Recs if you like Jar of Hearts...

Thrillers that will leave you shook.

Featuring morally gray men, unreliable narrators, emotional damage, dragons, serial killers, fake dating, enemies-to-lovers, and at least 47 books someone claimed “changed their life.” Proceed with caution.

Thrillers I read or want to read. Variety of authors.

If you’re here, like me you might be tired of basically seeing the same plots and storylines over and over. This is a list of ones I’ve enjoyed that are all (mostly) different from each other*. Main thing in common might be the author.

*Can’t guarantee there aren’t similar types of twists/reveals lol.

Ethical murder solving from your couch without joining your local police department.

red herring: 1. a dried smoked herring, which is turned red by the smoke. 2. a clue or piece of information that is, or is intended to be, misleading or distracting. these will make you go on a fishing expedition, if you will. this list will feature books highlighting the second definition.

The New York Times published a list on August 5th, 2026, of the 50 best thrillers published since 2000 as voted on by hundreds of writers of every kind of crime fiction, from legal thrillers to spy novels to cozy mysteries, as well as librarians, editors, critics and Bookstagrammers.

Books by AANHPI authors and/or AANHPI stories. I added Pinoy specifically because while I want all stories for this group I will make a point in finding stories by Filipinos or about Filipino stories. These books aren’t all that are out there. Just what is on my radar.

Books that pack a punch! Solid storylines, great plots, descriptive characters and the lot!

August 2026 List of the best thrillers of the 21st century as nominated by mystery/thriller authors

Here comes my compilation of ACTUALLY GOOD thrillers, and god knows how strict I am when it comes to those, my standards are so high barely any book makes it past the bar. You will find in here thriller books that I believe deserve to be on your completed shelf or at least TBR. My criteria for that is for a book to end as good as it started. Everything has to make sense and the plot twist needs to be actually twisted, guessable but still so twisted that you miss it (NOT far-stretched) enjoy!

50 Best Thrillers of the 21st Century | NYT List