“What are the best Horror, Thriller, and Mystery books released in 2021?” We looked at 260 of the top Horror, Thriller, and Mystery books, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!
The top 64 books, all appearing on 2 or more “Best Horror, Thriller, and Mystery” 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 2021 Articles:
Previous Years: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015
Happy Scrolling!
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A lyrical and dreamy reimagining of Dracula’s brides, A Dowry of Blood is a story of desire, obsession, and emancipation. Saved from the brink of deat…
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The author of Mothers delivers an existential mystery that explores the uncertain intersection between fiction and reality, and the disastrous consequ…
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“All Her Little Secrets is a brilliantly nuanced but powerhouse exploration of race, the legal system, and the crushing pressure of keeping secrets. M…
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A masterful, heart-palpitating novel of small-town horror and psychological dread from a Bram Stoker nominee. Malfi is a modern-day Algernon Blackwood…
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Sutanto brilliantly infuses comedy and culture into the unpredictable rom-com/murder mystery mashup as Meddy navigates familial duty, possible arrest …
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With this tip of the hat to Stephen King’s Misery, Dream Girl is funny and suspenseful, with a dread-worthy final twist. –People”My dream novel. I de…
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#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER * “T. J. Newman has written the perfect thriller! A must-read.” –Gillian Flynn “Stunning and relentless. This is Jaws at 35,0…
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Feels like a blockbuster movie.–Lisa Jewell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Then She Was GoneMackintosh is a pro…the final scene in the bo…
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“Part detective tale, part thriller…touching and genuine.” –The New York Times #1 bestselling author Stephen King returns with a brand-new novel ab…
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Told with startling twists and haunting power, Mirrorland is a thrilling psychological suspense novel about twin sisters, the man they both love, the …
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“Am I dead?” Mebuyen sighs. She was hoping the girl would not ask. Spells and stories, urban legends and immigrant tales: the magic in Isabel Yap’s de…
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“I devoured this riveting book through a day of travel…My desire to rush to the end clashed with my desire to savor every word. Who would be the las…
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An atmospheric, slow-burning beauty of a book, rich with raw-edged lyricism and achingly real characters. –Tana French, author of The Searcher Small-…
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Like Whitehead’s The Intuitionist, Alyssa Cole’s When No One Is Watching or Zakiya Dalila Harris’ The Other Black Girl, Reprieve straddles genres in t…
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The dark, gripping tale of a 1930’s family in the remote hills of the Smoky Mountains, their secret religion, and the daughter who turns her back on t…
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The long-awaited last novel in the transporting and beloved New York Times bestselling Inspector Montalbano series At eighty, I foresaw Montalbano’s d…
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In this Avery Ayers Antique Mystery series debut, perfect for fans of Ellery Adams and Jane K. Cleland, an antiques appraiser hunts a missing gem whil…
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SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE – “The lauded Argentine author of What We Lost in the Fire returns with enthralling stories conjured fr…
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***AN BESTSELLER!*** From the Bram Stoker-nominated author of The Luminous Dead comes a gothic fantasy horror–The Death of Jane Lawrence. “A deliciou…
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In this “blisteringly suspenseful tale that will keep you up at night” (Wendy Webb, author of Daughters of the Lake), a woman returns to the old famil…
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“Tense, addictive and powered by an unforgettable narrative voice.” – PAULA HAWKINS A stunning debut…Suspenseful? You bet. Heart-rending? From begin…
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THE A stunningly clever thriller made doubly suspenseful by not one, but two unreliable narrators. — People Sally Hepworth, the author of The Mother…
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Eight bestselling, award-winning writers return to the time-honored tradition of the seasonal ghost story in this spellbinding collection of new and o…
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Ann Cleeves returns with The Heron’s Cry, the extraordinary follow-up to The Long Call, soon to be a major TV series, alongside her two hit TV shows …
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“A heart-pounding roller coaster ride.”–Tami Hoag, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Boy *A Crime Reads Most Anticipated Book of 2021* A se…
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A Good Morning America, Esquire, and Read with Marie Claire Book Club Pick and a People Best Book of Summer Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2021 by …
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“This droll romp is a latter-day Miss Marple.” –Washington Post Murder leaps off the page when crime novelists begin to turn up dead in this intricat…
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A Good Morning America Book Club Pick A ! “Utterly addictive.” –Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train “Hooks you from the very first page an…
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A dead woman’s cherished trinkets become pieces to a terrifying puzzle.Mickie Lambert creates “digital scrapbooks” for clients, ensuring that precious…
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Sadomasochism. Obsession. Death. A whirlpool of darkness churns at the heart of a macabre ballet between two lonely young women in an internet chat ro…
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Ingenious… truly immersive: complex, disturbing, unexpectedly funny and very smart.–The GuardianTHE #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER!What happens to all…
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NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE – GOOD MORNING AMERICA BUZZ PICK – From the bestselling author of Mexican Gothic comes a riveting noir about a daydream…
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Winner of the Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel from the Crime Writers’ Association (UK) Winner for Best International Crime Fiction from Australian Cr…
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The Haunting of Hill House meets Get Out in this chilling YA psychological thriller and modern take on the classic haunted house story from New York T…
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“Dark comedy meets twisty thriller…Couldn’t be more fun.” –People Magazine Florence Darrow is a low-level publishing employee who believes that she…
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The New York Times bestselling author of the brilliantly inventive The Word Is Murder and The Sentence Is Death returns with his third literary whodun…
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The scorching new thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Girl on the Train. “A Slow Fire Burning twists and turns like a grea…
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#1 From Liane Moriarty, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers, comes Apples Never Fall, a novel that…
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One of BuzzFeed’s Highly Anticipated Mystery Novels of 2021! The first book in a new culinary cozy series full of sharp humor and delectable dishes–o…
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There’s deception, sabotage, violence, family secrets . . . all the stuff you could want from a fictional page-turner.– theSkimm Recommended by Washi…
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AN “A stunning debut.” –Washington Post “Haunting and] powerful.” –The New York Times “A modern-day classic.” –Jeffery Deaver, New York Times best…
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From the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, a gloriously entertaining novel of heists, shakedowns…
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“Feeney lives up to her reputation as the “queen of the twist”…This page-turner will keep you guessing.” –Real Simple Think you know the person yo…
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Lee Mandelo’s debut Summer Sons is a sweltering, queer Southern Gothic that crosses Appalachian street racing with academic intrigue, all haunted by a…
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NAMED A BEST MYSTERY/THRILLER OF THE YEAR BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, A BEST MYSTERY/THRILLER OF THE MONTH BY POPSUGAR, AND A MOST ANTICIPATED READ OF THE Y…
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An unconventional vicar must exorcise the dark past of a remote village haunted by death and disappearances in this explosive and unsettling thriller …
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“A masterpiece”–LAPD detective Renée Ballard must join forces with Harry Bosch to find justice in a city scarred by fear and social unrest after a me…
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#1 AARP The Magazine – Recommended Summer Reading CNN – A Most Anticipated Book of August Bustle – A Most Anticipated Book of August Chief Inspector …
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No one even knew they were together. Now one of them is dead.56 DAYS AGOCiara and Oliver meet in a supermarket queue in Dublin and start dating the sa…
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#1 From legendary storyteller Stephen King, whose “restless imagination is a power that cannot be contained” (The New York Times Book Review), comes …
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The acclaimed New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling novel of small-town evil that “is genuinely chilling and something brand-new and exciting” (Ste…
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An ! In his last completed novel, John le Carré turns his focus to the world that occupied his writing for the past sixty years–the secret world itse…
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The buzz…is real. I’ve read it and was blown away. It’s a true nerve-shredder that keeps its mind-blowing secrets to the very end. –Stephen King An…
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**THE ** Alex Michaelides’s long-awaited next novel, ‘The Maidens, ‘ is finally here…the premise is enticing and the elements irresistible. –The Ne…
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“As original as it is affecting . . . left me genuinely creeped out, unsettled, and shaken. An existentially frightening book.” –Paul Tremblay, autho…
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Set in 1944 Chicago, Edgar Award-winner Naomi Hirahara’s eye-opening and poignant new mystery, the story of a young woman searching for the truth abou…
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In her quickly gentrifying rural lake town Jade sees recent events only her encyclopedic knowledge of horror films could have prepared her for in this…
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REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK “If you love a mystery, then you’ll devour [Northern Spy] . . . I loved this thrill ride of a book.”–Reese Witherspoon “A chi…
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A family returns to their hometown–and to the dark past that haunts them still–in this masterpiece of literary horror by the New York Times bestsell…
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THE A Good Morning America Buzz Pick “The horror master…puts his unique spin on slasher movie tropes.”-USA Today A can’t-miss summer read, selected…
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An ! The second gripping novel in the New York Times bestselling Thursday Murder Club series, soon to be a major motion picture from Steven Spielberg …
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** ! ** The Tonight Show Summer Reads Pick ** Insanely readable. –Stephen King Hailed as breathtakingly suspenseful, Jean Hanff Korelitz’s The Plot i…
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** “Provocative, violent — beautiful and moving, too.” –Washington Post “Superb…Cuts right to the heart of the most important questions of our tim…
| Source | Article |
| Amazon | Best mysteries and thrillers of 2021 |
| Barnes & Noble | Barnes & Noble’s Best Mysteries & Thrillers of 2021 |
| Best Thrillers | The Best Thriller Books of 2021 |
| Bookpage | Best Mystery & Suspense of 2021 |
| The Book Decoder | Best Books of 2021: Thrillers |
| Book Riot | Best Books of 2021 |
| Booktopia | The Best Books of 2021: Crime & Thriller |
| Chloe’s Not Scared | The Best Horror Books & Movies of 2021 |
| Cup of tea with that book please | Cup of Tea’s Best Books of 2021: Mystery and Thrillers |
| Goodreads | Best Horror |
| Goodreads 2 | Best Mystery & Thriller |
| The Guardian | Five of the best crime and thrillers of 2021 |
| Higgypop | 20 Must-Read Paranormal & Supernatural Books Of 2021 |
| Kirkus | Best Mysteries and Thrillers of 2021 |
| Kirkus 2 | 13 Scariest Books of 2021 |
| Library Journal | Best Horror of 2021 |
| Lit Reactor | The 10 Scariest Horror Books of 2021 — Ranked! |
| MBTB | MBTB’s Best Books of 2021 (updated 11/30/21) |
| NY Public Library | Best Books for Adults 2021 |
| NY Times | The Best Thrillers of 2021 |
| NPR | Books We Love |
| Masterpiece 50 | Best Mystery Books of 2021: Recommended by Bestselling Authors |
| Publishers Weekly | Best Mystery |
| The Washington Post | Best thriller and mystery books of 2021 |
| Waterstones | The Best Books of 2021: Crime & Thriller |
| Waterstones 2 | Chilling Chapters: The Best Horror Fiction of 2021 |
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