22 Best Psychological Thriller Books

Book Summary

As young girls, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia were rescued from terrible homes and constantly told how lucky they were to have been rescued by Miss Fairchild. They lived on her idyllic farming estate and, from the outside, had a happy family life.

But the truth was much different. Miss Fairchild was unpredictable and was never to be crossed. In desperation, the trio of girls managed to escape and believed they were free, though their foster mother always lingered in the back of their minds.

When a body is discovered under the old farmhouse, the foster sisters become key witnesses…or are they the suspects?

Book Summary

Anna’s artist husband, Henry, is mild and predictable and would never hurt a fly. Or so she thought until he called her and confessed to a murder. And then, the police find his body washed up on the banks of the Rio Grande River.

Desperate to make sense of it all, Anna checks into The Sycamores, the run-down motel turned apartment where Henry rented space to use as his art studio. As she gathers gossip from the eclectic mix of residents around the motel pool, she begins to see a very different picture of Henry than the man she married.

It also seems that Henry wasn’t the only one with secrets. The more Anna learns, the more determined Cass, the motel manager, is to keep her in the dark.

When she begins receiving threatening letters, Anna has to decide whether she’s more interested in the truth or in her own safety.

Book Summary

Meghan is an ICU nurse and single mom to a teenage daughter. Her newest patient is Caitlin, who has a traumatic brain injury after jumping from a tall bridge onto train tracks. But then a witness reveals new details about the fall – was Caitlin pushed?

While Meghan has always try to remain emotionally detached from patients, she soon finds herself entangled with Caitlin’s family. Soon, she finds herself and daughter at risk of becoming the next victims.

Book Summary

All the Colors of the Dark crosses genres from literary fiction to psychological thriller and even to romance as it follows the characters from their teen years in 1975 into adulthood.

In the small Ozarks town of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing. When the daughter of a wealthy family, Misty, is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges—Patch, a local boy with one eye. Patch saves the girl, but this leaves heartache in his wake.

While Mont Clare was once a close-knit community, after this event, the town will never be the same. The trauma experienced by Patch, his friend Saint, and Misty will haunt them as they grow into adulthood. The trauma causes each character to make choices you may not agree with, creating many twists and a suspenseful vibe throughout the compelling story.

Book Summary

Popular podcaster Alix Summers and an unassuming woman called Josie Fair don’t know each other, but discover that they are both celebrating their 45th birthdays at a local pub. When they bump into each other again outside Alix’s children’s school, Josie pitches an idea for the podcast.

While Alix finds something about Josie unsettling, her complicated life is ideal for the podcast and Alix doesn’t want to miss out on the story. But, before she knows it, Josie is fully entangled in her life. But then, Josie disappears as quickly as she arrived on Alix’s birthday. Unfortunately, she left a terrible legacy behind and Alix is now the subject of her own true crime podcast.

Book Summary

It’s Nana’s 80th birthday, and her party will be in her crumbling gothic family home, which is on a tiny, isolated island. Daisy has been avoiding her family members for years but agrees to attend the gathering to celebrate Nana.

At midnight, Nana is killed, followed by another family member an hour later. They’re all trapped together until the tide comes in, and it’s time to reconcile past secrets with the present danger before it’s too late.

Book Summary

Thirty years ago, ten-year-old Ethan and his best friend Billy went to sleep in a tent in their picture-perfect neighborhood. In the morning, Billy was gone. Someone had sliced open the tent, and Billy was never seen again.

Now 40, Ethan reluctantly returns to his childhood home. He notices strange things happening in the middle of the night—from someone roaming the cul-de-sac to signs of Billy’s presence in the backyard. As Ethan begins to investigate both the present and the past, he’s reunited with former friends and led into the woods that surround Hemlock Circle. Billy always claimed there were monsters in the woods—was he right?

Book Summary

When the main character, Margot, was just a kid, her six-year-old neighbor, January, was found in a ditch. Twenty years later, the killer has never been found. Margot still lives with the terrible feeling that she could have been the victim instead of January.

Now a journalist, when Margot returns to her hometown, it feels just as stifled and secretive as it did when she left. While she is still there caring for her sick uncle, another young child, Natalie, in the next town disappears like January two decades earlier. Margot vows to find Natalie, no matter how much resistance she faces from the townspeople.

Book Summary

Lexi’s getting married – but before the big day, she’s celebrating her bachelorette weekend on a picturesque Greek island. She and her friends are soaking in the sun and ocean views while exploring the whitewashed streets and tavernas. 

But things aren’t as postcard-perfect as they appear. Below the surface of the friendships, each of the six women is hiding a secret. Someone is determined to stop Lexi’s wedding, and one of them won’t leave the island alive.

Book Summary

Jen is waiting up for her 17-year-old son to come home one night in late October. Through the window, she witnesses the unthinkable. Her son kills a man right there in the street outside their home and is taken into custody.

She goes to sleep that night, wishing it was all just a bad dream, and then she wakes up yesterday. The next day she wakes up the day before yesterday.

Day after day, she wakes up another day earlier and has another opportunity to stop the murder if only she can figure out what caused her son to commit the crime in the first place.

Book Summary

Bestselling author Debra Webb has released the first book in a brand new series about legal investigator Finley O’Sullivan. She’s haunted by her past and uses it to drive her obsession with the truth. When the police overlook evidence, she’s there to find answers. But, throughout all her investigations, she’s unable to escape her own trauma.

This case in this book centers on an imprisoned man recanting his confession. He claims he wasn’t the guilty party and was just trying to clean up a mess for her girlfriend. However, she is the victim’s daughter. During her investigation, Finley discovers that the victim had identical twin daughters, and the sisters have vastly different accounts of the crime.

Book Summary

Lyla’s career is in flux as her post-doctoral research has fizzled out, and her relationship with Nico, an actor, is also floundering. So, when Nico sees an opportunity to audition for a new reality TV show, The Perfect Couple, she decides to try out with him.

After a whirlwind process, Lyla and Nico are headed to a tropical paradise in the Indian Ocean to compete against four other couples. However, the first challenge leaves everyone upset. Then, an overnight storm strands the cast away from the production crew. They must band together for survival, but as water runs low, tensions reach new heights.

Book Summary

When Paris is suspected of killing her celebrity husband with a straight razor in their bathtub, she has more to worry about than a possible charge for this crime. Media attention is bringing back people from the past she’s tried so desperately to leave behind.

Twenty-five years earlier, Ruby was convicted of a similar murder. She’s the one who knows who Paris really is, and she’s just been released from prison. After Ruby threatens to expose all of Paris’ secrets, Paris must confront her dark past before she ends up with not just one, but two, murder charges.

Book Summary

This roller coaster domestic psychological thriller pulls you into the lives of a wealthy Chicago couple, Simon and Vicky. He’s a law professor, and she’s an advocate for domestic abuse victims. Their life and marriage looks perfect, and maybe even dull.

Except that one of them may be a killer. After the death of a socialite, Simon and Vicky’s secrets begin to unravel. From affairs and trust funds to long grudges and revenge, their life is a complex web of lies and deception. But who is conning who?

Book Summary

Former prosecutor Soloman Shepard was brutally attacked in the courtroom, which ended his previous career. Now he stays away from the action and teaches seminars about serial murders and psychopathology.

Toole County Sheriff Elizabeth Gray leads the investigation after a young couple is murdered. An anonymous letter published in a Utah newspaper after the murder claims to be from the Reaper, and the letter leads to the discovery of a third victim. 

Elizabeth needs to find the killer quickly and turns to her old friend Soloman for help. But, as they begin to unravel the mystery in this dark psychological thriller, they face an unexpected enemy.

Book Summary

This psychological thriller, from the author of The Last Flight, tells the story of a con woman with many aliases. Depending on the town, she might be a college student, a life coach, or a real estate agent. She tells you what you need to hear, and nothing is real. By the time she’s disappeared, you’ve likely lost everything. 

And that is what happened to Kat Roberts. Kat has been waiting for ten years for the woman who upended her life to return. Now that she’s finally back, Kat wants to be the one to expose her. But, in order to do so, she’ll first have to get close to her. And that changes everything.

Book Summary

Millie has a chance to start fresh when she gets a job working for Nina and Andrew Winchester as a live-in housekeeper and cook. She tries to ignore the annoyances of the job, like Nina constantly making messes just to watch her clean them up. Despite the beautiful wife, dreamy house, and fancy cars, Andrew seems more broken each day. His eyes are full of pain behind his outward appearance of a perfect life.

When Millie can’t resist trying on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses, she has no idea what the small act will set in action. Soon, she realizes her attic bedroom door only locks from the outside. The Winchesters may have even darker secrets than her own.

Book Summary

Marissa and Matthew Bishop’s perfect marriage isn’t as perfect as it appears from the outside. Work and lack of intimacy have come between them, and Marissa has been unfaithful. But they have an 8-year-old son, and they still love one another, so they’re willing to work on the relationship.

They seek help from a therapist named Avery Chambers. Despite losing her license, she continues to counsel those in need. Her methods are unconventional, but the Bishops are willing to try anything.

Book Summary

Twenty years ago, when Chloe was just twelve years old, six teenage girls went missing in her small hometown in Louisiana throughout one summer. Chloe’s father was arrested – accused of being a serial killer – and imprisoned for the murders.

After spending years dealing with the aftermath, Chloe has finally pieced together a happy life for herself in Baton Rouge. She’s preparing for her wedding and has a fulfilling career as a psychologist.

In her psychology practice, she works with troubled teens. When first one local teen girl and then another goes missing, the memories from that terrifying summer in her childhood comes crashing back. She sees parallels – but are they really there, or is she just being paranoid? Is she about to unmask a killer for the second time in her life?

Book Summary

Six teens have been murdered by a predator known only as the Bloody Heart serial killer. But the killer’s 7th victim managed to escape. He has identified a teacher from the local school, Randall Thompson, as his captor.

Dr. Gwen Moore has spent her psychiatry career working with some of the most depraved murderers in California and trying to understand their motives. Based on her expertise, she believes that Randall is in fact the culprit. Unfortunately, Robert Kavin isn’t convinced. He’s the defense attorney who has agreed to represent Randall. But Robert isn’t just a lawyer – he’s also the father of one of the Bloody Heart serial killer’s victims.

Robert wants Gwen to interview his accused client. He believes that if she creates a psych profile of the killer and his victims, it could help to clear Randall’s name. As Gwen becomes more entangled in the investigation, she becomes closer to Robert. The more she learns, the more questions she has.