Ten Thrilling Thrillers to Enthrall You
With time to read and many of us suffering sleepless nights why not grab a thrilling thriller to scare you through the night? Here are ten recommendations:
Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton
This thriller will be hard to put down. It’s a school’s worst nightmare and it is a horrifying and intense read. I devoured it in a day.
The suspenseful, moving drama takes place over three hours. A school is under siege in the rural area of Somerset during a snowstorm. A white supremist and a radicalised teenager take the school hostage and we are into modern and important themes of the refugee crisis, ISIS, the role of social media, and discrimination and hatred. The perpetrators even re-tweet Trump tweets. Tension is built up well in this gripping and beautifully written thriller and you form good attachments to the characters, thus making the explosion at the end shocking and worrying. But while hatred and fear permeate the book, it is the courage and resilience of the teachers and students that stand out the most.
Give it the three hours (or more) it deserves to get to the emotional ending.
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
A psychological thriller where the main character does not speak is an interesting concept which had me reading to the end to see when she would break and what she would tell us.
Alicia Berenson seems to be living the perfect life with the perfect job and marriage, until one night she kills her husband by shooting him five times in the face, after which she retreats into herself and stops speaking. The killing would have garnered attention anyway but this attention is heightened by her absolute refusal to offer any explanation. It is up to criminal psychotherapist, Theo Faber, to unravel the mystery. Can he get her to speak and give us our much-anticipated explanation?
You may be surprised by her answers. Read to find out.
The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
I totally bought into this character and cared about her.
Anna Fox has agoraphobia and spends her days as a recluse in her New York home, spying through the window at her neighbours, drinking too much wine and living in the past. She is particularly interested in watching the new family, the Russells. Anna’s grit is tested when she witnesses something horrifying in that house. She knows what’s happened but will anyone believe her? Can she even trust herself and what she thinks she knows?
A Hitchcock-esque suspense novel.
The Sleeper Lies by Andrea Mara
A slow build that grips you and has you checking your window locks.
In this suspenseful novel, Marianne is snowed in and shops are running out of food. She is isolated in her country home but she works from home, so no problem, until she discovers footsteps around her house leading to her bedroom window. She has a stalker who leaves worrying ‘mementos’ for her. The more she thinks about who might be watching her, the more she thinks about her past. Are the two related? With no help forthcoming from the police she must start her own investigation with the help of her fellow amateur sleuths online.
The ending might have been better but relish the twists and turns along the way.
The Cutting Place by Jane Casey
This sharply-written book will have you rooting for Maeve and the truth.
This addition to the Meave Kerrigan series has our heroine investigating the murder of a young journalist, Paige Hargreaves. Her path leads her to the Chiron Club, an elite gentleman’s club with dark secrets. Paige had been working on a story about the club, so had she discovered secrets worth killing for? Meave is hiding her own secrets though and fears she might run out of time for both she and Paige.
This can be read as a stand-alone but it’s clear the Meave Kerrigan series is worth checking out, if not only for its likeable lead.
The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard
The unique structure of this book had me hooked immediately.
Eve Black is the sole survivor following the mass murder of her family by a man the police have never found. She writes her ‘true crime’ story hoping it will help catch the killer, The Nothing Man, named because the police never had anything on him. That very killer reads her book while the net tightens around him. Can her book bring him out of the shadows?
This standout novel is a new level in crime writing, according to Sam Blake. I agree.
Our Little Cruelties by Liz Nugent
The little cruelties siblings inflict on each other pushes this narrative forward. You can’t like any of them but are happy in your dislike.
The novel starts with the funeral of one of three brothers but you don’t know which one and the aim is to find out. Each brother has cause to kill and each one could have been killed. Will, Brian and Luke compete for their mother’s love and get lost in these jealousies. The competition continues into adult life for status, money, fame and women.
Liz Nugent has a knack of creating horrible characters you can’t hate.
Dirty Little Secrets by Jo Spain
With so many suspects and so many motives, you’ll have to stay with it to find out who done it.
In the exclusive gated community of Withered Vale peoples’ lives are seemingly perfect until Olive Collins is murdered and they are all now suspects. But the neighbours have not discovered the body for three months, which is in itself suspicious. As the investigation continues, we learn that everyone has something to hide and something to gain from Olive’s murder.
This is both well-plotted and funny at times. Just what you need.
Snow by John Banville
An atmospheric and well-written novel.
While the ending may be a little obvious, this will not stop you enjoying the beautifully constructed pace of the story. Set in County Wexford in the Winter of 1957 Detective Inspector St John Strafford is called to investigate a priest’s murder in the home of the aristocratic Osbourne family, during a snowstorm. Will the constant obstructions he encounters thwart his investigation?
Banville shows his power for the written word and an ability to get inside the darkest minds, who can justify their actions to themselves. Worth reading just for that.
And number ten is The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean
Read my review here:
