The Best Suspense Novels This Spring

This has been a pretty great season for page turners, hasn’t it? It’s almost hard to choose my favorites, but if I had to narrow it down, here are the top thrillers out this spring:

The Plot

The Plot, by Jean Hanff Korelitz, tells the story of a dark plot for a bestseller, and an even darker plot around writing it.

We readers are really far into The Plot before we get to see what that twist is, and by that time I was just dying to know. I often complain that not-gonna-tell-you is probably my least favorite way to build tension, but it works here, probably because there’s a whole secondary storyline and so much going on. I didn’t feel like I was getting heavy hints at the Big Secret and abrupt subject changes. We discover just as much of the plot as Jacob has on his mind. And I have to tell you, I was so curious about that plot. What could possibly be so stunning and still be something that bro Evan could have made up?

It was hard to review this one without spoilers, but here’s my full review of The Plot.

Who Is Maud Dixon?

 Who Is Maud Dixon?, by Alexandra Andrews, is another literary thriller. “Maud Dixon” is the pen name for the secretive, reclusive author of a dark Southern gothic about a shocking murder. There is a character named Maud in the novel, so readers speculate about how true it would be, but no one has been able to match the fictional murder to a police log or court case. When aspiring writer and Manhattan newbie Florence gets a job as “Maud’s” assistant, it seems like her literary dreams are coming true.  

This was exactly what I like to read in a suspense novel, with two character who were both willing to do anything to escape their backgrounds and keep their secrets.  This is another one that’s almost impossible to discuss without spoilers, but here’s my full review of Who Is Maud Dixon?

The Maidens

The Maidens blends classical myth and Cambridge life into a suspenseful mystery.

The mystery begins when Mariana’s niece Zoe calls her from college about the disappearance of her Cambridge classmate and friend, Tara. By the time Mariana arrives to look after Zoe, the disappearance has been identified as murder, almost a ritualistic murder (it’s a bit gory). Zoe reports that Tara’s last words were a warning about Professor Fosca, who has an impressive academic reputation, an airtight alibi for the night of the murder, and a creepy harem of beautiful, young students who call themselves The Maidens.

I enjoyed following Mariana through twists and turns as one person after another looked guilty at first. I found the ending of the book a bit unsatisfying, but don’t click for why unless you want The Maidens spoilers, but I still really enjoyed reading a mystery in gothic, mythic Cambridge.

The Perfect Daughter

The Perfect Daughter by D.J. Palmer is a suspenseful thriller about multiple personalities (or Dissociative Identity Disorder).I don’t usually love this in a suspenseful mystery story — the idea of multiple personalities is frequently used as a really forced reveal in thrillers. OH NO! The sweet innocent girl had an evil side! Usually, this isn’t for me.

It works here because everyone already knew that teenage Penny had DID when the story began. Instead of asking questions about whether Penny could have an alternate, the book asks interesting questions of mental health and responsibility, about nature and nurture. The evil here is less about scary multiples (although some of the switches are a bit creepy) and more about dark secrets in a typical working-class town. 

Also, the familiar Massachusetts locations really worked to ground this wild story in reality.

The Good Sister

The Good Sister is another amazing domestic suspense by Sally Hepworth. Fans of her previous novel, The Mother-in-Law, will definitely enjoy the gore-free suspense in this one.

Twin sisters, Rose and Fern, are particularly close after a troubled childhood. The story is told in alternating perspective, revealing their very different memories. Rose’s journal recounts abuse and neglect leading up to their mother’s overdose, and the sisters’ years in foster care, but Fern remembers their childhood differently, with warm, lovely memories of the year they spent basically homeless and living in the public library.  The wildly different accounts of their childhood really kept me wondering who to believe.

As adults, Rose still feels like she needs to take care of her sister. Fern is never diagnosed, but she’s a bit too literal and can’t handle noises, lights, strangers, or much independence really. Without any hints of the plot, I can still say that there are so many twists, and so many times that a tiny bit of information from earlier came back to mean something different.

The Obsession

The Obsession, by Jesse Q Sutanto, is a suspenseful, surprising story of a twisted high-school romance, with a little stalking, lots of crimes, and creepy obsession. It’s a fast read, with a lot of twists in this short novel. This book is narrated in alternating chapters by Logan and Delilah, almost like the book is playing with the common YA romance style, and the two unreliable narrators, with very different views of the same events, really work to ramp up the tension.

Logan gets a little too obsessed with the girls he’s interested in, starting with some social media stalking and ending with, you know, crime. But all the while, Logan is completely convinced that this is true love, and he’s certain that Delilah will fall in love with his insane stalking and manipulation.

Bonus: An Unwanted Guest

And one bonus read, since it’s only a spring 2021 suspense novel for me:

An Unwanted Guest, by Shari Lapena, has been out for a couple years, I just happened to find it and read it. I found this one on a list of Agatha Christie-inspired mysteries, and I always love a good locked-door or snowbound mystery.  The suspense comes from the total isolation as a random assortment of guests are snowed into a picturesque hotel, and then, one by one, the guests and staff begin to meet with mysterious accidents.

It’s a touch bloodier than a Christie mystery, but still not gross.

Any other recommendations? Any new thrillers I’ve missed?