Sarah Bonner writes contemporary thrillers that fall into two clear buckets: straight psychological suspense (early books) and a darkly comic, revenge-leaning line that’s explicitly branded as the How to Slay series.
Within How to Slay, the main pleasure is watching the escalation across books, so order matters more there than in her standalone thrillers.
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Start-point choices that won’t trip spoilers
- For a first taste (standalone, no homework): Her Perfect Twin (2022)
- For the “dark, funny, escalating” run: How to Slay at Work (2024) (Book 1 of a series)
- For the newest front-door release: A Killer Guest List (2026) (standalone)
The How to Slay series (read in order)
This is the one place you’ll feel the difference if you hop around. Later entries assume you already understand the series’ tone and the kind of “rulebook” it plays with.
- How to Slay at Work (2024): A work trip becomes a pattern-recognition nightmare, as one assistant starts tracking the deaths that seem to follow her boss.
- How to Slay on Holiday (2025): A getaway turns into a survival-of-the-cleverest setup, with the same sharp voice and higher personal risk.
- How to Slay at Christmas (2025): Festive chaos meets meticulous scheming, using the season as cover while the series leans harder into consequence.
- How to Slay Together (2026): A new “we’re in this as a unit” premise raises the stakes again, shifting the series from individual strategy to group fallout.
Note on dates: publication listings for How to Slay Together cluster in early February 2026, with different editions sometimes showing slightly different days.
Psychological thrillers (standalones)
These are separate stories. Read them in whatever order sounds best.
- Her Perfect Twin (2022): A twin-shaped mystery with identity pressure at its core, built around what happens when the version of you that “shouldn’t exist” starts taking up space.
- Her Sweet Revenge (2023): A revenge-driven psychological set-up where the satisfaction is in watching the plan evolve, and what it costs to keep it moving.
Other standalone thriller (separate from How to Slay)
- A Killer Guest List (2026): A closed-circle, event-style thriller built around invitations, roles, and staged expectations, designed to read cleanly as a one-off.
Chronological vs publication order
For Sarah Bonner, publication order and chronological order are essentially the same thing, because these books aren’t one long shared universe. The only “continuity” choice that reliably matters is keeping the How to Slay books in sequence.
Pen name note: “Sarah E. Bonner”
Industry announcements indicate upcoming fiction under Sarah E. Bonner, beginning in May 2026 with The Diverging Lives of Bethany Raven. Because the branding differs from the Sarah Bonner thrillers above, treat it as a separate track unless you’re intentionally following all work across name variants.
Latest release status
- Most recent release (as of today): A Killer Guest List (2026)
- Most recent How to Slay entry: How to Slay Together (2026)
- Next known new direction: The Diverging Lives of Bethany Raven (scheduled May 2026, under Sarah E. Bonner)
FAQs
Can I read A Killer Guest List before the How to Slay books?
Yes. It’s positioned as a standalone and doesn’t function as “How to Slay #5.”
If I only read one How to Slay book, which one works best?
Book 1: How to Slay at Work (2024). It establishes the series’ logic and makes the later escalation land properly.
Are Her Perfect Twin and Her Sweet Revenge connected?
They’re typically listed as separate standalones, not a shared series.
Calm recommendation to finish on
If you want the safest, least-complicated path: start with Her Perfect Twin (2022), then move to the How to Slay series from Book 1 when you’re ready for something darker and funnier with deliberate escalation.
Frank is the editor of BookSeries.blog, focusing on publication order, chronological timelines, and spoiler-free reading guides for book series and fictional universes.