We Value Your Privacy

This site uses cookies to improve user experience. By continuing to browse, you accept the use of cookies and other technologies.

I UNDERSTAND
LEARN MORE

TikTok is RAVING About These Mystery and Thriller Books

It's all the rage—don't be the last to know about these pulse-pounding reads.

mystery and thriller books recommended by tiktok

With so many great mystery and thriller books out there, how can you ever choose what to read next? Do you go with a domestic thriller? A delightful cozy? Something suspenseful? Funny? Shocking? The variety can be too much! But if you're looking for some great recommendations from readers with their finger on the pulse, then don't overlook the wonderful world of TikTok.

TikTok is the latest social media craze, but it's not just surreal memes and silly dances. Conversations about books are so popular on TikTok that they've cultivated their very own corner of the app—BookTok. Full of authors, publishers, and voracious readers, TikTok has no shortage of incredible reads just waiting to be discovered. So without further ado, here are some of the best mystery and thriller reads the app is going crazy over.

"Thrillers That Will Keep You Guessing Until the End"

The Perfect Marriage

The Perfect Marriage

By Jeneva Rose

Thriving Washington D.C. defense attorney Sarah Morgan is living her life perfectly according to plan. Her husband, Adam, isn’t so lucky. Floundering for success as a writer, Adam feels like Sarah’s long hours at work have made their marriage go stale. To chase some excitement in his life, he pursues an affair with Kelly Summers out in the secluded lake house he owns with his wife.

When Kelly is found brutally murdered in the lake house, Adam is the prime suspect. Suddenly, Sarah takes on a role no wife ever wants: her husband’s defense attorney in the case of his murdered mistress.

Check out the rest of the recommendations by @adridiaries in the video below.

"Fast-Paced Mystery Thriller Books To Get You Out of a Reading Slump"

Pretty Girls, a psychological Thriller book

Pretty Girls

By Karin Slaughter

It’s been more than two decades since Claire and Lydia’s teenaged sister, Julia, disappeared. Since that awful day, the women haven’t spoken. Now, Claire is an elegant trophy wife for a millionaire in Atlanta, while Lydia is a struggling single mother in a relationship with an ex-con. The only thing they have in common is the heartbreak of their loss.

When Claire’s husband is murdered, all of the pain comes rushing back. But how are a missing girl and a middle-aged man murdered more than 20 years later connected? Forging a cautious truce, the sister dig into long-buried family secrets for some answers.

Check out the rest of the recommendations by @kayliesbookcorner in the video below.

"[My Favorite] Mystery Suspense Books"

local woman missing

Local Woman Missing

By Mary Kubica

First, Shelby Tebow goes missing. Meredith Dickey and her six-year-old daughter, Delilah, vanish next. The two incidents happen mere blocks away from one another, and the quiet community is shaken. Though the authorities struggle to connect these cases, both eventually go cold. Until Delilah comes back 11 years later.

Check out the rest of the recommendations by @basicbookz in the video below.

"Books That Kept Me Hooked the Whole Time (& I Wish I Could Read for the First Time Again)"

The couple next door by shari lapena, a domestic thriller book

The Couple Next Door

By Shari Lapena

From the outside, it looks like Anne and Marco Conti have the perfect life. A loving marriage, a beautiful house, and their precious baby girl, Cora. But a heinous crime is committed one night when they're next door at a dinner party. Cora has vanished, and, naturally, suspicion falls upon the new parents. But what really happened that night is far more complicated.

Detective Rasbach isn't a fool—he knows the young couple is hiding something. But the deception goes even deeper than imagined, as the small family begins to unravel when it becomes clear Anne and Marco have been keeping secrets even from each other. This nerve-wracking domestic thriller will have you on the edge of your seat until the final mind-blowing twist.

Check out the rest of the recommendations by @mysterysuspensejunkies  in the video below.

"Books With the Most Devastating Plot Twists"

a good girl's guide to murder

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder

By Holly Jackson

Andie Bell's tragic story is well-known by everyone in Fairview. The beautiful high schooler was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, before he took his own life. It was the source of all the town's gossip. Five years later, it's clear to Pip that the town still can't let go of the haunting tale. But as someone who knew Sal as a kid, she can't believe a person so kind could do something so brutal. So what really happened that day?

Just a high school senior herself, Pip sets out to examine the case for her final project. She just wants to stir up a few seeds of doubt. But when she stumbles across dark secrets that may prove Sal's innocence, after all, the past and present come crashing together. And there's someone in town who doesn't like her sticking her nose into it all.

Check out the rest of the recommendations by @vrittibooks  in the video below.

"2021 Favorite Books Mystery/Thriller Edition"

the one

The One

By John Marrs

All it takes is one simple DNA test, and you can be matched with someone who is your perfect genetic partner. Match Your DNA made this hefty promise a decade ago, and since then they have found millions of people their soul mate. And the results of these tests have led to the collapse of countless relationships, and the complete overhaul of dating, romance, and love as we know it.

With five vastly different individuals receiving word they've found their match, they're about to meet the person who will change their lives. But a happy ending can't be guaranteed by a lab. Some soul mates have secrets—secrets more shocking than you could ever prepare for.

Check out the rest of the recommendations by @sapphicreads in the video below.

"Mystery Must Reads"

when you are mine

When You Are Mine

By Michael Robotham

Young London policewoman Philomena McCarthy gets a domestic violence call that sparks a world of trouble. At the scene, the victim, Tempe Brown, is protecting her abuser, married Scotland Yard detective Darren Goodall. Goodall is fearless, and as Philomena tries to pursue charges against him, her colleagues on the force only prove to be obstacles. To make matters worse, Philomena has gotten tangled up with Tempe, who is nothing she appears to be—putting her and her fiancé, Henry, in the path of danger.

As if the situation weren't messy enough, Philomena's estranged father, Edward McCarthy, is at the head of a criminal empire. She has done her best to keep her father's life separate from her career, but as she gets in hot water with her focus on Goodall, Edward steps in. But it's not just her career on the line as Tempe's sinister manipulations put Philomena's marriage and life at the center of a web of deceit.

Check out the rest of the recommendations by @bnmillbury in the video below.

"Mystery Books With Romance"

mystery thriller summer 2019

One of Us Is Lying

By Karen M. McManus

Are you a fan of The Breakfast Club, but wish the story took a bit of a darker turn? Then One of Us is Lying is the perfect read for you. They're strangers: Yale-bound Bronwyn, homecoming princess Addy, drug dealing Nate, all-star pitcher Cooper, and Simon, the outcast creator of Bayview High's controversial gossip app. But while all five of them walked into detention, only four came out alive.

Investigators say that Simon's cause of death was murder. He'd planned to post a juicy story about all four of his fellow members of detention the next day, and someone made sure he never got the chance. Everyone has secrets. But who was willing to kill to keep theirs?

As mentioned by the recommender, this book has a highly overlooked romance, and the thrills will have you flipping pages faster than you can read.

Check out the rest of the recommendations by @kimmybookss  in the video below.

@kimmybookss Reply to @nazifa.mirza.noor i’m still mad it’s not an official genre! #TubiTaughtMe #fyp #booktok #bookish #bookclub #criminalminds #mystery #romance ♬ We Can't Be Friends - Dream Koala

"Psychological Thriller Books That Will Keep You Guessing Until the Very End"

the silent patient

The Silent Patient

By Alex Michaelides

You won't be able to put this psychological thriller down until you've absorbed the very last page. Alicia Berenson is a famous painter with a flawless life. Her husband, Gabriel, is a high profile fashion photographer, and together they live in a luxurious home overlooking one of London's best parks. But maybe perfect isn't so palatable when she shoots Gabriel in the face five times—and abruptly refuses to speak another word.

A horrifying domestic tragedy spirals into a gripping mystery for the public, as Alicia's stubborn silence offers no explanation for her violent act. As Alicia's sudden fame escalates the price of her art, she hides from the tabloids at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London. Criminal psychotherapist Theo Faber is determined to get her to talk, but as the truth slowly unravels, it may consume him whole.

Check out the rest of the recommendations by @blondeandbookish  in the video below.

"Cozy Mystery Picks"

hope never dies

Hope Never Dies

By Andrew Shaffer

Feeling patriotic? This high-stakes thriller sees Barack Obama and Joe Biden teaming up to solve crime in this offbeat and hilarious noir mystery. Vice President Biden is feeling aimless fresh out of the Obama White House. But when his favorite railroad conductor befalls a mysterious accident, a trail of clues gives him a new sense of purpose.

He can't get to the truth alone, though. There's only one person he can trust with everything he has: the former president of the United States, Obama. Through Delaware's seediest motels and darkest biker bars, these politicians are going to track down the source of America's growing opioid epidemic.

Check out the rest of the recommendations by @bettiespages in the video below.