psychological thrillers, dark side of suburbia type books

Katie and Jack have the perfect life it feels like — money, great home and beautiful kids. So when her husband starts pulling away and acting shady — including inviting an old friend to live with them further causing friction and even stranger behavior — she tries to unravel whatever secrets her husband is keeping and leans on an old friend for support.

My Murder by Katie Williams
Out June 6, 2023

For fans of: crime thriller with a speculative edge, domestic suspense, dark humor

A young mother is the latest victim of a serial killer and, after being brought back to her life thanks to a government project, she jumps back into her old life but finds herself, especially after spending time with the other victims of the serial killer, digging into the circumstances of her own murder.

Girls & Their Horses by Eliza Jane Brazier
Out June 6, 2023

For fans of: books that are part murder mystery and part drama from rich people behaving badly, cutthroat competitions, soapy/juicy mystery thrillers

A family moves to a wealthy and exclusive community and, wanting to get off to the right start, sign their girls up for riding lessons and soon find themselves immersed into the glamorous but ultra competitive world of showjumping — a world full of cliques, cutthroat mothers and a whole world of drama and secrets. Before the end of the summer, in the cutthroat preparation and lead-up to a big horse show, mounting tensions and lies will turn deadly.

The Couples Trip by Ulf Kvensler
Out June 6, 2023

For fans of: Swedish crime/thriller books, psychological suspense, wilderness settings in thrillers, Lucy Foley & Ruth Ware, The Long Weekend by Gilly Macmillan or No Exit by Taylor Adams

When their friend asks to bring her new boyfriend on their annual hiking trip in the mountains, couple Anna and Henrick oblige — a decision that will change their lives forever when the wilderness trek turns into a nightmare.

The Good Ones by Polly Stewart
Out June 6, 2023

For fans of: literary suspense, domestic dramas, books like Long Bright River or Local Woman Missing, Mare of Easttown, rural noir

A newly unemployed woman moves back to her childhood hometown in Appalachia — a place that still haunts her after her best friend mysteriously disappeared almost 20 years ago. Still impacted by the disappearance and drawn to stories of missing girls, she decides to search for answers to what happened to her friend all those years ago.

All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby
Out June 6, 2023

For fans of: crime fiction, Southern gothic, small town mysteries, the show True Detective

Titus Crowne, the first Black sheriff in a small Southern town, embarks on a hunt for a killer in his small community when a shocking and tragic school shooting (involving a student and a teacher) leads to the uncovering of serial killer in their small town.

She Started It by Sian Gilbert
Out June 13, 2023

For fans of: thrillers, revenge thrillers, the perfect thrilling beach read, books with tropical locales, books centered around female friendship, Liane Moriarty’s domestic edge & characters with the suspense Lucy Foley brings.

A group of young women –once childhood best friends who’ve drifted apart but are still bonded by secrets– get an unexpected and extravagant invite to a Caribbean bachlorette party by a woman who was always more on the outside of their childhood group but who according to social media is now living quite the posh life. The women accept the invite and are excited to settle into this indulgent break from life but aren’t prepared for when the party takes a sinister turn and their darkest secrets are revealed.

The Gulf by Rachel Cochran
Out June 13, 2023

For fans of: literary thrillers, small-town settings, books that tackle social issues

“Set on the gulf coast of Texas in the 1970s at the height of the women’s liberation movement, a closeted young woman attempts to solve her surrogate mother’s murder in a tight-knit, religious small town.”

The Drowning Woman by Robyn Harding
Out June 13, 2023

For fans of: psychological thrillers, dark domestic suspense, books full of twists that keep you on the edge of your seat

A woman and former NYC restaurant owner loses everything when, thanks to COVID, her business fails and she becomes homeless and living out of her car in Seattle after leaving her old life behind. An unlikely friendship is forged with a wealthy woman she saves from drowning in the ocean — an attempt to escape her abusive and controlling husband once and for all — and a plan to help the woman escape for good is hatched but things aren’t quite everything that they seem as both women have pasts they are trying to outrun.

What The Neighbors Saw by Melissa Adelman
Out June 20, 2023

For fans of: domestic suspense, neighborhood thrillers, Desperate Housewives, Shari Lapena or Sally Hepworth

A couple’s dream home in their dream neighborhood becomes theirs but the dream becomes shattered when their neighbor is found murdered and the neighborhood becomes quickly divided and secrets/rumors start swirling.

The Woman Inside by M.T. Edvardsson
Out June 13, 2023

For fans of: thrillers with a legal/crime thriller edge, books set in Sweden, thrillers with multi-POVs

A quiet Swedish town is rocked when a prominent and wealthy is found murdered. As the police investigate and question potential suspects, a few suspects with their own questionable pasts really start to emerge — a widowed man who lives with his young daughter, a woman who lodges with the former and the slain couple’s housekeeper and the mistress of the slain man.

The Only One Left by Riley Sager
Out June 20, 2023

For fans of: mystery thrillers, gothic thrillers, creepy vibes

A young caregiver is assigned to work for a woman who, several decades earlier as a teenager, was accused of murdering her whole family but never was charged and has remained at the cliffside mansion ever since alone with the truth of that night. That is, until she decides she wants her caregiver to help her tell the truth of that night — a truth the young woman starts to have doubts about after new details come out about the caregiver who was there before her.

Don’t Forget The Girl by Rebecca McKanna
Out June 20, 2023

For fans of: literary mysteries & thrillers, true crime (and nuanced exploration of society’s obsession with it), female friendship-centered plots

“Twelve years ago, 18-year-old University of Iowa freshman Abby Hartmann disappeared. Now, Jon Allan Blue, the serial killer suspected of her murder, is about to be executed. Abby’s best friends, Bree and Chelsea, watch as Abby’s memory is unearthed and overshadowed by Blue and his flashier crimes. The friends, estranged in the wake of Abby’s disappearance, and suffering from years of unvoiced resentments, must reunite when a high-profile podcast dedicates its next season to Blue’s murders.”

Zero Days by Ruth Ware
Out June 20, 2023

For fans of: action-packed thrillers, fugitive-type plots

A husband and wife work together, hired by companies, to try to break into their security systems and buildings. Things go wrong one night and only get worse when the wife finds her husband at home murdered. When the police suspect her for the murder and start to build their case with mounting evidence they’ve found, she goes on the run and tries to figure out who really murdered her husband and why.

Night Will Find You by Julia Heaberlin
Out June 20, 2023

For fans of: crime thrillers with a mystical edge, Southern novels, cold cases, conspiracy theory plots, science

Astrophysicist and daughter of a psychic (and maybe reluctant psychic herself), Vivvy is brought in by a police officer — whose life she saved long ago and who believes she can see things others can’t — to find a girl who went missing long ago in broad daylight. Solving a cold case is hard enough but Vivvy must contend with a conspiracy theory podcaster targeting her and her past.

Have You Seen Her by Catherine McKenzie
Out June 27, 2023

For fans of: psychological thrillers, vivid outdoorsy settings (Yosemite), cold cases, Where Stars Go Dark

Fleeing from her life in NYC, Cassie lands her old job, from over 10 years ago, with Yosemite Search and Rescue. Her life intersects with two other women who are also holding on to secrets and, when a couple goes missing, she fears that past is repeating itself and reminds her all too much of a haunting incident that happened all those years ago.

Lay Your Body Down by Amy Suiter Clarke
Out June 27, 2023

For fans of: psychological suspense, religious cult type stories, books exploring religious trauma

A young woman returns to her rural Minnesota hometown and former oppressive cult-like church that has taken over the town even more after the death of her childhood love — a death she is sure was murder and is determined to find out what really happened even if it means getting tangled in the corruption and lies of the church and confronting her own trauma from her time in the church.

The Night It Ended by Katie Garner
Out June 27, 2023

For fans of: psychological thrillers, fans of Lucy Foley & Ruth Ware, dark academia, gothic boarding school vibes, slow burn murder mysteries, locked door mysteries

Struggling mentally after a traumatic case a year before, a criminal psychiatrist is called to a boarding school for troubled girls to investigate the suspicious death of a student — an investigation that reveals quite a few people with secrets at the school, even the psychiatrist herself, that hold a piece to solving the murder.

Her, Too by Bonnie Kistler
Out July 4, 2023

For fans of: thrillers/suspense with a more legal angle, #metoo reckonings, revenge stories

A high powered attorney, who is (controversially) especially adept at helping men who have been accused of sexual misconduct, is celebrating the recent acquittal of a famous scientist accused of sexually assaulting his female employees.

The victory is short-lived when she becomes his next victim which propels her to unite with several of his other accusers to form a plan of revenge to bring him down.

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates
Out July 11, 2023

For fans of: wintry thrillers, claustrophobic thrillers, locked room murder mysteries

Christa and her boyfriend are on a getaway to the mountains with hopes she will be able to release the ghosts of her past and move forward.

Things go awry when a snowstorm descends leaving them — and the tour group they are with — stranded and the group finds shelter in a remote cabin in the Rocky Mountains.

Their survival becomes even more threatened when one of them ends up dead and people start getting picked off one by one leaving them desperate to find out if there is a killer amongst them or someone circling them on the outside.

The Bones of the Story by Carol Goodman
Out July 11, 2023

For fans of: locked room mysteries, dark academia vibes, campus settings, urban legends

Twenty five years ago a female student at Briarwood College’s campus went missing and a beloved professor who went looking for her dies in his search.

A recent discovery of bones in a cave on campus bring about a gathering to honor and commemorate the victims. As the former students and classmates descend on the campus, a winter storm traps some of the alumni.

As they wait out the storm and get reacquainted, old memories and secrets swirl about the group threatening to break free from the past — especially when the first dead body appears in a familiar manner.

A Likeable Woman by May Cobb
Out July 11, 2023

For fans of: juicy domestic thrillers/suspense books, Rich People Behaving Badly, mean girls (seriously May Cobb thrillers just excel in this area of rich awful Texan women doing awful things)

A woman reluctantly returns to the wealthy Texas town she fled decades before after her mom passed away under mysterious circumstances when her grandmother tells her she has something important to give her — the memoir that her mother was working on chock full of scandal and secrets.

As she is pulled into the secrets her mother recorded from the past, she begins to try to figure out who she can help to figure out what really happened to her mother and quickly realizes that someone in their small town doesn’t want this past dug up.

With A Kiss We Die by L.R. Dorn
Out July 11, 2023

For fans of: crime fiction, true crime podcasts, inventive storytelling structures, thoughtful musings on the true crime phenomena

Two college lovers suspected of a brutal double homicide of a rich husband and wife and enlist a popular podcasting crime journalist to dig into their case and prove they are innocent.

If you enjoy full cast audiobooks, definitely check this one out on audiobook especially because of the format of the storytelling (podcast script with interviews and such) will enhance the book.

The Block Party by Jamie Day
Out July 18, 2023

For fans of: suburban domestic suspense/crime, neighborhood drama, whodunits, suspenseful beach reads

Someone is murdered at the annual Memorial Day block party in an upscale suburban neighborhood. The who and the why unfolds throughout the year leading up to the block party showing rivalries, secrets and more that lead to the crime.

Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent
Out July 18, 2023

For fans of: dark and twisted thriller/suspense books, psychologically heavy books, Irish settings

Trigger warnings abound with this one so definitely check more into that!

Sally Diamond has lived a reclusive life and now her ailing father is now dead. She becomes the center of attention when she makes news for throwing her father out in the trash — her taking comments he said about just “putting him out with the trash when he dies” literally.

It’s not only the media and police who want Sally’s attention but also a cryptic voice from the past, that she doesn’t recall, to her doorstep.

The whole event leads to Sally discovering some shocking things about her early childhood while also trying to navigate stepping into the world for the first time — a world with confusing people & motives, many decisions and plenty of ghosts from her past.

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Out July 18, 2023

For fans of: supernatural thrillers, elements of horror, slow burn mystery, horror movies

Set in Mexico City in the 1990’s, two best friends and film buffs — one in sound editing and one with a rocky career as a soap opera star — get brought into a project to film the unfinished scene of a movie that brought down a once legendary director’s career thanks to a luck spell turned curse brought about by the Nazi occultist who was a producer on the film.

Going along with his claims that finishing the movie will reverse the curse and bring them all luck, they start working on the film only to sense something dark bubbling up afterwards leading them to try to figure the mystery behind this film and the occultist whose curse started everything.

How Can I Help You? by Laura Sims
Out July 18, 2023

For fans of: psychological suspense, books featuring librarians, shorter thrillers/suspense, slow burn character studies, cat-and-mouse games, sociopath thrillers

Two local librarians circle one another as one newer librarian begins to suspect something dark behind the facade of her colleague, after a patron dies in the library, and begins to become fixated on digging into her colleague a bit — a woman who has secrets to keep about her former life as a nurse who left countless bodies in her wake that would prefer to keep them buried at all costs.

Everyone Here is Lying by Shari Lapena
Out July 25, 2023

For fans of: domestic suspense, neighborhood thrillers, thrillers with missing child plots, thrillers with multi-POVS

A neighborhood is thrown into chaos and hidden secrets are poised to erupt when a 9 year old child goes missing hours after her father, who just was dumped by the woman he’d had an affair with, finds her home unexpectedly early from school after getting in trouble again and loses his temper on her — alleging he left the house after the blowup to find her gone when he returned.

I Did It For You by Amy Engel
Out July 25, 2023

For fans of: small town murder mysteries, psychological suspense thrillers, character driven stories, copycat killers

Fourteen years ago Greer’s sister and boyfriend were shot and killed in their car — the killer being caught, arrested and eventually executed. And now that it appears there is a copycat killer in their small Kansas town, all these years later, when another teenage couple is found killed the same way.

Greer has always thought there was more to the story of her sister’s murder so, 12 years later after she left, she returns home — to the small town that bore that brunt after the murders — to dig more into the murders and her suspicions that her sister’s killer didn’t act alone.

Prom Mom by Laura Lippman
Out July 25, 2023

For fans of: psychological suspense, cat-and-mouse stories, character driven suspense, dark relationship drama, books loosely inspired by a true story

As a young & naive sixteen year old, Amber become the subject of tabloids and was dubbed Prom Mom after she wakes up from a blackout to blood, a dead baby and no sign of her prom date (and baby daddy) who abandoned her — all of which culminates in her arrest for allegedly killing her baby and him walking away minimally affected.

After serving time, she stays far far away from her hometown. But when she has to come into town, 22 years later, she finds out Joe (her prom date and father of the baby) is still in town.

She vows to stay away from him but soon they find themselves entangled in one another’s lives.