Favorite Thriller and Mystery Books

Thrillers, mysteries, and suspense-filled books can hold my interest like no other if it's the right book. Here are some of my favorites that have kept me entertained and guessing until the last page!

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• Last week I posted about my Favorite Historical Fiction Books post and you guys went wild for it! Thank you! Please check that out if you haven’t already.

• Today I’m back with some of my favorite thrillers, mysteries, and suspense books.

• By no means is it a comprehensive list - just some that have stuck with me years after I’ve read them.

• I love audiobooks when I’m running or power walking and where I feel the audiobook version was exceptionally good and really added to the book, I mention it.

• I don’t tend to like books that are overly gruesome or highly violent because I need to be able to sleep at night! So you can rest assured that overall these pass my “can I sleep without nightmares” test.

• My definition of exactly what ‘genre’ it is may differ from the publisher’s definition because they really narrow things down, i.e. psychological thriller, domestic thriller, crime thriller, etc. Whereas we all know a thriller when we see it and I don’t get too bogged down into the deeper genre.

• I have a few favorite authors as you’ll see below that after reading one book and enjoying it, I read multiple books from them.

5 Star Thrillers, Mysteries, and Suspense Books

The God of The Woods - By Liz Moore. This book received tons of awards and accolades in 2024 from the New York Times, People Magazine, NPR, and more. Set deep in the Adirondacks at an elite family‑owned summer camp, the novel begins when thirteen‑year‑old Barbara Van Laar disappears in August 1975—and soon uncovers echoes of her brother Bear, who vanished from the same grounds more than a decade earlier. As a determined female investigator pieces together long‑buried truths, the story exposes the toxic legacy of wealth and privilege, the divide between the elite Van Laar family and the working‑class community they rely on, and the emotional toll of secrets that span generations. If you ever went to summer camp growing up, you’ll be taken right back.

I Have Some Questions For You - By Rebecca Makki. A 2023 NYT Bestseller, I adored this book and still think about it 2 years later. I listed to it on audiobook because Julia Whelan, my favorite audiobook narrator of all time, did the narration flawlessly. Film professor and podcaster Bodie Kane returns to her New Hampshire boarding school as an instructor decades after the murder of her roommate, Thalia Keith—convicted at the time by the sports trainer Omar Evans (now in prison). As she collaborates with her students to reexamine the case, Bodie confronts biased assumptions, the limitations of memory, and possibly flawed authority, all while revisiting her own silent complicity in the narrative she once accepted. The novel blends a powerful critique of true crime, memory, and injustice, false imprisonment, and ultimately questioning how we construct - and deconstruct - truths.

First Lie Wins - By Ashley Elston. I loveeed this book and this is another one where audiobook is amazing, largely due to the amazing voice actor, Saskia Maarleveld. Evie Porter appears to be the picture-perfect Southern girlfriend—doting boyfriend, charming house, and a close-knit group of friends—except she doesn't exist: she’s a con artist implanted in the life of her “mark,” Ryan Sumner, by a shadowy operator known only as Mr. Smith. As Evie sinks deeper into her assumed identity, flashbacks reveal her history of high-stakes aliases, and when someone claiming to be her real self appears—and death follows—Evie realizes she may be the one set up. Finished this book in record time because it just kept me going!

The Lying Woods - By Ashley Elston. Owen Foster’s comfortable, privileged life unravels when he is forced to leave his New Orleans boarding school after his father vanishes following revelations of massive embezzlement that devastate their small Louisiana hometown. Back home, Owen faces hostility and threats—yet finds solace working at an old pecan farm with Gus, who knew his father decades earlier. As Owen pieces together his father’s mysterious past through parallel narratives, he confronts painful truths about legacy, betrayal, and what it means to forge a new path after secrets come to light.

Listen For The Lie - By Amy Tintera. Highly recommend this as an audiobook because the book is set it podcast format and the producers nail the production of it. It’s also free on Kindle Unlimited (frequently). When Lucy is found wandering the streets covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, the entire small Texas town turns her into a murderer—though she has no memory of the night in question. Years later, a hit true-crime podcast called Listen for the Lie reopens the case and forces Lucy to return home and confront a web of gossip, suspicion, and her own unreliable memory. In this twisty thriller, Lucy’s sharp wit and resilient voice drive a page-turning narrative.

Don’t Let Him In - Newish release by Lisa Jewell that follows the story of a restauranteur who’s murdered under suspicious circumstances. His widow and adult daughter are shattered. Enter mystery man Nick Radcliffe—a seemingly comforting presence with mysterious ties to the deceased. Meanwhile, in a nearby town, a florist grows uneasy as her husband frequently disappears. As the narrative alternates among their perspectives, unsettling truths about deception, gaslighting, and emotional manipulation emerge. What follows is a tense, psychologically charged book!

None Of This Is True - By Lisa Jewell. Another book that I think about a couple years later! Highly recommend it on audiobook because it has a podcast element. When podcaster Alix Summer strikes up a conversation with Josie Fair—her "birthday twin" born on the same day at the same hospital—they embark on a new podcast that delves into Josie’s startling life story. As Josie’s past unravels—including manipulation, abuse, and family dysfunction—Alix finds her own life and judgment thrown into chaos as the lines between truth and deception begin to blur. Through its layered, multimedia narrative voice, the novel is a gripping psychological thriller that challenges our trust in what we’re told—and who’s telling it.

Watching You - By Lisa Jewell. In the upscale Bristol neighborhood of Melville Heights (London) everyone watches everyone else—and that voyeurism takes a dark turn when a brutal murder occurs in a neighbor’s home. Through multiple perspectives—including Joey, a young woman infatuated with her charismatic neighbor and head teacher Tom Fitzwilliam; Tom’s increasingly unsettling teenage son Freddie; and Jenna, a student who suspects something sinister behind the neighborhood’s polished façade—Jewell unspools a web of secrets, suspicions, and misdirection.

I’ll Be You - By Janelle Brown. Another book that I think about a couple years later! Highly recommend it on audiobook because Julia Whelan narrates it. Sam and Elli were once inseparable twin child actors in Hollywood—but as adults, their lives spiraled in opposite directions: Sam battles addiction while Elli embraces suburban domesticity. When Elli vanishes after entering a mysterious spa, Sam is thrust into her sister’s world of secrets, realizing their bond was more complex—and more dangerous—than she ever imagined. The novel is a psychologically sharp, suspenseful thriller about identity, sisterhood, and what it takes to truly see the person beside you as well as examining cults and how someone can be taken into one.

Pretty Things - By Janelle Brown. I’m a broken record in that I highly recommend it on audiobook because Julia Whelan narrates it. Two brilliant but emotionally wounded women—Nina, a resourceful con artist driven by necessity, and Vanessa, a privileged Instagram influencer grappling with loss—cross paths at Vanessa’s family estate on Lake Tahoe. What begins as a carefully orchestrated scam unravels into a high-stakes, psychologically charged battle of power, identity, and retribution. As their lives collide against the villa’s polished façade, Brown delivers a riveting thriller that cleverly explores privilege, deception, and desperation. I loved the tie-in with social media influencers and that aspect.

Look Closer - By David Ellis. Simon Dobias, a law professor, and his wife Vicky Lanier seem like an unremarkable suburban Chicago couple—until the body of a glamorous socialite is found hanging in a Halloween costume, thrusting their quietly unraveling marriage and hidden agendas into the spotlight. As layers of deceit, long‑held grudges, and calculated schemes come to light, both Simon and Vicky emerge as unreliable narrators in a suspenseful game of betrayal.

A Very Bad Thing - By J.T. Ellis. When bestselling author Columbia Jones collapses during her book tour and is discovered dead the next morning, suspicion erupts—her daughter Darian, a journalist Riley Carrington, and one Detective Sutcliffe dive into a murder investigation that unravels a labyrinth of hidden identities and dark history. As the truth unfolds, long-buried secrets emerge: Columbia’s true identity as Devon Mears, her role in a past murder, and the tangled connections—through adoption, wrongful imprisonment, and betrayal.

It’s One of Us - By J.T. Ellis. Free on Kindle Unlimited (frequently). Olivia Bender is an interior designer devastated by repeated miscarriages when police deliver shocking news—her husband Park’s DNA matches that of a murder suspect. Park insists he has no children, until admitting that years ago he anonymously donated sperm, unwittingly fathering dozens of offspring—any one of whom could be the killer. As the investigation deepens, both Olivia and Park must confront betrayals, hidden pasts, and the fragile foundations of their marriage. This brought up so many questions for me, too, about the ethics of sperm donation and when is enough, enough.

Retreat - By Krysten Ritter (co‑written with Lindsay Jamieson) follows Liz Dawson who is smooth con artist who accepts a job installing art at a luxurious villa on Mexico’s Punta Mita coast—only to be mistaken for its owner, Isabelle Beresford. Seizing the opportunity, Liz adopts Isabelle’s identity and slides into a dangerous world of elite deceit, only to uncover murder, corporate corruption, and layers of shifting personas that blur the line between predator and prey. If you’ve ever traveled to Puerto Vallarta or Punta Mita, Mexico you’ll enjoy the discussion of the various hotels in the area and I can almost picture certain scenes unfolding.

Two Nights In Lisbon - By Chris Pavone. Free on Kindle Unlimited (frequently). If you’ve ever been to Lisbon, Portugal this book is particularly great! Ariel Pryce wakes up in a Lisbon hotel room to find her new husband mysteriously vanished—no note, no message, no explanation. As she navigates hotel security, ineffectual authorities, and a demanding ransom demand, Ariel is forced to confront unsettling gaps in her own knowledge about John and his past The tension crescendos into a tangled web of political deception, past violence, and calculated intrigue—revealing that Ariel’s greatest act might be reclaiming her voice while exposing the monstrous secrets hidden beneath privilege.

Tell me what you love to read! Give me your book recommendations! I am all ears (or eyes!) Here are the 130 books or so I’ve read in the past year and a half.