Summertime is coming in hot! But before you head out to the beach or take off on vacation, make sure you grab one of these must-read new thrillers to take with you. From Daniel Silva to Brad Thor and Lisa Jewel, some of the genre’s biggest stars are set to release new books in the coming weeks and trust me, you don’t want to miss any of these first-rate, red-hot thrillers.
Check out our picks for ten of the very best thrillers hitting stores this summer, then make sure to leave a comment below to let us know which titles you’re most excited to get your hands on and where you’re planning to read ’em.
Happy reading!
The Collector by Danil Silva
Release Date: OUT NOW
#1 New York Times bestselling author Daniel Silva is back with an electrifying new thriller.
Legendary art restorer and spy Gabriel Allon joins forces with a brilliant and beautiful master-thief to track down the world’s most valuable missing painting but soon finds himself in a desperate race to prevent an unthinkable conflict between Russia and the West.
From TRBS: Gabriel Allon, the once wayward son of Israeli intelligence, is back and better than ever in this riveting, no-holds-barred thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Daniel Silva . . . and trust me when I say that this is one of the summer’s biggest blockbusters.
Blind Fear by Brandon Webb and John David Mann
Release Date: OUT NOW
Haunted by the death of his best friend and hunted by the FBI for war crimes he didn’t commit, Finn lands on an island paradise that turns into his own personal hell in this gripping follow-up to Steel Fear and Cold Fear—from the New York Times bestselling writing team Webb & Mann . . .
By day, AWOL Navy SEAL Finn is hiding out on Vieques, a tiny island paradise off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico, living in a spare room behind a seafood restaurant owned by a blind local. By night he scours the dark web, hunting for the rogue officer responsible for the crimes he is accused of committing.
But Finn’s world is about to be turned upside down by a new nightmare, when his employer’s two grandchildren go missing. To find them, he’ll have to infiltrate the island’s dangerous criminal underbelly and expose a shadowy crime network known as La Empresa—even if it means exposing himself in the process.
As the children go on their own harrowing odyssey to stay one step ahead of a cop-turned-killer, a hurricane batters the coastline, cutting Puerto Rico off from the rest of the world. Taking his pursuit to the sea, Finn’s skills and endurance will be tested to their limits to rescue the lost children and escape his own pursuers before the clock runs out. No one is to be trusted. And those who are seemingly his friends might be the most dangerous foes he’s faced yet.
From TRBS: One of the hottest new series to come along in some time, Webb’s experience as a decorated Navy SEAL pairs perfectly with Mann’s easy prose and his tremendous sense of plot. Fans of Jack Carr and Brad Taylor will want to check this one out right away.
Dead Fall by Brad Thor
Release Date: July 25th
Lethal operative Scot Harvath is dispatched to avenge the killing of American citizens abroad in #1 New York Times and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author Brad Thor’s new pulse-pounding thriller.
In the war-ravaged borderlands of Ukraine, a Russian mercenary unit has gone rogue. Its members, conscripted from the worst prisons and mental asylums across Russia, are the most criminally violent, psychologically dangerous combatants to ever set foot upon the modern battlefield.
With all attention focused on the frontlines, they have pushed deeper into the interior to wage a campaign of unspeakable barbarity. As they move from village to village, committing horrific war crimes, they meet little resistance as all able-bodied men are off fighting the war.
Simultaneously, a team of Russian soldiers has been dispatched by the Kremlin to loot truckloads of art and priceless cultural treasures hidden away in a host of churches, museums, and private homes.
When multiple American aid workers are killed, America’s top spy, Scot Harvath, is sent in to settle the score. But in a country so vast, will Harvath be able to find the men in question and, more importantly, will he be able to stop them before they can kill again?
From TRBS: When it comes to thrillers, nobody delivers as consistently as Brad Thor, whose books have a way of playing out in future headlines. Known as the king of faction, rest assured that he’s not giving up the crown anytime soon—Dead Fall, which sees Harvath running around war-torn Ukraine, might actually be his most timely novel to date. Simply put, Brad Thor is one of the best to ever do it, and his latest release is coming in hot . . . just in time for summer.
Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Defiance by Brian Freeman
Release Date: July 25th
Someone’s killing Treadstone agents and Jason Bourne may be next on the list in this latest electrifying entry in Robert Ludlum’s #1 New York Times bestselling series.
Around the world, Treadstone agents are being hunted down and murdered. Someone high up in the U.S. government is erasing all evidence of a shocking mission from Jason Bourne’s past known as Defiance—including Bourne himself. Staying one step ahead of a team of killers, Bourne follows a global trail that leads him to one of the government’s darkest secrets. But exposing the truth about the Defiance mission will also bring Bourne face-to-face with his archenemy, the assassin known as Lennon, for a final deadly confrontation.
From TRBS: Brain Freeman has done an excellent job since taking over and rebooting the Bourne series a few years back. This promises to be one of his most action-packed adventures yet, and a perfect book to take with you to the beach while you soak up the sun and hang once again with Jason Bourne.
Chameleon by Remi Adeleke
Release Date: July 25th
“Delivering authentic action from someone who has lived it, Chameleon is on target and scores a direct hit!”-Jack Carr, former Navy SEAL and #1 New York Times bestselling author
From filmmaker, memoirist, and former Navy SEAL Remi Adeleke, on the heels of his featured roles in the box office film Plane and in Fox’s Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, comes the first installment in the pulse-pounding Black Box Thriller series, featuring Nigerian-born and New York-raised Kali Kent and the top-secret Black Box program—perfect for readers of Jack Carr, Mark Greaney, and Brad Taylor.
When a mysterious former South African commando, Lucas Van Groot, begins taking wealthy hostages all over the world, it appears at first to be a typical ransom gambit. However, it soon becomes clear that his “Hostage Inc.” venture is manipulating worldwide stock markets and threatening global economic collapse
Enter Black Box, the CIA’s elite, secret special operations branch—so surreptitious that not even the Director of CIA is fully privy to the unit’s activities. Black Box is composed of highly skilled agents who perform with precision:
- Chameleons who can transform into myriad characters,
- Ghosts who are specialists in stealth and surveillance,
- Wind operatives who are transportation experts, and
- Aberration agents whose specialty is deep cover for years.
Kali Kent, a Nigerian-born and Bronxite Chameleon in the Black Box program, leads the hunt for Van Groot. Tracking this ringleader and his cadre of international criminals, the team discovers the South African mastermind is after a much larger prize, and the race is on to prevent a worldwide tragedy.
Along the way, Kali will have to face the demons from his childhood and reflect on his emotional path that made him the Chameleon that he is today.
From TRBS: A strong contender for the best debut thriller of 2023, Remi Adeleke is a name already known to many. The author of the acclaimed memoir Transformed, Remi is a former Navy SEAL turned actor and filmmaker, and now, the thriller world will soon know him as the author of this lights-out thriller. I couldn’t put this one down, soaking up every page—each leading to an explosive ending that’s worth the price of admission.
The Bone Hacker by Cathy Reichs
Release Date: August 1st
#1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs returns with her twenty-second high-stakes thriller featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan who, following a series of bizarre disappearances on the islands of Turks and Caicos, enters a sinister labyrinth in which a new technology may wreak worldwide havoc.
Called in to examine what is left of a body struck by lightning, Tempe traces an unusual tattoo to its source and is soon embroiled in a much larger case. Young men—tourists—have been disappearing on the islands of Turks and Caicos for years. Seven years ago, the first victim was found in a strange location with both hands cut off; the other visitors vanished without a trace. But, recently, tantalizing leads have emerged and only Tempe can unravel them.
Maddeningly, the victims seem to have nothing in common—other than the strange locations where their bodies are eventually found, and the fact that the young men all seem to be the least likely to be involved in foul play. Do these attacks have something to do with the islands’ seething culture of gang violence? Tempe isn’t so sure. And then she turns up disturbing clues that what’s at stake may actually have global significance.
It isn’t long before the sound of a ticking clock grows menacingly loud, and then Temper herself becomes a target.
From TRBS: It feels like Temperance Brennan has been around forever. Now 22 books in, Reichs fans know exactly what to expect when she releases a new book—and the she rarely misses her mark. Expect another page-turning adventure here.
Release Date: August 8th
From the Real Book Spy, Ryan Steck, comes another riveting Matthew Redd thriller.
On an island off the coast of Spain, Matthew Redd and his FBI fly team surveil a luxury villa in hopes of catching a high-value fugitive. But when Redd leads an unauthorized raid on the villa, he discovers they’ve been set up, and he is sent home to face the consequences of defying orders.
Meanwhile, Redd’s wife, Emily, is on a remote stretch of Montana road driving their sick baby to the doctor when she finds her SUV surrounded by a biker gang intent on harassing her. As the bikers pound her fenders and her infant son screams, Emily fights to keep the SUV on the road . . . and then suddenly the bikers back off, leaving her safe but shaken.
Redd returns home, suspended from his team and certain that he is to blame for Emily’s harassment after his run-in with the local biker gang the year before. Fearing that there is more to come, he prepares to defend his family. But Redd soon learns the gang is stronger in numbers than he could’ve imagined, and there is more behind their vendetta than he could’ve guessed. As his son’s condition worsens and his beloved ranch faces financial ruin, he finds himself fighting a war on multiple fronts—one he can’t win on his own.
From TRBS: Adding “author” to my resume in 2022 was a thrill, and while I’m certainly proud of Fields of Fire (and beyond happy that readers have responded so well to it), I cannot wait to get Lethal Range into your hands. If you thought Redd was up against in the first book, think again. I threw everything at him in this one and then some. Fun fact—I set out to write one of the biggest action sequences in recent memory, and while it’s ultimately up to the readers to decide if I hit my mark, I can tell you that I really went for it, swinging for the fences and leaving nothing on the table. I really hope you love it!
None of this is True by Lisa Jewell
Release Date: August 8th
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author known for her “superb pacing, twisted characters, and captivating prose” (BuzzFeed), Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true crime podcast.
Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.
A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.
Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.
But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.
Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?
From TRBS: I was pretty late to Jewell’s work, only first discovering her stuff a few years ago. Now, she’s one of my favorites when I’m in need of a break from nonstop action. Her work has always felt like a cross between Harlan Coben and Lisa Gardner to me, with hit television shows and movies utilizing true crime podcasts lately (Only Murders in the Building, Vengence, etc.), I’m excited to see how Jewell uses Alix Summers here.
Tides of Fire by James Rollins
Release Date: August 15th
In the latest riveting thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling author, an international research station in the Coral Sea comes under siege during a geological disaster that triggers massive quakes, deadly tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions. To stop the world from burning, it’s up to Sigma Force to uncover a secret buried at the heart of our planet.
The Titan Project—an international research station off the coast of Australia—discovers a thriving zone of life in an otherwise dead sea. The area teems with a strange bioluminescent coral that defies science, yet holds great promise for the future. But the loss of a military submarine in the area triggers a brutal attack and sets in motion a geological disaster that destabilizes an entire region.
Massive quakes, volcanic eruptions, and deadly tsunamis herald a greater cataclysm to come—for something is stirring miles under the ocean, a threat hidden for millennia.
As seas turn toxic and coastlines burn, can Sigma Force stop what has been let loose—especially as an old adversary returns, hunting them and thwarting their every move? For any hope of success, Commander Gray Pierce must search for a key buried in the past, hidden deep in Aboriginal mythology. But what Sigma could uncover is even more frightening—something that will shake the very foundations of humanity
From TRBS: The gang from Sigma Force is set to return, and that’s great news for readers. Rollins remains one of the most beloved writers in the game today, and his stories keep getting bigger and better each and every year.
Ricochet by Taylor Moore
Release Date: August 29th
DEA Special Agent Garrett Kohl and his CIA team embark on an off-the-books investigation and partner up with a ragtag crew of outcasts and outlaws to stop extortionists and dismantle their operation before complete devastation rains down in their Texas High Plains community in this pulse-pounding thriller for fans of C. J. Box.
After hunting down a rogue spy as part of an elite CIA counterespionage unit, Garrett Kohl returns home to Texas in hopes of settling down and carving out a normal life. While learning the ropes of fatherhood, falling deeper in love with his high school crush, and rebuilding his wildfire ravaged cattle ranch, he is approached in secret by an engineer working at a nearby nuclear weapons plant, who is in desperate need of his help. Utilizing a unique skill set—abilities Garrett has honed as a deep cover narcotics agent and former Green Beret—he embarks on an off-the-books investigation and learns that Iranian operatives are blackmailing weapons facility employees and potentially planning a devastating act of sabotage and destruction.
Already engaged in an intense shadow war with Tehran and their Quds Force spies, Garrett’s CIA team rallies to take down the extortionists and dismantle their operation. But before they can get their mission under way, enemy commandos hijack a train carrying nuclear weapons, and activate a lone wolf assassin to murder the visiting U.S. Secretary of Defense. Caught flatfooted by the sudden attack, Garrett musters the only help he can find—a ragtag crew of outcasts and outlaws, some of whom he’d once put behind bars. Although they’re from different walks of life, and opposite sides of the law, they hold in common the deep desire to protect their homes, their families, and their way of life on the remote, wild, and alluring Texas High Plains.
From TRBS: Tayloe Moore is a more recent version of Don Bentley, and I mean that in the best way possible. Their debuts are only a year apart, and whereas Bentley started to break out last year, I suspect Moore will shine in 2023. Think J. Todd Scott with a little C.J. Box thrown in there. If you’ve yet to discover Moore’s work, you’re in for a real treat.
Praised as “One of the hardest working, most thoughtful, and fairest reviewers out there” by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline, Ryan Steck has “quickly established himself as the authority on mysteries and thrillers” (Author A.J. Tata). Steck also works full-time as a freelance editor and is building a growing community on Twitch. His debut thriller, FIELDS OF FIRE, which #1 New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr says “will leave you speechless and begging for more,” is now available. His second novel, LETHAL RANGE, comes out on August 8th. For more information, be sure to follow him on Twitter and Facebook. And to take part in free, exclusive BOOK CLUBS each month, join The Real Book Spy on Discord.