5 thrillers to read on the beach (or at home under a blanket)
It’s holiday season and perhaps you’re jetting off somewhere exotic. Alternatively, you may be trudging to work as normal through the drizzle. Regardless, it’s a good time to pick up a beach-read to pass the time. Here are five of my recommendations for fast-paced, fun, and crime-y reads.
The Kind Worth Killing – Peter Swanson
The Kind Worth Killing is one of my most-recced books, and I’ve read it myself at least three times, because it’s such an engaging novel, with satisfyingly deep characterisation.
When protagonists Ted and Lily meet at an airport bar, they make a pact to kill Ted’s cheating wife. This makes perfect sense when you realise that, in a Peter Swanson novel, everyone is at least part-psychopath. The fun is in figuring out which psychopath to root for.
If you’ve already read The Kind Worth Willing, I recommend the quasi-sequel, A Talent for Murder, about a woman who worries her travelling salesman husband is a serial killer.
Reckless Girls – Rachel Hawkins
If you fancy a vicarious yacht ride to a picture-postcard island in the Pacific, this one’s for you. Lux and her boyfriend sail to remote Meroe Island with a group of new friends, all of whom (would you believe it?) have daaark secrets. The resulting novel is breezy and immersive, building to a murder-ish conclusion.
The beach setting in Penance, meanwhile, isn’t quite as exotic. Here, we’re in Crow-on-Sea, a rundown seaside town in Yorkshire, where there have been plenty of scandals and tragic deaths, but none more earth-shattering than the murder of a local girl by a group of her peers.
More of a “whydunit” than a whodunit, this book explores the teenage killers’ characters and psychologies in fascinating ways. It ultimately becomes a patchwork of true crime weirdness, teenage trauma, and online shared psychosis. If it sounds bleak, it is, but it’s also very funny.
The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby – Ellery Lloyd
This novel, about an aristocratic family and a mysterious Surrealist masterpiece, is a brisk piece of suspense, with a whiff of The DaVinci Code about it. There are mysteries stacked upon mysteries here, with twists emerging at exactly the right time.
Ellery Lloyd’s earlier novel, People Like Her, a thriller about an insufferable “mummy influencer”, is also a fun read.
In the Cut is a novel that quivers – with desire, with dread. In a grimy New York City where casual violence and chaos dominate, protagonist Franny may or may not be the target of a serial killer, and that serial killer may or may not be her new cop lover.
This narrative is smooth as fine wine and burns like whiskey and you should gulp it down if you haven’t already.
Looking for even more book recommendations? Check out 5 of the best audiobooks for new listeners
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