Genre
The best Thriller books
Plot-engine fiction where the stakes are usually national, the antagonist is usually personal, and you read 80 pages in one sitting against your will.
85 reviews in this genre.
Editor's picks
Highest-rated thriller on the shelf
The Secret History
by Donna Tartt
The Secret History by Donna Tartt 1992 review. A new student at a Vermont college is drawn into an exclusive Greek-studies seminar and the murder that the small clique conceals. The novel that defined the dark-academia register before it had a name.
Tell No One
by Harlan Coben
Tell No One by Harlan Coben 2001 review. A pediatrician receives an email containing a video clip of his murdered wife, eight years after her death. The single best Coben standalone and the one that defined the contemporary domestic-thriller register.
Along Came a Spider
by James Patterson
Along Came a Spider by James Patterson 1993 review. Alex Cross, a Washington D. C. detective and psychologist, hunts a kidnapper who has taken two children from an elite Georgetown school. The first Alex Cross novel and the entry point to the highest-selling American thriller series of its generation.
Heart-Shaped Box
by Joe Hill
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill 2007 review. An aging metal star buys a ghost on the internet. The ghost belongs to a former groupie's stepfather, and he is not happy. The debut novel that established Joe Hill as the heir to his father's horror legacy.
Postmortem
by Patricia Cornwell
Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell 1990 review. The debut Kay Scarpetta novel that invented the modern forensic-pathologist thriller. A Richmond, Virginia serial killer is targeting women, and the chief medical examiner is the one who can stop him.
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