Top 10+ Best Psychological Thriller Books to Blow Your Mind

Welcome to Lifestyle Femina | Top 10+ Best Psychological Thriller Books to Blow Your Mind

I enjoy an excellent mystery-thriller novels, and psychological thrillers are probably my favorite subgenre. There’s something inherently wonderful about the genre’s convoluted plotlines and a plethora of suspicious characters. Psychological thrillers also go well with a full-bodied glass of red wine.

This list of the Best Psychological Thriller Books of All Time is arranged in reverse chronological order by year of release.

This list is comprised of a) my opinion, b) the opinions of my friends, c) reviews I’ve read, and d) web ratings.

I hope you find something to read here that keeps you entertained! Please leave a comment if you have any book recommendations to add to this list!

Top 10+ Best Psychological Thriller Books

1. The Wife Between Us by Sarah Pekkanen and Greer Hendricks
2. The Wife by Alafair Burke
3. Long Bright River by Liz Moore
4. Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha
5. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
6. We Were Never Here By Andera Bartz
7. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
8. The Disappearing Act by Catherine Steadman
9. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
10. The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine

Updated List of Best Psychological Thrillers Books

#1. The Wife Between Us by Sarah Pekkanen and Greer Hendricks

By the time this book came out in 2018, most of the psychological thriller trade’s tactics were well-known and stunning the reader took a great deal of talent. The idea of this tale seemed stodgy at first: Vanessa, the former wife of domineering, attractive Richard, is pursuing his new wife, Nellie, who is a younger counterpart of her.

Vanessa is bitter and broken, and you think you know where it’s going, but the literary combination of Pekkanen and Hendricks manages to surprise jaded readers by playing off their expectations from the start, then stacking many mind-bending discoveries. The book’s turns are remarkable, expertly manipulating time, perspective, and the cliche of the jealous, resentful first wife.

#2. The Wife by Alafair Burke

This gripping home thriller is full of surprising twists and turns that will have you on the edge of your seat. Angela meets Jason while catering an East Hampton dinner party, and the two quickly embark on a love affair of a lifetime… or so Angela believes. Six years after their wedding, Jason is a hugely successful novelist and cultural phenomenon, thrusting Angela into the spotlight. However, when a college intern accuses Jason of inappropriate conduct, and another woman, Kerry, accuses him of something far worse, their ideal existence begins to disintegrate.

Things get increasingly weirder when Kerry mysteriously vanishes. Angela must choose between believing two unknown ladies and her husband. This timely and disturbing narrative will both fascinate and perplex you.

#3. Long Bright River by Liz Moore

If you enjoy psychological thrillers with a dash of police procedural intrigue, this is the book for you. Long Bright River is the story of two separated sisters set in a Philadelphia neighborhood plagued by poverty and addiction: Mickey, who walks these hardscrabble streets on her police beat, and Kacey, who lives in the neighborhood while suffering from her addiction.

When Kacey goes missing amid a series of unexplained deaths, Mickey becomes anxious to find her sister before it’s too late. Long Bright River is an amazing novel that is both a riveting criminal thriller and a heartbreaking, neighborhood-level look at the opioid problem.

#4. Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha

Two families confront the decades-old crime that links them in a modern-day Los Angeles shaken by riots following the police shooting of a Black teenager. A Korean convenience store owner shot and murdered a Black teenager in the early 1990s; today, the shop owner’s daughter and the teen’s brother are on a collision course, with potentially disastrous consequences for their respective families. Cha creates a noirish thriller full of shocks with this deep drama about racism, the dysfunctional legal system, and vengeance.

#5. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

If you prefer a slower pace, this novel has also spawned a TV program that is accessible on Netflix. When Margaret Atwood is in charge, however, skipping the reading assignment is unforgivable. Alias Grace tells the actual story of gentle maid Grace Marks and the double murder she is accused of. The narrative is told from the perspective of a doctor who is attempting to make sense of criminal conduct and piece together the fragments of Grace’s character that comprise her crime. This tale, like The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, but set in a genuine historical era, is likely to satisfy genre fans.

#6. We Were Never Here By Andera Bartz

Emily and Kristen are having the time of their lives in Chile on their annual ladies’ trip. Emily comes to the hotel on the final evening and sees Kristen in possession of a body. Kristen claims that she murdered him in self-defense. Except that Emily experienced the same thing a year ago. When Emily’s sorrow over the cover-ups boils over, Kristen pays her a surprise visit, and Emily begins to wonder if she can trust her anymore.

#7. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

This is a beautiful period work by an all-time great female novelist, similar to Netflix’s comeback of Alias Grace. But that’s where the parallels end. Dr. Montague, a budding ghostbuster, and three of his pals, all of whom have had paranormal encounters, spend the summer at a reputedly haunted mansion. As predicted, things get scary.

Despite overtones of gothic horror from the eighteenth century in Shirley Jackson’s 1959 classic, the plot eventually turns into the realm of the psychological thriller as Jackson crafts ghosts whose pain mirrored that of her broken people.

#8. The Disappearing Act by Catherine Steadman

Up-and-coming Mia Eliot, a British actress, travels to Hollywood to recoup after a devastating breakup. Mia assists another actress at an audition but ends up with far more work than she anticipated. Mia swears Emily has changed since the last time they saw each other, but no one believes her.

#9. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Alicia Berenson, a talented painter, shoots her husband in the face five times one night and then refuses to talk to him again. While Theo Faber’s personal life is falling apart, he is anxious to learn the truth about his silent patient. The twist was well accomplished, but I considered this to be an exaggerated bestseller. Nonetheless, most readers would disagree after more than fifty weeks on the list.

#10. The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine

Amber Patterson is unnoticed by the rich residents of Bishops Harbor, Connecticut, owing to her lowly roots. She grows envious of her neighbor Daphne Parrish’s seemingly immaculate marriage and high-class lifestyle while watching her. Have you ever wished for a novel like The Talented Mr. Ripley, but more current, relevant, and terrifying? If so, you’ll like this cerebral thriller based on a female classic from 1955.

Share your Favourite Psychological Thrillers Books

Tell me about some of the finest psychological thrillers ever written.
In what way do you see that? How do you feel about the psychological suspense books I recommended? Any recommendations for more suspense novels I should add to my reading list? I was wondering which of the psychological thrillers I suggested was the most overrated in your opinion. Let us know what you think by commenting below.

Like this? Now Read:

How to Write a Book Review