33 Books With Shocking Plot Twists That Still Keep Us Up at Night

Without spoiling anything, just know that A.J. Finn's The Woman in the Window has three big twists to look forward to, so this is a must if you're in the mood to stay up far past midnight to keep reading. The instant New York Times bestseller will give you major Hitchcock vibes as it follows an agoraphobic woman named Anna who believes she witnessed a crime in her neighbor's home one night while staring through their window. Is she just paranoid? Did something awful truly happen? Read it before the film adaptation comes out!

When the decades-old bones of an infant are discovered at a construction site in London in The Child, journalist Kate Waters sets out to uncover the identity of the baby, and soon realizes it just might be the same child who was stolen from a maternity ward in a local hospital but never found. Author Fiona Barton weaves an intense mystery with each passing page, peeling back layer upon layer of familial drama, discord, and shame.

It's Always the Husband is Michele Campbell's ode to friends, frenemies, and the kinds of bonds that burn bright and fast before flaming out in disastrous ways. The story traces the lives of roommates Kate, Aubrey, and Jenny from their freshman year at college to the horrific event that eventually reunites them all years later: one of them is forced to jump off a bridge . . . but who?

In A.J. Rich's The Hand That Feeds You, the twists just keep coming. The psychological thriller begins when Morgan — a 30-year-old budding criminal psychologist — finds her fiancé, Bennett, mauled to death in her apartment, presumably by her three, blood-covered dogs. As she begins to examine Bennett's life after his death, she discovers that not only has everything he's ever told her been a lie, but that he has several other fiancées. When they all start dying under mysterious circumstances, Morgan races against the clock to unravel the mystery and save her own life.

The Good Girl is an addictive, taut thriller that tells the story of Mia Dennett, the daughter of a prominent Chicago judge, who is kidnapped and held for ransom. The novel shifts perspectives from that of Mia's anxiety-ridden mom, the world-weary detective assigned to her case, and her kidnapper, as emotions ride high and time runs out on whether or not Mia will ever be the same.

You're either going to love or hate Jessica Knoll's debut novel, Luckiest Girl Alive, which will have your pulse pounding right along with the story's acidic protagonist, a magazine editor named Ani. It follows two versions of her: present day, as she plans her wedding to the man of her dreams; and when she's a 14-year-old attending a prestigious high school in Philadelphia. The predicaments younger and older Ani find themselves in will have you simultaneously fuming with anger and reaching for a box of tissues.

Liane Moriarty tips you off right away that something huge is going to happen at the end of Big Little Lies by basically saying, "Oh hey, there are a bunch of police questioning all of the main characters because something huge just happened." The novel then goes back in time to the start of the events at an Australian pre-school that end up causing the "something huge," skipping between the stories of three moms: Madeleine, Celeste, and Jane. Was it murder? A tragic accident? Something worse? Prepare to ask yourselves those questions over and over as you navigate lives full of schoolyard drama, marital affairs, and scandal.

Dark Places's Libby Day is only 7 when she witnesses her mother and two older sisters brutally murdered in the later-publicized "Satan Sacrifice" of Kinnakee, Kansas. Twenty-five years after testifying that it was her brother, Ben, who committed the crime, Libby is contacted by a secret society obsessed with famous murder cases who are convinced Ben wasn't the real killer. Libby is then sent down a rabbit hole of shady family history, painful truths, and an entirely new killer, which will keep you guessing until the last, breathless second.

Miles "Pudge" Halter enrolls at the Culver Creek Boarding School, where he breaks free of his normal, safe life for one that's more spontaneous, passionate, and crazy, thanks to Alaska Young, the manic-pixie-dream-girl-in-training who lives down the hall from him. John Green's debut YA novel isn't quite as weepy as The Fault in Our Stars, but Looking For Alaska's surprising plot twist might leave you staring at a blank wall in shock.

Speaking of The Fault in Our Stars, My Sister's Keeper is another gut-wrenching tale about a young girl with cancer named Kate who longs for a normal life. Her little sister, Anna, was conceived by their parents specifically to be a bone marrow match for Kate and has since undergone countless transfusions, shots, and surgeries all in the hopes of helping her sister beat leukemia. Anna finally puts her foot down and sues her parents for medical emancipation, leading to a string of events that no one could have ever predicted (not even you, potential reader).

A teenager named Thomas wakes up in an elevator that opens up into a massive field, with no memories except his name. He's quickly found by a group of strangers — all boys, who also can't remember anything — who tell him that the massive stone walls that surround them are part of a terrifying, ever-changing maze filled with deadly creatures. What's worse? It's their only way out. If you haven't yet seen The Maze Runner's film adaptation, definitely read the book first. It's much more exciting and fills in blanks that the movie doesn't have time to get to.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a nonfiction book, which makes the fact that it still manages to wallop its readers with one hell of a twist that much more impressive. John Berendt dives into a puzzling 1981 shooting in Savannah, GA that proves not all is as it seems, and that a gossipy, small-town mentality is a tough one to contend with.

If you've somehow lived your life without finding out the big spoiler at the end of Fight Club, then this is a must read. Chuck Palahniuk delivers a sad-sack narrator who quits his job after meeting Tyler Durden, an enigmatic man who is the leader of a group that holds secret, violent boxing matches in bar basements ("The first rule of Fight Club . . . "). Also, it's one of the few novels whose film component is just as memorable.

There's a reason Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio teamed up to bring Shutter Island to the big screen. This thrilling, atmospheric mystery will have your stomach in knots as you read about US Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels, who boards a boat bound for Shutter Island in 1954 to investigate the strange disappearance of a patient at the Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane. When the truth is finally revealed, you'll be rereading the final passages over and over again to make sure you aren't going crazy, too.

The Girl With All the Gifts is an inspiring take on an extremely saturated zombie genre, offering up a smattering of complex female characters and a creative plot twist. It follows Melanie, a young girl enrolled in a special kind of school, who her teachers call "our little genius." Much like a member of the undead, once this frightening, gore-filled book has you in its clutches, it won't let go.

Clare Mackintosh's I Let You Go is definitely The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl-esque, telling the story of Jenna Gray, a grieving mother who moves to an isolated Welsh town to escape the memory of her dead son. Meanwhile, two detectives are desperately trying to find the person behind the hit-and-run that killed Jenna's child, leading to potentially deadly questions.

Life of Pi is a stunning, emotional look at how some people deal with trauma. Witness 16-year-old Pi's methods of survival when the freighter he, his family, and the exotic animals from their zoo are traveling on sinks in the middle of the ocean, leaving him stranded on a small lifeboat with a hyena, a zebra, a tiger, and an orangutan for company. What's more shocking than trying to coexist peacefully with a 450-lb. Bengal tiger for 227 days is the story about his ordeal that Pi tells the authorities who eventually discover him.

It's been nearly impossible to escape the buzz surrounding The Girl on the Train, mostly because the novel has blessed literature with one hell of an ending. Paula Hawkins tells her story between the shifting perspectives of three women — Rachel, Megan, and Anna — and gradually uncovers a twisted web of murder and deceit that stems from one of the women's observations during a daily train ride.

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In Sarah Waters's Dickensian novel Fingersmith, we meet Sue Trinder, an orphan who was adopted in a London slum by a family of petty thieves. Hoping to repay them as she gets older, Sue is asked by one of the thieves, Gentleman, to get a job with a hapless gentlewoman so that he might eventually steal her inheritance. Sue initially agrees (happily), but as time goes on, she begins to regret her decision in big ways.

We Were Liars is a quick read, but don't let its slim page count fool you — this novel has a startling, unforgiving depth to it. E. Lockhart whisks us away to a private island off of Martha's Vineyard, the Summer home to a wealthy family with a long list of secrets. As four teenaged members of the family find themselves tangled up in the repercussions of an unthinkable secret, they confront lies, love, and tragedy while coming of age over the Summer.

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The dystopian world in The Circle, which is being adapted into a film starring Emma Watson, is all the more disturbing because it feels so real. Dave Eggers brings us Mae Holland, a young woman hired to work for the Circle, a powerful internet company (cough, Apple, cough) that she thinks is a dream come true. As she sinks deeper and deeper into the alluring opportunities that the company provides, Mae grows to realize that something sinister is at work (literally).

Gillian Flynn should legally change her name to Gillian "The Twists in All of My Books Will Destroy You" Flynn at this point, because each of her novels is a masterclass in dark, razor-sharp storytelling. In Sharp Objects, reporter Camille Preaker has only just finished her brief stay at a psych hospital when she's tasked with returning to her small hometown to write about the murders of two preteen girls. Because nothing in life is simple, Camille realizes that the deaths might be connected to her estranged, neurotic mother and her gorgeous, popular, 13-year-old half-sister that she barely knows, leading her down a traumatic path of shocking discoveries that she might never recover from.

Joe Goldberg googles the name on a credit card of a beautiful woman he helps at a bookstore, and thanks to her nonstop tweeting and public Facebook account, he begins to obsess over her, eventually worming his way into her life. He'll do anything to have her, even if it means murder. In short, You, a riveting thriller from Caroline Kepnes, is a terrifying warning to anyone obsessed with social media.

As the beloved soprano in the Paris Opera in Second Empire Paris, Lilliet Berne is an absolute sensation. The only thing she doesn't have is an original role, which is every singer's chance at lasting fame. The Queen of the Night tracks her rise from circus rider, to courtesan, to world-renowned star, and the one person from her past who is determined to bring her down for good.

The first novel in Stephen King's The Dark Tower series is a dizzying take on good versus evil, with Western frontier undertones. There's no better time to read up on Roland Deschain's adventures before its movie counterpart hits theaters in 2017.

Victoria Aveyard knocked it out of the park with her Red Queen YA series, which somehow blends X-Men with The Hunger Games, and then splashes in a few Cinderella themes. The first book in the trilogy introduces lowly pickpocket Mare Barrow, who lives in a world with a class system dependent on blood — those with Red blood serve those with Silver, whose elite blood includes superhuman abilities (running incredibly fast, super strength, control of fire, etc.). Mare is eventually recruited to be a servant in the Silver court, where she discovers she somehow has abilities of her own despite the Red blood coursing through her veins. This leads to forbidden romances with multiple princes, palace intrigue, and a dangerous game that all but promises death.

It takes one incredible imagination to weave two stories taking place 100 years apart seamlessly together, so it's lucky that Empire writer and producer Attica Locke was up for the task. In historical murder mystery The Cutting Season, two murders over a century apart get connected in the middle of Louisiana's sugar cane country.

If you thought your school was weird, wait until you see what the one in Never Let Me Go is like. In this devastating coming-of-age tale, Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy grow up together as students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school in the English countryside, where they fight, fall in love, and experience heartbreak. Years later, Kathy can no longer escape the reason behind their unique upbringing, leading to heartbreaking consequences for her, Tommy, and Ruth.

Despite being published as recently as 2003, The Kite Runner has become a certified classic thanks to its eye-opening story. Amir, a young boy in Kabul, is best friends with his father's young servant, Hassan, and the book follows their friendship and falling out in a sweeping story set in Afghanistan, America, and back again.

If you're not into long-winded, scientific explanations about the possibility of alternate realities, The Love That Split the World might not be for you. That being said, it's rich in Native American history and folklore, and has a pretty sweet YA love story.

At this point you're probably thinking, "Wow, there are quite a few Gillian 'The Twists in All of My Books Will Destroy You' Flynn novels in here," but what would a list celebrating plot twists be without her epic novel, Gone Girl? The "thriller of the year" intricately patches together the rise and fall of Nick and Amy Dunne's marriage, before and after "Amazing Amy" disappears. With all eyes on Nick as Amy's potential killer, it's up to him and a group of detectives to prove his innocence, all while Flynn has you constantly wondering if he even really is.

Mary Kubica's gripping psychological thriller, Don't You Cry, volleys back and forth the lives of two very different people who both want to know the same thing: who is Esther Vaughn, really? The first is her roommate, Quinn, who becomes an amateur detective once Esther disappears without a trace from their Chicago apartment. The second is 18-year-old Alex, who lives in a small town outside of the big city and finds himself in the presence of a mysterious woman who may-or-may-not be the missing Esther. As both parties dig for the truth, the answers they find become increasingly shocking.

Ever been to a bad bachelorette party? Well, we'll take a wild guess and say it's nowhere near as rough as the one our heroine attends in Ruth Ware's A Dark, Dark Wood. When Leonora, a reclusive writer, agrees to attend the hen do for a high school pal she hasn't spoken to in years, old resentments and bitter feuds come bubbling back up to the surface, ending in a shocking act of violence.