Here are 100 books that The Housemaid fans have personally recommended if you like
The Housemaid.
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My name is Tim O’Leary and two of my books, Dick Cheney Shot Me in the Face–And Other Tales of Men in Pain and Men Behaving Badly, emanate from the minds of protagonists trying to do the right thing the wrong way or evil characters doing the wrong thing they believe to be right. I’m particularly drawn to those wonderful literary psychopaths that draw you in with compelling personalities, while reviling the reader with their heinous actions.
Ripley is iconic, with multiple film adaptations, including a very good current series on Netflix that takes a few liberties with the original book yet makes it work well.
The book is a perfect example of how a talented writer can create a “slow burn” via a character that grows more compelling, even as their true evil is unmasked.
It's here, in the first volume of Patricia Highsmith's five-book Ripley series, that we are introduced to the suave Tom Ripley, a young striver seeking to leave behind his past as an orphan bullied for being a "sissy." Newly arrived in the heady world of Manhattan, Ripley meets a wealthy industrialist who hires him to bring his playboy son, Dickie Greenleaf, back from gallivanting in Italy. Soon Ripley's fascination with Dickie's debonair lifestyle turns obsessive as he finds himself enraged by Dickie's ambivalent affections for Marge, a charming American dilettante, and Ripley begins a deadly game. "Sinister and strangely alluring"…
I am Casey Kelleher, a crime writer and author of 17 novels. I have always been a complete and utter bookworm, but my true passion is crime and psych thrillers. Most of my stories concentrate on the victim–or, as I prefer to call them, the survivor. That’s who I champion in my stories, highlighting the strength of that person who has overcome whatever harsh reality that’s been forced upon them. But I also like to get inside the perpetrator’s head. I want to know the ‘whys’ of what they do. Psychology is very complex, but I do believe that there can be good and bad/darkness and light in all of us.
This book really set the bar for me in terms of psych thrillers. It has an ingenious plot and is one of the first genuinely shocking ‘Twist you don’t see coming’ books.
This book is so well-crafted, deliciously dark and manipulating, and, of course, so well-written. I was invested in both the main characters and constantly changed my mind about who I was routing for and what the truth really was. Bravo!
THE ADDICTIVE No.1 BESTSELLER AND INTERNATIONAL PHENOMENON OVER 20 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE THE BOOK THAT DEFINES PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER
Who are you? What have we done to each other?
These are the questions Nick Dunne finds himself asking on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, when his wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police suspect Nick. Amy's friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn't true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they weren't made by him. And then there are the persistent calls on…
The dark side has fascinated me since I was a child. I've always had a love for the villains in movies and books. I particularly like Alfred Hitchcock's thrillers. Because the tension is not created through bloodshed but through twists and psychology. As a full-time thriller writer, I write my stories in such a way that my main character has to overcome the dangers on their own, mostly without the help of the police. I live in Germany, but I grew up with stories from the USA. If you like stories with a twist, feel free to check out my recommendations, which also feature two German authors.
This was my first book by Colleen Hover because the blurb immediately appealed to me.
I love stories about female writers. I immediately sympathized with her unsuccessful career and was happy that she received an exciting job offer. And then immediate skepticism that everything couldn't be going smoothly there. The fear came slowly and made me look ever deeper into the abyss.
I read the book before going to sleep, which meant I stayed up late.
OVER 3 MILLION COPIES SOLD - THE NO.1 BESTSELLER AND TIKTOK SENSATION, FROM THE AUTHOR OF IT ENDS WITH US Are you ready to stay up all night? Rebecca meets Gone Girl in this shocking, unpredictable thriller with a twist that will leave you reeling . . .
Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.
As a writer of suspense/thrillers and psychological thrillers, I’ve always loved thrillers and suspense books where I can’t guess the ending. And this list of books is additionally close to my heart because of the way they made me feel when I read them: breathless; restless to know how they were going to end; and most of all, they made me think about and question the psychology of the characters. I hope you will like them as much as I did!
This book kept me on the edge of my seat, biting my nails, and err… made me forget to go to sleep. This book to me is the epitome of books that make you go wait, what??
I want to highlight the menacing ambiance and constant edge in the tone of the story by giving the character such vulnerability that made me squirm. I loved the pacing of this story as the main character is hurled from the one bad situation into another.
Yet again, this book taught me to re-think assumptions, because it proved all of them wrong. I love the uniqueness of this trope especially when it first came out but the originality of it captivated me entirely.
My new thriller centers around a small, mysterious cult and their shocking demise. For years, I’ve read true crime books on the subject, and I wanted to infuse the reality and truth of real-life events into my fictional novel. In a similar vein, these books represent a range of thrillers inspired by true events, ranging from cults to serial killers to teenage criminals. I hope you find these books as gripping and haunting as I do.
I’m fascinated by the in-depth character development and details in this book. The film is a classic, but I think the book is even better. Many people think of Hannibal Lecter as the obvious villain of Silence of the Lambs, forgetting that Clarice and the FBI were seeking his guidance to find “Buffalo Bill,” a fictional serial killer attacking women.
Buffalo Bill is an amalgamation of real serial killers, including Ted Bundy, Ed Gein, and Gary Heidnik. By cherry-picking the methods and traits of real killers, I think Harris created a truly terrifying villain. I find the characters, and especially the villain, to be rooted in reality, making them stick in your mind long after the last page.
As part of the search for a serial murderer nicknames "Buffalo Bill," FBI trainee Clarice Starling is given an assignment. She must visit a man confined to a high-security facility for the criminally insane and interview him.
That man, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, is a former psychiatrist with unusual tastes and an intense curiosity about the darker corners of the mind. His intimate understanding of the killer and of Clarice herself form the core of Thomas Harris' The Silence of the Lambs--an unforgettable classic of suspense fiction.
I am Annette Joseph, a writer and food stylist. I spend most of the year at our twelfth-century fortress in northern Tuscany. I have written six books, three cookbooks, and two memoirs about life in Italy. We run private retreats on the grounds. My book My Italian Guestbook is based on these retreats. Writing about everything around me in Italy gives me great pleasure.
When a husband from a wealthy family is shot in front of her, his wife goes on a tirade that has you invested in the story from the first page. Chocked with well-described characters, this story is driven by love and loss, from the cold and calculating mother-in-law to the sympathetic brother-in-law.
A wife’s journey to find her husband's killer will have you constantly guessing. This book is full of twists and turns, with a twist at the end that leaves you spinning.
STOP PRESS NEWS! NOW A SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER, AND OPTIONED FOR FILM WITH JULIA ROBERTS TO STAR IN AND PRODUCE
If your husband was murdered And you were a witness How do you explain it when he appears on your nanny cam? You thought you trusted him. Now you can't even trust yourself.
Dark secrets and a terrifying hunt for the truth lie at the heart of this gripping new thriller by the 'master of the double twist', Harlan Coben.
Human psychology – particularly the “abnormal” kind – has always fascinated me, enough to study the topic at university. What makes us tick? Why do seemingly ordinary people commit terrible crimes? Psychological crime thrillers allow me to explore our dark side further, and I sprinkle nuggets from that research throughout my novels.
Memories and relationships may appear in disguise. Stories are our way of sharing our experiences – the ones too intense and intimate to express in other ways.
Born and raised in South Africa, I now live in Israel with my wife and daughters. When I’m not writing my next thriller, you’ll find me writing computer code and generally being curious about the world.
It’s every author’s worst nightmare. You’ve just discovered that a famous author has a book that sounds uncannily similar to your new and unpublished masterpiece. Yikes!
Dugoni’s series starter featured a feisty female detective investigating her sister’s past murder. I had to read it. Thankfully, that’s where the similarities ended. The novel is a gripping read with meticulous forensic details and an expertly laid twist. And both our stories warn against the dangers of old secrets. Are some doors better left closed?
The first book in the series that has garnered millions of readers across the globe, from New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni.
Tracy Crosswhite has spent twenty years questioning the facts surrounding her sister Sarah's disappearance and the murder trial that followed. She doesn't believe that Edmund House-a convicted rapist and the man condemned for Sarah's murder-is the guilty party. Motivated by the opportunity to obtain real justice, Tracy became a homicide detective with the Seattle PD and dedicated her life to tracking down killers.
When Sarah's remains are finally discovered near their hometown in the northern Cascade mountains…
I’ve been obsessed with murder mysteries and psychological thrillers for as long as I can remember. My father’s bookshelves were full of anthologies on serial killers, which piqued my curiosity at a very early age (probably too early, but we’re not here to judge my dad’s parenting skills, okay?). As I familiarized myself with the likes of Ed Gein, Jeffrey Dahmer, Charles Manson, and John Wayne Gacy, I became enthralled by the psychology behind what makes people commit heinous acts. Now as an author myself, these same stories fuel my inspiration and keep me motivated to write books that further explore the darker side of human nature.
This book helped me get out of a years-long reading slump. Once I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down, racing to find out what would happen next. Every time I thought I had it all figured out, I was pulled in the opposite direction, ultimately coming to a satisfying ending that was completely unexpected.
From the character development to the tightly woven plot to the author’s lyrical writing style, I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone who enjoys a gripping murder mystery-psychological thriller hybrid.
She thought the murders had stopped. She was wrong.
'A smart, edge-of-your-seat story with plot twists you'll never see coming' Karin Slaughter
'Spectacular' Daily Mail
'Tense, twisty and threatening, A Flicker in the Dark will make you abandon your box sets' Val McDermid
The instant New York Times bestseller, soon to be a major TV series, developed by Emma Stone
Chloe Davis' father is a serial killer. He was convicted and jailed when she was twelve but the bodies of the girls were never found, seemingly lost in the surrounding Louisiana swamps. The case became notorious and Chloe's family was…
I’m a certified crime junkie beginning with Helter Skelter and, more recently, FBI profiler Jack Douglas’ Mindhunter. This genre is a passion, but here’s the kicker, I started my writing journey in Western historical romance. I know, right? Then I had this wild idea: a psychologist who’s got a secret – her mother is a notorious serial killer on death row, and someone is imitating her crimes. Just like that A Killer’s Daughter was born! Now I’m always reading and listening to thrillers and true crime podcasts. Check out my newsletter to see what’s grabbing me.
I had the opportunity to listen to Karin Slaughter speak at the Bouchercon Conference in St. Pete, Florida and this was her new release.
The book sounded wonderful, and my signed copy is on my keeper shelf. Pieces of Her has a crazy, explosive opening and breakneck pace with questions that pile on questions, and we hold on for dear life. I was so enthralled by this story that I bought a second copy for a friend and put it in her hands saying, “You have to read this.” She loved it and so did Netflix because it is now a series.
Human psychology – particularly the “abnormal” kind – has always fascinated me, enough to study the topic at university. What makes us tick? Why do seemingly ordinary people commit terrible crimes? Psychological crime thrillers allow me to explore our dark side further, and I sprinkle nuggets from that research throughout my novels.
Memories and relationships may appear in disguise. Stories are our way of sharing our experiences – the ones too intense and intimate to express in other ways.
Born and raised in South Africa, I now live in Israel with my wife and daughters. When I’m not writing my next thriller, you’ll find me writing computer code and generally being curious about the world.
I don’t like blood. That may surprise readers. My novels don’t dwell on gore, but I’ve written my share of grisly murders. (Maybe it’s just my blood that disturbs me?)
Anyway, a few years ago I found myself hospitalized overnight and in desperate need of a distraction. Barelli’s book caught my attention. (A writer who’s just killed her mentor/friend? Perfect!) The story transported me from that miserable ward to a murderous character’s fictional world. Who said crime doesn’t pay?
The book taught me the allure of a criminal protagonist and the healing power of thriller escapism. And it sparked an idea for another book. (Hm. Can you see a pattern developing here?)
If you were asked to put your name to a novel you didnt write, would you?Meet Emma Fern, celebrated author of a literary best-seller, adored by legions of fans everywhere, shortlisted for the prestigious Poulton Prize. But it wasnt always this way, a year earlier you would have met Emma Fern, unremarkable beige wife, running a small housewares store, thinking of starting a family. And maybe it wasnt the perfect life, but to Emma, it was pretty close.But when Emma meets Beatrice, the doyenne of crime fiction and Emmas favorite writer, life suddenly becomes a lot more exciting. Then Beatrice…
