July 2026 Thriller new releases

Helpless by Jessica Knoll

Release date: July 7 2026

It’s been twelve years since Faye Heron broke Henry Spalding’s heart. Henry was her college boyfriend, her first love, but Faye was in danger of being subsumed by him and the intensity of their connection—a connection that took her beyond boundaries she’d only dreamed of crossing.

Now, Faye is one half of a power-producing duo with her Hollywood husband. Henry is a married father running the family business. On the surface, both of their lives have essentially gone to plan.

When a former and beloved college professor suddenly passes away, Faye and Henry find themselves back on campus for the funeral, circling something old and dangerous. Something, if Faye is honest with herself, she has been trying to duplicate for years. But Henry is one of a kind.

Perfect Life by Meredith Lavender & Kendall Shores

Release date: July 7 2026

Welcome back to Winter Park, where looks can kill and secrets refuse to stay buried.

Este Walker didn’t move to Florida to make friends. Five years ago, she ghosted her life in California to reinvent herself among the lakefront estates of Florida’s elite. With a cocktail in hand, more money than she could ever spend, and a past she intends to keep hidden, she’s finally content—or, you know, close enough. Her husband, Beau, and her best friend, Nora, are the only company Este needs.

Hide and Seek by Soren Sveistrup

Release date: July 7 2026

Count to one, count to two . . .

A strange voice from inside the woods, repeating a child’s counting rhyme.

 Count to four, count to five . . .

A body discovered in the water.

 You’re trying to go home. Will you make it alive?

Thirty years later, a woman begins receiving a string of anonymous text messages, repeating that same rhyme.

 Found you.

Then she disappears . . .

Pretty Dead Things by Kelsey Cox

Release date: July 7 2026

2000: Isabelle Whitmore vanishes at Sherman Ranch in Anhalt, Texas, without a trace.

2025: The Lone Star Princess Pageant is about to begin, but this year it’s offering more than an annual dose of rhinestone heels and plunging necklines. Competition is stiffer than ever ―and long standing grudges are about to resurface. Ingrid fled Anhalt in the wake of her sister Isabelle’s disappearance and has now returned, just in time for a construction crew to start digging up Sherman Ranch; the pageant brings up past traumas that Melanie can’t forget; Cat, newly sober, starts to feel threatened in ways that bring back old demons; and Sarah Lynn, who comes from a long line of pageant winners, knows that losing is not an option.

A Neighbor’s Guide to Murder by Louise Candlish

Release date: July 7 2026

In Columbia Mansions, secrets don’t stay behind closed doors for long.

It’s rare for a room to open up in London’s storied Columbia Mansions, and lonely Gwen is thrilled when her neighbor’s new subletter, Pixie, brings a friendly breath of fresh air to its stuffy halls. Their unexpected bond soon becomes the bright spot in Gwen’s quiet life. But Gwen can’t help noticing cracks beneath Pixie’s cheerful surface—especially when it comes to her questionable financial arrangement with her live-in landlord, Alec.

As suspicions mount, Gwen’s protective instincts go into overdrive, triggering a dangerous chain of events no one is prepared for. The last thing Columbia Mansions wants is a scandal on its hands … Let alone a murder.

Wisdom Corner by David Heska Wanbli Weiden

Release date: July 7 2026

Virgil Wounded Horse is desperately trying to escape his past as a hired vigilante on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. But when a legendary figure from the reservation is murdered, Virgil is forced to return to the job. Making matters more complicated, threats are coming from the Pine Ridge 705—a street gang from a neighboring reservation who want to expand their reach into Rosebud—and Mitch Gagnon, a shady politician who will stop at nothing to gain more power.

With a heated tribal council election looming, as well as new revelations regarding past injustices at the local Native boarding school, the stakes grow even higher. Will Virgil find the justice he’s seeking before it’s too late?

The House Guest by Jennifer Pashley

Release date: July 7 2026

Brett Novak is a young upstart chef, with real, raw talent—if only she could catch a break. After getting dumped by her married girlfriend and losing the perfect job offer, Brett accepts a temporary position as a live-in, personal chef of a reclusive, bestselling author, Carson Smart, who resides in a mansion on a secluded beach in Cape Cod.

Carson immediately seduces her, but things get complicated when Carson’s wife, Vera, arrives home from her trip, and the love/hate relationship between the two spouses erupts, leaving Brett caught in the middle. Brett, starved for attention, craves Carson’s affection and yet is oddly drawn to Vera’s seductive and destructive charms. 

The Season of Sinking by Daphne Woolsoncroft

Release date: July 7 2026

When Imogen Bly’s mother suddenly passes away, she leaves her Seattle apartment and returns to Lake Blair—the picturesque Washington town where she grew up. After Imogen and her twin sister Amelia arrive, ready to pack up their mother’s home, strange things begin to happen, reminding Imogen of her long held feelings of dread surrounding her hometown.

Imogen enlists the help of her first crush, next-door neighbor Rory, to uncover the truth about her mother’s death and the traumatic event she experienced as a child. But is the boy who got away really the man with something to hide? Or is the suspicious neighbor in the house across the lake behind it all?

Hot Girl Murder Club by Ashley Winstead

Release date: July 14 2026

What’s a girl got to do to get some fame, a few million record sales, and justice for murder?

Ten years ago, aspiring singer-actress Scout Sage lost the only thing that mattered: her sister, Georgia. Ever since Georgia’s mysterious death at a Hollywood party, Scout’s done her best to honor her memory, clawing her way through the industry and collecting a network of climbers along the way, fellow hot girls in stilettos with cutthroat ambition, a new Hollywood order.

The Death Row Club by V. A. Vazquez

Release date: July 14 2026

When Nicola Fischer’s father is arrested for the murder of five women—including her best friend—the entire world watches it unfold on To Catch a Killer, the hit true crime TV show hosted by Greer Woods. Overnight, Nicola becomes a pariah: fired from her job, drowning in debt, and shunned by everyone she knows. And to make matters worse, Greer—once a budding friend and fellow child of a serial killer—hasn’t returned a single call since the show aired.

Then comes an unexpected invitation to the Death Row Club, a secret retreat for the adult children of serial killers—founded by none other than Greer herself. Desperate for answers and human connection, Nicola agrees to go. At first, it seems like exactly what she needs. The club members are strange but welcoming, and Greer seems eager to mend their fractured friendship.

The Intrigue by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Release date: July 14 2026

Handsome con artist Ulises has long charmed lonely women via letters in order to steal their money, but money is hard to come by in 1940s Mexico. Ulises knows his looks won’t last forever, and he’s desperate to get his hands on a real fortune.

He thinks he’s found it when he captivates his newest correspondent, Perla, the owner of a small-town boardinghouse in picturesque Veracruz. But when he meets her, he finds something he didn’t expect. The woman has a niece, Inés, who is as observant as she is desperate to escape her aunt’s household.

Scary Movie Night by Miranda Smith

Release date: July 14 2026

Tippi is ready for a fresh start. After breaking off her engagement to an increasingly demanding, controlling, and emotionally unstable man, she is newly inspired to do whatever it takes to put herself first. Plus, her thirty-fifth birthday is coming up: a perfect occasion to ring in this new era. Tippi’s friends see the opportunity, too, and lean into her love of horror films by throwing her a lavish theme party at a secluded mansion, where everyone dresses as characters from iconic scary movies. But Tippi’s attempts to enjoy the night are shattered when she starts receiving terrifying messages from her ex, Oliver, to expose a secret she was ready to take to the grave.

Lady X by Molly Fader

Release date: July 14 2026

Los Angeles, 2024. After learning that her A-list actor husband sent explicit photos to multiple girls on social media, Margot Cooper runs away from the world—and the paparazzi—by fleeing to her childhood home with her teenage daughter in tow.

But home isn’t the sanctuary Margot was hoping for. In a cardboard box in the corner of the attic, she finds damning evidence of an infamous urban legend, the mysterious vigilante “Lady X”—including a blurry newspaper photo of a woman who looks an awful lot like Margot’s mother.

Sisterhood Above All by Kathleen Barber & Amayah Shaienne

Release date: July 14 2026

Being a Gamma at Southern State University means belonging to the most desirable, exclusive sisterhood there is. For Ava, it means even more―it’s the last connection she has to her beloved late mother, and she’ll do anything to wear the Gamma letters.

But the Gammas didn’t become the best house on campus by letting just anyone in, and every prospective pledge is expected to earn her spot. As president, Madison is the ultimate gatekeeper, and she has a special test for Ava.

Our Marriage Is Murder by Carol Goodman

Release date: July 21 2026

Fred and Thea Morgan-Lane are the envy of the mystery community, the perfect partners in life and in writing. Together they coauthor the wildly successful Death Takes a Holiday series, and they’ve been invited to the Italian castle where it all began for a mystery conference celebrating their first novel, Death Takes the Castle.

But their story isn’t quite the fairytale it seems to outsiders. Twenty years and twenty books after they met, Thea wants out. Their marriage and partnership haven’t been working for some time, and what better place to announce the end of the series than where it started?

The Dahlia Suite by Carinn Jade

Release date: July 21 2026

When Paige arrives at Sueños, the Caribbean’s most exclusive resort on Beck Island, she’s eager to use the time away from her young son to shake off the writer’s block that has stifled her new career as an author.

Hollywood starlet Lindsay Law is on a mission of her own at Sueños: spiraling from a recent Oscar loss, she’s determined to find out why the winner in her category gave thanks to Mara Morgan, the legendary actress who owned Beck Island before her tragic death.

With Friends Like You by Amy Chozick

Release date: July 21 2026

Emily is unmoored as a new mother in Manhattan—exhausted, broke, and slipping away from her well-meaning husband. She begins to fixate on finding the one person who ever truly understood her: her college roommate, Daisy. Cool, poetry-reading Daisy, who vanished years ago after dancing at a seedy strip club off campus.

In her desperate search, Emily tumbles from new-mom message boards into a world of porn, secrets, and a high-end escort service for global billionaires, hitting one dead end after another. Until the unthinkable happens: Daisy suddenly reappears.

Getting Away with Murder by Shari Lapena

Release date: July 28 2026

Jill and Ted adore their New York brownstone the way others adore their children. They have carefully, expensively, made every inch of it their own. It reflects who they are, their status and tastes. With the grand mahogany staircase and state-of-the-art kitchen, it is the stuff of glossy magazines and real-estate dreams. It is their sanctuary.

So when Ted’s inheritance runs out and he makes a bad investment, they panic. How can they protect their beloved home and enviable lifestyle?

Buyer Beware by Catherine Ryan Howard

Release date: July 28 2026

If these walls could talk, they’d scream…

When Ellie moves to 1 Delaney Row, she hopes to find a fresh start—a place where no one knows her name, her history, or her secrets. But what she doesn’t know is that her new home is already hiding someone else’s secrets—and the people determined to keep them are watching her.

The Whisper by Chelsea Iversen

Release date: July 28 2026

Rule 1: When the trees whisper, listen. 

Rule 2: Don’t go into the woods alone. 

In the small mountain town of Whisper Ridge, the girls were inseparable. Joey, Quinn, Sophie, and Elena. Together, they channeled magic in the woods, living by six simple rules. The first being: when the trees whisper, listen. 

But all rules are forgotten, all bonds broken, when Quinn is found dead in the trees. 

In the aftermath, the friends scattered. All except Joey, who still can’t move on. Until now, over a decade later, she again hears the trees whisper.