The most recommended new psychological thriller books

Who picked these books? Meet our 132 experts.

132 authors created a book list connected to new psychological thriller, and here are their favorite new psychological thriller books.
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What type of new psychological thriller book?

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Book cover of The Prediction

Steph Nelson Author Of The Final Scene: A Thriller

From my list on unputdownable horror thrillers with badass female protagonists.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love feeling scared in a controlled situation—like on my couch with a soft blanket and a book—so horror thrillers are my jam. I absolutely love it when a female protagonist is so smart and courageous that I genuinely don’t know what I would do differently. This gives me someone to truly root for. Over time, I’ve discovered all the ways scary books help me manage my anxiety. Reading about all my worst fears but knowing I can set the book down if I need to is empowering. (Spoiler alert: I never set the book down.)

Steph's book list on unputdownable horror thrillers with badass female protagonists

Steph Nelson Why did Steph love this book?

I instantly fell in love with this book's MC, Rowena. She’s just so stinking relatable, and when her world starts to spiral into a dark hell, a la Black Mirror, she has to decide who she is going to believe in order to save herself and her baby girl.

The whole time I read this one, I wondered what I would do. Who would I believe if I were her? I love that feeling of being suspended in dread and the unknown as I read a thriller. This one delivered that for me.

By Faith Gardner,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Prediction as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"The best thriller of the year! This book absolutely left me aghast." —Netgalley reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A new marriage. A perfect home. A machine that says it's all a lie.

Rowena Snyder has the life she's always wanted. So why is everything falling apart?

Moving to the suburbs was supposed to be easy. Instead, Rowena struggles with panic attacks, a husband who wants her on medication, and the isolation of new motherhood. Then a suspicious house fire at her baby’s birthday party threatens to send her over the edge.

When Rowena's husband brings home a product in beta testing at his…


Book cover of The Murder List

Jacqueline Grima Author Of The Weekend Alone

From my list on psychological thrillers that will have you gripped.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been an avid psychological suspense reader since I was at school, but have only recently begun to write in the genre myself. I’m not sure why it took me so long. If it was my most favourite genre to read, then why not write in it? When I came up with the idea for The Weekend Alone, I knew I had to write it, and I finally discovered what other suspense authors already knew: that playing with a reader’s perception can be the most amazing fun! My next psychological suspense book will be out with HQ Digital in summer 2023. Here’s hoping my own thrillers will keep readers gripped long past lights out!

Jacqueline's book list on psychological thrillers that will have you gripped

Jacqueline Grima Why did Jacqueline love this book?

Soooo many twists in this one, my head was spinning! True crime writer Mary is sent a diary as a Christmas gift. When she opens it, she is stunned to discover the diary contains details of upcoming murders and their victims, including potentially herself. Is all as it seems? Not when you’re reading Jackie Kabler! Twist after twist will have you turning the pages long after midnight!

By Jackie Kabler,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Murder List as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The brand new psychological thriller from the author of Am I Guilty, The Perfect Couple and The Happy Family

When Mary receives a blank diary as a present, she thinks nothing of it. Until she opens the diary, and sees it's not blank after all...

1st January MURDER LISA, OXFORD
1st February MURDER JANE, BIRMINGHAM
1st March MURDER DAVID, CARDIFF
1st April MURDER MARY, CHELTENHAM

Is this a sick joke? But...it's the end of January now. And a woman called Lisa was murdered in Oxford on 1st January.

Could there really be a killer out there, planning to commit a…


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Book cover of Empire in the Sand

Empire in the Sand By Shane Joseph,

Avery Mann, a retired pharmaceuticals executive, is in crisis.

His wife dies of cancer, his son’s marriage is on the rocks, his grandson is having a meltdown, and his good friend is a victim of the robocalls scandal that invades the Canadian federal election. Throw in a reckless fling with…

Book cover of The Sequel

Jacquelyn Mitchard Author Of The Deep End of the Ocean

From Jacquelyn's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Jacquelyn's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Jacquelyn Mitchard Why did Jacquelyn love this book?

This is a novel I absolutely hated to finish ... it accomplished that lofty goal of creating a character who was distinctly and appallingly unlikeable but who obsesses the reader to a degree that seems almost impossible ... sometimes the bad guys win! This author is a favorite of mine (THE DEVIL AND WEBSTER, etc.) who just finds the twisted way to see events of ordinary life. Who needs fantasy when we have Jean Hanff Korelitz? As a writer, I am in awe, and jealous too.

By Jean Hanff Korelitz,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Sequel as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'A bookworm's treat.' Sunday Times
'Unforgettable.' Wall Street Journal
'An entertaining cat-and-mouse thriller. 'Daily Telegraph'
'Smart, funny and deliciously dark.' Guardian
'Delicious' New York Times

** Chosen as one of the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2024 **

The wildly twisty and devilishly clever new thriller from the author of the New York Times bestseller The Plot.

Not many first-time novelists get a profile in the New York Times. Then again, few first-time novelists come with the backstory of Anna Williams-Bonner: recent bride of a wildly successful writer who took his own life even as his fame seemed…


Book cover of How to Sell a Haunted House

Stephen Paul Sayers Author Of The Carousel Man

From Stephen's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Stephen's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Stephen Paul Sayers Why did Stephen love this book?

Grady Hendrix brings conflict, horror, humor, and angst into this story about a woman, Louise, and her brother, Mark, who have to get their parents' house into 'sellable' condition after their sudden deaths. But their dead mother's doll collection doesn't seem to want them to succeed. I loved the very 'real' sense of how family dynamics: emotional distance, jealousy, and resentment between a brother and sister weigh over every scene. But beneath it all, this is a bizarre and frightening story that you don't want to miss.

By Grady Hendrix,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked How to Sell a Haunted House as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

When Louise finds out her parents have died, she dreads going home. She doesn't want to leave her daughter with her ex and fly to Charleston. She doesn't want to deal with her family home, stuffed to the rafters with the remnants of her father's academic career and her mother's lifelong obsession with puppets and dolls. She doesn't want to learn how to live without the two people who knew and loved her best in the world.

Mostly, she doesn't want to deal with her brother, Mark, who never left their hometown, gets fired from one job after another, and…


Book cover of Whether Violent or Natural

Redfern Jon Barrett Author Of The Giddy Death of the Gays & the Strange Demise of Straights

From Redfern's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Novelist Nonbinary Queer Historian Futurist

Redfern's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Redfern Jon Barrett Why did Redfern love this book?

It's not often a character's voice sticks with you for months after finishing a book. Sometimes a voice stays with you because of its warmth and compassion. Sometimes because it's a voice that echoes your own. And sometimes it's because that voice is so wonderfully twisted that it haunts you long afterward.

The narrator of Whether Violent or Natural is the latter.

Kit endures the apocalypse in a bunker beneath a crumbling castle. Clearly traumatised by the chaos she's lived through, her disturbingly childlike tone lures you in – but don't be deceived. There's a difference between fragility and innocence, and Natasha Calder truly redefines the concept of the unreliable narrator with this work. Utterly transfixing.

By Natasha Calder,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Whether Violent or Natural as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Darkly unsettling' Guardian
'Intoxicating - dark, heady, lyrical' Daily Telegraph
'Terrifying and inventive' Observer

In a world devastated by antimicrobial resistance, two survivors are thrown into crisis when a woman washes ashore on the remote island where they live

__________________________

Years after complete antibiotic resistance has resulted in the loss of most human life on earth, Kit and Crevan eke out an existence on a remote island. Under a collapsing castle, they spend their days in an underground bunker packed with emergency stores, venturing out only at night. They are safe.

One evening a woman washes ashore, nearly drowned. Crevan…


Book cover of Free Love

Saskia Sarginson Author Of The Central Line

From my list on London and love.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an author and a romantic. Put the two together and it makes sense for me to write love stories. I’ve always been interested in relationships and fascinated by how complex our feelings make us when we fall in love. There’s a love story in all my books, but for the last three novels, a love story has been the story. I’m a Londoner too, and I like it when a city becomes another character in a book, as I hope London has in The Central Line.

Saskia's book list on London and love

Saskia Sarginson Why did Saskia love this book?

It's 1969, Phyllis is married to a kind man, with two children and a large house in suburban London. Her domestic world is not far removed from a dutiful 50s housewife’s. Then a much younger man, dashing, selfish, and a family friend, kisses her in a dark garden, and her life explodes. She abandons her family and moves to a shabby flat in Ladbroke Grove. A new world opens to her – she meets people of colour, artists, activists, drinkers, and idealists. She experiences sexual freedom and romantic love. Phyllis’s teenage daughter joins her in her new life, and mother and daughter must work out a different kind of relationship. I found myself feeling furious with Phyllis at the same time as emphasising with her.

By Tessa Hadley,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Free Love as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“Tessa Hadley recruits admirers with each book. She writes with authority, and with delicacy: she explores nuance, but speaks plainly; she is one of those writers a reader trusts.”—Hilary Mantel

From the bestselling author of Late in the Day and The Past comes a compulsive new novel about one woman’s sexual and intellectual awakening in 1960s London.

1967. While London comes alive with the new youth revolution, the suburban Fischer family seems to belong to an older world of conventional stability: pretty, dutiful homemaker Phyllis is married to Roger, a devoted father with a career in the Foreign Office. Their…


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Book cover of What You Made Me Do

What You Made Me Do By Barbara Gayle Austin,

Willem and Jurriaan have a miserable childhood thanks to their cruel, controlling mother—Louisa Veldkamp, a world-renowned pianist. Dad turns a blind eye. One day, Louisa vanishes without a trace during a family vacation.

Adoptee Anneliese Bakker survives a toxic childhood and leaves home, vowing never to return. While searching for…

Book cover of The Caretakers: A Novel

Janet Skeslien Charles Author Of The Paris Library

From my list on ups and downs in Paris: C'est La Vie.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am the New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Library and Moonlight in Odessa. Like the authors on the list I selected for Shepherd, I'm skilled at turning experiences at minimum-wage jobs into novels. I earned $25 a month teaching full-time at a high school in Odessa, which is the setting for my first novel. My second book takes place at the American Library in Paris, where I was the programs manager. Setting is the start of my fiction, because I believe that where we are from has a lot to do with who we are. I hope that you’ll enjoy these selections.

Janet's book list on ups and downs in Paris: C'est La Vie

Janet Skeslien Charles Why did Janet love this book?

I love this gorgeously-written novel and the way it shows the fine line that young American au pairs working for wealthy French families have to walk. Paris is a dream for many people, but the reality is quite different, especially when seen through the lens of a nanny cam. Though the book takes place in Paris, the ups and downs of navigating work and family relationships are universal.

By Amanda Bestor-Siegal,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Caretakers as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'[This] emotionally riveting debut novel focuses on several dynamic women in a wealthy suburb of Paris and a tragic event that changes their lives. Bestor-Siegal had me at Paris and she never let go. The Caretakers is extraordinary' Laura Dave, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Last Thing He Told Me

In a smart Parisian suburb, in the wake of the Paris 2015 terrorist attacks, an au pair is arrested after the sudden and suspicious death of her nine-year-old charge...

The truth behind what happened is unravelled through six women: Geraldine, a heartbroken French teacher who struggles to…


Book cover of Talking to Strangers

Karen Elizabeth Lee Author Of The Village That Betrayed Its Children

From Karen's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Inquisitive Emotional Avid reader Adventurous Writer

Karen's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Karen Elizabeth Lee Why did Karen love this book?

I have loved all her books - honest to goodness mysteries

By Fiona Barton,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Talking to Strangers as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Detective Elise King’s investigation into a woman’s murder is getting derailed by a reporter who insists on doing her own investigation in this nail-biting mystery from the author of Local Gone Missing.

When Karen Simmons is murdered on Valentine’s Day, Detective Elise King wonders if she was killed by a man she met online. Karen was all over the dating apps, leading some townspeople to blame her for her own death, while others band together to protest society’s violence against women. Into the divide comes Kiki Nunn, whose aggressive newsgathering once again antagonizes Elise. 

A single mother of a young…


Book cover of Septology

Adin Dobkin Author Of Sprinting Through No Man's Land: Endurance, Tragedy, and Rebirth in the 1919 Tour de France

From Adin's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Teacher Critic

Adin's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Adin Dobkin Why did Adin love this book?

Jon Fosse’s prose is incantatory. I’ve heard him once describe it as “mystical realism,” and in Septology, it reaches its pinnacle: the sublime becomes quotidian, and the quotidian becomes sublime.

I will return to it, I’m sure, as I get older and its pages reveal another, previously hidden portion of themselves to me.

By Jon Fosse, Damion Searls (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Septology as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

WINNER OF THE 2023 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE

2022 International Booker Prize, Finalist
2022 National Book Award, Finalist
2022 National Book Critics Circle Award, Finalist
New York TimesEditors’ Choice
Named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker and Bookforum

What makes us who we are? And why do we lead one life and not another? Asle, an ageing painter and widower who lives alone on the southwest coast of Norway, is reminiscing about his life. His only friends are his neighbour, Åsleik, a traditional fisherman-farmer, and Beyer, a gallerist who lives in the city. There, in Bjørgvin,…


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Book cover of The Vixen Amber Halloway

The Vixen Amber Halloway By Carol LaHines,

Ophelia, a professor of Dante, is stricken when she discovers that her husband Andy has been cheating on her with a winsome colleague. What follows is Ophelia’s figurative descent into hell as she obsessively tracks her subjects, performs surveillance in her beat-up Volvo, and moves into the property next door…

Book cover of Delicate Condition

V.P. Morris Author Of ShadowCast

From V.P.'s 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Thriller novelist Horror enthusiast Over thinker

V.P.'s 3 favorite reads in 2023

Plus, V.P.'s 3-year-old's favorite books.

V.P. Morris Why did V.P. love this book?

In the beginning of the novel, Valentine writes, “What if instead of telling women to be grateful for their suffering we actually helped them with it.” That line hit me like a bolt of lightning.

So many pregnant women and new moms have had awful experiences similar to the main character of Delicate Condition, including myself. This novel truly highlights what it is like for women to go through a complicated pregnancy in a world where medical staff, friends, and family all minimize the physical and mental pain it takes to bring a new life into the world.

For those who have suffered birth trauma and are ready to process it, this book will certainly speak to you. Overall, it is a well-written fast-paced supernatural thriller that will open your eyes to how the struggles of expecting and new mothers are often brushed under the rug. 

By Danielle Valentine,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Delicate Condition as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Shockingly real, twisty and dark' - INDEPENDENT
'Tense, thrilling and darkly comedic' - HEAT
'The feminist update to Rosemary's Baby we all needed' - ANDREA BARTZ

I wanted this baby so badly.
But she may be the death of me...

Anna Alcott is desperate to have a family. But as she tries to balance her increasingly public life as an indie actress with a gruelling IVF regime, she starts to suspect that someone is going to great lengths to make sure that never happens. Crucial medicines are lost. Appointments are moved without her knowledge. She's sure she's being followed. And…


Book cover of The Prediction
Book cover of The Murder List
Book cover of The Sequel

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