Top 30 Psychological Thriller Books
“My mind is quiet now. There is no fire or ash, no sulfur or shattering glass. Only silence, empty and cold.”
Psychological thriller books sit proudly in a sly corner of thriller fiction, sharpening their focus on the inner working of characters minds. They nosedive into obsession, manipulation, and the tangled knots of the human psyche, with unreliable narrators, labyrinthine plots, and characters who grow in surprising, sometimes spine-tingling ways.
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⭐ Book Club Top Pick ⭐
Dark Things by Kate Anslinger
She wrote fiction for a living—until her own life became the plot twist.
When bestselling author Amy Willows vanishes without a trace, her disappearance is written off as a publicity stunt—until her daughter, Rylie, a struggling journalist, uncovers a digital breadcrumb trail leading to an enigmatic social media group her mother recently joined.
As Rylie plunges deeper into the group's shadowy corners, she realizes Amy wasn't just researching her next standalone novel—she was reliving it.
With a disgruntled agent fuming over Amy's decision to abandon her wildly successful series, and clues that suggest the standalone may be more confession than fiction, Rylie finds herself unraveling a twisted narrative written in secrets and stained in truth.
How far would one author go for research?
Nobody Knows You're Here by Bryn Greenwood
Beatrice is about to lose everything when a kind stranger offers her a cup of coffee and a job. It seems like a promise of a better life . . . until she wakes up under lock and key in an isolated mansion in the woods.
On orders from a shadowy criminal organization, armed jailers make the rules for their captives, enforcing them with unflinching violence. Beatrice has always been a “nice girl,” but that won’t save her now. Nobody helped her when she lost her job, her car, and her home, and nobody’s coming to give back her freedom. The only person she can rely on is herself. And now, several child hostages are relying on her too.
When the situation gets more dire―deadly even―Beatrice has to become the hero she and her fellow prisoners need. To escape she’ll have to outsmart her captors and do terrible things that would horrify her former self. If she succeeds, there’s no telling who she’ll be when the ordeal comes to an end.
Tags - Psychological Thriller Books, Amazon, Goodreads, New Books 2025.
Don't Tell Me How to Die by Marshall Karp
I had it all: a fantastic husband, two great kids, an exciting career. And then, at the age of forty-three, I found out I would be dead before my next birthday.
My mother also died young. I was seventeen, and she warned me that women would flock to my suddenly single father like stray cats to an overturned milk truck. They did. And one absolutely evil woman practically destroyed his life, mine, and my sister’s.
I am not letting that happen to my family.
I have three months, and I plan to spend every waking minute searching for the perfect woman to take my place as Alex’s wife, and mother to Kevin and Katie.
You’re probably thinking, She’ll never do it. Did I mention that in high school I was voted “Most Likely to Kill Someone to Get What She Wants”?
The Birthday Party by Shalini Boland
A party. A nightmare. A child gone without a trace.
It started out as a party: six little girls gliding and giggling at the ice rink to celebrate Natalie’s daughter’s eighth birthday.
But by Natalie’s next head count, it’s turned into a crime scene. Six children went onto the ice―and now there are just five. Nobody saw her niece, Elle, being taken. Nobody saw the person in a cartoon costume lure her quietly away.
Traumatised by what happened on her watch, Natalie spends the next decade supporting her sister, Jo, as the years since Elle’s abduction tick by. But as the tenth anniversary approaches, Jo becomes convinced that someone is stalking her―someone who knows the truth about that day on the ice.
As long-buried secrets start to surface, the sisters must relive the horror of losing Elle―and watch the world as they know it shatter before their eyes.
Spider to the Fly by J.H. Markert
Ellie Isles first became obsessed with the I-64 murders when she saw her own face on one of the victims. Identical to every detail, the woman wasn’t her, but she could have been. Compelled to discover the story of her dopplegänger’s death, Ellie wrote a bestselling true crime book about the serial killer, dubbed “the Spider.”
Four years later, the Spider still hasn't been caught, and his victim count is climbing. Many of the bodies remain unidentified, but with Ellie’s online network of true crime followers, that’s slowly changing. Together they’ve pooled information to create a massive database that tracks people at risk of becoming Jane and John Does–the homeless, the drug addicted, and the downtrodden–with the hopes that if they become victims, they might at least be identified.
Now that Ellie has successfully identified multiple victims, the law enforcement task force tracking down the Spider pulls her in to help–and after Ellie’s therapist is arrested for the murders, she is more determined than ever to help catch the Spider.
Close Your Eyes by Teresa Driscoll
Finding missing children is Matthew’s job―but this time it’s his own daughter who’s disappeared.
When private investigator Matthew Hill picks up the call from his wife, Sally, his world comes crashing down. Their eight-year-old daughter, Amelie, is missing. One second, she was there, the next, she was gone.
It’s the very nightmare they’ve been dreading. Long ago, Matthew left the force after a woman blamed him for her son’s death, promising that he too would one day feel her pain. It’s a threat that’s hung over his family ever since, and now it’s Amelie’s picture on the news.
Matthew knows how these things go―the longer their daughter is missing, the less hope there is of finding her alive.
As the clock ticks and a canal is searched, he and Sally must reckon with their greatest fear…
The Sister-in-Law by Joanne Ryan
Would you invite a stranger in?
When Megan loses her beloved husband in a tragic car accident, she feels like it’s her own life that has ended. She feels too young to be a widow. Walking around the house that had been their home – so quiet without him – nothing feels the same.
But at his funeral, she sees a person she doesn’t know. The heavily-pregnant young woman introduces herself as Emily, her husband’s estranged sister. She explains how she’s been searching for her brother for years, but – as she bursts into noisy sobs – she knows she’s too late now.
Megan finds herself taking pity on the sister-in-law she’d never met. And quickly Emily becomes more and more a part of her life, even moving into the spare room of her house.
It feels less empty than before, which at first is comforting to Megan. But – even when it’s a relative of the man you loved more than anyone – can you trust a stranger?
Her Many Faces by Nicci Cloke
Daughter, client, lover. Monster. Victim.
You were a sweet girl. You were the prettiest girl I’d ever seen. You were a bomb going off in my life. You were a challenge. You were the story of a lifetime.
When four wealthy and influential members are poisoned at London’s most exclusive private club, a young waitress is arrested. As her personal life and upbringing are picked over, her obsession with online conspiracy theories is exposed.
After the murder accusation, five men begin to question how well they really knew her. To each of them—her father, a reporter, her former lover, her friend, and her lawyer—she is someone entirely different. But which is the true face of Katherine Cole? And is she a killer?
The truth about who Katherine is, and what exactly she has done, lies somewhere between these five male perspectives. The searing laser of the male gaze has never been more dangerous, as Katherine’s trial grips the nation and theories and perceptions about her spiral out of control.
What follows is a chilling kaleidoscope of a thriller, both a smart courtroom drama and a frightening examination of how one woman can be so ruthlessly deconstructed by the men who know her best—and just what happens when she decides to speak out at last.
The Widower by D.L. Fisher
Just when I thought I’d got my life back together, a handsome stranger moves in across the street. He says he lost his wife six months ago. He says he’s here for a fresh start.
But I don’t believe him. Damian Mankiewicz is good looking, charming, friendly. Too friendly.
There’s a box in his hallway marked Do Not Open. The house he bought — it’s where a girl was found murdered. And the way he always seems to be watching me sends a shiver down my spine.
Now another teenager has gone missing. And I can’t shake the feeling the widower knows exactly what happened.
If Damian is hiding something, I’ll find out — before he makes me his next victim.
The Surgeon by John Nicholl
Your life is in his hands… Exactly where he wants it.
When an eminent surgeon is arrested for murder, he knows he didn’t do it.
He knows what it’s like to feel a person die on his operating table, but he didn’t inflict the wounds that ended the life of the girl they say he killed.
So, when the real perpetrator comes forward, and he is released, he feels vindicated.
What nobody knows – not the officer who arrested him, nor the influencer who petitioned for his freedom, nor the girl who escaped a killer years before – is that while he was incarcerated, he was making a plan.
Because revenge is sweet. But murder is sweeter…
The House That Held Her by Ellis Hart
Margot Bennett thought she was leaving the past behind when she moved to the quiet town of Mount Dora, Florida. A fresh start, a charming old house, and the promise of peace—until she unearths something sinister buried beneath the floorboards of Hawthorn Manor.
As Margot digs deeper into the manor's history, she finds herself tangled in the chilling legacy of George and Cecilia Hawthorn, a once-beloved couple whose presence still lingers in ways no one dares to explain. Nightmares bleed into reality. Puzzles stretch throughout the sleepy city. And the deeper she searches, the more she realizes the truth—no one is safe here.
Someone is watching—always. As the house's walls close in, Margot must decide how much she is willing to sacrifice to answer one question: "What is the cost of keeping the dead quiet?"
Perfect for fans of psychological thrillers with a haunting twist, The House That Held Her is a gripping tale of obsession, guilt, and the weight of secrets buried just beneath the surface.
The Family at No. 1 by Caroline Mitchell
Anything can happen behind closed doors…
When estate agent Laura Bradley is asked to sell number 1 Aspen Hollow, it feels like a dream come true. The house is beautiful—five bedrooms and a perfect garden, surrounded by lush woodland. Laura loves finding a family their dream home, even as each night she returns to a cramped single room.
Laura tries to ignore the red paint thrown at the walls of the house, the strange noises upstairs and the threatening messages she is receiving. Whatever its history, the beautiful house deserves a second chance.
But by the time Laura finds out what really happened to the family at number 1, it is far too late. Someone doesn’t want the house to be sold, for its secrets to surface. They have killed before and they are willing to kill again to keep the truth hidden…
Doll Parts by Penny Zang
For best friends Nikki and Sadie, college was supposed to be a fresh start, a way to blast Courtney Love from car speakers and leave their youth behind. But along with sadness-obsessed girls and intrusive professors, a dark story plagues their small all-women's school: the Sylvia Club, a campus legend surrounding the deaths of multiple Sylvia Plath-adoring students, all written off as suicides.
Aspiring writer Nikki finds herself drawn to the tragic tales, so much so that dead girls begin to haunt her dark imagination. As she digs deeper, Nikki soon suspects there's much more to the story - a suspicion that will lead to a tragedy of its own, one that will tear her and Sadie apart.
It's been nearly twenty years since Sadie last saw her estranged friend. Now, Nikki is dead, and when Sadie ends up pregnant by Nikki's grieving husband not long after the funeral, she finds herself stepping into her ex-best friend's seemingly perfect life.
But the longer Sadie lives in Nikki's eerily preserved home, the more she sees her appear and soon, she's convinced that Nikki is sending her clues from beyond the grave. Because it seems Nikki never stopped looking for answers about what happened to the girls of the Sylvia Club, and she may have been its latest victim.
The Ex by Alex Sinclair
My life is perfect, until a new neighbour moves in next door — she’s my husband’s ex . . .
Jack and I have a picture-perfect life — two small children, and a beautiful home on a quiet cul-de-sac that feels like the safest place on earth.
Until she moves in next door.
His ex.
She wanted Jack then. She tried to kill me for him.
She wants him now, and I think she’ll do whatever it takes to get him back.
The Karma Behind The Rage by Tee Coss
A fiery crash. A scarred survivor. A name that was never supposed to resurface.
Maxine never planned to get involved. But one quiet visit to her mother’s patient—Charles—changes everything. His face carries the trauma of a crash the city called an accident. But his silence? That carries something far darker.
Charles lost more than skin and bone that night. He lost trust. He lost truth. Now someone is texting him images, names, and evidence no one else has seen. And the most dangerous part? Maxine knows one of the names. Intimately.
As the past claws its way into the present, Maxine and Charles form an uneasy alliance to uncover what really happened. But the closer they get to the truth, the more twisted it becomes. No police. No protection. Just two people piecing together a cover-up that someone is desperate to keep buried.
It started with a crash. It ends with revenge.
Last Seen by J.T. Ellison
Halley James knows her marriage is over. But she’s not prepared for the rest of her life to fall apart too. She just lost her job at the forensics lab. Her dad needs emergency surgery.
But the biggest blow comes back home in Marchburg, Virginia, where she discovers her mother didn’t actually die in a car crash. Her mom was murdered—and her father lied about it all these years.
Since she was six years old, it’s been Halley and her dad. Now, she doesn’t know what to believe.
Desperate for the truth, Halley chases down a lead in Brockville, Tennessee.
But all there is not as it seems. Brockville’s utopian charm hides a chilling darkness.
And Halley’s search for answers threatens to expose an unspeakable reality.
Uninvited by Emily Shiner
It’s the perfect holiday with her fiancé—until his mistress arrives…
Aimee was so happy when Dale proposed. She’s been hiding her dark past for years, and Dale was supposed to be her new start.
But now the woman he cheated with, Hannah, is right here at their vacation resort with her boyfriend. How did Hannah know where they’d be? And what else does Hannah know?
It was so easy to take Dale from Aimee. Hannah wanted Aimee to know how it feels to lose something you love.
It’s surprising Aimee doesn’t recognise her, but the years since high school have been kind. Hannah made a promise back then, and she intends to keep it this weekend.
At the end of the vacation, everyone’s lies will be out in the open. And one of them will be dead…
The Intruder by Freida McFadden
Who knows what the storm will blow in…
Casey's cabin in the wilderness is not built for a hurricane. Her roof shakes, the lights flicker, and the tree outside her front door sways ominously in the wind. But she's a lot more worried about the girl she discovers lurking outside her kitchen window.
She’s young. She’s alone. And she’s covered in blood.
The girl won't explain where she came from or loosen her grip on the knife in her right hand. And when Casey makes a disturbing discovery in the middle of the night, things take a turn for the worse.
The girl has a dark secret. One she’ll kill to keep. And if Casey gets too close to the truth, she may not live to see the morning.
All This Could Be Yours by Hank Phillippi Ryan
Debut sensation Tessa Calloway is on a whirlwind book tour for her instant bestseller, All This Could Be Yours. In a different city every night, Tessa receives standing ovations from adoring fans while her husband Henry and their two children cheer her on from their brand-new dream house.
But there's a chilling problem with Tessa's triumphant book tour―she soon discovers she is being stalked by someone who's obsessed not only with sabotaging her career, but also with destroying her perfect family back home.
Tessa fears the fallout from an impossible decision she once made―what felt like a genuine deal with the devil―appears to be coming due. And she's realizing that every high-stakes bargain comes with a high-stakes price. If Tessa can't untangle who's threatening to expose her darkest secrets, she'll lose her career, her family―and possibly her life.
The Ascent by Allison Buccola
For decades, the whereabouts of The Fifteen has been an unsolved mystery. All the members of this reclusive commune outside Philadelphia vanished twenty years ago, except for one: a twelve-year-old girl found wandering alone on the side of the road.
In the years since that morning, Lee Burton has tried to put the pain of her past behind her, building a new identity for herself with a doting husband and seven-month-old daughter, Lucy. But motherhood is proving a bigger challenge than she anticipated. She doesn’t want to let Lucy out of her sight even for a moment. She can’t return to work. She’s not sleeping, and she has started spiraling into paranoia.
Then a stranger shows up on her doorstep, offering answers to all of Lee’s questions about her past—if Lee could only trust that this woman is who she says she is. Can Lee keep her safe, stable life? Or will new revelations about “the cult that went missing” shatter everything? In The Ascent, Allison Buccola has crafted a nerve-rattling thriller about motherhood, identity, and the truths we think we know about our families.
The Psychopath Next Door by Mark Edwards
Ethan Dove’s family has moved to a new home in a safe community, and it’s exactly the fresh start they need. Not only is his marriage to Emma hanging by a thread, but his son, Dylan, and twelve-year-old daughter, Rose, deserve to have a happy childhood.
After Rose is bullied by the boys across the road, Ethan is relieved when the woman who lives next door steps in. Fiona Smith has come into their lives at just the right moment, and when she offers to look after Rose during the school holidays, Ethan and Emma can’t believe their luck.
Which is exactly what Fiona wants. Because, far from being the perfect neighbour, Fiona is the last person you should trust with your child. With a vicious plot for revenge, Fiona is happy to train Rose to be her accomplice, especially when she begins to suspect that Rose might not be as innocent as she appears…
The Last Morning by Camden Baird
Sadie Wilson’s heart stops the moment the phone rings. Deep in her soul, she knows what’s coming, and the voice on the other end only confirms her fears: Emma never made it to school.
Her sweet, scared five-year-old climbed onto the bus for her very first day of kindergarten…and then vanished.
Struggling to push aside her grief to focus on getting her daughter back, Sadie finds herself slipping deeper into despair.
The growing list of suspects weighs heavily on her mind: the secretive teacher, the registered sex offender, the delusional neighbor, the disgruntled ex-wife, the evasive principal—everyone seems to have a connection to Emma. And a surprising grudge to bear.
Thankfully Sadie’s got her loving husband, Allen, by her side. But she can’t help feeling he’s hiding something too.
Hello, Juliet by Samantha M. Bailey
Ivy Westcott fled LA as her acting career imploded. In a flash, she lost her first love and chosen family―her Hello, Juliet castmates. But she never discovered who turned her closest friends against her. Now the whole world knows her as #PoisonIvy.
A decade later, Ivy is horrified when a celebrity exposé thrusts the Hello, Juliet cast back into the limelight, dredging up the old scandals she hoped to escape. Desperate for a fresh start and some financial stability for her mother and manager, Ivy agrees to participate in a top-secret reunion episode.
Ivy’s poised for a comeback, but past betrayals become a present danger when she and the man who once broke her heart find their costar dead.
Determined to find justice and clear her name, Ivy must tear down the facades of cast and crew to uncover chilling secrets that have plagued the Hollywood set from day one. Or she could be the next to die.
The House Sitter by Keri Beevis
After my relationship breaks down, I agree to house-sit my brother Dexter's posh apartment whilst he’s out of the country. It will give me some much needed headspace.
Sitting on the balcony one sweltering summer's evening in the midst of a power cut, I'm given a secret window into the lives of the residents in the opposite building, and I see more than I should.
I'm drawn to a man in the penthouse and watch him closely and when a striking woman joins him on the balcony, I can’t tear my eyes away.
The following weekend a woman matching her exact description is reported missing. She’s not been seen since that fateful night. When I go to the police, the man in the penthouse has a cast-iron alibi and denies she was ever there...
I know what I saw and I can’t let it go. The deeper I dig, the more dangerous things become.
Someone is watching me too. Just how much can I trust my neighbours?
Missing in Flight by Audrey J. Cole
Rushing back to her seat, Makayla Rossi is relieved that all’s still quiet. But when she checks on her sleeping baby, relief morphs into fear. The bassinet is empty. Liam is gone.
It was a long flight from Anchorage to New York, and with every flight attendant busy, Makayla reluctantly ran to the restroom, asking a seat neighbor to watch her son. She stepped away for just a few minutes. Yet at thirty thousand feet, he still vanished.
Passengers and crew scour the plane to no avail, and since no one recalls seeing her with a baby, suspicions begin to mount about Makayla’s mental state. She’s certain this is nothing like her mother’s on-air memory meltdown. If only Jack, her husband, were there. He would believe her. A high-profile banker featured in Forbes, maybe he could even help.
But Makayla is squarely on her own. And she’ll have to think fast in order to find her son―before it’s too late.
Dying to Meet You by Sarina Bowen
Rowan Gallagher is a devoted single mother and a talented architect with a high-profile commission restoring an historic mansion for the most powerful family in Maine. But inside, she’s a mess. She knows that stalking her ex’s avatar all over Portland on her phone isn't the healthiest way to heal from their breakup. But she’s out of ice cream and she's sick of romcoms.
Watching his every move is both fascinating and infuriating. He's dining out while she's wallowing on the couch. The last straw comes when he parks in their favorite spot on the waterfront. In a weak moment, she leashes the dog and sets off to see who else is in his car.
Instead of catching her ex in a kiss, Rowan becomes the first witness to his murder—and the primary suspect.
But Rowan isn’t the only one keeping secrets. As she digs for the truth, she discovers the dead man was stalking her too, gathering intimate details about her job and her past.
Struggling to clear her name, Rowan finds herself spiraling into the shadowy plot that killed him.
Will she be the next to die?
Stay Away from Him by Andrew DeYoung
Relocating with her 5-year-old son to a new city after an ugly divorce, Melissa Burke isn't looking for a new relationship right away—only distance from her ex, and space to rest and heal from the emotional scars of a broken marriage. But an unexpected relationship is exactly what she finds at a friend's dinner party when she meets Thomas Danver, a charming widower who asks for her number at the end of the night. Intrigued, Melissa learns from her neighbors that Thomas is a dedicated father of two girls, one of the most respected pediatricians in the city—and an exonerated murderer.
Thomas's first wife went missing three years ago, presumed dead, and Thomas was eventually cleared of her murder in an investigation that became a local media sensation. But while some still believe he killed his wife, Melissa's friends insist that he was unfairly targeted by the police and couldn't hurt a fly. Attracted to Thomas and also fascinated by the case, Melissa agrees to one date—and finds herself quickly swept into an obsessive, whirlwind romance.
But when Melissa receives a chilling, anonymous threat—or perhaps it's a warning—she begins to question how much she truly knows about the man she's falling in love with. Is he really innocent?
Don't Let Him In by Lisa Jewell
Nina Swann is intrigued when she received a condolence card from Nick Radcliffe, an old friend of her late husband, who is looking to connect after her husband’s unexpected death. Nick is a man of substance and good taste. He has a smile that could melt the coldest heart and a knack for putting others at ease. But to Nina’s adult daughter, Ash, Nick seems too slick, too polished, too good to be true. Without telling her mother, Ash begins digging into Nick’s past. What she finds is more than unsettling…
Martha is a florist living in a neighboring town with her infant daughter and her devoted husband, Alistair. But lately, Alistair has been traveling more and more frequently for work, disappearing for days at a time. When Martha questions him about his frequent absences, he always has a legitimate explanation, but Martha can’t share the feeling that something isn’t right.
Nina, Martha, and Ash are on a collision course with a shocking truth that is far darker than anyone could have imagined. And all three are about to wish they had heeded the same warning: Don’t let him in. But the past won’t stay buried forever.
We Live Here Now by Sarah Pinborough
When Emily wakes from a coma following an accident that nearly kills her, she finds herself agreeing to move from London to the wild moors of Devon with her husband Freddie. A fresh start is exactly what their marriage needs.
As their car pulls up to Larkin Lodge, their dream country home, Emily's heart sinks. Outside, everything is covered in an icy gray mist. Inside, the air is filled with dust and abandonment.
And then she finds the empty suite on the second floor. A room so bleak, so cold, so void of anything good. Something bad happened in here. Someone dies in here. Why can't Freddie feel the darkness that stirs within its walls?
There's something wrong with the house, this strange house, where the floorboards creak at night, the doors rattle, the windows slam shut, the taps turn on and off - and on and off.
But if the house is hiding something, so are Emily and Freddie...
If Two Are Dead by Rick Mofina
Three girls go into the woods, but only one comes out…
Driving alone at night in a wild rainstorm, Luke Conway strikes something—or someone. He and his wife, Carrie, recently moved back to Clear River to help take care of her ailing father, and after a tragedy at his previous job, this move is their last chance at a new life. Now, standing in the downpour on this Texas road, Luke, an off-duty cop, has a decision to make—and he has to make it fast.
No one else is around. No witnesses. And he can’t find a body.
Wanting to believe he’s being paranoid, that he’s just seeing things, Luke panics and leaves, deciding not to report the incident but rather to secretly investigate it. He can’t put more stress on Carrie, who’s already haunted by the unsolved attack and murder of two teenage girls that happened years ago in Clear River, a horrific crime in which she was the sole survivor. The killer has not been found, but Carrie and Luke’s anguished search for answers will slowly reveal the horrific truth.
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