Even though Spooky Season is over, thriller novels are definitely the kind of books I can read all year round! I have honestly gone through so many thrillers over the years, but there were three in particular that I read recently that live in my head rent-free, and I NEED to share them with you!
1. The Turn of the Key – Ruth Ware
I have recently discovered Ruth Ware’s writing, and this book of hers is definitely one of my all time favorite reads of the year! The entire novel is written in the form of different letters, as the main character, Rowan, is writing to her lawyer from prison, where she is on death row for presumably murdering one of the little girls she nannied for. She tells the entire story about what happened from her perspective, and it is beyond crazy. I seriously could not put this book down when I first read it, because each chapter got more and more suspenseful. I’m not even lying when I say that there were SO many different twists and turns, and the ending left me speechless (which doesn’t happen often).
2. Wilder Girls – Rory Power
I wouldn’t call this just a thriller, as there are also aspects of the dystopian, fantasy, science-fiction, LGBT romance, and mystery genres thrown in this amazing book as well. This is hands down one of my favorite stand-alone books, and I would read this over and over again if I could. Truthfully, I finished this entire book in a day and did not stop thinking about it for weeks afterwards…it was just THAT GOOD. This fast paced YA novel tells the story of the isolated Raxter School for Girls and how they were placed under quarantine (sound familiar?) due to a deadly virus called the Tox that would slowly infect students, changing their bodies into things the girls themselves never even imagined could happen to them. But when Byatt, the best friend of the main character Hetty, goes missing, Hetty makes it her mission to find her, which results in her accidentally unraveling the complete truth about her school and the virus. This book was one of the most intense books I’ve read in a while, and the plot as a whole was so interesting!
3. The Wife Between Us – Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen
I read this book over this past winter break, and let me just say, I was not disappointed. You might think that it’s about a jealous ex-wife who becomes dangerously obsessed with her ex-husband’s replacement, but you also might be wrong (or are you?). This psychological thriller was written to confuse people on who the narrator really is, and the plot twists will 100% shock you. I went into this thinking I knew exactly how this story was going to go down, I even went so far as to predict the ending…but I was dead wrong. It left me questioning literally everything about life and honestly chilled me to my bones. If you’re not a fan of creepier stories, then this might not be for you, but if you love psychological thrillers/fictional broken marriage stories as much as me, then this book is going to be your new favorite!!
Trust me, if you read any of these books, you will not regret it.