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Thrillers That’ll Keep You Up All Night
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items Are you craving jaw-dropping twists, unreliable narrators, and dark secrets revealed page by page? Here’s your curated thriller book playlist, from cold-case mysteries to messed-up domestic dramas that are all designed to keep you wide awake.
Sections
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Secrets, Lies, and Hidden Lives
Small Town Secrets & Suburbia Gone Wrong
Obsessive Minds & Unreliable Narrators
Cold Cases, Creepy Crimes & Dark Discoveries
Secrets, Lies, and Hidden Lives
These thrillers peel back the perfect façades to reveal the darkness underneath. Expect tangled pasts, double lives, and chilling betrayals. Perfect if you love when secrets are just dying to come out.
A twisted domestic thriller told through three unreliable narrators. If you like messy secrets and the kind of suspense that builds like a slow-moving train wreck… this is your next read.
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
The blueprint for every marriage-gone-wrong thriller. Deliciously dark, razor-sharp, and still one of the most shocking plot twists I’ve ever read. If you’ve somehow missed this one, correct that immediately.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
This con artist thriller has a lead you shouldn’t root for — but will anyway. Fast-paced, clever, and perfect if you love layered lies and high-stakes identity games.
First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston
A podcast meets a nightmare. What starts as an interview turns into something far more sinister. Creepy, twisty, and unforgettable — especially if you love morally gray characters.
None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell
This one keeps you flipping pages late into the night, with just enough Freida chaos to keep you guessing.
The Tenant by Freida McFadden
A murder trial with a twist: the wife is the defense attorney… and the husband is the accused. If you're into courtroom drama + messy affairs, this one's calling your name.
The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose
A nurse. A coma patient. A whole web of lies waiting to unravel. This one blends hospital suspense with emotional gut-punches and the title? Perfectly layered.
She's Not Sorry by Mary Kubica
Tension simmers as secrets spill, and everyone has a motive. If you love locked-room vibes with a moody setting, grab this.
The Guest List by Lucy Foley
He’s charming. He’s mysterious. He’s… not who you think. A totally bingeable wild ride from the queen of addictive twists. If you trust any character in this book, that’s on you.
The Boyfriend by Frieda McFadden
A remote island, a creepy game, and a storm rolling in. If you like The Last of Us vibes with a murder twist, this one delivers.
One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware
This one messes with your head in all the right ways, part psychological spiral, part serial killer puzzle.
A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham
A moody building in Paris, a missing brother, and neighbors with secrets. Think slow-burn tension with major atmosphere.
The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
A husband goes missing. Two couples. Two sides to the story and neither one is telling the full truth. This one’s a slow-burn domestic thriller that’ll have you side-eyeing your neighbors and your spouse.
Just the Nicest Couple by Mary Kubica
Small Town Secrets & Suburbia Gone Wrong
Don’t be fooled by the white picket fences because these towns are hiding something sinister. If you’re into eerie atmospheres, nosy neighbors, and skeletons in the literal and figurative closets, this section is for you.
A dark, twisty thriller about disappearances in a seemingly peaceful neighborhood. This one had me side-eyeing my neighbors and second-guessing every alibi.
Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica
A cold case. A nosy journalist. A hometown with too many secrets. If you love true crime meets fiction, this one will pull you in fast.
All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers
A nanny, a creepy smart house, and a murder. Inspired by The Turn of the Screw, this modern gothic thriller had me turning pages with the lights on.
The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware
Missing girls and a town full of silence. Atmospheric, chilling, and rooted in real-life events. One of the most haunting reads on this list.
The Quarry Girls by Jess Lourey
Sharp, smart, and full of secrets. A thriller that examines trauma, image, and ambition. If you loved Gone Girl, don’t skip this one.
Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
Told through interview transcripts and mixed media, this murder mystery unravels a decades-old case on a docuseries. A bingeable format with clever twists.
Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter
What happens when your dead boyfriend walks back into your life five years later? A juicy and emotional domestic suspense that’s perfect for binge-reading.
The Five Year Lie by Sarina Bowen
A genre-blending mystery with lyrical writing and heartbreak. It's part literary fiction, part thriller and completely unforgettable.
All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
Creepy kids. Strange drawings. Paranormal elements. This one balances heart and horror in a way that totally surprised me. Perfect for spooky season.
Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak
A nostalgic summer setting + a haunting disappearance + a neighbor who might know more than he admits. Riley Sager does it again.
Middle of the Night by Riley Sager
Told in reverse, this one messes with your head in the best way. Atmospheric, small town, and slow-burning suspense.
All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda
Set in a mountain town with a history of disappearances, this one thrives on unease and long-buried secrets.
The Last to Vanish by Megan Miranda
Obsessive Minds & Unreliable Narrators
Twisted thoughts, psychological spirals, and narrators you absolutely cannot trust. These stories will have you second-guessing everything and everyone until the final page. Bonus points if you love a “wait, WHAT?” ending.
A woman kills her husband… and never speaks again. The twist? Genuinely jaw-dropping. An essential read for psychological thriller lovers.
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Trapped in a snowstorm at an abandoned house? Check. Unhinged psychiatrist’s diary? Double check. Fast, bingeable, and super fun.
Never Lie by Freida McFadden
A couple shows up at your house and says they used to live there… and won’t leave. Creepy and unrelenting, this one nails the eerie what-if premise.
We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
Mysterious disappearances and a haunted-seeming motel. This one reads like a true crime podcast episode: quick and compulsively readable.
The Vacancy in Room 10 by Seraphina Nova Glass
A group of friends connected by a traumatic event… and someone’s trying to unravel the truth. Atmospheric and layered with guilt.
The Only Survivors by Megan Miranda
A fresh, satirical take on modern dating gone very, very wrong. Think "You" meets "Catfish" with a darker twist.
Swiped by LM Chilton
A gripping psychological debut about twin sisters Cassie and Lenora, whose traumatic past and deep bond get rattled when an unsettling disappearance happens near their remote campground. Memories, mistrust, and eerie atmosphere collide in a story tha...
When She Was Me by Marlee Bush
Meet Thursday, one of three wives, but she’s the only one who doesn’t know about the others. When she finds an appointment reminder that wasn’t meant for her, she’s forced to confront life in a polygamous marriage built on secrets. Reckless, psycholo...
The Wives by Tarryn Fisher
Cold Cases, Creepy Crimes & Dark Discoveries
From decades-old disappearances to unsolved murders, these thrillers dive deep into chilling investigations. Haunting, atmospheric, and full of long-buried truths just waiting to surface.
From the Crime Junkie creator comes this suspenseful story of Nicole, whose sister vanished seven years ago. When another woman with a similar loss approaches her, they dig together into cold cases and into the tangled web of grief, loyalty, and hope...
The Missing Half by Ashley Flowers
A historical mystery based on real-life midwife Martha Ballard. In 1789 Maine, she’s called to examine a body found etched in ice. As she records births, crimes, and secrets in her diary, she clings to justice in a world that refuses to listen to wom...
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
A family torn apart by disappearance revisits its worst wound when another tragedy strikes. Sisters Lydia and Claire, estranged by grief and secrets, must navigate fear and suspicion to uncover the truth. Raw, layered, and emotionally intense.
Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter
A dark thriller unfolding in the Louisiana bayou, with bodies piling up and a serial killer haunting forensic pathologist Wren Muller. Told from both killer and detective perspectives, this story delivers dual thrills and raw intensity.
The Butcher and the Wren by Alaina Urquhart
Dr. Wren Muller is back and this time, facing a serial killer known as the Bayou Butcher, who’s escaped and is hunting her. The tension is physical and psychological as she confronts trauma and mortality in a chilling game of deadly cat-and-mouse.
The Butcher Game by Alaina Urquhart
Ruby Fletcher, recently acquitted of murdering her neighbors, returns to her quiet, idyllic town and chaos erupts. As secrets fester in the oppressive calm, old friendships unravel and paranoia sets in. A beautifully unsettling domestic thriller.
Such a Quiet Place by Megan Miranda
Hazel returns to her hometown after her father’s death only to discover that inheriting his old house unearths long-buried secrets. Amid a gripping drought that lowers lake levels and exposes forgotten evidence, Hazel becomes determined to unravel th...
Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda
When Naomi dies under suspicious circumstances, Maya is drawn into a secret society that thrives on exclusivity, deceit, and power. As she pieces together the truth, she discovers betrayal, institutional corruption, and a tangled web of elite privile...
Society of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown
After a tragic accident derails her Olympic biathlon dreams, Miley takes a summer job at a remote mountain lodge to train. But during a run, she’s abducted by survivalists who believe in a return to a primitive, off-grid lifestyle. Trapped in a desol...
Gray After Dark by Noelle W. Ihli