10 Gripping Thrillers You Won't Be Able to Put Down

10 Gripping Thrillers You Won't Be Able to Put Down

Alfred Hitchcock on Mystery vs Suspense

In Depth

The thriller genre has long swept the literary scene. Many people love reading stories that build suspense, excitement, and anticipation. All of the emotions that these novels evoke brew up to a shocking and exhilarating conclusion. In no particular order, here are ten gripping thrillers that you won't want to put down.

#1: "The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye" by David Lagercrantz. Lisbeth Slander is serving her sentence at the Flodberga Prison. When a Bangladeshi prisoner named Faria gets tortured by Benito, a dreaded gang leader, she feels like she needs to do something. Slander helps the new convict get away from the claws of the gangster. This makes Benito furious. Now, she and her newly found friend need to find a way to escape the prison camp. Before they flee, the main character finds out that she is part of a secret experiment called the Registry.

#2: "Dead Man Running" by Steve Hamilton. Retired Detroit police officer Alex McKnight finds himself in the middle of an intriguing case. When a vacationer on the Mediterranean Sea checks his home security camera, he sees an intruder and a dead body. The main suspect is a serial killer named Martin Livermore. The accused is finally caught by the FBI, but refuses to say anything unless he can talk to McKnight. Things get even more interesting when the murderer's arrest turns out to be part of his sinister plan to get close to the protagonist.

Retired Detroit police officer Alex McKnight finds himself in the middle of an intriguing case.

#3: "Charlatans" by Robin Cook. Dr. Noah Rothauser is Boston Memorial Hospital's newest chief resident. Things are going well for the hospital until an error in an administration of anesthesia kills a healthy patient. The plot starts to heat up when Noah begins to suspect that his topnotch surgeon, Dr. William Mason, is connected to the patient's mysterious death. More deaths of the same nature follow, leaving the protagonist desperate to find the killer.

#4: "Fallen Five" by Erica Spindler. Micki Dare and Zach Harris are detectives who need to solve a very intriguing case: a real estate developer who jumped to his death from the top of his newly-opened hotel. While they work to solve it, Micki receives a mysterious package from her old mentor who died several years ago and Zach begins to notice that the crime involves a supernatural force. The protagonists are racing against the clock to reveal the mystery surrounding the wealthy realtor.

#5: "Asylum" by Lily White. Alexandra Sutton is a patient in a mental hospital. There, she is known as the "black widow," because many believe that she kills all of her lovers. She develops amnesia, which makes it difficult for her to remember whether she is guilty of these accusations or not. Meanwhile, Dr. Jeremy Hutchins, a psychiatrist, believes that he can cure Alexandra through drug therapy. As the session progresses, the protagonist starts to recall vague memories, and she worries about what she might learn about the person she used to be.

Meanwhile, Dr. Jeremy Hutchins, a psychiatrist, believes that he can cure Alexandra through drug therapy.

#6: "The One Man" by Andrew Gross. Set during World War II, this novel follows the story of Lieutenant Nathan Blum, a Polish soldier working for American Intelligence. His job involves decoding messages intercepted from Hitler's army in Poland. The lead character is determined to liberate his country from its invaders. He receives a proposal to infiltrate Auschwitz, Nazi's infamous concentration camp. There, he needs to find physicist Alfred Mendl, who is believed to be the only person who can help them win the battle.

#7: "Not a Sound" by Heather Gudenkauf. Amelia Winn is trying to pick up the pieces of her broken self after an accident. The tragedy takes away not only her hearing, but also her job, husband, and stepdaughter. Now, she is living alone with her hearing dog, Stitch. She is still in the process of getting back on track when she stumbles upon the dead body of her fellow nurse near her house. As the investigation uncovers one clue after another, the lead character puts herself in a dangerous position where there is no turning back.

#8: "The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die" by April Henry. Katie is a teenager who finds herself in a cabin. She cannot remember anything that happened before waking up, but she knows she must have been badly beaten. Outside the cabin, she hears two men arguing about how to kill her. This leaves her no choice but to escape and run for her life. As she gets away from her captors, she meets Ty who helps her go further. The two need to find out what happened prior to Katie's abduction.

The two need to find out what happened prior to Katie's abduction.

#9: "Don't You Cry" by Mary Kubica. The plot tells the story of Quinn Collins and Alex Gallo. Quinn is searching for answers to the sudden disappearance of her roommate, Esther Vaughan. The latter is missing without a trace, except for a letter addressed to a certain 'My Dearest.' Alex, on the other hand, is an 18-year-old guy who works as a dishwasher in a coffee shop. Things take an interesting turn when he meets a mysterious woman in the cafe. He is immediately drawn towards the lady. As Quinn searches for her friend and Alex tries to win the interest of his new acquaintance, the events reveal clues that connect the lives of the lead characters.

#10: "The Favorite Sister" by Jessica Knoll. Brett and her sister, Kelly, join a reality series titled "Goal Diggers" with three other women. Brett, with her remarkable career success and colorful love life, is the star of the show. Stephanie, Brett's former best friend, is quite jealous of her popularity. She often gossips about Brett, which causes a rift between the two of them. Meanwhile, Kelly opts to defer to her sister, hoping that it will protect their family's shocking secret. The book is praised for effectively portraying the invisible barriers that keep modern women from being successful.