They may not be the most literary or highbrow books around, but nothing has the power to captivate and enthral like a good thriller. Packed with suspense, tension and excitement, they can keep us on the edge of our seats for hours and are often almost impossible to put down. So if you’re in the mood for a powerful cocktail of crime, mystery, psychology and paranoia, here are 10 great thrillers that will have you double checking the locks and hiding under your duvet…

 

 

This Gold Dagger Award winning thriller introduces criminal profiler Tony Hill, perhaps best known as the character played by Robson Green in the television adaptations The Wire in the Blood. Tony is dragged into the very heart of a horrifying case in which a serial killer is brutally mutilating and torturing men in the Northern town of Bradfield. With a narrative that alternates between the criminal investigation and the serial killer, The Mermaids Singing is a shocking and twisted exploration of a tormented mind. Not for the faint-hearted.

 

 

 

 

David Beck’s wife Elizabeth was kidnapped and murdered 8 years ago, and he was left for dead. But when an image of Elizabeth appears on his computer screen, David’s life is once more turned upsidedown as he is plunged into a desperate cat-and-mouse chase where nothing is as it seems and nobody can be trusted. An intelligent and terrifying narrative with twists and turns that will keep you guessing right until the end.

 

 

 

 

Patricia Highsmith’s subtle and chilling novel allows the reader the enter into the mind of its psychopathic anti-hero, Tom Ripley. When he is sent on a mission to bring Dickie Greenleaf back home from Italy, Tom Ripley finds himself captivated by Dickie’s lifestyle of wealth, sophistication and success, and gradually insinuates himself into Dickie’s life. At once sensitive, charming, brutal and ruthless, Tom redefines his identity with an utter disregard for morality. What’s really disturbing about The Talented Mr. Ripley, however, is that you’ll find yourself desperately hoping he’ll get away with it…

 

 

 

 

If you can just suspend your disbelief, embrace the melodrama and allow yourself to be sucked into Dan Brown’s breathless real-time adventure, you’ll find that the benefits far outweigh any preconceptions you may have of Angels and Demons. When Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon discovers that the historically infamous society the Illuminati are implicated in the murder of physicist Leonardo Vetra and the theft of his final and deadly discovery, he embarks on a frantic hunt to prevent imminent catastrophe. Dan Brown pulls out all the stops in this explosive thriller.

 

 

 

 

Husband and wife team, journalists Nicci Gerrard and Sean French, are masters of the psychological thriller, and Secret Smile is one of their best. When Miranda Cotton has an affair and finishes it, she thinks it’s all over. But a few weeks later she realises that Brendan is now dating her sister, and will stop at nothing to be part of Miranda’s life. As events spiral out of control and the threats intensify, Miranda finds herself locked in a battle of nerves with a psychopath. A dark, sinister tale of obsession and revenge.

 

 

 

 

Teenager Cynthia Bigge wakes up one morning with a nasty hangover to discover that her parents and younger brother have completely disappeared. 25 years later she takes part in a television show revisiting the case, still as much a mystery now as it was then. But for Cynthia and her new family, stirring up the past could be a big mistake… A fast-moving, well-crafted roller-coaster ride of a novel.

 

 

 

 

Tom Rob Smith has set his intelligent historical thriller in 1950s Stalinist Russia, a terrifyingly brutal regime in which anyone who dares to oppose the state is executed. At the heart of this self-proclaimed perfect and crimeless society, State Security agent Leo Demidov is ordered to deal with a colleague who suspects that his son has been murdered. Disillusioned with the system and a life of blind obedience, Leo decides to risk everything in attempt to catch a serial killer before he strikes again.

 

 

 

 

Morbidly obese ‘The Sculptress’ Olive Martin pleaded guilty to the brutal and grisly murders of her sister and mother. But when journalist Rosalind Leigh accepts a commission to write about the case and interviews Olive in prison, she begins to uncover discrepancies in Olive’s confession and suspects that there is more to these murders than meets the eyes. Roz cannot resist delving deeper into the secrets of a case that will change her life forever. The Sculptress twists and turns its way towards a devastating conclusion.

 

 

 

 

Swedish publishing phenomenon The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an intelligent and gripping thriller in which Mikael Blomkvist, a recently convicted journalist, is hired by Henrik Vanger to investigate the disappearance of his niece Harriet nearly 40 years ago. When Blomkvist discovers that Vanger has also commissioned highly gifted private investigator Lisbeth Salander to investigate his own history, the two join forces to uncover the truth. Boasting one of literature’s most original anti-heroines, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a thoroughly riveting read.

 

 

 

 

When Alice Fancourt returns home from her first trip out after the birth of her baby Florence, she finds the front door open, her husband asleep and a different baby in the cot. But her husband David insists that the baby is Florence. Is Alice losing her mind, or is there something more sinister afoot? Sophie Hannah has produced a taut, haunting and subtle psychological thriller that will keep you guessing right up to its spine-tingling conclusion.