Riot Recommendation

Your 34 Suspenseful Page-Turners for Summer Reading

María Cristina García lives in New York with her favorite spouse, her favorite toddler, her favorite cat, and her second-favorite cat. When not ranking members of her household, she's catching up on Supergirl, strumming her mandolin, or trying to beat the clock on her library loans. Twitter: @MeowyCristina Blog: MeowyCristina.com

This Riot Recommendation of suspenseful page-turners for summer reading is sponsored by Everything That Follows by Meg Little Reilly.

Three friends take their partying from bar to boat on a misty fall evening. Just as the weather deteriorates, one of them suddenly goes overboard. Is it an accident? The result of an unwanted advance? For fans of Megan Abbott and Chris Bohjalian comes a novel of moral complexity about friends who must choose between self-preservation and doing the right thing in the wake of a fatal boating accident. Set in the moody off-season of Martha’s Vineyard, Everything That Follows is a plunge into the dark waters of secrets and flexible morals. The truth becomes whatever we say it is…


I have to believe that summer is coming. There is no empirical evidence to support that belief as I get bundled up this mid-April morning, but I’m doing everything I can to keep hope alive. One day soon, I’ll be sitting by the pool, silently cursing the kids who are running on the deck and splashing water on my hardcover. What suspenseful page-turner will be in my hands? You offered your suggestions, and here are just some of them:

Perfect Days by Raphael Montes

Sunburn by Laura Lippman

The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn

The Perfect Nanny by Leïla Slimani

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough

A Stranger in the House by Shari LePena

The Trespasser by Tana French

The River at Night by Erica Ferencik

The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

Among the Ruins by Ausma Zehanat Khan

A Quiet Place by Seicho Matsumoto

The Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell

Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke

The Vanishing Season by Joanna Schaffhausen

If You Knew Her by Emily Elgar

After Anna by Alex Lake

Security by Gina Wohlsdorf

The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine

The Elizas by Sara Shepard

The Kingdom by Fuminori Nakamura

The Language of Secrets by Ausma Zehanet Khan

All Things Cease to Appear by Elizabeth Brundage

Evelyn, After by Victoria Helen Stone

Bellevue Square by Michael Redhill

Confessions by Kanae Minato

Almost Missed You by Jessica Strawser

Kill the Next One by Federico Axat

Dear Mr. M. by Herman Koch

Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan

A Small Revolution by Jimin Han

Everything You Want Me to Be by Mindy Mejia

The Trophy Child by Paula Daly