Sometimes the best summer reads are the dark and twisted tales of murder, deception, and evil. From ghostly killers to hired assassins, this list is sure to satisfy anyone looking for stories of serial killers, their victims, and the people working tirelessly to bring their deadly reigns to an end.

No One Knows You’re Here by Rachel Howzell Hall  

 Syeeda “Sy” McKay is no ordinary Los Angeles crime reporter. Sy has spent her career tracking “Phantom Slayer,” a serial killer wreaking havoc on the streets of South Los Angeles for twenty years. Sy named the killer, tracked their crimes, and must now find a way to bring this heinous person to justice after the murder of countless prostitutes. After the two-decade killing pattern ends with a minister’s daughter’s death, it catches public interest and forcing Sy back into the limelight. Sy is uneasy as the investigation continues and someone seems to be anticipating her movements. Then mysterious emails arrive from someone claiming to be the Slayer, and Sy realizes that the horrors are far from over. Inching closer to the truth reveals connections between Sy and the Slayer, leading to a pivotal realization: the killer has been waiting for her the entire time. 

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Wicked Women by Angela Marsons 

Ashley Reynolds’s murder is the first of three deaths haunting seasoned Detective Kim Stone. Three women die in remarkably similar manners with a single stab wound to the chest and Detective Kim is struggling to connect the murders. The first woman, Ashley was a social worker, a wife, and a mother.  Though she was rumored to have separated families, she was an upstanding citizen. The second woman, Nadine, was a “honey trapper” racking up a long list of men who blame her for their imploding marriages. And the third woman, well she is completely innocent, having done no wrong. The investigation stalls and with little time to solve this mystery, the team grows uncertain until a realization strikes Detective Kim that suggests that the killing may not be over.  

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The Fox and the Devil by Kiersten White  

Anneke grew up estranged from her father, Abraham Van Helsing, who immersed himself in nefarious work as a doctor and scientist studying vampires. Returning home one day, Anneke arrives home to see her fathers deceased body on the floor and a woman hovering over his body vanishing into thin air. The woman haunts Anneke in her dreams and nightmares. Her father, once regarded as insane, begins to look more rational and Anneke wants to avenge his death. Enlisting a team of detectives to track down the killer who not only took Abraham’s life, but others murdered and scattered across Europe. Anneke puts everything she can into hunt while secretly withholding bloody letters from the killer herself. As the distance between Anneke and the killer lessens, the world order seems to shift in her mind. The more Anneke learns of her history, the more she believes there may be some humanity in the killer she is chasing.

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The Crying Killer by Jess Lourey

Eight years after surviving the Crying Killer and reinventing her life, private investigator Tuesday Hendrickson believes she has spotted her sister’s presumed dead murderer in Saint Paul. When new murders appear to match the killer’s signature, no one believes her, forcing Tuesday to confront the dark secret she has kept hidden if she hopes to protect herself and her daughter.

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Somebody Worth Killing by Jessica Payne   

Nadia made the most of her desire to kill by turning into a fulfilling career as an assassin. In her off time, she lives a normal life with two daughters, and a husband who knows nothing about what she does or her killer inclinations. Nadia discovers her assassin agency is sidelining her because she is now a mother, and so she requests to be assigned the job of a lifetime, a kill that will require all of her skills. Her demand goes sideways when she discovers the target is none other than her unsuspecting husband. Questioning all she knows about her family, Nadia must decide whether to keep her family intact or go through with killing her own partner. 

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Monster in the Mirror by Janasha Prabhu 

Jiah is discovered with her the body of her girlfriend, Georgia, in her arms one night at bottom of Wailing Cliff. Insufficient evidence keeps her from conviction, but the community has a long memory and a penchant for grudges. She is thought to be guilty though because of her relation to an uncle, a serial killer that died in prison. Years down the line, Georgia’s brother disrupts the new found solace she found threatening Jiah. Yearning for security, Jiah seeks to confide in her best friend Estrella, a girl she met after Georgia’s death, but disturbingly, Estrella cannot be found after not showing up to a party. Soon mysterious texts come in, luring Jiah to the beach where she finds a body positioned in her uncle’s signature style. Jiah grapples with the new killer and realizes in the process that she can’t save the next victim.

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Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll 

Beginning as an ordinary Saturday night in 1978, a Florida sorority house becomes a horrific crime scene. Only two people survive the night: the sorority president and Pamela Schumacher—a crucial witness. On the other side of the country, a woman named Tina Cannon theorizes her missing friend is a victim of what the newspapers call the “All-American Sex Killer.” Desiring justice, the two groups from opposite ends of the country work together to seek answers that become an unexpected close encounter. 

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Thornbird by Elle Kennedy  

Ryan Shipley moves back to Starling, Tennessee hoping that ten years is long enough that no one will recognize who she is or the troubled past she carries. Ryan is the daughter of Gabriel Thorn, an infamous serial killer, who was caught a decade ago. Staying under the radar becomes difficult when new investigations impede her quiet life digging into the case that got her father caught. Though Ryan tries to maintain anonymity, secrets that she wants to keep come to light and what follows is a disturbing series of mysterious texts, strange occurrences, and a frightening note. Behind the scenes, the town wonders what Ryan knows and if she is more of an accomplice than they realized. The town may be riddled with secrets, but the mystery of Ryan Shipley rivals even the most disturbing truths in Starling, Tennessee.  

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The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden 

Sydney Shaw is unlucky in love. One of many women in New York wondering if there are men who are more than just liars with more ego than funds. Sydney finds what seems to be the perfect man; He is alluring, easy on the eyes, and a doctor. She jumps in headfirst. Then a string of murders across the coast hits the news. The authorities suspect the killer is a man who dates then kills his victims. Feeling unnerved with her new relationship coinciding with a killer on the loose, Sydney tries to rationalize, but wonders if her perfect man is a killer facade. The situation becomes intense as Sydney scrambles for answers worrying that if not, she might become the latest victim.  

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This Girl’s a Killer by Emma C. Wells  

Cordelia is relatively normal: she has a best friend, works as a pharmaceutical sales rep, and has great hair thanks to an amazing stylist, but what she does in her off time is another story. She has a killer hobby, literally moonlighting as a killer of nefarious men. Cordelia thinks of herself as an instrument of karma stalking and killing abominable men who think they got away with ill deeds. Though the news flirts with terms like “serial killer,” Cordelia believes herself above it. Cordelia’s carefully constructed views are challenged when the man dating her best friend doesn’t appear to be as innocent as he seems. Stuck between a desire to maintain her life and a desperate need to save her best friend, Cordelia must grapple with the gray territory between right and wrong. 

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The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris  

The FBI’s Behavioral Science section Chief, Jack Crawford heads the Buffalo Bill killer investigation. This killer has been stalking and killing women, leaving their remains in a variety of states which stall investigative efforts. In a desire to uncover the purpose behind Buffalo Bill’s killings, Jack enlists Clarice Starling, a trainee at the FBI Academy. Tasked with interviewing a killer to understand the inner workings of a killer, Clarice interviews Dr. Hannibal Lecter, better known as Hannibal the Cannibal. From within the walls of Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, Clarice needs to gain a better understanding of the killer even if she becomes subject to Dr. Lecter’s unnerving examination.  

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American Psycho by Bret Easton 

Patrick Bateman is a master at playing into society in Manhattan, 1980. A good-looking, youthful man with an excellent education, he is sure to succeed and does. Days working on Wall Street provides the means and cover to engage in incomprehensibly heinous activities in cover of night. Torture and murder are what Bateman does best, and when he acts on his urges, he becomes his truest self. He is an embodiment of the corruption of man engaging in horrific desires. It is surely an indicator of where humanity is headed, an ugly truth no one wants to accept.  

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My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite 

Korede has been cleaning up messes for Ayoola her whole life. Spilt blood? A body to move? Korde does it all while keeping her sister from being the target of investigations. And, even with all that effort, Ayoola is still the gorgeous family favorite even with the sociopathic tendencies. Ayoola stabs her boyfriend in the heart with her very own knife, remaining unremorseful while her sister is washing away her sins. Meanwhile, in Korede’s life, she is in love with a handsome, kind doctor who works at the same hospital and hopes one day he will notice her. One day, he does but shockingly asks for Ayoola’s number. At war with herself, Korde must decide how far she is willing to go to protect her sister. 

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Intensity by Dean Koontz 

Twenty-six-year-old Chyna Shepard has been a survivor her whole life. Spending the night in her best friend’s family home in Napa Valley, all seems well, but it’s past midnight and Chyna cannot sleep. Lurking in the background a killer named Degler Foreman Vess has planned to kill everyone in the house. What he is not prepared for is Chyna because she is no soft target. A man seeking to sate his homicidal desires is set against a woman intent on surviving the night. During the struggle to escape Vess, Chyna learns who is set to be his next kill. Though the she is a long ways away, Chyna races to save the girl who is unknowingly in a deadly situation. In the most intense night of her life, Chyna must outmaneuver a killer and live to tell the tale. 

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Heartsick by Chelsea Cain 

Detective Archie Sheridan is haunted by his time with serial killer Gretchen Lowell who held and tortured him for ten days then mysteriously turned herself in. Archie began as a Portland detective tracking the notorious serial killer that left him incapacitated afterwards and abusing pain medication to get by. One day duty calls him back when a string of teenage girls go missing. Tasked with leading an investigative team to track down the killer and the trail goes cold. Archie is forced to face his fears and consult none other than Gretchen herself to stop the murders. To make matters worse, a newbie newspaper reporter has been closely tracking Sheridan and his team, analyzing not just Archie, but his team, the new killer, and Gretchen.  

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