Kia Abdullah is an author and travel writer from London. She has contributed to The New York Times, The Guardian, BBC and Lonely Planet, and is the founding editor of outdoor travel blog Atlas & Boots, read by 250,000 people a month.
The Voices (2025) Natalie Chandler "Natalie Chandler writes with a precise, skillful hand. In The Voices, she crafts a nightmare scenario and places the reader right inside. Clever and complex with a breathless sense of claustrophobia, it is the most inventive thriller I've read this year."
Notes on a Drowning (2025) Anna Sharpe "Anna Sharpe is a masterful storyteller. Here, she crafts a riveting account of corruption at the dark heart of Westminster. Smart, propulsive and horrifyingly believable, Notes on a Drowning explores the cowardice of the powerful and the courage of those they subjugate. Along with a shockingly timely theme, I found not one but two of that ever-elusive heroine: tough and resilient but also human and relatable. I desperately hope to see Alex and Kat again."
The Villa (2024) Jess Ryder "Jess Ryder is a master plotter. In The Villa, she gives us a compulsive thriller with claws. The trials and tensions of a girls' holiday - the sense of abandon, the vying for status, the unspoken friction - is captured in all its prickly glory. With shades of Big Little Lies and The Hunting Party, it's the perfect holiday read."
My Darling Boy (2024) Helen Cooper "Helen Cooper is a masterful plotter. In My Darling Boy, she crafts an intricate thriller that explores grief, blame and outsidership in a small village community. Taut, twisty and utterly compulsive, it takes secrets, lies and age-old betrayals and spins a gripping mystery."
The Switch (2024) Lily Samson "The Switch is a razor-sharp thriller that simmers with a sense of menace. Dark, twisty, and deliciously sexy, it takes complex themes and weaves them into a gripping premise. Money, class, power, and deception are all explored with skill."
Long Time Dead (2024) (Detective Sheridan Holler, book 1) T M Payne "T. M. Payne is one of the most exciting new voices in crime fiction. In Long Time Dead, she crafts a richly-textured thriller that brims with authentic detail. I loved the humor, the poignancy and the intricate rendering of Liverpool in all its heart and grit. The comparisons to Val McDermid are well earned indeed."
The Trials of Lila Dalton (2024) L J Shepherd "L. J. Shepherd is one of the most exciting new voices in crime fiction. In The Trials of Lila Dalton, she crafts a psychological tour de force reminiscent of Dennis Lehane. Grand, ambitious and achingly atmospheric, it may just be the cleverest novel I've read all year."
Dirt (2023) (Jonny Murphy Files, book 1) Sarah Sultoon "A powerful political thriller that brims with authentic detail. Clever, compulsive and achingly atmospheric."
All I Said Was True (2022) Imran Mahmood "A tantalising thriller that bleeds with authenticity. Taut, twisty and fiendishly clever, it will surely confound you until the gripping finale."
The Local (2022) Joey Hartstone "Joey Hartstone is a consummate storyteller. In The Local, he crafts a razor-sharp thriller reminiscent of the best of Grisham. Filled with simmering tensions, abiding rivalries and the heady atmosphere of small-town Southern America, it's slick, smart and - to my delight - undeniably sexy."
Never Saw Me Coming (2021) Vera Kurian "Witty, acerbic and utterly compulsive, Never Saw Me Coming is a razor-sharp thriller with an irresistibly wicked central character. I couldn't tell if I was scared of, amused by, or attracted to Chloe Sevre. One thing's for sure: I will never forget her."
Christina Dalcher "Orwell meets Atwood in Christina Dalcher’s Q, a chilling look at how polite society can sleepwalk its way into horrifying atrocities. Timely, tense and frighteningly plausible, Q is an urgent clarion call against complacency."
Nightingale Point (2019) Luan Goldie "Luan Goldie writes with a tender, delicate hand and extraordinary compassion for her characters . . . Big-hearted, tender and hopeful . . . a true tonic for our times."
