Harlan Coben’s books are known for mysteries involving unresolved events from the past, the twist you absolutely did not see coming, the respectable family hiding something huge... They are also known for the way they keep readers glued to the page, to the point where you realise you’ve accidentally stayed up until midnight because 'one more chapter' turned into six!
So what do you read when you’ve raced through his backlist? Happily, there are plenty of authors who deliver that same addictive mix of pace, secrets and gasp-out-loud reveals. From twisty domestic suspense to gripping crime series and page-turners built around ordinary people in extraordinary trouble, these are the writers to try next if you love Harlan Coben.
It Could Have Been Her by Lisa Jewell
Like Harlan Coben, Lisa Jewell's thrillers mix family secrets, missing people, unsettling domestic situations and compulsive twists. Her latest is another addictive read: when Jane tries to return a dog she finds in her garden, she’s horrified to find the address it leads her to is the house where she was nearly killed 25 years earlier. Things get even stranger when she finds out the girl who owns the dog is missing from the house.
Century It Could Have Been Her by Lisa Jewell
The Will Trent and Grant County series by Karin Slaughter
Karin Slaughter's book are darker and more graphic than Harlan Coben's but brilliant for readers who want emotional stakes, shocking reveals and long-running characters.If you've never read Karin's work, she has a lengthy back catalogue for you to dive into. The best-selling writer serves up gripping thrillers again and again, featuring detective Will Trent and paediatrician and part-time coroner Sara Linton as they work to solve grisly crimes. Start with book 1, Triptych.
The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena
It’s a nightmare scenario - a six-month-old girl disappears from her cot during a dinner party. With more twists than a corkscrew, The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena is a treat of a thriller that careers along at breakneck pace. Shari Lapena is excellent at domestic suspense: missing neighbours, suspicious spouses, dinner parties gone wrong and secrets behind closed doors. So good, Harlan Coben described it as "meticulously crafted and razor-sharp."
Corgi Childrens The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena
The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson
Peter Swanson writer sleek, twisty psychological thrillers with a dark edge. This one is a terrifically hypnotic page-turner that marks Peter Swanson as an exciting new talent. Two strangers meet in the departure lounge at Heathrow – and by the time they part, they’ve become accomplices in a murderous pact.
Faber & Faber The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson
The Holiday by TM Logan
It was supposed to be the perfect holiday, dreamed up by Kate as the ideal way to turn 40: four best friends and their husbands and children in a luxurious villa under the blazing sunshine of Provence. But there is trouble in paradise. Kate suspects that her husband is having an affair, and that the other woman is one of her best friends. One of these women is willing to sacrifice years of friendship and destroy her family. But which one? With Harlan Coben-style 'what would you do?' hooks, TM Logan is an author to know if you like accessible, high-concept thrillers.
The Only Suspect by Louise Candlish
Louise Candlish is a great choice for readers who like secrets, betrayals and middle-class lives cracking open. I’m a huge fan of this thriller writer’s clever, serpentine stories - Our House is a favourite, as is The Only Suspect. When the waste ground behind his house is approved for development, it spells trouble for Alex, who is hiding a big secret – but what? Just when I thought I’d figured it out, along came another twist!
