Books like 'Penance'
Readers who enjoyed Penance by Kanae Minato also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary mystery horror psychological thriller crime suspense literary-fiction dark law-enforcement
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An Evil Mind by Chris Carter
Rated: 4.48 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsA freak accident in rural Wyoming leads the Sheriff's Department to arrest a man for a possible double homicide, but further investigations suggest a much more horrifying discovery - a serial killer who has been kidnapping, torturing and mutilating victims all over the United States for at least twenty-five years... -
![Hunting Evil by Chris Carter]()
Hunting Evil by Chris Carter
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 20 ratings'Every story one day comes to an end.' As roommates, they met for the first time in college. Two of the brightest minds ever to graduate from Stamford Psychology University. As adversaries, they met again in Quantico, Virginia. Robert Hunter had become the head of the LAPD’s Ultra Violent Crimes Unit... -
![The Night Stalker by Chris Carter]()
The Night Stalker by Chris Carter
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsWhen an unidentified female body is discovered laid out on a slab in an abandoned butcher's shop, the cause of death is unclear. Her body bears no marks, except for the fact that her lips have been stitched shut... -
![I Am Death by Chris Carter]()
I Am Death by Chris Carter
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsAN EVIL MIND was Chris Carters's most acclaimed novel to date, described by the Daily mail as: 'A chilling, compulsive portrait of a psychopath, and proves that Carter is now in the Jeffrey Deaver class.' It spent three weeks in the Sunday Timestop ten and received brillant reviews and sales. This terrifying new standalone thriller reunites Hunter and Garcia in their most explosive case to date... -
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![Missing Angel by Roger Stelljes]()
Missing Angel by Roger Stelljes
Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIsabella pedals her bright red bike on the familiar route home, admiring her charm bracelet catching the light. But half an hour later, she is nowhere to be seen. All her frantic parents find is an angel-shaped charm discarded on the sidewalk…When twelve-year-old Isabella Farner disappears, Agent Tori Hunter races to the scene... -
![Such a Good Girl by Willow Rose]()
Such a Good Girl by Willow Rose
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFBI-profiler Eva Rae Thomas faces a devious plan in bestselling author Willow Rose’s blood-rushing thriller of murder and revenge.A girl falls from the penthouse floor of an apartment in Washington, D.C.Media Mogul Richard Wanton owns the apartment and is seen standing on the balcony when the girl falls... -
![Our Stolen Pieces by James Hunt]()
Our Stolen Pieces by James Hunt
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhen the morning after a slumber party reveals two missing girls, a newly minted Detective and a young veteran are assigned the case. Recently partnered, the pair of detectives must set aside their troubled pasts to recover the pair of girls who may have been coerced by a stranger who had kidnapped before...Categorized as:
crime drama female-mc law-enforcement literary-fiction suspense thriller action-adventure -
![Play Dead by Angela Marsons]()
Play Dead by Angela Marsons
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsThe dead don't tell secrets... unless you listen. The girl's smashed-in face stared unseeing up to the blue sky, soil spilling out of her mouth. A hundred flies hovered above the bloodied mess. Westerley research facility is not for the faint-hearted. A 'body farm' investigating human decomposition, its inhabitants are corpses in various states of decay... -
![Written in Blood by Chris Carter]()
Written in Blood by Chris Carter
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsDon't miss GENESIS, the latest must-read serial killer thriller from master of the genre, Chris Carter. Available to order now. ‘Wonderful storytelling, with a superbly drawn killer, it underlines exactly how good Carter has become’ Daily MailTHE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER A serial killer who will stop at nothing… The Killer His most valuable possession has been stolen... -
![The Body Counter by Anne Frasier]()
The Body Counter by Anne Frasier
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsFrom a New York Times bestselling author comes the chilling follow-up to the Thriller Award winner The Body Reader. Months after discovering the mastermind behind her own kidnapping, Detective Jude Fontaine is dealing with the past the only way she knows how: by returning to every dark corner of it... -
![The Face of Death by Cody McFadyen]()
The Face of Death by Cody McFadyen
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIn Shadow Man, Cody McFadyen took the suspense thriller where other writers have feared to tread. He introduced readers to a heroine every bit as dark and edgy as the serial killers she hunts: Special Agent Smoky Barrett. Now, in his latest novel, McFadyen brings Agent Barrett back to track down a killer who breaks all the rules... -
![Primal Fear by William Diehl]()
Primal Fear by William Diehl
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsMartin Vail, the brilliant "bad-boy" lawyer every prosecutor and politician love to hate, is defending Aaron Stampler, a man found holding a bloody butcher's knife near a murdered archbishop... -
![Untitled by Dot Hutchison]()
Untitled by Dot Hutchison
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA fourth book is coming with a release date estimated Spring 2019... -
![Missed Connections by Alexandria Clarke]()
Missed Connections by Alexandria Clarke
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsHow far would you go for revenge? Veronica Bauer isn’t above homicide. Twelve years after a ruthless attack killed her mother and put her father in prison, she embarks on a mission to bring the real culprits to justice. As bodies start to drop, Detective Sheila Arden is assigned to the gruesome case, but she soon discovers that the truth is more complicated than she thought... -
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![Broken by Karin Slaughter]()
Broken by Karin Slaughter
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsWhen Special Agent Will Trent arrives in Grant County, he finds a police department determined to protect its own and far too many unanswered questions about a prisoner's death. He doesn't understand why Officer Lena Adams is hiding secrets from him. He doesn't understand her role in the death of Grant County's popular police chief. He doesn't understand why that man's widow, Dr... -
![A Killer's Mind by Mike Omer]()
A Killer's Mind by Mike Omer
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsA chilling thriller of serial murder and dark secrets that will leave you wondering, is the past really in the past?Three Chicago women have been found strangled, embalmed, and posed as if still alive. Doubting the findings of the local PD’s profiler, The FBI calls on forensic psychologist Zoe Bentley to investigate... -
![If Angels Fall by Rick Mofina]()
If Angels Fall by Rick Mofina
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn the bestselling tradition of Jonathan Kellerman and Mary Higgins Clark, comes this powerful psychological thriller from newcomer Rick Mofina. "If Angels Fall" is the story of a man beset by tragedy, who moves from mourning...to madness...to murder.There are some horrors a man can never forget. Sounds so chilling that they can never be silenced. The frantic screams of drowning children... -
![Chosen To Die by Lisa Jackson]()
Chosen To Die by Lisa Jackson
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsHE'LL CHOOSE THEM... Detective Regan Pescoli has worked the "Star Crossed Killer" case for months, never imagining she'd be captured by the madman she's been hunting. Regan knows exactly what he's capable of - and avoiding the same fate will take every drop of her courage and cunning. ABDUCT THEM... Regan Pescoli is unlike any woman Nate Santana has met before... -
![A Dark Mind by T.R. Ragan, Kate Rudd]()
A Dark Mind by T.R. Ragan, Kate Rudd
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA serial killer is terrorizing Sacramento, preying on happily married couples and unleashing unspeakable cruelties upon his victims. The ordeal rekindles disturbing memories for private investigator Lizzy Gardner, who barely escaped a serial killer clutches only years ago... -
![The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean]()
The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA woman being held captive is willing to risk everything to save herself, her unborn child, and her captor’s latest victim in this claustrophobic thriller in the tradition of Misery and Room. On an isolated farm in the United Kingdom, a woman is trapped by the monster who kidnapped her seven years ago... -
![Shadow Man by Cody McFadyen]()
Shadow Man by Cody McFadyen
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsFBI agent Smoky Barrett is no stranger to the darker recesses of the human mind. But nothing could have prepared her for the day she had to watch her husband and daughter die at the hands of a serial killer. She bears the scars, mental and physical. Most people would run - from work, from life, from everything associated with the pain of a shattered existence... -
![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 law-enforcement literary-fiction suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
![The Pretty Dead Girls by Skylar Finn]()
The Pretty Dead Girls by Skylar Finn
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhen two young girls go missing from a small Georgia town, the crime remains unsolved for nearly thirty years.When Savannah moves home to the small town of Humble, Georgia, she has no intention of getting involved in a kidnapping investigation. But when her older brother Mac becomes the main suspect, Savannah launches a secret investigation in order to clear her brother’s name... -
![Small Spaces by Sarah Epstein]()
Small Spaces by Sarah Epstein
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWe don’t pick and choose what to be afraid of. Our fears pick us.Tash Carmody has been traumatised since childhood, when she witnessed her gruesome imaginary friend Sparrow lure young Mallory Fisher away from a carnival. At the time nobody believed Tash, and she has since come to accept that Sparrow wasn’t real. Now fifteen and mute, Mallory’s never spoken about the week she went missing... -
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![See No Evil by Allison Brennan]()
See No Evil by Allison Brennan
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA cunning killer hides in plain sight.A troubled teenage girl has been charged with the grisly murder of her stepfather. The evidence is damning: Emily was found alone at the scene with blood on her hands, and an incriminating e-mail she wrote outlines a murder plot identical to the method of the brutal slaying... -
![What Hurts the Most by Willow Rose]()
What Hurts the Most by Willow Rose
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsASIN B018A097LO moved to the most recent edition hereYou will never guess the ending!Am I pretty? Imagine being asked that question standing face to face with a killer. What would you answer? While her life is going from bad to worse, journalist Mary Mills receives a phone call from her father telling her that her brother has been arrested for murder...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement literary-fiction suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
![Malevolent by Jana Deleon]()
Malevolent by Jana Deleon
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom New York Times bestselling author Jana DeLeon, the first in a new thriller series. Everyone wondered about Shaye Archer’s past. Including Shaye. Shaye Archer’s life effectively began the night police found her in an alley, beaten and abused and with no memory of the previous fifteen years, not even her name... -
![The Whisperer by Donato Carrisi]()
The Whisperer by Donato Carrisi
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA gripping literary thriller and smash bestseller that has taken Italy, France, Germany and the UK by storm.Six severed arms are discovered, arranged in a mysterious circle and buried in a clearing in the woods. Five of them appear to belong to missing girls between the ages of eight and eighteen. The sixth is yet to be identified... -
![Pop Goes the Weasel by M.J. Arlidge]()
Pop Goes the Weasel by M.J. Arlidge
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom the international bestselling author of Eeny Meeny comes the second thriller in the “truly excellent series”* featuring DI Helen Grace. A man’s body is found in an empty house. His heart has been cut out and delivered to his wife and children. He is the first victim, and Detective Inspector Helen Grace knows he will not be the last... -
![Liar Liar by M.J. Arlidge]()
Liar Liar by M.J. Arlidge
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsDetective Helen Grace gets caught in an inferno of death and destruction in the red-hot new thriller from the author of Eeny Meeny, Pop Goes the Weasel, and The Doll’s HouseDetective Helen Grace has never seen such destruction. Six fires in twenty-four hours. Two people dead. Several more injured. It’s as if someone wants to burn the city to the ground.. -
![Wall of Silence by Tracy Buchanan]()
Wall of Silence by Tracy Buchanan
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsHer children have a deadly secret. Can she uncover it before the police do?Melissa Byatt’s life in Forest Grove seems as perfect as can be: a doting husband, three loving children and a beautiful house in a close-knit community. But appearances can be deceiving... -
![The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard]()
The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsAt the age of twelve, Eve Black was the only member of her family to survive an encounter with serial attacker the Nothing Man. Now an adult, she is obsessed with identifying the man who destroyed her life.Supermarket security guard Jim Doyle has just started reading The Nothing Man--the true-crime memoir Eve has written about her efforts to track down her family's killer... -
![The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim]()
The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFeminist psychological horror about the making of a female serial killer from a Korean-American perspective.Ji-won’s life tumbles into disarray in the wake of her appa’s extramarital affair and subsequent departure. Her mother, distraught. Her younger sister, hurt and confused. Her college freshman grades, failing. Her dreams, horrifying… yet enticing... -
![All of Us Are Broken by Fiona Cummins]()
All of Us Are Broken by Fiona Cummins
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIt’s been a long time since the Hardwicke family has been on holiday. But thirteen-year-old Galen has wanted to see the wild dolphins at Scotland’s Chanonry Point for as long as she can remember, and her mother Christine – a lone parent since her beloved husband left – is determined she gets her wish. But their serene trip is about to be interrupted... -
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![The Woodcutter by Reginald Hill]()
The Woodcutter by Reginald Hill
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratings"Thefertility of Hill's imagination, the range of his power, the sheer quality ofhis literary style never ceases to delight." —Val McDermid,author of Fever of the BoneIn a stand-alone psychological thrillerfrom acclaimed mystery master Reginald Hill, a mysterious ex-con returns to hisremote childhood home on a deadly hunt for revenge...Categorized as:
crime drama law-enforcement literary-fiction revenge suspense thriller action-adventure -
![Sleep Tight by Anne Frasier]()
Sleep Tight by Anne Frasier
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWAKE UP, LITTLE DARLING. DO YOU LIKE WHAT YOU SEE?He's looking for the perfect woman. Someone who won't disappoint him, like so many have before. Someone who'll love him ... someone who won't have to die for her mistakes.GIVE UP, LITTLE DARLING....FBI agent Mary Cantrell has been called to Minneapolis to hunt down a killer... -
![Her Darkest Nightmare by Brenda Novak]()
Her Darkest Nightmare by Brenda Novak
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsTHE HUNT FOR A SERIAL KILLER Evelyn Talbot knows that a psychopath can look perfectly normal. She was only sixteen when her own boyfriend Jasper imprisoned and tortured her—and left her for dead. Now an eminent psychiatrist who specializes in the criminal mind, Evelyn is the force behind Hanover House, a maximum-security facility located in a small Alaskan town... -
![Ich vergesse nie by John Marrs]()
Ich vergesse nie by John Marrs
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsShe’s chasing a killer. He’s watching her every move.He hides in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment. Each kill is calculated, planned and executed like clockwork.Struggling to balance her personal and professional life, young DS Becca Vincent has landed the biggest case of her career—and she knows that it will make or break her. But she can’t catch the culprit alone... -
![The Ugly Duckling by Iris Johansen]()
The Ugly Duckling by Iris Johansen
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIf fate suddenly made you more beautiful than you ever dreamed possible, would it be the beginning of a fairy tale, or your worst nightmare?The brutal attack should have killed anybody, but Nell Calder did more than survive. She emerged a woman transformed, with an exquisite beauty found only in fairy tales. Nell Calder deserved a happy ending. Instead, her descent into terror has just begun... -
![Trespassing by Brandi Reeds]()
Trespassing by Brandi Reeds
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn a novel of mounting psychological suspense, a young mother follows a dangerous path to find her missing husband.Veronica Cavanaugh’s grasp on the world is slipping. Her latest round of fertility treatments not only failed but left her on edge and unbalanced. And her three-year-old daughter, Elizabella, has a new imaginary friend, who seems much more devilish than playful... -
![Never Lie by Freida McFadden]()
Never Lie by Freida McFadden
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsNewlyweds Tricia and Ethan are searching for the house of their dreams.But when they visit the remote manor that once belonged to Dr. Adrienne Hale, a renowned psychiatrist who vanished without a trace four years earlier, a violent winter storm traps them at the estate… with no chance of escape until the blizzard comes to an end... -
![Digital Velocity by Reily Garrett, Rylan Killian]()
Digital Velocity by Reily Garrett, Rylan Killian
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe deadliest weapons are the ones we never see. Keyboard prodigy, Lexi Donovan has risen from teenage orphan of the streets to complete independence with little help along the way. When a friend is threatened, Lexi’s anonymous message sends police into a firefight, leading to a wounded cop... -
![The Tywi Estuary Killings by John Nicholl]()
The Tywi Estuary Killings by John Nicholl
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIs it revenge or is it justice?DI Gravel is supposed to be on mandatory leave, but when a severed head washes up on the estuary beach his holiday is cut short. Back on the job, he’s shocked when the case leads him to the victim from an old caseSeventeen years ago, the system failed Rebecca. They let the abuser of a six-year-old girl walk free... -
![Three Strikes by Kate Kessler]()
Three Strikes by Kate Kessler
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThree Strikes is the new novel in a thriller series where a criminal psychologist uses her own dark past to help law enforcement catch dangerous killers.Thanksgiving is approaching, and Audrey Harte has a lot to be thankful for -- her mother has recovered from surgery, her relationship with Jake is solid, her father is relatively sober, and her career is evolving in an exciting direction... -
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![The Pale White by Chad Lutzke]()
The Pale White by Chad Lutzke
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAfter being held against their will in a house used for trafficking, three girls plan their escape.Alex: A hardened goth-punk who’s convinced she’s a vampire with a penchant for blood.Stacia: A seventeen-year-old raised by an alcoholic mother, her fellow captives the only family she’s ever truly had.Kammie: The youngest of the three—a mute who finds solace in a houseplant... -
![The Art of Murder by José Carlos Somoza]()
The Art of Murder by José Carlos Somoza
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn 2006, the art world has moved far beyond sheep in formaldehyde and the most avant-garde movement is to use living people as artwork. Undergoing weeks of preparation to become 'canvases', the models are required to stay in their pose for ten to twelve hours a day and, as art pieces, they are also for sale... -
![Black for Remembrance by Carlene Thompson]()
Black for Remembrance by Carlene Thompson
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsCaroline Webb knows what it means to lose the person you love most. Twenty years ago, her five-year-old daughter, Hayley, was the light of her life, her treasure, her angle. Then came the terrible day when Hayley was kidnapped from her favorite swing. More than a month passed before her burned, lifeless body was found. All that remained was the silence of Caroline's heartache--and her guilt.. -
![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... -
![All the Pretty Faces by Rita Herron]()
All the Pretty Faces by Rita Herron
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsJosie DuKane is on shaky ground. Having narrowly escaped the notorious Bride Killer, she penned a tell-all memoir that dug up a town’s dark past. Now the book is being made into a movie, and Josie must visit the very place that will trigger an avalanche of unwanted memories—Graveyard Falls... -
![Hard Candy by Andrew Vachss]()
Hard Candy by Andrew Vachss
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn this mercilessly compelling thriller, Burke—the private eye, sting artist, and occasional hit man who metes out a cruelly ingenious vengeance on those who victimize children—is up against a soft-spoken messiah, who may be rescuing runaways or recruiting them for his own hideous purposes...
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