There’s not much better than curling up with a great book – and you can’t beat a thriller for keeping you reading until the small hours! The best thrillers and crime novels are fast-paced, full of suspense with a satisfying ending.
Whether you’re reading it in print, on your e-reader or listening to the audiobook, we’ve got some great page-turners to add to your to-read list…
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Magpie Lane by Lucy Atkins
It’s been a while since I’ve been as sucked in by a thriller as I was with this one. Not only does the plot keep you guessing, the characters are interesting and well-drawn and there’s a real sense of menace. When the eight-year old daughter of an Oxford University lecturer disappears in the middle of the night, the police turn to her nanny, Dee, for answers.
The Guest List by Lucy Foley
Her debut thriller, The Hunting Party, was a number one bestseller and Foley looks set to have another hit. Power couple Jules and Will have whisked their friends and family away to a remote Irish island for their high-profile wedding. All is going to the bride’s (highly detailed) plan, until a scream during the evening do and a body is found. Foley is brilliant at building up the tension to breaking point and the creepy setting really adds to the atmosphere.
Viking
Three Hours by Rosemary Lupton
I hardly dared to breathe as I raced through this incredible book, set in a school under siege by masked gunmen. Although it’s the very definition of a page-turner, the storyline about a pupil who is a Syrian refugee with PTSD makes it especially moving.
The Recovery Of Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel
This spine-chilling thriller tells the story of Rose who spent 18 years of her life believing she was ill. In reality, her mother was slowly poisoning her. Having spent time in prison, Rose’s mother has been released and Rose agrees she can live with her. Her mother might think she can still manipulate her but Rose has her own agenda – who will win the battle of wills? Read it for the two incredibly complex central characters and the propulsive plot.
The Other Mrs by Mary Kubica
When Sadie and her husband Will return to her home town, they’re hoping for a fresh start. But when one of their neighbours is killed it sends Sadie into a spiral. She becomes haunted by the old house they live in and memories from her past. Nothing is as it seems in this atmospheric, serpentine thriller.
The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
When Libby turns 25, she receives an inheritance: the huge house in Chelsea where her parents were found dead in mysterious circumstances when she was just a baby. She sets out to uncover the truth about what happened. Lisa Jewell is brilliant at creating a menacing atmosphere and this is almost unbearably tense at times, with a knock-the-wind-out-of-you ending.
The Lying Room by Nicci French
This rare standalone thriller from the crime-writing duo is a stonker. Neve, a married mum of two, has been having a fling with her boss. When he texts her to meet him at his flat, she’s shocked to find him dead with a bloody hammer by his side. What she decides to do next sets off a ripple effect of deception and her lies are soon spiralling out of control. This tense and clever page-turner demands to be read in one sitting.
Platform Seven by Louise Doughty
From the author who is best known for Apple Tree Yard comes a thriller unlike anything I’ve read before. Part mystery, part ghost story, it follows Lisa Evans who killed herself at Peterborough train station 18 months ago and is now trapped in purgatory until she can piece together what led to her death. While the plot is gripping, it’s the well-drawn characters that make it something special.
Amazon
Through The Wall by Caroline Corcoran
Harriet and Lexie are neighbours who have never met but from what they’ve heard through the thin wall between their flats, they’re deeply envious of each other’s lives. Harriet is a party girl, while Lexie is settled with boyfriend Tom and desperate to be a mum. Their interest in each other soon spirals into an obsession. Some thrillers peter out, but this atmospheric read really ramps up the pace as it nears its chilling end.
Amazon
The Most Difficult Thing by Charlotte Philby
The author is the granddaughter of double-agent, Kim Philby, which gives this spy thriller set in upper-class London a real ring of authenticity. It opens with Anna walking out on her life with her husband and six-year-old twins, intending never to see them again. Compulsive and chilling.
Sleep by CL Taylor
Anna is trapped in a hotel on a remote Scottish island during a storm with seven guests, when she realises one knows more about her past than they’ve let on. Sleep by CL Taylor is everything we love in a thriller: creepy, tense and pacy enough to get your heart racing.
The Sentence Is Death by Anthony Horowitz
I’m a big fan of Anthony Horowitz’s very clever mysteries. A successful celebrity-divorce lawyer is the victim in The Sentence Is Death, but which of his many enemies did it?
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