“Sometimes, when you wear a mask too long, you find it sticks to the skin.”
-J. P. Delaney, Believe Me
Tag: psychological suspense
Darkness
She could only see the soft glow of the lantern ahead of her. It was disquieting. She’d always loved the darkness, but tonight it felt unsettling. Fear of the dark was one of the most widespread fears, she remembered reading once.
As she hurriedly moved along the street, her hoodie pulled tightly around her body, she felt the shadows shift. She shivered and kept her gaze straight ahead. She didn’t have that much further to go. Just a few more corners.
Then she left the cover of the streetlight. The paths darkened again. There was no lantern around here, but she’d always thought that was the cool part of her journey. No one could see her, as though she were a part of this darkness. Not tonight. Tonight the darkness was even darker and she was no longer a part of it.
She thought back to their argument. She couldn’t even remember how it had started. Who had started it. But it didn’t matter anymore.
All that mattered was that she had to get away from him.
She thought she was almost safely at home when she heard the footsteps behind her. She broke into a run.
©2018
Image from free photo stock Pixabay.com
“Pain is very useful. It warns you of danger, teaches you of hazards and provides consequences for your actions.”
-Lisa Gardner, Fear Nothing
6/5 Stars for Lisa Jackson’s: Shiver!
Wow! I just finished reading Shiver by Lisa Jackson and it is amazing!! I thought I basically knew what was going on during the entire book, but I turned out to be SO wrong..!
This book definitely deserved six out of five stars!! 🙂
Top Psychological Suspense Thriller Writers
Hey my dear readers!
I have decided to compile a list of psychological suspense writers that I absolutely LOVE and that I want to recommend to you.
So here goes:
Starting off as my very favourite writer, we have Lisa Gardner.
I cannot emphasise enough how her plot twists still surprise me, even though I have read so many of her books. Crash and Burn had me on the edge of my seat, constantly thinking I knew what was going on, just to find out that I was completely wrong. I also love how complex the main characters are. Though Lisa Gardner writes series featuring specific detectives, they take on a less significant role than the protagonists.
My two favourites so far were her last two books Crash and Burn and Find Her. Here’s just a small taste of Crash and Burn (taken from Amazon):
Nicole Frank shouldn’t have survived the car accident, much less the crawl up the steep ravine. One thought allows her to defy the odds and flag down help—she must save Vero.
If the girl even exists.
Arriving at the scene, Sergeant Wyatt Foster joins the desperate hunt for a missing child, only to learn that Nicky suffers from a rare brain injury that causes delusions. According to her husband, there is no child. Never has been. And yet Nicky remains adamant. She must save Vero. Please, help save Vero.
For Wyatt and investigator Tessa Leoni, nothing about this case is simple. It turns out, Nicky has recently suffered more than one close accident. Is she indeed delusional, as her husband claims, or perhaps she knows more than she thinks? Because clearly someone out there won’t rest till Nicky crashes and burns….
Now, if that hasn’t gotten you itching to read some psychological suspense, the next author on my list is Lisa Jackson.
Similar to Lisa Gardner, Lisa Jackson is also a master of suspense and plot twists, usually throwing in a bit of romance as well.
Currently, I am reading Shiver and I recently finished After She’s Gone, If Only She Knew and Cold-Blooded. Though I would love to tell you about what just happened in Shiver, I hate to steal the element of surprise away from any potential readers. All I’m going to say now is, I didn’t see it coming who would be murdered!
Of course I haven’t just compiled a list of only two writers – I have put the other ones in a list however, since there are so many great ones out there!
The following are must-reads for psychological suspense and thriller fans:
- Tess Gerritsen
- Tami Hoag
- Harlan Coben
- Karin Slaughter
- David Baldacci
- Lee Child
- Jo Nesbø
- Iris Johansen
- Linda Fairstein
- Michael Connelly
- Mary Higgins Clark
- Raymond Khoury
- Joseph Finder
- Jeffery Deaver
- John Sandford
- Dennis Lehane
Though I haven’t read all of these yet, because I only recently found them, I also want to highly recommend the anthologies by International Thriller Writers.
I finished reading Face Off a couple of days ago and I must say, the short stories were amazing! Each author was paired off with another to write a short thriller story featuring both their main characters. It’s not only a way to read about your favourite characters finally meeting one another, but also to get o know new authors. I certainly got to know a lot of new ones!
A sequel to Face Off will be published on June 13th, 2017, called Match Up. I’m already super excited!
Similar anthology concepts by ITW include Thriller, Thriller 2 and First Thrills. Other publications are listed here.
That’s it for now. I hope you enjoy the recommendations! If anyone has any others, please comment below. I would be more than happy to learn about more great writers out there I haven’t heard of yet!
Toodles!
-Fia
