The 9 Best Thriller Books of All Time

If you’re like me and a little too into reading about murder and psychological twists, here are my recommendations for the best thriller books of all time. You’ll find recommendations for everything from domestic suspense to crime thrillers, so there’s something for every type of reader of this genre.

My Favorite Thriller Books of All Time

My Lovely Wife – Samantha Downing

I keep talking about this book because I loved it. The couple seems so normal, but their marriage is suuuuper f’ed up and murder is their jam. Here’s the Goodreads teaser:

“Our love story is simple. I met a gorgeous woman. We fell in love. We had kids. We moved to the suburbs. We told each other our biggest dreams, and our darkest secrets. And then we got bored.

We look like a normal couple. We’re your neighbors, the parents of your kid’s friend, the acquaintances you keep meaning to get dinner with.

We all have secrets to keeping a marriage alive. Ours just happens to be getting away with murder.”

Amazon | BooksAMillion | Goodreads

★ FOR YOU: Interview with Samantha Downing, author of My Lovely Wife!

The Silent Patient – Alex Michaelides

This one is super hyped on Bookstagram and book blogs, but I think it really lives up to its hype. It’s creepy and shocking and will have you doubting everything.

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.

Alicia’s refusal to talk turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him.

Amazon | BooksAMillion | Goodreads

The Last Time I Lied – Riley Sager

Riley sager excels at twisted psychological stories, and THE LAST TIME I LIED is my favorite of his 5 thrillers. Summer camp + missing girls + lies? It’s the perfect seasonal page turner.

Two Truths and a Lie. The girls played it all the time in their tiny cabin at Camp Nightingale. The games ended when Emma sleepily watched the others sneak out of the cabin in the dead of night. The last she—or anyone—saw of them was Vivian closing the cabin door behind her, hushing Emma with a finger pressed to her lips.

Now a rising star in the New York art scene, Emma and her paintings catch the attention of the owner of Camp Nightingale. When the owner implores her to return the newly reopened camp as a painting instructor, Emma sees an opportunity to try to find out what really happened to her friends.

Yet it’s immediately clear that all is not right at Camp Nightingale. As she digs deeper, Emma finds herself sorting through lies from the past while facing threats from both man and nature in the present. And the closer she gets to the truth, the more she realizes it may come at a deadly price.

Amazon | BooksAMillion | Goodreads

Behind Closed Doors – B.A. Paris

This is one of my most-recommended thrillers. My mom and I were actually at a bookstore in Portland and we realized we both picked up this one because it sounded super chilling. BEHIND CLOSED DOORS is a domestic thriller with an almost overwhelming sense of suspense.

Everyone knows a couple like Jack and Grace. He has looks and wealth, she has charm and elegance. You might not want to like them, but you do.

You’d like to get to know Grace better.

But it’s difficult, because you realize Jack and Grace are never apart.

Some might call this true love. Others might ask why Grace never answers the phone. Or how she can never meet for coffee, even though she doesn’t work. How she can cook such elaborate meals but remain so slim. And why there are bars on one of the bedroom windows.

Sometimes, the perfect marriage is the perfect lie.

Amazon | BooksAMillion | Goodreads

You Are Not Alone – Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

YOU ARE NOT ALONE is the third book by this duo and it’s by far my favorite. I loved how original the story was and how wrapped up I got in the characters.

You probably know someone like Shay Miller.
She wants to find love, but it eludes her.
She wants to be fulfilled, but her job is a dead end.
She wants to belong, but her life is so isolated.

You probably don’t know anyone like the Moore sisters.
They have an unbreakable circle of friends.
They live the most glamorous life.
They always get what they desire.

Shay thinks she wants their life. But what they really want is hers.

Amazon | BooksAMillion | Goodreads

Then She Was Gone – Lisa Jewell

The description of this book stuck with me for a while before I finally read it. Lisa Jewell writes fantastic novels that have human-focused mysteries, and THEN SHE WAS GONE really highlights her talent.

THEN
She was fifteen, her mother’s golden girl. She had her whole life ahead of her. And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone.

NOW
It’s been ten years since Ellie disappeared, but Laurel has never given up hope of finding her daughter.

And then one day a charming and charismatic stranger called Floyd walks into a café and sweeps Laurel off her feet.

Before too long she’s staying the night at this house and being introduced to his nine year old daughter. Poppy is precocious and pretty – and meeting her completely takes Laurel’s breath away.

Because Poppy is the spitting image of Ellie when she was that age. And now all those unanswered questions that have haunted Laurel come flooding back.

What happened to Ellie? Where did she go?

Amazon | BooksAMillion | Goodreads

The Kind Worth Killing – Peter Swanson

Lately, Peter Swanson has been making it onto all of my book recommendation lists. I love how his books are original and easy to read, and focus on normal people being murderers.

On a night flight from London to Boston, Ted Severson meets the stunning and mysterious Lily Kintner. Sharing one too many martinis, the strangers begin to play a game of truth, revealing very intimate details about themselves. Ted talks about his marriage that’s going stale and his wife Miranda, who he’s sure is cheating on him.

But their game turns a little darker when Ted jokes that he could kill Miranda for what she’s done. Lily, without missing a beat, says calmly, “I’d like to help.” After all, some people are the kind worth killing, like a lying, stinking, cheating spouse. . . .

Suddenly these co-conspirators are embroiled in a chilling game of cat-and-mouse, one they both cannot survive . . . with a shrewd and very determined detective on their tail. 

Amazon | BooksAMillion | Goodreads

In the Woods – Tana French

Most thrillers are all about the plot, but Tana French does a great job of telling a spooky story in an artistic way. Her Dublin Murder Squad series (now a TV show!) highlights different detectives in Ireland, and IN THE WOODS is filled with some great language + creepy characters.

As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children. He is gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours.

Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a 12-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox (his partner and closest friend) find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar to the previous unsolved mystery.

Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past.

Amazon | BooksAMillion | Goodreads

We Were Liars – E. Lockhart

Aaand last but not least, I wanted to include a YA thriller on this list. YA thrillers are criminally underrated, and often come with unexpected twists. I remember reading WE WERE LIARS year ago and being shook for days by the plot.

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from New York Times bestselling author, National Book Award finalist, and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

Read it.

And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

Amazon | BooksAMillion | Goodreads

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What do you think are the best thrillers of all time, including your favorite psychological thrillers to read?