Psychological Thriller Short Stories

"Tearing at the Cracks" by Jonathan True is a spine-chilling collection of thirteen horror stories that will plunge readers into the darkest depths of the human psyche. Each tale is a haunting exploration of fear, desperation, and the thin veil that separates the mundane from the macabre. From the eerie whispers of forgotten ghosts to the visceral terror of ancient curses, True's stories weave a tapestry of dread that will leave readers trembling with each turn of the page. In "Tearing at the Cracks," nightmares come to life and the monsters under the bed are all too real. Enter a world ...

When the most ruthless interrogator is your own guilt Graham wakes up in a room with no doors, no windows, and only one demand whispered on repeat: Confess. He doesn't know why he's there. He doesn't know what he's supposed to admit. All he knows is that the cube is shrinking—and it won’t stop until he confesses. What begins as a surreal puzzle becomes a claustrophobic descent into memory, denial, and accountability. As the walls close in, Graham is forced to confront every lie he’s ever told, every shortcut he's ever taken, and the one decision he swore he’d never think about again.

When Ella boards a sumptuous charter off the coast of Australia, she feels…dread. Her husband, Mac, the social butterfly who makes these wellness retreats so much easier to navigate, is stuck at work, leaving her exposed to the other passengers. Luckily, she forms an instant bond with the charismatic Chloe, a newly single woman salving a broken heart. But as the friendship grows, Ella discovers they share more than the need for an escape, and their devastating connection has the power to forever alter their lives.

It's been twenty years since the night Jake Marcott was brutally murdered at St. Elizabeth High School. It's a night that shattered the lives of Lindsay Farrell, Kirsten Daniels, and Rachel Alsace. It's a night they'll never forget. A killer will make sure of that....

★★★★★ "Keeps you thinking and on your toes! But watch out, the twist will get you every time!" - Reader review ___ Five riveting stories that remind us that fate can change our lives in a heartbeat! These intriguing tales encompass every evil deed from revenge to cold-blooded murder to human trafficking and yet never assume you know how they will end until you read the last page. Things are not always what they appear to be, especially when fate intervenes. Atonement: A serial killer is terrorizing the Dallas-Fort Worth area and wherever he strikes he leaves a strange memento ...

Psychiatrist Olivia Cole is a shell of herself after only two years with her tyrannical husband, the outwardly perfect Sebastian. On their two-year anniversary, she’s subjected to one power move too many when Sebastian whisks her away on a surprise trip—first to the charming capital of Sweden, then to an unexpected final destination. Miles from home and help, the only way for Olivia to wrest back control of her life is to give Sebastian an even bigger, shocking surprise.

She said she’d stay one night. She lied. Sophie and Tom finally have the perfect life - or so it seems. A quiet village. A freshly renovated guest room. And a little extra income from the occasional overnight visitor. Then Lena Moore arrives. Polite. Elegant. Unsettling. She claims she’s attending a writing retreat nearby. But the retreat doesn’t exist. And by morning, she hasn’t left. Each day, Lena’s presence deepens. She knows things she shouldn't. She watches. She listens. She moves through the house like it already belongs to her. As secrets rise to the surface - from ...

Here Is A Book Where Every Story Ends with a Twist. In this captivating anthology of 50 short stories, the familiar landscapes of the UK are transformed into scenes of suspense, mystery, and unexpected turns. From chilling murders to perplexing kidnappings, each tale is meticulously crafted to draw you into its web and leave you breathless with an unforeseen twist. Whether you find solace in the warmth of a cosy mystery or thrill in the darkness of the unknown, this collection has something for every reader. These stories will keep you guessing until the final sentence, delivering the kind ...

What if Edgar Allan Poe's masterpieces happened in our world? Step into five chilling retellings that transport Poe's most terrifying tales into the 21st century, where ancient horrors take on frightening new forms. From sterile hospital corridors to corporate boardrooms, from contaminated mansions to digital graveyards, these stories prove that the human capacity for guilt, obsession, and revenge transcends any era. "The Monitor" - A night-shift nurse's paranoia spirals into murder, where the tell-tale heart becomes the relentless beeping of medical equipment, and guilt echoes through ...

In this psychological short thriller, an elderly loner, who spends most of his days at home, becomes the subject of a home invasion. A young and unmasked man with a gun soon arrests the elder to a chair, beginning a daylong ordeal that both men will never forget.

Marisol willingly seals herself into a bunker designed for profound solitude, only to discover she is never truly alone. In this intense and unsettling psychological thriller, she battles haunting echoes of her own voice and an AI that claims to have created it. As hallucinations and hidden cameras unfold an unsettling spectacle for unseen watchers, Marisol races to expose the cycle of her own making before it consumes her entirely. Dormant Frequencies delves into the unnerving depths of isolation and the fine line between personal ambition and self-inflicted terror, all within a concise, ...

Blair Martin’s days rarely vary: she gets up, goes for a run, and then heads to work at a Manhattan literary agency where she nurtures authors through the publishing process. Her nights, spent alone in her too-large apartment, are similarly predictable. Then on an ordinary Wednesday, Blair enters her office building and spies a lost wallet. When Blair tracks down the owner, they arrange for a simple exchange. But the young woman, Maya, seems so vulnerable, much like Blair’s own daughter, Faith, who died tragically just last year, and Blair is unable to simply walk away.

Behind a wall of amnesia, he can’t remember anything. Maybe he can’t bear to. Nameless knows only the mission: Directed by the mysterious Ace of Diamonds, he travels the country, turning predators into prey. But the pain in his past can’t hold him back when dark visions of the future lead him toward his greatest test yet. Nameless is closing in on a revelatory endgame in this collection of short thrillers from #1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz.

Spring Break, 1997. A group of college friends sets out for an unforgettable trip to Mexico, but their adventure takes a horrific turn when they are abducted by a satanic cult in the Tucson desert. Their captor? Zeena Graves—a strikingly beautiful yet merciless cult leader who commands her followers from the darkness of an abandoned church. As midnight strikes on Easter night, she prepares to enact a ritual drenched in blood and terror that can only be completed After the Pink Moon. Bound by fear, surrounded by zealots, and with time slipping away, the captives must find a way to escape ...

A classic of alienation and horror, The Birds was immortalized by Hitchcock in his celebrated film. The five other chilling stories in this collection echo a sense of dislocation and mock man's dominance over the natural world. The mountain paradise of "Monte Verità" promises immortality, but at a terrible price; a neglected wife haunts her husband in the form of an apple tree; a professional photographer steps out from behind the camera and into his subject's life.

A collection of four critically acclaimed, gripping short novels that explore the darkness lurking within ordinary lives. Black Canyon Twelve-year-old Brian Garrett embarks on a weekend camping trip in Colorado’s Black Canyon of the Gunnison, hoping to reconnect with his distant parents. But when his father suffers a brutal accident deep in the chasm, survival takes a sinister turn. Over the next twenty-four hours, Brian will face a horrifying truth about his father—and himself. Rewind A man wakes in a decaying apartment, hooked to a mysterious machine, a dead body in the next room—...

A deadly black widow has eliminated three husbands and counting. But Nameless knows her one weakness. To bring truth and its consequences to her crimes, the vigilante must spin a web of his own in part three of the Nameless series. Lucia - current last name, Rickenbah - has made a fortune by marrying rich men who tend to drop dead. But the superstitious blonde believes in more than money and murder. Nameless’s job is to scare a confession out of Lucia, and as the psychological warfare escalates, even he may be in for a shock.

Four carefully selected short stories from C. Y. Stewart with the author's first-hand recount of how each of the stories were developed, providing you with a behind-the-scenes peek into the author's creative process as well as her personal life. Have You Seen Jeffrey? It has been a month since it happened. At first, Steve and I talked about it every day. In the mornings, while sitting on our balcony, drinking coffee and looking down at the lush green valley below, our thoughts and discussion would manage to drift back to the mystery of what happened to Jeffrey. I checked the news every day....

It's been said that all great literature boils down to one of two stories—a man takes a journey, or a stranger comes to town. While mystery writers have been successfully using both approaches for generations, there's something undeniably alluring in the nature of a stranger: the uninvited guest, the unacquainted neighbor, the fish out of water. In the newest collection of stories by the Mystery Writers of America, each author weaves a fresh tale surrounding the eerie feeling that comes when a stranger enters our midst, featuring stories by prolific mystery writers.

What strange science made Nameless who he is? What catastrophes have been erased from his memories? In the stunning conclusion of this series, the dark past comes flooding back, and Nameless must decide how much he really wants to know. In Indiana, a murderous psycho has kidnapped his own six-year-old stepson, Jamie, and secreted him away in a subterranean cave. It’s become their bunker. For Nameless, the case is breaking down his defenses, and it may force him to face his memories.