Psychological Thriller Short Stories

Clea McAllister returns to the Newport haven of her childhood, a gilded mansion by the sea once owned by her beloved grandmother. Now she is a paying guest at her own ancestral home, and Clea’s vacation hides a darker intention: to confront the estate lawyer who stole her rightful inheritance. But wicked games are still being played at Belle Mer, and Clea uncovers more than she ever intended.

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....

Eve has a fake ID, a .38, and a violent lover receding in the rearview mirror. He’ll never find her at the isolated motel, and its kindly manager is happy to ease her fears. But if Eve is the only guest, whom does she keep hearing on the other side of the wall? Eve won’t get a good night’s rest until she finds out.

"Searingly honest, brilliant and disturbing. Brad Phillips peels back the skin and bone and stares right into the human soul." (Anthony Bourdain) Brad Phillips' collection of short stories adeptly walks a very thin line between taboo and propriety, with rigorous self-awareness and generosity. By confusing ideas around fiction and autobiography, Phillips writes with painful sincerity about shame, addiction, trauma, and the more troubling outreaches of sexual desire, with wit that is at odds with the subject matter. Brad Phillips is a well-known Canadian artist.

In this gothic, virtuoso debut collection, Mike McCormack dispenses nightmares both stylish and macabre. "A Is for Ax" offers alphabetized look at the killing of a parent, while the title story tracks a chilling sibling rivalry. Other works here offer multiple-quiz on the road to Calvary, a door-to-door saleswoman trafficking in strange and menacing feats, and a self-mutilating artist pushing himself to the limit. These sly and dangerous stories show us a young writer who was already a master of wicked formal play, and whose sly takes on life and death remain profoundly unsettling.

Marti Greenwood has just moved into a brand-new home after a bitter divorce from her husband Emery, and while she’s still not quite done with him - of course, some of her most cherished possessions are nowhere to be found once she unpacks her things - a fresh start in a beautiful LA neighborhood is exactly what she needs. But days after her arrival, Marti is attacked in her home. She's found shaken and beaten, and her neighbors who immediately call the police. She never saw the face of her attacker, and so there is little to go on as detectives open an investigation.

A Short Walk to the Other Side is a second short story collection of supernatural, metaphysical, science fiction, and horror stories following "The Small Dark Room of the Soul" by award-winning author Matthew J. Pallamary that examines the shadow side of human nature.

Step into the decaying halls of Grimwood and feel your grip on reality slip away. Every whisper, every shadow, every creaking floorboard will set your nerves on fire! A sweet warning: This psychological thrill ride will shatter your perceptions and leave you questioning everything you thought you knew! Is it real? Is it delusion? You won't know until it's far too late! Face the horrors lurking in the depths of your own mind! But remember - in Grimwood, escape is just another cruel illusion. So are you brave enough to lose your mind?

Bad things have been happening since Mia began to mature. Her dad left. Boys at school can’t keep their hands to themselves. A lecherous stepfather has moved in. Her only refuge is an abandoned lot on her suburban cul-de-sac, crawling with feral felines - one of which follows Mia home. Ghostly white and affectionate, she is Mia’s new companion and - as Mia’s tormenters will soon discover - her fierce protector.

Matthew, Claire, Ian, and Mason haven’t set foot on the Merle family property since the summer they were sixteen. They tried for years to put their history behind them, to forget the mystery of the girl who vanished so long ago. But a powerful force from their past is still at play. This time, there’s no hiding from it.

After almost twenty years, Mary Ellen’s return to her hometown is like entering a surreal and haunting nightmare. She had thought she left this all behind for good. The reason for her return? Her father’s funeral. But this trip back is more than just grieving and receiving condolences - it’s a reckoning with the ghosts of a past she worked hard to forget.

Brace yourself for a heart-stopping journey as Dr. Allison Hayes battles an ancient evil disguised in the most innocent of melodies. Your pulse will race. Your skin will crawl. Reality itself will warp around you as you plunge headfirst into a world where every whispered note could spell doom. This cosmic horror will infect your mind, leaving you breathless, exhilarated, and forever changed. Forget everything you thought you knew about the power of music.

The first story collection from prize-winning author Fabio Morábito available in English, Mothers and Dogs features fifteen tales that show the emotional extremes in seemingly trivial details and quotidian situations: two brothers worry more about a dog locked in an apartment who hasn’t been fed than they do about their dying mother; when the lights go out on a racetrack, a man’s evening jog turns into a savage battle between runners; a daughter learns to draft business letters as an homage to her mother.

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.

That long-ago summer, four friends came face-to-face with strange, dark events they couldn’t explain away. As they grew up and left town, they each tried to forget. Instead, the secrets lingering in the shadowy corners of their minds shaped their lives, haunting each of them in their own way. Now, in this chilling four-part serial by New York Times bestselling author Lisa Unger, it’s time to stop running. It’s time to come home. Featuring: All My Darkest Impulses, Fog Descending, Circling the Drain, and Love the Way You Lie.

Sarah Vernon has spent 20 years trying to make it as a novelist...and she’s never even come close. None of her novels has sold more than 5,000 copies, and she’s never earned enough money to make fiction her full-time job. After her last disappointing publication, Sarah’s agent dumped her, and it seems like her dream is dead. Sarah vows that she’ll do anything for one last shot at the best seller list. Enter Will Presser. Nicknamed The Viper, Will is a literary agent whose career-making reputation precedes him.

Zur Geschichte: Es gibt wohl kaum ein passenderes Fleckchen verseuchter Erde, das man als Vorort zur Hölle bezeichnen könnte. Bitterfeld: die Mülldeponie des Ostens, das Restloch der DDR. Hier lebt die ROSE VON BITTERFELD, die Grande Dame des Bio-Recyclings. Bei einem guten Glas Whiskey berichtet sie von den Feinheiten und Hintergründen der humanen Abfallbeseitigung... Was? Glauben Sie nicht? Wer zwischen Schwefel und Schwermetallen groß geworden ist, der tickt einfach anders.

Perfect for fans of Carmen Maria Machado and Kelly Link, Jo Paquette’s Stories I Told My Dead Lover contains eight searing tales of psychological horror that probe the darkest and most deeply buried parts of the human psyche. A child is forced to grow up too soon. A woman trusts her doctor too much. An abandoned woman isn’t as alone as she thinks. An idyllic holiday masks an unspeakable act of violence. Driven, desperate, fighting for the power to choose their own fate, Paquette’s characters dare to push back at the walls that hold them in.

It’s dreaded news for actress Lyla McCord and her husband, Nolan. Their eight-year-old daughter has vanished. To find her, Nolan reaches out to a psychic gifted with uncanny visions about the lost girl. But Lyla thinks she sees right through him. Is he a con artist or the real thing? Either way, he might be telling the truth. And that’s too frightening for Lyla to bear.

In a world obsessed with the pursuit of immortality, a brilliant scientist unveils a secret elixir that promises eternal life. As billionaires vie for this coveted prize, their desires set in motion a chain of events that will expose the dark consequences of unchecked ambition. In The Elixir's Curse, the boundaries of human existence are redefined, and the price of immortality is revealed in a gripping tale of power, vanity, and wisdom.