With the recent release of the trailer for the movie-adaptation of "The Girl on the Train," which followed the hype of New York Times Bestseller "Gone Girl," the rise of the thriller has come again. Personally, the last five books I've read could be classified under the mystery-thriller genre, and I'm still searching for more to satisfy my hunger. And who wouldn't? Nothing makes you want to read like a good-old, nail-biting murder case with damaged protagonists and page-after-page of unanswered questions. So, if you loved "Gone Girl" or "The Girl on the Train" as much as I did, then here are a few suggestions:
1. "Leaving Time" by Jodi Picoult
Jenna's mother has been missing since she was three-years-old. Now 13, and as hungry for answers as ever, Jenna sets out with an out-of-touch psychic and a once-great now-alcoholic private eye to find her. On her journey, more questions than answers leave Jenna wondering just who her mother was, and what terrible thing could cause her to leave her three-year-old? No one builds a story like Jodi Picoult. This book is a little creepy, a little funny and a lot of suspense.
2. "The Good Girl" by Mary Kubica
Mia Dennett went missing just days before her 25th birthday, Halloween. She shows up on Christmas Eve, dazed, confused and barely remembering the last two months or her name. This story flips between three perspectives and two times-- we hear from her distanced mother, the determined detective on the case, and Mia's own kidnapper. We see them both before and after she's found. This book is all about here-say and perspective. It will keep you up at night long after you've finished it.
3. "Luckiest Girl Alive" by Jessica Knoll
TifAni has it all put together. She has the perfect fiancé, the perfect job, all around the perfect life. But she's using it to cover up some big secret-- one that the reader must tear through hundreds of cryptic pages to find out. Why is Ani working so hard to pretend she's happy? Read to find out. And trust me, although Ani can be unbearable, it's worth it.
4. "The Husband's Secret" by Liane Moriarty
Cecilia Fitzpatrick thinks she has it all, until she discovers a letter written by her husband labeled, "Only to be opened in the event of my death." Cecilia comes face-to-face with a life-changing choice: keep the secret, or let it tear her apart from the inside out? Liane Moriarty is a bestselling author of many thrillers, and this work is her finest.
5. "The Betrayal" by Laura Elliot
Nadine and Jake are recent divorcees, married in their teens who have finally decided to call it quits now that their children are old and gone. Now separated from each other, they're realizing for the first time if they ever really knew each other-- or worse yet, if they can separate at all.
6. "Reconstructing" Amelia by Kimberly McCreight
Single mother Kate Baron is shocked to one day receive the call that her daughter has been suspended from school, to arrive and receive the even worse news that her daughter has killed herself. Grief-stricken, Kate launches herself into discovering who her daughter really was by going through her social media and her phone, realizing quickly that Amelia was nothing that she thought she was.
7. "Abroad" by Katie Crouch
Taz has just arrived for her semester abroad in Italy, Thinking this is going to be the time of her life, she's shocked to find things getting pretty difficult when she and her roommate Claire fall for the same guy. Neither of them are aware of the dangers that come from being in an unfamiliar place and following some questionable instincts. Eventually, they can no longer ignore the dark secret that's tying them all together.
8. "The Silent Wife" by A.S.A Harrison.
A husband and wife slowly falling apart. A plot to end it all. "The Silent Wife" is about one thing: exacting revenge, and how heavy that process can truly be.
9. "Before I Go to Sleep" by S.J. Watson
Christine wakes up every day with no memory of what happened the day before. Sometimes she writes notes to herself, and one day she finds one with a clear, horrifying message: don't trust her husband. How can the person keeping her afloat be the one to destroy her?
10. "Elizabeth is Missing" by Emma Healy
Maud, an aging woman toward the end of her life, is falling into dementia-- but is it dementia that's telling her her childhood best friend, Elizabeth, is in serious danger? Maud sets out to find Elizabeth despite the apprehension from everyone around her. Her journey takes her all the way back to World War II, and leaves us wondering, can it go even further?
11. "Don't Try to Find Me" by Holly Brown.
Recent runaway Marley left her parents with clear instructions: Don't try to find her. But her disappearance is nothing like Marley, so her parents must dive into her personal life to discover where she's gone. Along the way, they discover that the whole situation might be a lot closer to home than they realized. In fact, it might have been one of them.
