The best thrillers with morally gray female protagonists

Years before Gone Girl became a huge sensation, I stumbled upon an online interview with Flynn hosted by the 92nd Y in Manhattan, a place I visited myself while studying English Literature in New York.

She spoke about how she wanted to write real, complex, and morally gray female characters which weren't particularly popular at the time.

This inspired her to write Libby Day, the messy, troubled, and snarky protagonist of Dark Places. I rushed to read the book right away. And then I was hooked.

This is exactly the type of female character I wanted to write: some who struggles but isn’t a damsel, someone who has values but isn’t a princess, someone who is tough and determined but not a female version of a male action hero. 

As an avid horror fan, not much creeps me out. This book did.

The story follows Merry, a young girl who is certain her teenage sister, Marjorie is possessed. Soon her religious parents believe Marjorie is possessed as well and invite a film crew to document the strange happenings in their home and an attempted exorcism.

The details of this alleged possession are terrifying, especially told from the perspective of a nine-year-old girl.

But just when you think you understand what happened with their family, the last few pages turn the tables on you and cause you to question what Merry has told you, how good of a person she actually is, and ask yourself how responsible could a child be in this horrific circumstance. 

While The Swallows deals with an unsettling subject matter, Lutz tells the story with a light-hearted voice and bits of humor which made reading this book an enjoyable experience for me.

The novel follows the teachers and students at an elite boarding school where a secret club of male students subject the girls to an upsetting sexual contest.

Previous attempts to disband or expose this club in the school’s past have been unsuccessful which makes our two main characters, rebellious student, Gemma and creative writing teacher, Alex even more determined to stop the sexual harassment and coercion of female students.

Both Gemma and Alex make some mistakes and morally questionable choices in their pursuit of the truth but they show relentless grit and determination in the name of justice. 

This novel is exactly what I look for in a thriller.

It’s fast-paced, filled with twists, and full of complex female characters.

The Howell Family is forced to move from California to Brooklyn for the husband’s job. Wife and mother, Nora is tasked with setting up their new home and getting her two teen daughters settled into their new schools.

However, she discovers their new Brownstone was the site of a grisly murder of an entire family in the 1990s. Soon one of the daughters notices someone stalking her and their house causing the family to fear the killer has returned.

But Nora isn’t the helpless stay-at-home mother everyone thinks she is as she goes through great lengths including hiding a dark past to keep her family safe. 

What I love about this book is every character is morally gray.

Some are much worse than others as the reader will see at the end of the novel but no one is a perfect saint either. The three main female characters are Julia, the bride having a lavish wedding on a remote island, her sister Olivia, a mentally fragile teen girl, and the hard-working wedding planner, Aoife.

As the story unfolds, you see how these women have been hurt by the men in their lives and their reactions to it.

Some violence occurs but you’re left to question whether such a punishment was appropriate for such a horrible person. Foley allows the readers to know the flaws of her characters while never using her narration to condemn them.

In a sense, she allows them to be human.