Crime Thriller Books

The best crime thriller book reviews. “Crime thriller” is a catch-all term for thriller subgenres that feature a struggle for dominance between criminals and law enforcement, such as mafia thriller, police procedural, detective fiction, true crime, serial killer fiction and others.

FLASHBACK: The Best Thriller Books of 2019

2019 was an amazing year for fans of mystery and thriller books. An abundance of endlessly entertaining choices came from all categories, including crime thrillers, medical thrillers, legal thrillers, psychological thrillers, fantasy novels and more. Narrowing the list down from the hundreds of books our team has read this year to just a handful was daunting. In terms of authors, our 2019 list of the […]

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Stalker Stalked, a Hugely Entertaining Thriller by Lee Matthew Goldberg

The Bottom line: Goldberg turns the conventional stalker thriller on its head with a tale that is fresh, suspenseful and hugely entertaining. Lexi Mazur is every bit as awkward, relatable and dysfunctional as Bridget Jones. Thirty-year-old pharmacy sales rep Lexi Mazur has practically made a profession out of stalking boyfriends. But what happens when the hunter becomes the hunted? The novel opens with a breathless

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Mr. Simpson and Other Short Stories, a Deliciously Ruthless Collection by Stephen Maitland-Lewis

The Bottom Line: Deliciously ruthless predators rule in this collection of stories about deceit, deception, fraud and power. Highly recommended. Stephen Maitland-Lewis, author of the pulse-pounding financial thriller Duped, is back with a collection of suspenseful stories that succeed wildly in chronicling the relentless pursuit of success, status and survival. The book opens with a tale centered around Ernest Simpson, the American-born British shipbroker who

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Crickets, a Stunning Debut Thriller by Lee Chappel

The Bottom Line: A small-town psychological thriller with a big-time payoff. This stunning debut novel is a must-read for Gillian Flynn fans. “Mine’s one of those stories that can’t be true,” says Kara Peterson in the first chapter of Crickets. Kara, the daughter of Paige, Ohio’s former Sheriff, accused Dalton Rolenfeld of rape a decade earlier. Her father’s sudden death has brought her back to

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Now & Then, an Expertly Paced Serial Killer Thriller by Justin M. Kiska

The Bottom Line: This expertly paced tale of a resurgent serial killer and his seasoned adversary delivers multiple shockers that fans won’t soon forget. First-time novelist Justin M. Kiska puts a delicious spin on the “one last job” trope as small town police chief Ben Winters is thrust into a career-defining nightmare just before retirement. Forty years earlier, then-rookie detective Ben and his partner, Tommy,

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Unseen: Evil Lurks Among Us, a Sophisticated Crime Thriller by Jeffrey James Higgins

The Bottom Line: A sophisticated crime thriller that simmers with menace, passion and heart. Malachai Wolf had planned to follow in his father’s footsteps by pursuing a PhD in economics. But when his father was killed in the Boston Marathon bombing, he decided to dedicate his life to the pursuit of justice. As Unseen begins, Wolf has transformed into a D.C. detective hungry to solve

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Stolen Lives, an Unforgettable FBI Thriller by Joseph Lewis

The Bottom Line: A harrowing and unforgettable FBI thriller. On a Navajo reservation in Arizona, 14-year-old George Tokay witnesses the brutal murder of another boy in the desert. FBI Agent Pete Kelliher arrives soon thereafter, and is counting on George’s testimony to find the murderer of the new victim and a dozen others like him. Kelliher believes the killers are running a sex trafficking operation.

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Billy Summers, an Absorbing Assassination Thriller by Stephen King

The Bottom Line: A masterfully told assassination thriller about about vengeance, love and redemption. Stephen King’s latest centers around an American sniper and decorated Iraq war veteran named Billy Summers. Billy is a killer for hire with a strong moral compass. To hire Billy, he has to believe that his target is truly a bad person. But Billy has decided to hang up his rifle,

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Stolen Truth, an Irresistable Psychological Thriller by Henya Drescher

The Bottom Line: A must-read psychological thriller for fans of Have You Seen Me? and The Girl on the Train. In a novel that brilliantly plays on the frailty of the human mind and sanity itself, new mother Bree Michaelson wakes feeling disoriented and drugged, similar to the way she felt when she was date raped in college. She soon realizes that her husband Todd,

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Graffiti Red Murder, a highly original LGBTQ+ crime thriller by Alexi Venice

The Bottom Line: A highly original LGBTQ+ crime thriller with eye-popping doses of murder, mystery and romance. In Alexi Venice’s third Monica Spade Novel, the battle-tested attorney agrees to represent a surgeon police want to question regarding the brutal murder of two of her patients. Monica learns that the surgeon, Dr. Nicole Kershaw, also has been threatened numerous times. As Kershaw describes it, some of

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