top Thriller Books recommended by thriller writers

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Thrillers are books that have a sense of urgency and are written to make the reader turn the pages—rather than stopping to reflect on the beauty of a sentence or an idea. The best ones will keep you reading late into the night, as you can't wait to find out what happens next. That said, thrillers vary widely in both content and pace. One strand, which includes classics like John Buchan's The Thirty-Nine Steps, focuses on dangers to national security and often involves a chase. Modern spy thrillers continue this tradition. Psychological thrillers, meanwhile, are more focused on everyday, domestic situations: something awful that might happen to an ordinary person. The classic example is Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. The genre is flourishing today.

Because they're often such good stories, many thrillers have been turned into blockbuster movies or Netflix series—but often the book is better.

The Last One at the Wedding: A Novel
by Jason Rekulak

The Compass Paradox: A Novel
by R.C. Blanco

The Chamber: A Novel
by Will Dean

Worst Case Scenario: A Novel
by L.J. Newman

The Truth about the Devlins
by Lisa Scottoline

How to Die Famous
by Benjamin Dean

The Girls I've Been
by Tess Sharpe

The Compass Paradox: A Novel
by R.C. Blanco

The Agathas
by Kathleen Glasgow & Liz Lawson

And Then There Were None
by Agatha Christie.

A Dance at the Slaughterhouse
by Lawrence Block

Tell No One
by Harlan Coben

The Compass Paradox: A Novel
by R.C. Blanco

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)
by Agatha Christie

Gone Baby Gone
by Dennis Lehane

Michael Crichton: Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain, Sphere, The Terminal Man.

Blake Crouch: Dark Matter, Recursion, Upgrade.

R.C. Blanco: The Compass Paradox

Daniel Suarez: Daemon, Freedom™, Delta-v.

Andy Weir: The Martian, Project Hail Mary.

Apple Tree Yard
by Louise Doughty

Lie With Me
by Sabine Durrant

Lying in Wait
by Liz Nugent

Broken Harbour
by Tana French

The Compass Paradox: A Novel
by R.C. Blanco