I’m normally not a big crime reader, it’s just not my usual style, but I’ve been trying to expand my horizons a bit more in the last couple of years. These are three of my recommendations, books that I found a bit more interesting and slightly different to the average thriller, and they all deliver on two key areas: writing style (for me, they need to be well written and enjoyable as a bare minimum) and good twists. No spoilers ahead!

Strange Sally Diamond, Liz Nugent

Ever since I read it, I’ve been recommending this book to anyone who likes crime novels because it’s such a fantastic read! Super engaging from the get-go, constantly keeps you guessing and, when you think you know what’s going to happen, it hits you with yet another twist. Liz Nugent’s writing is so good, it really makes this book hard to put down even though it deals with some very, very uncomfortable topics. It has the perfect balance of light-heartedness and warmth through the voice of the weird, yet really endearing main character, and a dose of heavy hitting, the worst of what humans can do.

Kala, Colin Walsh

I thought this was a really compelling and enjoyable read, despite having bought it on a whim as Waterstones’ ‘thriller of the month’ in the summer of 2024. At first, I was surprised to find out it was a debut novel from young Irish writer Colin Walsh, because his writing flows nicely and effortlessly, making this quite a fun read despite, yet again, some difficult and uncomfortable topics. Don’t get me wrong, the more you start uncovering the story, the more you see that this is in fact a debut novel – full of sometimes unnecessary layers, overlaps and coincidences. Often the most experienced writers come up with the simplest stories, whereas Kala seems to have a bit too much thrown at it overall. However, this didn’t massively impact my enjoyment of the book as a whole, and I thought the twists were actually pretty good.

The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides

You might have seen this book advertised everywhere, as it’s been hugely well received for a debut novel. The premise of the story is compelling and fairly original, which makes it a bit different to other crime novels out there: an artist goes silent after murdering her husband, and her psychotherapist becomes obsessed with getting her to talk about her side of the story. Centred around themes of mental health, trauma and silence, it puts Freud’s ‘talking cure’ into a new light, fully absorbing you into the story. The twist was definitely good, and I only saw it coming later on, even though it was kind of there throughout the novel (the hint is in the timelines, the main aspect of the novel that felt really off to me but at least it made sense in the end). And I don’t know if this was deliberate, but I found the characters annoyingly unlikeable and unrelatable – especially the psychotherapist (the unreliable narrator of the story) with his obnoxious superiority complex – which just made me want to finish this book faster (not a bad thing in itself, I guess?).

Let me know if you’ve read any of these and if you have any recommendations for non-crime fans!