Books like 'Burntown'
Readers who enjoyed Burntown by Jennifer McMahon also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary mystery horror supernatural psychological thriller suspense paranormal magical-realism family
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Different Seasons by Stephen King
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 67 ratingsFrom the Magical Pen of Stephen King, Four Mesmerizing Novellas…“Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption”An unjustly imprisoned convict seeks a strange and startling revenge…the basis for the Best Picture Academy Award nominee The Shawshank Redemption... -
![The Shining by Stephen King, Campbell Scott]()
The Shining by Stephen King, Campbell Scott
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 89 ratingsFirst published in 1977, The Shining quickly became a benchmark in the literary career of Stephen King. This tale of a troubled man hired to care for a remote mountain resort over the winter, his loyal wife, and their uniquely gifted son slowly but steadily unfolds as secrets from the Overlook Hotel's past are revealed, and the hotel itself attempts to claim the very souls of the Torrance family... -
![Changeling by Matt Wesolowski]()
Changeling by Matt Wesolowski
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsOn Christmas Eve in 1988, seven-year-old Alfie Marsden vanished in the Wentshire Forest Pass, when a burst tyre forced his father, Sorrel, to stop the car. Leaving the car to summon the emergency services, Sorrel returned to find his son gone. No trace of the child, nor his remains, have ever been found. Alfie Marsden was declared officially dead in 1995... -
![Cold Fire / Hideaway / The Key to Midnight by Dean Koontz, Leigh Nichols]()
Cold Fire / Hideaway / The Key to Midnight by Dean Koontz, Leigh Nichols
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsA collection of three previously published Koontz novels. This will be the first time The Key To Midnight will be available in hardcover... -
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![The Secrets of the Shadows by Helen Phifer]()
The Secrets of the Shadows by Helen Phifer
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSophie was afraid of the man in the shadows. He terrified her, but he would always disappear when someone else came. But one day in June 1984, she didn't escape. He took her. When a young woman is found draped over a gravestone in a chilling murder, police officer Annie Graham experiences a familiar sense of dread...Categorized as:
crime female-mc ghosts literary-fiction paranormal suspense thriller action-adventure -
![Home Before Dark by Riley Sager]()
Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 74 ratingsIn the latest thriller from New York Times bestseller Riley Sager, a woman returns to the house made famous by her father’s bestselling horror memoir. Is the place really haunted by evil forces, as her father claimed? Or are there more earthbound—and dangerous—secrets hidden within its walls?What was it like? Living in that house.Maggie Holt is used to such questions... -
![The Mercy of Snakes by Dean Koontz]()
The Mercy of Snakes by Dean Koontz
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA series of suspicious deaths in a retirement home draws Nameless into the confidence of a terrified former resident—and into the dark heart of a shocking conspiracy. In part five of the Nameless series, it’s time to hunt.Oakshore Park is Michigan’s most exclusive assisted-living community. Presided over by two killer angels of mercy, it’s also the go-to facility in assisted dying... -
![Dearest by Jacquie Walters]()
Dearest by Jacquie Walters
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA new mom in need of help opens her door to her long-estranged mother—only to invite something much darker inside—in this "fast-paced and frightening debut" (Rachel Harrison) about the long shadows cast by family secrets, perfect for readers of Grady Hendrix or Ashley Audrain. Flora is a new mom enamored of her baby girl, Iris, even if she arrived a few weeks early... -
![The Haunting of Rachel Harroway by J.S. Donovan]()
The Haunting of Rachel Harroway by J.S. Donovan
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn 1983, a family of four was murdered in their nineteenth century Queen Anne manse. There were no witnesses, no real investigation, and no survivors. The discovery of a serial killer's burial ground rocks the peaceful town of Highlands, North Carolina. Rachel Harroway, a tragic detective with the ability to see the dead, and her brilliant atheistic partner, Jenson Peak, are put on the case... -
![Belle Manor Haunting by Cheryl Bradshaw]()
Belle Manor Haunting by Cheryl Bradshaw
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe door to Addison Lockhart's room opens. Five-year-old Sara Belle walks in. The child seems lost and confused. Addison reaches out, grabs Sara's hand, and the room goes black.Addison's eyes open to find she's been transported several decades into the past. She's sitting in the back seat of a car. Sara is beside her. The car stops at an intersection... -
![The Magus of Hay by Phil Rickman]()
The Magus of Hay by Phil Rickman
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhen a man's body is discovered in the picturesque town of Hay-on-Wye, his death appears to be "unnatural" in every sense. Merrily Watkins, parish priest, single mother, and exorcist, is drafted in to investigate, in this 12th installment A man's body is found below a waterfall. It looks like suicide or an accidental drowning—until DI Frannie Bliss enters the dead man's home... -
![Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King]()
Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 41 ratings"I believe there is another man inside every man, a stranger..." writes Wilfred Leland James in the early pages of the riveting confession that makes up "1922." the first in this pitch-black quartet of mesmerizing tales from Stephen King... -
![My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon]()
My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA spine-tingling psychological thriller about a woman who, after taking in her dying, alcoholic mother, begins to suspect demonic possession is haunting her family.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... -
![A Ghost Arrives: A Novel by Abe Moss]()
A Ghost Arrives: A Novel by Abe Moss
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsEvery family has its secrets, and every ghost has its reasons.★★★★★ "A creepy, slow burning ghost story with a twist that was dark in so many different ways! Imaginative, creative, and not afraid to deal the punches..." - Amazon ReviewerAfter moving back in with his elderly father, Wallace Harper discovers that something else has taken up residence in his childhood home.. -
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![Evil Eye by Madhuri Shekar, Harsh Nayyar]()
Evil Eye by Madhuri Shekar, Harsh Nayyar
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPallavi is an aspiring writer living in California. Her mother, Usha, is thousands of miles away in Delhi - and obsessed with finding her daughter a husband... -
![Later by Stephen King]()
Later by Stephen King
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsSOMETIMES GROWING UP MEANS FACING YOUR DEMONS The son of a struggling single mother, Jamie Conklin just wants an ordinary childhood. But Jamie is no ordinary child. Born with an unnatural ability his mom urges him to keep secret, Jamie can see what no one else can see and learn what no one else can learn... -
![Angel Eyes: The Haunting of January House by A.N. Willis]()
Angel Eyes: The Haunting of January House by A.N. Willis
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsEveryone in Ashton, Colorado, knows that January House is haunted. Tucked away on an isolated hillside, the place has seen grisly murders and unsolved disappearances. An artists’ commune took up residence there in the 1970s, creating a controversy that still divides the town. Now, a reclusive painter has died in the crumbling house. The police say it’s natural causes... -
![The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James]()
The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 66 ratingsThe secrets lurking in a rundown roadside motel ensnare a young woman, just as they did her aunt thirty-five years before, in this new atmospheric suspense novel from the national bestselling and award-winning author of The Broken Girls.Upstate NY, 1982. Every small town like Fell, New York, has a place like the Sun Down Motel... -
![Forgotten Bones by Vivian Barz]()
Forgotten Bones by Vivian Barz
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAn unlikely pair teams up to investigate a brutal murder in a haunting thriller that walks the line between reality and impossibility.When small-town police officers discover the grave of a young boy, they're quick to pin the crime on a convicted felon who lives nearby. But when it comes to murder, Officer Susan Marlan never trusts a simple explanation, so she's just getting started... -
![The Craftsman by Sharon J. Bolton]()
The Craftsman by Sharon J. Bolton
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom bestselling crime writer Sharon Bolton comes a startling tour de force, hailed in the national press as 'Bolton at her best'.OLD ENEMIES... NEW CRIMESThirty years ago, WPC Florence Lovelady's career was made when she arrested coffin-maker Larry Glassbrook for three shocking murders.Larry confessed; it was an open and shut case... -
![The End of Temperance Dare: A Novel by Wendy Webb]()
The End of Temperance Dare: A Novel by Wendy Webb
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsHaunting and atmospheric, The End of Temperance Dare is another thrilling page-turner from the author reviewers are calling the Queen of the Northern Gothic.When Eleanor Harper becomes the director of a renowned artists’ retreat, she knows nothing of Cliffside Manor’s dark past as a tuberculosis sanatorium, a “waiting room for death... -
![Nightingale House by Steve Frech]()
Nightingale House by Steve Frech
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsDaniel Price has just had the breakthrough of his life when his novel cracks the best seller list. He and his wife, Nicole, decide to move into the majestic Nightingale House on the shores of Willow Lake, in the town of Kingsbrook, Maine. But Daniel's world is shattered when Nicole is killed in a car crash, and he must raise their eight year-old daughter, Caitlyn, on his own... -
![The Intruders by Louise Jensen]()
The Intruders by Louise Jensen
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIt should be the perfect a manor house available rent free in exchange for a bit of housesitting. But when Cass and James dig deeper, they find the place has been abandoned since a robbery left almost all the inhabitants dead almost thirty years ago. But they’ve got to save for a deposit somehow, so they move in, and things quickly take a strange turn... -
![The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane by Laird Koenig]()
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane by Laird Koenig
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAlone in the darkened house, with only fire's glow and thirteen flickering candles for illumination, silent except for the mounting chords of a Liszt concerto, Rynn was preparing a solemn celebration. Until a knock at the door shattered sanctuary.Rynn is the little girl who lives in the house at the end of the lane with her father-or so she says... -
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![Dark Corners by Liz Schulte]()
Dark Corners by Liz Schulte
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsElla Reynolds knew from the first moment she walked into the old house someone or something was watching her. Waiting. Her husband's violent murder sent her spiraling into a world of grief and isolation, but Ella isn't alone. Who or what is responsible for her husband's death is still with her. Darkness has engulfed the past year of Ella's life... -
![A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw]()
A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsTravis Wren has an unusual talent for locating missing people. Hired by families as a last resort, he requires only a single object to find the person who has vanished. When he takes on the case of Maggie St. James—a well-known author of dark, macabre children’s books—he’s led to a place many believed to be only a legend... -
![Carrie by Stephen King]()
Carrie by Stephen King
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 81 ratingsA modern classic, Carrie introduced a distinctive new voice in American fiction -- Stephen King. The story of misunderstood high school girl Carrie White, her extraordinary telekinetic powers, and her violent rampage of revenge, remains one of the most barrier-breaking and shocking novels of all time.Make a date with terror and live the nightmare that is.. -
![I Am Dust by Louise Beech]()
I Am Dust by Louise Beech
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe Dean Wilson Theatre is believed to be haunted by a long-dead actress, singing her last song, waiting for her final cue, looking for her killer… Now Dust, the iconic musical, is returning after twenty years... -
![The Other by Thomas Tryon]()
The Other by Thomas Tryon
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsEntranced and terrified, the reader of The Other is swept up in the life of a Connecticut country town in the thirties—and in the fearful mysteries that slowly darken and overwhelm it.Originally published in 1971, The Other is one of the most influential horror novels ever written... -
![The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware]()
The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 46 ratingsWhen she stumbles across the ad, she’s looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss—a live-in nannying post, with a staggeringly generous salary. And when Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten—by the luxurious “smart” home fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family... -
![In Her Shadow by Mark Edwards]()
In Her Shadow by Mark Edwards
Rated: 3.95 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIsabel’s life seemed perfect. Successful business, beautiful house, adoring husband. And then she was dead.For four years Jessica has never doubted that her sister Isabel’s death was an accident. But when Jessica’s young daughter seems to know long-forgotten details about her aunt’s past, Jessica can’t shake the feeling that there’s a more sinister truth behind the tragedy... -
![Duma Key by Stephen King]()
Duma Key by Stephen King
Rated: 3.95 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsWhen Edgar Freemantle moves to the remote island of Duma Key to escape his past, he doesn't expect to find much there.But Duma has been waiting for him, and something in the view from his window urges him to discover a talent he never knew he had.Edgar Freemantle begins to paint. And as he paints, the island's secrets begin to stir... -
![Not a Speck of Light: Stories by Laird Barron]()
Not a Speck of Light: Stories by Laird Barron
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIt’s about to get very dark. Bram Stoker Award-winning author Laird Barron returns to the dark and dreadful with his fifth horror collection, which weaves sixteen weird tales into a mosaic of the bloody and the macabre. Bring a flashlight and a book of matches. Where we’re going, there’s not a speck of light... -
![Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra]()
Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 9 ratings***Note that many reviews contain spoilers***A razor-sharp thriller about a mother forced to the breaking point when her life and the lives of her children are threatened by an intruderHome alone with her young children during a blizzard, a mother tucks her son back into bed in the middle of the night. She hears a noise—old houses are always making some kind of noise... -
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![Ghost Story by Peter Straub]()
Ghost Story by Peter Straub
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsIn life, not every sin goes unpunished.GHOST STORYFor four aging men in the terror-stricken town of Milburn, New York, an act inadvertently carried out in their youth has come back to haunt them. Now they are about to learn what happens to those who believe they can bury the past -- and get away with murder... -
![Hydra by Matt Wesolowski]()
Hydra by Matt Wesolowski
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsElusive online investigative journalist Scott King investigates the case of Arla Macleod, who bludgeoned her family to death, in another episode of the chilling, award-winning Six Stories series... -
![The Lost Orphans #2 by J.S. Donovan]()
The Lost Orphans #2 by J.S. Donovan
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe small town of Highlands, North Carolina reels from the horrific Halloween night massacre. Detective Rachel Harroway pursues a killer planning another great attack. However, the only way to stop a monster is to know his weaknesses...Categorized as:
paranormal literary-fiction crime female-mc thriller suspense kidnapping spirituality -
![Viskningar i mörkret by Amanda Stevens]()
Viskningar i mörkret by Amanda Stevens
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWork is a welcome refuge for New Orleans homicide detective Evangeline Theroux. Feeling suffocated by her new baby, in whose eyes she sees only her dead husband, she throws herself into a high-profile murder case. Reclusive writer Lena Saunders offers Evangeline a provocative theory about the crime: it is the work of a lunatic vigilante... -
![Sundial by Catriona Ward]()
Sundial by Catriona Ward
Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsAll Rob ever wanted was a normal life.Nothing like her childhood, growing up in the lonely, wild Mojave Desert on her family's ranch, Sundial. Surrounded by dogs, coyotes, and research assistants.For a while, it seemed like Rob got her wish: A husband, two daughters, the white picket fence, and margaritas with the neighbors... -
![Father of Lies by Brian Evenson]()
Father of Lies by Brian Evenson
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAt the urging of his wife, Provost Fochs reluctantly agrees to see a therapist, Dr. Feshtig. Through the therapist's detailed notes, correspondence from the church, and the provost himself, the provost's sickness emerges and the reader is drawn into the disturbing inner workings of a violent pedophile.The provost relays his crimes in excruciating detail... -
![Lay Me to Rest by E.A. Clark]()
Lay Me to Rest by E.A. Clark
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSome secrets never stay buried for long…Devastated by the death of her husband, Annie Philips is shocked to discover she is pregnant with his unborn child. Hoping for a fresh start, she travels to a remote stone cottage in Anglesey, amidst the white-capped mountains of North Wales.She settles in quickly, helped by her mysterious new neighbour, Peter... -
![Naoko by Keigo Higashino]()
Naoko by Keigo Higashino
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsNaoko, a major bestseller and film in Japan, is a poignant and wily take on gender relations from a master of the detective story. Expertly and seamlessly interweaving the real and the unreal, Naoko involves a regular guy whose world is rocked when his wife dies in a bus accident. His young daughter survives, but seems to be inhabited by her mother’s personality... -
![The Invisible Guardian by Dolores Redondo]()
The Invisible Guardian by Dolores Redondo
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsAlready a #1 international bestseller, this tautly written and gripping psychological thriller forces a police inspector to reluctantly return to her hometown in Basque Country—a place engulfed in mythology and superstition—to solve a series of eerie murders... -
![The Dogs by Allan Stratton]()
The Dogs by Allan Stratton
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsOut of the corner of my eye, I catch something moving by the barn.When I look, it disappears. Wait. There it is again, at the cornfield. Some movement, some thing. Mom and I have been on the run for years. Every time he catches up with us, we move to a new place and start over.But this place is different.This place is full of secrets. And they won't leave me alone... -
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![The Key to Midnight by Leigh Nichols, Dean Koontz]()
The Key to Midnight by Leigh Nichols, Dean Koontz
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsJoanna Rand left the U.S. ten years ago to sing in a Japanese nightclub. Ever since, she's been plagued with nightmares of terror. There is only one man can help her -- Alex Hunter. Ten years ago he saw her picture in the papers -- as a senator's daughter who had disappeared. Now he has to bring her memories back to her, memories of a past more terrifying than they dreamed possible.. -
![Be Buried in the Rain by Barbara Michaels]()
Be Buried in the Rain by Barbara Michaels
Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThere are terrible secrets from generations past buried at Maidenwood. Medical student Julie Newcomb has returned to her family's decaying plantation—the site of so many painful childhood memories—to tend to her tyrannical grandmother, felled by a stroke... -
![Night Chills by Dean Koontz]()
Night Chills by Dean Koontz
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 26 ratings#1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz unleashes a contagion on a small Maine town--one that triggers the darkest desires of the soul.Designed by top scientists and unleashed in a monstrous conspiracy, night chills are seizing the men and women of Black River--driving them to acts of rape and murder. The nightmare is real. And death is the only cure.. -
![The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths]()
The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsClare Cassidy is no stranger to murder. A high school English teacher specializing in the Gothic writer R. M. Holland, she teaches a course on it every year. But when one of Clare’s colleagues and closest friends is found dead, with a line from R. M... -
![The Music of the Deep by Elizabeth Hall]()
The Music of the Deep by Elizabeth Hall
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFleeing an abusive marriage and tormented by her past, Alexandra Turner finds solace in a small coastal town on Puget Sound and a job with a local marine biologist studying orcas.After befriending a group of locals, Alex learns that she has moved to a place that has a reputation of being the “most haunted town in Washington... -
![Dark Rivers of the Heart by Dean Koontz]()
Dark Rivers of the Heart by Dean Koontz
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsDo you dare step through the red door? Spencer Grant had no idea what drew him to the bar with the red door. He thought he would just sit down, have a slow beer or two, and talk to a stranger. He couldn't know that it would lead to a narrow escape from a bungalow targeted by a SWAT team. Or that it would leave him a wanted man. Now he is on the run from mysterious and ruthless men...
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