To ask for your best unsettling/creepy author or book recommendations?

[bumblenbean]

Posting here for traffic (sorry!)

I need some new reading material as a distraction from the current shitty situation. Don’t have much time to trawl through amazon as juggling work and two toddlers, so was hoping the AIBU hive mind could assist!

I like a good creepy psychological thriller / crime fiction etc and am running out of authors to try.

I love Mo Hayder but she hasn’t written anything for a while. Also a fan of Sarah Hilary, Susan Hill, Tana French, Ruth Rendell, Tim Weaver...

There’s a lot out there billed as ‘creepy’ ‘disturbing’ ‘chilling’ etc but unfortunately a lot of it is so badly written / implausible / poorly plotted, so am looking for a new author to get my teeth into.

There was a great series by an author called Gillian White written years ago, though she doesn’t seem to have written anything for years and is a bit obscure; but if anyone knows her work and can recommend anything similar that would be great.

Any ideas welcome! 😁 TIA

@ghostylovesheets - Yes, John Connolly is a bloody good read. I must download some more of his.

Phil Rickman's Merrily Watkins series starting with Midwinter of the Spirit. Crime thrillers with a hint of the supernatural.

Thanks all, some great suggestions to check out!

I love the Charlie Parker series. I think JC’s earlier ones were the best - I loved his first few but they got a bit too weird for me after a while!

pauline I love Roald Dahl’s stuff - have you read Kiss Kiss? Collection of short stories - some seriously dark shit in there!

Yes! I can't remember which collections they're in, but the ones about the brain kept alive on its own, and the woman killing her husband with a lamb chop have stuck with me for years.

Karin Slaughter.

Turn of the Screw by Henry James

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

@DumbledoreSaidCalmly and then there were none! Scared the bejesus out of me. I remember the chair I was sitting in when I read it years ago, and remember how scary it was!! Agatha Christie at her finest!

Sweet audrina

the ones about the brain kept alive on its own

Brain in a vat! I’m sure that’s in there. And one about a woman that leaves her husband trapped in a lift in their house and goes on holiday knowing he’s going to starve 😱

@iklboo I came on here to recommend Laura Purcell - have you read Bone China? I just finished it and loved it!

Shirley Jackson - The Haunting Of Hill House and We Have Always Lived In The Castle.

Very unnerving and very well written.

Dark Matter by Michele Parver

Very atmospheric. The audio book is brilliant of this too

Dean kootze intensity
Had me checking that all the doors were locked

I really enjoyed Mr Todd’s Reckoning by Iain Maitland, which came out last year. It is a psychological thriller I suppose, sort of crime based but not a police procedural. Really unsettling, with an unreliable narrator which makes the whole thing extra creepy.

@FredericaBimmel - yes I read that one earlier this year. A bit different to the others but a real page turner.

Hidden Company by S E England was a good read too.

Just discovered John Connolly and love Nocturne - the short story collection. Also came on to say that I've also read a couple of Gillian White's books and really enjoyed them - good call OP!

puppy she’s great isn’t she! Damn it why did she stop writing?!!

Joyce Carol Oates, "Zombie". Fucking disturbing but really reels you in.

Michelle Paver! Seriously had to leave the landing light on at bedtime for a few nights after I finished dark matter...

Little Darlings by Melanie Golding
Sleep Pale Sister by Joanne Harris

Highly recommend Sharon Bolton if you like Tana French

@bumblebean maybe because she's 75! Who knew?!

MR James. All his short stories.
Susan Hill did a good job in The Woman in Black.
The Merrily Watkins series is good contemporary stuff, with a social dimension.