Books like 'The Cook'
Readers who enjoyed The Cook by Harry Kressing also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
horror psychological classics suspense pulp humor
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Carrie / 'Salem's Lot / The Shining by Stephen King
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsStephen King is a unique and powerful writer without equal for millions of horror fans. His incredible narrative drive ensnares the reader in a web of everyday surroundings, believable situations and recognizable characters that are eventually caught up in a terrifying noose of monumental evil... -
![Misery by Robin Waterfield, Stephen King]()
Misery by Robin Waterfield, Stephen King
Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsSimplified adaptation with language-learning materials.[Penguin Readers Level 6]Paul Sheldon is Annie Wilkes' favourite writer. She loves all his books about Misery Chastain. When she finds Paul injured after a car crash and takes him home she learns that he has decided to end the series by killing off Misery... -
![Here After by Sean Costello]()
Here After by Sean Costello
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsLOVE. LOSS. OBSESSION. REDEMPTION.Following the death of his ten-year-old son, physician Peter Croft embarks on a desperate, seemingly random search for a missing child, risking his sanity, even his life in a grief-induced quest. His journey propels him into the darkest reaches of human suffering, and pits him squarely against an adversary whose own obsession defies all reason... -
![The Girl in the Sand by L.T. Vargus, Tim McBain]()
The Girl in the Sand by L.T. Vargus, Tim McBain
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsShallow graves scar the desert landscape. A cemetery in the sand. Some of the lost are never found. Thousands of girls go missing every year in Las Vegas. Taken. Bought and sold. Or worse. And now the dead are calling. These lost girls summon FBI Profiler Violet Darger to Sin City -- a new case... -
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![Desert Heat by L.T. Vargus, E.M. Smith]()
Desert Heat by L.T. Vargus, E.M. Smith
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe desert holds its kill up to the sun. A human body draped over the limbs of a cactus. Sand scouring the naked flesh every time the wind blows.A shocking death launches Special Agent Victor Loshak on a new investigation with an ominous message: They know everything... -
![Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, vol. 1 by August Derleth, H.P. Lovecraft]()
Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, vol. 1 by August Derleth, H.P. Lovecraft
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA collection of macabre tales reprinted from the golden age of pulps.CONTENTS"The Cthulhu Mythos" by August DerlethThe Call of Cthulhu" by H. P. Lovecraft"The Return of the Sorcerer" by Clark Ashton Smith"Ubbo-Sathla" by Clark Ashton Smith"The Black Stone" by Robert E... -
![Per Addestrarti by Chiara Cilli]()
Per Addestrarti by Chiara Cilli
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsCredevo di sapere chi fossi. Cosa fossi.Credevo di non avere più scampo, che la mia resistenza fosse ormai giunta al termine.Poi ho sentito la sua voce pronunciare il mio nome.Poi i suoi occhi hanno risposto al richiamo dei miei.Non ha paura di me. Si avvicina. Mi parla. Mi tocca come se le appartenessi. È folle.Lui è l’unica chance che ho per restare viva. Devo far sì che gli importi di me... -
![The Complete Gillian Flynn: Gone Girl, Dark Places, Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn]()
The Complete Gillian Flynn: Gone Girl, Dark Places, Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratings"Gillian Flynn is the real deal, a sharp, acerbic, and compelling storyteller with a knack for the macabre." —Stephen KingThis exclusive ebook collection brings together the three novels from bestselling author Gillian Flynn. A #1 New York Times bestseller, Gone Girl is an unputdownable masterpiece about a marriage gone terribly, terribly wrong... -
![My Final Breath by Paige Dearth]()
My Final Breath by Paige Dearth
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAn unbearable tragedy. A life cut short. A dead girl searching for truth.Twelve-year-old Molly suddenly wakes up dead in Limbo after spending four years in and out of hospital beds. Fearful of being forgotten by her family, she wants nothing more than to return to Earth, until her guardian exposes the grim truth about her demise... -
![The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories by H.P. Lovecraft]()
The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories by H.P. Lovecraft
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsA definitive edition of stories by the master of supernatural fictionHoward Phillips Lovecraft's unique contribution to American literature was a melding of traditional supernaturalism (derived chiefly from Edgar Allan Poe) with the genre of science fiction that emerged in the early 1920s... -
![Last Light by Dean Koontz]()
Last Light by Dean Koontz
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWith just a touch, Makani Hisoka-O’Brien can see the deepest secrets that others conceal—and it frightens her. There’s danger in the terrible knowledge that floods her mind and haunts her conscience.With just a touch, Rainer Sparks can learn the biggest problems that others bear—and it thrills him. There’s profit to be made making problems go away, by any means . . . including murder... -
![Gone Daddy Gone by Cheryl Bradshaw]()
Gone Daddy Gone by Cheryl Bradshaw
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA single moment is about to change Sloane Monroe's life forever. On an early winter morning, college student Shelby McCoy walks the quiet, snowy path back home. A tree branch snaps in the distance. Then another. A man is there with her, following close behind, whispering her name. She looks back, sees him gaining on her, and runs... -
![Dusk Corners by Dan Padavona]()
Dusk Corners by Dan Padavona
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIt takes a killer to catch a killer.Logan Wolf was the Behavioral Analysis Unit's most-respected profiler. Then a serial killer murdered his wife and tore his life apart. Now he's a vigilante fugitive, hiding from the FBI while he hunts the nation's deadliest criminals.When a college student and her boyfriend vanish in West Texas, Wolf suspects the Devil's Rock killer... -
![Undead Ultra by Camille Picott]()
Undead Ultra by Camille Picott
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsUndead: a reanimated corpse with a craving for human flesh.Ultramarathon: any footrace longer than a traditional marathon (26.2 miles).For ultrarunners Kate and Frederico, a typical Saturday morning is spent pounding out a twenty- to thirty-mile “fun run.” It’s during one of their runs that an insidious illness descends upon northern California, turning humans into flesh-shredding zombies... -
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![Saint/Sinner by Sam Sisavath]()
Saint/Sinner by Sam Sisavath
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsTHERE IS NO REST FOR THE WICKED.After spending ten years of her life hunting her sister’s killer and barely surviving, Allie Krycek is ready to move on. She’s got a new job, in a new city, with a new man in her life. Things are finally looking up.Too bad there are people determined to ruin Allie’s second chance... -
![Just an Ordinary Day: The Uncollected Stories by Shirley Jackson]()
Just an Ordinary Day: The Uncollected Stories by Shirley Jackson
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAcclaimed in her own time for her short story “The Lottery” and her novel The Haunting of Hill House—classics ranking with the work of Edgar Allan Poe—Shirley Jackson blazed a path for contemporary writers with her explorations of evil, madness, and cruelty... -
![Final Hour by Dean Koontz]()
Final Hour by Dean Koontz
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Following Last Light comes Final Hour, the second of two standalone eBook original novellas leading in to Ashley Bell, the highly anticipated new novel of suspense from Dean Koontz! Just by touching others, Makani Hisoka-O’Brien can see the darkest secrets they keep. The troubling talent has made the Southern California surfer wary of casual contact... -
![In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes, Paula Rabinowitz]()
In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes, Paula Rabinowitz
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPostwar Los Angeles is a lonely place where the American Dream is showing its seamy underside—and a stranger is preying on young women. The suggestively named Dix Steele, a cynical vet with a chip on his shoulder about the opposite sex, is the LAPD's top suspect... -
![Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson]()
Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsA collection of linked stories narrated by a recovering alcoholic and heroin addict, Jesus' Son is a disturbing portrayal of loneliness and hope. He travels through an American underworld of burnt-out sports stars, hospital waiting rooms, doomed relationships and senseless violence... -
![Franz Kafka's The Castle (Dramatization) by David Fishelson, Aaron Leichter]()
Franz Kafka's The Castle (Dramatization) by David Fishelson, Aaron Leichter
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsNote - This is not the novel by Franz Kafka! For the novel see The... -
![Dead Head by C.J. Skuse]()
Dead Head by C.J. Skuse
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsCan a serial killer ever lose their taste for murder?Since confessing to her bloody murder spree Rhiannon Lewis, the now-notorious Sweetpea killer, has been feeling out-of-sorts.Having fled the UK on a cruise ship to start her new life, Rhiannon should be feeling happy. But it’s hard to turn over a new leaf when she’s stuck in an oversized floating tin can with the Gammonati and screaming kids... -
![The Tenant by Roland Topor]()
The Tenant by Roland Topor
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe Tenant chronicles a harrowing, fascinating descent into madness as the pathologically alienated Trelkovsky is subsumed into Simone Choule, an enigmatic suicide whose presence saturates his new apartment. More than a tale of possession, the novel probes disturbing depths of guilt, paranoia, and sexual obsession with an unsparing detachment... -
![Borderlands 2 by Thomas F. Monteleone]()
Borderlands 2 by Thomas F. Monteleone
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe stories we tell are not limited to monsters and harsh otherworlds. Yet the fiction books in the Borealis imprint certainly belong to a world other than our own. This line encompasses our science fiction, fantasy and horror novels and anthologies... -
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![The Bell Chime by Mona Kabbani]()
The Bell Chime by Mona Kabbani
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWinner of the Ladies of Horror Fiction Award for Best Novella of 2020"Can you hear the bell chime?"A girl suffering from paralyzing night terrors finds a missing poster hanging from the door of her apartment building. On that poster is a photograph of a frighteningly familiar face.It’s her.Only, she’s never seen this photo before and something about its grin scares her... -
![Stuck On You by Jasper Bark]()
Stuck On You by Jasper Bark
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsCheating husband Ricardo could never keep it in his pants, and now it’s stuck in the worst possible place.His Mexican road trip becomes a nightmare straight out of urban legend when he agrees to take the wrong woman back over the border. A bolt of lightning sees him fused to his fellow cheater on a detour into the backwoods... -
![She Won't Leave by James Caine]()
She Won't Leave by James Caine
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsShe has taken over my life.Everything was perfect until tragedy brought my mother-in-law, Delores Sterling, to my front door with extra baggage at her side. After the sudden death of her husband, she asked if she could live with us temporarily.I knew that living with my mother-in-law wouldn’t be easy. She’s made it obvious ever since I married her only son, that I’m not worthy of him... -
![The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis]()
The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA sensational new novel from the best-selling author of Less Than Zero and Imperial Bedrooms that tracks a group of privileged Los Angeles high school friends as a serial killer strikes across the city... -
![White Russian by J.A. Konrath]()
White Russian by J.A. Konrath
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsJust when you get out...Former Chicago cop Jack Daniels thought she'd left her former life behind. She'd traded her badge for a toddler, and her lifelong pursuit of heinous serial killers for a boring house in the suburbs....they pull you back in.Then Jack sees some pictures. Pictures of men who were supposed to be dead... -
![Nocturnal by Scott Sigler]()
Nocturnal by Scott Sigler
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsScott Sigler reinvented the alien-invasion story in his bestselling novels Infected and Contagious … rebooted the biotech thriller in Ancestor …now, in his most ambitious, sweeping novel to date, he works his magic on the paranormal thriller, taking us inside a terrifying underworld of subterranean predators that only his twisted mind could invent... -
![Cape Fear by John D. MacDonald]()
Cape Fear by John D. MacDonald
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsHow far would you go to save your family? In John D. MacDonald's iconic masterwork of suspense, the inspiration for not one but two Hollywood hits, a mild-mannered family is tormented by an obsessed criminal--and with the authorities powerless to protect them, they must take the law into their own hands... -
![Let Me Tell You by Shirley Jackson]()
Let Me Tell You by Shirley Jackson
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsFrom the peerless author of 'The Lottery' and 'We Have Always Lived in the Castle', this is a spectacular new volume of unpublished and uncollected stories, essays, lectures, letters and drawings... -
![Doll House by John Hunt]()
Doll House by John Hunt
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratings"A book of the year!" –Buried in a Book"This book is not for the faint of heart. It's deliciously dark and gruesome." –Where the Reader Grows"All you girls were less than human. Playthings in a twisted doll house."Olivia is taken from the sidewalk near her college and thrown into a van... -
![Blister by Jeff Strand]()
Blister by Jeff Strand
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThey call her Blister. She’s a hideously disfigured twenty-three year-old woman, living in a shed next to her father’s house, hidden away from the world.Jason Tray is a successful cartoonist, banished to his agent’s lakeside cabin for a few days of mandatory rest and relaxation... -
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![In My Father's Basement by T.J. Payne]()
In My Father's Basement by T.J. Payne
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA must-read psychological thriller for anyone who's fascinated by serial killers. A 60-year old handyman goes on a murder-spree, abducting and torturing people with hand-tools.After he's caught, the media wants to hear his story. What made this old man snap? Why did he do the horrible things he did? What really happened down there in his basement? The public fascination in The Handyman swells... -
![Strangers by Michaelbrent Collings]()
Strangers by Michaelbrent Collings
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsYou wake up in the morning to discover that you have been sealed into your home. The doors are locked, the windows are barred. THERE'S NO WAY OUT.A madman is playing a deadly game with you and your family. A game with no rules, only consequences... -
![Het geheim van de zee by Peter Benchley]()
Het geheim van de zee by Peter Benchley
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsOn an island in the Gulf of California, an intrepid young woman named Paloma carries a special legacy from her father—a deep understanding of the sea and a sixth sense about the need to protect it... -
![Memento Mori by Jonathan Nolan]()
Memento Mori by Jonathan Nolan
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA man named Earl has anterograde amnesia. Because of his inability to remember things for more than a few minutes, he uses notes and tattoos to keep track of new information... -
![The Odds by Jeff Strand]()
The Odds by Jeff Strand
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsAfter a disastrous evening playing slot machines, Ethan Caustin wonders how he's going to explain his massive loss to his wife and kids. As he tries to find his way out of the casino, sick to his stomach and filled with self-loathing, he's approached by a stranger who offers a solution to his problem. It's a simple game. A 99% chance for him to win ten thousand dollars... -
![Strawberries by Casey Bartsch]()
Strawberries by Casey Bartsch
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsStrawberries is the name he has been given. When they let him out, they had no way of knowing what he was. A psychopath. A killer. The body count is at twenty already, and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. Agent Harry Bland can’t see one anyway. He doesn’t have a single clue to go on. It doesn’t help that his mind won’t focus. His heart just isn’t in it anymore... -
![Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives: Stories from the Trailblazers of Domestic Suspense by Joyce Harrington]()
Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives: Stories from the Trailblazers of Domestic Suspense by Joyce Harrington
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFourteen chilling tales from the pioneering women who created the domestic suspense genre Murderous wives, deranged husbands, deceitful children, and vengeful friends. Few know these characters—and their creators—better than Sarah Weinman... -
![Hush, My Darling by Leigh Kenny]()
Hush, My Darling by Leigh Kenny
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratings"As evidenced by her dazzling debut, Cursed, Kenny is a bright new voice in modern horror, one that is poised to take the genre by storm."Kealan Patrick Burke, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Kin and Sour Candy.In pursuit of peace and family ties, American tourist Megan goes on a road trip around Ireland. When she becomes stranded deep in the mountains, the Brogan family come to her rescue... -
![Angel Street: A Victorian Thriller in Three Acts by Patrick Hamilton]()
Angel Street: A Victorian Thriller in Three Acts by Patrick Hamilton
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA Broadway hit first produced on the West End under the title Gaslight and filmed twice, Angel Street tells the story of the Manninghams who live on Angel Street in 19th Century London. As the curtain rises, all appears the essence of Victorian tranquility. It is soon apparent however, that Mr... -
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![The Mentor by Lee Matthew Goldberg]()
The Mentor by Lee Matthew Goldberg
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsKyle Broder has achieved his lifelong dream and is an editor at a major publishing house.When Kyle is contacted by his favorite college professor, William Lansing, Kyle couldn’t be happier. Kyle has his mentor over for dinner to catch up and introduce him to his girlfriend, Jamie, and the three have a great time. When William mentions that he’s been writing a novel, Kyle is overjoyed... -
![The Last Man Alive by A.S. Neill]()
The Last Man Alive by A.S. Neill
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe adventures of a group who survived a poisonous cloud that turned everyone else into stone... -
![Tales of Terror: 58 Short Stories Chosen by the Master of Suspense by Alfred Hitchcock, Nelson DeMille]()
Tales of Terror: 58 Short Stories Chosen by the Master of Suspense by Alfred Hitchcock, Nelson DeMille
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBe afraid--be very afraid: the master of suspense is serving up 58 bloodcurdling tales for your delectation. These suspenseful stories all appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, and in the words of Hitch himself, they "are guaranteed to chill and unnerve." Bill Pronzini contributes "The Arrowmont Prison Riddle," Margaret B. Maron has "A Very Special Talent," Barry M... -
![This Darkness Light by Michaelbrent Collings]()
This Darkness Light by Michaelbrent Collings
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA man with no past, but who holds the future of the world in his hands. A woman who has sworn to protect him, for reasons she does not understand. A killer who must destroy them, or lose all he holds dear. They are running—from each other, from the plague that is killing all around them, from the dark forces beyond their understanding. Running from shadow to shadow. From dark to dark... -
![The Good, the Bad, and the Sadistic by Jon Athan]()
The Good, the Bad, and the Sadistic by Jon Athan
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsClayton Carter and Chastity Harrison embark on a gruesome killing spree across Southern California, always staying one step ahead of the authorities while slaughtering their victims. Homicide Detective Harvey Skinner, frustrated by his failure to catch them, decides to use an unconventional method to punish Clayton and Chastity... -
![Rising Fears by Michaelbrent Collings]()
Rising Fears by Michaelbrent Collings
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWelcome to the town of Rising. A place where everyone knows everyone else. A place where no one locks their doors. A place where everyone's worst fears...are about to come true...
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