http://mppl.org/books-movies-more/lists-and-suggestions/?category=books&list=Psychological+Suspense
List: Psychological Suspense
The Boyfriend
After someone breaks into her home and tries to assault her, Alexis Roberts, who is hearing impaired, believes the intruder is her husband, who, after she made a horrifying discovery, disappeared without a trace, and finds herself trapped in a nightmare of fear and uncertainty.
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You Will Never Be Me
A young gay man in a perfect marriage strives to keep a dangerous indiscretion from his loving husband.
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First Lie Wins
"From the outside, Alicia, Jessica and Norah might seem like ordinary women you'd meet on the street any day of the week. Sure, Jessica has a little OCD and Norah has some anger issues. And Alicia has low self-esteem that manifests itself in surprising ways. But these three have a bond that no one can fully understand. It's a bond that takes them back decades, to when they were girls, and they lived on a farm with a foster mother named Miss Fairchild. Miss Fairchild had rules. Miss Fairchild could be unpredictable. And Miss Fairchild was never, ever to be crossed. In a moment of desperation, the three broke away from Miss Fairchild, and they thought they were free. But the reach of someone with such power is long, and even though they never saw her again, she was always somewhere in the shadows of their minds. When bones are discovered buried under the farmhouse of their childhood, they are called in by the police to tell what they know. Against their will, they are brought back to the past, and to Miss Fairchild herself. Darling Girls asks the questions: what are we capable of when in a desperate place? How much can we hide the demons inside us? And can the past ever truly be buried?"-- Provided by publisher.
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Sisters of the Lost Nation
Overworked city gal Grace Evans is ready for a relaxing getaway on a Wyoming ranch, where the owner is handsome Calvin Wells. But when she hears of a missing woman, things soon change for the worse.
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Jackal
"Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins. A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix's children's school. Josie has been listening to Alix's podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life. Josie's life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can't quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix's life--and into her home. But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family's lives under mortal threat. Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?"-- Provided by publisher.
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The Blue Hour
"After her best friend's mysterious death, Elizabeth Smith's picture-perfect life in the Memphis suburbs has spiraled out of control--so much so that she hires a personal assistant to keep her on track. Composed and elegant, Brianna is exactly who she needs and slides so neatly into Elizabeth's life, almost like she belonged there from the start. Soon, the assistant Elizabeth hired to distract her from her obsession with her friend's death is the same person working with her to uncover the truth behind it. Because Brianna has questions too. She wants to know why the police killed her young Black son. Why someone in Elizabeth's neighborhood called the cops on him that day. Who took that first step that stole her child away from her. And the only way she's ever going to be able to find out is to entwine herself deep into Elizabeth's life, where the answers to her questions lie. As the two women hurtle towards an electrifying final showdown, and the lines between employer and friend blur, it becomes clear that neither of them is what they first appear"-- Provided by publisher.
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The Silence in Her Eyes
"After a tragic chain of events led to the deaths of their spouses two years ago, DC philanthropist Sloane Chase and Senator Whit Montgomery are finally starting to move on. The horrifying ordeal drew them together, and now they're ready to settle down again--with each other. As Sloane returns to the world of White House dinners and political small talk, this time with her new husband, she's also preparing for an upcoming hip replacement--the latest reminder of the lupus she's managed since her twenties. With their hectic schedules, they decide that hiring a home health aide will give Sloane the support and independence she needs postsurgery. And they find the perfect fit in Athena Karras. Seemingly a godsend, Athena tends to Sloane and even helps her run her charitable foundation. But Sloane begins to deteriorate--a complication, Athena explains, of Sloane's lupus. As weeks go by, Sloane becomes sicker, and her uncertainty quickly turns to paranoia as she begins to suspect the worst. Why is Athena asking her so many probing questions about her foundation--as well as about her past? And could Sloane be imagining the sultry looks between Athena and her new husband?"--Dust jacket flap.
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You Know What You Did
"This is a tale of murder. Or maybe that’s not quite true. At its heart, it’s a love story, isn’t it? Lana Farrar is a reclusive ex-movie star and one of the most famous women in the world. Every year, she invites her closest friends to escape the English weather and spend Easter on her idyllic private Greek island. I tell you this because you may think you know this story. You probably read about it at the time--it caused a real stir in the tabloids, if you remember. It had all the necessary ingredients for a press sensation: a celebrity, a private island cut off by the wind…and a murder. We found ourselves trapped there overnight. Our old friendships concealed hatred and a desire for revenge. What followed was a game of cat and mouse--a battle of wits, full of twists and turns, building to an unforgettable climax. The night ended in violence and death. But who am I? My name is Elliot Chase, and I’m going to tell you a story unlike any you’ve ever heard"--Dust jacket flap.
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Lavender House
"Twenty-five years ago, DCI Harry Rhimes arrested Andrew Streeter for the brutal murders of five young people. Streeter's "kill list" of victims was found in his home, and he was convicted of all five crimes. Now, Streeter's convictions are being overturned, as new evidence implies the original investigation was corrupt. No one is more shocked than DI Henley. Because this case is personal; Rhimes was her old boss, and he's no longer alive to defend himself. But when the killings start up again, Henley must face the truth: Rhimes got it wrong twenty-five years ago. Henley and her team reopen the original murder cases, but they must put their personal feelings to one side. Because the real killer is still out there, and he's working his way through a new kill list..." -- Provided by publisher.
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The Hitchcock Hotel
"Katrina Kim may be broke, the black sheep of her family, and slightly unhinged, but she isn't a stalker. Her obsession with her co-worker, Kurt, is just one of many coping mechanisms--like her constant shape and number rituals, or the way scenes from her favorite children's book bleed into her vision whenever she feels anxious or stressed. But when Katrina finds a cryptic message from Kurt that implies he's aware of her surveillance, her tenuous hold on a normal life crumbles. Driven by compulsion, she enacts the most powerful ritual she has to reclaim control--a midnight visit to the Cayatoga Bridge--and arrives just in time to witness Kurt's suicide. Before he jumps, he slams her with a devastating accusation: his death is all her fault. Horrified, Katrina combs through the clues she's collected about Kurt over the last three years, but each revelation uncovers a menacing truth: for every moment she was watching him, he was watching her. And the past she thought she'd left behind? It's been following her more closely than she ever could have imagined. A gripping page-turner, as well as a sensitive exploration of mental health, Liar, Dreamer, Thief is an intimate portrayal of life in all its complexities--and the dangers inherent in unveiling people's most closely guarded secrets"-- Provided by publisher.
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You Never Know
"When cracks start forming in an influencer's curated life, she finds out that jealousy is just as viral as a video in this riveting suspense novel by bestselling author Jesse Q. Sutanto. Influencer Meredith Lee didn't teach Aspen Palmer how to blossom on social media just to be ditched as soon as Aspen became big. So can anyone really blame Mer for doing a little stalking? Nothing serious, more like Stalking Lite. Then, Mer gets lucky; she finds one of Aspen's kids' iPads and swipes it. Now, she has access to everything: the family calendar and Aspen's social media accounts. Would anyone else be able to resist tweaking things a little here and there, showing up in Aspen's place for meetings with potential sponsors? Mer's only taking back what she deserves--what should have been hers. Meanwhile, Aspen doesn't understand why her perfectly filtered life is falling apart. Sponsors are dropping her, fellow influencers are ghosting her, and even her own husband seems to find her repulsive. If she doesn't find out who's behind everything, she might just lose it all. What everyone seems to forget is that Aspen didn't become one of TikTok's biggest momfluencers by being naive. When Meredith suddenly goes missing, Aspen's world is upended and mysterious threats begin to arrive--but she won't let anything get in the way of her perfect life again"-- Provided by publisher.
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Liar, Dreamer, Thief
"Katy Sweeney is looking for her sister. A year earlier, just three weeks into a solo vanlife trip, her free-spirited younger sister, Phoebe, vanished without a trace on a remote, achingly beautiful coastal highway in Western Australia. With no witnesses, no leads, and no DNA evidence, the case has gone cold. But Katy refuses to give up on her. Using Phoebe's social media accounts as a guide, Katy retraces her sister's steps, searching for any clues the police may have missed. Was Phoebe being followed? Who had she met along the way, and could they have been dangerous? And then Katy's path collides with Beth's, who is on the run from her own dark past. Katy realizes that Beth might be her best--and only--chance of finding the truth, so the two women form an uneasy alliance to find out what really happened to Phoebe in this wild, beautiful, and perilous place"-- Dust jacket flap.
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The Kill List
"Maya was a high school senior when her best friend, Aubrey, mysteriously dropped dead in front of the enigmatic man named Frank whom they'd been spending time with all summer. Seven years later, Maya lives in Boston with a loving boyfriend and is kicking the secret addiction that has allowed her to cope with what happened years ago, the gaps in her memories, and the lost time that she can't account for. But her past comes rushing back when she sees a recent YouTube video in which a young woman suddenly keels over and dies in a diner while sitting across from none other than Frank. Plunged into the trauma that has defined her life, Maya heads to her Berkshires hometown to relive that fateful summer--the influence Frank once had on her and the obsessive jealousy that nearly destroyed her friendship with Aubrey. At her mother's house, she excavates fragments of her past and notices hidden messages in her deceased Guatemalan father's book that didn't stand out to her earlier. To save herself, she must understand a story written before she was born, but time keeps running out, and soon, all roads are leading back to Frank's cabin..."--Dust jacket flap.
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The Fury
"Every year, Maya loves heading back to Princeton for her reunions--she may have graduated a decade ago, but it's always fun to see old faces and take a walk through her own history. And this year is even more special because her little sister, Naomi, is about to graduate from her alma mater. But what should have been a dream weekend becomes Maya's worst nightmare when she gets a call no one ever wants--Naomi is dead. The police are saying it's an overdose, but Maya knows for a fact that Naomi would never touch drugs. As Maya attempts to piece together the last semester of Naomi's life, she starts to realize there might be a lot of things Naomi never told her. Like the fact that she'd joined Sterling Club, the most exclusive social club on campus--the same one Maya belonged to--despite Maya warning her away. And if Maya had to guess, she'd say Naomi was also tapped for the secret society within it. The more Maya uncovers, the more terrified she becomes that Naomi's decision to follow in her footsteps might have been exactly what got her killed. Because Maya's time at Princeton wasn't as wonderful as she always pretended it was--after all, her sister wasn't the first young woman to turn up dead. And every clue keeps leading Maya back to the past, and to the people she holds nearest and dearest"-- Provided by publisher.
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The Senator's Wife
"Hurricane Harvey is about to hit Houston. Meanwhile, single mom Jia Shah is already having a rough week: her twelve-year-old son, Ishaan, has just been suspended from school for getting in a fight. Still reeling from the fallout of her divorce--their move to Houston, her family's disapproval, the struggle to make ends meet on her own--now Jia is worried about Ishaan's future, too. Will her solo parenting be enough? Doesn't a boy need a father? And now their apartment complex is under a mandatory evacuation order. Jia's sister, Seema, has invited them to hunker down in her fancy house in Sugar Land, and despite Jia's misgivings--Seema's husband, Vipul, has been just a little too friendly with her lately--Jia concedes it's probably the best place to keep Ishaan safe during the hurricane. With Jia's philandering ex scrutinizing her every move, all too eager to snatch back custody of Ishaan, she can't afford to make a mistake. When Vipul's brother and his wife show up on Seema's doorstep, too, it's a recipe for disaster. Grandma, the family matriarch, has never been shy about playing favorites among her sons and their wives. As the storm escalates, tensions rise quickly, and soon someone's dead. Was it a horrible accident or is there a murderer in their midst? With no help available until the floodwaters recede in the morning, Jia must protect her son and identify the culprit before she goes down for a crime she didn't commit--or becomes the next victim..."-- Provided by publisher.
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While We Were Burning
Invited by a reclusive mystery novelist to help draft his life story, a longtime correspondent and detective fiction expert finds herself in a real whodunnit when she learns the writer's first wife and son mysteriously vanished.
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None of This Is True
"There's something sinister under the surface of the idyllic, suburban town of Wesley Falls, and it's not just the abandoned coal mine that lies beneath it. The summer of 1995 kicks off with a party in the mine where six high school students witness a horrifying crime that changes the course of their lives. The six couldn't be more different. Maddy, a devout member of the local megachurch. Kelly, the bookworm next door. James, a cynical burnout. Casey, a loveable football player. Padma, the shy straight-A student. Jia, who's starting to see visions she can't explain. When they realize that they can't trust anyone but each other, they begin to investigate what happened on their own. As tensions escalate in town to a breaking point, the six make a vow of silence, bury all their evidence, and promise to never contact each other again. Their plan works--almost. Twenty years later, Jia calls them all back to Wesley Falls--Maddy has been murdered, and they are the only ones who can uncover why. But to end things, they have to return to the mine one last time"-- Provided by publisher.
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You Shouldn't Have Come Here
"Years after a breakdown and a diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder derailed her historical preservationist career, Kenetria Nash and her alters have been given a second chance they can't refuse: a position as resident caretaker of a historic home. Having been dormant for years, Ken has no idea what led them to this isolated Hudson River island, but she's determined not to ruin their opportunity. Then a surprise visit from the home's conservation trust just as a Nor'easter bears down on the island disrupts her newfound life, leaving Ken trapped with a group of possibly dangerous strangers--including the man who brought her life tumbling down years earlier. When he turns up dead, Ken is the prime suspect. Caught in a web of secrets and in a race against time, Ken and her alters must band together to prove their innocence and discover the truth of Kavanaugh Island--and their own past--or they risk losing not only their future, but their life"-- Provided by publisher.
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Darling Girls
"Rose Barclay is a nine-year-old girl who witnessed the possible murder of her nanny--in the midst of her parents' bitter divorce--and immediately stopped speaking. Stella Hudson is a best interest attorney, appointed to serve as counsel for children in custody cases. She never accepts clients under thirteen due to her own traumatic childhood, but Stella's mentor, a revered judge, believes Stella is the only one who can help. From the moment Stella passes through the iron security gate and steps into the gilded, historic DC home of the Barclays, she realizes the case is even more twisted, and the Barclay family far more troubled, than she feared. And there's something eerie about the house itself: It's a plastic house, with not a single bit of glass to be found. As Stella comes closer to uncovering the secrets the Barclays are desperate to hide, danger wraps around her like a shroud, and her past and present are set on a collision course in ways she never expected. Everyone is a suspect in the nanny's murder. The mother, the father, the grandmother, the nanny's boyfriend. Even Rose. Is the person Stella's supposed to protect the one she may need protection from?"-- Provided by publisher.
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Bath Haus
"Evie Porter has everything a nice Southern girl could want: a doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence, a tight group of friends. The only catch? Evie Porter doesn't exist. The identity comes first: Evie Porter. Once she's given a name and location by her mysterious boss, Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job. Evie isn't privy to Mr. Smith's real identity, but she knows this job isn't like the others. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she's starting to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can't make any mistakes--especially after what happened last time. Evie Porter must stay one step ahead of her past while making sure there's still a future in front of her. The stakes couldn't be higher--but then, Evie has always liked a challenge..."-- Provided by publisher.
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The House in the Pines
"Anna Horn is constantly looking over her shoulder. For the bullies who torment her, for the entitled visitors at the reservation's casino...and for the nameless, disembodied entity that stalks her every step--an ancient tribal myth come to life, one that's intent on devouring her whole. With strange and sinister happenings occurring around the casino, Anna starts to suspect that not all the horrors on the reservation are old. As girls begin to go missing and the tribe scrambles to find answers, Anna struggles with her place on the rez, desperately searching for the key she's sure lies in the legends of her tribe's past. When her own little sister also disappears, Anna will do anything to bring Grace home. But the demons plaguing the reservation--both old and new--are strong, and sometimes it's the stories that never get told that are the most important"-- Provided by publisher.
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Society of Lies
"Liz Rocher is coming home...reluctantly. As a Black woman, Liz doesn't exactly have fond memories of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a predominantly white town. But her best friend is getting married, so she braces herself for a weekend of awkward and passive-aggressive reunions. But on the day of the wedding, the bride's daughter, Caroline, goes missing--and the only thing left behind is a piece of white fabric covered in blood. As a frantic search begins, with the police combing the trees for Caroline, Liz is the only one who notices a pattern: a summer night. A missing girl. A party in the woods. She's seen this before. Keisha Woodson, the only other Black girl in school, walked into the woods with a mysterious man and was later found with her chest cavity ripped open and her heart missing. As Liz starts to dig through the town's history, she uncovers a horrifying secret about the place she once called home. Children have been going missing in these woods for years. All of them Black. All of them girls. With the evil in the forest creeping closer, Liz knows what she must do: find Caroline, or be entirely consumed by the darkness"-- Provided by publisher.
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The Night of the Storm
An isolated Scottish island, accessible to the mainland only twelve hours a day. A famous (some might say infamous) artist whose notoriously unfaithful husband disappeared after visiting her twenty years ago. A present-day discovery that intimately connects three people and unveils a web of secrets and lies.
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End of Story
"Leah has been living with akinetopsia, or motion blindness, since she was a child. For the last twenty years, she hasn't been able to see movement. As she walks around her upper Manhattan neighborhood with her white stick tapping in front, most people assume she's blind. But the truth is Leah sees a good deal, and with her acute senses of smell and hearing, very little escapes her notice. She has a quiet, orderly life, with little human contact beyond her longtime housekeeper, her doctor, and her elderly neighbor. That all changes when Alice moves into the apartment next door and Leah can immediately smell the anxiety wafting off her. Worse, Leah can't help but hear Alice and a late-night visitor engage in a violent fight. Worried, she befriends her neighbor and discovers that Alice is in the middle of a messy divorce from an abusive husband. Then one night, Leah wakes up to someone in her apartment. She blacks out and in the morning is left wondering if she dreamt the episode. And yet the scent of the intruder follows her everywhere. And when she hears Alice through the wall pleading for her help, Leah makes a decision that will test her courage, her strength, and ultimately her sanity"-- Provided by publisher.
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A Step Past Darkness
"Is someone out to get Annie? Or is she her own worst enemy?"-- Provided by publisher.
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One of Us Knows
"Lavender House, 1952: the family seat of recently deceased matriarch Irene Lamontaine, head of the famous Lamontaine soap empire. This estate offers a unique freedom, where none of the residents or staff hide who they are. But to keep their secret, they've needed to keep others out. And now they're worried they're keeping a murderer in. Irene's widow hires Evander Mills to uncover the truth behind her mysterious death. Andy, recently fired from the San Francisco police after being caught in a raid on a gay bar, is happy to accept--his calendar is wide open. And his secret is the kind of secret the Lamontaines understand. Andy had never imagined a world like Lavender House. He's seduced by the safety and freedom found behind its gates, where a queer family lives honestly and openly. But that honesty doesn't extend to everything, and he quickly finds himself a pawn in a family game of old money, subterfuge, and jealousy--and Irene's death is only the beginning. The gates of Lavender House can't lock out the real world forever, and running a soap empire can be a dirty business"--Dust jacket flap.
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House of Glass
"Alfred Smettle is not your average Hitchcock fan. He is the founder, owner, and manager of the Hitchcock Hotel, a sprawling Victorian house in the White Mountains dedicated to the Master of Suspense. There, Alfred offers his guests round-the-clock film screenings, movie props and memorabilia in every room, plus an aviary with fifty crows. To celebrate the hotel's first anniversary, he invites his former best friends from his college film club for a reunion. He hasn't spoken to any of them in sixteen years, not after what happened. But who better than they to appreciate Alfred's creation? And to help him finish it. After all, no Hitchcock set is complete without a body"-- Dust jacket flap.
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Red River Road
"Katy Sweeney is looking for her sister. A year earlier, just three weeks into a solo vanlife trip, her free-spirited younger sister, Phoebe, vanished without a trace on a remote, achingly beautiful coastal highway in Western Australia. With no witnesses, no leads, and no DNA evidence, the case has gone cold. But Katy refuses to give up on her. Using Phoebe's social media accounts as a guide, Katy retraces her sister's steps, searching for any clues the police may have missed. Was Phoebe being followed? Who had she met along the way, and could they have been dangerous? And then Katy's path collides with Beth's, who is on the run from her own dark past. Katy realizes that Beth might be her best--and only--chance of finding the truth, so the two women form an uneasy alliance to find out what really happened to Phoebe in this wild, beautiful, and perilous place"-- Dust jacket flap.
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