The best thrillers that keep you reading until the wee small hours

Harlan Coben has created various series-character books but my favourites are without doubt his stand-alone novels. Of these, I’ve chosen The Stranger as it starts when the ‘stranger’ in the title sidles up to a man in a bar and tells him a secret that will change his life forever. The stranger’s motives do not immediately become apparent until quite late in the book. Coben is always inventive and maintains interest throughout. In the case of his stand-alone novels, I like that he involves ordinary people becoming embroiled in extraordinary circumstances. His characters are believable and relatable and, as he tightens his grip, you fear for them and this fear builds for the reader and is maintained right until the end.

Dick Francis will always be one of my favourite authors even though I’ve never been to a horse race in my life! I once missed my train station because I was so wrapped up in his book. Despite always having a link to the horse racing world, they are not solely about racing. Reflex is a story of a jockey’s search for his missing sister—a sister he didn’t know existed until he receives a request from his dying grandmother to find her. It also involves a mystery surrounding the death of a photographer who is reviled because of the compromising photographs he takes of celebrities to sell to newspapers. Written over 30 years ago (before digital photography) paparazzi intrusion is as relevant to today as ever. 

I enjoy Linwood Barclay for his intriguing openings that grip right from the start and then how he racks up the tension until the end. This was his first thriller and wow—what a debut! It starts when a teenage girl, Cynthia, wakes to find her house deserted and the whole family—mum, dad, and brother missing. Jump forward to 25 years later and the mystery of her family’s disappearance is still unsolved and still haunts Cynthia. But then a letter arrives tipping her whole world upside down and placing her in grave danger… Another unputdownable read!

I love finding new authors! Which is why I’m recommending another debut novel—this time from Marion Todd. It won the Bloody Scotland Scottish Crime Debut Novel of the Year 2020. Since then she has published (at the time of writing) a further 4 novels in her series about detective inspector Clare Mackay. I wish I could write that fast! Her serial killer haunts St Andrews, Scotland by luring victims to a stretch of road and then running them over—simple but effective. It can be difficult to write a pacey thriller and develop interesting characters at the same time but Todd manages this admirably. As soon as I finished this novel, I went straight on to the second in the series which is equally as good and I look forward to reading the rest.

This is not the first in Steve Cavanagh’s Eddie Flynn series but it was the first one I read and it had me hooked right from beginning to end. The tension builds and builds—Eddie Flynn is a likeable protagonist and the killer is one scary dude. This is a courtroom drama with a difference the serial killer is on the jury! I simply had to finish this book and it kept me up until 2.00 am. I’ve since read several more books by Cavanagh and, so far, they’ve all been up to the same high standard.