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Book Reviews

Thriller, horror, and mystery reviews for readers who like their stories dark and their twists devastating.

Cover of The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

March 15, 2024

★★★★½

The Housemaid

by Freida McFadden

Millie is desperate for a fresh start. When she lands a job as a live-in housemaid for the wealthy Winchester family, it seems too good to be true — and it is. Her new employer Nina is demanding and erratic, the house hides something sinister, and Millie's own past is catching up with her. The Housemaid delivers jaw-dropping twists in a story about power, class, and the lengths women go to survive.

Thriller
Psychological Thriller
Domestic Thriller
Cover of Verity by Colleen Hoover

April 2, 2024

★★★★★

Verity

by Colleen Hoover

Struggling writer Lowen Ashby is hired to complete the remaining books in a bestselling thriller series after its author, Verity Crawford, is left incapacitated. While staying at the Crawford home, Lowen discovers a manuscript that Verity clearly never intended anyone to read — a disturbing autobiography that reveals horrifying truths about the woman behind the books. And then there's Jeremy, Verity's devoted husband, who Lowen is falling for despite herself.

Dark Romance
Psychological Thriller
Mystery
Cover of Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

April 20, 2024

★★★★

Home Before Dark

by Riley Sager

Twenty-five years ago, Maggie Holt's family fled the house known as Baneberry Hall after her father claimed it was haunted. He wrote a bestselling memoir about their terrifying experience — but Maggie, who was only five at the time, remembers none of it. When she inherits the house, she's determined to renovate and sell it, certain that her father's book was pure fabrication. But as she begins to uncover what really happened in Baneberry Hall, the line between fiction and truth begins to blur.

Horror
Gothic Fiction
Mystery
Cover of The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

May 11, 2026

★★★★

The Sanatorium

by Sarah Pearse

Detective Elin Warner arrives at a luxury hotel converted from an old sanatorium expecting a tense family weekend, not a fresh body and a missing fiancee. Sarah Pearse turns the alpine setting into a pressure cooker of suspicion, memory, and dread in a thriller that feels equal parts wintry getaway and locked-room nightmare.

Thriller
Psychological Thriller
Atmospheric Mystery
Cover of My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon

April 30, 2026

★★★★

My Darling Girl

by Jennifer McMahon

Alison agrees to take in the mother who abused her as a child after hearing she only has weeks left to live. What should be a final act of reluctant grace turns into something far stranger and more dangerous, as Jennifer McMahon threads family trauma, possession horror, and wintery dread into one unsettling package.

Horror
Psychological Thriller
Domestic Suspense
Cover of Rooted in Silence by A. M. Walker

April 29, 2026

★★★★

Rooted in Silence

by A. M. Walker

Emily is preparing for her wedding while quietly circling murder, and Rooted in Silence leans all the way into that contradiction. A. M. Walker builds the story as a dark, descriptive slow burn full of unease, polished surfaces, and the feeling that beauty is hiding something venomous.

Psychological Thriller
Dark Mystery
Indie Thriller
Cover of A Tale of Prima Facie by Elizam Rose

April 27, 2026

★★★★½

A Tale of Prima Facie

by Elizam Rose

Mila Taylor has built her reputation on solving cold cases, but the murder of a bookstore owner with no obvious suspect forces her into a new investigation tangled up with her own family history. Elizam Rose delivers a compact crime thriller that moves quickly without skimping on twists.

Crime Thriller
Mystery
Indie Thriller
Cover of The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

August 11, 2025

★★★★★

The Last Time I Lied

by Riley Sager

At a summer camp shadowed by the disappearance of three girls, Riley Sager builds a thriller full of lake water unease, campfire-story tension, and secrets that refuse to stay buried. It is nostalgic in the creepiest possible way and knows exactly how to deliver a final punch.

Thriller
Mystery
Horror-Adjacent
Cover of Liar by Reid the Faceless Detective

August 20, 2025

★★★★

Liar

by Reid the Faceless Detective

One haunted detective, four dead women, and a case that refuses to stay professional. Liar leans into crime-noir grit, tragic characters, and multiple points of view to build a thriller that gets darker as it gets more personal.

Crime Thriller
Psychological Thriller
Noir
Cover of In the Woods by Tana French

August 19, 2025

★★★★½

In the Woods

by Tana French

When detectives investigate the murder of a young girl in the woods, the case collides with the lead detective's own childhood trauma from the same place. Tana French blends police work, memory, and emotional fracture into a mystery that feels as psychologically sharp as it is procedural.

Mystery
Crime Thriller
Literary Suspense
Cover of Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

August 15, 2025

★★★½

Daisy Darker

by Alice Feeney

Daisy Darker brings the classic locked-room family mystery vibe into a modern twist-heavy thriller. Alice Feeney uses a closed-circle setup and a steady stream of suspicion to create a whodunnit that is easy to devour when you want momentum back in your reading life.

Mystery
Thriller
Whodunnit
Cover of Under The Paint by James E. Michels

August 17, 2025

★★★½

Under The Paint

by James E. Michels

Under The Paint mixes domestic crime tension with a heavier dose of spice than a traditional thriller. It follows a trio of characters moving toward collision, balancing relationship heat with the pull of wanting to know exactly how everything ends.

Domestic Crime Thriller
Romantic Thriller
Indie Thriller
Cover of The Likeness by Tana French

August 19, 2025

★★★★½

The Likeness

by Tana French

When a murdered woman turns out to be Cassie Maddox's near-perfect double, she is pulled into an undercover investigation that requires her to step inside the dead woman's life. The Likeness builds its suspense through identity, intimacy, and the constant fear of being found out.

Mystery
Crime Thriller
Literary Suspense
Cover of Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney

August 15, 2025

★★★★

Sometimes I Lie

by Alice Feeney

Amber wakes in a coma, unable to move or speak, but fully aware that something is very wrong. Alice Feeney turns that locked-in perspective into a psychological thriller built on instability, shifting truths, and the pleasure of never feeling fully settled.

Psychological Thriller
Mystery
Domestic Suspense
Cover of Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

August 15, 2025

★★★★

Beautiful Ugly

by Alice Feeney

Beautiful Ugly carries the polished, deceptive surface that Alice Feeney does so well. It is the kind of thriller that pulls you in with style and keeps you reading with the promise that every elegant detail might be hiding something rotten.

Thriller
Mystery
Psychological Suspense
Cover of Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

August 11, 2025

★★★★½

Listen for the Lie

by Amy Tintera

A murder case, a messy public narrative, and a podcast ready to drag everything back into the light. Listen for the Lie has the kind of talky, true-crime-adjacent setup that turns reader curiosity into momentum almost instantly.

Thriller
Mystery
Psychological Suspense