The Best Thriller Novel

Buying Guide

• The thriller genre includes a wide range of subgenres, so it’s important to consider the type of thriller you like. Robert Dugoni’s “My Sister’s Grave” is a combination mystery, police procedural and legal thriller, with a strong emphasis on the crime and legal elements. Robert Bryndza’s “The Girl In the Ice” isn’t the right fit for police procedural lovers. It’s more of a suspenseful thriller, following a detective as she attempts to track down a serial killer. With Mike Omer’s “A Killer’s Mind,” you get another chase after a serial killer, with a mystery element that will catch even the most seasoned reader off guard. If you’re familiar with Michael Connelly’s Bosch series, you likely already know he writes mystery thrillers with a strong emphasis on the characters.
• The goal of any thriller reader is to find a book they can’t quite put down. Robert Dugoni’s “My Sister’s Grave” is one of those books. You’ll get smooth writing that pulls you in from the start. Even though the book does feature some flashbacks, they don’t overwhelm the story. Robert Dugoni, a New York Times bestselling author, introduces us to Tracy Crosswhite, a homicide detective with the Seattle Police Department, who is motivated to track down serial killers due to her sister’s disappearance 20 years prior.
• Robert Bryndza’s “The Girl In the Ice” features not only an attention-grabbing title and cover, but it also hooks you from page one. You’ll enter the world of Erika Foster, a detective who lost her husband during her last investigation. She’s on the trail of a serial killer possibly responsible for a series of murders in London. There are a few clichés, but you’ll probably be too caught up in the compelling storyline to notice.
• With Mike Omer’s “A Killer’s Mind,” you get a plot full of twists as it follows Zoe Bentley, a forensic psychologist chasing down a serial killer. Three women have been found embalmed and posed and Zoe has to track down the culprit before he tracks her down.
• The name Harry Bosch is no stranger to thriller fans, and Michael Connelly’s “The Wrong Side of Goodbye” introduces readers to the 19^th book in the series. In this book, Bosch is hired to find the former lover of a dying reclusive billionaire. This book comes across as fresh, even though it’s part of a long-running series.
• When a thriller fails, it’s often because it simply isn’t “thrilling” enough. That has a great deal to do with pacing. Robert Bryndza’s “The Girl In the Ice” features a relentless pace that keeps you turning the pages. Mike Omer’s “A Killer’s Mind” maintains a steady pace throughout, tossing in some humor where necessary to ease the tension. With Robert Dugoni’s “My Sister’s Grave,” the pace can tend to lag at various points. Be prepared to be patient at first, as the pace gradually builds, drawing you in more slowly than with other thrillers.
• When it comes down to it, though, the most memorable books are those with characters you truly love. This is no more evident than with the success of the Harry Bosch series, which showcases a hero who is fearless but still very likable. In Robert Dugoni’s “My Sister’s Grave,” Tracy Crosswhite is a well-developed lead, and the secondary characters jump off the page as well. However, the antagonist is a bit one-dimensional, which takes away from the story. On the other hand, Mike Omer’s “A Killer’s Mind” excels with its bad guys, painting them as truly human, which adds to the believability of the plot.
• Although you don’t want any spoilers, it is helpful to know if an ending is worth the hours you’re about to put into reading a book. You’ll find Robert Dugoni’s “My Sister’s Grave” has a very satisfying conclusion, as does Robert Bryndza’s “The Girl In the Ice.”

There’s nothing like a thriller that pulls you in from the start and won’t let you go. But finding that book you just can’t put down can be difficult, especially with the unlimited number of books available today. It can help to start with a New York Times bestseller, but even those can be hit or miss.

Before you choose a thriller novel, it can help to narrow down exactly the type of book that interests you. Do you prefer a book that goes in-depth into police work, or do you like a story told from the criminal’s perspective? There are crime thrillers, disaster thrillers, legal thrillers, medical thrillers, spy thrillers and more. As you begin to narrow the list of subgenres you enjoy most, the list of books to add to your to-read pile will shrink considerably.

Then there are the known names. Authors like Michael Connelly have become fan favorites due to their consistent delivery of compelling stories. Readers know exactly what they’re getting when they pick up a favorite author’s book, and unless the author lets them down, they’ll stay loyal. It also helps when an author’s books land a movie or TV deal, further helping readers know exactly what to expect.

But as with any genre of fiction, it’s all about the writing itself. It’s especially important for thriller novels to maintain a fast pace, prompting readers to turn the page to see what happens next. Many of today’s thrillers also pack in plenty of twists, thanks to the large group of readers who like to try to solve a mystery. But as valuable as those twists are, it won’t help if the reader is left disappointed at the end, so the payoff of those twists is essential.

In many cases, though, it all comes down to characters. If you look back at some of your favorite novels, chances are you think of the characters first. The ability to make the fictional people in a story jump off the page is what makes some authors more successful than others. When you’re reading book reviews, pay close attention to mention of characters since you’ll likely toss the book in the trash if they’re too unredeemable.