Book picks similar to
Just Things by Erin Lee


horror
thriller
dark
strong-female-role

Break Her


B.G. Harlen - 2012
    How would you hold onto your sanity, your self-esteem, your very soul against someone determined to annihilate all three?In the psychological thriller BREAK HER, one woman will find herself in this almost unthinkable situation, and one man will discover that he has finally come up against someone unlike any of those he has destroyed before. On the surface, this intruder has all the advantages: strength, weapons, ruthlessness. The only way he can lose is if he finds himself responding to his victim on a human level. The only way she can win is if she rips away the protective lies she’s told herself, the hard shell of indifference she’s hidden in, and becomes again what she has not been since she lost everything that mattered to her, years ago: human.Warning: Includes graphic depictions of rape, sex, and violence and is for readers over the age of 18 only.

Mine


Robert R. McCammon - 1990
    The child's mother, though, isn't about to take it lying down and, along with a tracker, begins a cross-country chase to get her child back.

Hysteria


Megan Miranda - 2013
    She can't remember the details of that night but everyone knows it was self-defense, so she isn't charged. But Mallory still feels Brian's presence in her life. Is it all in her head? Or is it something more? In desperate need of a fresh start, Mallory is sent to Monroe, a fancy prep school where no one knows her . . . or anything about her past.But the feeling follows her, as do her secrets. Then, one of her new classmates turns up dead. As suspicion falls on Mallory, she must find a way to remember the details of both deadly nights so she can prove her innocence-to herself and others.In another riveting tale of life and death, Megan Miranda's masterful storytelling brings readers along for a ride to the edge of sanity and back again.

Naked or Dead


A.E. Murphy - 2019
    Already she hates it despite its beautiful landscape.Between riding her dirt bike through the sacred lands of the natives, plotting against those she meets, and holding greasy truckers at gunpoint, Lilith makes no time for love or friendship. Forever the walking mystery (read misery) of her new home and school.That is until Nokosi Locklear catches her eye with his arrogance and a hard, toned body that she’s certain she doesn’t want to climb.Shoved up against a locker by him in her first week, she sets him in her wicked sights.Life is only fun when you have somebody else’s pain to focus on. So long as you stay detached. Something Lilith will find is impossible to do when it comes to Nokosi. A guy with looks but no charm. Strength but no power. Love but no morals. With a serial killer roaming the States, taking victims one by one, a past in Nokosi’s eyes that he tries to hide, and a mother that would rather work than keep her daughters happy, Lilith finds plenty of time to spare and plenty of things to keep herself occupied. Note: This is your only trigger warning. Read at your own risk.

Dismantled


Jennifer McMahon - 2009
    Following the first rule of their manifesto—"To understand the nature of a thing, it must be taken apart"—these daring misfits spend the summer after graduation in a remote cabin in the Vermont woods committing acts of meaningful vandalism and plotting elaborate, often dangerous, pranks. But everything changes when one particularly twisted experiment ends in Suz's death and the others decide to cover it up.Nearly a decade later, Henry and Tess are living just an hour's drive from the old cabin. Each is desperate to move on from the summer of the Dismantlers, but their guilt isn't ready to let them go. When a victim of their past pranks commits suicide—apparently triggered by a mysterious Dismantler-style postcard—it sets off a chain of eerie events that threatens to engulf Henry, Tess, and their inquisitive nine-year-old daughter, Emma.Is there someone who wants to reveal their secrets? Is it possible that Suz did not really die—or has she somehow found a way back to seek revenge?Full of white-knuckle tension with deeply human characters caught in circumstances beyond their control, Jennifer McMahon's gripping story and spine-tingling plot prove that she is a master at weaving the fear of the supernatural with the stark realities of life.

True Crime Case Histories - Volume 7: 12 Disturbing True Crime Stories (True Crime Collection)


Jason Neal - 2021
    Real true crime is not for everyone. The stories in this book represent humanity at its absolute worst. Pure evil. Television crime shows and news articles often skip the gruesome parts of true crime stories. The real details are just too grisly for the average viewer or reader.In my books, however, I do my best to include the details, regardless of how unsettling they may be. Each story requires hours of research. I search through old newspaper articles, court documents, police reports, autopsy results, and first-hand descriptions. Some of the specifics can be disconcerting. I choose to include the details not to shock, but to give the reader a deeper view into the mind of the killer. Although it’s unlikely any of us will understand the motives of a diabolical monster, the level of depravity will keep you turning pages.That being said, if you are overly squeamish about the details of true crime, this book may not be for you. If you’re okay with it… then let’s begin.Volume 7 features: Longer stories, more photos, a bonus chapter, and an online appendix with additional photos, videos, and documents. Volume 7 of True Crime Case Histories features twelve new stories from the past fifty years.A sampling of the stories include:You’ll read about a law enforcement officer that took advantage of the trust associated with his uniform. His brutal reign of terror lasted eight years. It took the bravery of two young women that escaped his grasp to bring him down.There’s the story of the recent law school graduate with a crush on his neighbor. Rather than asking her out on a date, he stalked and spied on his classmate, eventually taking her life. There’s also the heartbreaking story of a single mom, drowning in debt, that did the unthinkable for insurance money.Seven of the stories in this book feature women killers, two of which took the time to meticulously dismember their victims—a task that can take great strength. Another woman manipulated her two teenage boys into killing for her. Yet another woman staged an elaborate hoax to get rid of her loving husband rather than go through the agony of a messy divorce.You’ll also read of a sadistic group of up to twelve killers that took joy in abducting and torturing young men in Australia. Sadly, only one of the mysterious group has been brought to justice.Plus many more disturbing stories.The twelve stories in this volume are shocking and disturbing, but they’re true. These things really happen in the world. We may never understand why killers do what they do, but at least we can be better informed. You may have heard of a few of the stories in this volume, but there are several I’m almost certain you haven’t.

Mantis


Richard La Plante - 1993
    The murderer is a kind of Hannibal Lecter, pure psychopath, a real frightener. Mantis is an unusual and utterly gripping thriller.--Finesse Magazine.

Zombie


Joyce Carol Oates - 1995
    The author deftly puts you inside the mind of a serial killer--succeeding not in writing about madness, but in writing with the logic of madness.

Chosen


Barbara Elsborg - 2011
    She chose her apartment with care—a safe district with a good neighbor—a place where she can live a quiet, unassuming, under-the-radar existence. Then she makes one mistake and opens her door to accept a delivery of flowers from a secret admirer and her life will never be the same again. A guy she’s never seen before bursts into her apartment and asks her to marry him. Jack Thompson won’t take no for an answer and drags Kate on a cross country journey to hell.Invalided out of the police, Nathan Beranson works as a private investigator in San Antonio, Texas where he spends too much of his time following unfaithful spouses and delivering the bad news to their partners. When his fiancée cheats on him with Jack Thompson, the half-brother Nathan’s only just met, he becomes obsessed with Jack in the same unhealthy way as his revenge-seeking clients. By the time Nathan finally realizes putting the ghosts of the past to rest is a wiser option than settling an old score, it’s too late. He’s already been drawn into his sibling’s latest deadly game and Nathan and Kate find their nightmare is only just beginning.

Emma in the Night


Wendy Walker - 2017
    Three years later, Cass returns, without her sister Emma. Her story is one of kidnapping and betrayal, of a mysterious island where the two were held. But to forensic psychiatrist Dr. Abby Winter, something doesn't add up. Looking deep within this dysfunctional family Dr. Winter uncovers a life where boundaries were violated and a narcissistic parent held sway. And where one sister's return might just be the beginning of the crime.

Dark of Night (Glasgow Kiss, #1)


C.S. Duffy - 2017
    When Lorna’s body is found in the Campsies, Ruari sets out to retrace her last steps in the hopes of finding her killer – but somebody has beaten him to it. Now the hunt is on for a serial killer terrorising Glasgow.Dark of night is a fast-paced, twisty serial killer thriller set in Glasgow, turbo-charged with Scandi-esque noir and black humour.

13: An Anthology Of Horror and Dark Fiction


Savannah BlevinsSamie Sands - 2016
    But now it’s turned deadly… Darkness has fallen. Real and unseen, evil is out there. Waiting. Watching. Biding its time. It might be your neighbor, your best friend—or something much, much worse. It might be the shadow itself. It will hunt you down when you least expect it. It will talk to you in the quiet hours of the morning and follow your footsteps when you’re alone. It’s chosen you…and it always gets what it wants. 13 dark tales await you. Ready to bring your worst childhood nightmares to life, to push you to the brink, and make you question your every decision… The circus. Your beloved carnival rides. That mom and pop motel you pass every day on your way to work. They’ll never look innocent again. Because they’re not. No one and nothing can be trusted. Not even yourself. Are you ready to take the ultimate dare? To spin the devil’s wheel? Be careful… 13 will get you every time. Authored By: Bradon Nave Carissa Ann Lynch D.A. Roach Erin Lee Jackie Sonnenberg Luke Swanson Marissa Farrar Samantha Sands Sara Schoen Savannah Blevins Sophia Valentine Taylor Henderson Thomas S. Flowers

Penpal


Dathan Auerbach - 2012
    Before long, it was adapted into illustrations, audio recordings, and short films; and that was before it was revised and expanded into a novel!How much do you remember about your childhood?In Penpal, a man investigates the seemingly unrelated bizarre, tragic, and horrific occurrences of his childhood in an attempt to finally understand them. Beginning with only fragments of his earliest years, you'll follow the narrator as he discovers that these strange and horrible events are actually part of a single terrifying story that has shaped the entirety of his life and the lives of those around him. If you've ever stayed in the woods just a little too long after dark, if you've ever had the feeling that someone or something was trying to hurt you, if you remember the first friend you ever made and how strong that bond was, then Penpal is a story that you won't soon forget, despite how you might try.

R.I.P.


Charity B. - 2019
    Part One: Rest In Peace ~ Malakai ~ On the outside, we look normal, like an all-American Christian family, but behind the walls of this church basement, we are far from it. My mother says it's her calling, my father says it's our blessing, and my sister says it's fun. I say we're fucked. I dont know if what we're doing is really what God wants us to do, I just know that the more we do it, the more natural it feels. Natural. What we're doing and the reason behind it is far from natural. In my family, love blends with hate, duty with torment, and blood with water. We are the Courtenay family and this is the story about how it all went wrong. R.I.P. Part Two: Rot In Pieces ~ Adriel ~ Her actions shattered my family, leaving it half alive. And I hate her for it. My brother is broken. His torment suffocates him as he claws his way through the aftermath of her decisions. Despite it all, he remains by my side. The life we knew has been gutted, rotting into a million pieces. We have no home, nowhere to go, but I don’t care because we still have each other. He’s the only one that can see beneath my flesh to touch me in my darkest places. Our choices have taken us on a new path. A shimmering sea of blood trails behind us on our search for purpose and reason. No matter what happens, I refuse to let anything or anyone keep us apart. I’ll burn the world to ash before I’ll let him go. *Trigger Warning: This book contains many triggers. If you are not comfortable reading about taboo subject matter, gore, explicit/graphic situations and disturbing content, this book may not be for you.

Exquisite Corpse


Poppy Z. Brite - 1996
    After feigning his own death to escape from prison, Compton makes his way to the United States with the sole ambition of bringing his "art" to new heights. Tortured by his own perverse desires, and drawn to possess and destroy young boys, Compton inadvertently joins forces with Jay Byrne, a dissolute playboy who has pushed his "art" to limits even Compton hadn't previously imagined. Together, Compton and Byrne set their sights on an exquisite young Vietnamese-American runaway, Tran, whom they deem to be the perfect victim.Swiftly moving from the grimy streets of London's Piccadilly Circus to the decadence of the New Orleans French Quarter, and punctuated by rants from radio talk show host Lush Rimbaud, a.k.a. Luke Ransom, Tran's ex-lover, who is dying of AIDS and who intends to wreak ultimate havoc before leaving this world, Exquisite Corpse unfolds into a labyrinth of murder and love. Ultimately all four characters converge on a singular bloody night after which their lives will be irrevocably changed — or terminated.Poppy Z. Brite dissects the landscape of torture and invites us into the mind of a killer. Exquisite Corpse confirms Brite as a writer who defies categorization. It is a novel for those who dare trespass where the sacred and profane become one.