There are two kinds of thriller readers. The ones who never see the twist coming, and the ones who announce “I knew it” on page forty and are then insufferable until the end. This list is for both. The first group will have a wonderful time. The second group will finally be quiet.
A great twist surprises you and then makes you realise the clues were sitting there the whole time. You won’t find a single spoiler on this page, not even a hint about what kind of twist it is. Telling you would be like reading someone’s diary and then reading it out at their wedding.
10 thrillers with twists you won’t see coming
Behind Her Eyes
Sarah Pinborough · 2017
Louise kisses a stranger in a bar, then discovers on Monday morning that he is her new boss. Then she accidentally befriends his wife. Nothing in this book goes where you think it will, and the ending became so notorious it got its own hashtag.
Side effects: a newfound caution about who you kiss in bars. Long overdue, frankly.
Read it if: you think you have seen every twist going.
Find Behind Her Eyes on AmazonThe Silent Patient
Alex Michaelides · 2019
A painter shoots her husband and never speaks again, and her therapist is determined to find out why. It reads fast, it plays completely fair, and the final reveal is one of the most famous of the last decade.
Side effects: staring at the ceiling at 1am, going back over chapter three.
Read it if: you want the modern twist everyone measures the rest against. Then try these books like The Silent Patient.
Find The Silent Patient on AmazonGone Girl
Gillian Flynn · 2012
Amy Dunne vanishes on her wedding anniversary, and her husband’s story keeps changing. Flynn changed what readers expect from a thriller, and somehow it still lands even if you think you already know.
Side effects: Googling “is it normal for a marriage to” at midnight.
Read it if: you want the book that started the modern twist craze.
Find Gone Girl on AmazonVerity
Colleen Hoover · 2018
A struggling writer is hired to finish a famous author’s series and finds a manuscript she was never meant to read. Readers still fight about the ending, which tells you everything you need to know.
Side effects: strong opinions you will want to share with strangers.
Read it if: you like dark, obsessive and slightly shocking. Here are some books like Verity for afterwards.
Find Verity on AmazonShutter Island
Dennis Lehane · 2003
Two US Marshals arrive at a hospital for the criminally insane on an island off Boston, looking for a patient who has vanished from a locked room. A storm cuts them off from the mainland. Everything slowly starts to feel wrong.
Side effects: a reluctance to visit any island in bad weather.
Read it if: you love an atmosphere so thick you could stand a spoon up in it.
Find Shutter Island on Amazon
An opening line to keep you up tonight
“The cab driver asked if she wanted him to wait, and she told him she’d done enough waiting for one life.”
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Agatha Christie · 1926
Hercule Poirot investigates the death of a wealthy man in a quiet English village. Nearly a hundred years old and crime writers are still arguing about whether the solution is genius or cheating. It is genius.
Side effects: a sudden urge to reread every Christie you skimmed at school.
Read it if: you want to see where the modern twist was born.
Find The Murder of Roger Ackroyd on AmazonSometimes I Lie
Alice Feeney · 2017
Amber wakes up in hospital, unable to move or speak, and tells you three things about herself. The last one is that sometimes she lies. Feeney never lets you settle for a single page.
Side effects: no longer trusting anybody who starts a sentence with “honestly”.
Read it if: you love an unreliable narrator.
Find Sometimes I Lie on AmazonThe Housemaid
Freida McFadden · 2022
Millie takes a live-in job with a wealthy family and moves into a tiny attic room. The door locks from the outside. The book that turned McFadden into a global phenomenon, with a turn that catches almost everybody.
Side effects: checking which side of the door the lock is on. Every door.
Read it if: you want a fast, addictive weekend read.
Find The Housemaid on AmazonThen She Was Gone
Lisa Jewell · 2017
Ten years after her teenage daughter disappeared, Laurel meets a charming man whose young daughter looks heartbreakingly familiar. Not one big bang, but a slow-dawning horror that is somehow worse.
Side effects: you will need a cup of tea and a sit-down afterwards.
Read it if: you like twists that hurt as much as they shock.
Find Then She Was Gone on AmazonWe Were Liars
E. Lockhart · 2014
A rich family, a private island and a summer one girl can’t fully remember. Written for teenagers, adored by adults, and one of the most famous endings in modern fiction. Short enough to read in an evening.
Side effects: immediately turning back to the first page.
Read it if: you want something short with a real gut punch.
Find We Were Liars on Amazon
What makes a plot twist good?
A great twist is surprising and fair. The clues are all there if you go back, which is why the best twist endings make you want to reread the book immediately. A bad twist arrives from nowhere, like a surprise party nobody wanted. Every book on this list plays fair, even when it feels impossible.
If you like your twists inside a proper whodunnit, try the best mystery thriller books next.
Your questions answered
What thriller has the best plot twist?
Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough, The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn are the thrillers most often named for the best plot twist.
What are good thriller books to read with a plot twist?
Start with The Silent Patient or The Housemaid. Both are fast, easy to get into and have endings that surprise most readers.
Does this page contain spoilers?
No. None of the descriptions give away a twist, or even what kind of twist it is.
What is a good short thriller with a twist?
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart and The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides are both short enough to read in an evening or two.
Which twisty thriller should I read next?
If you can’t decide, take the 60-second quiz.
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