Gone Girl
Amy and Nicke Dunne's seemingly perfect marriage takes a turn in Gillian Flynn's crime thriller when she disappears on their fifth wedding anniversary, leaving Nick with an endless thread of questions and reflections. But he’s not the only one.
The police suspect Nick on the basis of testimonies from Amy's friends, which state that she was afraid of her husband and kept secrets from him.
"There’s something disturbing about recalling a warm memory and feeling utterly cold."
A strange search history. Persistent calls on his phone. And a denial of every accusation. So, what did happen to Nick’s beautiful wife?
The Shining
"Here’s Johnny!"
And here's a classic too: legendary author Stephen King's beloved novel 'The Shining' follows the tale of the Torrance family — Jack, Wendy and their uniquely-gifted five-year-old son, Danny — who are spending the winter as caretakers at the isolated Overlook Hotel.
But the weather sets a chill, replacing Jack’s plans of connecting with his family and working on his writing, with strange and terrible forces around the Overlook, noticed only by Danny.
The Silent Patient
Yet another famed psychological thriller by Alex Michaelides. Alicia Berenson shoots her husband five times in the face, which renders her silent. No communication. No explanation. That is, until psychotherapist Theo Faber accepts a job at the Grove — a psychiatric unit in North London that houses Alicia.
"There’s so much pain everywhere, and we just close our eyes to it. The truth is we’re all scared. We’re terrified of each other."
What happened six years ago; the night that left her completely silent ever since? It’s time to find out why.
The Trees Grew Because I Bled There
"It's not long before I notice the unpleasant thoughts have subsided in my mind, flowering roots plucked from their beds of soil and dragged screaming."
Eight stories of literary dark fiction from the mind of a master storyteller: Eric LaRocca.
Watch — or read, rather — as darkness and shadows burrow into the lives of a woman who imagines scenarios sparked with horror while caring for her infant niece, a couple left cut by an incident at the park, a father and son, among others.
Notes on an Execution
Ansel Packer is scheduled to die in twelve hours. And he knows why.
In 'Notes on an Execution', three women in his life weave Ansel's story together. His mother: pushed to desperation. His wife's twin sister: witness to an all-consuming relationship. The homicide detective: tailing behind his sequence of crimes.
"I wonder about choices. How we resent them, and how we regret them — even as we watch them grow."
Author Danya Kukafka narrates this tale of tragedy and suspense with commentaries on womanhood and the American serial killer, asking readers to consider the false promise of looking for meaning in the psyches of violent men.
The Haunting of Hill House
"Am I walking toward something I should be running away from?"
This is just one of the several questions embedded in Shirley Jackson's ‘'The Haunting of Hill House', a psychological thriller that traces four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House.
Dr. Montague searches for solid evidence of the paranormal, assisted by light-hearted Theodora. Eleanor, as friendless and fragile as ever, is finding her feet alongside the poltergeists. And finally, Luke: the future heir of Hill House.
What first seems harmless and inexplicable morphs into something else. Something deeply disturbing. Something that forces the four to confront their darkest fears.
Something is at work in Hill House, and soon, it will choose to make one of them its own.
The Girl on the Train
The final thriller on this list is authored by Paula Hawkins, titled 'The Girl on the Train'.
Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She catches daily glimpses of a seemingly perfect couple, Scott and Megan, from the window — "Jess and Jason," she calls them. Like clockwork. But something stops the ticking.
She is layered with struggles to come to terms with her divorce and overcome her alcoholism. However, through her jaded view of the world beyond the windows of her train, she sees something shocking.
"I have lost control over everything, even the places in my head."
