This is a spoiler-free post!
Fall is here! In honor of shorter days and the spooky season fast-approaching, I’m writing to share the thrillers I’ve been eating up lately and the ones I plan to start next.
Historically, I don’t read too many thrillers. The last thriller I read before this summer was The Club by Ellery Lloyd (a Reese’s Book Club pick, coincidentally), and I rated it three stars. I swear, I don’t seek out Reese’s Book Club picks, they find me.
I used to think that all books were supposed to be thrillers; shouldn’t every book thrill the audience? I know I’m on the edge of my seat reading Fourth Wing these days (it’s a nice break in between reading the dense chapters of Cutting for Stone). Clearly, I’ve had the definition of a thriller all wrong, not every book with an interesting plot is a thriller.
I’m exploring genre fiction as a concept in general, and I’m learning what it is and is not. For example, not all of the books I’ve read with love stories are necessarily romance novels. And Gothic stories do follow a formula after all (spooky house + supernatural + dark/stormy weather element). For someone who’s read nearly 100 books in their adult life, I guess it’s good to finally be learning what a genre is 🙃.
Here are the thrillers that I’ve been busy reading lately:
Reese’s Book Club Thrillers
This summer, I checked off a lot of Reese’s Book Club picks (for better or worse). A common theme I noticed is that Reese tends to pick thrillers with at least one unique storytelling element. For example, in First Lie Wins, we explore the main character’s story through different time-stamped stories of her aliases (not necessarily in chronological order). In Wrong Place Wrong Time, we gradually work backwards from the day of the murder until/if the main character solves the crime. In Still Lives, well, I’m not sure how Still Live would have worked out (because I did not finish it), but I’m sure it would have been twisty.
I’m also starting to use the term “informed insider” to describe a lot of Reese’s protagonists, until I find a better name for it. These protagonists are usually employees that become the protagonist when things go wrong. The Club, First Lie Wins, and Still Lives follow this model.
The Club – Ellery Lloyd
Final Rating: ★★★
This was my first out-of-college thriller, and for that, The Club holds a special place in my heart. I found it hard to get hooked on the plot, and I didn’t really feel connected to the main protagonist. However, I remember finishing and enjoying the end of the book. If you want a memorable thriller that will leave you reeling years later, this isn’t that book.
First Lie Wins – Ashley Elston
Final Rating: ★★★
It’s been five months since I finished First Lie Wins, and to be honest, this book wasn’t very memorable. I wasn’t sure what the title meant then, and I still don’t know what it means now. It’s a con-artist “cat and mouse game” type of book that kept me thrilled, but not really connected with any of the characters. At the time, I enjoyed it, but after a few months of marination, I wouldn’t really recommend this book.
Wrong Place Wrong Time – Gillian McAllister
Final Rating: ★★★
I really liked the concept of this book; Jen witnesses her son murdering a stranger and now she is forced backwards in time until she can solve/prevent the crime. However, the mental gymnastics of keeping up with the time loop dragged on towards the middle of the book, and by the time the big twist was revealed, I was ready to be done with it all. If you like time travel, I would recommend this one.
Still Lives – Maria Hummel
Final Rating: DNF
After reading First Lie Wins and Wrong Place Wrong Time this summer, I was bored by the time I got to Still Lives. I DNFed after 20 pages because I thought it seemed like a mix of Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and The Maid (both of which I’ve read, The Maid also following the “informed insider” approach). I could be wrong, and maybe I’ll try again in a few years, but for now I’m trusting my intuition.
Other Thrillers I Read This Summer
The Only One Left – Riley Sager
Final Rating: ★★★
What can I say? I appreciate good design, and I am 100% guilty of judging this book by its cover. The Only One Left follows the gothic novel formula to a tee, and I enjoyed getting to know the main protagonists. Twist was good too, from what I remember, but it didn’t shake me to my core.
We Were Liars – E. Lockhart
Final Rating: ★★★
E. Lockhart, whoever you are, I was impressed. I was pretty thrilled by your big twist. But why did you have to make the rest of the book so dull and depressing? This is a YA-turned-thriller type book; I mirrored it to The Summer I Turned Pretty and enjoyed the whole “TSITP gone wrong” situation being played out.
God I want to be a New Yorker. I want to go to a bodega and eat New York Style pizza.
Thrillers I’m Excited To Read Next
I like to call myself an average reader with above-average expectations. I went through my TBR and asked ChatGPT to analyze my past ratings and recommend new books. Here’s the list it came up with (in the order I should read them),
- The Secret History – Donna Tartt
- The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafón
- The Thirteenth Tale – Diane Setterfield
- The Silent Patient – Alex Michaelides
- The Turn of the Key – Ruth Ware
- Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
- The Family Upstairs – Lisa Jewel
- The Little Stranger – Sarah Waters
- We Have Always Lived in the Castle – Shirley Jackson
- And Then There Were None – Agatha Christie
I’ll be back after I read The Secret History.
