Skip to main content

Would you know if your best friend was a killer? What about your husband or wife? Most people think they’d recognize a killer if they looked them in the eyes. But in these six thrillers and mysteries, the main characters are caught unaware by the people closest to them. Even the people they think they know are capable of murder, deceit and lies. Through gaslighting, a charming personality, or just plain dishonesty, these villains are able to get away with anything. Or are they?

 width=You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz (Grand Central Publishing)

Better known for its adaptation as HBO’s The Undoing, You Should Have Known follows Grace, a wealthy New York therapist, her doctor husband and their son. But at the same time that a brutal murder becomes breaking news, Grace’s husband mysteriously disappears. Forced to reckon with the fact that her life might be a lie and she married a man she thought she loved and trusted, Grace must escape from her old life while the truth is uncovered.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound

 width=The Midnight Call by Jode Millman (Level Best Books)

When a friend from years ago reaches out to Jesse in distress, she races to his house, only to be faced with a dead body in the basement and her friend’s murder confession. Quickly, Jesse realizes she is caught up in something more sinister than it seems. Does she really know this charming and amiable teacher as well as she thought she did? Is he telling the truth when he claims he doesn’t know what happened or is insanity taking over? The Midnight Call is a legal thriller that centers a chilling courtroom drama, moral struggles and a touch of romance.

Read BookTrib’s review here.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Bookshop

 width=The Man She Married by Cathy Lamb (Kensington Books)

After a brutal car accident, Natalie finds herself in a coma, able to hear and understand her surroundings but unable to communicate. She knows she has a happy marriage, but can’t quite remember the fight she and her husband had before the accident. Whatever it is, she has a nagging feeling that his dark secret is something she wants to remember. Combining humor, drama and family relationships, The Man She Married sets up a gripping mystery for a woman with memory loss.

Read Tall Poppy’s review on BookTrib here.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Bookshop

 width=In Case of Emergency by E.G. Scott (Dutton)

Charlotte’s life is going well — she has a great job, a best friend, and a mysterious new boyfriend who wants to keep their relationship a secret. After she goes weeks without hearing from him, a body turns up and Charlotte is asked to ID it. To her relief and surprise, she’s never met the woman, despite the card in the woman’s pocket with Charlotte’s name on it. Pulled into the case as a murder suspect, In Case of Emergency pulls Charlotte in to uncover the truth and figure out who in her life is lying to her.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound

 width=My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing (Berkley)

My Lovely Wife is a domestic thriller told from the perspective of a charming killer. This husband and wife duo raising their children in the suburbs has decided that life is too boring. So, they turn to murder to spice things up. Millicent and her husband decide on victims, lure them in with charm or seduction, and follow through with the kill as a team. The narrator realizes that Millicent is harboring dark secrets and is terrified of what horrors might be revealed.

Read BookTrib’s review here.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Bookshop

 width=Best Friends Forever by Margot Hunt (MIRA)

When Kat’s husband dies, she is nowhere to be found. Alice and Kat have been friends for years, so where has Kat disappeared to when the police come knocking at Alice’s door? As Alice becomes the main suspect in the murder of her best friend’s husband, the story jumps between the investigation and the start of the duo’s friendship. Both police procedural and psychological thriller, these Best Friends Forever aren’t sure whether they can trust each other.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Bookshop

Megan Beauregard

Megan Beauregard is an Associate Editor at BookTrib. She has a Bachelor’s in Creative Writing from Fairfield University, where she also studied Publishing & Editing, Classical Studies and Applied Ethics. When she’s not reading the latest in literary fiction, dark academia and horror, she's probably making playlists, baking something sweet or tacking another TV show onto her list.

Leave a Reply