5 Dark Psychological Thrillers You Must Read

Written by Amber Khatri

Thrillers have always been my favorite and they are the reason I got into reading books. I love the suspense, unexpected twists, high-stakes, and fast-paced writing style. They keep me hooked to the stories. After I started bookstagram, I discovered so many new thrillers that I wouldn’t have known otherwise. Seeing dozens of popular titles made me want to check them out and some of them turned out to be amazing. 

I will recommend five dark psychological thrillers that will leave you stunned. They have characters that are disturbing in nature and their stories are very well written. I love when authors pull a clever plot with perfection and portray characters’ personalities in depth with their psychological flaws. And their spine-chilling narrative style is what builds suspense and grabs your attention. 

I’m sure most of these books I am recommending are very hyped, but that’s not the reason why I am recommending them. I read them out of curiosity and ended up really enjoying them in a sense that I was absorbed into the story. You must check them out if you are looking to read dark thrillers that will blow your mind and give you goosebumps.

Come With Me by Ronald Malfi

Come With Me takes you into a cold and haunting journey of grief-stricken Aaron Decker after his wife, Allison, gets killed in the gun shooting incident. Amongst her personal belongings, Aaron discovers a motel receipt where Allison stayed for two nights in his absence. Was the receipt an evidence of her infidelity or was she doing research on her article as a journalist? Not only that, he finds her secret chest in the closet that carries a gun, a list of names of girls, newspaper clippings, and disturbing drawings. This makes him question what she was hiding from him in all these years of marriage. Who was she behind her facade? If there was a risky murder case she was working on, then why didn’t she involve him? Aaron realizes everything she knew about Allison was far from the truth and he is determined to find out what she was up to. 

The Good Son by You-Jeong Jeong

Yu-jin awakens in his bed to find himself drenched in blood, clueless and baffled about what happened. He follows the trail of blood leading from his bedroom to the stairs of his duplex apartment, and discovers the dead body of his mother in a crimson pool on the kitchen floor. His brother calls him to ask about the missed call from their mother the night before, wondering if everything is fine. Yu-jin has no idea what happened last night and who murdered his mother. He suspects that he had a seizure again because he had been avoiding taking his medicine that his psychiatrist, also his aunt, prescribed him. He attempts to recall the events of the night before as he hides his mother’s dead body in the apartment to keep it a secret from his brother who may accuse him of murder or ask him questions that he has no answers to. 

Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak

Mallory Quinn takes a babysitting job offered by a couple, Ted and Caroline, for their five-year old son Teddy in a peaceful suburban region, Spring Brook, New Jersey. Prior to this, Mallory was admitted to rehab for drug addiction following a horrible incident in her past. When she meets Teddy, he immediately becomes fond of her and shares many of his drawings with her that are somewhat alarming in nature. But his parents claim that he is a gifted child and there is nothing to worry about. 

As Mallory spends more time with Teddy, his drawings not only become troubling and worrisome in content, but they become hyper-realistic sketches for someone to produce at his age. Mallory notices a narrative in the collection of his work, a portrayal of murder and hiding that murder. She begins to suspect that Teddy is haunted by a ghost who is communicating something through him. But is that the whole truth? Why are not the parents concerned about their son as Mallory is? What is she not told about?

The Push by Ashley Audrain 

Blythe Connor wants to be a good mother to her daughter Violet that her own mother wasn’t ever. When Violet is born, she tries to form a warm bond with her but somehow her daughter is naturally more fond of her father, Fox, than herself. As she grows older, Violet shows that she trusts her father and is more comfortable with him, which makes Blythe feel like she isn’t being a good mother. Silent treatment, emotional detachment, and manipulative attitude of Violet frustrates Blythe and she tells Fox that their daughter’s behavior is not normal. But Fox doesn’t believe her; he says that it is all in her head and she is mistaken. 

Day after day, Violet behaves strangely and even violently, and Blythe doesn’t feel safe and sane around her daughter anymore. No one believes that a child can do this to her own mother. Because of this, her marriage starts to fall apart and she is held responsible for it. Is Blythe really overthinking all this about her daughter? Or is her daughter manipulative? No one seems to have any problem with Violet besides Blythe.

The Break Down by B.A. Paris

Cass drives home from the party by taking a shortcut through the woods that her husband has warned against on a rainy night. In the woods, she spots a car parked with a woman inside. She wonders if the woman might be in need of help or if it is a dangerous trap for passersby. The next morning when Cass turns on the TV, the reel of a murder scene at the site from last night plays on the news channel. Was the woman in the car already dead when Cass saw her? Or someone murdered her afterwards? The worst is, the killer hasn’t been caught. Cass’ apprehension increases tenfold when she begins receiving mysterious phone calls and suspects someone is watching her. Has the killer seen her that night and is after her too? The paranoia makes her afraid of every doorbell, every person in the neighborhood, and every phone call.