29 must-read mystery thriller books like The It Girl by Ruth Ware

Cover of The It Girl by Ruth Ware

The It Girl

By: Ruth Ware

3.85

Format: 423 pages, Hardcover

April Coutts-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford. Vivacious, bright, occasion…

"The usual. Soft focus, syrupy memories of April and her potential. Sad-faced pictures of h to add a prurient kick to the piece-a hint of scandal, maybe. A student rivalry. A sniff of drugs, or promiscuity, or some other act of disreputable behavior, to give the reader a frisson of disapproval and the safe knowledge that this would never have happened to them."

-Ruth Ware, The It Girl

"The usual. Soft focus, syrupy memories of April and her potential. Sad-faced pictures of her friends and family pondering all they've lost. Anecdotes about punting and May balls and bright futures. And then some spicy detail, just to add a prurient kick to the piece—a hint of scandal, maybe. A student rivalry. A sniff of drugs, or promiscuity, or some other act of disreputable behavior, to give the reader a frisson of disapproval and the safe knowledge that this would never have happened to them."

-Ruth Ware, The It Girl

If you liked the mystery thriller plot in The It Girl by Ruth Ware , here is a list of 29 books like this:

Cover of The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand

1. The Five-Star Weekend

By: Elin Hilderbrand

4.04

Format: 384 pages, Hardcover

After tragedy strikes, Hollis Shaw gathers four friends from different stages in her life to spend … read more

Similar categories in Elin Hilderbrand's The Five-Star Weekend book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • adult fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • audiobook
"She weighs the decision for a moment, then butters the baguette and pops it in her mouth. It's so delicious that she doesn't care if they have to roll her off the island in a wheelbarrow."

-Elin Hilderbrand, The Five-Star Weekend

Cover of The Women by Kristin Hannah

2. The Women

By: Kristin Hannah

4.64

Format: 471 pages, Hardcover

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these wor… read more

Similar categories in Kristin Hannah's The Women book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • adult fiction
  • adult
  • fiction
  • audiobook
"Words were creators of worlds; you had to be careful with them."

-Kristin Hannah, The Women

"Love mattered in this ruined world, but so did honor. What was one without the other?"

-Kristin Hannah, The Women

"Love. A thing to be shouted from the rooftops, celebrated, not cultivated in secret and clipped into shape in the dark."

-Kristin Hannah, The Women

Cover of She's Not Sorry by Mary Kubica

3. She's Not Sorry

By: Mary Kubica

3.81

Format: 330 pages, Hardcover

An ICU nurse accidentally uncovers a patient’s frightening past in this chilling thriller. Megha… read more

Similar categories in Mary Kubica's She's Not Sorry book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • adult fiction
  • mystery thriller
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • adult
  • audiobook
Cover of None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell

4. None of This Is True

By: Lisa Jewell

4.12

Format: 370 pages, Hardcover

Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself… read more

Similar categories in Lisa Jewell's None of This Is True book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • mystery thriller
  • adult
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • audiobook
"Acting as if there is something wrong with me, when there isn't. It's the world that's wrong, you and I both know that."

-Lisa Jewell, None of This Is True

"Being with so many people felt right, and afterward at the wake thrown by Nathan's company at a huge bar in Paddington overlooking the canal, with seats outside and bottomless champagne and a playlis…"

-Lisa Jewell, None of This Is True

Cover of Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney

5. Good Bad Girl

By: Alice Feeney

3.66

Format: 306 pages, Hardcover

Sometimes bad things happen to good people, so good people have to do bad things. Alice Feeney, ret… read more

Similar categories in Alice Feeney's Good Bad Girl book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • adult fiction
  • mystery thriller
  • adult
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • audiobook
Cover of Everyone Here Is Lying by Shari Lapena

6. Everyone Here Is Lying

By: Shari Lapena

3.80

Format: 336 pages, Hardcover

Welcome to Stanhope - a safe neighbourhood. A place for families.William Wooler is a family man, on… read more

Similar categories in Shari Lapena's Everyone Here Is Lying book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • mystery thriller
  • adult
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • audiobook
Cover of First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

7. First Lie Wins

By: Ashley Elston

4.05

Format: 340 pages, Hardcover

Evie Porter has everything a nice, Southern girl could want: a perfect, doting boyfriend, a house w… read more

Similar categories in Ashley Elston's First Lie Wins book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • mystery thriller
  • adult
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • audiobook
"Blunt honesty has more value than blind worship"

-Ashley Elston, First Lie Wins

"It’s because you’re not ready to tell me the truth and I’d rather you not lie to me."

-Ashley Elston, First Lie Wins

"There’s an old saying: The first lie wins. It’s not referring to the little white kind that tumble out with no thought; it refers to the big one. The one that changes the game. The one that is delibe…"

-Ashley Elston, First Lie Wins

Cover of The Only One Left by Riley Sager

8. The Only One Left

By: Riley Sager

4.14

Format: 385 pages, Hardcover

At seventeen, Lenora Hope Hung her sister with a rope Now reduced to a schoolyard chant, the Ho… read more

Similar categories in Riley Sager's The Only One Left book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • mystery thriller
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • adult
  • audiobook
"You're never alone when there's a book,' she used to say. 'Never ever."

-Riley Sager, The Only One Left

Cover of Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

9. Listen for the Lie

By: Amy Tintera

4.13

Format: 336 pages, Hardcover

What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if… read more

Similar categories in Amy Tintera's Listen for the Lie book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • adult fiction
  • mystery thriller
  • adult
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • audiobook
"Men say shit,"

-Amy Tintera, Listen for the Lie

"What are you doing here?"

-Amy Tintera, Listen for the Lie

"We were all so repressed in our twenties,"

-Amy Tintera, Listen for the Lie

"Lucy, didn’t you want to be a writer once?"

-Amy Tintera, Listen for the Lie

Cover of Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAllister

10. Just Another Missing Person

By: Gillian McAllister

3.66

Format: 377 pages, Hardcover

From the author of the Reese’s Book Club Pick and the New York Times bestseller Wrong Place Wrong T… read more

Similar categories in Gillian McAllister's Just Another Missing Person book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • adult fiction
  • mystery thriller
  • adult
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • audiobook
"Parenthood is beautiful, but hard, too. It’s tough to exist in the world when there is someone going about their business who you would die for."

-Gillian McAllister, Just Another Missing Person

"How much I love you. You'll never know it, either. You will only have some idea, if you have a child of your own one day, of the things you will do to protect them, of how deep and pure your love for…"

-Gillian McAllister, Just Another Missing Person

Cover of All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham

11. All the Dangerous Things

By: Stacy Willingham

4.07

Format: 326 pages, Hardcover

One year ago, Isabelle Drake's life changed forever: her toddler son, Mason, was taken out of his c… read more

Similar categories in Stacy Willingham's All the Dangerous Things book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • mystery thriller
  • adult
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • audiobook
"People tend to stash their dirtiest secrets in the most common of places."

-Stacy Willingham, All the Dangerous Things

"At the time, it reminded me of the stars: how two can collide and fuse into one—bigger, brighter, stronger than before. But what I didn’t know then was that when they collide too fast, they don’t fus…"

-Stacy Willingham, All the Dangerous Things

Cover of The Fury by Alex Michaelides

12. The Fury

By: Alex Michaelides

3.38

Format: 298 pages, Hardcover

A masterfully paced thriller about a reclusive ex–movie star and her famous friends whose spontaneo… read more

Similar categories in Alex Michaelides's The Fury book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • mystery thriller
  • adult
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • audiobook
"Character is fate"

-Alex Michaelides, The Fury

"Love is mutual respect, and constancy- and friendship"

-Alex Michaelides, The Fury

"Do not despair at being different. For that very difference, initially such a source of shame, so humiliating, and painful, will one day become a badge of honor and pride"

-Alex Michaelides, The Fury

"I'd never seen Lana lose control. I won't say it wasn't frightening; but then, uncontained emotion is always distressing to be around, isn't it? Particularly when it's from someone you love."

-Alex Michaelides, The Fury

Cover of Just the Nicest Couple by Mary Kubica

13. Just the Nicest Couple

By: Mary Kubica

3.56

Format: 320 pages, Hardcover

Two couples, two close friends, one missing husband… Jake Hayes is missing. This much is certain… read more

Similar categories in Mary Kubica's Just the Nicest Couple book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • adult fiction
  • mystery thriller
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • adult
  • audiobook
Cover of What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall

14. What Lies in the Woods

By: Kate Alice Marshall

3.96

Format: 322 pages, Hardcover

Naomi Shaw used to believe in magic. Twenty-two years ago, she and her two best friends, Cassidy an… read more

Similar categories in Kate Alice Marshall's What Lies in the Woods book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • mystery thriller
  • adult
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • audiobook
"Nothing good comes from digging up old trouble."

-Kate Alice Marshall, What Lies in the Woods

"But why should she be able to leave the woods, when I never had?"

-Kate Alice Marshall, What Lies in the Woods

"Don't worry. She does this. She likes to go out to the woods to think."

-Kate Alice Marshall, What Lies in the Woods

"When it comes to relationships, if you could take it or leave it, leaving is always the right choice"

-Kate Alice Marshall, What Lies in the Woods

Cover of The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins

15. The Heiress

By: Rachel Hawkins

3.87

Format: 294 pages, Hardcover

When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she’s not only North Carolina’s richest w… read more

Similar categories in Rachel Hawkins's The Heiress book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • adult fiction
  • mystery thriller
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • adult
  • audiobook
"One rarely finds salvation in Florida."

-Rachel Hawkins, The Heiress

"Sometimes it's fun to give people enough rope with which to hang themselves."

-Rachel Hawkins, The Heiress

Cover of The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

16. The House Across the Lake

By: Riley Sager

3.60

Format: 369 pages, Kindle Edition

The New York Times best-selling author of Final Girls and Survive the Night is back with his most … read more

Similar categories in Riley Sager's The House Across the Lake book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • mystery thriller
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • adult
  • audiobook
Cover of Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth

17. Darling Girls

By: Sally Hepworth

4.04

Format: 359 pages, Hardcover

SISTERS, SECRETS, LOVE, AND MURDER... Sally Hepworth’s new novel has it all. For as long as they… read more

Similar categories in Sally Hepworth's Darling Girls book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • mystery thriller
  • adult
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • audiobook
"She didn’t do well out of her routine."

-Sally Hepworth, Darling Girls

"[…] the dogs burst out into the night in search of nocturnal animals to torment."

-Sally Hepworth, Darling Girls

"She had a very specific routine that she had to follow if she was to have the slightest hope of drifting off."

-Sally Hepworth, Darling Girls

"Today had involved far too much talking. Norah appreciated the great wonder of communication as much as the next person, but she despised it in excess."

-Sally Hepworth, Darling Girls

Cover of Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult

18. Mad Honey

By: Jodi Picoult

4.09

Format: 464 pages, Hardcover

A soul-stirring novel about what we choose to keep from our past, and what we choose to leave behin… read more

Similar categories in Jodi Picoult's Mad Honey book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • mystery thriller
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • adult
  • audiobook
"Being gay or straight,"

-Jodi Picoult, Mad Honey

"People always talk about their love for you is unconditional. Then you reveal your most private self to them, and you find out how many conditions there are in unconditional love."

-Jodi Picoult, Mad Honey

"Dark honey from the second harvest. It's made late in the season after the nectar drought at the end of July when the bees turn to goldenrod and sunflowers instead. It's deeper and richer, it tastes …"

-Jodi Picoult, Mad Honey

"My father taught me that beekeeping is both a burden and a privilege. You don’t bother the bees unless they need your help, and you help them when they need it. It’s a feudal relationship: protection…"

-Jodi Picoult, Mad Honey

Cover of The Family Remains (The Family Upstairs, #2) by Lisa Jewell

19. The Family Remains (The Family Upstairs, #2)

By: Lisa Jewell

3.88

Format: 452 pages, Hardcover

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jewell comes an intricate and affecting novel ab… read more

Similar categories in Lisa Jewell's The Family Remains (The Family Upstairs, #2) book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • mystery thriller
  • adult
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • audiobook
Cover of The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley

20. The Midnight Feast

By: Lucy Foley

3.64

Format: 354 pages, Hardcover

Secrets. Lies. Murder. Let the festivities begin... It’s the opening night of The Manor, and no … read more

Similar categories in Lucy Foley's The Midnight Feast book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • mystery thriller
  • adult
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • audiobook
Cover of The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth

21. The Soulmate

By: Sally Hepworth

3.79

Format: 352 pages, Paperback

A thrilling, addictive novel about marriage, betrayal, and the secrets that push us to the edge... … read more

Similar categories in Sally Hepworth's The Soulmate book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • adult fiction
  • mystery thriller
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • adult
  • audiobook
Cover of The It Girl by Ruth Ware

22. The It Girl

By: Ruth Ware

3.85

Format: 423 pages, Hardcover

April Coutts-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford. Vivacious, bright, occasion… read more

Similar categories in Ruth Ware's The It Girl book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • adult fiction
  • mystery thriller
  • adult
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • audiobook
"The usual. Soft focus, syrupy memories of April and her potential. Sad-faced pictures of h to add a prurient kick to the piece-a hint of scandal, maybe. A student rivalry. A sniff of drugs, or promis…"

-Ruth Ware, The It Girl

"The usual. Soft focus, syrupy memories of April and her potential. Sad-faced pictures of her friends and family pondering all they've lost. Anecdotes about punting and May balls and bright futures. A…"

-Ruth Ware, The It Girl

Cover of Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier

23. Things We Do in the Dark

By: Jennifer Hillier

3.95

Format: 352 pages, Hardcover

Things We Do in the Dark is a brilliant new thriller from Jennifer Hillier, the award-winning autho… read more

Similar categories in Jennifer Hillier's Things We Do in the Dark book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • mystery thriller
  • adult
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • audiobook
Cover of Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six by Lisa Unger

24. Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six

By: Lisa Unger

3.45

Format: 396 pages, Hardcover

Three couples rent a luxury cabin in the woods for a weekend getaway to die for in this chilling lo… read more

Similar categories in Lisa Unger's Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • mystery thriller
  • adult
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • audiobook
"The whole catalogue of humanity was online, feeling entitled to their opinions and to their right to share. It could be brutal."

-Lisa Unger, Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six

"From where I stand, hidden, watching them through the glass, they are the picture of the perfect family. But I know better. What people show the world is rarely the whole truth, especially these days…"

-Lisa Unger, Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six

"...there is nothing certain in life but death. We may labour under the delusion that we know what the day ahead of us holds, what the hour holds. But we do not. We may think our death, our very certa…"

-Lisa Unger, Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six

"Privilege. A word that suddenly inspired jealousy, resentment, rage. Some people were born with it, that beautiful ease, that aura of never worrying about making it, surviving. Some stood on the othe…"

-Lisa Unger, Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six

Cover of The Only Survivors by Megan Miranda

25. The Only Survivors

By: Megan Miranda

3.55

Format: 339 pages, Hardcover

A decade ago, two vans filled with high school seniors on a school service trip crashed into a Tenn… read more

Similar categories in Megan Miranda's The Only Survivors book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • adult fiction
  • mystery thriller
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • adult
  • audiobook
Cover of The Last to Vanish by Megan Miranda

26. The Last to Vanish

By: Megan Miranda

3.55

Format: 323 pages, Hardcover

New York Times bestselling author Megan Miranda returns with a gripping and propulsive thriller tha… read more

Similar categories in Megan Miranda's The Last to Vanish book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • adult fiction
  • mystery thriller
  • adult
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • audiobook
Cover of The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

27. The Villa

By: Rachel Hawkins

3.64

Format: 279 pages, Hardcover

From New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins comes a deliciously wicked gothic suspense, s… read more

Similar categories in Rachel Hawkins's The Villa book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • mystery thriller
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • adult
  • audiobook
"People are never just gone, after all. There are always marks, always signs."

-Rachel Hawkins, The Villa

Cover of Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister

28. Wrong Place Wrong Time

By: Gillian McAllister

3.99

Format: 416 pages, Hardcover

Can you stop a murder after it’s already happened? It is midnight on the morning of Halloween, a… read more

Similar categories in Gillian McAllister's Wrong Place Wrong Time book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • mystery thriller
  • adult
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • audiobook
Cover of All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers

29. All Good People Here

By: Ashley Flowers

3.84

Format: 312 pages, Hardcover

Everyone from Wakarusa, Indiana, remembers the case of January Jacobs, who was found dead in a ditc… read more

Similar categories in Ashley Flowers's All Good People Here book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • mystery thriller
  • adult
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • audiobook
"It’s not safe for you here."

-Ashley Flowers, All Good People Here

"What small tragedies their lives had turned out to be."

-Ashley Flowers, All Good People Here

"My daughter is dead. Nothing sounds good. Nothing will ever sound good again."

-Ashley Flowers, All Good People Here

"She heard a sound - a soft guttural moan - and realized it had come from her own mouth."

-Ashley Flowers, All Good People Here

Cover of The House in the Pines by Ana  Reyes

30. The House in the Pines

By: Ana Reyes

3.11

Format: 321 pages, Hardcover

Armed with only hazy memories, a woman who long ago witnessed her friend's sudden, mysterious death… read more

Similar categories in Ana Reyes's The House in the Pines book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • adult fiction
  • mystery thriller
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • adult
  • audiobook
Cover of Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

31. Daisy Darker

By: Alice Feeney

3.77

Format: 338 pages, Hardcover

The New York Times bestselling Queen of Twists returns…with a family reunion that leads to murder. … read more

Similar categories in Alice Feeney's Daisy Darker book and Ruth Ware's The It Girl

  • mystery thriller
  • adult
  • suspense
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • audiobook
"Don’t spend all of your ambition on other people’s dreams."

-Alice Feeney, Daisy Darker

"Sometimes people don't know they're in love until they're not."

-Alice Feeney, Daisy Darker

"A mother's least favourite child always knows that's what they are."

-Alice Feeney, Daisy Darker

"People are not the same but different, they are different but the same."

-Alice Feeney, Daisy Darker

31 Top fiction books like The It Girl by Ruth Ware

Transform Your Habits

The Five-Star Weekend

Elin Hilderbrand

4.04

Transform Your Habits

The Women

Kristin Hannah

4.64

Transform Your Habits

She's Not Sorry

Mary Kubica

3.81

Transform Your Habits

None of This Is True

Lisa Jewell

4.12

View all the books

21 best-selling fiction books like All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham

Transform Your Habits

She's Not Sorry

Mary Kubica

3.81

Transform Your Habits

None of This Is True

Lisa Jewell

4.12

Transform Your Habits

Good Bad Girl

Alice Feeney

3.66

Transform Your Habits

Everyone Here Is Lying

Shari Lapena

3.80

View all the books

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