hello. it’s me again and it’s 2020 so you know what that means… another year for some great books! Now, I’m not a “new year, new me” guy (there’s no shade if you are). but one thing that always sparks some excitement for me on January 1st is the prospect of another great year of fantastic books, and by the looks of it, 2020 is going to be amazing. These are my must-see thrillers from the first half of 2020 that will definitely keep you busy until summer.
You are reading: Domestic thriller books 2020
meg gardiner’s dark corners of the night
now is the perfect time for you to jump into meg gardiner’s unsub series. For all you crime novel addicts, this is the book’s version of garlic bread, too good to put down. his titles are loosely based on actual serial killers you’ve read about while putting a unique spin on them with a great cast of characters. In the latest addition to this series, the third book, we follow Caitlin Hendrix on her most terrifying case yet: a serial killer who attacks parents and leaves children alive and unharmed. this was so addicting. there are some great creepy moments that make it hard to sleep, a police procedural aspect, and another bit of plot that is sure to make you want book four. soon to be a TV series, you’ll definitely want to read these books before they air.
the other lady. by Maria Kubica
mary kubica is one of my favorite thriller writers. her characters are vivid and amazing, her prose is absolutely brilliant and her plots are out of this world addictive. The Other Lady is the darkest read of hers yet and I read it in one sitting. When Sadie and Ella’s husband Bill Ella move from the busy streets of Chicago to a small town in Maine, you’d think life would slow down a bit…not with Mary Kubica driving the bus. Soon, her neighbor is found murdered and Sadie is petrified. With a killer on the loose, a disturbed niece still dealing with the death of her mother, and a new home where Will’s sister has died, Sadie and her family are in for a rude awakening. this read was dazzling, dark and addictive – the perfect combination of suspense and domestic suspense with an ending that will blow you away. Mary Kubica just gets better with time and she is one of the best writers I have ever met.
the motel at dusk by simone st. james
when simone st. james released the broken girls, i couldn’t think of anything negative about it. then i saw the cover of the sun down motel and before i knew what it was i knew she was going to kill him again…and i think this one was even better than the last one. Flashback to 1982 in a small town in upstate new york, a young woman named viv disappears from her job as a night clerk at the sun down motel. cut to 2017 when her niece goes to the same motel to investigate the disappearance of her aunt. With dual timelines and multiple storylines that meld seamlessly into one gargantuan, fast-paced psychological thriller, this book is guaranteed to rock you to the core. the sun down motel is one of the best thrillers i have ever read and simone st. James will take you where no one else will.
woman on the edge by samantha m. outer wall
I love a good play with book titles and Woman on the Edge is a harrowing debut read that’s powerful and brilliantly paced. When Morgan is waiting for the train, a woman named Nicole runs up to her and hands her baby to her before jumping in front of a train. Morgan has no idea who this woman is or why she chose her and she quickly becomes suspicious when the police ask if she nicole jumped or if she was pushed. Featuring a dual timeline with two character perspectives, Bailey gives the reader a look at what led to Nicole ending up on that platform with her baby and Morgan’s frantic search for answers as she investigates Nicole’s life. . emotionally charged and fast-paced, this is definitely a book that will stay with you long after the final page. after reading this i can say with certainty that i think it will be like the hunger games among bloggers when advance copies of his second book come out. this is a new voice you won’t want to miss.
peter swanson’s eight perfect kills
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i love peter swanson. the guy worth killing is one of my all time favorite books and his writing is superb. each book has such a different vibe and yet they are both entertaining and chilling. When a bookseller named Malcolm makes a list of the most unsolvable murders in the mystery-thriller genre, he is shocked when, years later, an FBI agent questions him about some unsolved murders that basically mirror his list. With a serial killer on the loose and Malcolm looking to be the prime suspect, Swanson is sure to keep me enthralled with this plot and I just know this will be one read I’ll devour in one day.
you are not alone by greer hendricks & sara pekkanen
greer and sarah are one of the best writing duos I’ve ever met and their last two titles have been fantastic reads. the plot of you are not alone is disturbing and ominous and doesn’t give away much, which i’m sure means it’s going to be a devilish ride full of twists and turns that only these two brilliant women can pull off. This book features a woman who feels dissatisfied in her life when she meets a pair of sisters who have everything. While she wants her life, something else is brewing under the surface and I can’t wait to open it up to find out what the twist is. If you haven’t read anything by Greer and Sarah, you can read the titles from their back catalog before You Are Not Alone comes out this spring.
andrea bartz’s herd
andrea bartz is a new voice whose debut, the lost night, surprised me last year. the herd is an elite women-only company that people would kill to be in…literally. this twisted and fun thriller is definitely one that I think I’m going to enjoy. Two sisters who work for the herd are shocked when the founder goes missing and everyone is a suspect, including them. with one sister who is a writer and the other a friend of the founder, it is a race against time to investigate the life of this woman and the herd. i am very excited about this one and i think andrea bartz is a great author. her prose is dangerous and beautiful, her characters jump off the page and i find her writing stunningly hypnotic of hers.
little secrets of jennifer hillier
jennifer hillier is very sweet but she scares the hell out of me. the jar of hearts made me so anxious, scared and in awe of what a person can do with a novel. she’s an amazing storyteller who isn’t afraid to get really dark with her stories and her characters. little secrets is about a woman named marin (love the name) who has the perfect life running a hair salon until her life and her husband tragically fall apart when her son is kidnapped. A year later and with no clues, Marin hires a private investigator to search for her son, but what she discovers is that her once-perfect husband is having an affair, a secret that will force Marin to take action. I can’t wait to see what hillier does with this one and have already added all her other titles to my amazon wishlist. This author really can’t go wrong and I’ll tell you one thing: I’m going to read this book like it’s the last day of my life.
started it with samantha downing
samantha downing is a talented woman who took the thriller genre by storm last year with my lovely wife. in it began, downing takes her readers on a wild ride. When beth, portia and eddie, brothers who haven’t seen each other in a while, have to travel to fulfill their rich grandfather’s dying wish and come up with some cash, things get a little messy and possibly deadly. From what I read, can there be a missing person, a possible stalker, and a dead body in a trunk? this is sure to be one of the wildest thrillers out there and I may or may not be saving a bottle of rosé for the rainy night this one devours.
lucy foley’s guest list
Lucy Foley really raised the bar for atmospheric thrillers with The Hunt: I was so immersed in the story that I put the book down and waited to pick it up during a snowstorm so I could enhance my reading experience. With Ella’s new novel The Guest List, I know she’s going to captivate me again with another locked-room mystery starring a wild cast of characters on an Irish island wedding. murder on an island during a wedding? sign. me. up. And that’s coming from someone who hates weddings. this could be the reading that catapults my expectations of spring thrillers.
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liv constantine’s wife stalker
I love the way liv constantine tells a story. this writing duo (and sisters) are incredible storytellers with vivid imaginations, a knack for setting, and a terrifying way of running a novel. this one sounds really good and diabolical. A beautiful woman moves to a new city and quickly falls in love with a very handsome man… a very handsome married man. soon enough, sparks fly between the two and her wife is not happy about it, so she does what anyone would do: she digs into her husband’s lover’s past and uncovers disturbing information. This book will be perfect for her book club and definitely one to start some conversations on bookstagram.
perfectly famous by emily liebert
emily liebert is an author i had the pleasure of reading last year. Her combination of black humor and sensational storylines was so gripping and addictive. by the time i put up a pretty revenge i was starved by the need to write my review so as not to miss a single thought. Perfectly Famous is another Liebert novel that I hope will blow my mind. I love novels about authors and publications, and this one features an author whose daughter is murdered. When he vows never to write again, he soon meets a single housewife who is dying to tell Ward Defleur’s story. My guess is that this could be a game of cat and mouse between the two women and the killer. liebert is a brilliant writer and this one sounds even more complex and sinister than the last one.
the wife who knew too much about michele campbell
some look forward to the fourth of July, some look forward to going to the beach, some love barbecues. What do I like most about summer? lounging poolside with michele campbell’s latest novel. Ever since her debut, Campbell has cast a spell on me and I have yet to take more than a day to read one. In her most recent, an affair between a posh rich guy and the pool girl at her country club is something that has stayed with Tabitha for years. Years later, Tabitha is reunited with Connor, who is unhappy with her marriage. Connor’s wife then kills herself and leaves a diary with her last entry alluding to the fact that if anything happens to her, it’s Connor’s doing. Campbell always crafts these captivating plotlines, diabolical characters, and heartbreaking endings. she is the best beach reading author.
the exchange for robyn harding
if you don’t know robyn harding, now is the time to get going. She’s the sweetest Canadian author you’ll ever meet, but then you open her books and they’re seductive, malevolent, and have dark, twisted endings. In her most recent tale, we find a teenager named Low who befriends a woman named Freya. Freya ends up befriending Jamie and leaves in the dust. One night, Freya suggests to Jamie that they should switch partners after having one too many cocktails. what happens next is sure to be a dark and sexy story with brilliant twists and turns and a terrifyingly shocking ending. you know, the robyn harding style. the way she can combine crime with a domestic aspect in her stories is impressive. check out robyn harding – she’s the real deal.
the widowed hill girl by megan miranda
megan miranda’s books are thrillers that aren’t too violent but are still very funny and addictive. She is without a doubt one of my favorite authors. In her most recent tale of hers (and my most anticipated book of the summer), Arden disappeared during a storm one night while she was sleepwalking and became a local legend when she was found alive. When the media and fan letters become too much, Arden runs away and changes her name. As the 20th anniversary of her disappearance approaches, she starts sleepwalking again and before you know her, a dead body is in front of her and I can only imagine where she goes from here. This is the kind of book that I think will have everyone talking and is sure to wow fans of her everywhere.
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