Dangerous secrets always come to light. Whether they’re buried deep in our own mind, the result of a crime, or part of horrors best left unseen, we have two options: to face them or fear them.
Thrillers are the perfect way to explore what’s hiding in the darkest parts of ourselves and society, which is why I’m here to recommend the best thriller books that are sure to send shivers down your spine. So then, which secret will you uncover first?
Included is a chicken scale to detail just how scary these books were for most readers. As always, this scale is subjective, so some books may be more or less scary than listed! Please remember to check content warnings and don’t go in blind before picking up your next read.
Looking For Thriller Books With Plot Twists So Good You Won’t Be Able To Put Them Down? Here Are Some Of The Best Modern Page Turners…
The Push by Ashley Audrain
Standalone
Published: January 2021
Chicken Scale: 2
CW (may contain spoilers):
Grief, Child Abuse, Child Death, Infidelity, Self-Harm, Suicide, Death of Parent, Miscarriage, Abortion (Note: This list doesn't include all content warnings. Please do your own research before reading this book.)
Blythe Connor is going to be the warm and comforting mom she never had. She’s excited to be there for her daughter, but when Violet is born, something just doesn’t seem right.
Her husband is convinced it’s all in Blythe’s head, and maybe he’s right because her connection with her son is everything she thought motherhood would be.
The fallout of one life-changing instant has Blythe rethinking everything she thought she knew. What do you do when it looks like everything in your head might have been true?
Sign me up for chick lit in a psychological thriller! Ashley Audrain’s debut is not only a dark look into a mother’s mind, but also a gorgeous deep dive into what society expects from mothers, nature versus nurture, and the impact of silencing women’s voices.
Was I spooked while reading this? Absolutely, but it’s totally a book I won’t be forgetting soon.
The Death of Us by Abigail Dean
Standalone
Published: April 2025
Chicken Scale: 2
CW (may contain spoilers):
Sexual Assault, Rape, Murder, Violence, Suicide Attempt, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Cancer, Gore (Note: This list doesn't include all content warnings. Please do your own research before reading this book.)
Edward and Isabel were that couple. A partnership thought to be unshakeable…that is, until the unthinkable happens one summer night. A serial killer didn’t just invade their home; he invaded their minds. Unable to cope with everything that happened that night, their perfect relationship implodes.
Years later, and now he’s on trial. Isabel is ready for closure after years spent following the killer’s increasingly violent criminal career and speaking to other survivors. Edward isn’t. He’s moved on, remarried, and lives a life that looks nothing like what he had with Isabel. The one thing he’s sure of is that he doesn’t need to dredge it all back up, but what would it feel like to be officially free? What would change?
This is the perfect book to start with if you’re new to the thriller genre, with Abigail Dean incorporating layers of suspense throughout the story.
Expect beautiful tension, the kind necessary for thrillers, but also a plot that’s part love story and part case study. Add in the changes in perspectives between the main characters and glimpses into how they’re dealing with the trauma, and you’ll understand why so many readers are hooked on this genre once you finish this novel.
The Last Flight by Julie Clark
Standalone
Published: April 2025
Chicken Scale: 2
CW (may contain spoilers):
Domestic Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Drug Use, Drug Abuse, Physical Abuse, Death, Death of Parent, Murder, Addiction (Note: This list doesn't include all content warnings. Please do your own research before reading this book.)
Keeping up appearances is key when you’re the wife of the scion of a political dynasty. That’s why to the world it seems like Claire Cook is living the dream life, even though every day behind closed doors is straight out of a nightmare. Her perfect husband is the perfect menace.
Eva has her own reasons as to why she’s looking to escape, and meeting Claire at the airport bar just gave her a better way out. Switching tickets means they both get the head start to a new life they need, but no one expected the flight to Puerto Rico to go down.
With news of her death about to go viral, instead of a head start, Claire realizes she’s getting a new life as Eva. Too bad it comes with everything Eva had been trying to hide.
Skeletons in the closet have nothing on Julie Clark. The heart-breaking clarity and suspense she builds into this psychological thriller novel hit hard, proving that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
Book #1 in the Lo Blacklock series
Published: June 2016
Chicken Scale: 2
CW (may contain spoilers):
Confinement, Panic Attacks/Disorder, Murder, Cancer, Alcohol, Violence, Sexual Assault, Vomit, Suicide (Note: This list doesn't include all content warnings. Please do your own research before reading this book.)
Should you trust what you’ve heard in the dark?
Lo Blacklock started her week with a dream assignment for her travel magazine: a week-long luxury cruise.
At first, everything truly is as beautiful as it seems, but a few nights in, and the weather isn’t the only thing that’s changed.
Following a restless night, she could have sworn she heard someone being thrown overboard... but was it just a nightmare? It seems all guests are as happy and hale as a week on frigid waters allows... but there is something strange about the woman in cabin 10.
Ruth Ware has earned her title as the modern-day Agatha Christie. Her thriller books are suspenseful and compulsively readable in a very similar way. Readers who love the plots of Christie’s murder mysteries are sure to find more stories to love among Ware’s works.
If you love movies, there’s a book-to-screen adaptation of The Woman in Cabin 10 under the same name waiting for you on Netflix once you finish reading the book.
We Are Watching by Alison Gaylin
Standalone
Published: January 2025
Chicken Scale: 3
CW (may contain spoilers):
Blood, Stalking, Murder, Death, Death of Parent, Grief, Car Accident, Pandemic/Epidemic, Chronic Illness (Note: This list doesn't include all content warnings. Please do your own research before reading this book.)
Meg and Justin were driving their daughter to college when it happened. At first, nothing seemed unusual about the car coming up beside them; then the driver started behaving erratically and eventually forced Meg off the road.
Four months after the accident, Meg is now a single mother doing her best to get her life back in order, but it’s starting to look like the car accident that killed her husband wasn’t an accident. Her bookstore has been receiving weird messages, she’s being threatened, and strangers keep vandalizing her store.
These strangers are convinced a book called The Prophecy has predicted a new plague and heralds the apocalypse. Now they want revenge against the author: Meg Russo. When conspiracy theories are the basis of every lie that puts her family under attack, is it even possible for Meg to save her family?
The moon-landing hoax, dinosaurs aren’t real, and Avril Lavigne is actually an impostor: let’s be real, who hasn’t heard a conspiracy theory in this day and age? Of course, the theories here are easier to share than many of the more sinister theories you may find when you go looking.
Alison Gaylin’s exploration of the impact social media and connectivity have on our collective psyche, and of how conspiracy theories are shared, is spine-tingling in a spookily plausible way.
Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle
Standalone
Published: July 2024
Chicken Scale: 4
CW (may contain spoilers):
Gore, Homophobia, Violence, Acephobia/Arophobia, Stalking, Child Abuse, Vomit, Car Accident, Drug Use (Note: This list doesn't include all content warnings. Please do your own research before reading this book.)
It’s hard to succeed in a world that wants you dead. Misha, a jaded scriptwriter, has been working in Hollywood for years. It’s finally his time to shine when he’s nominated for his first Oscar, but maybe making it isn’t everything it seemed.
His producers are pressuring him to kill the gay character in the upcoming season finale. Now, he must confront his past and his present before it’s too late to have a future.
Chuck Tingle is the king of horror thrillers. His combination of body horror, discourse on queer erasure, and psychological terror with a dash of science fiction is sure to hold you in suspense, invade your nightmares, and deliver a necessary and poignant social commentary all in under 300 pages.
A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay
Standalone
Published: June 2015
Chicken Scale: 4
CW (may contain spoilers):
Mental Illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis, Death, Death of Parent, Vomit, Self-Harm, Excrement, Sexual Content, Murder, Religion/Religious Imagery (Note: This list doesn't include all content warnings. Please do your own research before reading this book.)
The Barretts were an average suburban family until Marjorie started showing signs of schizophrenia at 14. When medical intervention couldn’t stop the progression, Marjorie began to sink further into her head, and with that, the Barretts’ home sank further into despair and horror. Feeling hopeless, they decided to turn to a Catholic priest for help.
Father Wemberly doesn’t think Marjorie is schizophrenic; he thinks she’s possessed. After recommending an exorcism, he also recommends that the family appear on a reality television show. With John Barrett out of work and medical bills due, he could not expect everything that would follow after accepting the offer.
Fifteen years later, a bestselling author interviews Merry, Marjorie’s younger sister, to learn the truth behind the tragedy.
Paul Tremblay is amazing at twisting reality, science, religion, and evil into a family experience, and later, tragedy that’s not only been sensationalized but exploited. Definitely check the content warnings for this psychological horror thriller, as Stephen King himself said it scared him!
Part of the reason so many thrillers work so well is the creeping sense of unease that comes from how plausible the events in these books are and how close to home the commentary hits. However, whether it’s catharsis or crucial social commentary, thrillers of all kinds are essential mirrors into humanity—and definitely some of the spookiest.
No matter which of these books you choose to read, I hope it keeps you hooked and makes you want to finish it in one sitting. Happy reading!
Other Articles You'll Enjoy
The Nest App
⚪️ The app is 100% free and all are welcome!
⚪️ Created for the bookish community and powered by OwlCrate!
⚪️ We have exclusive live events always happening in The Nest, so download the app and join the community today!
