20 New Thrillers and Mystery Novels That Will Freak You Out This Fall

Sandie Jones's The Other Woman will hit home for anyone who's ever clashed with their mother-in-law. The novel introduces us to Emily and Adam, the perfect couple. The only problem? Adam's overbearing mother, Pammie, will stop at nothing to keep Emily out of her son's life. In other words, this book will have you cheering its spunky heroine one minute and gasping from shock the next.

Out Aug. 21

Leave No Trace, by Everything You Want Me to Be author Mindy Mejia, will immediately grip you as it takes you on a tense journey into the depths of grief and highs of hope in this atmospheric, suspenseful story about a missing father and son. Ten years after the pair disappeared into the Minnesotan wilderness, the boy returns and is placed in a psychiatric facility, where a language therapist attempts to coax out his terrifying secrets.

Out Sept. 4

Can't sleep? When the Lights Go Out by Mary Kubica will be your perfect companion, since it centers around a young woman, Jessie, suffering from chronic, near-debilitating insomnia. When Jessie's sleepless nights begin hampering her life during daylight hours — her judgment is blurred, she can no longer tell the difference between what's real and what isn't — she finds herself with a lot more on her plate than simply a bizarre, 20-year-old mystery that has suddenly changed everything she's ever known.

Out Sept. 4

In Sadie, Courtney Summers introduces us to Sadie and Mattie, two sisters growing up in an isolated town and desperately trying to make a life for themselves. But after Mattie is discovered dead and Sadie realizes the police are no help, she sets out to find her sister's killer on her own. As Sadie begins her road trip, her story ends up in the hands of a radio personality who starts a podcast about her, hoping to track the missing girl before it's too late. Calling this book riveting would be an understatement.

Out Sept. 4

At this point, do we really need to tell you what this James Patterson novel will be about? The crime novelist is known for his fast-paced, intriguing, and often politically charged thrillers, and Juror #3 is no different. The collaboration with Nancy Allen follows a new, young lawyer in Mississippi who gets caught up in a complex case involving a racially charged felony.

Out Sept. 10

Peter Blauner's bracing, suspenseful Sunrise Highway has everything you want in a thriller — a badass female detective, a relentless serial killer, and . . . Long Island accents? (Trust us, you'll be into it all.)

Out Sept. 4

Remember that Cameron Diaz rom-com The Other Woman, in which three women team up to take down the man who's wronged them all? Well, Jo Jakeman's The Exes' Revenge is like that, only way darker (and with less shirtless Taylor Kinney, unfortunately). When Imogen's messy divorce to her abusive husband, Phillip, pushes her to the edge, she ends up uniting with his ex-wife and new girlfriend to take revenge. Hell hath no fury like three women scorned.

Out Sept. 11

Fans of Dean Koontz should rejoice, since a new Jane Hawk novel, The Forbidden Door, has arrived! Jane, one of the FBI's former top agents, is now one of the nation's most-wanted fugitives. She's also all that stands between the country becoming enslaved by a secret society's powerful and terrifying mind-control technology — casual, right? Jane struggles to stop them while simultaneously racing across the country to the safe house where her 5-year-old son is hidden, so you'll have plenty to keep you entertained while reading this one.

Out Sept. 11

Sara Gran's The Infinite Blacktop is an addicting ride through a noir landscape as self-proclaimed world's best private detective Claire DeWitt tries to piece together the mystery of who attempted to murder her.

Out Sept. 18

If you're still obsessed with Kate Atkinson's Life After Life, you're going to fall head over heels for Transcription. The sweeping novel takes us on a dramatic journey through WWII alongside 18-year-old Juliet Armstrong, who is reluctantly recruited as a spy for MI5. When she finds her past catching up with her in a dangerous way a decade later, Juliet realizes she's wrapped up in an entirely different war . . . one that she might not get out of alive.

Out Sept. 25

If you can't resist a sharp, suspenseful novel, then We Were Mothers by Katie Sise deserves a spot on your reading list. After a female college student goes missing, a series of secrets rise to the surface and two families are forced to face a new reality. The story is told from various women's points of view, and it includes all the dark secrets and lies you'd hope for in a great, twisted drama.

Out Oct. 1

Poppy thought her husband's shocking murder during his morning job was going to be the last of her problems, but as you get further into Under My Skin, you'll realize that's not quite the case. In the midst of her grief, Poppy starts to lose time — at one point she wakes up after several days hazy and confused, wearing a new dress she doesn't recognize. The pattern only continues as the months wear on, leading her to believe that her disorder might actually have had something to do with her husband's death.

Out Oct. 2

Are you ready for another twisted Tana French mystery? In The Witch Elm, the thrilling story centers around a narrator whose memory may or may not be entirely trustworthy after he's nearly beaten to death by burglars who show up in his home. As he struggles to recover from his injuries at his family's sprawling home, Ivy House, a skull is discovered in the trunk of a wych elm tree on the property. Is he to blame? Is his past coming back to haunt him?

Out Oct. 9

If you're a fan of Hilderbrand, then you know what to expect from the Summer novel queen's latest Christmas-themed masterpiece, Winter in Paradise: stunning island locales (St. John, in this case), a shocking death, and a wife set on solving a mystery.

Out Oct. 9

New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen is back to captivate us with her latest explosive new novel, Vendetta. In it, we meet CIA agent Jude Brandon, who's tasked with protecting Rachel Venable, the daughter of his late boss, from an international terrorist. As Jude and Rachel try to outwit their enemies and outrun their pasts, sparks begin to fly.

Out Oct. 23

In Fugitive Red, we meet Jack and Maria, a married couple with a nonexistent sex life living in a teeny-tiny Manhattan apartment. Suffice it to say, they've hit a major rough patch. But that all changes for Jack when he signs up for an extramarital dating app that leads him to strike up a steamy online affair with Sophia. He later agrees to meet up with her IRL at her townhouse, but unfortunately he arrives to find her strangled with a red necktie. He immediately becomes the main suspect, leading him on a frantic journey to clear his name and save his marriage to Maria.

Out Nov. 6

The Feral Detective drops readers into a rusted trailer on the shabby edge of Los Angeles, where a woman is hoping Charles Heist will help her find her best friend's missing daughter, Arabella. From there, the unlikely pair begin a strange trip through the desert to find her, and when they do, her fate is far worse than what they could have ever expected.

Out Nov. 6

Your annoyance at your sister "borrowing" your clothes without asking pales in comparison to the problem Korede has in My Sister, the Serial Killer. As the title of Oyinkan Braithwaite's darkly funny novel suggests, Korede's sister Ayoola has a habit of murdering her boyfriends and forcing Korede to clean up her gory messes. She keeps putting up with the misery until one day her longtime crush begins to fall for Ayoola, and she must decide just how far she's willing to go to protect her sister.

Out Nov. 20

Diane Setterfield masterfully weaves a beautiful, suspenseful mystery in Once Upon a River, which opens with a seriously wounded man stumbles into an inn with a dead little girl in his arms. But then, just a few hours later, life returns to her body and an important question arises — who does she belong to? The mute child can't give an answer herself, so the families in town begin to battle over her true identity, a fight that will keep you engrossed until the very last page.

Out Dec. 4

Lisa Jewell's Watching You takes the idea of obsession to chilling heights when a woman moves home after four years abroad and finds herself enthralled with an older man next door. As her crush becomes all-consuming, she's eventually forced to confront a terrifying question: what if she's not the only one who's obsessed?

Out Dec. 26