In recent years, I’ve become a huge fan of thrillers. Thankfully, 2020 has been filled with great thriller reads, with more anticipated books to be released later this year.
I’m sharing some of my favorite thrillers this year as well as a few of my most anticipated thrillers that are being released out in later months.
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1. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
HARDCOVER: 320 PAGES
MY REVIEW:
“An isolated mansion. A chillingly charismatic aristocrat. And a brave socialite drawn to expose their treacherous secrets”
I went into this not knowing what to expect, and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised with Mexican Gothic. I loved the gothic vibes and how it takes place in Mexico City during the 1950s.
I found the main character, Noemí to be pretty likeable, and I enjoyed a few of the other characters as well.
I will say that I didn’t find this novel to be scary.
It was more of a creepy slow-burn suspense. That’s not a bad thing though. As I said, I really enjoyed this.
I’m definitely interested in reading more from the author.
2. His and Hers by Alice Feeney
HARDCOVER: 304 PAGES | PUBLICATION DATE: JULY 28, 2020
MY REVIEW:
I went into His and Hers by Alice Feeney not knowing what the story was about, and I’m glad I did.
If you’re looking for a quality thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end, look no further. I can’t tell you how good it felt to read a thriller that I couldn’t predict.
In this book, you’re following Anna, a TV presenter for the BBC lunchtime news and Jack, a Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) who both find themselves entangled in a murder investigation.
The book follows alternating viewpoints between Anna, Jack, and a mysterious third voice. And as they say, “There are three sides to every story: Your side, my side, and the truth.” I don’t want to say any more than that. I think you’ll enjoy this so much more if you go into it not knowing too much!
Thank you to Netgalley and Flatiron Books for my copy in exchange for an honest review!
3. The Weekend Away by Sarah Alderson
KINDLE EDITION: 400 PAGES
MY REVIEW:
The Weekend Away was a fast-paced and entertaining thriller that kept me guessing until the very end.
“Two friends go on holiday. Only one comes back.”
Best friends Orla and Kate go away on a weekend holiday to Lisbon. With Orla being a new mom, and Kate going through a messy divorce, they could both use a weekend away.
However, things quickly take a turn for the worst when Orla wakes up one morning to discover that Kate is missing. From there, it’s up to Orla to find out what happened to her friend.
I love how easy it was to read this book. I found myself breezing through the pages and being thoroughly engaged in the unraveling of what happened the night Kate disappeared. The Weekend Away is the perfect beach read. Just be aware that even though there’s a beach on the book cover, the story doesn’t actually take place on a beach.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
4. The Last Flight by Julie Clark
HARDCOVER: 288 PAGES
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
Claire Cook has a perfect life. Married to the scion of a political dynasty, with a Manhattan townhouse and a staff of ten, her surroundings are elegant, her days flawlessly choreographed, and her future auspicious. But behind closed doors, nothing is quite as it seems. That perfect husband has a temper that burns as bright as his promising political career, and he’s not above using his staff to track Claire’s every move, making sure she’s living up to his impossible standards. But what he doesn’t know is that Claire has worked for months on a plan to vanish.
A chance meeting in an airport bar brings her together with a woman whose circumstances seem equally dire. Together they make a last-minute decision to switch tickets ― Claire taking Eva’s flight to Oakland, and Eva traveling to Puerto Rico as Claire. They believe the swap will give each of them the head start they need to begin again somewhere far away. But when the flight to Puerto Rico goes down, Claire realizes it’s no longer a head start but a new life. Cut off, out of options, with the news of her death about to explode in the media, Claire will assume Eva’s identity, and along with it, the secrets Eva fought so hard to keep hidden.
5. Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell
HARDCOVER: 368 PAGES | PUBLICATION DATE: OCTOBER 13, 2020
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
Owen Pick’s life is falling apart.
In his thirties, a virgin, and living in his aunt’s spare bedroom, he has just been suspended from his job as a geography teacher after accusations of sexual misconduct, which he strongly denies. Searching for professional advice online, he is inadvertently sucked into the dark world of incel—involuntary celibate—forums, where he meets the charismatic, mysterious, and sinister Bryn.
Across the street from Owen lives the Fours family, headed by mom Cate, a physiotherapist, and dad Roan, a child psychologist. But the Fours family have a bad feeling about their neighbor Owen. He’s a bit creepy and their teenaged daughter swears he followed her home from the train station one night.
Meanwhile, young Saffyre Maddox spent three years as a patient of Roan Fours. Feeling abandoned when their therapy ends, she searches for other ways to maintain her connection with him, following him in the shadows and learning more than she wanted to know about Roan and his family. Then, on Valentine’s night, Saffyre Maddox disappears—and the last person to see her alive is Owen Pick.
6. Confessions on the 7:45 by Lisa Unger
HARDCOVER: 368 PAGES | PUBLICATION DATE: OCTOBER 6, 2020
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
Selena Murphy is commuting home from her job in the city when the train stalls out on the tracks. She strikes up a conversation with a beautiful stranger in the next seat, and their connection is fast and easy. The woman introduces herself as Martha and confesses that she’s been stuck in an affair with her boss. Selena, in turn, confesses that she suspects her husband is sleeping with the nanny. When the train arrives at Selena’s station, the two women part ways, presumably never to meet again.
But days later, Selena’s nanny disappears.
Soon Selena finds her once-perfect life upended. As she is pulled into the mystery of the missing nanny, and as the fractures in her marriage grow deeper, Selena begins to wonder, who was Martha really? But she is hardly prepared for what she’ll discover.
7. One by One by Ruth Ware
HARDCOVER: 384 PAGES | PUBLICATION DATE: SEPTEMBER 8, 2020
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
Getting snowed in at a beautiful, rustic mountain chalet doesn’t sound like the worst problem in the world, especially when there’s a breathtaking vista, a cozy fire, and company to keep you warm. But what happens when that company is eight of your coworkers…and you can’t trust any of them?
When an off-site company retreat meant to promote mindfulness and collaboration goes utterly wrong when an avalanche hits, the corporate food chain becomes irrelevant and survival trumps togetherness. Come Monday morning, how many members short will the team be?
8. When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole
PAPERBACK: 368 PAGES | PUBLICATION DATE: SEPTEMBER 1, 2020
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
Sydney Green is Brooklyn born and raised, but her beloved neighborhood seems to change every time she blinks. Condos are sprouting like weeds, FOR SALE signs are popping up overnight, and the neighbors she’s known all her life are disappearing. To hold onto her community’s past and present, Sydney channels her frustration into a walking tour and finds an unlikely and unwanted assistant in one of the new arrivals to the block—her neighbor Theo.
But Sydney and Theo’s deep dive into history quickly becomes a dizzying descent into paranoia and fear. Their neighbors may not have moved to the suburbs after all, and the push to revitalize the community may be more deadly than advertised.
When does coincidence become conspiracy? Where do people go when gentrification pushes them out? Can Sydney and Theo trust each other—or themselves—long enough to find out before they too disappear?
9. Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
HARDCOVER: 384 PAGES
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
Maggie Holt is used to such questions. Twenty-five years ago, she and her parents, Ewan and Jess, moved into Baneberry Hall, a rambling Victorian estate in the Vermont woods. They spent three weeks there before fleeing in the dead of night, an ordeal Ewan later recounted in a nonfiction book called House of Horrors. His tale of ghostly happenings and encounters with malevolent spirits became a worldwide phenomenon, rivaling The Amityville Horror in popularity—and skepticism.
Today, Maggie is a restorer of old homes and too young to remember any of the events mentioned in her father’s book. But she also doesn’t believe a word of it. Ghosts, after all, don’t exist. When Maggie inherits Baneberry Hall after her father’s death, she returns to renovate the place to prepare it for sale. But her homecoming is anything but warm. People from the past, chronicled in House of Horrors, lurk in the shadows. And locals aren’t thrilled that their small town has been made infamous thanks to Maggie’s father. Even more unnerving is Baneberry Hall itself—a place filled with relics from another era that hint at a history of dark deeds. As Maggie experiences strange occurrences straight out of her father’s book, she starts to believe that what he wrote was more fact than fiction.
10. The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James
HARDCOVER: 327 PAGES
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
The secrets lurking in a rundown roadside motel ensnare a young woman, just as they did her aunt thirty-five years before, in this new atmospheric suspense novel from the national bestselling and award-winning author of The Broken Girls.
Upstate NY, 1982. Every small town like Fell, New York, has a place like the Sun Down Motel. Some customers are from out of town, passing through on their way to someplace better. Some are locals, trying to hide their secrets. Viv Delaney works as the night clerk to pay for her move to New York City. But something isn’t right at the Sun Down, and before long she’s determined to uncover all of the secrets hidden…
11. The Guest List by Lucy Foley
HARDCOVER: 320 PAGES
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS + MY REVIEW:
Set on a remote island off the Irish coast, this is one guest list no one would want to be on, just as no one would have wanted an invitation to the New Year’s Eve party in Foley’s previous novel, The Hunting Party. Lives unravel amid the revelry on an eerie and remote island as family and friends assemble for a glam wedding in an updated Murder on the Orient Express. Each of the principal characters has a reason to want one of their number dead, there are old secrets, and one of them is murdered.
I loved the atmosphere of this book. I also thoroughly enjoyed reading the different points of view (which usually isn’t my thing). This was a quick and fun read that I highly recommend.
12. To Tell You The Truth by Gilly Macmillan
HARDCOVER: 352 PAGES | PUBLICATION DATE: SEPTEMBER 22, 2020
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
Lucy Harper’s talent for writing bestselling novels has given her fame, fortune and millions of fans. It’s also given her Dan, her needy, jealous husband whose own writing career has gone precisely nowhere.
Now Dan has vanished. But this isn’t the first time that someone has disappeared from Lucy’s life. Three decades ago, her little brother Teddy also went missing and was never found. Lucy, the only witness, helplessly spun fantasy after fantasy about Teddy’s disappearance, to the detectives’ fury and her parents’ despair. That was the start of her ability to tell a story—a talent she has profited from greatly.
But now Lucy’s a grown woman who can’t hide behind fiction any longer. The world is watching, and her whole life is under intense scrutiny. A life full of stories, some more believable than others. Could she have hurt Teddy? Did she kill Dan? Finally, now, Lucy Harper’s going to tell the truth.
Cross her heart.
And hope to die.
Have you read any of these thrillers? Are any of these on your anticipated reads of 2020?
