In many ways, the wellness retreat thriller isn’t all that different from any other suspense novel. You get a group of people who don’t know each other — at least, not as well as they should — and put them in a seemingly idyllic setting that’s really a house of horrors. It’s the same premise as And Then There Were None or Enter the Dragon — just with more sunshine and massages. And before we get on to these reading recommendations, let’s address the mud-bathing elephant in the room. Nine Perfect Strangers wasn’t the first wellness retreat thriller, but both Liane Moriarty’s 2018 novel and the 2019 Hulu miniseries of the same name have done a lot of heavy lifting in this micro-genre. The novel doesn’t appear on the list below, however, because I want to highlight some lesser-sung spa thrillers here. Looking for more great suspense novels to read? Check out these snowy thrillers and a list of must-read thrillers about cults!
