Every summer my family goes camping at Sandbanks Provincial Park on the sandy shores of Lake Ontario. There is nothing we look forward to more than those hot summer days spent swimming, playing beach volleyball, hiking wooded trails, and playing charades by the campfire. We disconnect from our devices, from the world, and we reconnect with each other and nature. We go barefoot by day and star watch by night. It’s idyllic.
But for thriller writers, the idyllic is also fertile ground for inspiration. We can’t help ourselves. We like nothing more than to mess with the sweet things in life, to rattle the familiar, to make the comfortable uncomfortable. And there’s something about camping that feels vulnerable. Campers are at the mercy of the elements, and there are no locked doors or security systems to keep us safe. Someone could easily disappear, suddenly plucked from their tent never to be seen again. It’s a gold mine for a thriller writer.
And it’s exactly what kicks off my latest novel, Buried Road. A woman’s boyfriend goes missing on their annual summer camping trip to Sandbanks Provincial Park—yes, that very same park. Three years later, the woman returns to the scene of the crime with her daughter in tow when the camper he was driving is suddenly found. A trail of clues leads them to uncover dark secrets hidden in the shadows of a thriving tourist town in the middle of summer’s high season. Thwarted at every turn, the mother-daughter duo is led ever closer to danger as they search for their missing loved one.
Here are five haunting thrillers that kickstart when someone disappears on a camping trip, turning the happy into the horrifying faster than you can roast a marshmallow.
One Step Too Far by Lisa Gardiner
A bachelor party camping trip goes horribly wrong when the groom disappears. That’s the backdrop of Gardiner’s fast-paced thriller that brings back missing persons’ investigator, Frankie Elkin. Five years after Tim went missing, his family and friends gather for one last search of the woods. The story is full of unexpected twists and features a troop of complicated characters who gradually reveal more of themselves the deeper they hike. But the haunting wilderness setting isn’t the only scary thing they’ll encounter along the way. Something darker awaits.
Tell Me What Really Happened by Chelsea Sedoti
Sedoti’s YA thriller adopts a distinctive, well-crafted style, using first-person police interview transcripts to tell the gripping story of five high school friends who went camping one weekend in the woods near Salvation Creek. One of their friends disappeared and chapter by chapter, question after question, the teens testimony paints a vivid picture of what really happened—or at least what they say really happened. The novel’s unreliable narrator vibes keep you guessing until the very end.
Cold Fear by Rick Mofina
The second novel in Mofina’s Tom Reed series sees the oft-troubled reporter sent to cover the story of a young girl gone missing while camping with her family in Glacier National Park. An extensive search is launched, the police and FBI investigate, complex relationships begin to unravel as secrets come under threat and menace lurks nearby. With time running out for the young girl, this heart-pounding thriller feels ripped from the headlines—which Mofina deftly plays upon in his explorations of the roles of both the press and police.
The Wild Coast by Lin Andersen
A young woman’s body is found in a shallow grave along Scotland’s rugged west coast and Forensic scientist, Rhona MacLeod is tasked with examining the scene. She soon discovers that another woman has gone missing at a campsite nearby. It seems someone with sinister motives has come to wreak havoc on this the idyllic coastal camping destination. Creepy stick figures, missing girls, and breathtaking scenery abound as Andersen skillfully intertwines two seemingly unrelated mysteries into one riveting thriller.
Sleeping Bear by Connor Sullivan
Cassie is an army vet and young widow. She’s decided to get away before she starts her new job. Cue camping trip in the Alaskan wilderness. Cue disappearance without a trace. That’s the set up for Sullivan’s nail-biting thriller. When Cassie doesn’t turn up for work, her father finds out people go missing in that area all the time. He heads to Alaska to see for himself and to help with the investigation. But when Cassie wakes up in a remote Russian prison, it turns out this isn’t some hiker-lost-in-the-woods story, but instead, it’s a chilling, break-neck-paced cold war saga that never lets up.
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