As an avid reader of suspense, thrillers, mysteries/cozy mysteries, and horror, I’ve come to know the things that grab me when I open a new book.

SUSPENSE

I especially enjoy domestic suspense and the inner workings of people and their relationships.

THRILLERS

Fast-paced, page turners that give me an adrenaline rush are my favorite quick reads.

MYSTERIES

Clues and red herrings that are fun to navigate as I try to figure out whodunnit.

COZY MYSTERIES

It’s all about the sleuth for me. Quirky characters with a unique voice.

HORROR

Psychological horror is one of my favorites as well as gothic (I love me a haunted house).

There’s a lot of common ground in these genres, which is likely why I enjoy reading all of them.

Here are the top 10 things I look for (and enjoy) when reading thrillers:

Secrets

Everyone has secrets, but some secrets should remain hidden. It’s when they surface that the fun starts.

In my upcoming psychological thriller, “They’re Watching”, coming out in January 2027, a mother is forced to keep what she believes to be true a secret for fear of what might happen to her and her daughter, but this is the kind no one would believe.

Unreliable Narrators

This is one of my favorite qualities in a thriller. Author Freida McFadden does a great job with unreliable narrators and I’ve been fooled many times in her books. When this type of POV is written well, readers never see the *truth* coming until the big reveal.

Psychological thrillers

I’m fascinated with how people think and why they do and say what they do.

The Ticking Clock

Forcing characters to react while facing impossible deadlines keeps me turning pages.

Fast-paced

Although I appreciate the lyricism in literary fiction and the way so many writers can describe vivid scenes with beautiful prose, what keeps me reading, and turning pages, is the escalation of events. Seeing the dominoes stacking and racing to find out what happens when they topple.

A mix of Chapter Lengths

I don’t find this off-putting as some readers do, but I definitely enjoy short chapters with cliff hangers to keep things exciting. “Just one more chapter”!

Red Herrings

I’ve read some brilliant authors when it comes to planting pieces of information that seem important and relevant, only to find out that they were included to confuse the truth and send the reader away from figuring out the outcome.

A Protagonist With Flaws

To me, this equates to a character who reads like a real person, not a two dimensional fictional being. A character’s flaws feed into their internal and external struggles and overcoming these flaws to some degree helps shape the character’s arc throughout the book.

An Antagonist Who Isn’t Just All Bad

The villains I relate to the most are those characters that have their reasons, whether known or unknown to themselves, for doing and acting as they do. My antagonist in my first domestic suspense novel, “When Love Won’t Die”, lived a life without love or a sense of belonging, which fueled his narcissistic personality and his obsession with the one person who he believed actually cared for him.

Twists

And I saved my absolute favorite characteristic for last. Those jaw dropping, I didn’t see that coming, moments when everything I thought was true was only part of the picture. I recently read a book where someone known to the protagonist as a trusted ally, is actually a relative of the villain, and has been working against the protagonist the entire time. Such a great twist!

So what keeps you coming back to thrillers? Let me know in the comments.