N.L. Hinkens Books in Order – Updated February 22, 2026

N.L. Hinkens (Norma Hinkens) writes twisty psychological suspense thrillers, with most titles designed to work as standalones. The main “order” question is really about packaging: many books are grouped into themed mini-collections (vacations, trips, domestic secrets), but they are not one long shared-universe series.

If you keep each mini-collection together, you’ll never feel like you “missed Book 1.”

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A quick way to choose your first book

• Cleanest first pick (pure domestic suspense): Never Tell Them
• If you want a travel-set trap: Wrong Exit
• If you want a one-off novel-length thriller (not a collection label): The Caregiver
• If you want the newest neighborhood-style paranoia: The Neighbor

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The “Shelf Labels” that matter

Think of Hinkens’s bibliography as a small library with clear shelf labels:

• Collections = themed standalone thrillers (best read in the order shown on the author’s library page or the collection listing).
• Novels = full-length standalones (read anytime).

Below, everything is grouped that way, with one-line guidance per book.

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Wicked Ways Collection (standalone thrillers)

Read these together if you want the same flavor (domestic pressure + bad choices), but there’s no shared continuity requirement.

1. All But Safe (2023): A “safe place” turns unsafe fast, with control and isolation doing more damage than the obvious threat.
2. What You Wish For (2024): A want-that-turns-need story where a tempting opportunity becomes leverage in someone else’s hands.
3. The Bridal Shower (2025): A celebration setting becomes a cage, as friendships and secrets escalate into something predatory.

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Domestic Deceptions Collection (standalone thrillers)

This is the most straightforward entry lane: intimate secrets, close relationships, and consequences that arrive early.

1. Never Tell Them (2021): A family-facing secret cracks open, and the cover-up becomes more dangerous than the truth.
2. I Know What You Did (2019): A past act resurfaces, forcing a character to choose between confession and a deeper lie.
3. The Other Woman (2020): A jealousy-and-replacement thriller where “the new person in the picture” isn’t the biggest problem.

(Note: different bibliographies sometimes list these three in different internal orders; the safest approach is to read them in the collection order you’re using.)

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Payback Pasts Collection (standalone thrillers)

These lean into revenge logic: old wounds, delayed consequences, and a present-day price tag.

1. The Lies She Told (2019): A lie with a long fuse detonates when someone decides it’s time to collect.
2. The Class Reunion (2020): A reunion becomes a reckoning, with the past turning into a weapon everyone recognizes too late.
3. Right Behind You (2021): A proximity thriller built around pursuit, literal or psychological, and the fear of being found.

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Treacherous Trips Collection (standalone thrillers)

If you like “one trip, one mistake, no easy way out,” start here.

1. Wrong Exit (2022): A wrong turn becomes a life-changing decision, and the road keeps narrowing behind it.
2. The Invitation (2022): A seemingly ordinary invite turns into a trap where refusing is as risky as accepting.
3. While She Slept (2023): A vulnerable window, sleep, recovery, or distraction, becomes the opening someone else has been waiting for.

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Villainous Vacations Collection (standalone thrillers)

Vacation settings, isolation, and the sense that help is always farther away than it should be.

1. Her Last Steps (2019): A getaway turns into a chase, with survival hinging on what she notices, and what she ignores.
2. You Will Never Leave (2020): A locked-in situation where the real horror is realizing the exit was never meant for you.
3. The Cabin Below (2020): Remote lodging, limited options, and a threat that feels personal long before it’s explained.

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Cunning Crimes Collection

This appears to be a newer collection line; treat it as its own shelf.

1. The Pickleball Killer (2026): A lighter-hook premise with a murder engine underneath, small community dynamics feeding a sharper crime plot.

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Standalone novels (not under a collection label)

These can be read in any order.

1. The Silent Surrogate (2019): A pregnancy-and-identity thriller where trust collapses under medical and personal secrecy.
2. The Caregiver (2024): A caretaking arrangement becomes a psychological power struggle, with dependence turning into control.
3. The Neighbor (2025): Suburban closeness becomes surveillance, where the person next door knows too much, and wants more.
4. Long-Lost Sister (2025): A reunion premise with built-in danger: the past returns wearing a familiar face.

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Recommended reading orders that won’t backfire

If you want the “most typical N.L. Hinkens” experience

1. Never Tell Them
2. Wrong Exit
3. The Caregiver
4. Then pick any collection and read straight down its three titles.

If you read by mood

• Domestic claustrophobia: Domestic Deceptions → Wicked Ways
• Trip-gone-wrong suspense: Treacherous Trips → Villainous Vacations
• Revenge logic: Payback Pasts

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FAQs

Do the collections share characters or a single timeline?
Not as a rule. They’re best treated as themed groups of standalones.

Why do some lists show different internal orders for the same collection?
Collections are sometimes marketed and re-packaged across formats. If you’re unsure, follow the order on the author’s library listing for that collection.

What’s the newest confirmed release and what’s next?
Recent releases include The Neighbor and Long-Lost Sister (both listed for 2025). The Pickleball Killer is listed as an upcoming 2026 title.

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Bottom line

Start with Never Tell Them if you want the safest entry into Hinkens’s domestic-suspense style. If you prefer travel-and-isolation tension, start with Wrong Exit. After that, pick a collection shelf and read those three titles in order, simple, spoiler-safe, and easy to follow.