Riley Sager books are not all created equal, and I say that as someone who has read eight of them. Todd Ritter has published ten thrillers under his gender-neutral pen name since his Dutton debut in 2017, selling more than 5 million copies across 40 countries. His second through fifth books, released between 2018 and 2021, are his best. I gave each of them five stars. The other four are good thrillers. Just not that. Here is my honest ranking of the eight I have read. (The two most recent, With a Vengeance and The Unknown, I have not gotten to yet.)
Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
Home Before Dark (Dutton, June 2020) follows Maggie Holt, an interior renovator who inherits Baneberry Hall, the Victorian Vermont mansion her family fled twenty-five years ago after her father claimed it was haunted. He wrote a bestselling memoir about the experience. Maggie returns skeptical. Riley Sager’s novel became a New York Times bestseller. The meta structure is what makes this one: you are reading a thriller about a woman who refuses to believe she is in a haunted house, while excerpts from her father’s memoir keep interrupting with evidence that she might be wrong. The dual timeline is the cleanest he has written. This is the Riley Sager book I would reread first.
This one is for you if you want a thriller that makes you question what you are reading. Find Home Before Dark on Goodreads.
Lock Every Door by Riley Sager
Lock Every Door (Dutton, July 2019) follows Jules, who is broke and recently jobless when she lands what seems like a perfect gig: apartment sitting at the Bartholomew, a legendary Manhattan building with one strict rule — no questions. Riley Sager’s novel became a New York Times bestseller. The building does the tension-building here. From the moment Jules arrives, the rules create unease without a single explicit threat. You know something is wrong before anyone on the page does. The pacing is relentless from the first chapter, and the premise is his most immediately graspable.
This one is for you if you want a thriller where the setting feels like it is watching you. Find Lock Every Door on Goodreads.
Survive the Night by Riley Sager
Survive the Night (Dutton, June 2021) follows Charlie Jordan, who accepts a ride from a stranger on the college ride-share board for a cross-country trip home. The Campus Killer has just struck again on her campus. Charlie begins to suspect her driver is him. Riley Sager’s novel became a New York Times bestseller. The concept is contained in a way none of his other books are: one car, one night, one question. Sager calibrated the chapters to the actual driving time between cities. I read it in a single sitting and did not intend to.
This one is for you if you want a thriller that locks you in for the night. Find Survive the Night on Goodreads.
The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager
The Last Time I Lied (Dutton, July 2018) follows Emma Davis, a rising New York artist whose paintings are consumed by one summer: fifteen years ago, her three cabin mates slipped out of Camp Nightingale in the night and were never found. Now the camp has reopened, and Emma has been invited back as a counselor. Riley Sager’s second novel became a New York Times bestseller. The summer camp setting makes the dread feel earned. Everyone is a suspect, the location is impossible to escape, and the mystery of what happened the first time is worth the build.
This one is for you if you want a closed-circle mystery with genuine atmosphere. Find The Last Time I Lied on Goodreads.
The Only One Left by Riley Sager
The Only One Left (Dutton, June 2023) follows Kit McDeere, a disgraced home caregiver assigned to Lenora Hope, a local Lizzie Borden figure who allegedly murdered her family in 1929 and has not spoken since. The two begin communicating through a typewriter. Riley Sager’s seventh novel became a New York Times bestseller and is widely cited as his best work. I can see why. The Gothic atmosphere is his most ambitious and the dual timeline his most complex. I gave it four stars because the ending felt over-engineered, but I recommended it to everyone I knew the week I finished it.
This one is for you if you want his most ambitious book and are comfortable with a complicated finale. Find The Only One Left on Goodreads.
Middle of the Night by Riley Sager
Middle of the Night (Dutton, June 2024) follows Ethan Marsh, who has lived his whole life in the New Jersey cul-de-sac where his childhood best friend vanished from their backyard tent one summer night in the 1990s. Now grown and back in the same house, Ethan starts receiving signs that Billy may still be alive. Riley Sager’s eighth novel became a New York Times bestseller and a Book of the Month selection. It is his first book with a male protagonist, and the 1990s suburban nostalgia is its strongest element. The pacing runs slower than his best work, but the setting earns its keep.
This one is for you if you want a cold case thriller with a strong sense of place. Find Middle of the Night on Goodreads.
The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager
The House Across the Lake (Dutton, June 2022) follows Casey Fletcher, a grieving actress who retreats to her Vermont lake house with binoculars and bourbon. She watches the glamorous couple across the water until the wife vanishes. Riley Sager’s sixth novel became a New York Times bestseller. It is his most divisive book: midway through, a supernatural element is introduced that either works for you or it does not. It did not fully work for me, though the first half contains some of his most effective slow-burn tension. Go in knowing the book shifts, and you will enjoy it more than I did.
This one is for you if you are open to a thriller that takes a hard turn halfway through. Find The House Across the Lake on Goodreads.
Final Girls by Riley Sager
Final Girls (Dutton, July 2017) follows Quincy Carpenter, the sole survivor of a massacre at a college cabin retreat, now living a carefully controlled life in New York City. When one of the other press-dubbed Final Girls is found dead and a second shows up at Quincy’s door, the truth about what happened that night starts to surface. Riley Sager’s debut won the International Thriller Writers Award for Best Hardcover Novel and became a New York Times bestseller. It is darker and more violence-adjacent than anything he published after. A strong debut, and the right starting point only if you want the horror-inflected version of his writing.
This one is for you if you want to read him in publication order and understand where he started. Find Final Girls on Goodreads.
If you are new to Riley Sager, start with Lock Every Door rather than the top of this list. The premise is the most immediately graspable of any of his books, and the pacing delivers on everything it promises. Home Before Dark is the better book. Lock Every Door is the better entry point. I have not yet read With a Vengeance (2025) or The Unknown (2026), so this ranking will update. For more thriller recommendations, my list of best thrillers for beginners is a good next stop. Find me on Instagram and Goodreads — I would love to know which one you read first.