Best Crime and Thriller Books to Read This Year

Calling all armchair detectives and suspense junkies! If your ideal escape involves unraveling a gripping mystery or being swept away by heart-pounding tension, you've come to the right place. At Booxies, we know there's nothing quite like the thrill of a meticulously crafted crime novel or a psychological thriller that keeps you guessing until the very last page. This year has already delivered a spectacular lineup of releases guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat, and we've scoured the shelves to bring you our top picks for the best crime and thriller books to add to your must-read list. Get ready to dive into worlds of secrets, lies, and pulse-pounding revelations!

Best Crime and Thriller Books to Read This Year (so far):

The Forsaken by Matt Rogers

For ten years, Logan Booth served as a contract killer for the CIA – he just never knew it. The first book in a blockbuster thriller series from Matt Rogers, a million-copy bestseller and 'a bright new talent shaking up the genre' (Candice Fox).

In the twilight of his career, Logan learns he has been a vessel for furthering government interests, not a rogue hitman for a band of vigilantes. The revelation destroys him.

But when Jorge Romero – an investigative reporter and Logan's oldest friend – is brutally and inexplicably murdered, Logan allows his fury to deliver him from despair.

With an ally in Alice Mason, a homeless witness with a target on her back, Logan goes to war. Against whom, he isn't sure, but he knows powerful forces are at work behind the scenes.

Now, to deliver justice, Logan and Alice must confront their demons and win a savage battle that could destroy their lives... even if they survive.

Don't Let Him in by Lisa Jewell

He’s the perfect man.

He says he loves you.

You think he might even be made for you.

Before long he’s moved into your house – and into your heart.

And then he leaves for days at a time. You don’t know where he’s gone or who he’s with.

And you realise - if you looked back - you’d say to yourself:

DON’T LET HIM IN.

Don’t miss the new read-in-one-sitting Lisa Jewell novel; a cautionary story that could happen to you…

A Murder in Paris by Matthew Blake

WHAT IF A MEMORY COULD GET YOU KILLED?

Imagine the past returning to you in fragments.

A hotel room, a pillow, a lifeless body.

Your ordinary, innocent life upended by one flash of memory.

You can’t remember what led to the crime.

All you know is that you must return to the scene, to the clues that lie waiting in Room 11.

But this is a mystery that goes far beyond that room, that night, that murder.

Are you ready to unlock the truth?

The Death of Us by Abigail Dean

It’s the story everyone wants to hear.

That spring night in South London, when Isabel and Edward’s lives were torn apart.

The night Isabel learned that the worst things wait, just outside the door.

The night Edward learned that he was powerless to stop them.

The night they never talk about.

When their attacker is caught, it's finally time to tell the story of that night.

Not to the world. Or to the man who did it. But to each other.

This is a story of murder. This is a story of survival. But most of all, this is a story of love.

Head Cases by John McMahon

The first in a brand-new action-packed spy thriller series from a bestselling author, perfect for readers of Mick Herron, David Baldacci and John Grisham

Mick Herron's Slow Horses meets David Baldacci's The Camel Club in a hot new series. When a serial killer starts targeting other serial killers, and seems to be one step ahead of the FBI at every turn, only one team of misfits has a chance of stopping him ...

Gardner Camden is a walking analytical brain with an affinity for riddles, puzzles, and codes. It makes him the perfect fit for the Patterns and Recognition (PAR) unit of the FBI, a team of five brilliant but misfit agents who are too talented, too extraordinary to fire from the Bureau.

Gardner's smart, but he's all business - except for his seven-year-old daughter and occasional visits to his elderly mother, he prioritises his work and justice over everything else, no matter the cost.

A serial killer from one of Gardner's solved cases, presumed to be long dead, is found murdered, and then soon after, another body with a similar story. The mastermind murderer has left clues and riddles for Gardner and his team - a mathematician, a sniper and weapons expert, a computer analytics specialist, and their leader, a career agent - as they track him across the country. With the threat of PAR dissolving, the team can't afford to make any mistakes and Gardner must work to solve the riddles before it's too late.

McMahon's suspenseful and irresistible thriller confronts the scales of justices in the face of a twisted vengeance plot as this engaging cast of characters works together to stop a misguided vigilante.

She Didn't See it Coming by Shari Lapena

The brand new unputdownable thriller from the 'queen of the one-sit read'. A woman's disappearance exposes the secrets, lies and not-so-perfect lives of a close-knit community in a luxury condo.

The new gripping and addictive thriller from the No.1 Sunday Times bestselling author of EVERYONE HERE IS LYING.

Bryden and Sam have it all: thriving careers, a smart apartment in a luxury condo, supportive friends and a cherished daughter. The perfect life for the perfect couple.

Then Sam receives a call at his office. Bryden – working from home that day - has failed to collect their daughter from daycare.

Arriving home with their little girl, he finds his wife’s car in the underground garage. Upstairs in their apartment her laptop is open on the table, her cell phone nearby, her keys in their usual place in the hall.

Except Bryden is nowhere to be seen. It’s as if she just walked out.

How can she have disappeared from her own home? And did she even leave the building at all?

With every minute that passes – and as questions swirl around their community – Bryden and Sam’s past seems a little less perfect, their luxury condo less safe, their friends, neighbours and relatives no longer quite so reliable . . .

A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall

A whirlwind romance.
When Theodora Scott met Connor - wealthy, charming, and a member of the powerful Dalton family - she fell in love in an instant. Six months later, he's brought her to Idlewood, his family's isolated winter retreat, to win over his skeptical relatives.

Stay away from Connor Dalton.
Theo has tried to ignore the threatening messages on her phone, but she can't ignore the footprints in the snow outside her window or the cabin's strange familiar feeling. Then, Theo finds something impossible: a photo of herself as a child. A photo taken at Idlewood.

I've been here before.
Theo has almost no recollection of her earliest years, but now she begins to piece together the fragments of her memories. Someone here has a shocking secret that they will do anything to keep hidden, and Theo is in terrible danger. Because the Daltons do not lose, and discovering what happened at Idlewood may cost Theo everything.

Count My Lies by Sophie Stava

I'm your friend. But can you trust me? A voice-driven, read-in-one-night suspense thriller coming to you in 2025.

Sloane Caraway is a liar.

They are harmless lies, she tells herself, to make her own life a bit more interesting.

So when she sees a child in tears in a playground one afternoon, she tells the girl’s (very attractive) dad she’s a nurse and helps him pull a bee sting from his daughter’s foot.

With this lie and chance encounter, Sloane becomes the nanny for Jay and Violet Lockhart who have everything: a beautiful brownstone house, a daughter in private nursery school, and long summers on an idyllic island just off the coast of New York.

Sloane wants to be just like them. She wants their life and she’s prepared to lie about almost
everything to get it.

But Sloane isn’t the only one lying, and soon she begins to realise that all that’s picture-perfect about her employers hides a much more dangerous truth . . .

Don't just read about thrilling escapes – create your own! At Booxies, we make it easy to craft the ultimate personalised gift or well-deserved treat for yourself with our Build Your Own Booxies option. Imagine settling in with the gripping twists of A Killing Cold or the chilling suspense of Don't Let Him In, perfectly paired with some hand picked Australian treats. Add a decadent hand made chocolate from Cuvee for a touch of luxury, or perhaps some artisanal organic vegan chocolate from Loco Love for a sweet contrast to the dark narratives.  It's more than just a gift; it's an experience designed to delight all the senses, proving that the best adventures aren't just found on the page, but in the thoughtfully curated moments you create.