If the arrival of summer reading season has you searching for a book to tear through on sunny holiday days, then July brings with it some spectacular choices.
The return of Lisa Jewel and Louise Candlish, for starters, says it all: both are masters of the psychological thriller and their latest books will have you changing your guesses every few pages. Meanwhile, the much-loved YA author Holly Jackson has penned her first adult thriller, which is another megahit in the making, and Peter Swanson’s ingenious mystery told in reverse already has a screen adaptation starring Julia Roberts in the works. When the choices are this great, the only problem is knowing which one to start with…
Kill Your Darlings by Peter Swanson
A clever mystery told in reverse, this novel opens with a woman killing her husband and then moves backwards in time to tell the couple’s story; drip-feeding tantalising details to slowly build a picture of the secret at the heart of the relationship. With an adaptation starring Julia Roberts in the works, it ought to be everywhere this summer.
Faber, £18.99
A Neighbour’s Guide to Murder by Louise Candlish
From the author of Our House – adapted into an ITV drama starring Martin Compston – comes another propulsive psychological thriller. It centres on retiree Gwen, who forms an unlikely age-gap friendship with her perfect new neighbour, and a crime that rocks the community.
HQ, £16.99
Deadline by Steph McGovern
TV reporter Rose is live on air when an unfamiliar voice in her earpiece tells her they have kidnapped her child. The broadcaster’s debut novel takes you behind the scenes of the television world while also being an engrossing portrait of every parent’s worst nightmare.
Macmillan, £20
The Hole by Hye-Young Pyun
A man wakes up following a car crash and finds himself paralysed and under the control of his mother-in-law in this award-winning Korean novel translated into English for the first time – also being adapted into a film starring Theo James and Squid Games’ HoYeon Jun.
Doubleday, £14.99
Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewel
When you’re looking for a fiendishly twisty thriller that is near-impossible to put down, Lisa Jewel is always a good idea. Her latest follows a woman whose husband keeps disappearing for days at a time, and another who lets into her life a man claiming to be her late husband’s old friend.
Century, £20
Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson
The author of the mega bestselling YA novel, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, pens her first adult thriller. Its heroine Jet is told she has a week to live following an attack from an unseen intruder – which she views as seven days to solve her own murder.
Michael Joseph, £20
One Yellow Eye by Leigh Radford
Funny, heartbreaking and beautifully written aren’t usually adjectives to describe a zombie apocalypse novel, but One Yellow Eye more than earns them. The story follows a scientist as she tries to find the cure for the virus – while secretly hiding her undead husband at home.
Tor Nightfire, £22
Let the Bad Times Roll by Alice Slater
Slater’s debut novel Death of a Bookseller was a delicious black comedy and deserved hit. Now she’s back with an equally dark and humorous mystery in which Caroline’s brother is missing, and a psychic called Selina claims to have crossed paths with him 4,000 miles away.
Hodder & Stoughton, £20
I Know Where You Buried Your Husband by Marie O’Hare
Five difficult women and longtime friends make up the cast of this terrific novel in which one is framed for murder, the rest help cover up a secret, and years later a blackmailer brings them back together. A novel to please fans of Apple TV’s hit dark comedy Bad Sisters.
Bantam, £16.99
A Murder in Paris by Mathew Blake
What would you do if you were haunted by a memory of a lifeless body in a hotel room? Our protagonist returns to room 11 in Paris to try and uncover the mystery of what happened in this gripping read from the bestselling author of Anna O.
HarperCollins, £16.99
The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards
This multi-million selling author certainly knows how to spin an artful, one-sitting psychological thriller, and his latest offering – in which the reunion of a group of friends with a decades-old secret escalates horribly – is no different.
Michael Joseph, £16.99
The Good Liar by Denise Mina
Claudia is a forensic doctor whose evidence about a particular splatter of blood helped put the alleged murderer in a famously brutal case behind bars. But since the trial, she has found out she was wrong, and someone she knows is covering up the truth.
Harvil Secker, £16.99
She Didn’t See it Coming by Shari Lapena
When a woman disappears from a tight-knit luxury condo community, old lies come to light and perfect lives unravel at breakneck speed. You can always rely on Lapena, best known for The Couple Next Door, for a book to keep you guessing.
Bantam, £20
El Dorado Drive by Megan Abbott
As much a smart family drama and exploration of class as it is a chilling thriller, El Dorado Drive traces three midlife sisters who join an exclusive women’s club, under the illusion it will empower them – only to put them in danger.
Virago, £22
