When I set out to write my debut literary suspense, Lime Juice Money I started with an image: a woman, lonely but not alone, trapped in a jungle somewhere. I didn’t know why or where she was exactly.
But as I began to write her into being, I discovered she was entangled in a coercive relationship, five thousand miles from home in the Belizean jungle. Surrounded by dangerous creatures, sinister magic, and gunshots at night mixing with the tinnitus in my protagonist’s head, I knew it had the makings of a tense and visceral setting.
Lime Juice Money also takes place on the Caribbean beach island of Caye Caulker and on the southern beaches of Belize. With the threat of the seemingly tranquil water and the allure of Scuba diving the Blue Hole, as well as the sharks, snakes and jaguars on the prowl nearby, this location had so much potential for tension and jeopardy.
Danger is always there, lurking in the shadows, pulsating both outside and inside the door. Weaving in some orchid smuggling, it made for an alluring, shaken paradise that I just had to explore further.
Beach and jungle settings are so timelessly popular because they provide such atmospheric, isolated, and unknown elements that keep a reader guessing. Hidden reefs, unpredictable tides, and poisonous creatures can enliven a thriller like nothing else.
Here are some of the very best beach and jungle classics of the genre.
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Erica Ferencik, Into the Jungle
Erica Ferencik’s Into The Jungle is a feverish dream of a literary thriller. It charts one woman’s journey of survival in the Bolivian jungle. During her adventure she meets poachers, shamans, missionaries, and a whole host of wildlife dead set on killing her.
Heart-pounding, and vibrant with life (and danger), this slow-burn novel is one of the best trips into the jungle I’ve ever taken.
Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier is a suspense classic set on the infamous, fictional estate of Manderley on the Cornish coast. The setting is sublime and acts as a powerful character in its own right, shaping the atmosphere and clinging to haunting legacies of the past.
Rebecca charts a toxic, codependent relationship and is masterfully told. Its timelessness, intricate plot, and unreliable narration means it is best read over again.
Patricia Highsmith, The Talented Mr. Ripley
Patricia Highsmith is the grand dame of psychological suspense. The Talented Mr Ripley, set on the sun-drenched Italian coast thrills readers now just as much as when it was first published. With its twisty plot and one of the most morally ambiguous characters ever written, this novel fascinates and disturbs in equal measure.
It’s a great one to pack into your suitcase, best served with a Limoncello Martini on the beach.
Lucy Foley, The Guest List
Lucy Foley’s tense and suspenseful The Guest List is set on a remote storm-swept island off the coast of Ireland during a wedding celebration. Events soon turn dark and deadly when a body is found at the base of a cliff. The story follows multiple perspectives to seek out the truth and keeps you guessing until the end. It’s page-turning and brilliantly escapist.
Agatha Christie, And Then There Were None
This list wouldn’t be complete without an Agatha Christie (and in fact, Foley is currently penning a new Miss Marple novel, set to be published in Autumn 2026). As a child, I remember devouring Christie novels under the parasol on our family holidays.
And Then There Were None is a perfect beach pick, set on a fictional, isolated island off the Devonshire coast. Eight strangers are lured to the sole hotel there to be greeted by the butler and housekeeper. The next morning one of them is found dead in their bed. It’s the world’s best-selling mystery for a reason.
Sarah Pearse, The Retreat
Sarah Pearse’s The Retreat follows guests at a wellness retreat off the coast of Devon, on the aptly named Reaper’s Rock. Once the playground of a serial killer, it’s still said to be cursed.
Blisteringly tense, this is a chilling and page-turning beach read that will keep you guessing.
Paul Theroux, The Mosquito Coast
The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux is a spine-tingling and atmospheric escape to the Honduran jungle. Allie Fox who wants to flee the commercialization and disillusionment of the U.S., so takes his young family to Central America in pursuit of a self-sufficient, uncorrupted life. They find simplicity and meaning in this tropical paradise, until the rot sets in.
Theroux’s classic features in both timelines of my own novel, Lime Juice Money. My characters are captivated by its themes of paranoia, unchecked idealism, and the allure of a Central American paradise as much as I was when I first read it.
Alex Garland, The Beach
The Beach by Alex Garland is arguably the ultimate backpacker classic. When it was first published, I was on a two-year trip around the globe and remember reading it on the beach on Gili Trawangan, Indonesia. Every other person was reading it too, and everyone was talking about it.
Set in Thailand, The Beach charts a young backpacker, Richard’s search for a legendary, idyllic and hidden island beach untouched by tourism. The paradise he finds here soon starts to unravel into a Lord of the Flies hallucinatory hellfest.
This one also features in Lime Juice Money and two of my characters bond over its “tropical horror.” A true literary thriller.
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