When you're looking to get lost in a book, sometimes you need your reading material to match your mood. With Marie Claire's series "Buy the Book," we do the heavy lifting for you. We're offering curated, highly specific recommendations for whatever you're looking for—whether you're in your feels or hooked on a subgenre trending on #BookTok.
In this author-curated rendition, Andrea Bartz, the New York Times bestselling author of We Were Never Here and brand-new thriller The Last Ferry Out, plus the Substack Get It Write, shares her favorite queer thrillers.
Uh, happy Pride? (Ilana Wexler air-quotes around “happy,” of course.) As a bisexual writer, I hope I’m not alone in feeling bummed about the rollback of LGBTQ+ rights. Earlier this year, I watched in dismay as many major brands dropped their Pride support, while queer creators saw their books banned for having LGBTQ+ representation (hi, Station Eleven).
You see where this is going, right? The way to support the community this month is not by buying rainbow caps from Uniqlo but rather directly buying the products of queer creators. Many Americans are just waking up to the power of the purse, thanks to organized efforts like the economic blackout. Where you do put dollars is important AF too—if you buy one of my books, you’re not just helping me; you’re also telling my publisher you want them to keep publishing books by LGBTQ+ authors. Consumers have so much power, and Pride month is a perfect time to wield it!
If your summer plans include hoovering up suspense novels by the pool, you’re in luck, because I’ve rounded up 10 queer thrillers just begging to be tossed into your beach bag. Each one gives fresh meaning to the word “slay.”
In my new puzzle-box mystery, a young woman travels to a remote tropical island, seeking answers about her fiancée’s death there a few months earlier. She meets a magnetic group of expats who welcome her into the fold…but just when she thinks she’s made peace with the unexpected death, she wakes to a text from one of her new friends: “You deserve to know the truth about your fiancée. Meet me at the cafe at 9 a.m.” When he doesn’t show—in fact, he’s disappeared from the island—she begins to uncover a web of secrets and lies suggesting her girlfriend’s “accidental” death was anything but. If you’re in the mood for sapphic suspense that feels like a trip to Mexico, look no further.
Weird question: Ever wondered what goes on at a gay bathhouse? In this propulsive and provocative thriller, a recovering addict who’s finally found a stable, loving relationship makes the questionable decision to secretly visit one. What’s supposed to be an illicit encounter goes from ill-advised to terrifying, setting off a rollercoaster ride of secrets, betrayals, and danger.
This slow-burn literary suspense, about a woman returning to her hometown where a friend disappeared long ago, features something I’m always happy to see: a main character who happens to be bisexual. (Not every story with a queer protagonist needs to be about homophobia and/or their coming-out). With gorgeous prose and richly drawn characters, The Good Ones is a powerful debut whose LGBTQ+ rep is the cherry on top.
The year is 2044, and wildfires are engulfing California, violent right-wing militias are proliferating, and authoritarianism is dismantling American society piece by piece. (Sound familiar?) Uber-wealthy gay couple Mason and Yunho are protected from it all, though, and so confident in their safety that they barrel ahead with an over-the-top baby shower even as an apocalyptic event hits their hometown. As you’ve probably guessed, the party…does not go as planned. I can’t wait to read this timely climate thriller (from the author of the unforgettable Yes, Daddy), which just hit shelves on June 3.
This spooky Gothic thriller is about a young father trying to protect his queer son from a TV preacher's disturbed (and disturbing!) family. When the family's patriarch is found murdered on the roof of the house—and the roads flood, trapping everyone inside—things go from bad to, yes, Biblically awful. The whodunit plot slowly unravels around a mounting supernatural danger, making this genre-bending horror/thriller both unpredictable and unputdownable.
Fans of beautifully written, character-driven mysteries à la Jane Harper and Tana French, take note: Real Easy just might become your new favorite. This gorgeously written, suspenseful whodunit is about a strip club in the ‘90s where dancers begin to disappear, and beneath the drum-tight plot is a thoughtful examination of safety, femininity, and the roles women play—with a poignant F/F storyline about two dancers falling in love.
The haunted house in this Gothic YA mystery isn’t your typical creaky-old-Victorian-on-a-hill; it’s the French colonial in Vietnam that closeted teenager Jade Nguyen has to live in for five weeks while her estranged father fixes it up. If she can just play the part of a straight, “normal” girl, she’ll get the college money her dad promised—her ticket out of there. But spooky happenings are keeping Jade from lying low as planned. Eerie and atmospheric, this suspenseful debut was an instant New York Times bestseller.
A just-dumped woman whose long-term plans include a husband and 2.5 kids moves in with an old friend and her husband to hunker down during the COVID lockdown...and finds herself falling for both her enchanting hosts. But then she discovers they’ve done this whole throuple thing before—and their last partner is missing. I wrote this domestic suspense novel while I myself was falling in love with a woman and coming to terms with my own bisexuality.
In one of the darkest campus thrillers of our time, university professor Scarlett Clark fancies herself a vigilante killer, clearing the campus of sexual predators—until she takes it too far and finds herself in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with a detective investigating the growing body count. Fiercely feminist and thoroughly effed-up, this twisted tale packs bisexual rep and thought-provoking commentary into a whip-smart page-turner.
This wicked, tightly plotted, and seriously twisted thriller, which just so happens to have been written by my brilliant sister, is about a young woman who travels to a writing retreat at her favorite author’s estate—but when the dream opportunity descends into a nightmare, she’ll have to fight (and write!) her heart out to make it out of there alive. This page-turning debut is also a queer coming-of-age story, exploring power, identity, sexuality, and where they all collide.
