Riveting Dark Academia Thrillers That Ruin Back to School

I remember seeing this book everywhere when it was released in 2021 and it went straight onto my TBR after reading a brilliant synopsis! Greek Tragedy professor at Cambridge University, Edward Fosca, is loved by the students and staff, and especially by the members of a secret society of female students called The Maidens. But Fosca is also a murderer. Therapist Mariana Andros becomes fixated when one member is found murdered…

This book was a nominee for the Readers' Favorite Mystery & Thriller in 2021 and also won the Goodreads Choice Award. It’s perfect if you love dark academia or a mystery thriller.

One of Us Is Lying is book one in a well-loved series and has now been made into an original TV series due to its immense success. On one Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention. But one of them never makes it out of the classroom. Before the end, one of them is dead. Everyone has secrets but how far would you go to protect them?

Described as Pretty Little Liars meets The Breakfast Club, and one you should check out if you love murder mystery/thriller!

If the title alone wasn’t enough to draw you into this one, hold on tight; this college reunion turns deadly with six friends, an unsolved murder, and dark secrets that have been well hidden for a decade. With a dark campus setting, this one feels really unsettling!

This is a story of the darker side of friendship, of love, obsession and ambition. Thriller lovers, this one really needs to be on your list! It’s been described by Riley Sager as, 'Tense, twisty, and packed with shocks,' so you know it’s going to be a good one!

Charlie is being driven across the country by a might-be-serial-killer. Josh, like Charlie, has a good reason for leaving university in the middle of term. Stories are shared between them, but Charlie begins to notice discrepancies in Josh's story. She needs to plan her escape…but does Josh know what she’s thinking? Could she be his next victim? And can she survive the night?

Published back in 2021, this New York Times bestseller is a spine-chilling game of cat and mouse, one I know you’ll enjoy if you love a twisty thriller.

This one was an instant New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller for good reason. Even Stephen King has described it as, ‘A package of dynamite’! A bold and powerful read which touches on some of today’s most complex issues.

Vanessa was fifteen-years-old when she started a relationship with her English teacher. Now thirty-two, she learns the teacher, Jacob Strane, has just been accused of sexual abuse by another former student. Vanessa is forced to revisit her past, admit to herself that the greatest love story of her live was rape. Was she just one of many other victims?

A feminine revenge thriller in a college setting? It’s a yes from me! Meet Scarlett Clark. She’s an exceptional English professor… but an even better serial killer. Her goal is to track down predatory men on campus and kill them. When police start snooping and begin to investigate local deaths, she starts to realize it’s only a matter of time before her secret life is exposed.

A shocking, twisty psychological thriller from the author of the internet’s 2025 reader obsession, The Favorites!