The best psychological thriller book reviews. Psychological thrillers include a wide-ranging list of themes, including crimes committed by mentally disturbed individuals, the often blurry line between reality and fantasy, and a variety of psychologically suspenseful situations.
With more than 100 novels published and a reported 450 million novels sold, is it any wonder that Dean Koontz is one of the most popular writers of all time? Koontz is listed at #2 overall in Amazon’s Author Rank, behind only the inimitable J.K. Rowling. But if you’re new to Koontz’s work, where do you start? Koontz’s books are primarily thrillers, but commonly incorporate …
The Bottom Line: A pulse-pounding dark psychological thriller that will awaken your inner survivalist. In sessions with her school counselor, Patty, a teenager, describes a monster who comes to her at night. He seems so real that she can smell his sweat. “These are real to you,” the naive counselor explains, “But even you call them dreams or visions or nightmares.” Author Dale Ward needn’t …
Killing the Butterfly, a Pulse-Pounding Psychological Thriller by Dale Ward READ MORE >
The Bottom Line: A provocative, smoldering small town romantic suspense thriller that fans of Big Little Lies will love. Each summer, high school sisters Bella and Mia Hughes work in their family’s lakeside resort in Minnesota. After hours, they spend their time hanging out with a close circle of friends and flirting with boys on the lake. But their idyllic summer existence comes to an …
Woman Over the Edge, a Smoldering Small Town Romantic Suspense Thriller READ MORE >
The Bottom Line: A winning blend of psychological thriller and sci-fi that is simultaneously captivating, eerie and moving. Fifteen years after a car accident destroyed her eyesight and her family, 30-year-old Emily Warner regains her vision through a miraculous cornea transplant. It’s actually her second procedure. The first was a failure, and not just because her body rejected the donation. Shortly after the operation, Emily …
Eyewitness, a Captivating Psychological Thriller by T.R. Folsom READ MORE >
The Bottom Line: Horror with heart. Treat yourself to this gloriously balanced, memorable and terrifying head trip. Tech executive Johnny Hawk is rebooting his life. He’s decided to divorce his cheating wife, cash out of the company he co-founded, and embark on a cross-country journey to see his best friend in Los Angeles. Not long after leaving Indiana in “Madeline,” a 1963 Jaguar that has …
The Tooth Fairy, a Highly Recommended Horror Novel by Davide Tarsitano READ MORE >
The Bottom Line: An exacting, imaginative crime thriller that does wonders with the development of its singular heroine. Highly recommended. Dorian Box’s third Emily Calby series book comes full circle, as the now 20-year-old is gearing up to become an attorney. Series fans have followed Emily since she was a 12-year-old whose family was murdered in The Hiding Girl. Along the way, Emily discovers that …
Target: The Girl, a Highly Recommended Crime Thriller by Dorian Box READ MORE >
The Bottom Line: Honored in the Best Thriller Book Awards as the Best Psychological Thriller of 2021. When two predators come to 12-year-old Emily Calby’s home asking to siphon gasoline, she immediately senses what her mother does not – their lives are in imminent danger. Only Emily escapes. Armed with extraordinary powers of perception and five-thousand dollars that her father had stashed in the garage, …
The Hiding Girl, The Year’s Best Psychological Thriller READ MORE >
The Bottom Line: The Road meets Divergence in this compelling and brutal dystopian tale of survival. In a world of vanquished and crushed souls reeling from devastating viral outbreaks, Alison is doing her best to navigate an existence that has seen the brutal destruction of her husband and daughter as well as most animals, save for a few wild dogs. On the devastated Norfolk coast …
Sometimes I Disappear, a Highly Satisfying Dystopian Tale by Steve Attridge READ MORE >
In T.J. Newman’s new thriller, a commercial aircraft pilot is leaving his home just as a repairman shows up to fix the Internet. He doesn’t give it much thought, distracted by his wife’s ire over the fact that he’s missing his son’s game. What neither of him understand is that the repairman is in fact a psychopath who has already blackmailed the pilot’s colleague to …
Falling, a Must-Read Psychological Thriller by T.J. Newman READ MORE >
The Bottom Line: An expertly paced psychological thriller on the high seas. As Furious begins, surgeons Dr. Dagny Steele and her husband, Brad, are grieving the loss of their daughter. Dagny seems to resent how quickly Brad has returned to normalcy, while Brad wants her to move on with her life. He also has a surprise: he’s leased a 62-foot yacht that the two of …
Furious, an Excellent Psychological Thriller on the High Seas READ MORE >
