The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion

Hello,

I'm a Goodreads author and reader, and I'm looking for books on fictional serial killers. So far I'm reading the Hannibal series, Jo Nesbo's The Snowman, and The Fourth Monkey.

Does anyone else have any suggestions on what to read next? Preferably no humor, just serious books about serial killers on the loose. I'm looking for inspiration for my next book.

thanks!

Obvious ones would be,
Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

More obscure,
The Face That Must Die by Ramsey Campbell (may be arguable as serial killer)
The Snowman's Children by Glen Hirshberg

Excellent. Thank you!

I'll recommend The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup. I'm reading it at the moment and can hardly put it down.

My favourite serial killer novel is The Straw Men by Michael Marshall, partly because he eviscerates the idea of the serial killer ubermensch, but also as it is a stunningly good thriller.


Also a shout out to The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes, which is something of scifi/supernatural version and the amazing Every Dead Thing by John Connolly.

C.J. Box's Highway Series (basis for the TV series Big Sky) is interesting though you won't recognize any of the characters by their descriptions

Paul wrote: "Also a shout out to The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes, which is something of scifi/supernatural version and the amazing Every Dead Thing by John Connolly."

Seconded. I knew there was something I'd read recently (the Beukes) that qualified, but I couldn't think of it.

If you're open to short stories, Thomas Burke's "The Hands of Mr. Ottermole" is old but effective, and has been anthologized a few times recently.

There's also The Alienist by Caleb Carr, In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes, Generation Loss by Elizabeth Hand and No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy.

The McCarthy might be arguable, but it's left a big footprint along the path of writing killers.

And another came to mind, American Gothic by Robert Bloch. Bloch was the writer of Psycho and like that novel, this one is based on a real live serial killer, H. H. Holmes (see also, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America).