Eight of our favourite psychological thrillers from the first half of 2019
The days are short, the nights are long, dark and chilly. What better time to curl up indoors in the warm with the best psychological thrillers of the year so far?
We’ve put together a list of some of our favourite recommendations for all those crime and thriller fans out there to sink their teeth into.
An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
Jess Farris signs up to a psychology study conducted by the mysterious Dr Shields, thinking that it’s a quick and easy way of earning some extra money: she’ll answer a few questions, take her money and leave. But the questions grow more and more invasive, and the sessions start to turn into outings where Shields enforces what she wears, what she does, and where she goes. Soon, Jess’s paranoia spirals out of control and she can no longer trust what is real and what’s not. She’s frightened that Shields knows what she’s thinking – and what she’s hiding. Caught in a web of lies and deceipt, Jess quickly learns that some obsessions can be deadly. If you love psychological thrillers that toy with what’s real and what’s not, An Anonymous Girl is the one for you.
The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
Over the languid days of the Christmas period, a group of thirty-something friends arrive at a remote, beautiful wilderness lodge in the wilds of Scotland. The trip, scheduled to welcome in the new year, begins happily enough – admiring the stunning scenery, shipping expensive champagne. But it’s been a while, and old tensions and resentments start to bubble to the surface. As the dawn of New Year’s Day rises, a body is found among them. One of their party is a murderer. But who? Now locked in by a huge snowstorm, no-one can leave…The premise of The Hunting Party seems straight out of an Agatha Christie novel, and Foley is an expert at nailing those little details of character that really make a novel.
55 by James Delargy
Set in a poky West Australian town, this is excellent psychological rural noir that plays with trust, doubt and the truth, and will send chills up the spine of any reader. In Sergeant Chandler Jenkins’ police station, not much ever happens. Until a man named Gabriel stumbles in, covered in blood. Gabriel has just escaped from an alleged serial killer named Heath, who had plans for Gabriel to be his 55th victim. While Gabriel is under police protection, though, a man attempting to steal a car is brought in. His name is Heath, and he swears he stole the car trying to escape from a serial killer, named Gabriel, who had plans for Heath to be his 55th victim. Who’s lying, and who’s telling the truth? This is a riveting, refreshing take on the serial killer whodunit with big Wolf Creek vibes.
Before She Knew Him by Peter Swanson
At a suburban dinner party, Hen notices something suspicious in her charming neighbour Matthew’s study. Is the mild-mannered college professor hiding a sinister secret? Hen’s husband Lloyd certainly doesn’t seem to believe her, but who, if anyone, is really in danger? Author Peter Swanson has developed a reputation as a master of domestic thrillers, and Before She Knew Him is certainly that. Claustrophobic and tense, it’s a dark psychological thriller with bite that is sure to keep readers on their toes.
A Good Enough Mother by Bev Thomas
Dr Ruth Hartland walks into the waiting room of her trauma therapy offices and is shocked by who she sees there: a young man who, for a moment, looks exactly like her son, who has been missing for two years. But Dan Griffin is not Tom, despite the fact that Ruth – a professional with many accolades – has trouble separating the two in her mind. She should refer him to a colleague – but she doesn’t. Ruth’s decision will have consequences that will extend beyond the boundaries of her office and threaten to impact the rest of her life as well. This is a thriller with an exquisitely slow burn, thick with psychological tension and heartbreak.
Boxed by Richard Anderson
After being left by his wife, Dave Martin cares little for the world around him. His farm is a failure, his house is a mess, and he lives only for the boxed deliveries of cheap tools he orders online. But then more boxes start to arrive – ones that Dave hasn’t ordered – filled first with too much money to count, and then with something much more foreboding. Everyone around Dave wants the boxes desperately, and he’s dragged into a world he doesn’t understand but is now a part of nonetheless – a world of red herrings, good and bad guys, and friends he can and can’t trust. It’s a new state of chaos that will either pull Dave kicking and screaming back into the real world and real life; or remove him from it entirely.
Past Life by Dominic Nolan
One day, detective Abigail Boone leaves for work and does not come home. A few days later, she is found after what seems to have been a brutal, bloody showdown. She has her life, several injuries, and no memory. Now a stranger to her despairing husband and child, Boone’s only lead is the case she was working on the day she disappeared – Sarah, who has also disappeared in baffling circumstances. Defying her family and the police, Boone obsessively follows a deadly trail to the darkest edges of human cruelty. But even if she finds Sarah, will Boone ever be the same again? Boone’s journey further away from her old self is fascinating. This is a British crime drama that has really embraced psychological tension and thrills – not knowing what happened before, or what will happen next, is intoxicating.
The Flower Girls by Alice Clark-Platts
In another, claustrophobic, snow-bound thriller, Alice Clark-Platts weaves an icy, compelling story of woman with a new identity in a hotel by the sea. As young children, Rosie (now known as Hazel), together with her elder sister Laurel, abducted a two-year-old girl and tortured and murdered her. Christened by the media as ‘The Flower Girls’, Laurel was convicted and imprisoned, but Rosie was deemed too young and was given a new identity – Hazel. Now an adult, she’s staying in a windswept Devon hotel with her boyfriend and his young daughter, Georgie, when Georgie goes missing. The Flower Girls are about to hit headlines all over again.
