From psychological thrillers to high-stakes spy novels and political dramas, here you'll find the most popular suspense books—guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat from the first page to the last. So go ahead, press play. It's time to unravel gripping mysteries and crack complex conspiracies.
Top list: Suspense
Blood of My Monster
From New York Times & USA Today bestselling author Rina Kent comes a new dark mafia romance.
I’m out for revenge.
He’s out to rule the world.
Kirill and I are as different as day and night. We shouldn’t have been in the same frame or universe.
But we meet under the strangest circumstances.
He’s my superior in the military and the man who’ll introduce me to carnage.
His charm and exterior perfection shouldn’t have tempted me.
Behind the smokescreen lurks a manipulative emotionless monster.
And that monster might find out all my secrets, including the reason why I’m pretending to be a man.
He might also lure me to the point of no return.
This book is part of a trilogy and can't be listened to on its own.
©2023 Rina Kent (P)2023 Rina Kent
Savage Hearts : A spicy dark Mafia romance from the TikTok sensation
Savage Hearts is the third book in the scorchingly hot mafia romance Queens and Monsters series by USA Today bestselling author J.T. Geissinger.
Savage (adjective):
1) Not domesticated; wild and untamed
2) A brutal or vicious person
3) Malek Antonov
He’s a myth. A ghost. A legend. A Bratva assassin so feared, some won’t even dare to speak his name. He comes in search of vengeance for the death of his brother, but what he finds instead is me.
A girl he thinks is someone else. Someone unrelated to the man who killed his brother.
Except I am.
And when he finds out my true identity, he decides to take me as repayment for what he lost.
Now, I’m a little bird trapped in a cage, and the only way to survive is to make friends with the monster who captured me. But friendship isn’t what the monster has in mind.
Discover Brutal Vows, the next book in the addictive Queens and Monsters series.
Never Lie
Newlyweds Tricia and Ethan are searching for the house of their dreams. But when they visit the remote manor that once belonged to Dr. Adrienne Hale, a renowned psychiatrist who vanished without a trace four years earlier, a violent winter storm traps them at the estate… with no chance of escape until the blizzard comes to an end. In search of a book to keep her entertained until the snow abates, Tricia happens upon a secret room. One that contains audio transcripts from every single patient Dr. Hale has ever interviewed. As Tricia listens to the cassette tapes, she learns about the terrifying chain of events leading up to Dr. Hale’s mysterious disappearance. Tricia plays the tapes one by one, late into the night. With each one, another shocking piece of the puzzle falls into place, and Dr. Adrienne Hale’s web of lies slowly unravels. And then Tricia reaches the final cassette. The one that reveals the entire horrifying truth.
Leather & Lark
“I don’t just want to hear her laugh, I need to earn it. Every time I gain a little ground, I want more. I want to break out of the shade and back into her light. Without even realizing it, I’ve become addicted to it. To her.”
From the author of the genre-breaking international TikTok sensation Butcher & Blackbird comes the second book in the Ruinous Love Trilogy—a hate-to-love dark romantic comedy packed with danger, chaos, and heat.
Contract killer Lachlan Kane wants a quiet life working in his leather studio and forgetting all about his traumatic past. But when he botches a job for his boss’s biggest client, Lachlan knows he’ll never claw his way out of the underworld. At least, not until songbird Lark Montague offers him a deal: use his skills to hunt down a killer and she’ll find a way to secure his freedom. The catch? He has to marry her first.
And they can’t stand each other.
Indie singer-songwriter Lark is the sunshine and glitter that burns through every cloud and clings to every crevice that Lachlan Kane tries to hide inside. The surly older brother of her best friend’s soulmate, Lachlan thinks she’s just a privileged princess, but Lark has plenty of secrets hiding in the shadows of her bright light. With her formidable family in a tailspin and her best friend’s happiness on the line, she’s willing to make a vow to the man she’s determined to hate, no matter how tempting the broody assassin might be.
As Lachlan and Lark navigate the dark world that binds them together, it becomes impossible to discern their fake marriage from a real one. But it’s not just familiar dangers that haunt them.
There’s another phantom lurking on their doorstep.
And this one has come for blood.
Tropes:
Hate-to-love
Marriage of convenience
Grumpy / sunshine
He falls first
Groveling, but make it psycho
Touch her/him and die
The Inmate
There are three rules Brooke Sullivan must follow as a new nurse practitioner at a men’s maximum-security prison: 1) Treat all prisoners with respect. 2) Never reveal any personal information. 3) Never EVER become too friendly with the inmates. But none of the staff at the prison knows Brooke has already broken the rules. Nobody knows about her intimate connection to Shane Nelson, one of the penitentiary’s most notorious and dangerous inmates. And they certainly don’t know that Shane was Brooke’s high school sweetheart—the star quarterback who is now spending the rest of his life in prison for a series of grisly murders. Or that Brooke's testimony was what put him there. But Shane knows. And he will never forget.
Victorian Psycho
SOON TO BE A FEATURE FILM STARRING MARGARET QUALLEY AND THOMASIN MCKENZIE
Named one of the Most Anticipated Books of 2025 by Oprah Daily, Reader's Digest, Polygon, and Paste
“Simmering with rage, propulsive and laugh out loud funny, Victorian Psycho speaks profoundly of horror both within and without us.”—Catriona Ward
From the acclaimed author of Mrs. March comes the riveting tale of a bloodthirsty governess who learns the true meaning of vengeance.
Virginia Feito’s Mrs. March was hailed as “a brilliant debut … [by] a writer who keeps pace with the grandees she invokes” (Sarah Ditum, Guardian)—from Daphne Du Maurier and Shirley Jackson to Patricia Highsmith. Now, Feito returns with her “silver-polish sentences and her eerie psychological acumen” (Constance Grady, Vox) to unleash an entirely new antihero on us all.
Grim Wolds, England: Winifred Notty arrives at Ensor House prepared to play the perfect governess—she’ll dutifully tutor her charges, Drusilla and Andrew, tell them bedtime stories, and only joke about eating children. But long, listless days spent within the estate’s dreary confines come with an intimate knowledge of the perversions and pathetic preoccupations of the Pounds family—Mr. Pounds can’t keep his eyes off Winifred’s chest, and Mrs. Pounds takes a sickly pleasure in punishing Winifred for her husband’s wandering gaze. Compounded with her disdain for the entitled Pounds children, Winifred finds herself struggling at every turn to stifle the violent compulsions of her past. French tutoring and needlework are one way to pass the time, as is admiring the ugly portraits in the gallery … and creeping across the moonlit lawns. …
Patience. Winifred must have patience, for Christmas is coming, and she has very special gifts planned for the dear souls of Ensor House. Brimming with sardonic wit and culminating in a shocking conclusion, Victorian Psycho plunges readers into the chilling mind of an iconic new literary psychopath.
Carnal Urges : A spicy dark Mafia romance from the TikTok sensation
From BookTok sensation J. T. Geissinger comes Carnal Urges, a sexy-as-sin dark romance about a powerful mafia king who kidnaps the one woman who will threaten to bring him to his knees.
Carnal (adjective):
1) Relating to the pleasures of the body
2) Given to sensual indulgence
3) The man who kidnapped me
The devil has blue eyes, an Irish accent, and a hatred for me that runs deep.
He blames me for starting a war. Consorting with his enemies. Getting his men killed. Though I’m innocent on all charges, he wants his pound of flesh. With an eye on revenge, he makes me his captive.
But as we'll both soon discover, there are more powerful urges than that for revenge.
When the devil meets his match but she’s his sworn enemy, that’s when the real war begins.
Discover Savage Hearts, the next book in the addictive Queens and Monsters series.
Bright Young Women
'A compelling, almost hypnotic read' - Lisa Jewell, bestselling author of None of This is True
Bright Young Women is a compulsive, extraordinary novel inspired by the real-life sorority targeted by America's first celebrity serial killer in his final murderous spree. From Jessica Knoll, author of the New York Times bestseller and #1 Netflix movie Luckiest Girl Alive.
January 1978. Tallahassee. When sorority president Pamela Schumacher is startled awake at 3 a.m. by a strange sound, she’s shocked to encounter a scene of implausible violence – two of her friends dead and two others, maimed. Thrust into a terrifying mystery, Pamela becomes entangled in a crime that captivates public interest for more than four decades . . .
On the other side of the country, Tina Cannon has found peace in Seattle after years of hardship. When Ruth, her best friend, goes missing from Lake Sammamish State Park in broad daylight, surrounded by thousands of beachgoers on a beautiful summer day, Tina devotes herself to finding out what happened to her.
When Tina hears about the tragedy in Tallahassee, she suspects the same man the papers refer to is responsible. Determined to make him answer for what he did to Ruth, she travels to Florida on a collision course with Pamela – and one last impending tragedy.
Praise for Bright Young Women:
'Jessica Knoll at her best: an unflinching and evocative novel' - Laura Dave, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Thing He Told Me
'Cleverly constructed [. . .] psychologically astute and written with flair' - The Sunday Times
'This book is extraordinary' - Catherine Ryan-Howard, author of Run Time
'Writing with pulse-pounding tension and urgency, Knoll expertly conjures an atmosphere of dread and anxiety . . . An utterly absorbing, disturbing, and absolutely essential read' - Booklist, Starred Review
Heart of My Monster
From New York Times & USA Today bestselling author Rina Kent comes a new dark mafia romance.
I’m a man with no morals or feelings.
The only reason I made it this far is to reign.
Nothing and no one will stop me.
Or that should’ve been the plan.
Now, my only goal is to get back the woman who belongs to me.
Sasha thinks it’s all over, but we’re only getting started.
She’s my woman. My partner. My wife.
Mine.
This book is the final part of a trilogy and can't be listened to on its own.
©2023 Rina Kent (P)2023 Rina Kent
Yellowface
The Number One Global Sensation
*Foyle’s Fiction Book of the Year*
*Amazon Book of the Year*
*Shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year*
*Fiction Book of the Year 2024 – British Book Awards*
‘Addictive’ Grazia
‘Hugely entertaining’ Observer
‘Provocative’ Mail on Sunday
THIS IS ONE HELL OF A STORY.
IT’S JUST NOT HERS TO TELL.
When failed writer June Hayward witnesses her rival Athena Liu die in a freak accident, she sees her opportunity… and takes it.
So what if it means stealing Athena’s final manuscript?
So what if it means ‘borrowing’ her identity?
And so what if the first lie is only the beginning…
Finally, June has the fame she always deserved. But someone is about to expose her…
What happens next is entirely everyone else's fault.
‘The book that everyone is talking about’ Glamour
‘Ingenious, astute, hugely entertaining’ David Nicholls
‘Breathtakingly clever on jealousy, talent, success, and who gets to tell which story’ Elizabeth Day
‘Hard to put down. Harder to forget’ Stephen King
R.F. Kuang’s book Yellowface was a #1 Sunday Times bestseller w/c 04-06-23
R.F. Kuang’s book Yellowface was a #5 New York Times bestseller w/c 04-06-23
Fairy Tale
Winner of the 2023 Audie Award for Best Male Narrator
Master storyteller Stephen King goes into the deepest well of his imagination in this #1 New York Times bestselling and spellbinding novel about a young man who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for that world or ours.
Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a horrific accident when he was seven, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. When Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and her aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from that shed.
Charlie starts doing jobs for Mr. Bowditch and loses his heart to Radar. Then, when Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie a cassette tape telling a story no one would believe. What Bowditch knows, and has kept secret all his long life, is that inside the shed is a portal to another world.
The Boyfriend : A Psychological Thriller
She's looking for the perfect man. He's looking for the perfect victim.
Sydney Shaw, like every single woman in New York, has terrible luck with dating. She's seen it all: men who lie in their dating profile, men who stick her with the dinner bill, and worst of all, men who can't shut up about their mothers. But finally, she hits the jackpot.
Her new boyfriend is utterly perfect. He's charming, handsome, and works as a doctor at a local hospital. Sydney is swept off her feet.
Then the brutal murder of a young woman―the latest in a string of deaths across the coast―confounds police. The primary suspect? A mystery man who dates his victims before he kills them.
Sydney should feel safe. After all, she is dating the guy of her dreams. But she can't shake her own suspicions that the perfect man may not be as perfect as he seems. Because someone is watching her every move, and if she doesn't get to the truth, she'll be the killer's next victim…
A Minute to Midnight : The Number One Bestseller
A Minute to Midnight is the gripping follow up to Long Road to Mercy featuring Special Agent Atlee Pine from one of the world’s most favourite thriller writers, David Baldacci.
Without Mercy.
At six years old, Atlee’s twin sister, Mercy, was taken from the family home while Atlee was left for dead. Since that fateful night, Atlee has dedicated her life and career to catching those who hurt others.
Word of a killer.
Atlee has never stopped searching for answers about her sister. A notorious serial killer, locked in a maximum-security prison, continues to haunt her. Does he really know what happened to Mercy?
Quest for justice.
When Atlee oversteps the mark on the arrest of a dangerous criminal, the FBI gives her a leave of absence – the perfect opportunity to return to where it all began.
Determined to finally uncover the truth, Atlee Pine’s journey home turns into a rollercoaster ride of murder, long-buried secrets and lies . . . and a revelation so personal that everything she once believed is fast turning to dust.
Ruthless Creatures : A spicy dark Mafia romance from the TikTok sensation
From BookTok sensation J.T. Geissinger comes Ruthless Creatures, a scorchingly hot mafia romance about two people bound together by a debt that must be collected. No matter the cost.
Five years ago, my fiancé disappeared. He left me with a wedding dress I’d never wear. Left me with the kind of scars that can’t be healed. The man I built my future on vanished like a ghost. All that remained were my broken heart and a million unanswered questions.
Until a mysterious stranger arrives in town.
Tall, dark and dangerous, Kage is as full of secrets as he is sex appeal. Though I know he’s hiding something, I’m drawn to him like a moth to flame. Heat crackles between us with every look, desire flares into passion, and I fall hard, helpless to resist.
But then I discover he’s been sent to collect on an unpaid debt from my missing fiancé . . .
And that debt is me.
Discover Carnal Urges, the second book in the addictive Queens and Monsters series by J. T. Geissinger.
Mixed Signals
Layla Dupree has given up on love. She’s waded through all of the fish in the sea, each one more disappointing than the last. Apparently owning the bakery at Inglewild’s most romantic destination does not help one’s love life—despite her best efforts. All she wants is a partner who gives her butterflies, not someone who ghosts her at dinner and leaves her with the check. Good thing Caleb Alvarez has the perfect solution. After saving Layla from another date gone bad, he has a simple proposition: one month of no-strings dating. He’ll do his best to renew her faith in men, while she rates his dating game. It’s a win-win situation. All the benefits of dating, without the added pressure of feelings and unmet expectations. But there’s one ingredient they haven’t considered: the chemistry between them is red hot, and the urge to take things to the next level is more tempting than Layla’s double fudge mocha brownies. Will the heat between them boil over? Or will it be another case of mixed signals?
Penance : A Novel
One of Granta's Best Young British Novelists 2023
“Eliza Clark’s writing embraces the socially unacceptable and wryly explores themes of gender, power, and violence.”—Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists 2023
“Chilling, clever, and unputdownable.”—Guardian
From the author of the cult hit Boy Parts comes a chilling, brilliantly told story of murder among a group of teenage girls—a powerful and disturbing novel as piercing in its portrait of young women as Emma Cline’s The Girls.
On a beach in a run-down seaside town on the Yorkshire coastline, sixteen-year-old Joan Wilson is set on fire by three other schoolgirls.
Nearly a decade after the horrifying murder, journalist Alec Z. Carelli has written the definitive account of the crime, drawn from hours of interviews with witnesses and family members, painstaking historical research, and most notably, correspondence with the killers themselves. The result is a riveting snapshot of lives rocked by tragedy, and a town left in turmoil.
But how much of the story is true?
Compulsively readable, provocative, and disturbing, Penance is a cleverly nuanced, unflinching exploration of gender, class, and power that raises troubling questions about the media and our obsession with true crime while bringing to light the depraved side of human nature and our darkest proclivities.
The Secret History
A Read With Jenna Book Club Pick • International Bestseller
“Enthralling. . . . A remarkably powerful novel.” —The New York Times
In this brilliant novel from Donna Tartt, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Goldfinch, comes a richly textured and hypnotic story of golden youth corrupted by its own moral arrogance.
Richard Papen had never been to New England before his nineteenth year. Then he arrived at Hampeden College and quickly became seduced by the sweet, dark rhythms of campus life—in particular by an elite group of five students, Greek scholars, worldly, self-assured, and at first glance, highly unapproachable.
Yet as Richard was accepted and drawn into their inner circle, he learned a terrifying secret that bound them to one another. . . a secret about an incident in the woods in the dead of night where an ancient rite was brought to brutal life. . . and lead to a gruesome death. And that was just the beginning...
Dublin Devil : A Dark Mafia Romance
He is the most feared man in Dublin, and his reputation is hard-earned.
As the second born to the Quinn family, while my older brother, Tag, navigates the politics of running of our territory, I run our army.
The Dublin Devils is the Quinn motorcycle club, and we are a powerful force.
Roaring through the Dublin streets, I command both fear and respect from everyone north of the River Liffey—and from much of the McGuire territory to the south of the river as well.
Not that Quinns go south of the river.
The territorial lines between our two rival families were set in place by Da years ago, and even after his death, we honor the agreement.
The McGuires honor nothing.
So, when Piper McGuire, daughter of our enemy, shows up on our side of the river, bloody and beaten, there’s only one logical answer—send her back.
With tensions already high between our two families, she’s everything we don’t want or need.
And yet, despite hating myself for it—I do want her.
And even knowing it can never work—I do need her.
But there’s another problem…she’s betrothed to another.
Dublin Devil is Book 2 in the Emerald Isle Mafia series. This is a Dark Mafia Romance full of heat, betrayal, and survival that will take your heart hostage and never let go. Each book is a connected standalone with a completed story and HEA. This is a spicy Dark Mafia, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, arranged marriage romance, which features scenes of a violent as well as explicit sexual nature.
Twisted
'Please don't let anything bad have happened to her, please don't let anything have happened to my baby…'
Marcus and Lena Fulford are the envy of their friends. Wealthy, attractive and successful, the couple, with their strikingly beautiful teenage daughter Amy, seem settled and content. But appearances mask a strained relationship almost at breaking point. Marcus's latest business venture has failed, draining Lena, the major breadwinner, dry. Putting Amy into weekly boarding school and striving to get her own career back on its feet, Lena remains alone in the luxurious family house as her marriage heads towards as amicable a divorce as she and Marcus can muster, and joint custody of their only child.
So when Amy arranges a sleepover with a school friend one weekend, neither parent sees the need to be in touch with her. Saturday, Sunday, Monday morning pass before Lena - seething from her first, unexpectedly confrontational, meeting with Marcus's divorce lawyer - phones Amy. Straight to Amy's voicemail. She must be in lessons. Lena sends a text. She waits. No reply, no contact whatsoever. It is only when Amy is reported missing from school and her friend's mother reveals that, instead of staying with them, Amy was visiting her father - a fact vehemently denied by Marcus - that Lena contacts the police. Her daughter has not been seen since Saturday afternoon.
As the police intensify their enquiries, their reassurances that Amy will be found safe and well begin to sound increasingly hollow. DI Victor Reid, in charge of the case, fears the worst - abduction or murder. A family under constant police and press scrutiny, a father who has seemingly lied about his alibi for the weekend, a mother whose perfect world is crumbling beneath her feet, a detective under pressure from his impatient superiors to deliver a result, the length of time that Amy has been missing gathering speed… all conspire to make Lynda La Plante's latest thriller her most tense and terrifying yet.
Where is Amy? Is she alive or dead? Lies and betrayal mount as the hunt for a missing girl becomes a search for a body…
**Lynda La Plante's Widows is now a major motion picture**
The Babysitter : 'Intriguing, unpredictable and so very twisty' Claire Douglas
THE GRIPPING No.1 BESTSELLER
'A propulsive stand-out thriller - A one-sitting read' Andrea Mara, No 1 bestselling author of NO ONE SAW A THING
'Unpredictable and so very twisty... I loved it' Clare Douglas, No 1 bestselling author of THE WRONG SISTER
'Activate your '"do not disturb" because you will NOT be able to stop reading until you turn the last page' Tammy Cohen
Three women. Three secrets. But only one of them is capable of murder...
Claudia's life imploded ten years ago when she was convicted of the murder of her child. Now she has done the unthinkable and confessed to manslaughter in order to be granted parole - her only hope of finding out what really happened to Tilly.
Sara is married to Joe, Claudia's ex-husband, and they have a young child together. She finally has everything she ever wanted, but Claudia's release threatens the perfect life she has created.
Anna was the babysitter who let Claudia and Joe down on day their daughter disappeared. Married with a child of her own, Claudia's reappearance in her quiet cul-de-sac is an unwelcome surprise.
These three women are tied together in more ways than they realize. But only one of them is capable of killing.
___
'Layer upon layer of chilling suspense' Gilly Macmillan
'The tension doesn't let up' Claire Douglas
'Had me riveted' Jane Corry
'Full of secrets, lies, and the dark side of suburbia' Heat
Emma Curtis's brand-new twisty thriller THE COMMUTER is now available for pre-order!