After reading so much Lucinda Berry and Cult Fiction, I was really in the mood to read more thrillers but wanted to branch out to other authors. Definitely safe to say that I found some good ones:

Confessions by Kanae Minato
THIS. WAS. AMAZING. Wow. It had so many great aspects to a good thriller – all the details were relevant and came back into play at some point in the book. It was also so uniquely told through different perspectives, and the story unraveled in a way I couldn’t put down. It’s lowkey better to go in with as little info as possible so that you can be smacked in the face with how striking this plot is. Couldn’t recommend this more!

Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino
It’s super unnerving to be in the mind of the “bad guy” the whole time, and this book had me confused who I was rooting for! The main character is super obsessed with finding the perfect house to buy, and she will go to almost any length to get the best one. You can tell she’s the villain from the beginning, but I still wasn’t sure entirely of what she was capable of until the end. I had a great time reading this one. Really enjoyed it!

We Used To Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
This was soooo creepy! I will say, I can tell just from the plot that a man wrote this. No shade, but as a woman – I am not letting strangers into my home. But that’s what this queer couple did for a family that used to live in the house, and strange chaos ensues. I was really into the way the story warps, the twists and turns, and the documents that were included in-between the chapters. Even when I thought I knew where the story was going, it took a super different twist. This is the kind of book that has you on Reddit afterwards, dissecting the story intensely alongside everyone else.

Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister
This was such a unique thriller! The main character is stuck in a time warp, where she is experiencing her life backwards in an attempt to figure out the missing secrets of her life that lead to her son committing a crime. Because of the way the book was written, it was so difficult to figure out the plot twists, which was really cool! It took a minute for the story to really take off, but once it did, it was a hard book to put down. Really really really liked this one!

The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead
Easily one of the best thrillers that I’ve read so far this year! I was NOT expecting this book to go from murder investigation to full on sex cult but the ride was so much fun. It was also easy to read, with a lot of it in podcast-transcription format, and the writing was still done very well. It was also a bit longer than most of the other thrillers that I’ve read, but I didn’t even notice because of how great the ride was. Immediately put on my top recommendations list – I had so much fun reading this and I can’t wait to read more of Ashley Winstead.

None Of This Is True by Lisa Jewell
Holy. Fuck. Honestly, this was even better than I was expecting! I was on the edge of my seat the whole book waiting to see what happened next and what was revealed, and I loved the incorporation of the fake Netflix documentary following the storyline. It unfolds in a way that feels well-paced, not revealing too much too soon so that I was engaged from literal start to finish. I also appreciated that the story arc wasn’t predictable, with highs and lows that were unexpected. Really loved this one, fully recommend!! 

Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay
I loved the multi-format style of this book that toggled between “then” and “now” and the script in a way that let the story unfold linear to the story, even if not chronologically. It kept you on the edge of your seat, waiting to see both how the movie and the story ends. Some things were a little predictable, but the meta-complexities of when film becomes life was really interesting to me. I mean, Cleo did say that she wasn’t acting, right? Can’t say anything else without spoilers, but this was really unique and I was into it.

Home Is Where The Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose
This felt like a classic thriller that had all the correct components to make for a mysterious journey into uncovering the truth. The story follows three siblings who are going through their mother’s estate after her death and discover new information regarding their father’s disappearance years ago. The multi-person perspective helps keep the story moving quickly, which made the book feel fast for me. I also absolutely loved the packaging of the book to look like a VHS tape, which connects to the story of course. Definitely a good read if you’re looking for a typical thriller that comes with an ending with answers.

You Shouldn’t Have Come Here by Jeneva Rose
I’ve liked other books by Jeneva Rose, but this one wasn’t my favorite. It felt like a romantic comedy for most of the book with just a couple eerie moments, and it didn’t really become a thriller until the last 50 pages or so. Unfortunately, I also found some of the plot to be unrealistic and the big twist at the end wasn’t that big of a shock to me. It wasn’t a bad read, but I think that others would like this more than me.

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
I had this on my TBR shelf for literal years and then I ended up reading the whole thing in under three days. It was a good, classic sort of thriller – with a few problematic characters who are supposed to be seen as both innocent and guilty at the same time. Even with the done-before themes, I was still pretty captivated by all the plot twists. I have a couple of critiques about the way it ended, but overall I ended up liking this read a lot. The movie was decent, pretty true to the book. I came from Sharp Objects and I’ll be headed next to her most famous, Gone Girl.

Blood Oranges by J.M. Cannon
This was so much more fucked up than I was expecting it to be! I will say that the beginning felt a little long with some obvious connections that could have been revealed differently, but by the end of the book I was reading wide eyed and mouth open wide. I always love a thriller that ties in a cult somehow, and the mega-church in this was definitely giving cult. There was many ending items that I didn’t see coming, so overall a good read for me.

The Family Across The Street by Nicole Trope
At first, this seemed like a book that held you in suspense the whole time of who was going to uncover the hostage situation first and swoop in to save the day, and I wasn’t quite sure I was totally bought in. But I stuck around for the ride and the twist at the end was totally worth it!! I was so confused at first but really appreciated the way that things were misdirected as to not give away the big twist. It was super short and a quick read so I actually would recommend this one, especially if you’re looking for a quick thriller to get you back into reading.

Brat by Gabriel Smith
I heard that this book played a part in why Charli XCX named her album “brat”, which is what led me to read this in the first place. I liked it a lot more than I was expecting it to when I first started! It’s sort of a horror book, that starts off slow but then goes by in a blur. The main character is cleaning out is late father’s house, experiencing alternate realities at once, and quickly becomes unreliable. I wish we got a little more answers in the end, but this was a really fun and spooky read that felt very real and was highly entertaining.

I feel like I’m going to be in an era with thrillers for a while, so more to come for sure.

Thanks for reading!! (Last Updated: Dec 2025)