Book picks similar to
The Maidens: Chapter Sampler by Alex Michaelides


mystery
thriller
thriller-mystery-suspense
psychological-horror-thrillers

Signal Failure


David Wailing - 2016
    But the Night Tube is running slow tonight – delays caused by a signal failure, as usual.The train stops again, stuck in a tunnel between Tube stations. And then the lights go off. The motors cut out. Silence from the driver.All the doors slide open at the same time, exposing the passengers to the tunnel.To let them out? Or to let something in? Signal Failure is a 12,000-word short story set in the London Underground. It is a standalone story and also a prelude to the forthcoming novel Under.

The Woman in the Car Trunk


John Meany - 2019
    Now imagine that after your highly televised divorce you end up with one of your husband’s mansions and expensive cars, you think he has moved on. But no, your ex-husband breaks into your house one night wearing a mask; he tries to strangle you. The next thing you know you wake up in the trunk of his car with a murdered police officer’s body laying on top of you. What would you do? Well, you would probably do exactly what Scarlett Nacke does at first is panic. Then you’d realize that if you couldn’t figure out a way to get out of the trunk soon, you’d end up like the murdered cop, dead. Does Scarlett survive? Read 'The Woman in the Car Trunk' and find out.

The Other Child


Lucy Atkins - 2015
    . . but what happens when that lie destroys everything you love? When Tess is sent to photograph Greg, a high profile paediatric heart surgeon, she sees something troubled in his face, and feels instantly drawn to him. Their relationship quickly deepens, but then Tess, single mother to nine-year-old Joe, falls pregnant, and Greg is offered the job of a lifetime back in his hometown of Boston. Before she knows it, Tess is married, and relocating to the States. But life in an affluent American suburb proves anything but straightforward.Unsettling things keep happening in the large rented house, Joe is distressed, the next-door neighbours are in crisis, and Tess is sure that someone is watching her. Greg's work is all-consuming and, as the baby's birth looms, he grows more and more unreachable. Something is very wrong, Tess knows it, and then she makes a jaw-dropping discovery . . .

Dark Things I Adore


Katie Lattari - 2021
    But in the hands of fierce women, men will be brought to their knees.Three campfire secrets. Two witnesses. One dead in the trees. And the woman, thirty years later, bent on making the guilty finally pay.1988. A group of outcasts gather at a small, prestigious arts camp nestled in the Maine woods. They're the painters: bright, hopeful, teeming with potential. But secrets and dark ambitions rise like smoke from a campfire, and the truths they tell will come back to haunt them in ways more deadly than they dreamed.2018. Esteemed art professor Max Durant arrives at his protégé's remote home to view her graduate thesis collection. He knows Audra is beautiful and brilliant. He knows being invited into her private world is a rare gift. But he doesn't know that Audra has engineered every aspect of their weekend together. Every detail, every conversation. Audra has woven the perfect web.Only Audra knows what happened that summer in 1988. Max's secret, and the dark things that followed. And even though it won't be easy, Audra knows someone must pay.A searing thriller of trauma, dark academia, complicity, and revenge, Dark Things I Adore unravels the realities behind campfire legends―the horrors that happen in the dark, the girls who become cautionary tales, and the guilty who go unpunished. Until now.

The Good Lie


A.R. Torre - 2021
    A suspect behind bars. A desperate father. In a case this shadowy, the truth is easy to hide.Six teenagers dead. Finally, the killer behind bars. But are the games just beginning?Psychiatrist Dr. Gwen Moore is an expert on killers. She’s spent a decade treating California’s most depraved predators and unlocking their motives—predators much like the notorious Bloody Heart serial killer, whose latest teenage victim escaped and then identified local high school teacher Randall Thompson as his captor. The case against Thompson as the Bloody Heart Killer is damning—and closed, as far as Gwen and the media are concerned. If not for one new development…Defense attorney Robert Kavin is a still-traumatized father whose own son fell prey to the BH Killer. Convinced of Thompson’s innocence, he steps in to represent him. Now Robert wants Gwen to interview the accused, create a psych profile of the killer and his victims, and help clear his client’s name.As Gwen and Robert grow closer and she dives deeper into the investigation, grave questions arise. So does Gwen’s suspicion that Robert is hiding something—and that he might not be the only one with a secret.

The Breakdown


B.A. Paris - 2017
    She’s been trying to put the crime out of her mind; what could she have done, really? It’s a dangerous road to be on in the middle of a storm. Her husband would be furious if he knew she’d broken her promise not to take that shortcut home. And she probably would only have been hurt herself if she’d stopped.But since then, she’s been forgetting every little thing: where she left the car, if she took her pills, the alarm code, why she ordered a pram when she doesn’t have a baby.The only thing she can’t forget is that woman, the woman she might have saved, and the terrible nagging guilt.Or the silent calls she’s receiving, or the feeling that someone’s watching her…

Death in the Mind's Eye


Rick Acker - 2016
    But his stellar reputation and faith are put to the test when he agrees to defend Dr. Johanna Anderson, a brilliant and beautiful psychologist. Jo is accused of failing to prevent the death of Seth Bell, a senator’s son she was treating with a revolutionary technology-assisted therapy called the Mind’s Eye. The controversial technique provides insights into what patients are thinking and feeling and determines whether they’re telling the truth—so why didn’t it detect that Seth was suicidal?As the case unfolds, a shadowy firm, Horizon Finance, sees a golden opportunity to profit by seizing the Mind’s Eye and auctioning it to intelligence services around the world. And Horizon will stop at nothing—not even murder—to succeed. As the danger escalates, Mike and Jo feel the heat of a mutual attraction. But when Mike’s loyal paralegal, Val, unearths evidence that could blow the case apart, Mike realizes he stands to lose much more than just a verdict.

The Perfect Family


Carla Cassidy - 2005
    If he can't have her, no one can To one man, recent widow Marissa Jamison and her two children are the perfect family-and he will stop at nothing to make sure that they belong to him.

Lock Me In


Kate Simants - 2019
    She has a stable home, a loving boyfriend, a future. But at night, she suffers from a sleep disorder. She becomes angry, unpredictable, violent. Her mother locks her in her bedroom every night, to keep them both safe. Then one morning, Ellie wakes up, horrified to find the lock on her bedroom door smashed from the inside. She is covered in injuries, unable to remember anything about the night before. And her boyfriend Matt is nowhere to be found…

The Girl Who Lied


Suzanne | Sue Fortin - 2016
    Now, Roisin has discovered a secret—one Erin has kept for over a decade—and she’s determined to make Erin pay for her lies.Erin wants nothing to do with Roisin. She has a new life in London and no intention of going back home. Yet when her father is mysteriously and critically injured, Erin has no choice but to return and face Roisin—and her past. Erin knows if the secret of what she gave up got out, the consequences could be devastating.When Roisin suddenly disappears, suspicion soon lands on Erin. She would do anything to protect her family, but just how far is she willing to go when time is running out…?

Shepherd's Cross


Mark White - 2014
    Three hundred years later, the locals remain superstitious: aside from a handful of wealthy newcomers, modern society has passed by largely unnoticed….until the unexpected arrival of two mysterious strangers to nearby Fellside Hall; a derelict mansion that has stood empty for eighty years. One by one, a series of harrowing events descends on the village, prompting Sergeant Brian Jennings and PC Cara Jones to investigate; a task made almost impossible by the relentless onslaught of winter. When prolonged snowfall isolates Shepherd’s Cross from the outside world, the superstitions of the old-timers clash with the rational minds of the newcomers; challenging the community’s strength and testing its resolve to rally together against an ancient horror unfolding around them...a horror that is intent on returning forever. Fast-paced and utterly compelling, Shepherd’s Cross is a supernatural thriller that will appeal to readers who enjoy the work of authors such as Stephen King, James Herbert and Graham Masterton.

It's Always the Husband


Michele Campbell - 2017
    They first met as college roommates and soon became inseparable, even though they are as different as three women can be. Twenty years later, one of them is standing at the edge of a bridge... and someone else is urging her to jump. How did things come to this?As the novel cuts back and forth between their college years and their adult years, you see the exact reasons why these women love and hate each other—but can feelings that strong lead to murder? Or will everyone assume, as is often the case, that it’s always the husband?

Terminated


Ray Daniel - 2014
    Now, six months later, another software engineer is dead, bringing new clues to light in Carol’s cold case. Shocked by the brutal violence he’s witnessed, Tucker is determined to track down the truth behind the killings—no matter what the cost. Hired as a consultant by his old company, Tucker discovers their most important project is in danger of being corrupted . . . and there are people willing to kill to get their hands on it.

Subject 11


Jeffrey Thomas - 2011
    We are currently seeking 10 individuals to participate in a research study. Participants shall receive a sum to be discussed during initial telephone interview. Interested parties should email us via our contact page, subject11.webs.com, providing their telephone number and a brief biography of approximately 100 words, describing themselves in terms of gender, age, race, and occupation if any. The study will take place in a series of abandoned buildings rented for this purpose. Note: subjects involved in this test may find themselves experiencing certain psychological distortions. They may experience lapses in memory regarding others and themselves. Subjects may even forget how long this test is supposed to go on for. And please disregard any additional people you may feel you've sighted in the complex, beyond those in the test group. We thank you for your interest in our research. “Cutting right to the chase, SUBJECT 11 is one of the best novellas I've read all year. Jeffrey Thomas is at his best in this eerie story following a group of ten people (five women and five men) taking part in a mysterious experiment...The mysteries are enticing, and Thomas brings them together for an ending that is sure to linger long in the minds of readers.” - Justin Steele, THE ARKHAM DIGEST

The Fifth Step


Stephen King - 2020
    About a man who meets an alcoholic who asks for his help in completing the fifth step in AA.Read it here: https://harpers.org/archive/2020/03/t...