Psychological Fiction

The selections in our Psychological Fiction Collection focus on the mental and emotional experiences of characters. From psychological thrillers to suspenseful mysteries and crime novels, these narratives examine the complexity of the human mind and emotions as characters endure challenges, overcome obstacles, and face sometimes grueling circumstances.

Publication year 2022

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Fear, Grief, Guilt, Hate & Anger, Loneliness, Regret, Revenge, Shame & Pride, Memory, Love, Femininity, Gender Identity, Masculinity, Mental Health, Justice, Loyalty & Betrayal, Truth & Lies, Trust & Doubt, Safety & Danger, Order & Chaos, Childhood & Youth, Death, The Past, Midlife

Tags Horror & Suspense, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Addiction & Substance Abuse, Modern Classic Fiction

Publication year 1979

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Death, Fear, Good & Evil

Tags Horror & Suspense, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Military & War, Trauma & Abuse, American Literature, Education, Education, Grief & Death, Realistic Fiction

After the First Death (1979) by Robert Cormier is a juvenile suspense/horror that examines the fragility of life through a terrorist hijacking of a bus full of children. The book in conjunction with Cormier’s two most famous teen titles, The Chocolate War (1974) and I Am the Cheese (1977), won him the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the Young Adult Services Division of the American Library Association in 1991. Cormier was born in 1925 and... Read After The First Death Summary

Publication year 2015

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Good & Evil, Siblings, Family

Tags Horror & Suspense, Psychological Fiction, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Relationships, Religion & Spirituality

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay (2015) is a horror novel published by William Morrow. It is the fifth of Tremblay’s 10 novels, and was optioned in 2016 by Focus Features for screen adaptation. His seventh novel, The Cabin at the End of the World (2018), winner of the Bram Stoker and Locus Awards, was also adapted for the screen; it was released in 2023 as the M. Night Shyamalan film Knock at... Read A Head Full of Ghosts Summary

Publication year 2021

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Guilt, Appearance & Reality, Mothers, Social Class, Safety & Danger, Truth & Lies

Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Horror & Suspense, Domestic Fiction, Psychological Fiction

Publication year 1993

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Truth & Lies, Trust & Doubt, Safety & Danger, Power & Greed, Justice, Politics & Government, Mental Health, Race, Perseverance

Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Horror & Suspense, Psychological Fiction

Along Came a Spider (1992) is the first novel in the Alex Cross psychological thriller series by James Patterson. Alex Cross is a Black psychologist and police detective working in Washington, DC, with his partner and childhood friend, John Sampson. In this novel, Alex and John are part of a hostage-rescue team investigating the kidnapping of two children by their teacher, Gary Soneji. As of 2023, there are 32 novels in the Alex Cross series... Read Along Came a Spider Summary

Publication year 1991

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Economics, Social Class

Tags Satirical Literature, Horror & Suspense, Psychological Fiction, Dramatic Literature, Trauma & Abuse, Mystery & Crime Fiction, American Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, Classic Fiction

American Psycho is a 1991 novel by American author Bret Easton Ellis. Set in 1980s New York, the novel follows the life of a wealthy young stockbroker, the novel’s narrator, Patrick Bateman. Surrounded by a world of vapid commercialism and empty excess, Bateman begins acting on his psychopathic thoughts and impulses. His disturbance begins in his imagination. However, it quickly bleeds over into reality with Bateman committing more and more horrific murders, fueled by drug... Read American Psycho Summary

Publication year 2024

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Disability, Safety & Danger, Truth & Lies, Memory, Revenge, Mental Health, Justice

Tags Horror & Suspense, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Disability

Publication year 1938

Genre Novella, Fiction

Themes Good & Evil, Equality, Politics & Government, Community, Self Discovery

Tags Science Fiction, Classic Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Philosophy, Education, Education, Philosophy, Politics & Government

Anthem is a short novella written by Ayn Rand and published in 1938. Rand is known for her polarizing fiction, which includes the well-known novels Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. She is also known as the founder of a controversial philosophy known as Objectivism. In 1987, Anthem won the Libertarian Futurist Society’s Hall of Fame Award. Since its publication, the novella has been met with mixed reviews due to the controversy around its Objectivist themes... Read Anthem Summary

Publication year 1909

Genre Short Story, Fiction

Themes Social Class

Tags Psychological Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Sports, Poverty, Psychology, Social Justice, American Literature, Education, Education, Classic Fiction

Jack London’s 1909 “A Piece of Steak” is a naturalist short story first published in The Saturday Evening Post. It took him between two and four weeks to write, and he was paid a very handsome (for the era) $500 for it. While London is best known for his novels about the Alaskan wilderness, including The Call of the Wild (1903) and White Fang (1906), he was also interested in workers’ rights and advocated for... Read A Piece of Steak Summary

Publication year 1977

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Truth & Lies, Science & Technology, Power & Greed, Appearance & Reality

Tags Science Fiction, Fantasy, Psychological Fiction, Addiction & Substance Abuse, Classic Fiction

Phillip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly, first published in 1977, is a dystopian novel that is testament to a time—late ‘60s-early ‘70s—when drug experimentation was a viable alternative to the grown-up world of nine-to-five jobs and suburban family life. Set in a future Southern California (1994), the novel is dedicated to many of Dick’s friends who didn’t survive the experiment or were left with permanent brain damage. Dick’s prolific career includes over 40 novels and... Read A Scanner Darkly Summary

Publication year 2017

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Loyalty & Betrayal, Truth & Lies, Friendship

Tags Horror & Suspense, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction

A Simple Favor is New York Times bestselling author Darcey Bell’s debut novel. Published in 2017 by Harper, the novel was praised for its chilling portrayals of its characters and shocking plot twists, and quickly became a New York Times bestseller. Bell followed this novel in 2020 with Something She’s Not Telling Us, cementing her reputation for domestic noir psychological thrillers. In 2018, A Simple Favor was adapted into a movie starring Blake Lively and... Read A Simple Favor Summary

Publication year 2025

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Mental Health, Appearance & Reality, Family, Self Discovery, Art

Tags Psychological Fiction, Horror & Suspense, Literary Fiction, Asian Literature

Publication year 2010

Genre Short Story Collection, Fiction

Themes Music

Tags Psychological Fiction, Music, American Literature, Modern Classic Fiction

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan tracks the passage of time in the lives of individuals in the rock music industry. The chapters defy conventional temporal and narrative chronologies, and each one is a self-contained episode in an unfolding network of stories, spanning six decades from the 1970s to the 2020s. The novel employs various narrative formats, such as the short story, the magazine article, and the graphic slide presentation. The variety... Read A Visit from the Goon Squad Summary

Publication year 2011

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Memory, Self Discovery, Aging, Appearance & Reality

Tags Horror & Suspense, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction

Before I Go to Sleep (2011) is the debut novel of English writer S. J. Watson. This psychological thriller features a protagonist suffering from amnesia. Forty-seven-year-old Christine Lucas wakes every morning with no memory of who or where she is. Each day she must reconstruct her identity with the help of her journal. Christine also gleans information from her husband, Ben, and a neurophysiologist, Dr. Nash. However, the more Christine discovers, the more she doubts... Read Before I Go to Sleep Summary

Publication year 2017

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Memory, Love, Marriage

Tags Horror & Suspense, Psychological Fiction, Romance, Relationships, Mental Illness, Addiction & Substance Abuse, Grief & Death, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction

Behind Her Eyes, a psychological thriller, was written by Sarah Pinborough and published in 2017. The book has sold over 1 million copies worldwide and was adapted for a TV series by Netflix. While clearly a best seller, there is great divergence of opinion on the book’s very unexpected twist at the end, with the publishers using the hashtag #WTFThatEnding to promote the book.Plot SummaryLouise is a single mother living in London and working as... Read Behind Her Eyes Summary