Summer has finally arrived and it’s the perfect time to grab a spine-tingling and addictive thriller to read by the beach or poolside. Whether you want to transport yourself to California in the 1960s and help three unlikely friends hunt a serial killer, dive into the 1980s in Texas for mean girls and murder or get lost in a doppelgänger dilemma with deadly consequences, here are the best thrillers so far of 2026 perfect to throw into your beach bag!
Every Lie I Told by Hilary Davidson
Jackie Swift is no stranger to ambition. At work, she helps craft lies to protect her clients at a public-relations firm. At home, she helps her sister, Madi, escape the consequences from decisions revolving her friends and drugs. When Jackie gets a call from Madi one night, her two worlds collide when Madi overdoses. Rushing to the scene, Jackie finds herself at an Upper East Side mansion to find a dead body with Madi nowhere in sight. The dead body is none other than Jackie’s old boss and mentor. As the NYPD builds a case against Madi, Jackie searches desperately for her sister as she discovers that Madi may also be responsible for the deaths of other sexually abusive men.
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All the Little Houses by May Cobb
In Longview, Texas in the mid-1980s, Nellie Anderson is the daughter of the Anderson family dynasty and used to getting whatever she wants. Her mother, Charleigh Anderson, the blonde and beautiful, remembers when she was Nellie’s age and was living on the poor side of town shunned by the popular crowd. She had to claw her way to the top and now a new family moves into town that is the epitome of a perfect family with a trad wife, woodworking dad, and wholesome daughter, Charleigh’s empire is threatened and she simply can’t have that.
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The Exes by Leodora Darlington
It is said that a “good man” is hard to find. Well, Natalie is intimately acquainted with bad men dressed as gentlemen, so when tiptoeing back into romance with seemingly innocuous James, she is wary to say the least. On a night of celebration, he ruptures the safety bubble. Boiling with rage, Natalie contends with herself trying to not redress his actions with one of her own — at least that is the hope.
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Dead in the Water by John Marrs
Damon just survived a near-drowning and his life flashed before his eyes. With every memory being one he remembers, there is one disturbing memory and a face that he doesn’t recognize at all. Unable to let it go, Damon realizes that the only way he can get answers about his past is by dying again and again until he can solve this mystery.
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The Secret Lives of Murderers’ Wives by Elizabeth Arnott
Beverley, Elsie, and Margot have one thing in common: they are all wives of convicted murderers. Forming an unlikely friendship in the summer of 1966, they all find themselves on a new path after their husbands are either dead or behind bars. Beverley tries to keep control of her life, Elsie wants to make a name for herself in the newsroom, and Margot refuses to let what happened take away from her glamorous looking lifestyle. When a string of local killings hits the news, the three women are determined to solve the case. Who better than to solve a string of murders than women who lived with a killer?
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Sorry for Your Loss by Georgia McVeigh
Iris is a dark soul drawn to obsession who relies on her grief group to keep her out of trouble. When she meets Jack, a widow, Iris feels that fate brought them together. As Iris finds herself being drawn to Jack even more, she realizes with all the secrets he’s been keeping, they may just be the perfect couple after all.
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Ours is a Tale of Murder by Nora Murphy
Klara never wanted the white picket fence that Troy is so desperate for. Something is off with this couple. Meanwhile on the same street, Mary cleans out her son’s bedroom before she sells her house haunted from the past; Henry is now laid off and living with his parents, spending the day paying too much attention to the wives on the street. Soon enough, a murder will rock this community in a way that will affect everyone.
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Strangers in the Villa by Robyn Harding
Sydney Lowe’s life is shattered when her husband, Curtis, admits to an affair. To prove that he still wants their marriage to work, he suggests they go to a couples retreat in Spain. Shortly after arriving on the remote hilltop house, a pair of Australian travelers knock at their door looking for help. Inviting the couple in, Sydney and Curtis put themselves in a position they might not survive.
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My Husband’s Wife by Alice Feeney
Artist Eden Fox is preparing for her big break with her first exhibition. When she returns home, her key doesn’t work in her house and a woman who looks eerily similar to her answers the door followed by Eden’s husband. He swears that this stranger is his wife, not Eden. Two months ago, a woman named Birdy received a life-changing diagnosis and inherited the same home. Finding a London clinic that claims to be able to predict a person’s date of death, things quickly begin to unravel.
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The Anniversary by Alex Finlay
In 1992, two seventeen-year-olds’ lives change forever. Quinn Riley, the boy from the wrong side of town, is arrested for trying to break up a fight and almost killing someone. Jules Delaney survives a brutal attack from a serial killer dubbed the May Day Killer. A year later and Jules is reeling with survivor’s guilt as Quinn is released from juvenile detention and looking to solve the murder of his mother. Every May 1st following for a decade, their lives intertwine again as they both look for answers and the May Day Killer is still on the loose.
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Heather by Caitlin Mullen
In 1990, sixteen-year-old Annabelle Riley’s twin sister, Sabrina, is having an affair with an older man and refuses to give up his identity. As Annabelle tries to discover who this man is, both sisters vanish. Years later, police chief Callie Hauser makes an arrest that uncovers information regarding a cold case. As she continues her investigation, the past and the present collide forever changing the place Callie once considered home.
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It Could Have Been Her by Lisa Jewell
When Jane Trevally is walking her dogs, she finds a small dog alone only to discover the teenage girl that had been watching the dog is missing. When Jane offers to take the dog back to his owner in London, she is shocked to discover that she has a dark history with this house. The man who answers the door is not the man she remembers from her past. When Jane sees a terrified looking woman in a window of the home, memories from twenty-five years ago begin to come back and they may be the key to finding the missing teenager.
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