Books like 'Killer Instinct'
Readers who enjoyed Killer Instinct by Robert W. Walker also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
mystery horror serial killer suspense crime medical forensics
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The Executioner by Chris Carter
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsFROM THE AUTHOR OF THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER THE CALLER. Inside a Los Angeles church, on the altar steps, lies the blood-soaked body of a priest. Later, the forensic team discover that, on the victim's chest, the figure 3 has been scrawled in blood. At first, Detective Robert Hunter believes that this is a ritualistic killing. But as more bodies surface, he is forced to reassess... -
![Malevolent by Jeff Menapace]()
Malevolent by Jeff Menapace
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAfter years of silence, the game is back on… Widower Allan Brown is hosting a support group in his home for the bereaved. One of the guests in attendance will be Amy Lambert, this week marking the five-year anniversary of her family’s horrifying ordeal at Crescent Lake. Of course it’s hardly cause for celebration... -
![Her Final Word by Willow Rose]()
Her Final Word by Willow Rose
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsRather be the hunter than the prey. Inspired by a true story. Ella Maria Chauncey walks home after a night out with her friends, hurrying to get back before her parents realize she's been out with the boy they don't want her to date. Living in the gated community of Lyford Cay, in one of the world's wealthiest neighborhoods, she believes it is safe. Ella Maria never makes it home... -
![Becoming the Boogeyman by Richard Chizmar]()
Becoming the Boogeyman by Richard Chizmar
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA riveting, haunting sequel to the New York Times bestselling thriller Chasing the Boogeyman—a tale of obsession and the adulation of evil, exploring modern society’s true-crime obsession with unflinching honesty, sparing no one from the glare of the spotlight... -
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![Mercurial Dreams by Hadena James]()
Mercurial Dreams by Hadena James
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAislinn Cain and the Serial Crimes Tracking Unit are being sent to the hottest place in North America to investigate mummified remains that were found in Death Valley. When Xavier Reece uncovers elemental mercury in the heart of one of the mummies, they discover there is more than Mother Nature at work... -
![Explosive Dreams by Hadena James]()
Explosive Dreams by Hadena James
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsBright midways, rides with loud music and flashing lights, barkers trying to get people to spend money on rigged games; the normal sounds of county fairs everywhere until an explosion rips through the tinny music of the carnival rides. Now the screams are not squeals of delight but the terrified shrieks of the dying.The danger is no longer imaginary, something to shrug off when the ride is over... -
![The Dead Tell Lies by J.F. Kirwan]()
The Dead Tell Lies by J.F. Kirwan
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIf you want to catch a serial killer, you need to think like one.Greg Adams, a criminal psychologist at Scotland Yard, specialises in bringing serial killers to justice. He is at the top of his game, having just put away his sixth serial killer when his wife, Kate, is brutally murdered by another predator known as the Dreamer... -
![Arsonist by Victor Methos]()
Arsonist by Victor Methos
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsEvil is Released Onto the Streets of San Diego...A series of deadly fires rages across the cityscape, claiming the lives of entire families. Helpless to stop the fires, the SDPD assigns their most famous detective, Jon Stanton, to the case. The evidence points him to a single arsonist committing the horrendous acts... -
![Cruel and Unusual by Patricia Cornwell, C.J. Critt]()
Cruel and Unusual by Patricia Cornwell, C.J. Critt
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 41 ratings"Killing me won't kill the beast" are the last words of rapist-murderer Ronnie Joe Waddell, written four days before his execution. But they can't explain how Dr. Kay Scarpetta finds Waddell's fingerprints on another crime scene -- after she'd performed his autopsy. If this is some sort of game, Scarpetta seems to be the target... -
![Psychopath by Jeff Menapace]()
Psychopath by Jeff Menapace
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe final game is here… A decade has passed. The Lambert family is thriving. Amy Lambert is a successful entrepreneur and in a promising relationship with Allan Brown. Caleb Lambert is a respected member of the United States Marine Corps. Carrie Lambert is a flourishing college student. Or so they wish. Nothing could be further from the truth... -
![I Know a Secret by Tess Gerritsen]()
I Know a Secret by Tess Gerritsen
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn the twelfth gripping novel featuring Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles, the crime-solving duo—featured in the smash-hit TNT series Rizzoli & Isles—are faced with the gruesomely staged murder of a horror film producer.The crime scene is unlike any that Detective Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles have ever before encountered... -
![Autumn Bleeds Into Winter by Jeff Strand]()
Autumn Bleeds Into Winter by Jeff Strand
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratings1979. Somebody has been abducting children in Fairbanks, Alaska. One of the victims was fourteen-year-old Curtis Black's best friend Todd.Curtis saw it happen. He knows exactly who did it. But he can't prove that it was his neighbor Gerald Martin. The authorities find no evidence of the crime. There's nothing they can do.So he's going to confront Mr. Martin himself... -
![Reckoning by Jeff Menapace]()
Reckoning by Jeff Menapace
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsLife in the swamp just got wilder… “The Swamp Massacre.” That’s what the media dubbed it. A family on a boat tour through the Florida Everglades. Abducted by the infamous Roy family. Forced to endure hell. Five years later, an aspiring filmmaker and her friends are keen on making a documentary about the incident... -
![Stolen: A Cassidy & Spenser Thriller by Carey Baldwin]()
Stolen: A Cassidy & Spenser Thriller by Carey Baldwin
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIs she missing…or a murderer? When Laura Chaucer, daughter of a U.S. senator, vanishes from her college campus, celebrated FBI profilers Special Agent Atticus Spenser and forensic psychiatrist Dr. Caitlin Cassidy are called in. Thirteen years ago, Laura and her nanny disappeared from her family’s Denver home. Laura was found alive, but her nanny wasn’t so lucky… and the killer was never caught... -
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![Elysium Dreams by Hadena James]()
Elysium Dreams by Hadena James
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsHe skins his victims alive, taking pleasure from their pain. In the cold, dark nights of Alaska, a hunter is stalking his prey. Once found, he takes them into the woods and skins them alive, prolonging the experience as much as he can, but the satisfaction always wanes.Aislinn Cain and the Serial Crimes Tracking Unit have just finished up another case when they get the call... -
![The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen]()
The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsThe Surgeon has been locked up for a year but his chilling legacy still haunts the city, and especially Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli. But now a new killer is at work and Rizzoli senses something horrifyingly familiar about this murderer's modus operandi... -
![A Caller's Game by J.D. Barker]()
A Caller's Game by J.D. Barker
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsDIE HARD meets TALK RADIO in this heart-pounding, relentlessly fast-paced thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Fourth Monkey—master of suspense, J.D. Barker. "I'm going to offer you a choice." Controversial satellite radio talk show host, Jordan Briggs, has clawed her way to the top of the broadcast world... -
![Il était deux fois by Franck Thilliez]()
Il était deux fois by Franck Thilliez
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsEn 2008, Julie, dix-sept ans, disparaît en ne laissant comme trace que son vélo posé contre un arbre. Le drame agite Sagas, petite ville au cœur des montagnes, et percute de plein fouet le père de la jeune fille, le lieutenant de gendarmerie Gabriel Moscato. Ce dernier se lance alors dans une enquête aussi désespérée qu'effrénée.Jusqu'à ce jour où ses pas le mènent à l'hôtel de la Falaise.. -
![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... -
![Dark Pattern by Andrew Mayne]()
Dark Pattern by Andrew Mayne
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsDr. Theo Cray is on the hunt for a killer nurse, and redemption, in a mind-bending psychological thriller by the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Naturalist. Dr. Theo Cray has a legendary mathematical knack for catching serial killers. Until his exposure to a mind-altering pathogen knocks him off his game... -
![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... -
![The Sinner by Tess Gerritsen]()
The Sinner by Tess Gerritsen
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsNot even the icy temperatures of a typical New England winter can match the bone-chilling scene of carnage discovered at the chapel of Our Lady of Divine Light. Within the cloistered convent lie two nuns–one dead, one critically injured–victims of an unspeakably savage attacker... -
![Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter]()
Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsA small Georgia town erupts in panic when a young college professor is found brutally mutilated in the local diner. But it's only when town pediatrician and coroner Sara Linton does the autopsy that the full extent of the killer's twisted work becomes clear... -
![The Dark Web Murders by Brian O'Hare]()
The Dark Web Murders by Brian O'Hare
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsI am Nemein. I am emotionally detached from my killings. I am not, therefore, a murderer. I am an instrument of Nemesis, a punisher. This is a theme running through a number of blogs on the Dark Web, written by a serial killer. He is highly intelligent and employs philosophical argument to justify a series of gruesome murders... -
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![Beverly Barton Bundle: Dead By Midnight / Dead By Morning / Dead By Nightfall by Beverly Barton]()
Beverly Barton Bundle: Dead By Midnight / Dead By Morning / Dead By Nightfall by Beverly Barton
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn Murder. . .The last sounds Dean Wilson hears are a clock striking twelve and a killer's taunting words. And his death is just the first. One by one, victims are stalked and shot at close range. Only the killer knows their sins, and who will be the next to die at midnight. . . And In Life. . -
![Come Find Me by Debra Webb]()
Come Find Me by Debra Webb
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSecrets have a way of being found...of rising to the surface no matter how deeply buried. Sarah Newton is an investigative reporter who specializes in debunking supernatural myths, and forces the truth to light even when people don't want to see it... -
![Last Call by J.A. Konrath]()
Last Call by J.A. Konrath
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA retired cop past her prime...A kidnapped bank robber fighting for his life...A former mob enforcer with a blood debt...A government assassin on the run...A wisecracking private eye with only one hand...A homicide sergeant with one week left on the job...And three of the worst serial killers, ever.This is where it all ends... -
![Profile K by Helen Sarah Fields]()
Profile K by Helen Sarah Fields
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsHe’s going to kill you. He just doesn’t know it yet. There’s something wrong with me. For years I’ve hidden it. Suppressed it. Blended into society. But The Test awoke something within me. It was just a routine application designed to get to know me better – with results that would show me everything I was capable of... -
![Vengeful Games by Jeff Menapace]()
Vengeful Games by Jeff Menapace
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsPLAYTIME IS NOT OVER...In Autumn of 2008, the Lambert family headed to western Pennsylvania for a weekend getaway to the family cabin.They visited hell instead...The Fannelli brothers. Two psychopaths who believed themselves exceptional, put on this Earth for the soul purpose of tormenting others for their own amusement. To make people play their twisted games... -
![The Morning After (Pierce Reed/ Nikki Gillette) by Lisa Jackson]()
The Morning After (Pierce Reed/ Nikki Gillette) by Lisa Jackson
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsHIS VICTIMS . . . A woman is frantic as she awakens in a dark, closed space. From above her comes the muffled sound of cruel laughter, followed by the hard splatter of dirt. Pure terror takes over as she realizes she's being buried alive--and her last breath is a scream that no one but a sadistic killer will hear . . . WILL TAKE HIS SECRETS . . -
![Unnatural Exposure by Patricia Cornwell]()
Unnatural Exposure by Patricia Cornwell
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsAlways packed with unrelieved tension and constant surprises, a new novel from Patricia Cornwell is cause for celebration. Virginia's chief medical examiner, Kay Scarpetta, is called in to examine the remains of a woman found in a landfill, her body dismembered in the same expert way she'd seen before... -
![True Evil by Greg Iles, Dick Hill]()
True Evil by Greg Iles, Dick Hill
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsDr. Chris Shepard, a busy young doctor in Natchez, Mississippi, has never seen his new patient Alex Morse before. But the attractive young woman with the scarred face has come to Dr. Shepards office on a mission to catch a killer. This New York Times bestseller is available in a tall Premium Edition... -
![The Body Farm by Patricia Cornwell]()
The Body Farm by Patricia Cornwell
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsThe Body Farm - a research institute that tests the decomposition of corpses. Black Mountain, North Carolina: a sleepy little town where the local police deal with one homicide a year, if they're unlucky, and where people are still getting used to the idea of locking their doors at night... -
![The Keepsake by Tess Gerritsen]()
The Keepsake by Tess Gerritsen
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsNew York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen knows how to expertly dissect a brilliantly suspenseful story, all the while keeping fascinated readers riveted to her side. By turns darkly enthralling and relentlessly surprising, The Keepsake showcases an author at the peak of her storytelling powers... -
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![All That Remains by Patricia Cornwell]()
All That Remains by Patricia Cornwell
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsIn Richmond, Virginia, young lovers are dying. So far, four couples in the area have disappeared, only to be found months later as mutilated corpses. When the daughter of the president's newest drug czar vanishes along with her boyfriend, Dr. Kay Scarpetta knows time is short... -
![The Asylum Confessions: Serial Killers by Jack Steen]()
The Asylum Confessions: Serial Killers by Jack Steen
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThey arrive alive. They always leave dead.But first, they give me their confessions.My name is Jack Steen, and for those who arrive on my 'death' ward at the Asylum, I'm the last face many will see before they die. I am the night nurse at an Asylum for the Criminally Insane, and most of my patients know me as their Angel of Death... -
![From Potter's Field by Patricia Cornwell]()
From Potter's Field by Patricia Cornwell
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsChristmas has never been a particularly good time for Dr Kay Scarpetta. Although a holiday for most, the festivities always seem to heighten the alienation felt by society's violent fringe; and that usually means more work for Scarpetta, Virginia's Chief Medical Examiner and consulting forensic pathologist for the FBI... -
![Point Of Origin by Patricia Cornwell]()
Point Of Origin by Patricia Cornwell
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsThe devastating fire tore through the horse farm, destroying everything it touched. Picking through the wreckage, Dr. Kay Scarpetta uncovers human remains --- the work of an audacious and wily killer who uses fire to mask his brutal murders... -
![Bloodletting by Michael McBride]()
Bloodletting by Michael McBride
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe butchered remains of twelve year-old Jasmine Rivers are discovered in the cellar of an abandoned farmhouse on the desolate eastern plains of Colorado, the fourth mutilated body found in the last two months. The FBI is still searching for the missing parts of the previous three.Hundreds of miles away in Arizona, eleven corpses are exhumed from the Sonoran Desert... -
![The Quiet Tenant by Clémence Michallon]()
The Quiet Tenant by Clémence Michallon
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED NOVELS OF 2023 - "A bravura feat of storytelling...daring and completely satisfying." --James Patterson, #1 best-selling author A PULSE-POUNDING PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER ABOUT A SERIAL KILLER NARRATED BY THOSE CLOSEST TO HIM: HIS 13-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER, HIS GIRLFRIEND--AND THE ONE VICTIM HE HAS SPARED... -
![The Cove by Malcolm Richards]()
The Cove by Malcolm Richards
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsCarrie thought her son was dead. She was wrong. She’d only taken her eyes off him for a second. But that was all it took for a perfect day at the beach to turn to horror. Cal disappeared beneath the waves. His body was never found. Seven years later, Carrie has a new family. But her life in the sleepy Cornish town of Devil's Cove is about to be torn apart again. A boy washes up on the shore... -
![Last Call by Sean Costello]()
Last Call by Sean Costello
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsTHIS BOOK is RATED-R FOR LANGUAGE by the publisher.In the space of a single day, twenty-year-old Trish West purchases her first car, gets accepted into veterinary college, and finds her rockstar father, Jim Gamble, a man who vanished into the streets before she was born and now clings to life in a Toronto intensive care unit.Eager to establish a relationship with Mr... -
![Blood Brother by Jack Kerley]()
Blood Brother by Jack Kerley
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsDetective Carson Ryder's sworn duty is to track killers down. He's never revealed the fact that his brother, Jeremy, is one of America's most notorious killers - albeit imprisoned. Now though, his brother's escaped and is at large in New York. With Jeremy the chief suspect in a series of horrifying mutilation-murders, a mysterious video demands Ryder be brought into help... -
![The List by Kiersten Modglin]()
The List by Kiersten Modglin
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsTen years ago, the small town of Bates, South Carolina was changed forever with the appearance of a slip of paper.Six names.Six people set to die.Six months later, they were gone. But the list maker was far from done with their town.Like clockwork, new lists come out every six months. To keep their names off of them, the citizens go to extraordinary lengths and keep terrifying secrets... -
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![Tortured Dreams by Hadena James]()
Tortured Dreams by Hadena James
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhen the US Marshals Serial Crimes Tracking Unit comes knocking at Aislinn Cain's door, she is given a chance to use her past to save other people's futures. She has survived attacks by two different serial killers and devoted her life to studying the darker side of human history. A new killer is using medieval torture methods to slay his victims... -
![Escape! by Iain Rob Wright]()
Escape! by Iain Rob Wright
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsBrand new Horror novel from acclaimed author Iain Rob Wright. Can you figure out the secrets of "the room" and escape before it's too late?Cheryl is about to learn that the people she works with are keeping a secret. One they are willing to kill for.Cheryl is the new girl at work, which is why she feels like she doesn't have a choice when she's asked to go on a "company outing... -
![The Killing Room by Peter May]()
The Killing Room by Peter May
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhen a mass grave containing eighteen mutilated female corpses is discovered in Shanghai, detective Li Yan is sent from Beijing to establish if the bodies are linked to an unsolved murder in the capital. Here, Li will be working with Mei Ling, deputy head of Shanghai's serious crime squad... -
![Keep It In The Family by John Marrs]()
Keep It In The Family by John Marrs
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn this chilling novel from bestselling author John Marrs, a young couple’s house hides terrible secrets—and not all of them are confined to the past.Mia and Finn are busy turning a derelict house into their dream home when Mia unexpectedly falls pregnant. But just when they think the house is ready, Mia discovers a chilling message scored into a skirting board: I WILL SAVE THEM FROM THE ATTIC... -
![Firestorm by Iris Johansen]()
Firestorm by Iris Johansen
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 20 ratings#1 New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen turns up the heat in this explosive new psychological thriller. This time a gifted arson investigator teams up with a mysterious operative to stop a killer raging completely out of control...For Kerry Murphy, the inferno is never far away... -
![The Cold Moon by Jeffery Deaver]()
The Cold Moon by Jeffery Deaver
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsOn a freezing December night, with a full moon hovering in the black sky over New York City, two people are brutally murdered -- the death scenes marked by eerie, matching calling cards: moon-faced clocks investigators fear ticked away the victims' last moments on earth...
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