Book picks similar to
Shining Rock by Blake Crouch
thriller
mystery
horror
short-stories
A Face in the Crowd
Stephen King - 2012
It’s Rays/Mariners, and David Price is breezing through the line-up. Suddenly, in a seat a few rows up beyond the batter, Evers sees the face of someone from decades past, someone who shouldn’t be at the ballgame, shouldn’t be on the planet. And so begins a parade of people from Evers’s past, all of them occupying that seat behind home plate. Until one day Dean Evers sees someone even eerier….
Ricochet Joe
Dean Koontz - 2017
When a series of strange intuitions leads him to a crime in progress, Joe jumps headlong into danger without hesitation. In the aftermath, he wonders about the uncanny impulse that suddenly swept over him.
Until new friend Portia Montclair, the strangely wise daughter of the local police chief, explains to him what sent him ricocheting around town like a crazy pinball. Portia tells of another reality, a reality more thrilling—and terrifying—than Joe ever imagined. Timeless, elemental forces of good and evil have come to the quiet town of Little City: a cosmic entity capable of infecting human beings, and the seeker who has chosen Joe to find it.
To stop the malevolent invader, this average Joe must be braver than he ever thought possible…and face the hardest decisions of his life.
Cold Cold Heart
Karin Slaughter - 2006
She and John enjoyed their friends, careers, and a special son. Just like the vows state, for richer for poorer, for better for worse, they lived their lives. All the way up to the day tragedy struck their family. John betrayed his wife in the most public of ways, leaving to a lucrative new life. For the next three years, John becomes richer while Pam not as fortunate becomes poorer. John’s life keeps getting better while Pam’s becomes worse. But then something happens! A reversal of fortune brings them back together, and Pam finally gets the chance for revenge. A revenge that even John could never have dreamed of …
The Grownup
Gillian Flynn - 2014
On a rainy April morning, she is reading auras at Spiritual Palms when Susan Burke walks in. A keen observer of human behavior, our unnamed narrator immediately diagnoses beautiful, rich Susan as an unhappy woman eager to give her lovely life a drama injection. However, when the "psychic" visits the eerie Victorian home that has been the source of Susan's terror and grief, she realizes she may not have to pretend to believe in ghosts anymore. Miles, Susan's teenage stepson, doesn't help matters with his disturbing manner and grisly imagination. The three are soon locked in a chilling battle to discover where the evil truly lurks and what, if anything, can be done to escape it.“The Grownup,” originally appeared as “What Do You Do?” in George R. R. Martin’s Rogues anthology.
Dead Pig Collector
Warren Ellis - 2013
So while it might be a love story, it's also about killing people and disposing of their bodies in the most efficient manner possible.DEAD PIG COLLECTOR introduces readers to Mister Sun, a very proficient businessman whose trade is the murder and spotless removal of human beings. Like any businessman, he knows each transaction is only as good as his client - and today's client, in Los Angeles, has turned out to be so dangerously stupid that Mister Sun's work and life are now in jeopardy...
A Kiss Before Dying
Ira Levin - 1953
Now a modern classic, as gripping in its tautly plotted action as it is penetrating in its exploration of a criminal mind, it tells the shocking tale of a young man who will stop at nothing--not even murder--to get where he wants to go. For he has dreams; plans. He also has charm, good looks, sex appeal, intelligence. And he has a problem. Her name is Dorothy; she loves him, and she's pregnant. The solution may demand desperate measures. But, then, he looks like the kind of guy who could get away with murder. Compellingly, step by determined step, the novel follows this young man in his execution of one plan he had neither dreamed nor foreseen. Nor does he foresee how inexorably he will be enmeshed in the consequences of his own extreme deed.
The Witness for the Prosecution - an Agatha Christie Standalone Short Story
Agatha Christie - 1925
However, when questioned, Romaine informs the police that Vole returned home late that night covered in blood. During the trial, Ms. French's housekeeper, Janet, gives damning evidence against Vole and, as Romaine's cross-examination begins, her motives come under scrutiny in the courtroom. One question remains, will justice prevail?Librarian's note #1: this is the original short story. It was published in the print anthologies "The Witness for The Prosecution and Other Stories," and "The Hound of Death and Other Stories." It first appeared in "Flynn's Weekly" under the title of "Traitor Hands" in 1925. The author adapted it into a play in 1953 with additional material following the original ending, which became the basis for the 1957 film of the same name with Charles Laughton and Marlene Dietrich.
Black Dog
Neil Gaiman - 2016
This American Gods world novella will thrill Games of Thrones devotees and Terry Pratchett fans alike. Illustrations by celebrated artist Daniel Egnéus.'It followed me home,' he said, conversationally.In a rural northern village, legend tells of a ghostly black dog that appears from the darkness before you die.Shadow Moon has been on the road a while now but he can't walk any further tonight, not with the rain lashing down. Gratefully, he heads home with a nice English couple, who offer a box room, hot whisky and local tales.But when the man collapses en route, Shadow realises that something about this place has been left untold.Something ancient, something within the very walls of the village.Something shadowing them all.
Nightflyers
George R.R. Martin - 1985
Nine misfit academics on an expedition to find the volcryn, a mythic race of intersteller nomads, and the only ship available for this strange quest is the Nightflyer, a cybernetic wonder with a never-seen captain...Nine innocents are about to find themselves in deep space, trapped with an insane murderer who can go anywhere, do anything, and intends to kill them all.
Throttle
Joe Hill - 2009
Their battle is fought out on twenty miles of the most lonely road in the country, a place where the only thing worse than not knowing what you're up against, is slowing down . . .
Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell
Brandon Sanderson - 2013
Amid a forest where the shades of the dead linger all around, every homesteader knows to follow the Simple Rules: "Don't kindle flame, don't shed the blood of another, don't run at night. These things draw shades." Silence Montane has broken all three rules on more than one occasion. And to protect her family from a murderous gang with high bounties on their heads, Silence will break every rule again, at the risk of becoming a shade herself.
The Breathing Method
John Escott - 1982
The years pass but no one looks any older. One night a doctor tells the story of a young woman who gives birth to a baby in the most horrible way! Evil psychic powers, obsession and the supernatural in the most ordinary, everyday places. A spine-chiller from the master of horror.
Countdown
Jonathan Maberry - 2011
I wasn't totally against the idea, either. Sometimes things just fall that way, and either you roll with it or it rolls over you. Letting the bad guys win isn't how I roll."Meet Joe Ledger, Baltimore PD, attached to a Homeland task force… who's about to get a serious promotion.
The Real Deal
Andy Weir - 2012
“The real deal!”“Oh yeah?” Bobby replied. “Tell me more.”“She's the most amazing woman I've ever met!” He snatched his cigarettes from the coffee table...
The Body
Robin Waterfield - 1982
As they travel, they discover how cruel the world can be, but also how wondrous.