There’s something beautiful about ugliness. We all have it simmering under the surface. But we make damn sure not to show it. Why?
In my debut, The Stranger Upstairs, Sarah Slade is a popular influencer who struggles with a dark side. Her marriage is falling apart and her career is on a knife’s edge. She has depression, self-hatred, and hides it all under a bright and bubbly persona, photoshopped selfies, and love heart emojis.
But when she buys the infamous Black Wood House (a scene of a brutal murder-suicide), we see her dark side begin to take over, and she falls deeper and deeper into her own ugliness. She relinquishes the need to be perfect and in control. She surrenders to her own ugliness and there is a sense of relief as her falseness is stripped away.
I think this is why readers are drawn to thrillers. They’re harsh, ugly, and feature the worst parts of the human condition wrapped up in a 300-page story.
But I suspect there’s healing in this. Maybe we reach for thrillers because they help us understand and reconcile with our own ugliness. Because we’re not always good. Or pretty. And we don’t always win. Sarah herself says, “It’s nice to know I’m not the only one failing.”
The right setting only elevates the ugliness. And I confess, I reach for any thriller with a murder house. They’re unsavoury, unsettling, and so deliciously ugly. The isolated settings and the secrets within them create the perfect claustrophobic atmosphere. This was my design for Black Wood House in The Stranger Upstairs: a crumbling Victorian gothic house, in the middle of an odd and affluent town in Melbourne, Australia.
Like all murder houses, Black Wood House is hiding some terrible secrets—and the only thing uglier than the bloodstain on the floor is Sarah Slade herself.
Be warned: these murder house novels are best read with a light on! And remember to breathe as you’re sucked into the creepy, and spine-chilling atmosphere.
Get ready. Here are my favorites:
The Only One Left, by Riley Sager
At seventeen, Lenora Hope
Hung her sister with a rope
Stabbed her father with a knife
Took her mother’s happy life
“It wasn’t me,” Lenora said
But she’s the only one not dead
Now in her seventies, Lenora is confined to her wheelchair, unable to speak, and finally ready to reveal all to her home health-aide worker, Kit McDeere. But Kit has a dark past and secrets of her own…
Did I mention the story takes place in a crumbling gothic house that is literally falling off cliff while the story unravels?
Talk about urgency.
Sager creates an unsettling atmosphere that’s full of tension, suspense and surprising reveals. The twists and turns are frantic and frenetic, leaving the reader desperate to solve the mystery of the family murders before Hope’s End is lost to the sea forever.
The Overnight Guest, by Heather Gudenkauf
There’s nothing like a good snowed-in thriller, especially when the protagonist is taking shelter in an isolated farmhouse where two people were murdered.
As the storm worsens, the reader feels like they’re trapped in that rural farmhouse, aching to get out. This high-tension mystery expertly weaves in three stories and timelines, leaving it up to the reader to connect the dots before the next earth-shattering reveal.
Gudenkauf creates a terrifyingly tense atmosphere where the twists and turns don’t let up. Perfectly paced and suspenseful, The Overnight Guest will keep readers holding their breath until the final reveal.
Daisy Darker, by Alice Feeney
Welcome to the despicable Darker family reunion. Taking place on a crumbing gothic house on a tidal island, the family arrives, only to be killed off one by one. Trapped in the house with a murderer, the family must confront their terrible secrets to try and survive the night.
It’s not surprising that this was a Goodreads choice award for Best Mystery and Thriller. I devoured every page, absolutely charmed by the title character, Daisy Darker.
Beautifully written and with a twist that left me gasping, this claustrophobic thriller is a brilliant tribute to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None.
The Family Plot, by Megan Collins
Dahlia Lighthouse returns home for her father’s funeral after fleeing her family’s house on a remote island over six years ago. Haunted by the disappearance of her twin brother, Andy, Dahlia had good reason to leave the Murder Mansion. 1: The Blackburn Island serial killer, who still hasn’t been caught, and 2: Her insane parents who raised them on true crime stories (each child has been named after the victim of a famous serial killer. Not creepy at all, right?)
When a gruesome discovery is made in the family plot, Dahlia is determined to find out the truth behind the murder mansion, her strange family, and her brother.
Featuring an eccentric cast, an atmospheric setting, and plenty of suspense, The Family Plot is a creepy and gripping psychological thriller that’s sure to keep you up all night.
Just Like Home, by Sarah Gailey
This dark gothic thriller is perfectly paced and delightfully sinister. It tackles toxic families, trauma, and has a killer hook: Vera is called back to her childhood home, where her serial killer father murdered his victims and buried their bodies.
It’s time for Vera to help get the notorious Crowder House up for sale, but the house is hiding many secrets, and there is something living under her bed. This book explores the complexity of abusive family dynamics, and I was particularly hooked by the flashbacks of Vera’s childhood.
Inventive and creepy, Just Like Home combines the classic haunted house story and elevates it into a gothic flavoured WHAT DID I JUST READ pulse-pounder.
Be prepared to get no sleep! This book is full of strange happenings and suspense that will keep you reading until the final explosive twist.
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