Thrillers are the fastest-moving shelf in publishing and this year the heavyweights all showed up at once. McFadden dropped three, Ware sent Lo Blacklock back to sea level and Reacher woke up handcuffed to a table. We narrowed the pile to the 10 that actually kept us up, each linked to our full preview with an original thirty-second trailer.
Quick picks:
- First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston: our preview + trailer
- The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden: our preview + trailer
- The Crash by Freida McFadden: our preview + trailer
How we picked
Every book here lives on the Curatsy Bookshelf, our library of the 120 most talked-about new books, each with a full preview and an original thirty-second cinematic trailer. For this list we weighed reader buzz, author track record and how hard the premise refuses to leave your head. We only feature books we would hand to a friend.
1. First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston
Even her name was issued to her, like a uniform.
Her name was issued to her like a uniform. The perfect life is an assignment and her newest handler knows who she used to be.
Read our full preview and watch the trailer →
→ Get it on Amazon2. The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden
The scariest words in dating: too good to be true.
After a hundred terrible dates she finally meets the perfect man, while someone hunts women who look exactly like her.
Read our full preview and watch the trailer →
→ Get it on Amazon3. The Crash by Freida McFadden
Some rescues are really captures.
Eight months pregnant, stranded in a blizzard, rescued by the wrong couple. Misery energy, McFadden pacing.
Read our full preview and watch the trailer →
→ Get it on Amazon4. The Tenant by Freida McFadden
Now his life is being dismantled, one room at a time.
He rents the spare room to the perfect stranger. His life gets dismantled one room at a time.
Read our full preview and watch the trailer →
→ Get it on Amazon5. The Woman in Suite 11 by Ruth Ware
And this time, believing her might get them both killed.
The Cabin 10 sequel: a luxury Swiss hotel, a stranger begging for help and nobody who believes her twice.
Read our full preview and watch the trailer →
→ Get it on Amazon6. One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware
Because someone on this island is not playing a game.
A reality show island, a storm that cuts the cameras and contestants dropping one by one.
Read our full preview and watch the trailer →
→ Get it on Amazon7. With a Vengeance by Riley Sager
But somebody on board plans to arrive alone.
1954, an overnight train, six enemies invited aboard and somebody planning to arrive alone.
Read our full preview and watch the trailer →
→ Get it on Amazon8. Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney
And there she was. Alive, unchanged and pretending not to know him.
His wife vanished from a cliff road. On a remote Scottish island, there she is: alive and pretending not to know him.
Read our full preview and watch the trailer →
→ Get it on Amazon9. In Too Deep by Lee Child and Andrew Child
They should have checked who they dragged out of that wreck.
Reacher wakes up handcuffed with no memory of the crash. The people holding him made one mistake.
Read our full preview and watch the trailer →
→ Get it on Amazon10. The Anniversary by Alex Finlay
He strikes once a year. The day is coming.
The May Day Killer strikes exactly once a year. The day is coming.
Read our full preview and watch the trailer →
→ Get it on Amazon
