1. Gone Girl
Nick's wife Amy disappears on their anniversary. Two unreliable narrators. A marriage as weapons cache.
2. The Woman in the Window
An agoraphobic woman witnesses a crime from her window — but can she trust her own perceptions?
3. Behind Closed Doors
A perfect marriage. A couple who are never apart. Something is very, very wrong.
4. The Couple Next Door
Baby left alone next door. Baby taken. Every adult in the story is hiding something.
5. Verity
A struggling author stays in Colleen Hoover's house to finish a dead author's series and finds a disturbing manuscript.
6. The Girl on the Train
Rachel watches a couple from her commuter train every day — then the woman goes missing.
7. In a Dark, Dark Wood
A bachelorette weekend in a glass cabin in the woods. Not everyone makes it home.
8. The Turn of the Key
A nanny applies for a job at a smart house in the Scottish Highlands. Wrote this from prison.
9. Big Little Lies
Somebody died at the school trivia night. The novel slowly reveals who, why, and which of the perfect marriages caused it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the best book to read right after The Silent Patient?
Gone Girl if you haven't read it. It's the definitional example of the genre and Michaelides clearly learned from it. If you have read Gone Girl, try The Woman in the Window.
Are there psychological thrillers that are more literary?
The Secret History by Donna Tartt is more literary. Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris is leaner and darker.
What makes a good psychological thriller?
An unreliable narrator, a mystery that unfolds in layers, characters who are simultaneously sympathetic and suspicious, and a twist that recontextualizes earlier events rather than coming from nowhere.
Any psychological thrillers that are stand-alone?
Almost all of these are stand-alones. The Silent Patient, Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train, Behind Closed Doors, and Verity all work as single reads.