Top new thriller books in December 2025
Last updated:
December 31, 2025
December 2025 featuring new releases by Lisa Unger, Kit Frick, L.M. Chilton, Matthew Pearl, Kristi DeMeester, Justine Champine, Adam Cosco and many more.
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The Kill Clause by Lisa Unger
A hired killer finds herself caught between her conscience and her contract over the holidays in this riveting short thriller from New York Times bestselling author Lisa Unger.A hit woman’s work doesn’t stop for the holidays. As the advent calendar winds down, Paige slips into a palatial house, ignoring a blizzard of texts from her ex-husband...fiction · mystery · suspense · audiobook · crime · season-winter · thriller · action-adventure · holidays · political-intrigue -
![Friends and Liars by Kit Frick]()
Friends and Liars by Kit Frick
From “edge-of-your-seat suspense” (Booklist) author Kit Frick comes an insidious thriller about four estranged friends trapped in a powerful family’s deadly games at a luxe estate in the Italian countryside. It’s been five years since heiress Clare Monroe tragically died on New Year’s Eve at her family’s opulent Italian palazzo... -
![Everyone in the Group Chat Dies: A Novel by L.M. Chilton]()
Everyone in the Group Chat Dies: A Novel by L.M. Chilton
A deliciously thrilling new novel about a mysterious threat that puts targets on the backs of a group of roommates, from the author behind the “darkly funny, hilariously twisty, and completely charming” (Jennifer Close, New York Times bestselling author) Swiped... -
![The Award by Matthew Pearl]()
The Award by Matthew Pearl
The author of Save Our Souls and The Dante Club makes his eagerly awaited return to fiction with this irreverent and propulsive novel about a young writer trying to make his way through a cutthroat literary scene that turns deadly.David Trent is an aspiring novelist in Cambridge, Massachusetts, trying to navigate his ambitions in a place that has writers around every corner...fiction · suspense · psychological · mystery · satire · literary-fiction · thriller · humor · dark-humor · book -
![Dark Sisters: A Novel by Kristi DeMeester]()
Dark Sisters: A Novel by Kristi DeMeester
“A BONFIRE, A BEACON, A BALM, A RALLYING CRY... A beautifully written, mesmerizing horror epic... Magnificent.” – Rachel Harrison, USA Today bestselling author of So ThirstyIn this fiercely captivating novel, horror meets historical fiction when a curse bridges generations, binding the fates of three women...horror · historical-fiction · fiction · gothic · historical · witches-wizards · dark · terror · mystery · female-mc -
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![Needle Lake by Justine Champine]()
Needle Lake by Justine Champine
Two cousins on very different sides of adolescent girlhood spend one winter together that changes both of their lives forever. And once, after Elna came to stay, I watched a man drown there on Christmas Eve, his body trapped and twitching beneath the ice. Thirteen-year-old Ida was born with a hole in her heart...fiction · contemporary · suspense · killer · psychological · young-adult · coming-of-age · thriller · family · book -
![The End by Adam Cosco]()
The End by Adam Cosco
When Eli’s beloved Selene dies under mysterious circumstances, his world fractures. Consumed by grief, Eli stumbles into a clandestine cult that promises proof of life beyond death, a chance, however impossible, to see Selene again. The cult’s teachings are seductive, its rituals unsettling, but hidden within their devotion lies the truth about Selene’s final days...horror · cults · fundamentalism · technothriller · religion · fiction · thriller · spirituality · mystery · book
