The top 5 thriller Mysteries this year are fascinating. If you like thrillers and or mysteries, explore this list. This year has been phenomenal for mystery and thriller books. These five New York best sellers range from heart-pounding legal thrillers to mysteries with secrets and intrigue waiting to be uncovered.
Whether you’re looking for a quick read or an in-depth look at the darker side of complex family dynamics, you will find something to devour on this list. Despite the unusual circumstances surrounding this year, these books will surely be exciting, thrilling, gut-wrenching, and mysterious.
Top 5 Thriller Mysteries list of 2025
1. Deadly Cross
This Thriller murder mystery, “Deadly Cross,” is about the murder of a glamorous DC socialite. This becomes Alex Cross’s deadliest case since Along Came a Spider. Kay Willingham led a life as an alluring and public figure. She was a gorgeous Georgetown socialite, philanthropist, and the vice president’s ex-wife. Not only are there one or two murders, but three that we have to solve before the end of the book.
The first murder was of Kay Willingham and Randal Christopher. Alex needs to figure out who would murder them so savagely at close range. Meanwhile, local girls are being kidnapped, raped and murdered. Time is ticking as another body of a teenage girl was found dead. Can Alex find the other kidnapped girls in time before the serial killer strikes again? This is an all-new heart-pounding mystery.
2. A Time for Mercy
This next book is no surprise from this superb author, John Grisham’s “A Time for Mercy”. In 1990, Jake Brigance finds himself engrossed in a deeply divisive trial in Clanton, Mississippi. He is appointed as an attorney for Drew Gamble, a shy, timid 16-year-old boy accused of murdering a local deputy. Many residents in Clanton want a quick trial and want the young boy sentenced to death.
Jake Brigance starts digging deeper into the murder and discovers more to this tragedy than meets the eye. He is now in this for the long haul, totally committed to saving Drew Gamble from death by the gas chamber. He puts his career, financial security, and his family’s safety on the line as he tries desperately to save this young boy’s life. A very intense and gripping story about finding the truth and discovery along the way.
3. Daylight
Next on our Top 5 Thriller Mysteries is “Daylight,” by David Baldacci, about a suspenseful search when FBI agent Atlee Pine continues looking for her missing sister Mercy. Mercy was kidnapped by an unknown assailant decades ago. Soon after the kidnapping, Atlee’s father ended his life, and her mother disappeared. Atlee learned shortly after her mother’s disappearance; she had a connection with the CIA.
While searching for her twin sister Mercy, she clashes with a military high-stakes case, leading her and her sister into a global conspiracy. There are drugs involved and other murders. Is Mercy alive? Only one person knows the answer to this question, but he cannot be found. Daylight is undoubtedly an engrossing and thrilling read!
4. The Law of Innocence
Number 4 on our top 5 Thriller Mysteries is “The Law of Innocence” by Michael Connelly. On the night Mickey Haller celebrates a big win on a case, the defense attorney is pulled over by the police. They find the body of a former client in the trunk of Mickey’s Lincoln. Mickey is immediately charged with murder.
He cannot post bail for the 5 million that a vindictive judge slapped him with. Mickey decides to defend himself and must strategize and build his case while in his cell in Los Angeles, California. He knows he has been framed, but now he has to prove it. Mickey has to go before a judge to prove his innocence and hopefully get his life back! It grabs and keeps you from beginning to end!
5. Moonflower Murders
Last but not least on our list of the top 5 Thriller Mysteries is Anthony Horowitz’s “Moonflower Murders.” This mystery revolves around the disappearance of Cecily Treherne. Susan Ryeland, a former book publisher, now runs a hotel on a Greek Island where a couple visits the hotel. The couple shares a very disturbing story about a murder at their hotel eight years ago.
Alan Conway, a former author of Susan’s, wrote a novel, “Atticus Pund Takes the Case,” inspired by the murder at the Treherne hotel. Cecily’s disappearance is linked to this novel, and Susan is drawn into the mystery to find Cecily and uncover the truth about the murder.
This book is filled with suspenseful twists and turns, clues, both obvious and not so obvious, and a story within a story. It is a brilliant literary thriller with echoes of Agatha Christie and is a New York Times bestseller. Can you figure out who did it?
