100 books like The Last Caretaker

Deb Rogers turns the classic “Florida Woman” meme on its head through her protagonist Jamie, a lost and desperate soul who winds up working at the bizarre Atlas Wildlife Refuge for macaques.

Three women in charge of the sanctuary soon seem to be creepy; they perform strange rituals and caution Jamie to avoid the medical lab. The novel’s setting, at the edge of the Ocala National Forest, immerses the reader in a tactile way into Jamie’s dark and ominous world. The plot races along at a fast clip and it avoids predictable twists, offering a fresh take on the story of a Florida woman whose mistake turned her into a viral punchline.

Readers will be rooting for Jamie to transform into a more empowered young woman. Think Carl Hiaasen meets Karen Russell.

The title isn’t kidding. This story—of a psychic thronged by the ghosts of the loathsome men who abused her in childhood—is one of the darkest books I’ve ever read.

I also found it incredibly funny, though the humor is black as ink. I love how, in its perverse way, is also becomes a story about recovering hope after profound trauma: one of the major themes in my own books.

The characters and setting in this story deliver as much realism as if the family moved in next door and invited me to dinner. Once I learned the mother hides a deadly past, I imagined myself looking out a window (a safe distance) while I watched the way she treated her family and everyone who opposed her chapter after chapter.

I enjoy Olsen’s novels, and this one (his first following many of his true-crime books) displays his ability to write authentic page-turners.

When I was a kid, I used to love W. Somerset Maugham short stories. Often they were about two strangers, usually men, meeting in a remote colonial outpost, and one of the two would then proceed to tell the other a strange, violent, heartbreaking, life-altering story that had happened to him or that he had witnessed. Mouth to Mouth, which I loved, reminded me of those stories.

I listened to it on audiobook, and the narration is pitch-perfect. This novel is about two men who meet at an airport when their plane is delayed. They go into a lounge, where one of them, a rich art dealer named Jeff, proceeds to tell the other his life story.

It’s gripping. I sat in my car after I got home so I could listen to the last twenty minutes.

This story has so many of my favorite things: cops, lawyers, murder, courtroom drama, and a sinister backstory that kept me unsettled and guessing throughout. Keera Duggan (former chess prodigy and district attorney) finds herself at her family’s firm defending the bad guys she used to convict. She views the world as one big chess match, which gives her the ability to see the whole board when she takes on her first murder case.

It’s a thinker, so no wading through pages of high-speed car chases and flying bullets—well, a couple of bullets. I enjoyed the way Dugoni moved his characters around, and kept me wondering how it would end.

And the end? It doesn't disappoint. I can’t wait for the next book.

This beautifully-written slow-burn mystery centers around a close-knit group of friends returning to campus for their ten-year reunion—one of the friends had been brutally murdered when they were students, but the true killer remains unknown.

I love the way the plot weaves in and out between past and present, revealing an expanding trail of secrets and lies. Winstead, another former academic, keeps the twists coming, culminating in an ending that is certain to astonish.

Linwood Barclay is a fellow Canadian crime writer who imagines terrifying scenarios and takes stories through startling twists and turns of non-stop tension and suspense better than most.

Stephen King is a big fan of his writing in the style of horrifying domestic thrillers. In The Accident, we meet the humble hard-working neighbour with an eight-year-old daughter who discovers his wife killed in a car accident. The police claim she was the drunk driver who was responsible for it.

Garber has to believe the evidence but starts to explore what really happened and learns that his friends and neighbours are involved with dangerous criminals who are prepared to kill to protect their illegal activities. 

I love a Dark Academia book that knows the world of academia intimately, and this thriller, which focuses on controversial Greek life at the University of Georgia, gets everything right.

Competition between students, peer pressure, department intrigues, and more come alive in this brilliant debut. This comes as no surprise, as Nossett, in addition to being an amazing writer, is herself a professor, and holds a PhD in German literature.

In addition to being a total page-turner, this enthralling novel highlights contemporary issues faced on college campuses, with an emphasis on ethical debates surrounding fraternities and sororities. Nossett’s characterization is excellent, and her determined, whip-smart, and yet imperfect protagonist, Detective Marlitt Kaplan, is one I rooted for, and you will, too.

I love the way that Archer turns the dry ins and outs of the workings of the British stock market into an adventure tale. I can’t quite believe how many explanations of market activities he manages to describe and explain in the simplest, most easy to understand terms. All while keeping the action going.

I learned from Archer what short selling is, how Ponzi schemes work, the meaning of insider trading, and how pump and dump schemes are set up and executed. I also learned how flawed the British financial markets were until their reform. A fascinating, highly entertaining romp through the city of London.

Riley Sager is one of my favorite authors, and this book is my favorite of all his books.

The secluded location? A speeding car. The main character, Charlie, needs to get home from college and shares a ride with a new acquaintance who may or may not be a serial killer. I loved the tension woven into each chapter, the slow unraveling of Charlie’s past, her suspicious fascination with classic movies, and the relentless, unexpected twists compounding in the end.

This is one of those books that has stuck in my mind and will probably be there forever.