Some book club nights are polite. Everyone says they liked it, somebody mentions the cover, and you are on to holidays by half past eight.
A good thriller fixes that. Pick the right one and your group will still be arguing at the door with their coats on, about who they suspected, who they believed and what they would have done. This list is built for exactly that kind of night, with twelve thrillers that are brilliant to talk about, a book club menu, and free questions to take along.
| # | Book | Author | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Silent Patient | Alex Michaelides | 2019 |
| 2 | Rebecca | Daphne du Maurier | 1938 |
| 3 | The Push | Ashley Audrain | 2021 |
| 4 | None of This Is True | Lisa Jewell | 2023 |
| 5 | Apples Never Fall | Liane Moriarty | 2021 |
| 6 | Gone Girl | Gillian Flynn | 2012 |
| 7 | The Guest List | Lucy Foley | 2020 |
| 8 | Verity | Colleen Hoover | 2018 |
| 9 | The Thursday Murder Club | Richard Osman | 2020 |
| 10 | We Need to Talk About Kevin | Lionel Shriver | 2003 |
| 11 | The Housemaid | Freida McFadden | 2022 |
| 12 | The Last Thing He Told Me | Laura Dave | 2021 |
What makes a thriller good for a book club?
A great read and a great book club read are not always the same thing. A thriller that is all twist can fall flat, because once the twist is out there is nothing left to say. The ones that work best have something to chew on after the last page.
Look for a narrator you are not sure about, a moral choice with no right answer, characters people will take sides on, a setting you can almost smell, and an ending worth a second glass of wine. Every book below has at least three of those.
How to run a thriller book club night without spoilers
Set one rule before anyone opens the book: nobody mentions the ending until everyone has finished. If somebody hasn’t, give them the first half hour and save the big reveal for pudding.
Start with first impressions of the opening chapter, then go round the room and ask who everyone suspected and when they changed their mind. It is the quickest way to get the quiet ones talking. When you need more, take our free book club questions for thrillers, which work for any book on this list.
12 of the best thriller book club books for 2027
No spoilers. Each one says what it is about, what your group will argue about, and who it suits.
The Silent Patient
Alex Michaelides · 2019
Alicia Berenson was a celebrated painter until the night she shot her husband five times in the face. She has not said a word since. Theo Faber, a psychotherapist, is determined to get her talking.
What you’ll argue about: who you trusted, and the exact page you stopped.
Your book club will love it if: you want the book club thriller everyone has heard of, though half your group still hasn’t read it.
Find The Silent Patient on AmazonRebecca
Daphne du Maurier · 1938
A shy young woman marries the wealthy widower Maxim de Winter and moves into Manderley, his grand house in Cornwall. His first wife, Rebecca, is dead. Somehow she is still in every room, and the housekeeper, Mrs Danvers, makes sure of it.
What you’ll argue about: why we never learn the narrator’s first name, and whether you would have stayed.
Your book club will love it if: your group wants a classic that still feels dangerous.
Find Rebecca on AmazonThe Push
Ashley Audrain · 2021
Blythe Connor wanted to be the warm, easy mother she never had. From the moment her daughter Violet is born, Blythe feels something is wrong. Nobody believes her, least of all her husband.
What you’ll argue about: nature, nurture, and whether Blythe is right.
Your book club will love it if: you want a book that gets people sharing more than they meant to.
Find The Push on AmazonNone of This Is True
Lisa Jewell · 2023
On her forty-fifth birthday, podcaster Alix Summer meets Josie Fair, who was born on the very same day. Josie wants her story told on Alix’s podcast. Alix agrees. She really shouldn’t have.
What you’ll argue about: how much of anyone’s story you can believe.
Your book club will love it if: you love Lisa Jewell and a character who is a little too keen to help.
Find None of This Is True on AmazonApples Never Fall
Liane Moriarty · 2021
Joy Delaney, a retired tennis coach, goes missing, and suspicion falls on her husband Stan. Her four grown children cannot agree on whether their father could ever have hurt her.
What you’ll argue about: families, favourites, and who in your group is the eldest child.
Your book club will love it if: you like your tension close to home, with plenty of laughs.
Find Apples Never Fall on AmazonGone Girl
Gillian Flynn · 2012
Amy Dunne goes missing on her fifth wedding anniversary, and her husband Nick behaves like a man with something to hide. The story is told by both of them, and neither is easy to trust.
What you’ll argue about: marriage, and which of the two you would rather be stuck in a lift with.
Your book club will love it if: you want the thriller that started a thousand book club rows.
Find Gone Girl on Amazon
An opening line to keep you up tonight
“Your husband is going to kill you on Saturday.”
The Guest List
Lucy Foley · 2020
A glamorous wedding on a remote island off the coast of Ireland. The guests all have secrets, the weather is turning, and before the night is over someone is dead.
What you’ll argue about: who you would least want at your own wedding.
Your book club will love it if: your group likes a whodunnit with lots of voices to pick apart.
Find The Guest List on AmazonVerity
Colleen Hoover · 2018
Struggling writer Lowen Ashleigh is hired to finish the bestselling series of Verity Crawford, who can no longer write after an accident. In Verity’s house, Lowen finds an unfinished autobiography nobody was ever meant to read.
What you’ll argue about: what you believe on the last page. Nobody will agree.
Your book club will love it if: you want the group chat still going a week later.
Find Verity on AmazonThe Thursday Murder Club
Richard Osman · 2020
Four friends in a Kent retirement village meet every Thursday to look into unsolved murders. Then a real one turns up on their doorstep.
What you’ll argue about: which of the four you are, and who in your group is secretly Elizabeth.
Your book club will love it if: you need a lighter month, or your group is new to crime.
Find The Thursday Murder Club on AmazonWe Need to Talk About Kevin
Lionel Shriver · 2003
Eva Khatchadourian writes letters to her absent husband, trying to understand how their son Kevin came to kill people at his school, and how much of it she could have stopped.
What you’ll argue about: whether some people are simply born that way.
Your book club will love it if: your group can take something heavy and wants the deepest discussion on this list.
Find We Need to Talk About Kevin on AmazonThe Housemaid
Freida McFadden · 2022
Millie takes a live-in job cleaning for the wealthy Winchesters. Her room is in the attic, and the door locks from the outside. That is all anyone should know going in.
What you’ll argue about: how far you would go for a job, and how quickly you read it.
Your book club will love it if: half your group doesn’t usually read thrillers and you want to convert them.
Find The Housemaid on AmazonThe Last Thing He Told Me
Laura Dave · 2021
Hannah’s husband vanishes, leaving her a note that says only: protect her. Her sixteen-year-old stepdaughter, who is not keen on Hannah at all, is the her.
What you’ll argue about: what you would do for a child who isn’t yours.
Your book club will love it if: you want tension with a big heart.
Find The Last Thing He Told Me on Amazon
A quick detour
Which kind of psychological thriller reader are you?
Not sure where to start? Take the 60-second quiz.
Kadie Vellis books for your book club in 2027
If your group likes its thrillers set in London, with dark families and choices nobody should have to make, these are the ones to put to the vote. Every one stands alone, apart from the Gunn books, which are a trilogy.
Little Apples Grow, out 1 December. Rosie takes a live-in job caring for Vi Driscoll, the dying head of a feared East End family, because the Driscolls took her dad. Every night Vi tells her another story. The question for your group: does knowing someone’s whole life change what they deserve? It carries a content note for domestic abuse, so check with your group first. There are free, spoiler free Little Apples Grow book club questions to print.
One of Us Dies on Saturday. She gets a text saying her husband will kill her on Saturday. He gets one saying his wife will kill him. Ask everyone at the start of the night which of them they believed, and when they changed their mind. At 270 pages with short chapters, it is the one to pick if your group struggles to finish.
Don’t Lie Back. A therapist who helps women leave controlling men hears a new client describe a partner who sounds a lot like her own husband. Coercive control is at the heart of it, so expect a proper conversation about what it looks like from the outside, and from the inside.
The Ghosted Wife. Maria moves through her family home every night, and nobody looks at her. Brilliant for groups who love to compare notes, because it rewards a second read, and the last line starts the conversation for you.
My Name Is Not Evie Marsh. A young woman takes a new name and a job inside the company run by the man who destroyed her father. Is it revenge or justice? Your group will split down the middle, and the romance makes it messier still.
Dead by 06:00. Two boys from opposite ends of Islington, one sent to prison for something he didn’t do, and one night to settle it. Perfect for talking about class, friendship and the price of keeping quiet.
Who Killed Lenny Gunn? A dying matriarch tells her family that whoever finds her husband’s killer inherits everything. Every chapter hands your group a new suspect, and it is funny too, which helps on a dark January night. If they get hooked, I Am Queenie Gunn and Carol Gunn Returns turn it into a three-month run.
A book club menu for every Kadie Vellis book
Half the fun of book club is the food. Every one of these comes straight from the books.
Little Apples Grow: port and lemon, Vi’s drink at the Green Man in 1962, with apple cake for the table.
Who Killed Lenny Gunn?: a gin and tonic with a slice of lemon, and pie and mash with plenty of liquor. Make sure the host drinks first.
I Am Queenie Gunn: custard creams. Broken ones, if you want to be authentic.
Dead by 06:00: bacon sandwiches, served at midnight.
One of Us Dies on Saturday: microwave popcorn, with a terrible disaster film for afterwards.
My Name Is Not Evie Marsh: coffee from the most complicated machine you can find.
Don’t Lie Back: a bowl of olives. If you have read it, you will know why nobody should split the bill.
Your questions answered
What is a good thriller for a book club?
A good book club thriller has more to talk about than its twist. The Silent Patient, Rebecca, The Push and Apples Never Fall all give your group a narrator to question and a choice to argue over.
What are the best book club books for 2027?
For thriller fans, try None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell, The Push by Ashley Audrain and The Guest List by Lucy Foley. For something brand new, Little Apples Grow by Kadie Vellis is out on 1 December 2026, just in time for January.
Are psychological thrillers good for book clubs?
Yes, as long as you pick ones with depth. Psychological thrillers are built on characters you can’t quite read, which is exactly what makes a book club conversation go.
What is a short thriller for a book club?
The Housemaid by Freida McFadden and One of Us Dies on Saturday by Kadie Vellis (270 pages, with short chapters) are both quick, gripping reads that even your slowest reader will finish in time.
How do you discuss a thriller at book club without spoilers?
Agree that nobody mentions the ending until everyone has finished. Start with first impressions and who everyone suspected, then save the big reveal for later in the evening.
Where can I find book club questions for a thriller?
We have a free, printable set of book club questions for thrillers that works for any thriller, including every book on this list.
Is Little Apples Grow good for a book club?
We think so. It is about revenge, family and whether you can forgive someone you came to hurt, which gives a group plenty to argue about. It includes scenes of domestic abuse, so check your group is comfortable first.
More reading lists
- The best domestic thriller books
- Crime book club books for 2027
- Book club questions for thrillers
- New thriller authors to watch in 2027
- The best thriller books to give for Christmas
- The best thriller books of all time
- The top 10 thriller books right now
- Thriller books with plot twists you won’t see coming
- The best mystery thriller books to read
- Books like The Silent Patient
- Books like Verity
- The most anticipated new psychological thrillers of 2027
- The best psychological thrillers on Kindle Unlimited
- Books like Freida McFadden
- Books like Lisa Jewell
- Books like Martina Cole
- Books like Kimberley Chambers and Roberta Kray
- Books like Lynda La Plante
- Books like Mandasue Heller
- Books like Jessie Keane
- Books like MobLand