What makes a great psychological thriller? Suspense, twisting plots, deeply complex characters, and dark secrets? Next week, Dublin Book Festival presents an evening with two internationally bestselling authors whose books have all these, and more.
Andrea Mara has become one of the top voices in Irish crime and thriller fiction, with her books selling more than a million copies across all formats and her last novel It Should Have Been You winning the Irish Crime Novel of the Year at the 2025 An Post Book Awards. If books aren’t your thing, you will most likely still know her work. The TV adaptation of her 2021 book, All Her Fault, aired in November 2025 to huge acclaim, with Sarah Snook (Succession) playing the lead. It also became the most-watched TV show in America during the first week of its release. Lisa Jewell, whose hit books include Then She Was Gone and None of This is True, is a globally recognised name when it comes to psychological thrillers, with her books selling more than ten million copies worldwide, translated into over thirty languages.
Next week, the two authors take to the stage at the Royal Irish Academy of Music to delve into their brand new psychological thrillers, in conversation with bestselling crime novelist Sinéad Crowley.
Mara’s Such a Nice Girl brings readers on a getaway to a glamorous, luxury wedding, which takes a dark turn. The morning after the wedding, two mothers— two best friends—go to wake their twenty-four-year-old daughters, only to find the room empty and a disturbing scene left behind. As secrets and lies begin to come to light, an old friendship is tested to its limits, because it looks like one daughter might be a killer, and one a victim; and no one wants to believe the worst of their own daughter.
It Could Have Been Her is published on July 2nd, so this event gives the audience an early look into Jewell’s brand-new thriller. A lost dog, whose owner is now missing, draws protagonist Jane back to an isolated house from which she fled 25 years earlier. Now, when she glimpses a haunted-looking woman through the window, she is driven to finally uncover the house’s secrets, secrets more terrifying than she could have ever imagined.
If gripping reads that keep you up at night and have you hooked from start to finish are for you, this event is not to be missed.
Tuesday 16 June, 7pm – 8pm
Royal Irish Academy of Music, 36 – 38 Westland Row, Dublin 2
Tickets €18. Booking required
https://dublinbookfestival.com/event/an-evening-with-lisa-jewell-and-andrea-mara
