Book picks similar to
The Lonely Psychopath by Matt Shaw


horror
hardcore-extreme-horror
psychological-horror-thrillers
horror-aff-tbr-challenge-books

Slasher: the Escape of Richard Heinz


Iain Rob Wright - 2014
    Entering a dark wood on a rainy night, they must try to understand and anticipate the mind of the sick killer before it's too late.Richard Heinz is out for a reason, and he’s just taken a hostage.IF YOU GO INTO THE WOODS TONIGHT, YOU’RE SURE OF A BIG SURPRISE… Iain Rob Wright tackles the sick killer with Slasher, writing a tale that will appeal to fans of Hannibal Lector, The Following, and True Detectives.

The Hen Party


Maria Frankland - 2021
    Who will be the one?

Pictures of You


Diane M. Dickson - 2015
    So when she begins to be seen around with a handsome, considerably younger man, it raises the eyebrows of her friends and family. But do they really know what is going on, and what might happen to Mary before they understand the danger she is in?

The House Guest


Mark Edwards - 2020
    A perfect stranger. A perfect nightmare. When British twenty-somethings Ruth and Adam are offered the chance to spend the summer housesitting in New York, they can’t say no. Young, in love and on the cusp of professional success, they feel as if luck is finally on their side.So the moment that Eden turns up on the doorstep, drenched from a summer storm, it seems only right to share a bit of that good fortune. Beautiful and charismatic, Eden claims to be a friend of the homeowners, who told her she could stay whenever she was in New York.They know you’re not supposed to talk to strangers—let alone invite them into your home—but after all, Eden’s only a stranger until they get to know her.As suspicions creep in that Eden may not be who she claims to be, they begin to wonder if they’ve made a terrible mistake…

My Husband's Fiancee


Wendy Owens - 2021
    When Dr. Evelyn Powell showed up on visiting day, I was shocked to learn she was my husband’s new fiancé. I befriended her in hopes of finding answers to my questions.Was my husband behind the brutal slaying? If I wanted to regain my freedom, I had to figure out a way to convince Evelyn to betray the man she loved and search for the evidence that would prove my innocence. After all, if I was right about my husband, she could be his next victim.A psychological thriller with a twist you’ll have to read to believe.

Plague


Max Hawthorne - 2016
     “Holy --- Steve, the Taser’s not stopping him!” “It has to! Nobody can take that. Hit him again!” “Look out! Here he comes!” Ron charged again, powering his way past the jolts of pain. He smashed into the nearest intruder with bone-jarring force, grappling with him, tearing at him. The struggle intensified as the two rolled around on the alley’s blood-soaked cobblestones. The second creature joined in the battle, striking at his head with a hard stick in an effort to aid his comrade. Ron laughed. The intruders were pathetically weak. He could sense it. He snatched the light from the closer one and backhanded him across the face with it, sending him sprawling. Then he turned toward the other one. He was stumbling backward, clawing at his hip, and obviously terrified. Amused, Ron turned away and focused on the one on the ground. He took a deep whiff, smelling the hot blood that ran in rivulets from the downed newcomer’s brow, and listened to the jackhammer beating of his heart. More food. THE DEADLIEST KILLERS ARE THE ONES YOU CAN'T SEE. Three weeks have passed since the monstrous Kronosaurus imperator’s attack on Harcourt Marina stunned the world. The death toll was horrific, but Paradise Cove’s traumatized survivors soon discover they have more to worry about than just burying their dead and rebuilding their shattered lives. Accompanying the pliosaur were hordes of primeval pathogens. With their host destroyed, the Cretaceous-era bacteria are forced to find new homes for themselves. They do: tiny, bipedal life forms whose warm, iron-rich blood provides perfect growing conditions. They begin to multiply and spread, their mutagenic qualities quickly warping their unwitting host’s delicate bodies and minds. Soon, the infected are transformed into mindless beasts, consumed with a burning hunger for flesh. And like all ravening beasts, they must feed . . .

Kill Someone


Luke Smitherd - 2016
    You can't use explosives. You can't use poison. It has to be up close and personal. You don't have to worry about leaving evidence; that will be taken care of.Victim: no one suicidal. No one over the age of 65. No one with a terminal illness.Choose your method. Choose your victim.Chris Summer was a 21 year old call centre worker and a drop out. A nobody, still living at home with his parents. Then one day the Man in White came to his family's house, offering a seemingly impossible choice: kill a random stranger - one of Chris' choosing - within twelve days in order to save the lives of five kidnapped siblings. Refuse, and they die slowly and painfully. The clock is ticking, the Man in White is watching, and Chris has some very important choices to make.This is a tale of fear, indecision, confused masculinity and brutal violence; a story of a coddled young man thrust into a world of sharp metal and bone.Ask yourself if you could do it. Then ask yourself who you would choose. Praise for Luke Smitherd's writing: "For me there is no greater joy than seeing an artist excel at his craft ...you'll be blown away by the abundance of ideas." - Ain't It Cool News.com

Armadillo Fists


Carlton Mellick III - 2011
    Her name is Psycho June Howard, aka Armadillo Fists, a woman who replaced both of her hands with living armadillos. She was once the most bloodthirsty fighter in the world of illegal underground boxing. But now she is on the run from a group of psychotic gangsters who believe she's responsible for the death of their boss. With the help of a stegosaurus driver named Mr. Fast Awesome-who thinks he is God's gift to women even though he doesn't have any arms or legs-June must do whatever it takes to escape her pursuers, even if she has to kill each and every one of them in the process. Strange, engaging characters, breakneck pacing, and jam-packed with more brilliantly weird concepts than you'll know what to do with-this is bizarro cult author Carlton Mellick III at his best.

Trap Door


Dreda Say Mitchell - 2020
    Is history about to repeat itself?  Rachel, a young woman in serious debt, needs to find a job fast before she’s made homeless. She gets a lucky break when she is offered a great position in a successful company. Then she discovers that the building was once a Victorian sweatshop with a tragic history. Is this why Rachel feels something increasingly sinister? Soon her new job becomes a living nightmare. Rachel desperately wants out, but she has no other way of escaping her debts. She’s trapped. Then she makes a shocking discovery. Haunted by the death of others and as the present and past begin to close in, Rachel needs to find answers before she finds herself in grave danger… What is really going on in her workplace? And can she ever escape her inner demons?

The Hidden


Sarah Pinborough - 2004
    It takes a while, but once she gets over the shock she decides amnesia isn’t all bad. Rachel grasps this opportunity for a fresh start. What does she care if everyone she used to know thinks she’d changed a bit too much? Life is good for the “new” Rachel. . . . But now her life is starting to fray at the edges. She’s been having hideous nightmares and seeing strange things in mirrors. She’s becoming more and more certain that something bad is coming. Something wants to break into this world, to play games of blood and death with the living. And it’s coming for Rachel.

Monster


S.E. Green - 2019
    For over a year, their captor forced them to play his sick games, using their hunger to test the lengths they’d go to survive.Caroline escaped. Her sister didn’t.Now a young woman gnawed by survivor’s guilt, Caroline’s horrific past has left her with a unique gift to understand the twisted motivations of serial killers. She couldn’t save her sister—but she can at least help the police keep other girls safe.But there’s something different about her latest case.Something familiar.Teenage girls are being murdered, their organs removed. As the scope of horror widens, Caroline begins to experience blackouts of lost time and disturbing hallucinations that are leading her to one terrible, impossible conclusion.Caroline is a keeper of secrets. She knows her captor can’t be responsible.Yet a message is being sent…a buried echo resurfacing…a personal connection of a dark and dangerous appetite.

The Mother Of All Things


Gabriel Blake - 2018
    When she wakes up covered in blood next to the body of a masked man, Elaine must fight for her sanity, facing demons both past and present.Unless it’s too late.

Crawlspace


Evans Light - 2011
    Jusk ask Tom. He's a man who has a lot to juggle: a frustrated wife, a secret new girlfriend, and the unpleasant task of trying to keep his deteriorating farmhouse from falling down around him. Now with his wife out of town for the week, Tom is eager to get busy under the covers with his beautiful new lover - but first there's something he has to finish up...in the CRAWLSPACE.

The Getaway


Greer Hendricks - 2020
    Sometimes, life's setbacks contain hidden gifts. Here at Lakewood, you'll find the space to unwrap them.A weekend at the Lakewood Retreat is exactly what Chloe Powell needs. Freshly unemployed after her boss loses a reelection campaign, the former press secretary desperately wants a break from the bustle of Washington DC. A flier posted at her yoga studio leads her to the getaway, which looks amazing: organic meals, celebrity testimonials, and a serene private property within driving distance of the city.It's so perfect, in fact, that Chloe's barely bothered by the intensely personal questions she's asked in her application, or the unnerving social experiments her enigmatic host, Sebastian, imposes on her once she arrives at his remote cabin. But when a mysterious new guest shows up, Chloe can no longer suppress her rising panic: This place is not at all what it seems.A pulse-pounding story from the first minute to the last, The Getaway explores the weight of the small choices we make every day, and their staggering, unintended consequences.