Psychological thrillers...please help

[Ollifer]

I'm getting a bit fed up of reading the same kind of thing. I absolutely love Psychological thriller type things. However, every single book I've read recently or looked at has been the main character as a very beautiful woman with a handsome wealthy husband, big house, perfect children, normally has a job as a freelance author or illustrator, bla bla bla. I would like something that's a bit different because it seems to be done over and over again and I find it very hard to relate to the main character/victim when they seem so far away from who I am or the people I know! Not sure if that makes sense but if anyone has any ideas id be grateful.

Barbara Vine ( Ruth Rendell) is the original and best, nothing comes close. A Fatal Inversion is my favourite.

Anything by whatserface. Patricia highsmith

Or that series about the detective in the cathedral close by Susan hill. Like Morse

The last house on needless street and Arriety are 2 I have recently read that I enjoyed

the silent patient- bit of a marmite one but i really liked it.

Thanks all, given me some things to check out. :) love Mumsnet I tried googling but didn't know how to word it

Blood orange can't remember who it's by but it was definitely psychotic!
The strike series by Robert Galbraith are also good but more mainstream.

I second Barbara Vine and Ruth Rendell's non Wexford books (though they are good as detective stories).

Yes yes to Ruth Rendell and her “nom de plume” Barbara Vine. She is the queen of dark, twisty psychological thrillers. Characters are all deeply flawed and complex. Recommend:

A Fatal Inversion
Going Wrong
A dark adapted eye
The lake of darkness
A judgement in stone

They are sooooo good - I feel envious that you have them to discover!

I also like Sabine Durant - good at the unreliable narrator genre. Erin Kelly quite good also - she is very open to her major influence being Ruth Rendel and I think she does a pretty good job in her books

I am currently reading The Locked Door by Freda McFadden which may meet your brief.

I quite enjoy Lisa Jewell

Also recommend Ruth Rendell / Barbara Vine
Susan Hill detective series
PD James
Have not found so many very recent thriller writers that i constantly enjoy

The Housemaid series?

Tana French's Dublin murder squad series is very good.

I’ve recently read The Optician’s Wife and Dirty Liar - both psychological thrillers but without White Company style main characters 😂

I'm reading a Barbara Vine that I hadn't come across before. She really was the best!

I agree that many of the modern ones are seriously overhyped and formulaic.

I quite enjoy the Lucy Foley books, and Peter May's Enzo Macleod series

Shamelessly place marking to follow up on some of these!

Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent.
Horrific in detail but compulsive reading.

I also love a psychological thriller. I recently read:

The eye collector (sounds like a gore fest but it’s not, I quiet enjoyed it) by Sebastian Fitzek

Sweet Dreams by Anders Roslund

The last girl to die by Helen Fields

Profile K by Helen Fields

The couple next door by Shari Lapena

The Nurse by Valerie Keogh

The Midwife Murders by James Patterson

All good reads but the Helen Fields books were real page turners for me.

I read all 3 of the housemaid series in one sitting as I was genuinely intrigued by the books and couldn’t put them down - they do hit some of your cliches but not in the way you would expect them to. I’m now into the locked door and I’m also enjoying that, might be worth having a little look into

"The Silent Patient" by Alex Michaelides
"Sharp Objects" by Gillian Flynn
"You" by Caroline Kepnes
"Before I Go to Sleep" by S.J. Watson
"The Girl Before" by JP Delaney
"Eileen" by Ottessa Moshfegh
"Dark Places" by Gillian Flynn