By Sandra A. Miller

I didn’t set out to write a thriller. I set out to write a layered novel about a clinical psychologist, Gregory Weber, who did something horrible when he was seventeen and spent the next thirty years regretting it. I wanted that “something” to come back to haunt him in mid-life when Mira, a mysterious client, begins appearing in his therapy office each week with knowledge of his past transgression. As I wrote the story and the characters deepened in unexpected ways, I realized that my debut novel, Wednesdays at One, was a psychological thriller with twists and reveals—some of which even I didn’t see coming until they were on the page. (It’s amazing when your own characters surprise you.)

Like so many readers, I enjoy a juicy, plot-driven thriller, but for me to really love a thriller, I need a complex, engaging protagonist who drives the story forward and takes the story in unexpected directions. All of the below books deliver in that way, serving up some thrilling twists and spookiness that suit the Halloween season while giving us irresistible characters that make for propulsive fiction.

The Ghost Illusion by Kat Martin

Martin has published an impressive number of books, but this one really hits my sweet spot of psychological thriller meets ghost story with a side of romance. It’s the story of Eve St. Clair, a psychologist who inherits her uncle’s Victorian home in England, but soon can’t distinguish reality from illusion when all signs suggest that her new house is haunted. Eve seeks help from Ransom King, a Seattle billionaire who runs a paranormal investigation company. Through email, Ransom becomes interested in the case—and Eve—and heads to England with his team of experts to sort things out. If you’re a fan of supernatural novels, this one delivers with ghost children, solid suspense, and plenty of thrills and chills.

American Girl by Wendy Walker

Walker’s latest thriller, first released as an Audible original, follows the story of Charlie Hudson, an autistic 17-year-old girl who works at a sandwich shop in Sawyer, Pennsylvania to save money for college. She’s already been accepted to MIT and is eager to escape her working class town when the shop owner, Clay Cooper, is murdered. Everyone who works at the sandwich shop becomes a suspect, including Charlie—who puts her neurodivergent mind to work trying to protect her friends and herself, and maybe even help solve the case. The plot is complex, twisty, and satisfying. And Charlie is a protagonist to love and root for.  

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

No spooky thriller list is complete without this classic gothic story of a young woman who marries Max de Winter, and is then taken to Manderley, his stately home presided over by the vengeful housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers. The new Mrs. de Winter—the novel’s unnamed protagonist—becomes obsessed with her husband’s first wife, Rebecca, who supposedly drowned in a boating accident. Whether you read this book in high school or have always just wondered about it, this is the perfect time to curl up with one of the most famous and enduring psychological thrillers of all time. That memorable first line should hook you and remind you why it’s so delicious: “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

This new novel by Luckiest Girl Alive author Jessica Knoll is worthy of the hype. Knoll’s book blends psychological suspense and true crime in this story about a 1978 murder spree in a Florida State University sorority house. But unlike so many true crime books that focus on the murderer, this powerfully told story is really about two women affected by the murders and the way in which they come together as sisters to try to put the defendant (an infamous real-life murderer, whom we shall not name) in prison. This character-driven book, told with two POVs and two timelines, is smart, emotional, and ultimately empowering as the reader comes to realize it’s the women—not the killer immortalized by the media—who are truly fascinating and worthy of attention.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

This literary novel—a potent mix of psychological fiction, suspense, family drama, and the supernatural—is in a category of its own. The elements come together in this haunting bestseller narrated by Susie Salmon, a fourteen-year-old girl who was raped and murdered near her home. No one alive knows who did it, but Susie—who watches all from her personal heaven—knows it was her neighbor, Mr. Harvey, a serial killer who may strike again. As Susie dwells in the “Inbetween”, she witnesses her parents’ pain as they struggle to move forward with their lives. She fears for her sister and friends who may fall victim to the evil Mr. Harvey. And she aches for her lost years of life and the chance to fall in love. The narrative voice is so beautiful, so pitch perfect, and so unexpected, it will haunt you long after you have read the last page.

Holly by Stephen King 

If you aren’t familiar with private investigator Holly Gibney, King’s tough, ingenious protagonist, you might start with the other books she’s appeared in: Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, End of Watch, The Outsider, and If It Bleeds. If you don’t have time for that much catching up, then grab King’s latest tome and prepare to be engrossed as Holly works to solve the case of a girl who has disappeared from her small Midwestern town. Near the site of the girl’s disappearance live two elderly academics who may be harboring a dark secret in their basement, one that Holly will need all her smarts, wits, and will to crack. 

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Sandra A. Miller is the author of the award-winning memoir Trove: A Woman’s Search for Truth and Buried Treasure and novel Wednesdays at One. She has written for The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, and many other publications. Her essay about her unconventional love story with her husband was made into the short film Wait, directed by Trudie Styler and starring Kerry Washington. She teaches writing at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, and lives outside of Boston with her family.