It’s All Relative: Twisted Siblings and Family Secrets in Mysteries & Thrillers

Alison has never been a fan of Christmas. But with it right around the corner and her husband busily decorating their cozy Vermont home, she has no choice but to face it. Then she gets the call.

Mavis, Alison’s estranged mother, has been diagnosed with cancer and has only weeks to live. She wants to spend her remaining days with her daughter, son-in-law, and two granddaughters. But Alison grew up with her mother’s alcoholism and violent abuse and is reluctant to unearth these traumatic memories. Still, she eventually agrees to take in Mavis, hoping that she and her mother could finally heal and have the relationship she’s always dreamed of.

But when mysterious and otherworldly things start happening upon Mavis’s arrival, Alison begins to suspect her mother is not quite who she seems. And as the holiday festivities turn into a nightmare, she must confront just how far she is willing to go to protect her family.

The lead homicide investigator in a rural town, Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock is deeply unnerved when a high school classmate is found strangled, her body floating in a lake. And not just any classmate, but Rosalind Ryan, whose beauty and inscrutability exerted a magnetic pull on Smithson High School, first during Rosalind’s student years and then again when she returned to teach drama.

As much as Rosalind’s life was a mystery to Gemma when they were students together, her death presents even more of a puzzle. What made Rosalind quit her teaching job in Sydney and return to her hometown? Why did she live in a small, run-down apartment when her father was one of the town’s richest men? And despite her many admirers, did anyone in the town truly know her?

Every day I wave my husband Damon off with a kiss and a smile, drive our precious children to school, and make sure our house is pristine before preparing a delicious meal. I pretend I’m not filled with fury that he once nearly destroyed our perfect life. It’s important to carry on as normal.

That is, until the accident.

My husband was hit by a car. It was pouring with rain. Nobody saw what happened. But the police are asking questions…

Do they know about the terrible argument we had that day?

Do they know about the text message I sent, telling someone to Delete everything?

When Boady Sanden first receives the case of Elijah Matthews, he’s certain there’s not much he can do. Elijah, who believes himself to be a prophet, has been locked up in a psychiatric hospital for the past four years, convicted of brutally murdering the pastor of a megachurch. But as a law professor working for the Innocence Project, Boady agrees to look into Elijah’s file. When he does, he is alarmed to find threads that lead back to the death of his colleague and friend, Ben Pruitt, a man shot to death four years earlier in Boady’s own home.
 
Ben’s daughter, Emma, has lived with Boady and Boady’s wife Dee ever since that awful night. Now fourteen years old, Emma has been growing distant, and soon makes a fateful choice that takes her far from the safety of her godparents. Desperate to bring her home, and to free an innocent man, Boady must do all he can to investigate Elijah’s case while fighting to save the family he has deeply come to love.

Jasmine Yang arrives in New York City from her rural Chinese village without money or family support, fleeing a controlling husband, on a desperate search for the daughter who was taken from her at birth–another female casualty of China’s controversial One Child Policy. But with her husband on her trail, the clock is ticking, and she’s forced to make increasingly risky decisions if she ever hopes to be reunited with her daughter.

Meanwhile, publishing executive Rebecca Whitney seems to have it all: a prestigious family name and the wealth that comes with it, a high-powered career, a beautiful home, a handsome husband, and an adopted Chinese daughter she adores. She’s even hired a nanny to help her balance the demands of being a working wife and mother. But when an industry scandal threatens to jeopardize not only Rebecca’s job but her marriage, this perfect world begins to crumble and her role in her own family is called into question.

The Leftover Woman finds these two unforgettable women on a shocking collision course. Twisting and suspenseful and surprisingly poignant, it’s a profound exploration of identity and belonging, motherhood and family. It is a story of two women in a divided city–separated by severe economic and cultural differences yet bound by a deep emotional connection to a child.

The bonds of sisterly loved are tested in this shocking thriller about a serial killer and her sister! Carrie Lawrence made a decision a long time ago: she helps her sister, Becca, a serial killer, cover up her crimes instead of reporting her to the authorities. (A little blackmailing on Becca's part might have something to do with it.) When a new group of bodies is discovered in their small town, Becca swears it wasn't her, although can a serial killer be believed? But the longer Carrie stays silent, the more it seems like whoever the new killer is, they're gunning for her.

Related: Psychological Suspense Books Where Sisterly Love Turns Deadly 

Fred and Sheila Merton have been unbelievably rich their whole adult lives. But now they are dead, having been horrifically murdered in their mansion. Their deaths occurred not long after a contentious family gathering for Easter, where their three grown children and the longtime housekeeper all had reason to storm out. Fred Merton was never kind to his children, and Sheila never stood up for the kids when their father belittled them. So who did it? The kids, the housekeeper, Fred's sister—they could all use the inheritance. But would one of them resort to murder to get it? Or was this the result of a robbery gone wrong? The detectives on the case must decide who is lying (more like who isn't lying) and do they have secrets they'd kill to protect?

One of the ways cult leaders manipulate followers is by leading them to believe they are part of a big family. That's the case with the Clearing, the only home—or family—Amy has ever known. But then a new girl is brought into the group, and she starts making waves. She doesn't want to be there, and she's going to disrupt their world in ways that they never expected. Freya has been trying to live an ordinary life under the radar with her young son. But when a young girl goes missing, it brings a person from Freya's hidden past back into her life. It's a taut story about dark secrets in a small town and how the past is never truly behind you.

This is a psychological thriller by one of the 21st century queens of crime, Megan Abbott, also known for Dare Me (now a television series) and most recently The Turnout. In this sinister thriller, an unknown epidemic has taken over a group of girls at a small-town high school. Deenie Nash and her brother, Eli, attend the high school where her father is a teacher. When Deenie's best friend is struck down by a mysterious illness, it is perplexing, but not alarming. But then other girls at the school start to exhibit the same symptoms, and hysteria runs high. Is it mob mentality or a deadly contagious? As the town begins to unravel, so do the friendships and closely guarded secrets at the school.