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Books with plot twists you won't see coming
25
items I live for the moment you realise you had it all wrong. These are the ones where I had to put the book down for a second — not because it was sad, but because my brain needed a minute to catch up.
Sections
3
My favourite 5
Top Series
Main List
My favourite 5
My favourite 5: Books with plot twists you won't see coming
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
A woman stops speaking entirely after allegedly murdering her husband, and a psychotherapist becomes obsessed with why.
The kind of ending that makes you want to immediately reread the whole book.
A woman stops speaking entirely after allegedly murdering her husband, and a psychotherapist becomes obsessed with why.
The kind of ending that makes you want to immediately reread the whole book.
The Silent Patient - by Alex Michaelides
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
A wealthy family's golden summers on a private island hide something the narrator can't quite let herself remember.
The twist genuinely recontextualises everything before it.
A wealthy family's golden summers on a private island hide something the narrator can't quite let herself remember.
The twist genuinely recontextualises everything before it.
We Were Liars - by E. Lockhart
★★★★★ (5/5) — Ages 13+
Ten strangers are lured to an isolated island and start dying one by one.
The blueprint for the twist-ending mystery — still shocking almost a century later.
Ten strangers are lured to an isolated island and start dying one by one.
The blueprint for the twist-ending mystery — still shocking almost a century later.
And Then There Were None - by Agatha Christie
★★★★★ (5/5) — Ages 12+
Poirot investigates the murder of a wealthy man in a quiet English village, narrated by the victim's own doctor.
Widely considered one of the most audacious twists in all of crime fiction.
Poirot investigates the murder of a wealthy man in a quiet English village, narrated by the victim's own doctor.
Widely considered one of the most audacious twists in all of crime fiction.
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - by Agatha Christie
★★★★★ (5/5) — Ages 12+
A science teacher wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there, and slowly realises he may be humanity’s last hope.
Funny, clever and full of surprises, and every memory he gets back changes everything.
A science teacher wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there, and slowly realises he may be humanity’s last hope.
Funny, clever and full of surprises, and every memory he gets back changes everything.
Project Hail Mary - by Andy Weir
Top Series
Top Series: Books with plot twists you won't see coming
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 12+
Starting with Ender's Game, four novels follow a brilliant boy trained to save humanity from an alien threat, and the long consequences of what he does.
Home to one of the most famous twists in science fiction.
Starting with Ender's Game, four novels follow a brilliant boy trained to save humanity from an alien threat, and the long consequences of what he does.
Home to one of the most famous twists in science fiction.
The Ender Quartet - by Orson Scott Card
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 14+
Told through hacked files, chats and surveillance reports, three books follow teenagers caught in a corporate war, a deadly virus and a rogue AI, starting with Illuminae.
Inventive, cinematic and full of reveals that send you flipping back through the files.
Told through hacked files, chats and surveillance reports, three books follow teenagers caught in a corporate war, a deadly virus and a rogue AI, starting with Illuminae.
Inventive, cinematic and full of reveals that send you flipping back through the files.
The Illuminae Files by Kaufman & Kristoff
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 14+
Starting with Truly Devious, a true-crime-obsessed student at an elite Vermont academy sets out to solve a 1936 kidnapping, until a new death hits the campus.
Twisty, clever and impossible to stop after book one's cliffhanger.
Starting with Truly Devious, a true-crime-obsessed student at an elite Vermont academy sets out to solve a 1936 kidnapping, until a new death hits the campus.
Twisty, clever and impossible to stop after book one's cliffhanger.
The Truly Devious series - by Maureen Johnson
Main List
Main List: Books with plot twists you won't see coming
★★★★ (4/5) — Ages 17+
From the outside, a marriage looks perfect — from the inside, it's a nightmare with no way out.
Tense and claustrophobic, building to a genuinely dark reveal.
From the outside, a marriage looks perfect — from the inside, it's a nightmare with no way out.
Tense and claustrophobic, building to a genuinely dark reveal.
Behind Closed Doors - by B.A. Paris
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
A US marshal investigating a disappearance at a remote psychiatric facility starts to doubt his own sanity.
Builds to one of the most re-read-the-whole-book twists in modern thriller writing.
A US marshal investigating a disappearance at a remote psychiatric facility starts to doubt his own sanity.
Builds to one of the most re-read-the-whole-book twists in modern thriller writing.
Shutter Island - by Dennis Lehane
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 17+
An insomniac office worker forms an underground fighting club with a charismatic stranger, and things spiral out of control.
The twist changed how people talk about unreliable narrators entirely.
An insomniac office worker forms an underground fighting club with a charismatic stranger, and things spiral out of control.
The twist changed how people talk about unreliable narrators entirely.
Fight Club - by Chuck Palahniuk
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 14+
A boy survives a shipwreck on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger — or does he?
The final chapter recontextualises everything that came before it.
A boy survives a shipwreck on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger — or does he?
The final chapter recontextualises everything that came before it.
Life of Pi - by Yann Martel
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 14+
A student reinvestigates a five-year-old murder case for a school project and finds the official story doesn't add up.
A genuinely satisfying reveal that recontextualises the whole investigation.
A student reinvestigates a five-year-old murder case for a school project and finds the official story doesn't add up.
A genuinely satisfying reveal that recontextualises the whole investigation.
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder - by Holly Jackson
★★★★ (4/5) — Ages 17+
A detective investigates a child's murder in the same woods where he mysteriously survived an attack as a boy.
Moody and literary, with an ending that deliberately subverts what you expect from the genre.
A detective investigates a child's murder in the same woods where he mysteriously survived an attack as a boy.
Moody and literary, with an ending that deliberately subverts what you expect from the genre.
In the Woods - by Tana French
★★★★ (4/5) — Ages 17+
A mother becomes convinced something is deeply wrong with her daughter, but no one believes her.
Unsettling and ambiguous almost to the very last page.
A mother becomes convinced something is deeply wrong with her daughter, but no one believes her.
Unsettling and ambiguous almost to the very last page.
The Push - by Ashley Audrain
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 14+
A symbologist is pulled into a murder investigation that uncovers a centuries-old secret.
Relentless, chapter-ending twists — built for exactly this kind of list.
A symbologist is pulled into a murder investigation that uncovers a centuries-old secret.
Relentless, chapter-ending twists — built for exactly this kind of list.
The Da Vinci Code - by Dan Brown
★★★★ (4/5) — Ages 16+
Six struggling authors are invited to a dead bestselling novelist’s private Scottish island and given seventy-two hours to write the ending of his unfinished book, and then the deaths begin.
A high-concept twisty thriller built specifically around its ending.
Six struggling authors are invited to a dead bestselling novelist’s private Scottish island and given seventy-two hours to write the ending of his unfinished book, and then the deaths begin.
A high-concept twisty thriller built specifically around its ending.
The Ending Writes Itself - by Evelyn Clarke
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 14+
Two rival Victorian stage magicians wage a lifelong war over a single impossible trick, and their descendants piece the truth together from the men’s diaries.
Every page is part of the trick, and the final reveal is staggering.
Two rival Victorian stage magicians wage a lifelong war over a single impossible trick, and their descendants piece the truth together from the men’s diaries.
Every page is part of the trick, and the final reveal is staggering.
The Prestige - by Christopher Priest
★★★★ (4/5) — Ages 15+
A crime writer narrates his family’s snowed-in reunion at a ski resort, where a body turns up and every one of his relatives has killed someone before.
A playful, fair-play whodunit that promises to show you every clue, and still fools you.
A crime writer narrates his family’s snowed-in reunion at a ski resort, where a body turns up and every one of his relatives has killed someone before.
A playful, fair-play whodunit that promises to show you every clue, and still fools you.
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone - Benjamin Stevenson
★★★★★ (5/5) — Ages 12+
A wealthy American is found stabbed in his compartment on a snowbound luxury train, and Hercule Poirot has twelve suspects and no way off.
Still one of the most audacious solutions ever written.
A wealthy American is found stabbed in his compartment on a snowbound luxury train, and Hercule Poirot has twelve suspects and no way off.
Still one of the most audacious solutions ever written.
Murder on the Orient Express - by Agatha Christie
★★★★ (4/5) — Ages 15+
In 1991, a grieving film student accepts a late-night ride home from a stranger, and starts to suspect he's the serial killer terrorising her campus.
Tense, twisty and cinematic, with reversals right up to the final scene.
In 1991, a grieving film student accepts a late-night ride home from a stranger, and starts to suspect he's the serial killer terrorising her campus.
Tense, twisty and cinematic, with reversals right up to the final scene.
Survive the Night - by Riley Sager
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 15+
A New York detective investigating a strange epidemic of false memories crosses paths with the scientist whose invention could rewrite reality itself.
A mind-bending sci-fi thriller where nothing stays what it seems for long.
A New York detective investigating a strange epidemic of false memories crosses paths with the scientist whose invention could rewrite reality itself.
A mind-bending sci-fi thriller where nothing stays what it seems for long.
Recursion - by Blake Crouch
★★★★ (4/5) — Ages 16+
A broke young woman takes a well-paid job apartment-sitting in one of Manhattan's most famous buildings, and the strict rules start to make sense when other sitters vanish.
Creepy, addictive and building to a jaw-dropping final act.
A broke young woman takes a well-paid job apartment-sitting in one of Manhattan's most famous buildings, and the strict rules start to make sense when other sitters vanish.
Creepy, addictive and building to a jaw-dropping final act.
Lock Every Door - by Riley Sager
★★★★ (4/5) — Ages 16+
An agoraphobic psychologist who watches her neighbours from her Manhattan home is certain she saw something terrible across the street, but nobody believes her.
A twisty homage to Hitchcock where even the narrator can't be trusted.
An agoraphobic psychologist who watches her neighbours from her Manhattan home is certain she saw something terrible across the street, but nobody believes her.
A twisty homage to Hitchcock where even the narrator can't be trusted.
The Woman in the Window - by A.J. Finn
★★★★ (4/5) — Ages 13+
When her husband vanishes, leaving only a note that says "Protect her", a woman and her hostile teenage stepdaughter dig into who he really was.
A gripping, emotional mystery where every answer reveals a bigger secret.
When her husband vanishes, leaving only a note that says "Protect her", a woman and her hostile teenage stepdaughter dig into who he really was.
A gripping, emotional mystery where every answer reveals a bigger secret.
The Last Thing He Told Me - by Laura Dave