New Thriller Books to Read Summer 2020
17 Thrillers That Will Have You on the Edge of Your Seat This Summer
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Summer isn't just for lighthearted beach reads! If your literary tastes run more to the spine-tingling, we've got plenty of new thrillers for your Summer 2020 reading list. This year is full of brand-new books with chilling mysteries, tense thrills, and more twists and turns than you can possibly imagine. These are perfect if you have a little extra time over the summer — because you won't want to put them down. Ready to dive into some dark family secrets, crime scenes, and psychological twists? Ahead, we've rounded up some of the most anticipated new thrillers coming out this season. Keep reading for our favourites and see which ones you want to order from your favourite bookstore and add to your own reading list for the summer!
Meadowlark by Melanie Abrams
Melanie Abrams's Meadowlark starts with a bit of history: years ago, two teenagers, Simrin and Arjun, escaped from a spiritual compound, then went their separate ways. As adults, Arjun becomes the leader of the "Meadowlark" commune and invites Simrin to come write about it and bring her young daughter along. Once she's there, though, Simrin becomes suspicious of the group's beliefs about children and power, and an ongoing investigation reveals more danger than she could have planned for.
Out May 1
The Girl Beneath the Sea by Andrew Mayne
Andrew Mayne uses the world of police diving as a backdrop for The Girl Beneath the Sea. Despite a shady family background, Sloan begins building a new life for herself as a skilled diver in evidence recovery. When she discovers the body of a woman linked to her own past, Sloan comes under suspicion. Her only hope is the DEA agent who put away her corrupt uncle and who might be the only person able to keep her safe from the conspiracy that's lurking.
Out May 1
Ghosts of Harvard by Francesca Serritella
Cady, a Harvard freshman, tries to investigate her late brother's death in Ghosts of Harvard by Francesca Serritella. With her brother's journal in tow, she tries to retrace his steps and understand the mysterious scribblings that were dismissed as the ravings of a schizophrenic. When Cady herself begins to hear the voices of ghosts past, she uncovers a series of stories left untold for centuries.
Out May 5
The Law of Lines by Hye-Young Pyun
Award-winning novelist Hye-Young Pyun is back with The Law of Lines, which dives into family secrets and suspicious deaths. Two women are told that their loved ones died from suicide, but they both suspect there's much more at play. When their stories finally intersect in a web of lies and a predatory pyramid scheme, both women have to face up to the truth.
Out May 5
These Women by Ivy Pochoda
Five women, one man, and two murders all intertwine in Ivy Pochoda's These Women. Linked by an obsession they don't even know about yet, five women find their carefully crafted lives shattered by two murders in their neighbourhood. Instead of letting it go, they each seek answers in their own way, putting all of them in danger.
Out May 19
Perfectly Famous by Emily Liebert
Perfectly Famous packs plenty of meta storytelling about the literary world into its suspenseful framework. After a crime novelist's teenage daughter is murdered, she swears to never write again and disappears from the public eye. A former journalist (and superfan) tries to track down her reclusive favourite writer but instead becomes obsessed — and there's the small matter of the killer still being on the loose.
Out July 23
I Killed Zoe Spanos by Kit Frick
Kit Frick puts a modern spin on the classic Rebecca story with I Killed Zoe Spanos. A young nanny confesses to the murder of a girl who went missing — who happens to look almost identical to her. Even after her confession, though, a young podcaster suspects there's more to the story and sets out to find the truth, no matter what the cost.
Out June 30
Clean Hands by Patrick Hoffman
Patrick Hoffman sets Clean Hands in the shady world where corporate and government secrets intersect and lives are worth less than the secrets they protect. An ex-CIA fixer and a corporate lawyer team up when a set of secret documents go missing, and as details begin leaking to the press, they find themselves in professional and personal danger. They have to track down who's behind it all while keeping their own reputations — and lives — intact.
Out August 6
The Guest List by Lucy Foley
The Guest List by Lucy Foley puts a dark spin on a society wedding. At a destination wedding between a TV star and a magazine publisher, everyone on the guest list has something to hide. So when someone turns up murdered, no one is above suspicion — and they're all stuck with each other until things get solved.
Out June 3
You Can't Catch Me by Catherine McKenzie
In You Can't Catch Me, Catherine McKenzie tells the story of a woman who escaped from a cult, only to find that she can't leave the past behind entirely when a woman with her name and birthday steals her identity. After assembling a group of other victims of the same grifter, she waits to lay a trap with her new allies, but trust is all too easily broken.
Out June 9
The Half Sister by Sandie Jones
Sandie Jones's The Half Sister is a story of family secrets and the lies we tell. Two sisters are shocked when a woman arrives, DNA test in hand, claiming to be their half-sister. As the truth about their family comes out, it soon becomes clear that everyone has been keeping secrets all along.
Out June 25
The Dilemma by B.A. Paris
B.A. Paris's The Dilemma centres its drama on a birthday party with a big secret.Livia's 40th birthday party is missing one important person: her daughter. But secretly, she's glad her daughter won't be there, and she's keeping her reasons from everyone, including her husband.
Out June 3
Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
Riley Sager's Home Before Dark follows Maggie, a home restorer whose family once fled a rumoured haunted house when she was just a child. When she inherits that old property after her father's death, she uncovers a town angry at the infamy her family's tale brought them, as well as eerie happenings that seem to suggest her father's stories were true.
Out July 7
Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby
In Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby, a former getaway driver thinks he's left that life behind him; he's settled down, has a family, and works a stable job as a mechanic. When his old life comes calling with the promise of a can't-miss heist, he comes to realise that he hasn't left his past in the past as much as he'd thought.
Out August 4
Behind the Red Door by Megan Collins
In Megan Collins's Behind the Red Door, the victim of a decades-ago kidnapping disappears again after publishing her memoirs. A second woman begins seeing the victim in her dreams and comes to believe that they have a connection she can't remember — and when she begins digging, parts of her own past resurface that she'd long put away.
Out August 4
In Case of Emergency by E.G. Scott
In Case of Emergency tells a tangled story of death, love, and trauma. Soon after her secretive boyfriend disappears, a seemingly average woman is called in to identify the body of a woman she's never met before — but who listed her as an emergency contact. As she's sucked into the investigation as a person of interest, she has to investigate who the strange woman was, what their connection could have been, and what her boyfriend's connection to all of it is.
Out August 4
Safecracker by Ryan Wick
Ryan Wick's debut Safecracker is a tense story in the "job gone wrong" subgenre. The "safecracker" of the title is supposed to have an easy job: break in, steal a rare coin, get out. That all gets thrown out the window when the owner comes home with a strange woman who murders him, takes the coin, and flees, forcing the safecracker to work for her drug-lord boss in his most dangerous job ever.
Out August 11
