“What are the best Mystery, Horror, and Thriller books released in 2019?” We looked at 199 of the top Mystery, Horror, and Thriller books, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!
The top 20 books, all appearing on 3 or more “Best Mystery, Horror, and Thriller” book lists, are ranked below by how many times they appear. The remaining 175+ titles, as well as the sources we used, are in alphabetical order on the bottom of the page.
Our other Best Of 2019 Articles:
Our Other Years: 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015
Titles appearing on 2 or more lists have been added to a Bookshop list as well!
Happy Scrolling!
Lists It Appears On:
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER ‘Le Carré delivers a tale for our times . . . a demonstration of the British spy thriller at its unputdownable best’ Robert McCrum, Observer ________________________________ Nat, a 47 year-old veteran of Britain’s Secret Intelli
Lists It Appears On:
The next novel of psychological suspense and obsession from the authors of the blockbuster bestseller The Wife Between Us Seeking women ages 18–32 to participate in a study on ethics and morality. Generous compensation. Anonymity guaranteed. When Jessica F
Lists It Appears On:
A stunning debut from an acclaimed travel writer, Disappearing Earth is about two sisters who go missing on the remote volcanic peninsula of Kamchatka. Clues to the crime lie in the lives – and stories of violence and loss – of twelve women in the girls’ r
Lists It Appears On:
ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF THE YEAR “A big, sprawling, ultimately stunning crime tableau.” – Janet Maslin, New York Times “You can’t ask for more emotionally moving entertainment.” – Stephen King “One of the best thriller writers on the planet.”
Lists It Appears On:
IF YOU FIND ONE, HE’S ALREADY FOUND YOU The heart-pounding debut from the creator of the hit Scandinavian television show The Killing. A psychopath is terrorizing Copenhagen. His calling card is a “chestnut man”—a handmade doll made of matchsticks and two
Lists It Appears On:
When a young woman clears out her deceased grandmother’s home in rural North Carolina, she finds long-hidden secrets about a strange colony of beings in the woods in this chilling novel that reads like The Blair Witch Project meets The Andy Griffith Show.
Lists It Appears On:
‘A touching portrait of two families bound together by a split-second decision that tore a hole through an entire city.’ Attica Locke ‘Steph Cha fearlessly explores the duality of LA’s promise and betrayal, its vision of new beginnings and the brutal divis
Lists It Appears On:
A chilling short story collection by the Bram Stoker Award-winner author, including stories set in the world of A Head Full of Ghosts and Disappearance at Devil’s Rock. A thrilling new collection from the award-winning author of A Head Full of Ghosts and T
Lists It Appears On:
‘Haunting… extraordinary.’ STEPHEN KING A stunning, multi-voiced, period piece – tackling race, gender politics, and the volatility of mid ’60s America – from the author of SUNBURN Cleo Sherwood disappeared eight months ago. Aside from her parents and th
Lists It Appears On:
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Parade, “The Most Anticipated Books of Summer 2019 ” and “The Best Beach Reads of Summer 2019” Good Housekeeping, “Best New Books for Summer 2019” PureWow “The Best Beach Reads of Summer 2019” BookBub “Books That Will
Lists It Appears On:
“Rich, dark, and intricately twisted, this enthralling whodunit mixes family saga with domestic noir to brilliantly chilling effect.” —Ruth Ware, New York Times bestselling author “A haunting, atmospheric, stay-up-way-too-late read.” —Megan Miranda, New Yo
Lists It Appears On:
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10, The Lying Game, and The Death of Mrs. Westaway comes Ruth Ware’s highly anticipated fifth novel. When she stumbles across the ad
Lists It Appears On:
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER ‘THE BEST CRIME NOVEL OF THE DECADE’ Steve Cavanagh, bestselling author of Twisted If you leave a door half-open, soon you’ll hear the whispers spoken . . . Still devastated after the loss of his wife, Tom Kennedy and his young
Lists It Appears On:
“American Spy updates the espionage thriller with blazing originality.”—Entertainment Weekly “Gutsy . . . challenging boundaries is what brave fiction does.”—The New York Times “So much fun . . . Like the best of John le Carré, it’s extremely tough to put
Lists It Appears On:
A REESE WITHERSPOON x HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB PICK A true-crime podcast sets a trophy wife’s present life on a collision course with her secret past in this thriller from Denise Mina. The day Anna McDonald’s quiet, respectable life exploded started off li
Lists It Appears On:
Nine-year-old Levi King knew he should have left for home sooner; instead he found himself all alone, adrift on the vastness of Caddo Lake. A sudden noise – and all goes dark. Ranger Darren Matthews is trying to emerge from another kind of darkness; his ca
Lists It Appears On:
YOUR PHONE RINGS A STRANGER HAS KIDNAPPED YOUR CHILD TO FREE THEM YOU MUST ABDUCT SOMEONE ELSE’S YOUR CHILD WILL BE RELEASED WHEN YOUR VICTIM’S PARENTS KIDNAP ANOTHER IF ANY OF THESE THINGS DON’T HAPPEN: YOUR CHILD WILL BE KILLED. YOU ARE NOW PART OF THE C
Lists It Appears On:
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King, the most riveting and unforgettable story of kids confronting evil since It—publishing just as the second part of It, the movie, lands in theaters. In the middle of the night, in a house on a quiet st
Lists It Appears On:
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Two brothers meet in the remote Australian outback when the third brother is found dead, in this stunning new standalone novel from Jane Harper Brothers Nathan and Bub Bright meet for the first time in months at the remote
Lists It Appears On:
Read the No.1 New York Times bestselling, record-breaking 2019 thriller that everyone is talking about – soon to be a major film. ‘Terrific’ – THE TIMES Crime Book of the Month ‘Smart, sophisticated suspense’ – LEE CHILD ‘Absolutely brilliant’ – STEPHEN FR
# | Books | Authors | Lists |
21 | A Better Man (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #15) | Goodreads 2 | |
Amazon | |||
22 | A Friend Is a Gift You Give Yourself | William Boyle | Telegraph |
NPR | |||
23 | A People’s Future of the United States | Edited by Victor LaValle and John Joseph Adams | Publishers Weekly |
Booklist 2 | |||
24 | Bad Axe County | John Galligan | BookPage |
Kirkus | |||
25 | Big Sky | Guardian | |
Telegraph | |||
26 | Blood and Sugar | Guardian | |
Telegraph | |||
27 | Full Throttle | Goodreads | |
Amazon | |||
28 | Good Girl, Bad Girl | Michael Robotham | Publishers Weekly 2 |
Kirkus | |||
29 | Imaginary Friend | Stephen Chbosky | Story-eyed Reviews |
Goodreads | |||
30 | Magic for Liars | Sarah Gailey | Booklist 2 |
NPR | |||
31 | Metropolis | Philip Kerr | Readings |
Telegraph | |||
32 | Miracle Creek | Angie Kim | SheReads |
Goodreads 2 | |||
33 | My Lovely Wife | Samantha Downing | SheReads |
Goodreads 2 | |||
34 | My Sister, the Serial Killer | Oyinkan Braithwaite | Goodreads 2 |
Five Books 2 | |||
35 | Ninth House | Leigh Bardugo | Story-eyed Reviews |
Amazon | |||
36 | Rules for Vanishing | Kate Alice Marshall | Story-eyed Reviews |
Written Word Worlds | |||
37 | Run Away | USA Today | |
Goodreads 2 | |||
38 | Scrublands | Guardian | |
Observer | |||
39 | Someone We Know | USA Today | |
Dead Good | |||
40 | The Bone Fire | S.D. Sykes | BookPage |
Publishers Weekly 2 | |||
41 | The Invited | Jennifer McMahon | Goodreads |
Library Journal 2 | |||
42 | The Light Brigade | Kameron Hurley | Booklist 2 |
Publishers Weekly | |||
43 | The Long Call | Dead Good | |
Library Journal | |||
44 | The Luminous Dead | Caitlin Starling | Publishers Weekly |
Goodreads | |||
45 | The Need | Amazon | |
Goodreads | |||
46 | The Night Fire (A Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch Novel (22)) | Amazon | |
Goodreads 2 | |||
47 | This Poison Will Remain | Fred Vargas | Publishers Weekly 2 |
Readings | |||
48 | Violet | Scott Thomas | Goodreads |
Library Journal 2 | |||
49 | Wakenhyrst | Goodreads | |
Observer | |||
50 | Wanderers | Chuck Wendig | Publishers Weekly |
Library Journal 2 | |||
51 | Worst Case Scenario | Guardian | |
Telegraph | |||
52 | A Beautiful Corpse | Christi Daugherty | Reader’s Digest |
53 | A Cosmology of Monsters | Goodreads | |
54 | A Dangerous Man | Robert Crais | Reader’s Digest |
55 | A Dark Matter | Doug Johnstone | Five Books 2 |
56 | A Deadly Divide. | Library Journal | |
57 | A Deadly Turn | Claire Booth | Reader’s Digest |
58 | A Head Full of Ghosts | Paul Tremblay | Story-eyed Reviews |
59 | A Long Night in Paris | Telegraph | |
60 | A Lush and Seething Hell: Two Tales of Cosmic Horror | John Horner Jacobs | Library Journal 2 |
61 | A Stranger in My Grave | Guardian | |
62 | Alias Grace | Margaret Atwood | Story-eyed Reviews |
63 | Alice’s Island | Daniel Sánchez Arévalo, trans. from the Spanish by the author | Publishers Weekly 2 |
64 | America Can’t Afford Unaffordable Housing | Reader’s Digest | |
65 | American by Day | Derek B Miller | Five Books 2 |
66 | Any Old Diamonds | KJ Charles | NPR |
67 | Aurora Rising. | Booklist | |
68 | Baby Teeth | Zoje Stage | Story-eyed Reviews |
69 | Be Not Far From Me | Mindy McGinnis | Story-eyed Reviews |
70 | Black Souls | Gioacchino Criaco | NPR |
71 | Blue Moon: A Jack Reacher Novel | Amazon | |
72 | Bunny | Goodreads | |
73 | Cari Mora | Telegraph | |
74 | Charlie Hernández and the League of Shadows. | Booklist | |
75 | City of Ghosts | Victoria Schwab | Story-eyed Reviews |
76 | Coyote Songs | Gabino Iglesias | Library Journal 2 |
77 | Critical Incidents | Telegraph | |
78 | Cruel Acts | Guardian | |
79 | Death in the East | Telegraph | |
80 | DECEPTION COVE | Owen Laukkanen | Kirkus |
81 | Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead: A Novel | Olga Tokarczuk | NPR |
82 | Echoes: The Saga Anthology of Ghost Stories | ||
83 | Fall; or, Dodge in Hell | Booklist 2 | |
84 | Five Days Gone: The Mystery Of My Mother’s Disappearance As A Child | Laura Cumming | NPR |
85 | Fog Island | Guardian | |
86 | Game of Snipers | Stephen Hunter | Publishers Weekly 2 |
87 | Graveyard Shift in Ghost Town | Written Word Worlds | |
88 | Highway Bodies | Written Word Worlds | |
89 | I’ll Never Tell | Goodreads 2 | |
90 | In the Cut | Guardian | |
91 | Inspection | Josh Malerman | Grit Daily |
92 | Jar of Hearts | Jennifer Hillier | Five Books |
93 | Joe Country | Dead Good | |
94 | KNIFE | Jo Nesbø | Kirkus |
95 | Lalani of the Distant Sea. | Booklist | |
96 | Land of Wolves: A Longmire Mystery | Amazon | |
97 | Layover | David Bell | Reader’s Digest |
98 | Little Darlings | Melanie Golding | Story-eyed Reviews |
99 | Middlegame | Seanan McGuire | Publishers Weekly |
100 | Never Be Broken | Guardian | |
101 | No Exit | Taylor Adams | Story-eyed Reviews |
102 | No One’s Home | Goodreads | |
103 | Norco ’80: The True Story Of The Most Spectacular Bank Robbery In American History | Peter Houlahan | NPR |
104 | Nothing More Dangerous. | Library Journal | |
105 | November Road: A Novel | Lou Berney | Five Books |
106 | On My Life | Dead Good | |
107 | Paper Ghosts: A Novel of Suspense | Julia Heaberlin | Five Books |
108 | Paper Son | BookPage | |
109 | Peace | Garry Disher | Readings |
110 | Petra’s Ghost | Goodreads | |
111 | Pieces of Her: A Novel | Karin Slaughter | Five Books |
112 | Recursion: A Novel | Blake Crouch | NPR |
113 | Red Metal | Mark Greaney and H. Ripley Rawlings IV | Publishers Weekly 2 |
114 | Sal & Gabi Break the Universe. | Booklist | |
115 | Sarah Jane. | Library Journal | |
116 | SAVE ME FROM DANGEROUS MEN | S.A. Lelchuk | Kirkus |
117 | Say Nothing: A True Story Of Murder And Memory In Northern Ireland | Patrick Radden Keefe | NPR |
118 | Searching for Sylvie Lee | Goodreads 2 | |
119 | She Said | Jodi Kantor & Megan Twohey | Readings |
120 | Sinkhole: A Horror Story | April A. Taylor | Grit Daily |
121 | Slough House | Telegraph | |
122 | Small Spaces. | Booklist | |
123 | Something in the Water | Dead Good | |
124 | Song for the Unraveling of the World | Goodreads | |
125 | Swimming In Darkness | Lucas Harari | NPR |
126 | Take It Back | Guardian | |
127 | Tell Me Everything | BookPage | |
128 | Temper | Booklist 2 | |
129 | The Accident | JoelBooks | |
130 | The Agony House. | Booklist | |
131 | The Bird King | Booklist 2 | |
132 | THE BITTERROOTS | C.J. Box | Kirkus |
133 | The Bus on Thursday | Dead Good | |
134 | The Butterfly Girl | JoelBooks | |
135 | The Cabin at the End of the World: A Novel | Paul Tremblay | Five Books |
136 | The Dark Game | Jonathan Janz | Library Journal 2 |
137 | The Dead Girls Club | Damien Angelica Walters | Grit Daily |
138 | The Fifth Column | Andrew Gross | Reader’s Digest |
139 | The Five | Hallie Rubenhold | Readings |
140 | THE FRAGILITY OF BODIES | Sergio Olguín | Kirkus |
141 | The Ghost Bride | Yangsze Choo | Story-eyed Reviews |
142 | The Girl in Red | Goodreads | |
143 | The Girl with All the Gifts | M.R. Carey | Story-eyed Reviews |
144 | The Glass Woman | Dead Good | |
145 | The Godmother | Guardian | |
146 | The Guardians: A Novel | Amazon | |
147 | The Guilty Party | Guardian | |
148 | The Hidden Things | Dead Good | |
149 | The Hunting Party | Guardian | |
150 | The July Girls | Telegraph | |
151 | The Last | BookPage | |
152 | The Last Good Guy | Dead Good | |
153 | The Last Last-Day-Of-Summer | Lamar Giles | NPR |
154 | The Last Widow (Will Trent, #9) | Goodreads 2 | |
155 | The Lesson | Cadwell Turnbull | Publishers Weekly |
156 | The Line Between (The Line Between #1) | Goodreads 2 | |
157 | The Listening Walls | Guardian | |
158 | The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek | Goodreads | |
159 | The Lost Coast. | Booklist | |
160 | The Mastermind: Drugs. Empire. Murder. Betrayal. | Evan Ratliff | NPR |
161 | The Monster of Elendhaven | Goodreads | |
162 | The Mother-in-Law | Goodreads 2 | |
163 | The Nancys | R.W.R. McDonald | Readings |
164 | The New Girl: A Novel (Gabriel Allon) | Amazon | |
165 | The Night Olivia Fell | Christina McDonald | SheReads |
166 | The Other End Of The Line | Andrea Camilleri | NPR |
167 | The Puppet Show | Dead Good | |
168 | The Remaking | Goodreads | |
169 | The Right Sort of Man | BookPage | |
170 | The River | Observer | |
171 | The Scholar | Dervla McTiernan | Readings |
172 | The Second Sleep | Telegraph | |
173 | The Sentence Is Death: A Novel | Anthony Horowitz | NPR |
174 | The Silent Ones | JoelBooks | |
175 | THE STRANGER INSIDE | Lisa Unger | Kirkus |
176 | The Suspect | Fiona Barton | SheReads |
177 | The Toll | Goodreads | |
178 | The Weight of the Stars. | Booklist | |
179 | The Wicked King. | Booklist | |
180 | The Wife and the Widow | Christian White | Readings |
181 | The Wolf And The Watchman: A Novel | Niklas Natt och Dag | NPR |
182 | The Wolf Wants In. | Library Journal | |
183 | The Wych Elm | Guardian | |
184 | These Witches Don’t Burn | Written Word Worlds | |
185 | Thin Ice | Paige Shelton | Reader’s Digest |
186 | Thirteen Days by Sunset Beach | Booklist 2 | |
187 | This Is How You Lose the Time War | Booklist 2 | |
188 | This Mortal Boy | Fiona Kidman | Five Books 2 |
189 | Throw Me to the Wolves | Telegraph | |
190 | Tinfoil Butterfly | Rachel Eve Moulton | Library Journal 2 |
191 | To the Lions | Guardian | |
192 | Too Close | Dead Good | |
193 | Trespassing | JoelBooks | |
194 | Tunnel of Bones | Written Word Worlds | |
195 | Two Girls Down | Louisa Luna | Readings |
196 | Velocity Weapon | Booklist 2 | |
197 | We Set the Dark on Fire. | Booklist | |
198 | Wherever She Goes | Kelley Armstrong | Reader’s Digest |
199 | Wilder Girls | Written Word Worlds |
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