What are the best thrillers of 2024? The results of the 2024 BestThrillers.com Book Awards are in, and we’re delighted to list the best books of the year across 15 genres: Action Thriller, Crime Thriller, Conspiracy Thriller, Fantasy & Dystopian, Historical Thriller, Horror, Legal Thriller, Medical Thriller, Military Thriller, Mystery, Paranormal, Political Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Sci-Fi and Spy Thriller.
Across our list of 76 winners and finalists, you’ll find a trove of outstanding books you simply won’t be able to put down. Readers looking for a truly remarkable experience should check out Elizabeth Hutchison Bernard’s The Beauty Doctor. While exploring the promise and terror of early 20th century plastic surgery through the eyes of an ambitious but vulnerable young woman, Bernard delivers a singular blend of history, romantic suspense and medical horror.
Elsewhere, fans looking for an old-fashioned island murder mystery will love Raemi A. Ray’s delicious A Chain of Pearls, a tale set in part during a nor’easter on Martha’s Vineyard. Meanwhile, action thriller fans will be treated to a rare gem in Patrick Weill’s Double Threat, which opens with a stunning chapter written in the voice of a German Shepherd with a strong point of view.
Along with many seasoned veterans, 2024 has spawned some stellar debut novels. Among them is M.K. Tod’s That Was Then, which tells the story of a woman whose rapist is running for Governor of Massachusetts. The plot she embarks on to stop him – with help from her identical twin – is one for the ages. Other notable debut authors in our list include Michael Balter for Chasing Money, Matthew Fults for The Scotland Project and Carla Conti for Chained Birds.
We’re incredibly proud to bring you the best thriller books of 2024. Following the Book of the Year winner, category winners are listed in alphabetical order, followed by the complete list of finalists (bonus: you can add these great books directly to your GoodReads bookshelf by joining our Book Award Group on GoodReads!).
2024 BOOK OF THE YEAR
5 Minutes to Die by R.J. Patterson
Patterson’s novel has the audacity to open with a literal “cliffhanger” scene, and thanks to the vivid sensory and dramatic flair on display, it’s a chapter that will be long etched in readers’ memories.
When Army Ranger Garrett Knox left behind his military career to lead wilderness expeditions, he thought he’d escaped the life-threatening missions forever.
But his quiet world in the Montana mountains explodes one evening, forcing him to accept a persistent government agent’s dangerous mission:
Hunt down Knox’s former military buddy accused of treason and the murder of nearly their entire platoon.
Knox’s globe-spanning pursuit of answers soon places him in the crosshairs of a covert operation testing bioweapons on innocent civilians.
As the body count rises, Knox assembles his own skilled team to expose the truth and topple the corrupt power-players behind the deadly conspiracy.
This, the first book in Patterson’s Garret Knox series, is an outstanding pillar to build upon.
BEST ACTION THRILLER
Double Threat by Patrick Weill
How do you make a contemporary police procedural truly fresh?
One way is to render your police detectives harbor police, so the jurisdiction, and all the ensuing action, spans both surf and turf.
And for good measure, start your book with a gripping chapter told from the POV of a dog.
The third book in Patrick Weill’s Park and Walker series proves to be an excellent entry point to the series.
Harbor Police detective Park driving up to Los Angeles, where he joins forces with the FBI and works undercover on a cruise ship in pursuit of an unidentified serial killer.
As he and his team peel back the layers of a far-reaching conspiracy, the term “rough seas” takes on a much deeper meaning.
Back in San Diego, Walker becomes a member of MARTAC, the Harbor Police’s SWAT team.
Once there, he tackles a case of his own involving political assassination, white supremacy, and narcotics trafficking, with powerful enemies both old and new.
Alternating chapters spotlight these two heroes until their stories converge in a shocking turn of events.
BEST CONSPIRACY THRILLER
Libertyland by Peter Sacks
2024 was loaded with top-shelf conspiracy thrillers, but the one that set the bar for us is perhaps the most thought-provoking.
Libertyland is highly suspenseful and entertaining, but it’s also philosophical, satirical and a mirror to society all at once.
Never underestimate the power of a good old-fashioned manifesto. During a passionate romance with Garrick Cripps, Suzanne Dreyfus wrote a wicked satire of right-wing libertarian philosophy.
However, Garrick took Suzanne’s parody seriously and now, many years later, uses it as a blueprint for how to overthrow American democracy in favor of the 1%.
But for the revolution to begin, an inciting event, like a Stateside terrorist attack, is needed to convince the public that drastic change in leadership is necessary.
Suzanne, along with Carson McCready, a former Navy SEAL, and Laura Cavendish, a cyber weapons expert, are all that stand between Cripps and leadership of the country.
Culminating in a violent denouement, Libertyland shows what could happen if the ideas of a madman go unchecked.
Libertyland is a departure from most thrillers of its ilk. Carson McCready, the main protagonist, breaks the predictable stereotype of the flag-waving uber-patriot.
A student of the human condition, he thinks deeply about freedom and individualism, and in the end, he has no choice but to uphold his oath of honor and battle a violent conspiracy that is fueled by the blood of innocents.
BEST CRIME THRILLER
Chasing Money by Michael Balter
Michael Balter’s debut crime thriller starts on a deliciously contrarian note. In declaring that an aspirational line in the Old Dominion song “No Such Thing as a Broken Heart” about following dreams is dead wrong, Balter’s narrator sets up the idea that greed is good, and a sucker (in this case an angel investor) is born every minute.
The pressure to raise capital for their startup has put a strain on Marty and Bo’s lives.
So when Nico Scava offered to invest, they eagerly accepted. He had money, connections in the art world, and a creative idea, but maybe they should have asked more questions.
Now Nico’s dead and they’re on the hook for whatever scheme he was running.
The Russian mob is after them, and if they don’t find $10 million and a mysterious missing painting in the next few days, they’ll be dead too.
Their frantic chase will lead them from a cabin in the Oregon woods to a Portland strip club, from an aging artist to a bogus baron, and deep into the history of a missing masterpiece that someone is willing to kill to obtain.
As the bodies pile up, Marty and Bo will have some tough choices to make about how far they’ll go to protect their families, their company, and themselves.
BEST FANTASY & DYSTOPIAN NOVEL
The Witchfinder’s Sacrifice by Rande Goodwin
Sometimes, lightening does strike twice. Rande Goodwin’s The Witches of Windsor series’ second installment manages to conjure up just as much magic as its predecessor.
Hero Nate Watson finds himself unable to remove the witchfinder’s serpent, snake-shaped bracelet with immense powers.
Goodwin’s young adult tale is filled with mesmerizing monsters and once-dead creatures.
This time, evil warlock Malleus Hodge intends to unleash a twenty-first century witch hysteria.
The results are frightening, but sometimes hilarious, as Goodwin has a knack for blending genuine suspense with family-friendly levity.
Neighbor will be pitted against neighbor as the warlock stokes the flames of fear and paranoia to epic proportions.
With the help of his friends and a beautiful, mysterious visitor, Nate searches for a way to defeat Hodge for good—while coming to terms with loss, betrayal, and the fear that the serpent’s dark magicks are beginning to influence his behavior in unexpected ways.
What Nate doesn’t know is that a sinister pact drives Hodge, who will stop at nothing to fulfill a dark bargain several centuries in the making.
BEST HISTORICAL THRILLER
The Beauty Doctor by Elizabeth Hutchison Bernard
Straightening noses, trimming eyelids, lifting jowls. In the year 1907, Dr. Rome’s revolutionary beauty surgery is considered daring, perhaps dangerous.
Still, women want what he promises.
His young assistant, Abigail Platford, is hardly immune to Dr. Rome’s persuasive charm. Abigail once dreamed of becoming a doctor, though of a much different sort. That dream ended with her father’s tragic death from a medical error for which she holds herself responsible.
But Dr. Rome, who proudly displays his medical degree from Johns Hopkins, seems to believe in her. If he were willing to act as her mentor, might there still be a chance to fulfill her dream of someday becoming a doctor serving New York City’s poor?
But something feels terribly wrong, as though an insidious evil is closing in. Broken promises, lies, and intrigues abound.
The powerful are threatening to destroy the weak, and a doctor’s sacred duty hangs in the balance.
Abigail no longer knows who to believe; but with Dr. Rome now her mentor and her lover, she desperately wants to trust him.
Bernard excels at using vivid imagery to bring the Edwardian era to life, and creates suspense by putting Abigail into a series of realistic scenarios in which she has to make impossibly difficult choices.
BEST HORROR NOVEL
The Evil Men’s Book Club by T.C. Schueler
Get out the popcorn, because author T.C. Schueler has done wonders with the fear-based Y2K era by blending off-beat humor and campy horror into a novel that is hell-bent on maximizing entertainment value.
Buddies Trevor Pug and Loo Spicotti form a book club, in which the only rules are selecting an “evil” book and gathering to discuss it in a bar.
To say they don’t take their own book club seriously is un extreme understatement. The group is far better and dishing out well-intentioned digs at each other than actually reaching the material.
But while dissecting this month’s dark reading selection, seven friends are accosted by a desperate vagrant the locals know as Prophet.
When the knuckleheads rebuke the man for panhandling, Prophet curses them.
The homeless man is found dead the next day.
And one by one, the club members find out as their lives begin “going south.” It starts with an accident, alcoholism, and a funeral. Unseemly dreams begin and soon after careers are ruined, friendships severed, and secrets exposed.
Then the untimely deaths start. Enjoy.
BEST LEGAL THRILLER
Conspiracy Ignited by Raymond Paul Johnson
If Conspiracy Ignited is any indication, we’d like to spend a lot more more time with Eric Ridge.
This gem of a book comes to us from an author who has served as a combat pilot, as DOD Chairperson of the DOD-NASA Space Shuttle Integration Groups and as a teacher of trial law, aviation law and product liability classes at USC.
That wealth of experience shines through in every chapter, whether discussing how evidence may be handled in a case, or in one of the book’s absorbing action sequences.
After surviving an attack at an LA marina, in which an assailant demanded that Ridge “drop the case,” his mission is to discover who is trying to kill him and why.
And by the way, which case was the man who attacked him even talking about?
Working with his legal team, Ridge is ultimately drawn into the sinister world of the Raven Society, a secretive cabal that controls the courts by coercing or killing judges and anyone else who gets in their way.
In a race against the clock, will Ridge and his team survive to use the evidence they’ve developed?
Or will they suffer the same fate as others who have dared to confront The Raven Society?
BEST MEDICAL THRILLER
The Goldilocks Genome by Elizabeth Reed Aden
The Goldilocks Genome’s winning formula is its inclusion of actual current psychiatric practices, science and pharmacology, which sets the tone for a wholly believable thriller you can’t put down.
When San Francisco–based FDA epidemiologist Dr. Carrie Hediger uncovers a rash of unexplained deaths while investigating the suspiciously convenient demise of her best friend, she becomes determined to find answers.
Her path may lead to a murderer.
And even if it doesn’t, it may lead to professional ruin.
To unravel the puzzle, Carrie assembles a team: some talented post-doctoral fellows, a quirky pharmacologist, an unctuous chemist, and a skeptical FBI agent that she can’t help her attraction for.
Together, they follow the data through the twists and turns, eventually uncovering that the Goldilocks effect in prescription drugs—the premise that people are inclined to seek “just the right amount” of something—is central to understanding these mysterious deaths.
Through the twists and turns, Carrie and her team enter a race to uncover the truth and catch a killer.
BEST MILITARY THRILLER
Heroic Measures by Joel Shulkin, MD
The best military thriller of 2024 is also the most shocking.
Stephen Englehart, an Armed Forces medical examiner. dedicates his life to bringing peace to the families of fallen soldiers.
Tagged as one of the best, he’s able to spot forensic clues others miss.
But when the body of a US Marine, supposedly burned beyond recognition, shows up with hardly a scratch, even Stephen is stumped.
Were the bodies switched?
Then, in the middle of the autopsy, the impossible happens.
The soldier wakes up.
Something incredible—and dangerous—is happening to the military’s elite, and Stephen may be the only one who can figure it out.
And when Stephen’s sister, a Green Beret, goes missing, the entire military machine seems designed to stop him from finding her.
To find the truth and save his sister, one man must stand against an army.
BEST MYSTERY
A Chain of Pearls by Raemi A. Ray
The year’s best mystery combines incredible atmosphere, a world-weary detective, a powerful politican and an amateur sleuth that everyone can easily relate to.
When the body of a celebrated journalist is fished from the Edgartown Harbor, the official report rules his death accidental.
But why was he alone on a senator’s yacht during a nor’easter? That’s only the first question London-based lawyer Kyra Gibson has when she arrives on the idyllic island of Martha’s Vineyard to settle her estranged father’s affairs.
Kyra isn’t looking for closure. She’s not seen him in decades since he left her with her aunt following her mother’s death.
But as Kyra delves deeper into her father’s life, she learns he had many regrets and wasn’t as retired as she believed.
The more Kyra discovers, the more questions she has. With the help of detective Tarek Collins, they uncover a web of intrigue and corruption involving a powerful senator, a dubious energy company, and brutal murder.
As they chase down clues, Kyra and Tarek flirt with danger and race against time to solve the murders and uncover the dark secrets lurking beneath Martha’s Vineyard’s picturesque façade.
PARANORMAL THRILLER
Fallen Angel by Jolene D. Campbell
In the year’s best paranormal thriller, author Jolene D. Campbell has created a world that that feels entirely new. Fallen Angel brings the mystical world of Japan’s Shintoism to life, blending myth, magic and romance into a riveting tale.
The book itself is a fully sensory experience, filled with rich character descriptions, a map, evocative illustrations, a glossary and more.
In Fallen Angel, tensions between the gods, Izanami and Izanagi, have peaked and the war to end all wars has begun. Tenshi, a Death Angel and servant to Izanami, is sent to the human world to torture a young woman named Emica.
Within moments of his arrival on the surface, everything goes wrong. Injured and with no way of returning to his place of origin, he is forced to face the stain of his existence and failures, including his newfound feelings for Emica.
Failure to carry out his duties will result in his own death.
In a last ditch effort to save Emica, Tenshi makes a deal with one of the head angels to stop the war between the gods. But this plan does not guarantee Tenshi’s salvation, even if war is stopped.
With the girl he secretly loves by his side and doom hidden around every corner: can Tenshi save the world, Emica, and his own soul before the apocalypse?
POLITICAL THRILLER
That Was Then by M.K. Tod
M.K. Tod’s award-winning debut novel is about far more than the pursuit of revenge.
Set in the world of high-stakes state politics, Tod’s world reveals a political machine that is disturbingly recognizable, and yet far enough removed from actual headlines to act as a bonafide escape.
Andrea Larson never imagined she would have to face her worst nightmare again.
But when she discovers that her rapist is running for Governor of Massachusetts, she knows she can’t stay silent.
With the help of her identical twin, Andrea hatches a plan to take down Brad Greiner and expose his true nature to the world.
That Was Then follows Andrea as she infiltrates Greiner’s inner circle, using her skills as a journalist to gather evidence against him.
But the closer she gets, the more dangerous it becomes.
The stakes get even higher when a group intent on controlling American democracy gets involved.
Someone knows what the twins are up to. And they’re closing in.
PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER
Come And Get Me by Marisa Rae Dondlinger
Successfully telling a story from three or more points of view requires an exceptionally deep understanding of each character’s unique fears, desires and triggers.
Marisa Rae Dondlinger’s winning novel does that and more, delivering a rare multi-dimensional narrative that feels intimate and unique at every turn.
When Vanessa kidnaps her ex-lover’s newborn baby, some might call her evil. Those who know her story might call her justified.
Vanessa thought she found her soulmate in August. Mind-bending sex. Soul-baring conversations. Safety and acceptance and being seen.
Perhaps too perfect? Yes. August is married to his college sweetheart, Cassidy.
When Vanessa gets pregnant, August manipulates Vanessa into getting an abortion with promises of a future together, but dumps her soon after. Vanessa plots her revenge, kidnapping August’s baby, Daisy, from her nursery.
Each member of this haunting love triangle tells their story as a nationwide search for Daisy ensues.
August’s secret affairs play a pivotal role in the police investigation, Cassidy learns her marriage is a sham, and Vanessa struggles to keep Daisy alive.
SCI-FI THRILLER
Project Übermensch by Lonnie Busch
Author Lonnie Busch is making a name for himself by deftly blending high-concept themes with science fiction. In his latest award-winning novel, he fuses the unlikely effects of a military experiment with traditional monster lore. The result is an unforgettable thriller that feels both new and distinctly American.
In 1943, unsuspecting sailors on the USS Eldridge are subjects of a U.S. Navy experiment. Sailors die and others are maimed, including Third mate Peter Smithwick, whose amputated legs are restored through advanced extraterrestrial technology.
Leaving the Navy, and fleeing his hometown, he escapes his dubious rescuers to go on the lam under a new name.
2024, in the tranquil mountain town of Kleary Creek, religious handyman, and all-around nice-guy, Orvin Littney meets his new neighbor, the mysterious Geoffrey Cannon.
While walking together one morning, Orvin experiences a heart attack, and is in the throes of death when Geoffrey miraculously saves his life. Miracles such as these, Orvin soon learns, account for Geoffrey’s cult-like following in the mystical, self-help community.
But Geoffrey’s life as a spiritual healer takes a dark turn when devotees are inexplicably murdered under grisly circumstances—all young women he’d had brief affairs with.
Hikers and residents turn up dead, while rumors of a monstrous creature in the woods around Kleary Creek circulate.
With events growing ever more ominous, Orvin comes to believe his “savior” friend, Geoffrey, is somehow at the center of it all.
SPY THRILLER
The Spy Who Hated Me by Haris Orkin
Haris Orkin’s James Flynn series may have started as a mere 007 spoof, but in The Spy Who Hated Me, Flynn is just as fully realized as the real James Bond ever was.
Delusional, highly opinionated, persnickety and oddly perceptive, Flynn has a remarkably rich backstory, cast of surrounding characters and journey all his own.
For readers who love levity within the context of espionage, it just doesn’t get any better than this.
CIA agent Caitlyn Valentine has disappeared in London and James Flynn is sure she’s in danger.
Of course, as a heavily medicated patient in a Pasadena psychiatric hospital, no one takes Flynn seriously.
Especially since he’s convinced his locked ward is the headquarters for His Majesty’s Secret Service and that he’s an international superspy with a license to kill.
Flynn escapes and makes his way to a totally unfamiliar London with the help of his reluctant sidekick and psychiatric nurse, Sancho.
From a luxurious private casino in Mayfair to the superyacht of a Russian oligarch to the Orient Express and the Hôtel de Paris in Monte Carlo, Flynn follows Caitlyn’s trail and stumbles upon an audacious plot that threatens every country on Earth.
At least that’s how it seems to a man teetering between objective truth and absolute insanity.
BOOK AWARD FINALISTS
Sixty sensational finalists were chosen for recognition in our 2024 Book Award series. Finalist book titles are listed in alphabetical order.
2076: The Reagan Virus by Miguel Pestana
A Game of Malice by Gledé Browne Kabongo
AI: Opening by George St Georges
All Mortal Greatness by Nelson Cover
Attack From Within by James Bultema
Below by Alaric Cabiling
Breaking Silence by Alan Breham
Chained Birds by Carla Conti
Deadly Odds 7.0 by Allen Wyler
Doctor Lucifer by Anthony Lee
Echoes of Fortune by David R Leng
Fighting For Peace by Jim Perakis
Forecasting Error by Michael Grisgsby
Goodwill’s Secrets by Christopher Mele
His Last Lie by Erik Therme
House of Fat Man by M Gerard-Alesco
Kent and Katcha by Larry and Rosemary Mild
Killer Insight by Karoline Anderson
Lady in White by Karen Gordon
Murder at the Summit by Carter Fielding
Never Say a Word by Alan Brenham
Officer Down by Michael A. Wexler
Pushing Back the Desert by Gordon Zuckerman
Reasonably Forseeable by James E. Caroll
Red Sun Over Africa by James E. Merriman
Right Across the Bay by Quinn Avery
Run by Matthew Becker
Scorched by Cam Torrens
Shitamachi Scam by Michael Pronko
Shredded Veil by Owen Parr
Snodgrass by Mark Bertrand
Somebody Knows by Pamela Ungashick
Terminal Lucidity by Jo Loveday
The Bitter End by Phillip Warren
The Burying Point by Derik Cavignano
The Committee Will Kill You Now by JL Lycette
The Debt Collector by Steven Max Russo
The Delusion by T.O. Paine
The Freelancer by Sam Sisavath
The Funeral Director’s Wife by Lindsay Schraad Keeling
The Goatman by Wallace Martin, MD
The God Frequency by Douglas Hemme
The Good Driver by Gary James
The Keystone Corner by J.B. Manheim
The Ladies from Long Island by Gerry Burke
The Rebirth by VP Evans
The Relentless Sun by Robert Walton
The Reluctant Reckoner by J. Lee
The Revenge Paradox by Regina Buttner
The Salty Iguana by Bill King
The Scotland Project by Matthew Fults
The Seventh Pawn by Finlay Beach
The Thousand Year Spy by Jeff Wallace
The War Machine by Barry Levy
The War Maker by Benjamin Spada
The Yamanaka Factors by Jed Hensen
Tiger Season by Gojan Nikolich
Till Human Voices Wake Us by Rebecca Roque
Too Many Bullets by Max Allan Collins