From Agatha Christie to John Grisham, these are must-read thriller series!
There's nothing quite like the adrenaline rush of a gripping book series that keeps you on the edge of your seat. While a standalone book offers great suspense, there is just something extra special about following your favorite characters book after book as they find their way out of new situations. Seasoned readers and new readers of the genre can escape into a world of excitement, intrigue, and tension with just the right thriller series.
This specially curated list of the top thriller book series is perfect for those who crave heart-pounding excitement and mind-bending plot twists. These series are crafted by talented authors, many known for shaping the thriller genre into what it is today. You may recognize some of these series as critically-acclaimed novels, popular book club picks, or films or TV show adaptations.
Whether they follow relentless female detectives hunting down elusive criminals or ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances, these series offer a variety of plotlines to satisfy any thriller enthusiast. So, grab one of these enthralling series, where danger promises to lurk around every corner, and every page brings a new surprise. Lose yourself in some of today's best thriller book series.
9 of The Best THRILLER Books
In the Woods
by Tana French
The bestselling debut, with over a million copies sold, that launched Tana French, author of the forthcoming novel The Hunter and "the most important crime novelist to emerge in the past 10 years" (The Washington Post).
"Required reading for anyone who appreciates tough, unflinching intelligence and ingenious plotting." --The New York Times
As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours.
Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a twelve-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox--his partner and closest friend--find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar to the previous unsolved mystery. Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past.
Richly atmospheric and stunning in its complexity, In the Woods is utterly convincing and surprising to the end.
Rizzoli & Isles: Listen to Me
by Tess Gerritsen
NATIONAL BESTSELLER - Rizzoli & Isles are back! From New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen, this "shocking and fast-paced" (Karin Slaughter) thriller has Jane and Maura investigating a brutal murder with dire implications, and this time, with Jane's intrepid mother, Angela, looking into a mystery of her own.
"An utter pleasure to keep readerly company with."--The New York Times
Mothers know best . . . But who will listen?
Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles are newly plagued by what seems like a completely senseless murder. Sofia Suarez, a widow and nurse who was universally liked by her neighbors, lies bludgeoned to death in her own home. But anything can happen behind closed doors, and Sofia seemed to have plenty of secrets in her last days, making covert phone calls to traceless burner phones. When Jane finally makes a connection between Sofia and the victim of a hit-and-run from months earlier, the case only grows more blurry. What exactly was Sofia involved in? One thing is clear: The killer will do anything it takes to keep their secret safe.
Meanwhile, Angela Rizzoli hasn't had a decent night's sleep in all the years since her daughter became a homicide detective. Maybe the apple didn't fall too far from the tree: Nothing in Angela's neighborhood gets by her--not the gossip about a runaway teenager down the block and definitely not the strange neighbors who have just moved in across the street. Angela's sure there's no such thing as coincidence in her sleepy suburb. If only Jane would listen--instead she writes off Angela's concerns as the result of an overactive imagination. But Angela's convinced there's a real wolf in her vicinity, and her cries might now fall on deaf ears.
With so much happening on the Sofia case, Jane and Maura already struggle to see the forest for the trees, but will they lose sight of something sinister happening much closer to home?
Maid
by Nita Prose
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK - "A heartwarming mystery with a lovable oddball at its center" (Real Simple), this cozy whodunit introduces a one-of-a-kind heroine who will steal your heart.
FINALIST FOR THE EDGAR(R) AWARD - "The reader comes to understand Molly's worldview, and to sympathize with her longing to be accepted--a quest that gives The Maid real emotional heft."--The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice)
"Think Clue. Think page-turner."--Glamour
ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Reader's Digest
WINNER: The Anthony Award, The Fingerprint Award, The Barry Award
In development as a major motion picture
Molly Gray is not like everyone else. She struggles with social skills and misreads the intentions of others. Her gran used to interpret the world for her, codifying it into simple rules that Molly could live by.
Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has been navigating life's complexities all by herself. No matter--she throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job. She delights in donning her crisp uniform each morning, stocking her cart with miniature soaps and bottles, and returning guest rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel to a state of perfection.
But Molly's orderly life is upended the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself dead in his bed. Before she knows what's happening, Molly's unusual demeanor has the police targeting her as their lead suspect. She quickly finds herself caught in a web of deception, one she has no idea how to untangle. Fortunately for Molly, friends she never knew she had unite with her in a search for clues to what really happened to Mr. Black--but will they be able to find the real killer before it's too late?
A Clue-like, locked-room mystery and a heartwarming journey of the spirit, The Maid explores what it means to be the same as everyone else and yet entirely different--and reveals that all mysteries can be solved through connection to the human heart.
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, The Guardian, Glamour, Elle, PopSugar, Newsweek, Mental Floss, She Reads, Kirkus Reviews
Thursday Murder Club
by Richard Osman
A New York Times Bestseller Soon to be a Major Motion Picture
"Don't trust anyone, including the four septuagenarian sleuths in Osman's own laugh-out-loud whodunit." --Parade
Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves
A female cop with her first big case
A brutal murder
Welcome to...
THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB
In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club.
When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case.
As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it's too late?
"Witty, endearing and greatly entertaining." --Wall Street Journal
Traitor's Dance
by Jeff Abbott
From New York Times bestselling author Jeff Abbott, an exciting thriller in which undercover agent Sam Capra must capture the last American traitor.
Sam Capra and his thirteen-year-old son, Daniel, are living a quiet life in Austin, Texas, where Sam continues to run his collection of bars and nightclubs around the world. He's had no recent contact with his former partner, Mila, and is working for America's most secret espionage agency, known as Section K--all while trying to be a good suburban dad.
Suddenly, Sam is approached by a fellow spy with an incredible revelation: Markus Bolt is missing. Bolt is the last American traitor, who had turned over allied agent names and military secrets to the Russians. He fled to Moscow when he was discovered, but now a trusted source inside Russia tells Section K that Markus Bolt has vanished from Moscow--and the Americans need to find him before the Russians do.
Sam is charged with making contact with Bolt's abandoned American daughter, Amanda, and determining if she's had any contact with her father. He must discover the reason behind Bolt's unexpected run and protect Amanda from the killers hunting her father.
But as Sam's search for Bolt grows more dangerous, Sam faces a rising threat born of long-ago secrets--one that could change his and his son's lives forever.
Murder at the Vicarage: A Miss Marple Mystery
by Agatha Christie
Now with a beautiful new series look, Agatha Christie's first mystery to feature the beloved investigator Miss Marple--as a dead body in a clergyman's study proves to the indomitable sleuth that no place, holy or otherwise, is a sanctuary from homicide.
Miss Marple encounters a compelling murder mystery in St. Mary Mead, where under the seemingly peaceful exterior of an English country village lurks intrigue, guilt, deception, and death.
Colonel Protheroe, local magistrate and overbearing landowner is the most detested man in the village. Everyone--even in the vicar--wishes he were dead. And very soon he is--shot in the head in the vicar's own study. Faced with a surfeit of suspects, only the inscrutable Miss Marple can unravel the tangled web of clues that will lead to the unmasking of the killer.
Burning
by Linda Castillo
Chief of Police Kate Burkholder investigates a gruesome murder that reveals a little-known chapter of early Amish history in this next riveting installment of the bestselling series by Linda Castillo.
Newlywed Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is awakened by an urgent midnight call summoning her to a suspicious fire in the woods. When she arrives at the scene, she discovers a charred body. According to the coroner, the deceased, an Amish man named Milan Swanz, was chained to a stake and burned alive. It is an appalling and eerily symbolic crime against an upstanding husband and father.
Kate knows all too well that the Amish prefer to handle their problems without interference from the outside world, and no one will speak about the murdered man. From what she's able to piece together, Swanz led a deeply troubled life and had recently been excommunicated. But if that's the case, why are the Amish so reluctant to talk about him? Are they protecting the memory of one of their own? Or are they afraid of something they dare not share?
When her own brother is implicated in the case, Kate finds herself not only at odds with the Amish, the world of which she was once a part, but also the English community and her counterparts in law enforcement. The investigation takes a violent turn when Kate's life is threatened by a mysterious stranger.
To uncover the truth about the death of Milan Swanz, Kate must dive deep into the Anabaptist culture, peering into all the dark corners of its history, only to uncover a secret legacy that shatters everything she thought she knew about the Amish themselves--and her own roots.
Camino Ghosts
by John Grisham
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - John Grisham takes you back to Camino Island, where bookseller Bruce Cable and novelist Mercer Mann always manage to find trouble in paradise.
Mercer Mann, a popular writer from Camino Island, is back on the beach, marrying her boyfriend, Thomas, in a seaside ceremony. Bruce Cable, infamous owner of Bay Books, performs the wedding. Afterward, Bruce tells Mercer that he has stumbled upon an incredible story. Mercer desperately needs an idea for her next novel, and Bruce now has one.
The true story is about Dark Isle, a sliver of a barrier island not far off the North Florida coast. It was settled by freed slaves three hundred years ago, and their descendants lived there until 1955, when the last one was forced to leave. That last descendant is Lovely Jackson, elderly now, who loves her birthplace and its remarkable history. But now Tidal Breeze, a huge, ruthless corporate developer, wants to build a resort and casino on the island, which Lovely knows, deep down, is rightfully hers.
Mercer befriends Lovely, and they plunge into an enormous fight over who owns Dark Isle, taking on Tidal Breeze Corporation, its lawyers, lobbyists, and powerful Florida politicians. But Lovely knows something about the island that could seriously cloud the dollar signs in the developer's eyes: the island is cursed. It has remained uninhabited for nearly a century for some very real and very troubling reasons. The deep secrets of the past are about to collide with the enormous ambitions of the present, and the fate of Dark Isle--and Camino Island, too--hangs in the balance.
This Is Why We Lied: A Will Trent Thriller
by Karin Slaughter
WATCH WILL TRENT ON ABC!
"Expect from a Karin Slaughter crime thriller . . . just the right amount of twists, turns, shocks, surprises and domestic thrill and shrill." -- Parade
The next thrilling suspense featuring Will Trent and Sara Linton from Karin Slaughter, New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Girls and After That Night!
One toxic family.
Eight suspicious guests.
Everyone is guilty.
But who is a killer?
For GBI investigator Will Trent and medical examiner Sara Linton, McAlpine Lodge seems like the ideal getaway to celebrate their honeymoon. Set on a gorgeous, off-the-grid mountaintop property, it's the perfect place to unplug and reconnect. Until a bone-chilling scream cuts through the night.
A murderer in their midst
Mercy McAlpine, the manager of the Lodge, is dead. With a vicious storm raging and the one access road to the property washed out, the murderer must be someone on the mountain. But as Will and Sara investigate the McAlpine family and the other guests, they realize that everyone here is lying....Lying about their past. Lying to their family. Lying to themselves.
Who killed Mercy McAlpine?
It soon becomes clear that normal rules don't apply at McAlpine Lodge, and Will and Sara are going to have to watch their step at every turn. Trapped on the resort, they must untangle a decades-old web of secrets to discover what happened to Mercy. And with the killer poised to strike again, the trip of a lifetime becomes a race against the clock. …
Whether it’s classics like the Agatha Christie Mrs. Marple series or the newer Thursday Murder Club Mystery series by Richard Osman, these top thriller series will have you eagerly awaiting the next book.