8 SFF Mystery Thrillers That Will Keep You Guessing

The winner of the 2025 Hugo Award for Best Novel, Robert Jackson Bennet’s The Tainted Cup is a delightful fantasy murder mystery book featuring an eccentric investigator and her new assistant trying to solve the killing of a High Imperial Officer. 

Carefully crafted with intricate worldbuilding and neurodivergent characters, it is a page-turning read that will leave you craving for the next installment in the Shadow of the Leviathan series. And indeed, there’s a sequel, A Drop of Corruption (now out in a bookstore near you) that follows the duo on a new case. 

Joseph Finder’s Extraordinary Powers is a fittingly extraordinary novel with a rather ambitious plotline—the director of the CIA is murdered, and Ben Ellison, an ex-spy-turned-lawyer (who recently developed the powers of telepathy as a result of a scientific experiment), is summoned to track down the killers. 

It’s also the last days of the Soviet Union, which means dangerous secrets lurk in the shadows, and Ben may have taken on too much on his plate. Filled with action, suspense, and jaw-dropping twists, this one is a sci-fi espionage novel set in a post-Cold War era that you don’t want to miss.

Mankind has long wondered about life in outer space, and with the advent of scientific technology, has tirelessly searched for a habitable planet in the galaxy's farthest reaches. It’s a cosmic mystery that’s yet to be solved—and one that Carolyn Ives Gilman tries to explore in her engrossing space opera novel. 

In the book, human civilization stumbles upon a planet brimming with the possibility of life, and a group of scientists is sent to investigate it. But strange things happen—one crewmate is murdered and another disappears—and the team slowly realizes they’re unprepared to deal with the strange alien species that have made this crystalline planet their home. Fascinating and thought-provoking, Dark Orbit is a sci-fi mystery that explores first contact with an alien civilization, striking a balance between existential questions and a gripping plot. 

If you’re looking for a short, offbeat read with a distinctively punk rock sentiment, give this Margaret Killjoy novella a try. Expertly plotted and engagingly written, The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion follows Danielle Cain, who is investigating her best friend’s suicide and comes across a group of anarchists, a murderous demon deer, and lots of creepy vibes from the small town. 

Killjoy’s writing is utterly refreshing, packed with political commentary, a diverse cast of characters, and eerie elements that turn the novella into a wild and unforgettable ride through a rural, apocalyptic landscape. 

If you’re looking for a sci-fi crime thriller that unfolds in a space station, Places in the Darkness by Chris Brookmyre should be in your TBR pile. “Ciudad de Cielo” (or The City in the Sky) isn’t actually the crime-free utopia that people claim—it’s actually a seedy underbelly, rife with smuggling, prostitution, and nefarious activity. 

And when a corpse is discovered, two investigators who can’t get along with each other, are forced to work together to solve the case. Filled with compelling characters, a gritty plot, and plenty of intrigue, this genre-bending novel has a film noir sensibility. 

Dan Frey’s novel Dreambound is an urban fantasy thriller that combines fey and fandom elements, composed entirely of found footage. It follows a desperate father trying to solve the mystery of his daughter’s sudden disappearance (she has been kidnapped by fairies) and is told through emails, diary entries, interviews, police reports, and even fanfic excerpts. 

Inventive, exciting, and pretty much unputdownable, Dreambound is perfect if you’re in the mood for a mystery involving the Hidden Folk that isn’t afraid to push the limits of the genre and boldly experiment with form.

Eric Heisserer is the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Arrival and the creator of the Shadow and Bone series on Netflix. His debut novel, Simultaneous (set for release in October), is a sci-fi thriller based on an intriguing premise: that past lives may be a real phenomenon. 

The novel follows federal agent Grant Lukather, a past-life therapist Sarah Newcomb and Marigold, a patient who can recall her past lives—and together they must stop a serial killer whose past and present selves are all simultaneously active and on a murderous rampage. Fast-paced, action-packed, and filled with revelatory ideas, Simultaneous is a quick and enjoyable read that approaches the topics of time travel and reincarnation from a novel perspective.

Finally, for those science nerds obsessed with quantum physics and parallel universes, Blake Crouch takes all those theories and weaves them into an enticing narrative in his hugely successful mind-bending novel, Dark Matter. 

It unfolds the many lives of Jason Dessen—a former physicist and happy family guy who is kidnapped and sent off to an alternate reality where he has made different life choices. Now a series on Apple TV+, Dark Matter will resonate with anyone who has ever wanted to go back in time and do things differently.