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Is there a gripping psychological thriller?

57 replies

1wokeuplikethis · 07/07/2015 16:07

Can anyone recommend one to me please? I'm fed up!

I've just finished the lie and thought it was blah. Rambly and kind of immature in style.

Prior to that I read girl on the train and really liked it.

Also really enjoyed the magpies.

Hated before I go to sleep.

Thought gone girl was a bit cack.

I seem to go against the grain of most people! If Amazon reviews are anything to go by.

I'm fed up of feeling deflated after finishing a book. I want something gripping, chilling, unputdownable, mysterious, with decent dialogue and not rambley descriptions. Does it exist and If so, what is it called?

Thanks

OP posts:
bettysviolin · 07/07/2015 16:12

Have you read any Alex Marwood or Sarah Hilary? Marwood's The Wicked Girls is brilliant. Quite complex plot as it follows two different lives in childhood and in present so hops around a lot but it is so clever. Both of them are fast paced writers. Hilary is quite creepy.

Also Belinda Bauer is atmospheric. If you haven't read Blacklands you must.

have you read the best USA thrillers like Harlen Coben's Tell No One (best thriller ever imho) and Linwood Barclay's No Time To Say Goodbye. If you like Girl on a Train you'll love them. (I agree with you about Gone Girl and BIGTS. Both meh.)

PiercedMrsL · 07/07/2015 16:14

I've just finished "An Impossible Dilemma" by Netta Newbold and found it to be very chilling and unputdownable. So much so that I've just binge read it Grin it was either free or very cheap from the kindle store (if you read on kindle that is)
I can always have a look through stuff that I've read recently for recommendations if you want, I'm a complete bookworm :)

MonstrousRatbag · 07/07/2015 17:48

'I Was Dora Suarez' by Derek Raymond
'The Stain on the Snow' by Georges Simenon
'Her Last Call to Louis McNeice' and 'London Boulevard' by Ken Bruen
'Others of My Kind' by James Sallis
'Midnight Plus One' by Gavin Lyall

and justabout anything by Eric Ambler, if you like period settings-he wrote in the 40s and 50s, but his stuff does not feel dated. 'The Mask of Demetrios' and 'Journey Into Fear' are excellent. There are loads more.

Or, have a look at the website for No Exit Press, www.noexit.co.uk, which publishes a couple of the ones I recommended and loads more good stuff.

DuchessofMalfi · 07/07/2015 18:01

yy to Betty's recommendation of Blacklands by Belinda Bauer. It's the first in a trilogy, so if you like Blacklands follow it up with Dark Side and Finders Keepers.

I'm currently reading Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer, which I'm enjoying, but with its graphic descriptions of dissecting cadavers at medical school, it's not one for the fainthearted :o

SirVixofVixHall · 07/07/2015 18:06

I have really loved two from Persephone books, not thrillers quite, but crime. "Harriet" by Elizabeth Jenkins is unputdownable, and tragic. "Still missing" by Beth Gutcheon is brilliant. Both beautifully written and very well worth reading.

1wokeuplikethis · 07/07/2015 18:11

Thanks for the recommendations so far, I will certainly be ploughing through the download a sample option on my kindle tonight.

Blacklands will be first.

I will know if I like the way it's written by the first couple of chapters and go from there. I'm not very patient when it comes to books- as an English literature graduate (many moons ago) I have read my fill of 'required' books and simply like reading for pleasure now.

OP posts:
MrsEricBana · 07/07/2015 18:24

What about Disclaimer by Renee Knight? Similar style to The Girl on the Train but I thought it was better.

Clueing4looks · 07/07/2015 18:40

Mo Hayder - the treatment or pig island
mark billinghams 'Thorne' series (starts with sleepyhead)
mark gimenz - the abduction

Hygge · 07/07/2015 19:56

The two Paula Daly books are good. The first is What Kind of Mother Are You? and the second is Keep Your Friend's Close.

I enjoyed both and lent them to my Mum, who keeps ringing me up to say "Tell me what happens…no, don't!"

I just recommended Can't Let Go by Jane Hill on another thread, it's about a woman receiving threatening anonymous letters regarding something she did twenty years earlier.

I also recommended Nicci French, although I prefer the older books that aren't part of a series, but the series books are good too.

A Kind of Intimacy by Jenn Ashworth is good, a little different to the ones you have mentioned but the creepiness builds up and the main character is very well written.

The Collector by John Fowles. It's an old book but a gripping one.

Fridaysbookworm · 07/07/2015 20:16

I have just finished reading 'I let you go' by clare mackintosh and found it really gripping/couldn't put it down till id finished

1wokeuplikethis · 07/07/2015 21:13

I am bookmarking this page in my internet until I've tried every recommendation on here.

Thanks everyone!

OP posts:
Feenie · 07/07/2015 21:23

Hygge, Paula Daly has another one coming out on 27th August, selfishly too late for my holiday!

Hygge · 07/07/2015 21:42

Thank you Feenie, I've added it to my wish list now. Smile

Feenie · 07/07/2015 22:24

Added Can't Let Go to mine!

Feenie · 07/07/2015 22:25

Ooh, added A Kind of Intimacy too, sounds really good.

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 07/07/2015 22:29

The Wicked Girls is excellent.

Feenie · 07/07/2015 22:30

The Safest Place and This Perfect World by Suzanne Bugler are both very good, OP.

ashtrayheart · 07/07/2015 22:36

'The playdate' by Louise Millar was very good, I've just downloaded 'the hidden girl' by the same author. I love easy read psychological thrillers.

jenenberry · 07/07/2015 22:43

Also bookmarking. I love these threads.

IDoAvocado · 07/07/2015 22:50

Closer than you think - Karen Rose

StaircaseAtTheUniversity · 07/07/2015 22:54

Marking place for ideas.

JillBYeats · 07/07/2015 23:02

"The Safest Place" by Suzanne Bugler
"Unravelling Oliver" by Liz Nugent
Anything by Linwood Barclay or Harlan Coben
"I am Pilgrim" Terry Hayes

DuchessofMalfi · 08/07/2015 06:31

Can't see that anyone has mentioned Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes. Forgot to add this one yesterday - I read it from someone else's recommendation and thought it utterly gripping and quite chilling. Much much better than Before I Go to Sleep, which I didn't really like either.

Pussycatbow · 08/07/2015 06:41

Try something vintage, like Patricia Highsmith (The Talented Mr Ripley).

hackmum · 08/07/2015 08:27

I like the Nicci French books. And there are loads of them, so if you enjoy the first one, they'll keep you busy for a while. I would try Killing Me Softly or Beneath the Skin to start.