The Best Thrillers of the Year So Far

We chose the 10 best thrillers of 2023. See the complete list.

I want a novel filled with jaw-dropping twists and turns

Big Time, by Ben H. Winters

This weird and wonderfully cautionary tale about futuristic technology run amok features a plucky kidnapped schoolteacher and a schlumpy bureaucrat in the Food and Drug Administration who, roused to action, turns into an ingenious accidental heroine. The book raises an intriguing though academic (at least so far) question: Is it possible to steal time from one person and give it to someone else?

Amazon | Local bookstores | Barnes & Noble | Apple

Give me a fat, satisfying, character-driven novel I can lose myself in for hours

The Hunter, by Tana French

We first met Cal, a retired American cop, in the pages of French’s previous novel “The Searcher,” when he moved from Chicago to rural Ireland. He’s formed a family of sorts with a local woman and a rebellious teenager at odds with her own parents, but the community’s equilibrium is shattered by the unexpected return of the teenager’s silver-tongued father, who’s peddling a dodgy get-rich-quick scheme. The mysteries of the town are so complicated and so satisfying that by the time the actual murder comes, you’re already hooked.

Amazon | Local bookstores | Barnes & Noble | Apple

I want characters I can root for

The Princess of Las Vegas, by Chris Bohjalian