Learning Resources: Love2Read: Thrillers

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Thriller stories

When you hear the word 'Thriller', what story line do you immediately think off. Some people might say a murder case which took place long ago and the case has re-opened to find out the truth but comes across something more shocking and horrifying. Some might say the main character lives in the big city and is being stalked by someone from their past who is seeking revenge on something that happened long ago. Either way, thriller novels are a great way to keep the reader on edge with there plot twists, setting and characters. But, what makes a thriller book like this, what are the element that make up a thriller book. Thriller books need to include include:

An action-packed opening chapter - The introduction of a good thriller always sets the pace for the rest of the book; it should be tense and compelling, not a chance for the author to cram in a load of information about the characters’ backgrounds.
A likeable protagonist - The reader should warm to the main character quickly and be able to identify with him or her. If they don’t feel any connection or sympathy towards the hero or heroine then, quite frankly, they won’t care what happens to them!
Cliffhangers - Each chapter should end with the ultimate cliffhanger, leaving the reader crying out: “Just one more!”. There’s nothing like a stunning shock, confession or unforeseen twist to encourage the reader to keep turning the pages.
Ticking clock - Thrillers often have a race-against-time aspect to them – something that adds to the suspense and fuels the reader’s adrenaline rush. Whether it is a (literal) ticking time bomb or a criminal who will be sentenced to death in 48 hours if not proven innocent, this really adds to the pace of the book.
An epic ending - A good thriller always has an epic ending that will blow your mind; an ending that will stay with you for days, if not weeks, after reading the final page. Sometimes, the ending will come as a surprise, even changing the entire meaning of the story.

Thrillers that will keep you on edge

Three Sisters by Owen Mullen
ISBN: 9781837515011
Publication Date: 2023-07-26
A night that changes everything. The Kennedy sisters, Molly, Alex and Sam, have a Christmas tradition - a night out, just the three of them, sisters together. Lewis Stone can't face the work Christmas party, but as he's one of the bosses, he has to put in an appearance. He leaves as soon as he can politely get away, ready for the holidays to begin. When Lewis Stone meets the Kennedy sisters, a train of events begins that engulfs them all. One sister is left fighting for her life. One sister is left fighting for her marriage. And one sister is hellbent on revenge...
The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
ISBN: 9781408728512
Publication Date: 2022-01-01
“Welcome to the family,” Nina Winchester says as I shake her elegant, manicured hand. I smile politely, gazing around the marble hallway. Working here is my last chance to start fresh. I can pretend to be whoever I like. But I’ll soon learn that the Winchesters’ secrets are far more dangerous than my own…
Every day I clean the Winchesters’ beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.
I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband.

I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out… and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late.
But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am.
They don’t know what I’m capable of…
The Housemaid's Secret by Freida McFadden
ISBN: 9780349132600
Publication Date: 2023-02-20
t's hard to find an employer who doesn't ask too many questions about my past. So I thank my lucky stars that the Garricks miraculously give me a job, cleaning their stunning penthouse with views across the city and preparing fancy meals in their shiny kitchen. I can work here for a while, stay quiet until I get what I want.
It's almost perfect. But I still haven't met Mrs Garrick, or seen inside the guest bedroom. I'm sure I hear her crying. I notice spots of blood around the neck of her white nightgowns when I'm doing laundry. And one day I can't help but knock on the door. When it gently swings open, what I see inside changes everything....
That's when I make a promise. After all, I've done this before. I can protect Mrs. Garrick while keeping my own secrets locked up safe.
Douglas Garrick has done wrong. He is going to pay. It's simply a question of how far I'm willing to go....
The Housekeeper by Valerie Keogh
ISBN: 9781805494133
Publication Date: 2023-10-09
An unwelcome guest? Still in shock after the tragic death of husband Richie, Cassie Macreddin hopes that her new home, historic Hindon House, is the place where she can heal her pain and hide her secrets. But Hindon House has secrets of its own… Cassie soon realises that not everyone is pleased at her arrival and that someone is actively trying to make her leave Hindon House….but who? And why? As events escalate, Cassie must fight to save her home…and maybe even her life.
The Drift by C.J. Tudor
ISBN: 9781405948272
Publication Date: 2023-01-19
Hannah awakens to carnage, all mangled metal and shattered glass. During a hasty escape from a secluded boarding school, her coach careened over a hillside road during one of the year's heaviest snowstorms, trapping her inside with a handful of survivors, a brewing virus, and no way to call for help. If she and the remaining few want to make it out alive, with their sanity--and secrets--intact, they'll need to work together or they'll be buried alive with the rest of the dead.
A former detective, Meg awakens to a gentle rocking. She is in a cable car suspended far above a snowstorm and surrounded by strangers in the same uniform as her, with no memory of how they got there. They are heading to a mysterious place known to them only as "The Retreat," but when they discover a dead man among their ranks and Meg spies a familiar face, she realizes that there is something far more insidious going on.
Carter is gazing out the window of the abandoned ski chalet that he and his ragtag compatriots call home. Together, they manage a precarious survival, manufacturing vaccines against a deadly virus in exchange for life's essentials. But as their generator begins to waver, the threat of something lurking in the chalet's depths looms larger, and their fragile bonds will be tested when the power finally fails--for good.
The imminent dangers faced by Hannah, Meg, and Carter are each one part of the puzzle. Lurking in their shadows is an even greater threat--one that threatens to consume all of humanity.
The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
ISBN: 9781787461482
Publication Date: 2019-08-06
Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.
She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighbourhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.
Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.
The can’t-look-away story of three entangled families living in a house with the darkest of secrets.
The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell
ISBN: 9781529158564
Publication Date: 2022-07-26
Early one morning on the shore of the Thames, DCI Samuel Owusu is called to the scene of a gruesome discovery. When Owusu sends the evidence for examination, he learns the bones are connected to a cold case that left three people dead on the kitchen floor in a Chelsea mansion thirty years ago.
Rachel Rimmer has also received a shock—news that her husband, Michael, has been found dead in the cellar of his house in France. All signs point to an intruder, and the French police need her to come urgently to answer questions about Michael and his past that she very much doesn’t want to answer.
After fleeing London thirty years ago in the wake of a horrific tragedy, Lucy Lamb is finally coming home. While she settles in with her children and is just about to purchase their first-ever house, her brother takes off to find the boy from their shared past whose memory haunts their present.
As they all race to discover answers to these convoluted mysteries, they will come to find that they’re connected in ways they could have never imagined.