Top 5 atmospheric thrillers, chosen by journalist, critic and novelist Thrity Umrigar

Best selling author Thrity Umrigar on her favourite atmospheric thrillers – prepare to get lost in worlds of mystery and intrigue.

1. Underworld by Don DeLillo  

DeLillo’s 827-page masterpiece about anxiety in the nuclear age may not be for everyone. Nor is the novel billed as a thriller. But his brilliant, 60-page prologue about the 1951 baseball game in which Bobby Thompson hit the “shot heard around the world” even as the Soviets test the hydrogen bomb that same day is as much of a nail-bitter as any murder mystery.   

2. The Searcher by Tana French 

A former Chicago detective moves to a remote Irish village looking for the quiet life. But his tranquility is shattered when a boyish local girl cajoles him into finding her brother who has gone missing. Suddenly, the quiet Irish village is not that peaceful as he unearths dirty secrets that best remain hidden. 

Read more:

• Top 5 thrillers with female leads, chosen by crime author Heidi Perks
• Top 5 secrets-won’t-stay-hidden thrillers, chosen by bestselling novelist Adele Parks
• Top 5 young adult thrillers, selected by award-winning author Sarah Wishart

3. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn 

In this psychological thriller a troubled reporter returns to her hometown to cover the murders of two pre-teen girls and is forced confront her own past. 

4. The Daylight Marriage by Heidi Pitlor 

A marital fight results in the sudden disappearance of the wife – and the unravelling not just of a marriage but perhaps of a human life. 

5. The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy 

This debut novel is a domestic thriller that features a group of friends who are new mothers and whose worst nightmare comes true when a newborn child is taken from his crib.  

Missing Sam by Thrity Umrigar is out on 27 January (Workman, £25).Some of these titles are available to buy or preorder from the Big Issue shop on bookshop.org, which helps to support Big Issue and independent bookshops.

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