The article recommends modern thriller novels that sustain suspense from the opening page to the conclusion, using contemporary fears, isolated settings and unreliable perspectives.

– The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides centres on a painter who stops speaking after killing her husband, and a psychotherapist attempting to uncover why.
– The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson follows a journalist and hacker investigating a decades-old disappearance within a wealthy, secretive family.
– The Guest List by Lucy Foley begins with a glamorous island wedding cut off by a storm, before the groom is found stabbed.