15 Thrillers And Mysteries Worth Picking Up This Spring

Adult and YA thrillers releasing this spring, including one graphic novel.

1. Lock the Doors by Vincent Ralph

Sourcebooks

Release date: March 1

What it's about: Lock the Doors is The Perks of Being a Wallflower meets The Addams Family. What more could you want? When teenage Tom moves into a new house with his blended family, he immediately notices something odd about his bedroom: There are lock marks on the outside of the door. Already labelled a worrier, Tom's family ignores his concerns. But when the previous owners move across the street and their daughter Amy shows up at his school, Tom continues to investigate. 

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound here.

2. The Night Shift by Alex Finlay

St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books

Release date: March 1

What it's about: Set in the '90s at a Blockbuster video rental store, The Night Shift is as catchy as the Commodores' '80s song. Three teenaged girls are murdered after their night shift at Blockbuster video in 1999. Weirdly, a similar event takes place in the same New Jersey town 15 years later. Is it a copycat or a psychotic serial killer? Pregnant FBI agent Sarah works to hunt down the murderer, along with the only survivor of the Blockbuster attack. 

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound here.

3. The Baby Shower by S.E. Lynes

Bookouture

Release date: March 1

What it's about: Congratulations are in order when attending a baby shower, but what if the hostess is not actually pregnant? That's what Jane suspects of her BFF's new friend/stalker Lexie. Even though Jane herself cannot have kids, it's not jealousy that drives her to suspect Lexie in this hilarious yet creepy thriller.

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound here.

4. The Match by Harlan Coben

Grand Central Publishing

Release Date: March 15

What it's about: 2022 is the year of Harlan Coben's adrenaline-pumping thrillers. In January — along with every other Netflix viewer — I watched his top 10 trending Netflix thriller Stay Close. Immediately after, I watched his two other hit Netflix series, The Stranger and Safe. Then I turned to his page-turner books in order to feed my addiction. In The Match, fortysomething loner Wilde uses a DNA website to find his long-lost family. He somehow gets caught up in a secret online community of doxxers, and as they get hunted down one by one, Wilde could be included.

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound here.

5. The Family Holiday by Shalini Boland

Bookouture

Release Date: March 29

What it's about: The Family Holiday is a fun read, almost as if you were in Italy along with Beth and her family. Beth begrudgingly swaps houses with a British family in Italy, at the insistence of her writer husband Niall. Although the first few days are enchanting, the vacation goes from bad to worse. First, Beth finds a photo of her husband in the homeowner's blazer, and then he turns up dead in the villa. 

Get it from Amazon.

6. Or Else by Joe Hart

Thomas & Mercer

Release Date: April 1

What it's about: Read this book Or Else. (Get it?) Andy Drake begins an illicit affair with his childhood friend Rachel, but someone is really against it. Shockingly, Rachel's husband is found dead, and Rachel and her kids have disappeared. Andy quietly tries to figure out what has happened while taking care of his ailing dad and protecting both of them from the unknown assailant. Or Else is a cute, fun read with a bit of romance and small-town feel. 

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound here.

7. Paradise Cove by Davin Goodwin

Oceanview Publishing

Release Date: April 5

What it's about: You're on the beach on vacation, gazing at the ocean waves. You see several things floating by: seaweed, a kid on a boogie board, and a leg. A leg? That's what happens to retired investigator Roscoe Conklin on the Caribbean island of Bonaire. Unfortunately, he actually recognizes the leg and knows the person whose body it belonged to. Conklin races to find out who the murderer is before more body parts, or bodies, wash up on shore.

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound here.

8. The Lifeguards by Amanda Eyre Ward

Ballantine Books

Release Date: April 5 

What it's about: Lifeguard moms — Whitney, Annette, and Liza — will do anything for their precious teenage sons, including covering up a crime. The Lifeguards is a clever, sophisticated domestic thriller set in an exclusive Austin (is that redundant?) neighborhood.

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound here.

9. Very Bad People by Kit Frick

Simon & Schuster

Release Date: April 5

What it's about: Very Bad People is one of my favorite upcoming thrillers. Calliope enrolls at Tipton Academy to get to know her late mother a bit better. She is invited into the esoteric club called "the ghosts" and joins in the vigilante crusades, until they take a dark turn that mirrors her mom's own fateful demise. 

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound here.

10. Gone Dark by Amanda Panitch

Simon & Schuster

Release Date: April 12

What it's about: Poor Zara starts to reminisce about her doomsday-theorist dad when the power keeps going out in LA, where she lives with her mom. Once the electricity permanently goes out in other parts of North America, Zara determinedly drags her friends Estella and Gabriel cross country to get help from her dad in his hidden forest fortress. 

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound here.

11. The Crows by Anders Fager and Peter Bergting

Dark Horse Books

Release Date: April 26

What it's about: The Crows is originally written in Swedish and has been translated to English by Dark Horse Comics. It's more like an adult picture book than graphic novel, with moody, impressionist illustrations framed by inner monologue musings. Mixed-race teenaged Kim returns to her childhood home in rural Sweden, originally owned by her late father's family. The painful memories are literally written on the wall, but Kim stands her ground in the haunted house to pave a new future for herself and her forefathers.

Get it from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound here.

12. Perfect Score by A.M. Ellis

Scholastic

Release Date: May 3

What it's about: For gamers and murder mystery fans alike, Perfect Score is a great YA read. Amateur private eye Jo works with her friends, including her state attorney mentor, to track down her high school's guidance counselor's killer(s?).

Get it from Bookshop.

13. Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak

Flatiron Books

Release Date: May 10

What it's about: Who knew a book about children's drawings could be so spooky? The thing is, it might not be 5-year-old Teddy who is drawing the pictures that his new nanny Mallory keeps finding in his room after quiet time. I loved Hidden Pictures, but if you won't take my word for it, take Stephen King's. 

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound here.  

14. Hide by Kiersten White

Del Rey

Release Date: May 24

What it's about: I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Hide is a must-read! Finally, Kiersten White's first adult thriller is available to purchase this May! 14 people, including young orphan Mack, are invited to participate in a paying competition at an abandoned amusement park. Mack prefers to hide alone, but as competitors violently disappear, she realizes she'll have to team up to survive.  

Get it from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound here.

15. Never Coming Home by Kate Williams

Delacorte Press

Release Date: June 21

What it's about: It's fitting that Never Coming Home is about Instagram influencers, since the cover is so Instagrammable itself. Eight influencers, or wannabe influencers, get the enviable invitation to the new, elite Unknown Island. Trouble is, things they wanted to keep unknown start coming up, and they start dropping like flies one by one. 

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound here.