I wanted a meet-cute. But I also wanted a boyfriend, and I was impatient. So within a month of moving to New York City for grad school in 2014 (technically, Bronxville, but close enough that I felt I could claim New Yorker status), I joined Tinder. During my short tenure on the dating app, I went out with four different men, the last of whom ended up becoming my husband. Our story isn’t cute, but it’s ours, and when people ask me how we met, I say, “Tinder—so embarrassing, right?”
But embarrassing or not, swiping right led me to Mr. Right. I’m all too aware (thanks to the statistics sent to me via my mother when I first began using Tinder) that things could have ended differently.
And if not my mom, then there are at least a dozen different Netflix true crime documentaries that’ll tell you about dating app dalliances gone wrong, leading to scammers, stalkers, sexual assailants—and in some cases, even killers. One off those docuseries (called Lover, Stalker, Killer) even inspired my latest thriller novel, Yours Always.
In Yours Always, a dating app engineer reconnects with the ex she met through own company’s platform…only to learn that he’s the prime suspect in the disappearance of the woman who broke them up in the first place. Spoiler alert: Things get twisty. Ahead, I’ve rounded up more social thrillers that are filled with twists, turns, and very few happily-ever-afters.
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Lisa Unger, Last Girl Ghosted
In Last Girl Ghosted, Wren is devastated when she finds herself ghosted by a man she connected with on a dating app, but then she learns that she isn’t the first match that Adam has ghosted. And what’s more: After being ghosted, those women then went missing. What follows is anything but your typical cat-and-mouse game.
Olivia Worley, So Happy Together
So Happy Together follows aspiring playwright Jane, who meets what seems like the perfect guy on a dating app. Things seem too good to be true…until Colin dumps her after a half-a-dozen dates and starts seeing artsy influencer Zoe instead. What Colin doesn’t realize is that he and Jane are meant to be—and she isn’t willing to let him go so easily.
Emily J. Smith, Nothing Serious
In Nothing Serious, disillusioned tech exec Edie thinks things might be turning around for her for when her unrequited crush, Peter, finally breaks up with his girlfriend of seven years. Then Peter joins a dating app and goes out with a stunning professor named Anaya—who’s later found dead in her apartment. Convinced Peter is innocent (and also somewhat smitten with Anaya), Edie makes it her mission to absolve her friend.
Freida McFadden, The Boyfriend
The Boyfriend revolves around Sydney, a New Yorker in her early thirties who has spent years navigating the dating app scene when she ends up meeting what seems like the perfect guy IRL. Tom is a handsome doctor and seemingly a total catch, but Sydney begins to have her suspicions after her friend Bonnie turns up dead, possibly murdered by her mysterious hot doctor boyfriend.
Coincidence? Maybe…but maybe not.
Wendy Walker, The Night Before
The Night Before is all about Laura, a troubled, unlucky-in-love New Yorker who decided to move to move in with her sister Rosie in Connecticut following yet another breakup. There Laura tries her hand at online dating and goes on a blind date…from which she fails to return. It’s then on Rosie to figure out what may have happened to Laura on her date—or, more accurately, what Laura may have done to her date.
Mariel Franklin, Bonding
While not technically a thriller, Bonding is still plenty thrilling. In it, London-based data manager Mary finds herself torn between Tom, the pharmaceutical chemist she met in Ibiza, and Lara, her ex (and former boss) who now runs a dating app. What follows is dark exploration of desire, greed, and data-hungry dating apps.
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