5 Crime Fiction Books Recommended by Stephen King
These thrilling novels give us a range of stories, some based on true events and others into worlds where vampires exist. Characters will face high-stakes situations that not only threaten their own livelihoods but everything and everyone that stands with them. But don’t take just our word for it. Stephen King has raved about how chilling and exciting these voices are.
Seven years ago, McCauley, Shiherlis, and their crew were taking scores on the West Coast, US-Mexican border, and now in Chicago. Chicago homicide detective Vincent Hanna found his calling, pursuing dangerous men. In present time, wounded and delirious Chris Schiherlis desperately tries to escape L.A. Now, LAPD detective Vincent Hanna had killed Shiherlis’s brother in a gun fight hours before and is determined to capture or kill the last survivor of Neil McCauley’s crew. Seven years earlier, McCauley, Shiherlis, and their crew were taking scores on the West Coast, US-Mexican border, and now in Chicago. The fallout from McCauley’s scores and Hanna’s pursuit causes unexpected consequences in the parallel narratives.
A working vacation overseas seems to be the perfect way of bringing a new family together after Heather Baxter marries Tom, a widowed doctor with a young son and daughter. The family takes a chance at adventure, making their way to a remote Dutch island usually off-limits to outside visitors. But when they set food on the island, everything feels wrong. An accident becomes the Baxter’s worst nightmare, separating Tom from Heather and the kids, who are forced to escape alone. It’s now up to Heather to save herself and the kids, even if it means doing the unthinkable to keep them alive.
For fans of Gone Girl and The Haunting of Hill House, this novel spotlights a family of three bonded together by an unspeakable secret. A teenage girl isn’t allowed outside, not after the last time. A man drinks alone in front of his tv while trying to ignore gaps in his memory. Their house cat loves napping and reading the Bible. Their world cracks when a new neighbor moves in next door, threatening to unearth what’s buried in the haunting birch trees just beyond. Stephen King calls this a “true never-shredder” that will blow readers away!
It’s the summer of 1976. Jessie and his brother Edgar are on the road searching for victims. For seventy years, they’ve lived their lives as rovers, nearly indestructible nocturnal beings who must consume blood to survive. Their routine gets shaken up when a young woman forces Jesse to confront his past and plunges his present into chaos as he scrambles to save her life. The brothers, a grieving father searching for his son’s murderer, and a violent gang of rover bikers will come together to a shattering conclusion in Las Vegas.
Mutilated bodies of several missing girls begin to turn up in a small town in Maryland. The police come to believe a serial killer is on the loose. A rumor soon spreads that the local teen stalker is not entirely human, but as evidence keeps turning up, the police, along with the FBI, are certain the killer is a living, breathing madman, succumbing a once peaceful community to an endless nightmare. Inspired by terrifying events, Richard writes a personal account with fresh imagination of the serial killer’s reign.
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Emily Hoang is a writer and editor, who is obsessed with haunted houses, ghosts, and dreams. More info can be found on her website.