Five reader-favorite thrillers and mysteries of 2025

How we chose these books

Selected in the order of the 2025 Goodreads Mystery & Thriller final results, restricted to books published in calendar year 2025. This is a reader-vote selection, not a K4Book star rating or a complete survey of the genre.

Choose by reading mood

A useful top-five list should help you choose, not imply that five books offer the same experience. Start with the kind of tension you want. A deadline creates one reading mood; an established detective ensemble creates another. The short comparisons below explain our reading-fit suggestions, based on the publishers’ premises and verified series information.

1. Not Quite Dead Yet

Holly Jackson

A direct countdown is the clearest choice for a reader who wants the central problem to be apparent immediately. The victim investigating her own impending death adds a personal dimension to the puzzle.

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2. The Tenant

Freida McFadden

Choose the household-scale option when questions of money, privacy and trust interest you more than a large investigation. It is separate from McFadden’s Housemaid series.

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3. The Impossible Fortune

Richard Osman

The ensemble choice is also a continuation. Returning Thursday Murder Club readers can move to book five; newcomers should begin with the first novel instead of following a ranking into the middle.

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4. Beautiful Ugly

Alice Feeney

For a mystery shaped by isolation and uncertain recognition, consider Feeney’s Scottish-island premise. It offers a different starting question from a case handled by a stable investigative team.

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5. The Perfect Divorce

Jeneva Rose

This is the sequel option for readers who already know The Perfect Marriage. Read that book first: even the continuation’s premise assumes knowledge of Sarah Morgan’s past.

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Before choosing your edition

The language of this list is not the language of every edition available to buy. Our linked editions are in English. Check the ISBN, format and seller information before ordering, especially when a title belongs to a series or has a limited first printing.