56 books like Dead Inside

Why didn’t anyone think of it sooner? I’m guessing it took the excesses of the 1980s for a novelist to draw a direct connection between the psychopathic behavior of Wall Street traders and serial killing.

Greed and senseless violence are two vices that America seems to have something of a monopoly on, and this macabre tale, alternatively hilarious and disgusting, proves it. 

An engrossing read about a food critic’s life, bumpy career, and murders. There is death and consumption, sex and violence; there is depravity in the mundane. Sometimes voices sparkle, others pop off the page, and then there is Chelsea G. Summer’s Dorothy Daniels. She dug into my brain and picked at it like a scab. From the first page, Summers hooked me on a razor-sharp fishing line. Dorothy recounts stories like an old friend would—if your old friend would describe killing a man and her vagina in equal parts disturbing and eloquent language. There was disgust but also a sense of empowerment. I wanted all of her dirty little secrets. And oh, does Dorothy love to talk.

Scarlett Clark is a bi serial killer who kills bad men. Carly Schiller is a queer student who just escaped an abusive father. Their storylines are equally gripping, with moments of unexpected intensity in both lust and fear. Layne Fargo creates a world so grounded in reality that, as a woman, it was painful to read at times—micro-aggressions, normalized inappropriate touching. Fargo doesn’t exaggerate it, she just exposes it as part of the narrative. Better yet, she gives a glimmer of equalization in the form of Scarlett who focuses her urge to kill in a direction that’s easy to root for, to want to read. It was wanting a serial killer to go on with her work that made this book and Scarlett a standout.

The biggest strength of this book is a large spoiler, which is a shame. I’d love to gush about it. You (should you choose to read it) get to learn about it as the work unfolds, though. For that, I’m jealous. Who doesn’t love to enjoy something so fun for the first time? The choice of victims and the reason for the kills makes the serial killer so compelling I rooted for the detective to always be one step behind. I loved him, don’t get me wrong. He is flawed and damaged, and I wanted him to succeed eventually. Thomas Holgate makes it easy to do that—want them both to “win”—as both have a point-of-view. The book was fun, interesting, and just a little brutal. 

If You Tell reads like a fiction mystery novel. I wasn’t paying attention when I started reading this, and I thought it was fiction. When I realized this book was based on a true story it bewildered me. You hear stories about people, how horrible they can be, but this mother had to be a fictional character – she’s not. She will give you nightmares.

As any objective historian can tell you, there are very few spotless heroes in history, and very few villains whose wrongdoing isn't firmly rooted in the psychological and sociological forces that shaped them.

So I really admire writers who, like Kali Nicole Gross, take pains to put the bad actions of their subjects in the context of their time and circumstances. In this measured and nuanced account of a sensational 19th-century murder, Gross carefully examines Gilded Age attitudes toward race and gender, tracing their influence on the crime, its investigation, and its punishment.

The result is a book both scholarly and absorbing – not an easy feat for any author to pull off.

Mistaken identity, a deadly game, and confusing desires make for a fun read. This book was one of my instant favourites because of its sassy style and the female main character psycho-analysing the people around her because of her studies in psychology.

Rowan is determined to find her mother’s killer, but her plan falls apart when a demon kidnaps her and accuses her of being someone else.

I love the way she plays two roles as herself and her shadow self and how she uses that to play games with Orion, who may or may not want to kill her. It makes for a unique character and a very interesting story.

Not only did I laugh all the way through this rollicking novel, but I felt as if author Steve Toltz is a brother writer from a cousin muse to my own.

Angus Mooney, the protagonist, is a thief, a romantic, and a philosopher who is dedicated to the easier path of not learning or understanding anything. And, not a spoiler, he dies.

If you console yourself that a better life awaits you in heaven, or if you're resigned to life being painful, but after all, it's only temporary, and once it's over, it'll be over, think again.

In this shockingly inventive, wildly funny epic about one man's life, death, and beyond, you may have some epiphanies about existence in general and how you want to spend or squander your time.

I haven’t read a lot of Hill’s work, but this novel was entertaining. The movie adaptation left a lot to be desired, but we won’t talk about that. Ignatius Perrish wakes one morning and has horns growing on his head. His girlfriend was raped and murdered, and everyone thinks he did it. He tries to find the killer and his horns give him power over people’s behaviors. Townsfolk partake in all kinds of debauchery around him, but they still think he raped and murdered his girlfriend. This novel has a lot of symbolism and metaphor. I loved the absurdity and dark humor. I would not recommend this to your church-going grandmother.

I read a lot of Agatha Christie growing up and Ten by Gretchen McNeil is a modern And Then There Were None with a cast full of snarky teens with secrets stranded on an island with a killer who just might be one of them. I love a good mystery and this one had me at hello. Gretchen knows how to write a good twist and delivers such clever one-liners that I bet she would make an excellent script writer. This is the sort of book that plays in my head like a movie. I read it all in one go and stayed up way too late, but I regret nothing.