Best Thriller Books
Thriller books are books that are difficult to put down once we start reading them. Be it any kind of thriller book, like a psychological story, a mystery with lots of twists or a cat-and-mouse kind of chase plot, but it manages to keep the reader engaged till the end. And the best part is: The plot takes an unexpected twist, the moment you think you have got the answers.
In this blog, we have compiled a list of some of the best thriller books of all time, from different styles and periods, like crime, suspense, psychological thrillers and even murder mysteries.
A List of the Best Thriller Books
Dive into a world of suspense, crime, and psychological drama with this list of the best thriller books. These must-read titles are perfect for every thriller fan.
And Then There Were None (by Agatha Christie, 1939)
Written by Agatha Christie in 1939, it is one of the best-selling thriller books of all time. It’s a chilling murder mystery where the reader may feel that the story contains so many cliches. The story begins with ten strangers being called to a mansion on Soldier Island by the owners. All ten reach the location, but the owners are nowhere to be seen. The guests are murdered one by one, and since the host is not present, they start suspecting each other. The actual murderer is revealed only at the end, after the readers have experienced a roller coaster ride through pages. The ten figurines and the chilling rhyme add to the plot. How the author manages to showcase guilt, tension, justice and confession is remarkable.
The Day of the Jackal (by Frederick Forsyth,1971)
Simply a masterclass on thriller writing, The Day of the Jackal grips you tightly, and one can’t simply leave without reading till the end. The story moves forward with the hiring of an unnamed assassin, Jackal, to kill French President Charles de Gaulle in the 1960’s. The author has looked into all the intricate details for the making of Jackal, making it a precise piece of writing. The way Jackal’s journey unfolds, the reader feels a magnetic force for the book and wishes the antagonist to win. The good thing is that the author makes sure to remind us that Jackal can’t be our hero and has to be killed. He, being a journalist, has justified his writing by taking a step-by-step look at the logistics of the assassination. A chilly tale, blending fact and fiction, makes it a must-read.
Tell Me Your Dreams (Sydney Sheldon, 1998)
A psychological thriller written by Sidney Sheldon in 1998 focuses on split personality disorder. A girl named Ashley Patterson carries three different personalities within herself, whom she considers her co-workers. One is Tony Prescott, who has a vibrant personality, and Alette Peters has a shy one. The plot moves forward with the illusional fears that Ashley feels as real, like being stalked by someone. As the story unfolds, murders take place, and the investigation reveals the gruesome past she had as a child— sexually abused by her father. No doubt, her hatred for men started from there.
Thereafter, the courtroom drama follows, exposing everything. The intensity of the novel, character developments, and shocking twists keep the readers engaged. It also has a humane angle by showing the trauma a girl child faces that can change the entire course of her life. One keeps guessing till the end and thus makes it worth reading.
The Da Vinci Code (by Robert Langdon, 2003)
The plot in this thriller starts with the murder of the curator of The Louvre (the world’s largest art museum in Paris). A coded message is left by the victim, which the police are unable to decipher. They call a symbology expert from Harvard who starts the investigation, leading to a series of clues, hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci, across Paris and London. It is revealed that the curator was guarding a historical secret that they must find out, or else it will be lost forever. This is a gripping suspense novel, based on alternative history and is unpredictable till the end.
The Devotion of Suspect X (by Keigo Higashino, 2005)
This one is a very fast-paced mystery novel written by Japanese author Keigo Higashino in the year 2005, having won many awards in Japan. The story highlights the burden of emotional guilt. This story focuses on the admiration of a middle-aged high school Maths teacher, Ishigami, for his new neighbour, Yasuka, who has suffered abuse in her marriage and is now divorced. The ex-husband still keeps bothering her, and accidentally, one day, she kills him. Ishigami wants to help Yasuko, so he plots a brilliant mathematical quiz to escape and confuse the police with the timelines. Clueless police officers take the help of another genius, the brilliant physicist, Munabu Yukawa. Ishigami has planned for each and every probable scenario as part of the murder plan so meticulously that the story progresses like a nail-biting cat-and-mouse game. Definitely to know what exactly had happened, readers have to finish the book without putting it down. The enthralling ending will make the readers even more appreciative of the plot of this novel. Go and grab one!
The Girl on the Train (by Paula Hawkins, 2015)
Paula Hawkins debuts as an author with The Girl on the Train, a psychological thriller set in modern-day London. The book received much acclaim not only for being the best seller, but it was later adapted into a movie. Though the story is a thriller, it also incorporates the vulnerability of relations. The protagonist, Rachel, despite being unemployed, makes her daily commute on a suburban train to make others feel that she is employed. Every day her train passes her old home, where now her ex-husband lives with his new wife and daughter. She also watches a couple whom she calls Jason and Jess, living in the vicinity of her old house. The author beautifully captures her trauma of being alone and longing for love. The story grips when Rachel comes to know about the disappearance of Jess, and Jason is named as the prime suspect. Rachel, a compulsive drunkard now and suffers from blackouts, can’t help herself and gets herself personally involved in the case. This is a thrilling murder mystery where betrayal and deceit are central to the plot. The story is so deeply layered that one has to finish it to know it. Good, that Paula Hawkins has handled the sensitive issues of gaslighting and domestic trauma in her novel, which otherwise are taken for granted.
Dark Matter (by Blake Crouch, 2016)
Blake Crouch is known for writing thrillers based on science fiction. His stories often revolve around sci-fi themes such as parallel universes, alternate identities, and quantum physics. This book is no different. The story is about Jason Dessen, a physics professor, living a normal life with his wife and son. He is rendered unconscious with an injection by masked men and abducted. When he wakes up, he finds himself in an alternate reality where he is a celebrated scientist who has invented something extraordinary. How does he find his way back to his original life? Go ahead and enjoy reading this science fiction thriller.
No Exit (by Taylor Adams, 2017)
Darby Thorne, a student, is travelling in her car to visit her terminally ill mother. On the way, she gets stuck in a snowstorm and realises that it will not be safe to travel in the storm. She stops over at a rest shop where she encounters four other people, all of them also possibly stuck due to the storm. She goes out in search of a phone signal and notices Jay, a little girl locked inside a van in the parking lot. She must rescue the girl, but doesn’t know who the van belongs to. All phone lines and cell phone networks are down due to the storm, and connection to the outer world is cut off. In such a situation, she doesn’t have much time to save Jay. This book is a fast, suspenseful story with a lot of twists, with tension building up as the story advances.
The Silent Patient (by Alex Michaelides, 2019)
The novel explores the deep psychological trauma one faces after being let down by someone they would die for. The murder of Gabriel, a fashion photographer, by his wife, Alicia, a painter, is the plot around which the story revolves. Alicia’s going into total silence after killing keeps the readers glued. She is taken away from all the media attention and spotlight to be hidden in a forensic unit. Then, Theo Faber, a criminal psychotherapist who has been waiting to meet her, enters the scene. It is revealed that Theo himself is having a troubled marriage and is now trying to focus on work to handle his personal problems. This novel is a fast-paced psychological thriller with a number of shocking twists to add to the reading experience. The novel takes the important topic of love and betrayal that can create havoc in the lives of people. Do we need to be cautious in love too…read and think!!
The Tenant (by Freida McFadden, 2025)
This story revolves around a man called Blake Porter who has just lost his high-paying job and is now unable to meet the expenses, especially the home loan instalment. To make ends meet, he and his wife, Krista, rent out a room to a girl, Whitney, who is using a stolen identity. Soon after she enters into the house, bizarre events start taking place in their life. It was a kind of subtle sabotage. Happenings like strange noises at night, rotten apples, toothpaste and shampoo getting emptied are a few of them. Freida McFadden has cleverly written the chapters very short so that the reader will try to finish the book in one go. This book is for anyone who likes to read a thriller with unpredictable twists.
Also, Check – Best Murder Mystery Books
Conclusion
If you are craving for suspense and unexpected twists and turns in the plot, then it is time to pick up a thriller book and go for a read. The beauty of thriller books is that it is difficult to put them down in between, and we are always thinking of finishing just one more chapter. What makes these books interesting is that they are not just chilling suspense stories but also insights into human psychology, fear and survival. They keep the readers engaged and make them feel a part of the investigation. So, if the lingering sense of unease excites you, then go for a thriller book. Books never disappoint.
