The Newest Thrillers To Add To You Must-Read List

New York Times bestselling author Riley Sager delivers yet another spine-tingling thriller that will be out this June. The page-turning tale begins in the early 1990s when two young boys are having a backyard sleepover in their idyllic and safe neighborhood of Hemlock Circle. Ethan and Billy are best friends, usually inseparable, but at some point that evening, their tent is slashed open and Billy disappears. Three decades later, Ethan is still troubled by his friend’s mysterious disappearance, and when he returns to his childhood home after 30 years, the memory of that night continues to haunt him. He recalls glimpses of Billy, twisted and distorted — but the flashes leave Ethan conflicted and distrustful of his own recollections. A thriller with a touch of the supernatural, Sager’s suspenseful mystery is gripping, unsettling, and for some fans, takes a deeper dive into emotional conflict and trauma than in his previous novels.

A summer thriller that will keep you from looking at your own reflection for days, “Look In the Mirror” is a nail-biting page turner from author and British actress Catherine Steadman, out this July. Nina is a Cambridge professor in her 30s who is grieving the recent death of her father when she discovers a vacation home in the British Virgin Isles left to her in his will. But Nina’s father wasn’t, to her knowledge, a wealthy man with a vacation home. What’s even stranger about the surprise house is its aesthetic: a severe and modern design filled with reflective mirrors and brimming with as many secrets as her father once did. Also on that same island is Maria, a nanny staying in the posh summer home of her wealthy clients who gave her full reign of the dwelling while she waits for her wards to arrive. The only directive Maria was given was to not go in the basement. Despite the much-needed alone time in a pristine tropical place, the basement rule is just too intriguing for her not to break — and she very well might. Comprising short and quick-paced chapters, Steadman’s book will keep readers glued as she masterfully inches towards the moment when these two women’s lives finally intersect and reveal what’s waiting for them in the basement.

Lisa Unger’s new supernatural thriller gives nods to the Ira Levin classic “Rosemary’s Baby” — occult themes, peculiar neighbors, a woman’s psychological unraveling and a Manhattan residence worth dying for. When couple Rosie and Chad Lowan inherit an apartment in the expensive neighborhood of Murray Hill, New York, they can’t believe their luck. Except their gorgeous prewar flat comes with an ominous doorman, some unexplained guests and secrets that turn their dream home into a nightmare. Moving in, they meet fellow residents, many of whom appear as artists and creatives, a collective of souls and spiritualists drawn to the storied building, or to perhaps some sort of power the building holds. The Windermere for decades has been a place where brutal murders, heartbreaking suicides and plenty of scandals have occurred. Rosie, being a writer, is intrigued, and she sees the new home as a ripe opportunity for researching an upcoming novel she’s inspired to write. But while she digs into the building’s architecture and conducts resident interviews, unexplained sightings and creeping sinister feelings fester around Rosie’s mental well-being, forcing her to remember traumatic events from her childhood. Is living in the Windermere worth its nightmares?

A.J. Finn’s newest suspenseful thriller begins with a letter written by a reclusive mystery author named Sebastian Trapp to his longtime correspondent Nicky Hunter. The letter is beautifully written and chilling, and we know from the first line “she” isn’t alive: “In a moment they’ll find her,” he writes while describing a body floating in a koi pond. We work back to when the writer entices his confidant, Nicky, to come to his home in San Francisco to perhaps solve “an old mystery or two.” The two stay in Sebastian’s sprawling mansion during the foggy month of June while Nicky assists the famed author in writing his memoir. Also residing in Sebastian’s home is his second wife, nephew and adult daughter, Madeline. They are a charming and quick-witted family, but with secrets occupying each of them. In piecing together Sebastian's life, Nicky becomes deeply interested in an event that happened 20 years earlier when Sebastian’s first wife and child disappeared and were never found. Nicky begins to wonder if fiction and truth are not so far apart for the author, and can’t seem to understand why the normally withdrawn Sebastian has invited her to pry this deep. Atmospheric, haunting and not too far off from fun suspense stories like “Knives Out,” this book will have readers questioning till the very end.

On the Fourth of July, an oil rig explodes near Monarch Beach, a Southern California community known for its lack of crime. On the night of the explosion, a group of six Muslim teens gathered for a party on the beach, and it's those same six who are picked up and questioned by the local police as suspects in what the town is calling a terrorist attack. The group are denied their basic rights as the Monarch Beach interrogators threaten to expose secrets that the teens may be hiding, all while encouraging them to turn on each other. How will the group prove their innocence in a time when the country is still reeling from post-9/11 Islamophobia?

Theodosia (Theo) Benton has decided to no longer pursue her career as an attorney in Australia. Instead she will join her somewhat surprised brother, Gus, at his home in Kansas while she tries her hand at being a novelist. Theo finds a local coffee shop and begins work on an unfinished manuscript, believing she’s on the path to literary success. She even befriends a local famous author, Dan Murdoch; she's a fan of his work and he frequently writes in the coffee shop as well. He tells her about a new horror novel he’s working on, one that involves conspiracy theorists online. Their relationship briefly turns romantic and after Dan invites Theo over to review her novel, he’s found dead shortly after. Gus somehow becomes a prime suspect and Theo is forced into an unfathomable place, all while diving into the written threads that Dan has left behind.

Margot is an introverted college freshman who hoped to finally find some friends after a particularly isolating year. Before she left for South Carolina’s Rutledge College, Margot’s best friend, the once-outgoing Eliza, mysteriously died. Since her friend’s death, Margot has had trouble connecting with others. So when the vivacious and popular Lucy Sharpe asks Margot to rent an off-campus home with her for the summer, she’s shocked. Despite the surprising request, Margot agrees in the hopes that Lucy will be her key to a carefree summer. But when Levi, Eliza’s former boyfriend and the last person to have seen Eliza alive, shows up, things take a darker turn, and Lucy’s usual magnetic personality sours. Margot’s envy of Lucy, her loyalties to Eliza, and the psychological torment of her loneliness begin to compound. Then, when a fraternity brother is brutally murdered next door and Lucy goes missing, we’re suddenly left guessing how reliable of a narrator the wilting Margot truly is.

Set in Britain’s North Yorkshire on a deteriorating and spooky estate called the Ardemore, this book follows an observant and autistic editor by the name of Jo Jones, who has recently inherited the sprawling property, along with the pushy and chauvinistic groundskeeper. But when the moody man’s body is found in the carriage house shortly after her arrival, Jo is suddenly thrust into a murder investigation — in which Jo is a potential suspect. Except she’s less concerned with how the bothersome groundskeeper has just died and more worried about a mysterious hidden painting she believes he stole from the estate. Brandy Schillace’s cozy murder mystery is supplemented with equally fun characters including an austere investigator from Scotland Yard, flashy ex-wives and a well-meaning local detective, each of whom play a role in whether or not Jo should stay or leave Ardemore far behind.