Best Thriller Books That Will Keep You Up All Night

The continuous pounding of the heart, shocking exposés after every few chapters, and a supposedly unsolvable mystery, these are the fundamental elements of a good thriller book that guarantees to keep us up all night long. Unputdownable books have a distinct appeal about them, especially when we talk about the thriller genre. Not only does the story have to pull and keep bibliophiles interested in a complicated situation, but it also needs to be realistic enough for them to relate with it at a personal level. Murder, mayhem, riddles, and revelations, here are four must-read thriller novels that will keep you entertained till the last page.

1. The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

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Six-month-old Cora is kidnapped from her house, while her parents are attending a party next door. What follows is a fast-paced mystery thriller where Shari Lapena engages her book readers with twists upon twists, that never seem to stop. There's a more profound human element to this edge-of-the-couch thriller, with the parents Anne and Marco having their demons to fight, making them prime suspects of this horrendous crime. However, suspicion soon falls upon the couple next door and the babysitter who cancelled at the last minute. As secrets come out in the open, and the drama unfolds, it's not long before book lovers are flipping through the novel, pulling an all-nighter, in anticipation of the final truth.

2. The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

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Libby, on her 25th birthday, inherits a million-dollar mansion in Chelsea, London. But before she can revel in her fortune, Libby must come to terms with the morbid past and the sinister present of 16 Cheyne Walk and its inhabitants. It's uncommon for an author to keep readers glued to the pages from the very start until the end of their book. With The Family Upstairs, Lisa Jewell does precisely that as she knits an exciting plot packed with shadowy happenings, intense drama, and unexpected confessions, all told from the viewpoint of three protagonists, each one adding suspense to the narrative slowly and methodologically. The Family Upstairs is not an easy read, with multiple personalities and changing timelines. However, those who manage to get through the beginning will be rewarded most beautifully by an intriguing book that will leave them spellbound for days to come.

3. The Woman in the Window by A J Finn

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Anna Fox can't leave her home in New York, and so she spends her time drinking and prying on her neighbours through the window. Struggling with alcoholism and agoraphobia, that limits her movements; one day, she watches a new family move into the house across the street. Soon enough, Anna is witness to a dreadful crime. The only question is if it happened, or was it a hallucination? Unquestionably, the premise of The Woman in the Window has elements from Alfred Hitchcock's brilliant Rear Window, and Anna's love for old thrillers is a nod towards that. Still, the characterization in this thriller read is excellent. Anna is a broken soul in more ways than one, adding complexity to the plot as readers are forced to wonder if they can trust everything she says. A J Finn's writing, on top of that, stays tight and gripping until the plot's shocking revel. The Women in the Window is a "popcorn thriller," the type that Hollywood loves, and as expected, there's already a movie, based on the book, starting A-listers Amy Adams and Gary Oldman.

4. The Guest List by Lucy Foley

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Everyone loves a whodunit, especially if it creates a claustrophobic atmosphere by taking place on an uninhabited island. Lucy Foley whisks us away to a remote destination, possibly haunted, for a celebrity wedding where it doesn't take long for secrets and jealousy to pop up between the guests. However, it's not till a storm hits the island, and someone is dead that the story really picks up. Foley's brilliance, though, is in changing the narrative time and again and diving deeper into the past lives of most characters even if they might not seem relevant at first. This spectacularly transforms The Guest List into a fabulous thriller book, one that refuses to show all its cards, and keeps the guessing game alive till the very end.