Abigail Dean started her career as a bookseller, then worked as a lawyer for ten years, most recently for Google. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Girl A. She lives in London with her husband, son, and cat.
The Drowning Place (2026) (DS Joseph Ashe, book 1) Sarah Hilary "Wonderful, sad and wise. It's a relentless crime drama, a devastating meditation on loss, and a dual character study full of humour and charm. Hilary doesn't just investigate an unspeakable crime; she investigates the human heart. I'll be counting the days until I can get back to Edenscar."
Dear Darling (2026) Ella King "Ella King writes with precise, interrogating beauty, however unsettling the subject. Dear Darling is a book full of terrible human truths, but confronted with wit, empathy and understanding."
Her Many Faces (2025) Nicci Cloke "From the very first page, this thriller is unique, punchy and super-smart. Her Many Faces is itself so multifaceted, so rich - a courtroom drama, a character study, a social commentary - but it wears each guise with real heart and style."
Some of Us Are Liars (2025) Fiona Cummins "Devastating and deft, Some of Us Are Liars isn't afraid to confront the worst of humanity - but it does so with tenderness and quiet bravery. You'll be counting down the days to Saul Anguish's next case."
The Break-in (2025) Katherine Faulkner "Katherine Faulkner is the master of throwing ordinary women into extraordinary, what-would-you-do situations. With her razor sharp takes on middle class motherhood, this is an up-all-night thriller packed with style, acuity, and intrigue."
Bitter Sweet (2025) Hattie Williams "Bitter Sweet is raw and beautiful and true. Hattie Williams writes so honestly on love and loss that it hurts. This book will make you ache for your twenties and make you equally glad you survived them."
The Cliffhanger (2025) Emily Freud "A deliciously macabre marriage meltdown. Freud creates an irresistible tinderbox of marital resentment, professional scandal, and a long, hot summer - and lights it with real style."
The Voices (2025) Natalie Chandler "Natalie Chandler has seen your nightmares - and she's turned them into a standout thriller. The Voices combines Edgar Allan Poe horror with the twists of The Silent Patient."
So Thrilled For You (2025) Holly Bourne "A beautiful roar of a book, so accurate in what is says about motherhood and friendship. So enjoyable, raw and angry."
The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby (2024) Ellery Lloyd "A rollicking thriller, an epic love story, and a brilliant examination of the many ways women are painted out of history. The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby has an Indiana Jones sense of fun and a heart of fury that brought to mind Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Ellery Lloyd just keeps getting better."
A Lesson in Cruelty (2024) Harriet Tyce "An edge-of-your-seat thriller and a brilliant, furious meditation on the modern prison system. Harriet Tyce's eye for people - their foibles, missteps, and cruelties - is sharp as a blade."
The Wrong Sister (2024) Claire Douglas "This is a book that won't leave you be. It's a brilliant jigsaw of suspicious characters, grisly deeds, and family tragedy - and Douglas only lets you see the full picture on the very last page."
Nightwatching (2024) Tracy Sierra "Few novels have affected me like this one. Nightwatching is acutely frightening and beautifully written, as tender as it is terrifying. I can't remember rooting for a character quite so hard!"
The Actor (2024) Chris MacDonald "The Actor is both a compulsive thriller and a fascinating insight into the world of method acting. Chris MacDonald's writing captures it all, and beautifully: from the glamour of Hollywood to the grunge of 90s Camden. It's also very, very moving, packed with characters both lovable and entirely detestable. I adored it."
The Trap (2023) Catherine Ryan Howard "Everything a thriller should be: clever, page-tearing, devastating. Catherine Ryan Howard makes you feel for her characters so much, whether you love them or absolutely loathe them. It's impossible to stop reading - or to stop thinking about THE TRAP, long after you're done."
The Quiet Tenant (2023) Clémence Michallon "From the first page, you can say farewell to sleep, conversation, Netflix. This is Room meets Notes on an Execution, a brilliant, breathtaking thriller with characters you love - and love to hate. I didn't know whether to tear to the end or savour every page."
The Girls Are Good (2022) Ilaria Bernardini "A tight, frightening story of friendship, rivalry and obsession, told in sparse and beautiful prose. Tense as the space between the uneven bars."
Idol (2022) Louise O'Neill "Brutal, compulsive, brilliant. Louise O'Neill exposes the contradictions and quandaries of influencer culture with her usual perceptiveness."
Breathless (2022) Amy McCulloch "This thriller would be unsettling enough at sea level, but in the death zone, it's suffocatingly tense. McCulloch combines extreme mountaineering with murder to create a novel that's chilling, vivid, and entirely unique."
Jen Williams "An unsettling pastoral thriller, which grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go. Part-Midsommar, part-Hereditary, part-Mindhunter – and entirely terrifying."
