Some readers like to be toyed with when it comes to their novels—tricked, thrilled, distressed, kept guessing until the very last page. If this sounds like you, then you’ve come to the right place.
Whether you’re a psychology student or a budding writer, you’ll find that psychological thrillers are an excellent choice for your reading list. Here’s a list of the ten best psychological thrillers to help you get started. These novels often lend themselves to crime and the criminally insane, but they don’t always. Take Rebecca, for example, a psychological thriller where the derangement is perfectly garden variety. Watching a character spin out, whatever the cause, is where the fun is.
Best 4 Psychological Thrillers Books
Here are the following best 5 psychological thrillers books that cool and blow your mind.
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The Maidens, by Alex Michaelides
Mariana, a London psychotherapist, rushes to her niece’s side at Cambridge University following a beloved classmate’s murder in this fast-paced thriller. Mariana immediately suspects Edward Fosca, a charismatic professor of Greek tragedy who has assembled a secret society of female students known as The Maidens. But, as the bodies of Maidens continue to pile up, Mariana’s obsession with cracking the case soon endangers her life. This page-turning thriller is layered in dreamlike references to Greek mythology and ancient ritualized murders. It firmly establishes Michaelides as an unstoppable force in the thriller space.
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Sharp Objects, by Gillian Flynn
Gone Girl is the talk of the town, but Flynn’s lesser-known debut is just as fine a psychological thriller as they come. Fresh off a stint in a psychiatric hospital, troubled reporter Camille Preaker returns to her Missouri hometown to investigate a rash of violent crimes against teenage girls. After years of estrangement, Camille comes face to face with her relatives: the neurotic mother who haunted her childhood and the troublesome teenaged half-sister she barely knows.
Twisted and depraved, Sharp Objects will linger with you for a long time. Camille is a twenty-six-year-old mother and daughter who is investigating murders and disappearances in her hometown. She is dragged ever deeper into the town’s dark secrets. Her psychological state unravels under the threat of her demons. Sharp Objects is a mesmerizing, twisted, and depraved novel that will linger with you for a long time.
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Strangers on a Train, by Patricia Highsmith
Strangers dominate the psychological thriller genre on a Train for a reason. A tense debut novel by Highsmith finds two men meeting on a train. A man named Guy confides that he is about to divorce the wife he despises, while a dangerous psychopath named Bruno shares that he wishes his father were dead and proposes “the perfect murder.” Of course, Bruno will kill Guy’s wife, Guy will kill Bruno’s father, and no one will know since both men are strangers who can be in no way connected.
The guy is appalled and declines, but when his wife turns up dead, it soon becomes apparent that Bruno will carry out the murder trade regardless of Guy’s feelings. Highsmith challenges us to consider just how much darkness may lie dormant within us and what may be required to awaken our most primitive impulses through this taut, brilliant story. Strangers on a Train will have you think twice the next time you strike up a conversation with a stranger.
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My Sister, the Serial Killer, by Oyinkan Braithwaite
This is a must-read for anyone who loves a good story, whether you are a fan of crime fiction or just a fan of good stories. The book is set in Lagos, Nigeria, and the author tells the story of two sisters who share a bond that goes back generations. One sister is a serial killer, and the other sister helps her sister dispose of the bodies. Korede, the beautiful, deadly twin sister of the novel’s protagonist, Ayoola, has long been in her sister’s shadow. So when Ayoola, a Nigerian student, is gunned down by a mob in London, Korede vows to avenge her sister’s death. To do so, she must kill Ayoola’s murderer—a man named John Makorri. The novel is set in London and is filled with this city’s exotic sights and sounds.