The best mystery thrillers about characters with elusive identities

Hannah Hall’s husband Owen disappears suddenly with no explanation.

When investigators arrest Owen’s boss and swarm Hannah’s home, Hannah discovers that the man she’s been married to for a year has been lying about his identity. With Owen’s daughter at her side, Hannah begins investigating Owen’s past to figure why Owen disappeared and who he really is.

I find that even when I’m close to someone, it’s hard to know them completely. Most people have secrets about themselves or their past they might not want to share. That separation is probably healthy but can sometimes lead to moments of feeling alienated from someone you should feel close to.

This book takes that feeling to an extreme as Owen’s wife and daughter both struggle to figure out who Owen is.

Pinky fell into becoming a private investigator, but it’s a perfect fit for her personality.

She’s naturally curious. And skeptical. But now, even though she has an actual assignment she needs to work on, she’s spending her time investigating the guy who moved in next door. But his identity is impossible to pin down.

My favorite part is when Pinky gets caught following her weird neighbor. He introduces himself as Clarence, which is strikingly similar to Pinky’s real name, Clarice. It’s like he’s saying no matter how hard you try, you’ll never find out anything about me, but I know everything about you. I had to keep reading just to try to figure out who this guy was and what he was up to.

A stranger approaches Adam Price and tells him that Adam’s wife faked her most recent pregnancy and miscarriage. But as Adam presses for more answers, the stranger won’t tell him anything else, like how he knows this, why he’s telling him, or maybe more importantly, who he even is.

The stranger’s revelation is unsettling, but what I found the most disturbing was how creepy it is to have someone else know so much about you while refusing to divulge anything about themselves.

Alice Lake finds a man on the beach outside her house, but when she asks the man who he is, he can’t give her any answers because he says he doesn’t know who he is either. He’s lost his memory and his identification. Alice decides to help the unknown man and invites him into her home.

While Alice tries to help the unknown man figure out who he is, she also can’t help but wonder who she’s let into her home. He seems perfectly harmless, but is he? It reminds me of what I’ve felt in relationships. I’ll like someone, but then I’ll get to know them and start to wonder who they really are. I’ll look at a friend and wonder, where did you come from?

When Elena rents a house to Mia, Mia’s past is somewhat unclear, but Elena sees no reason to pry. That is until Mia voices opposition to Elena’s close friends in a very public child custody battle. Elena then begins to investigate Mia’s past to find out who her tenant really is.

While not technically a thriller, Little Fires Everywhere reads like one. The mystery is “who is Mia?” But also slowly becomes, “Who is Elena?” This is often the kind of mystery I’ve experienced in real life. I’ll be close to someone and then they’ll do something I disagree with, and I’m left wondering, is it me that’s changed? Or them? Were they who I thought they were? Was I?