Genre
The best Mystery Thriller books
Honest reviews and recommendations for mystery thriller readers.
77 reviews in this genre.
Editor's picks
Highest-rated mystery thriller on the shelf
The Keeper of Lost Causes
by Jussi Adler-Olsen
The first Department Q novel. Detective Carl Morck goes down to the basement and finds a five-year-old missing-politician case. The series begins here.
Suspect
by Robert Crais
Robert Crais's standalone with K-9 dog Maggie and ex-Marine handler Scott James. The book that broke me and most other Crais readers I know.
The Fear Artist
by Timothy Hallinan
The Fear Artist by Timothy Hallinan review. The 5th Poke Rafferty Bangkok thriller. A travel-writer father, a dying CIA contact, and the Thai military police as the antagonist. Genuinely terrifying.
Fear
by Jeff Abbott
A Jeff Abbott standalone thriller. An amnesia premise that should not work and a writer who knows exactly how to make it.
Their Wildest Dreams
by Peter Abrahams
Peter Abrahams sending three suburban midwives into the desert with one suitcase of money. The slow disintegration is the point.
Missing Man
by Michael Cassutt
Missing Man by Michael Cassutt review. The first Joshua Brock astronaut mystery. A NASA mishap investigator looks into a colleague's disappearance. SF procedural by an actual space-program insider.
Personal
by Lee Child
The 19th Reacher novel. Lee Child sending Reacher to Paris on a sniper-tracking job. Tighter than most late Reacher.
Make Me
by Lee Child
The 20th Reacher novel. Lee Child in late-period form. A small Midwestern town named Mother's Rest and a missing private investigator.
Make Me
by Lee Child
Make Me by Lee Child 2015 thriller review. Reacher rolls into a Mother Wells, South Dakota for a single name on a sign and stays for the bodies underneath the wheat.
The Murder House
by David Ellis
The Murder House by David Ellis and James Patterson 2015 review. A Bridgehampton detective with a tarnished badge investigates a brutal mansion killing that mirrors a sixty-year-old open case.
Even Money
by Dick Francis
Dick Francis (with his son Felix) writing a London-bookmaker mystery. Late Francis in collaborative form, still excellent on the racing world.
15 Seconds
by Andrew Gross
15 Seconds by Andrew Gross 2012 review. A standalone thriller about a Florida cosmetic surgeon framed for a cop killing and forced to run as the noose tightens.
The Jester
by Andrew Gross
The Jester by Andrew Gross and James Patterson 2003 review. A medieval-set thriller about a Crusader innkeeper turned court jester who infiltrates a French duke’s castle to find his wife.
For the Dead
by Timothy Hallinan
For the Dead by Timothy Hallinan review. The 6th Poke Rafferty novel. A stolen phone, a dead Thai colonel, and Miaow at the center of the crisis. The series in family-thriller form.
Enemy Within
by Paul Adam
A Paul Adam political thriller. Italian Mafia and the postwar reckoning. Competent rather than essential.
Spartan Gold
by Grant Blackwood
Grant Blackwood's first Fargo Adventures novel co-written with Clive Cussler. Treasure-hunting husband-and-wife protagonist team. Reliable Cussler-brand action.
Trial and Retribution V
by Robin Blake
Trial and Retribution V by Robin Blake review. A novelization of the British police-and-court TV drama created by Lynda La Plante. Competent media-tie-in procedural.
The Eye of Heaven
by Russell Blake
The Eye of Heaven by Russell Blake review. A Sam and Remi Fargo Adventure co-written with Clive Cussler. Viking artifacts, Mesoamerica, reliable Cussler-brand action.
Black Rain
by Graham Brown
Black Rain by Graham Brown 2010 review. A Tulane archaeologist, an NRI agent, and a CIA-linked search team converge on a lost Mayan site in the Amazon that hides 1944-era weapons-grade research.
Artifact
by Matthew J. Costello
Artifact by Matthew J. Costello review. A 1992 archaeological thriller with a Mesoamerican dig site, an ancient curse mechanism, and reliable 90s genre pleasures.
Lifeguard
by Andrew Gross
Andrew Gross writing a James Patterson-style thriller with his name on it. Beach setup, art-theft conspiracy, propulsive but slight.
One Mile Under
by Andrew Gross
One Mile Under by Andrew Gross 2015 review. The third Ty Hauck thriller sends the ex-Greenwich detective to a Colorado fracking town to investigate a kayaker’s drowning.
Find by mood
Looking for a specific kind of mystery thriller?
Tell us how you want to feel and we will pour you the right book.
What genre?
What mood?