Best Thriller Books to Read in 2022

On New Year’s Eve 1999, amid the Y2K scare, four teens are attacked while working at Blockbuster, and only one survives. Nearly 15 years later, in the same small town, four more teens are attacked at an ice cream parlor, launching an FBI investigation into how the two eerily similar incidents are connected. 

Forty years after she was acquitted of two murders,  Beth agrees to sit down with true crime blogger, Shea, for a series of interviews. As the two begin to meet regularly at Beth’s mansion, Shea starts to suspect something isn’t right  — and there may be some dangers lurking around Beth after all. Expertly flashing between past and present, this atmospheric thriller delivers a chilling mystery that is sure to keep you gripped until the final page. 

In this poignant and gripping YA novel, Safiya is a young aspiring journalist whose life is turned upside down when she finds the body of a murdered teenage boy. Upon investigating, she learns that Jawad was only 14 when he built a dress-up jetpack that his teacher mistook for a bomb — a mistake that got him arrested and eventually cost him his life. As she learns more details, Saifya is determined to unravel the terrible truth behind Jamad’s story and expose the hate that caused his death.   

Four strangers are sitting at a table in the Boston Public Library’s ornate reading room when the tranquil atmosphere is suddenly shattered by a woman’s bloodcurdling scream. After security locks them in place to kick off the investigation, the group starts chatting and friendships begin to form. But while all have plausible reasons for being in the library that afternoon, there’s no denying some of them are holding back secrets — and one of them is the murderer. 

In this reimagining of The Island of Doctor Moreau set in 19th century Mexico, a mysterious visitor visits Dr. Moreau’s luxurious estate, upsetting the lives of those closest to him — including his daughter, Carlotta; his assistant, Montgomery; and his part-human, part-animal creations known as hybrids. 

Megan Miranda returns with another thrilling page-turner about big secrets in a small town. After a journalist goes missing while investigating a string of disappearances in the mountain town of Cutter’s Pass, his brother shows up looking for answers. But as the other residents turn their back on the outsider, inn owner Abigail Lovett feels compelled to share the incriminating evidence she found in her hotel, bringing them closer to unveiling the truth. 

In Megan Goldin’s latest thriller, Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a taxi in New York City with no idea how she got there or why there’s writing all over her hands urging her to “stay awake.” When she tries to return to her apartment, she realizes strangers are now living there. She soon realizes nothing in her life is as she remembers it — and her horror is only amplified when she finds a bloody knife in her pocket. Told between alternating multiple timelines, this intricate, well-crafted mystery will keep you reading late into the night.

This stunning family saga follows an 18-year-old teenager in Puerto Rico who uncovers a strange and mysterious ability after the death of her grandmother. When her grandmother passes away, Isla inexplicably finds herself getting visions of the tales she’s heard from her family throughout her life. But one vision presents her with the case of an old murder mystery, Isla realizes the stories she once found fascinating could actually be dangerous.