Looking for something to spice up your summer reading list? I've got a list for you. The 15 mysteries and thrillers below are getting major hype on Goodreads this summer, and any of them would make the perfect addition to your beach bookbag.
Moviegoers spend their summers watching blockbuster action films, so why should readers stray far from that tried and true path? If you don't read many mystery or thriller novels, you're missing out on a lot of fun, page-turning action. Trust me, I used to think that I hated mysteries because they were predictable and poorly written, but then I started reading the infamous "Girl" books — Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train, Luckiest Girl Alive — and they changed my way of thinking about what constitutes good writing. Good writing is entertaining, folks, regardless of whether it has some larger message about the state of being human.
The 15 mysteries and thrillers on the list below have all received major buzz from the Goodreads community, and some of them aren't even out yet. Don't worry, though. They'll all be on store shelves before the vacation season is over.
'Trespassing' by Brandi Reeds (Hardcover, Apr. 1)
Frustrated by failed fertility treatments and wary of her toddler's new imaginary friend, Veronica feels her world come crashing down when her husband disappears while on a business trip. Convinced that someone wants to eliminate her family, she follows her instinct in a last-ditch effort to save both her husband and her sanity. Read more.
'The Good Liar' by Catherine McKenzie (Hardcover, Apr. 3)
One year after an explosion in Chicago turned their lives upside down, three women with ties to the destroyed building find themselves pursued by a documentary film crew intent on learning the secrets of that fateful day — secrets the women cannot afford to tell. Read more.
'Then She Was Gone' by Lisa Jewell (Paperback, Apr. 17)
A decade after her 10-year-old daughter Ellie disappeared, Laurel meets Floyd and begins a whirlwind romance. But Floyd's nine-year-old daughter stops her in her tracks. Poppy looks exactly like Ellie, the little girl Laurel lost all those years ago. Read more.
'It Ends with Her' by Brianna Labuskes (Hardcover, May 1)
Clarke Sinclair hasn't caught serial killer Simon Cross, but she knows how he "works." He kidnaps and kills women with red hair, but he waits for her to find his latest victim before killing another. When Cross suddenly snatches up a blonde before Sinclair finds the last redhead he kidnapped, she must adapt her pursuit tactics in order to catch a changing killer. Read more.
'The Perfect Mother' by Aimee Molloy (Hardcover, May 1)
Out with the May Mothers — a group of women who walk their new babies together twice a week — on the Fourth of July, Winnie tries to relax and talk about something other than her 6-week-old son for their rare night of kid-free fun. But little Midas goes missing while his mother and her friends are having drinks, and now the police and the press want to pry into shy Winnie's private life. Read more.
'The Outsider' by Stephen King (Hardcover, May 22)
Stephen King's new novel, The Outsider, follows the aftermath of a grisly abduction in Oklahoma. Eyewitness testimony, fingerprints, and DNA evidence put a beloved Little League coach and family man at the scene of the crime, but did he really commit such a horrifying act? Read more.
'Shelter in Place' by Nora Roberts (Hardcover, May 29)
Years after a mass shooting at a mall in Portland, ME, those who were not killed are working hard to build and re-build their shattered lives. However, one witness to the tragedy has plans to raise the death toll — by killing the survivors. Read more.
'The Death of Mrs. Westaway' by Ruth Ware (Hardcover, May 29)
When tarot card-reader Hal Westaway receives notice of a large inheritance left to her by her grandmother, she knows there has been some mistake — her grandparents have been dead for years. She decides to fake her way into claiming the inheritance, but soon learns that something dark and sinister is going down in her "grandmother's" estate. Read more.
'The Speed of Sound' by Eric Bernt (Hardcover, June 1)
Inventor Eddie Parks has created a gadget that will allow him to hear his dead mother's voice through the miracle of acoustic archeology. The government wants to keep Eddie's "echo box" to itself, however, deeming it a major security threat. You see, Eddie lives at Harmony House, and the things created there all serve a special purpose. Read more.
'The Word Is Murder' by Anthony Horowitz (Hardcover, June 5)
A meta-novel that features Anthony Horowitz as its narrator, The Word Is Murder takes on the Sherlock-Watson dynamic by pairing the author with a fictional detective, Daniel Hawthorne, who wants him to write books out of his real-life cases. Read more.
'Lying in Wait' by Liz Nugent (Hardcover, June 12)
After a prominent Dublin couple murder a 22-year-old sex worker and bury the evidence, wife Lydia just wants to move on with their lives. When the dead woman's family reports that she is missing, however, Lydia's 17-year-old son, Andrew, becomes obsessed with his parents' victim. Read more.
'The Perfect Couple' by Elin Hilderbrand (Hardcover, June 19)
Mystery writer Greer Garrison has lost her knack for intrigue and plot, but when her future daughter-in-law packs her bags and discovers her maid of honor dead in the Nantucket Harbor, Greer finds herself in the middle of a real-life murder mystery. Read more.
'Bring Me Back' by B.A. Paris (Hardcover, June 19)
One night in France, Layla disappeared without a trace, the only evidence a Russian nesting doll left nearby. Twelve years later, her then-boyfriend Finn is preparing to marry the missing woman's sister, Ellen, when new evidence turns up in the cold case — and Russian nesting dolls begin to pop up near their home. Read more.
'The Last Time I Lied' by Riley Sager (Hardcover, July 3)
Fifteen years after her cabin-mates disappeared there, Emma Davis is invited back to teach art at Camp Nightingale. She returns to investigate the unsolved mystery that stole her three friends from her, and she begins to wonder if all the urban legends she heard as a 13-year-old camper might actually be true. Read more.
'Girls' Night Out' by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke (Hardcover, July 24)
Three old friends take a trip to Mexico to reconnect and heal old wounds, but they all have secrets to keep. When one of them goes missing after a night of carousing, the other two must band together to figure out what really happened to their companion. Read more.
