The Best Crime Novels and Thrillers of 2024

Former Chicago cop Cal Hooper returns but this time he's settled into a quiet life after retiring in rural Ireland, where he's taken a teenager named Trey under his wing. But when the kid's father reappears in town looking for gold, things take a dark turn.

During the pandemic, a young law student from a working class background lands a plush job as a tennis instructor in a gated Cape Cod community. Awestruck by his new surroundings, he’s soon carrying on a torrid affair with an older, wealthy divorcee. Then her free-spirited daughter enters the picture, and the young man makes a tragic, irreversible mistake. (Out 5/28)

Two contract killers hired to kill each other embark on an action-packed, romantic escapade across Europe in the twisty second book from the Girls and Their Horses author, which has “a perfect premise” according to CrimeReads. (Out 7/16)

Reese Witherspoon picked this “perfect summer read” for her popular book club, while teasing that it “opens with a wedding at a gorgeous resort in Big Sur... but everything begins to fall apart when the main character Ellery discovers a dead body the morning of the ceremony.”

A lonely librarian finally finds love, but begins to suspect her sweet-natured new husband might be harboring a dark secret in a spine-tinging mystery that “seems like a fairly straightforward is-he-or-isn't-he story until, in a rather startling fashion, Swanson reveals what the book is really about (and it's probably safe to say that the reader will not see it coming). Swanson has written many excellent novels, but this one is certainly his most shocking," hailed Booklist.

A beguiling group of well-heeled guests have gathered for the opulent grand opening of a luxurious resort on the English coast. But its long-buried secrets are uncovered after a body is discovered floating in the sea.

The horror king shows he’s still on top of his game with these thrilling short stories - some never before published - that plumb themes of fate, mortality, and the supernatural with the legendary writer’s magical touch. From the enigmatic figures in "Two Talented Bastids" to the cosmic terror of "The Dreamers," each short story delivers thrills, mysteries, and haunting surprises. (Out 5/21)

In this “short, deftly written novel” the Young Skins author takes us to a small Irish town where an abduction has gone terribly wrong. "The kidnapping serves as a binding device, bringing together a small, carefully drawn cast of characters under unusual, high-pressure circumstances...The release of that pressure is sometimes violent, but it is also revelatory," noted The New Yorker.

"Sierra's auspicious debut immediately plunges readers headlong into its unnamed protagonist's waking nightmare… tense, emotionally resonant… Well-timed flashbacks add context and poignancy. Fiercely feminist and viscerally terrifying." – Kirkus Reviews

The bestselling YA author makes her adult debut with an intense, politically-charged story about an idyllic Black community with a dark secret that Time magazine called "An unsettling social thriller that is Get Out meets Rosemary's Baby."