Serial Killers

Fiction and non-fiction books about serial killers

1. Heartsick- Chelsea Cain

   Readers said:
   "terrifying and twisted", "dark and twisted thriller", "a women serial killer", "intense and riveting"
    

   In Chelsea Cain's bestselling series debut, Portland detective Archie Sheridan has spent years tracking Gretchen Lowell, a beautiful serial killer. In the end she was the one who caught him, but after torturing him for days she mysteriously let him go and turned herself in. Since then the she has been locked up, leaving Archie damaged but alive in a prison of another kind-addicted to pain pills, unable to return to his old life, powerless to get those ten horrific days or Gretchen off his mind.
   When another killer begins snatching teenage girls off the streets, Archie has to pull himself together to head up a new task force, but even then he can't stop him without getting information fro ...Read More

2. My Sister, the Serial Killer- Oyinkan Braithwaite

   Readers said:
   "punchy, funny, direct", "short and sharp", "murder and family loyalty", "frothy and amusing"
    

   Korede's sister Ayoola is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola's third boyfriend in a row is dead, stabbed through the heart with Ayoola's knife. Korede's practicality is the sisters' saving grace. She knows the best solutions for cleaning blood (bleach, bleach, and more bleach), the best way to move a body (wrap it in sheets like a mummy), and she keeps Ayoola from posting pictures to Instagram when she should be mourning her "missing" boyfriend. Not that she gets any credit.
   Korede has long been ...Read More

3. Child 44- Tom Rob Smith

   Readers said:
   "a child serial killer", "engaging and well written", "murder mystery thriller", "engaging and engrossing"
    

   In a country ruled by fear, no one is innocent.
   Stalin's Soviet Union is an official paradise, where citizens live free from crime and fear only one thing: the all-powerful state. Defending this system is idealistic security officer Leo Demidov, a war hero who believes in the iron fist of the law. But when a murderer starts to kill at will and Leo dares to investigate, the State's obedient servant finds himself demoted and exiled. Now, with only his wife at his side, Leo must fight to uncover shocking truths about a killer-and a country where "crime" doesn't exist. ...Read More

4. The Shining Girls- Lauren Beukes

   Readers said:
   "science fiction/mystery hybrid", "suspenseful and dark", "a time-traveling serial killer", "ideas of time"
    

   A masterful twist on the serial killer novel from the award-winning author Lauren Beukes: the girl who wouldn't die hunts the killer who shouldn't exist.
   Harper Curtis is a killer who stepped out of the past. Kirby Mazrachi is the girl who was never meant to have a future. Kirby is the last shining girl, one of the bright young women, burning with potential, whose lives Harper is destined to snuff out after he stumbles on a House in Depression-era Chicago that opens on to other times.
   At the urging of the House, Harper inserts himself into the lives of these shining girls, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. He's the ultimate hunter, vanishing without a trace into another tim ...Read More

5. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America- Erik Larson

   Readers said:
   "easy to digest", "mystery and intrigue", "nonfiction historical book", "america's first serial killer"
    

   NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
   The true tale of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and the cunning serial killer who used the magic and majesty of the fair to lure his victims to their death.
   "Relentlessly fuses history and entertainment to give this nonfiction book the dramatic effect of a novel .... It doesn't hurt that this truth is stranger than fiction." -The New York Times
   Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction.
   Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized Am ...Read More

6. American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century- Maureen Callahan

   Readers said:
   "crisp, pointed and suspenseful", "gripping and frightening", "riveting and compelling", "serial killer israel keyes"
    

   Ted Bundy. John Wayne Gacy. Jeffrey Dahmer. The names of notorious serial killers are usually well-known; they echo in the news and in public consciousness. But most people have never heard of Israel Keyes, one of the most ambitious and terrifying serial killers in modern history. The FBI considered his behavior unprecedented. Described by a prosecutor as "a force of pure evil," Keyes was a predator who struck all over the United States. He buried "kill kits"-cash, weapons, and body-disposal tools-in remote locations across the country. Over the course of fourteen years, Keyes would fly to a city, rent a car, and drive thousands of miles in order to use his kits. He would break into a strang ...Read More

7. I Am Not a Serial Killer- Dan Wells

   Readers said:
   "interesting idea and setting", "fun but disturbing", "well crafted, suspenseful thriller", "paranormal"
    

   John Wayne Cleaver is dangerous, and he knows it. He's spent his life doing his best not to live up to his potential. He's obsessed with serial killers, but really doesn't want to become one.
   So for his own sake, and the safety of those around him, he lives by rigid rules he's written for himself, practicing normal life as if it were a private religion that could save him from damnation. Dead bodies are normal to John.
   He likes them, actually. They don't demand or expect the empathy he's unable to offer. Perhaps that's what gives him the objectivity to recognize that there's something different about the body the police have just found behind the Wash-n-Dry Laundromat - and to apprec ...Read More

8. Darkly Dreaming Dexter- Jeff Lindsay

   Readers said:
   "perfectly planned out", "forced and stiff", "dark sense of humor", "dark and gruesome novel"
    

   Meet Dexter Morgan, a polite wolf in sheep's clothing. He's handsome and charming, but something in his past has made him abide by a different set of rules. He's a serial killer whose one golden rule makes him immensely likeable: he only kills bad people. And his job as a blood splatter expert for the Miami police department puts him in the perfect position to identify his victims. But when a series of brutal murders bearing a striking similarity to his own style start turning up, Dexter is caught between being flattered and being frightened-of himself or some other fiend.
   The Basis for a New Showtime® Original Series Starring Michael C. Hall ...Read More

9. The Monster of Florence- Douglas Preston, Mario Spezi

   Readers said:
   "a strange memoir", "amazing", "true life story", "nonfiction, true crime, mystery"
    

   In the nonfiction tradition of John Berendt and Erik Larson, the author of the #1 NYT bestseller The Lost City of the Monkey God presents a gripping account of crime and punishment in the lush hills surrounding Florence as he seeks to uncover one of the most infamous figures in Italian history.
   In 2000, Douglas Preston fulfilled a dream to move his family to Italy. Then he discovered that the olive grove in front of their 14th century farmhouse had been the scene of the most infamous double-murders in Italian history, committed by a serial killer known as the Monster of Florence. Preston, intrigued, meets Italian investigative journalist Mario Spezi to learn more.
   This is the true ...Read More

10. The Stranger Beside Me: The Shocking Inside Story of Serial Killer Ted Bundy- Ann Rule

    Readers said:
    "fascinating and unreal", "true crime novels", "gripping and horrifying", "very in depth"
     

    From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ann Rule, "America's best true-crime writer" (Kirkus Reviews), her unforgettable classic account of the horrifying murders in the Pacific Northwest and her shock when she discovered her friend-Ted Bundy-was not only a suspect but also one of the most prolific serial killers in American history.
    Meeting in 1971 at a Seattle crisis clinic, Ann Rule and Ted Bundy developed a friendship and correspondence that would span the rest of his life. Rule had no idea that when they went their separate ways, their paths would cross again under shocking circumstances.
    The Stranger Beside Me is Rule's compelling firsthand account of not just her relationsh ...Read More

See all the books and more recommendations at  https://www.meetnewbooks.com/find-books/serial-killer

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