15 Best New Crime and Thriller Books To Give You The Chills This Winter

The latest thrilling tale from this beloved Edgar Award winner is the sequel to her 2021 novel "The Searched." Once again, the reader follows Cal Hooper, a former Chicago cop who has gone into early retirement in rural Ireland, where he's begun a new life with a local single mother and her teenage child, Trey. Everything seems to be going swimmingly, until one day Trey's father reappears in the town with an English millionaire at his side and a plot to find gold in the area.

"Fury is pure Agatha Christie-esque fun– genre romp, complete with remote island setting and larger-than-life characters who might’ve dunit... An unreliable narrator haunted by his dark boyhood who now smokes a lot of pot. Many references to Greek myths. Infidelity. A diary plays a role." – Lauren Daley, The Boston Globe

"A savvy thriller with intrigue and momentum... from the first twist of Lucca's arrival right up until the final showdowns. Evie is a smart and engaging protagonist, and her time on the run is anything but predictable." – Kirkus Reviews

"Amina Akhtar, founding editor of The Cut, has written a novel about a woman who, having gone missing for a year, becomes the subject of a true-crime podcast. 'Part thriller, part family saga, part supernatural horror, Almost Surely Dead will surprise you in the best way possible and leave you thinking about this magnificent book for a long time after you’re done,' says Alex Segura." —Electric Literature

These four thrilling tales are connected by their intimate portraits of complicated characters who resist easy classification as heroes or villains, including two reformed, former inmates who meet again on the set of a TV show and a family who’s life has been turned upside down after an encounter with the police. Rather than lean into simple caricatures, Pelecanos grapples with the messy and unpredictable paths that life can take.

"Reminiscent of the spare, strobe-lit storytelling of the late Joan Didion, Carpenter shows how wealth and sophistication paper over moral rot and how human attachment is a vulnerability when only posing and posturing keep you alive." – Taylor Antrim, Vogue

"Hall is fantastically good at upending expectations and pulling the wool over her readers’ eyes... this exploration of female rage isn’t what you think it’s going to be." —The Guardian

“Brody skillfully creates a unique, memorable case study of familial love and grief and examines how seeking truth and closure can turn ugly. A psychological thriller that also thoughtfully explores social media culture and the dangers of obsession, Rabbit Hole is a heart-wrenching reminder of the complex humanity behind every true crime story.” – Chicago Review of Books

This debut thriller follows Kurt Argento, an idealistic former Detroit cop, who is throw in a maximum-security prison after he unwittingly tries to stop a powerful, well connected man from committing a heinous crime. When a glitch in the prison security system sets the prisoners free, Kurt is thrown into a battle for survival alongside several innocent bystanders. Kirkus called it "cinema-ready... pulse-pounding, cleverly plotted, fast-paced, expertly made entertainment."

"How could I resist a suspense novel in which a critic becomes an amateur detective in order to avoid becoming a murder suspect or even a victim? Soloski... [has] written a genuinely disturbing suspense tale that explores the theater of cruelty life can sometimes be." – Maureen Corrigan, NPR