Last Friend Alive
The Surf House by Lucy Clarke – MOROCCO
The Palazzo by Kayte Nunn – ITALIAN ALPS
The Villa Next Door
Someone in the WaterA dark thriller set mainly in GLASGOW
#DestinationThrillers for Autumn 2025
10th August 2025
#DestinationThrillers for Autumn 2025. Destination Thrillers, a sub genre of suspense fiction, expertly weave together a compelling mystery or high-stakes plot with an exotic or evocative setting. The location isn’t merely a backdrop; it’s a character in itself, integral to the story’s tension and atmosphere.
Whether it’s a sun-drenched European city concealing dark secrets, a remote, snowbound cabin where danger lurks, or a bustling metropolis where anonymity offers both freedom and peril, the setting often mirrors or amplifies the protagonist’s struggles. The isolation of a remote island can heighten a sense of entrapment, while the claustrophobia of a tightly packed cruise ship can intensify the paranoia of a chase. The reader is transported to a new locale, experiencing its sights, sounds, and culture while simultaneously navigating a thrilling narrative.
Here are ten great new destination thrillers for the Autumn.
The Night Lagoon by Jo Morey – BELIZE
Wittering Lodge, Stann Creek, Belize
In the dead of night, lying in her father’s jungle lodge, Laelia watches her partner Aid sleeping – her mind racing with everything that’s brought her to this moment.
The heady Caribbean holiday when they first met.
The rum-fueled passion that, day by day, creeps into something darker.
The secrets she discovered in a hidden nook of the lodge, revealing a devastating past.
Above all, she thinks about the impossible decision she must make before dawn.
Does she stay silent and protect their newfound paradise? Or does she confront the lies which run as deep and dark as the lagoon – surfacing a dangerous truth from which there’s no return…
The Serial Killer’s Party by Amy Cunningham – NORWAY
Welcome to the party of the year.
You’ve been invited to an exclusive, luxury event in Norway, hosted by a billionaire. Your moment has finally arrived. But you’re not going for the canapes and champagne. You’re going for revenge.
Where anything is possible.
You’ve spent months preparing for this moment. Because you know that beneath the host’s polished public persona, he’s a vicious killer who has murdered several innocent people, including your sister.
Even murder…
Then a guest dies in mysterious circumstances, and you begin to wonder… is this a trap? Why does it feel like you’re being watched? And will you ever escape?
The Island Escape by Jess Ryder – GREECE
Forty years ago, the island was paradise. Now, it’s haunted by shadows of the past.
When Juno arrives at the breathtaking Greek island of Inios, she has one purpose: to find the father she’s never met.
But he isn’t there, and nothing is as she expected. As whispers follow her every step, Juno is convinced something terrible happened all those years ago when her parents fell in love.
Desperate for answers, Juno knows she can’t leave the island until her family secret that has been hidden for decades is finally uncovered.
Little does she know how far someone will go to keep it buried…
Set on fictional Inios Island, Greece.
You Lied First by Annabel Kantaria – OMAN, CHELTENHAM
The truth is, everyone lies. All that matters is who lies the best…
Sara is about to spend a week in a villa with people she barely knows.
She’s been invited to join her daughter, Liv, her boyfriend and his parents on their holiday. She can’t say no. After what happened, she’ll jump at any chance to spend time with Liv.
She tries to be the perfect guest, and they seem like the perfect hosts. But something about the Forrest family isn’t right.
By the end of the trip, someone will be dead. Lies will bind the rest of them together. But who can lie the best?
Last Friend Alive by Caro Carver – MALDIVES
THE BEST OF FRIENDS CAN MAKE THE WORST OF ENEMIES.
Best friends Darcy, Camilla and Kate have just landed in the Maldives for a luxury holiday. They can’t wait for ten days of scorching sun, crystal-clear waters and white-sand beaches.
But against this idyllic backdrop, long-buried secrets come to light one by one, and the darker side of female friendship floats to the surface.
After all, when you’ve known each other forever, you’re bound to hold a grudge or two…
Which of them will make it back alive – if any?
The Surf House by Lucy Clarke – MOROCCO
High on the cliffs of Morocco, far from the city lights and the souks, stands The Surf House: a sanctuary for travellers chasing sunshine and waves.
But the idyll hides a dark mystery.
And when Bea washes in, seeking refuge after a dangerous encounter in Marrakesh, she soon gets caught in the current.
A woman her age – who stayed in the same area, walked the same beaches, met the same guests – disappeared one year earlier, vanishing without trace.
Somewhere inside The Surf House lies the truth – but there’ll be a price for uncovering it…
The Palazzo by Kayte Nunn – ITALIAN ALPS
Successful beauty entrepreneur Vivi Savidge is about to celebrate her fortieth birthday at the Palazzo Stellina, a historic former convent in the foothills of the Italian Alps.
Vivi’s little sister is flying in from Brisbane with her sixteen-year-old twins in tow. Her ex-colleague and his new husband are coming from Boston, and old university friend Caroline is driving from Turin. Every one of them is hiding a shameful secret.
Amid a suffocating heatwave, the holiday ignites an explosive cocktail of obsession, jealousy, and greed. Before the week is over, secrets will be exposed and the gathering will turn deadly, leaving one victim, a handful of suspects, and a murderer in their midst.
High Season by Katie Bishop – CÔTE D’AZUR
In the heat of summer, the past can become hazy. . .
For twenty years, Nina Drayton has told herself that she must have seen her sister, Tamara, being murdered by the family babysitter – Josie Jackson. That she doesn’t remember it because she was five, and amnesia is a normal trauma response.
But now, with the anniversary of Tamara’s death approaching and true crime investigators revisiting the case, Nina finds it harder to suppress her doubts. Returning to her family’s sparkling villa on the Cote d’Azur for the first time since the murder, she wants to uncover more about the summer that changed so many lives. Because if she was wrong, then she sent an innocent woman to jail – and the real killer is still walking free.
The Villa Next Door by Beverley Harvey – MENORCA
A dream holiday. A fractured marriage. A dangerous secret.
When Ryan and Emma Burrows win a luxury holiday to Menorca, it feels like the fresh start their marriage desperately needs. Seventeen nights in a sun-soaked villa with their six-year-old daughter, Callie. What could go wrong?
Their neighbours seem friendly enough. Jack and Sheena, with their two young boys, are quick to organise playdates. Max and John, charming and sociable ex-pats, seem eager to make friends. But beneath the surface, tensions simmer. Emma can’t shake the feeling that something is off.
Then Callie disappears. A ransom demand follows, and suddenly, everyone is a suspect. Secrets from the past rise to the surface, exposing betrayals and lies that threaten to unravel everything. Soon, Emma and Ryan must face the truth about their marriage, their neighbours, and the devastating mistake that could cost them everything…
Someone in the Water by Sarah Clarke – CORSICA
My only child Lola is turning eighteen soon, but I won’t be with her. For two weeks every year, I hide myself away while I endure the nightmares that haunt me around her birthday.
Because she can never know the truth – that I am plagued by terrible visions from the summer I spent in Corsica when I was eighteen. It ended in tragedy, and I have never forgiven myself for the part I played.
But my world is about to fall apart all over again.
Lola calls to tell me she’s not with her friends in Cyprus, but alone in Corsica. I have no choice. I have to go back to the island and bring her home.
But as I revisit the memories, see the same faces again, I start to wonder if there was more to the events of that summer than I realised. Are there others keeping secrets just like me? Ones that are even more deadly…
Tina for the TripFiction team
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