Buckle up for a high-octane adventure this autumn! For our Stunt Double Reader Type, we've curated a list of the best thrillers, horror novels and true crime stories coming out this fall.
While the leaves fall quietly outside your window, dive into thrilling covert operations, explosive survival stories and page-turning adventures. If you enjoy fiction from bestselling authors like Clive Cussler, Matthew Reilly, Mark Greaney and Brad Thor, these books are guaranteed to make your TBR.
New Thriller, Horror and True Crime Books for October 2026
Dive Bar at the End of the Road
by Kelley Armstrong
Final Destination meets The Cabin at the End of the World in this supernatural horror from New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong, in which a series of car accidents traps a group of strangers at a dive bar.
A forested road at night, slick from the pounding rain and eerily illuminated by flashes of lightning. Just before midnight, a car swerves to avoid something--or someone--mysteriously standing in the road, only to slam into a fallen tree instead. In the pitch black, four more cars follow in a pileup no one can seem to avoid.
Stumbling out of the wreckage, soaked from the rain and nursing various injuries, five strangers find themselves in a backwoods dive bar, waiting for daybreak and hoping for cell service. But as tensions rise and the storm rages on outside, the occupants of the dive bar start to notice that not everything is as it seems. Time is moving differently, and they quickly learn that going outside--whether to assist another accident victim or to hike for help--is a very bad idea.
There's something in the woods, something that isn't natural. Could the figure in the road have been a warning? Or something more sinister? None of this is normal, and they'll need to work together to figure out what's happening if they have any hope of surviving the night.
Find Me Where It Ends
by Cassandra Khaw
A woman wakes up to find the black hound of Death at her front door in this hauntingly beautiful tale from USA Today bestselling author Cassandra Khaw.
Antigone is no stranger to death.
For the women of her family, death always comes in the form of a black dog.
When Antigone's own black dog arrives, she isn't afraid. She invites it inside, where it soon becomes a daily source of companionship and comfort. It also forces her to reflect on the life she's led--the parts of herself she's hollowed out for the sake of others, and the bone-deep exhaustion that's hounded her every step.
Her Death's arrival must be a sign, permission to finally let go. To rest. Because while mortality is inevitable, living is a choice.
But a good death comes at a price.
Look What the Cat Dragged in
by Jason Rekulak
"Garfield meets Rosemary's Baby" – Publisher's Weekly
From the New York Times bestselling author of Hidden Pictures and The Last One at the Wedding comes a new supernatural thriller about a young woman pet-sitting a cat with a mysterious secret, featuring more than eighty pages of illustrations.
Meet Penny Padgett, a twenty-seven-year-old cartoonist in Philadelphia who agrees to pet-sit a very peculiar cat named Godfrey in her home. At first, he's a warm and affectionate companion who follows Penny all around the house and insists on sleeping by her side every night. But soon strange things are happening: Penny is haunted by disturbing and violent nightmares. There's a terrible insect infestation in her basement. Her cute cartoon illustrations turn dark and surreal, as if influenced by some invisible hand. And her health starts failing, as if her mind and body are under attack by a sinister, malevolent force.
Penny may be a cat person, but she's starting to think Godfrey is no ordinary cat. ...
Fully illustrated with more than eighty pages of original artwork, Jason Rekulak's new novel is intensely plotted, wonderfully frightening, and wildly clever. He more than lives up to his reputation as having "a freakishly fertile imagination" (The New York Times).
Mystery Play
by Elizabeth Kostova
The last living member of a family of historians who has been hunted by dark forces associated with Dracula finds himself in peril at the hands of a new threat in this thrilling novel from the #1 bestselling author of The Historian.
After his beloved mother passes away suddenly, Jay Turner finds himself at a crossroads. She was always secretive, and when he returns to their Boston home to clear out her possessions, he finds an unusual item: a partially burned scrap of newspaper bearing the name "Gael Brogan." Soon after, a deliveryman leaves behind a package containing a small antique volume bound in leather--and two bloody footprints.
The sight of the volume is chilling. As a young scholar, his mother had been given the medieval book--one of a set commissioned by Vlad Țepeș, otherwise known as Dracula, just before his death in 1477. She'd always warned Jay of the dangers associated with it, and had donated it to a museum before she died ... yet here it is, back in his possession.
Jay sets out to learn more about Gael Brogan, a prominent nineteenth-century actor whose last and most famous role was based on Bram Stoker's Dracula. As Jay begins to dig deeper--with the help of a mysterious woman named Rhiannon--he uncovers the frightening story of a young actress who fell under Brogan's sway long ago. Before long, Jay and Rhiannon realize that something similarly implacable is pursuing them.
In this epic and riveting tale, Elizabeth Kostova takes us deep into the Gilded Age of the theater and across the Atlantic in pursuit of an ancient evil and its dramatic followers.
Solace House
by Will MacLean
You are about to enter a place of strange genius, possible madness, and timeless love ...
"The Secret History meets The Haunting of Hill House ... rich, thoughtful, terrifying." -- Nicholas Binge, author of Dissolution
An addictive and brilliant puzzle box of a novel following a group of university students who discover an astonishing secret while clearing out a neglected Victorian mansion
For Alex Lane's wealthy university friends, the summer break stretches out before them, full of promise and fabulous plans. But for Alex, broke as usual, going home is not an option. So when the university offers him an unusual summer job clearing out a dilapidated Victorian mansion, Solace House, he jumps at the chance.
Alex joins an unlikely crew of students, from stoner Clive to uptight, short-tempered Helen, and the extremely peculiar Adam. Alex is particularly drawn to mercurial, red-headed Ella, and as the students begin sorting through piles of old newspapers and magazines, dusty antiques, and esoteric junk, Alex and Ella become enthralled by the elaborate and eerie journals of the house's former owner, Edwin Flayne. In these diaries, Flayne details his obsession with his missing mother and his belief in a mysterious realm lying parallel to ours, along with coded instructions on how it might be reached.
As the students gradually uncover the house's secrets, the rift between those who want to delve further and those who believe they've already gone too far grows ever wider.
The Girl in the Lake: A Holmes, Margaret & Poe Mystery
by James Patterson - Brian Sitts
An icy thriller from the world's #1 bestselling author, James Patterson.
At a frozen lakeside crime scene, a corpse carries an accusatory note: "If anything happens to me, arrest Brendan Holmes."
Mysteries trail Brendan Holmes, Margaret Marple, and Auguste Poe wherever they go. At a remote lodge in upstate New York, the embattled private investigators have taken refuge from the assailant who bombed their sleek city headquarters.
When the discovery of a body in the lake puts the detectives back in the headlines and under suspicion, the elusive killer issues his despicable orders: stop solving crimes--and start committing them.
"Patterson ... will have readers checking their locks twice." – Booklist
"Patterson's latest thriller keeps readers guessing ... a fine chase." – People
The Hollow: A Harry Bosch Novel
by Michael Connelly
Retired LAPD detective Harry Bosch delves into the darkest chapter of his past in this electric thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly.
"The final showdown will make your heart thrum with vigilante pride." (Kirkus Reviews)
When Harry Bosch was eleven years old, his mother was murdered and he became a ward of the state, housed in MacLaren Children's Center, a notorious facility where abuse was rampant. Decades after its closure, a lawsuit has resulted in a massive settlement for former residents. But when Bosch's half-brother, defense attorney Mickey Haller, brings him word that Harry is entitled to part of it, Bosch says he doesn't want the money. He wants justice.
The news awakens his memories of a place he had hoped never to revisit, and of a boy nicknamed Chops, a fellow ward who wound up dead. Bosch is certain that Chops was killed in a hidden space under the stairs--the kids knew it as "the hollow"--and his murder covered up. Now he is determined to reopen the investigation and learn the truth, even if the killer is long gone.
As Bosch digs into the files, he picks up the trail of a predator who not only survived, but went on to a life of vicious crime--possibly including one of the city's most notorious unsolved cases. Forced to face a history that both scarred him and launched him on his mission as a cop, Bosch must bring down a sadistic criminal and finally put to rest the demons of his past.
The Throwaways
by Greta Kelly
"A well-written, twisty thriller with an intricate plot, engaging characters, and a satisfying emotional core." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review
The Calloway women are notorious for three things: Olympic-level banter, an inexplicable fear of dolls, and secrets.
And one of these things is going to get them killed.
Aster Calloway only sold her grandmother's Fabergé music box on eBay to finance her mom's mayoral campaign. It's not like Poppy Calloway has any real business running for office, but the only other candidate is her book-banning high school nemesis--and she's in the lead. But what Aster doesn't realize is that selling the heirloom has toppled the house of lies her grandmother, Iris, has been living in for the past forty years.
Because hidden inside that jewel-encrusted music box was a list of names--names that protected defected KGB operative Iris, her daughter, and her granddaughter. Now the list is gone, and a creepy doll is on Poppy's doorstep, which can only mean that the list is in play...and the three most dangerous spies in the world are on the hunt:
The one who broke Iris's heart.
The one who gave her Poppy.
And the one who wants all the other spies, and especially those bickering Calloway women, dead.
Don't miss out on the stunning DELUXE LIMITED EDITION while supplies last. This breathtaking collectible is only available on a limited first print run in the U.S. and Canada only, a must-have for any book lover.
What Happens at Nightfall
by Lauren Willig
New York Times bestselling author Lauren Willig returns with What Happens at Nightfall, a delightfully Gothic romantic adventure, complete with a little bit of demon-hunting.
In the sprawling Gothic expanse of Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery, some secrets refuse to stay buried. Recently laid off and searching for purpose, Jess reluctantly joins her best friend on a supposedly fun nighttime cemetery tour. Separated from her group by accident, she discovers a bunch of terrified boys and a strange, ancient key. Both lead to Green-Wood's surprisingly handsome resident arborist, Adam Chervinsky.
Recently widowed, Adam has more to protect than the leafy residents of Green-Wood. His children, still dealing with the loss of their mother, are acting strangely. A haunting is afoot, and Jess seems to know more than she's letting on. Sparks fly between Jess and Adam--and the unquiet spirits of Green-Wood rise from their century-long slumber.
As Jess and Adam delve deeper into the cemetery's haunted history, they uncover a Gilded Age curse, a ghostly socialite, and a demonic pact that stretches across generations. What lies hidden in the Green-Wood's splendid Vanderwilt mausoleum? As the line between the living and the dead blurs, and the shadows of Green-Wood begin to stir with malevolent intent, Jess must confront not only the supernatural forces but a shocking connection to the past if she and Adam truly want to live happily ever after.
The Witch (Deluxe Edition)
by Freida McFadden
A brand-new, haunting thriller from Freida McFadden, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Housemaid!
Some secrets don't die--they wait.
When Julia Barlow loses her job and her apartment, she has nowhere left to go but Pemberton, her family's sprawling seventeenth-century estate in rural Massachusetts. Officially, she's there to check in on her aging grandmother. Unofficially, she's hoping the old house will give her a place to disappear.
Instead, Pemberton begins to unravel her.
Every night, the grandfather clock stops at exactly 3:41 a.m. The lights flicker without warning. And a disembodied voice cries for help outside Julia's bedroom door.
As Julia digs into the house's dark history, she uncovers the story of a woman executed for witchcraft in 1692--and realizes the past may not be finished with Pemberton yet. When decades of family lies begin to surface, Julia must confront a terrifying truth: Pemberton may be haunted by women whose voices refuse to stay silent.
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden comes The Witch, a chilling, twist-filled thriller about secrets--those we inherit, those we bury, and those people will burn to keep silent.
Thriller, Horror and True Crime Books for September 2026
As the Snow Gathers
by Mere Joyce
The forest doesn't just take what it's owed--it takes whatever it wants.
Dominic was born in Aplin Shade, a remote Canadian town built on the bones of another that vanished without a trace. Bookish and quiet, he never asked to lead his family, but after a carriage crash kills his father and leaves his sister forever changed, he has no choice.
The only person who truly sees him is Lex, a logger in the camp near town and the love Dominic must keep secret. Together they dream of escaping Aplin Shade, a place where isolation breeds judgment and every kindness hides a cost.
But the forest is no refuge. The Fanteur dwell there--shadowed beings who come at night to drain the dead of their blood and return them for burial by dawn.
They've never touched the living.
Until now.
As winter descends and the Fanteur strike back against the logging camp, Dominic and Lex must fight for their lives, their love, and a way out of the woods' tightening grasp.
Because the forest doesn't forgive, and it never forgets.
The Castle: Adventures in a World of Unraveling Men
by Jon Ronson
From the bestselling author of The Psychopath Test and So You've Been Publicly Shamed comes a darkly comic trip to the furthest reaches of the masculinity crisis
His only child is lured to a mysterious castle in the forests of New England late one night, sending Jon Ronson on an extraordinary adventure into a dark world of unmoored men desperately searching for purpose and control--whatever the cost.
With zero warning, the crisis of masculinity and its bizarre, wrecking-ball manifestations had crashed into Jon's life. As his investigation deepens, urgent questions come to light: What exactly is "Princessing"? Why did a lawn care influencer dress as a baby in front of billions of online viewers? How did a paid-up member of the Skeptic Society derail his life in the name of a warped vision of chivalry? And, more pressingly, why are two recently released murderers on their way to pay Jon a visit?
In our rapidly changing society, many men have become detached from reality; some are behaving like separatists, while others have fallen deep down ideological rabbit holes. Is this a complete fracturing of society, a new era of disinhibition where anything goes?
Drawing on his trademark brand of humor, psychological insight, and unrivaled prescience, The Castle marks Jon Ronson's long-awaited return to the written page in his darkest and most insightful book yet--one where he throws open the doors to the Castle and reveals a new lost generation of men.
Exit Party
by Emily St. John Mandel
The award-winning, bestselling author of Station Eleven and Sea of Tranquility returns with a breathtaking novel of doubles, shadow worlds, and fractured timelines as a man disappears from a glittering Los Angeles party, and a woman--a gunrunner, an art collector, an operative of the State--searches for answers.
Los Angeles, 2031: The first spring after the collapse of the United States, peacekeeping troops withdraw from the city, the Jacaranda trees blossom, and the curfew is finally lifted. Ari Waker and her roommate pass the gauntlet of bomb-sniffing dogs, the shanty towns, and the Red Cross tents as they walk across Silverlake to a party. The mood is ecstatic inside the apartment, people drink and dance, a woman wears a silver dress, pleated like tinfoil. And then: A shift. A bewildered twin, an uncanny doppelganger stumbles through the crowd and out into the night, and Kareem, the party's host, vanishes into thin air.
As Ari Waker unravels the mystery of this inexplicable night, Emily St. John Mandel unfurls a story that takes us from a future America splintered by civil war to the seaside cliffs of Greece where weapons dealers hide in an elegant resort, and from the domed city of Paris to a colony on the moon. An unforgettable literary feat, Exit Party is a novel about the price of safety, the perils of the surveillance state, a requiem for a world not unlike our own, and a breathtaking story of resilience in the face of cataclysmic change.
Incarnate
by Alma Katsu
From beloved horror maven Alma Katsu comes a terrifying reimagining of The Picture of Dorian Gray for the internet age.
"Electric ... A deliciously addictive techno-horror that you can't look away from." – Kylie Lee Baker, author of Japanese Gothic
Beauty doesn't fade. It feeds.
Dorothy Wagner has spent her whole life wanting nothing more than to be seen. But after failing to make her mark as an influencer, she takes a job working for a brilliant coder whose company is focused on cutting-edge deepfake technology. And there, in secret, is where she creates her salvation.
Isabella. An impossibly gorgeous girl who takes social media by storm. Dorothy's artistry is brilliant, and Isabella seems so real that she garners millions of followers. But everybody knows overnight success doesn't just happen. And when someone gets a little too close to the truth, a violent confrontation sends Dorothy on the run, forcing her to confront what she's willing to sacrifice to keep her secrets.
A modern reimagining of a classic tale, Alma Katsu's Incarnate is an illuminating, haunting tale of algorithmic worship and beauty that can kill.
Kiss Slay Replay
by Rachel Harrison
Every wedding guest's worst nightmare is on repeat in this wild and twisty new horror novel from the New York Times bestselling author of So Thirsty and Play Nice.
It's the picture-perfect wedding weekend: The venue is dreamy, the weather is beautiful, love is in the air--and Willa Sullivan is having a bad time. She's excited to celebrate her best friends' finally having the big wedding they've always wanted, but this is the first time she's seen her ex-fiancé in months, and he brought a date.
Everything feels off, like she stumbled into an alternate universe. But things start to look up when Willa meets Danny, the groom's charming and single childhood best friend. When they sneak off together, their rendezvous is interrupted by a masked killer terrorizing the reception. Willa and Danny fight to save the ones they love and survive the night, but the killer is unrelenting. A final girl Willa is not.
Or is she? She wakes up and it's the morning of the wedding. She just had the most intense nightmare of her life. Only as the day unfolds, there are some uncanny coincidences that make her question whether it was really a dream, déjà vu, or something more sinister. After a horrifying turn of events, Willa comes to understand that she's stuck in a loop of carnage and terror that she must learn how to escape or else suffer a fate worse than death--being an eternal wedding guest.
Mazywood
by Tananarive Due
All the Sinners Bleed meets Erasure in this literary thriller from the award-winning author of The Reformatory following the grandson of a famous Black actress who returns to his grandmother's cabin retreat in the California mountains only to encounter the legacy of her rage born in Old Hollywood.
When Johnny--a filmmaker and grandson of the famous Black actress Mazelle Washington--brings his family to Mazywood, the secluded California mountain lodge left behind by his grandmother, he expects a quiet retreat. Instead, he uncovers a legacy of rage, secrets, and terror that has haunted his family for generations.
Set primarily in the present day, with haunting flashbacks to Hollywood's Golden Age, Mazywood explores three generations while following Johnny as he pieces together the true story of his grandmother. As a young Black actress whose career spanned from the 1920s to the 1940s, Mazelle brushed shoulders with giants like Lena Horne, Clark Gable, and Hattie McDaniel. But beneath her public appearance, she carried a secret she had kept and nurtured since she was a child, when a dark wish came true and changed the course of her life forever.
Now, fifty years after Mazelle's death, Johnny finds himself confronting the truth she buried--and the consequences she left behind. For a monster lurks outside Mazywood, hidden for generations, and Johnny brought his family to its hunting grounds.
The Most Dangerous Games (Standard Edition)
by Mrbeast Mrbeast - James Patterson
"You are someone who will look the impossible in the face and tell it to sit down and shut up. The world needs that. The world needs you."
A thousand strangers receive the invitation. One hundred make the cut. An unprecedented competition from MrBeast, the world's #1 creator with more than a billion followers, and James Patterson, the world's #1 bestselling author, where the stakes couldn't be higher.
The Games begin in Antarctica, where one wrong step on the ice kills you, and they never let up: Shark water off a remote Chilean island, desert heat that cooks you where you stand, storm-battered peaks, and caves so black you cannot find your own hand. No rescue. No second chances. A billion dollars to whoever is still standing.
Then the terrain stops being the thing that can kill you, and the other players start. Alliances turn into ambushes. Trust becomes the sharpest weapon. And somewhere above it all, a hidden voice is watching every move, testing, deciding who deserves to survive.
From MrBeast and James Patterson: an unputdownable survival thriller about what people will do to become The One who can save the world.
Pictures of You
by Josh Malerman
A woman becomes the unknowing subject of an artist's dangerous work in this intense Hitchcockian thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Incidents Around the House.
After a magical night out on the town with her boyfriend Jack, Emily wakes alone in a huge bed in a beautiful, well-lit room. But the pink ceiling, the mauve walls, and the deep, dark corners are nothing like the hotel she and Jack rented.
More worrisome yet: Emily has no memory of this place from the night before.
Where is she?
A woman's voice directs her to remain in bed.
Just so ...
And beyond the end of the bed, a picture frame upon an easel--a frame with no canvas, no painting, no art.
Only ... there is the silhouette of a person Emily does not recognize. A person emanating demand, danger, evil. And the way the woman talks ... and the things she says ... She's acting as if Emily herself is the painting. The still life. The art.
Emily is as scared as she is confused. But it's immediately clear Jack's life is on the line with her own. And if she attempts to escape the bed and the wood frame of this nightmare masterwork, neither will survive the experience.
Emily is fierce, independent, brilliant, but to get out of this, she'll have to think like an artist herself.
The clock is ticking.
For Emily.
For Jack.
For being forever trapped.
A famed horror author with several film adaptations, Josh Malerman's unforgettable and terrifying Incidents Around the House became an instant classic of horror--and now Malerman has done it again. Pictures of You is a tale of thrilling terror that will chill you until the last page--and have you thinking of the heroine's search for love and the meaning of art long after.
Stunt Doubles like you may also enjoy our top picks for Serial Readers, which focuses on psychological thrillers, suspense and mysteries. Don't forget to review our past picks for Stunt Doubles from Summer 2026.