Life got quite scary in 2020, but there are moms out there who still love to engross themselves in a captivating novel. Reading isn't just for kids. A lot of people are reading more during the health crisis for various reasons, like social education. But sometimes we need an escape, and thrillers can be that escape. There's a reason people love the genre, and the stories are often turned into movies and TV shows, like You and Gone Girl.
Thrillers are basically true crime but in a fictionalized form, and lots of people just can't get enough. With International Women's Day coming up, we wanted to pay homage to some of the creepiest, most mysterious, and most captivating thrillers by female authors. From people mysteriously dying at island weddings and on cruises, to losing memories in a car accident, to eerie fever dreams, there are a plethora of chilling reads to choose from, written by extremely talented women, including Black and Latinx authors.
'The Sun Down Motel' by Simone St. James
$16
from
Penguin Random House
If crime and creepy hotel mysteries appeal, then Simone St. James' The Sun Down Hotel is the book to read. It's set in two time periods â the present day and 1982. Who doesn't love a good '80s thriller? Something at the hotel just isn't right, so the main character goes back to hotel where her aunt went missing all those years ago.
'The Guest List' by Lucy Foley
$23
from
Barnes & Noble
This book is Ireland island wedding meets wild thriller. It starts off like a regular destination celebration, but then "turns dark and deadly" as someone turns up dead. Reviewers say it has Agatha Christie vibes.
'The Hunting Party' by Lucy Foley
$13.6
from
Harper Collins
Author Lucy Foley is a phenomenal thriller writer and has another hit readers love: The Hunting Party. This one is also set overseas, this time in Scotland, where a group of college friends meet up for a reunion. But then "a historic blizzard seals the lodge off from the outside world" forcing them to get a little too close for comfort, and on New Yearâs Day, one of the friends turns up dead.
'The Last Mrs. Parrish' by Liv Constantine
$14
from
Barnes & Noble
The Last Mrs. Parrish has been compared to Gillian Flynnâs Gone Girl or Paula Hawkinsâs The Girl on the Train by the Library Journal, which tells us it's definitely a good read. It involves a friend jealous of her seemingly perfect married friends and a secret plot. Barnes & Noble calls it a "fresh, juicy, and utterly addictive thriller."
'Baby Teeth' by Zoje Stage
Baby Teeth? Even the name itself sounds creepy. Perhaps that's what author Zoje Stage was going for with her thriller. It's about a creepy 7-year-old named Hanna who can't stand her mother, Suzette. According to the book's review, "Suzette starts to fear that maybe their supposedly innocent baby girl may have a truly sinister agenda."
'Verity' by Colleen Hoover
$15
from
Barnes & Noble
When sharing recommendations for thrillers, Colleen Hoover's Verity is often mentioned, and for good reason. The plot centers on injured author Verity Crawford's manuscript, which is discovered by a broke writer who is trying to help Verity's husband. The problem is, the manuscript is full of damning secrets.
'The Night Swim' by Megan Goldin
The Night Swim sounds like a pleasant thought in theory, but it's anything but that in Megan Goldin's novel. A true crime podcast host visits a town at the center of a rape trial between a destined Olympic swimmer and the granddaughter of the police chief. But she's also investigating a tragic drowning of Jenny Stills after she receives letters that say Jenny was actually murdered. Somehow, the two cases collide.
'Sharp Objects' by Gillian Flynn
$16
from
Penguin Random House
Sharp Objects is one of Gillian Flynn's popular thriller books turned into a TV show. It's about a journalist who has to return to the town she grew up in, and live with her mother and half sister again. She's in town to report on the murders of two teen girls.
'The Death of Mrs. Westaway' by Ruth Ware
$10
from
Barnes & Noble
Most people would be thrilled to find out they received an inheritance from someone, but not in the case of Hal, the main character in The Death of Mrs. Westway. It turns out, Hal isn't supposed to have received that letter at all.
'The Perfect Marriage' by Jeneva Rose
$12
from
Barnes & Noble
Talk about an affair gone wrong. In Jeneva Rose's The Perfect Marriage, Sara's husband, Adam, is accused of murdering his mistress, who "had been found stabbed to death in Adam and Sarah's second home." But Sara finds a reason to defend her cheating husband.
'The Dead Key' by D.M. Pulley
$16
from
Barnes & Noble
This thriller, set in the '90s, won't bring tingly, warm feelings to millennials. It's about an abandoned bank and the secrets that it holds, which turn out to be a lot. According to Barnes & Noble's review, "Iris follows the looming shadow of the past deeper into the vault â and soon realizes that the key to the mystery comes at an astonishing price."
An Anonymous Girl: A Novel by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
$15
from
Barnes & Noble
Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen's novel An Anonymous Girl turns psychological studies into a much creepier experience. The lead character, Jessica, volunteers for a study looking into morality and ethics, but the lead doctor on the study takes advantage of Jessica, monitoring and manipulating her behavior.
'White Out' by Danielle Girard
$16
from
Barnes & Noble
White Out is both chilling and sounds chilly. A woman gets into a car accident and loses her memory. Sounds normal, until it's clear to the lead detective on the case that the woman is connected to a murder that happened the same night as her crash.
'One of the Good Ones' by Maika Moulite
$17
from
Barnes & Noble
Thrillers don't have to always be about white women getting murdered. A book can explore deeper social issues, and One of the Good Ones by Maika Moulite is proof. Per Barnes & Noble: "When teen social activist and history buff Kezi Smith is killed under mysterious circumstances after attending a social justice rally, her devastated sister Happi and their family are left reeling in the aftermath." They try to honor Happi, but of course, there's a twist.
'When You Look Like Us' by Pamela N. Harris
$14
from
Harper Collins
Another thriller that examines how we see racial and social issues, When You Look Like Us by Pamela N. Harris focuses on a Black boy who tries to figure out why his sister has gone missing. When no one in power acts, he has to.
'And Now She's Gone' by Rachel Howzell Hall
If it wasn't obvious from the title of And Now She's Gone by Rachel Howzell Hall, Isabel Lincoln goes missing. Or at least, that's what it seems. Grayson Sykes tries to find her, but runs into trouble as "the search for Isabel Lincoln becomes more complicated and dangerous with every new revelation about the womanâs secrets and the truth sheâs hidden from her friends and family."
'Mexican Gothic' by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
$24
from
Barnes & Noble
Mexican Gothic is a thriller/horror story set in Mexico, and according to readers, has a good amount of cultural elements mixed in. A debutante goes to the Mexican countryside to live in a home with family members she doesn't know, and who aren't all that inviting. And neither is the house.
'Fever Dream' by Samanta Schweblin
$16
from
Penguin Random House
Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin was called âGeniusâ by author Jia Tolentino. A woman lies dying in a hospital with a boy who is with her, and who she was told is a "monster." But they're not related. According to Penguin Random House, "Fever Dream is a nightmare come to life, a ghost story for the real world, a love story and a cautionary tale."
'The Woman in Cabin 10' by Ruth Ware
$16
from
Barnes & Noble
The Woman in Cabin 10 is another awesome and loved Ruth Ware thriller, with the creepiness of a murder on a cruise thrown in. A woman is thrown overboard on a cruise a travel journalist happens to be on. The problem? Everyone is still accounted for, so no one cares.
'A Crooked Tree' by Una Mannion
$28
from
Barnes & Noble
In our opinion, Barnes & Noble's landing page for A Crooked Tree by Una Mannion describes the novel best: "A haunting, suspenseful literary debut that combines a classic coming of age story with a portrait of a fractured American family dealing with the fallout of one summer evening gone terribly wrong." It begins with a mom leaving two kids on the side of the road to walk home together after they fought in the back seat. Night comes, and so does a whole lot of other things.
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