Books like 'What Happened at the Lake'
Readers who enjoyed What Happened at the Lake by Phil M. Williams also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
mystery psychological serial killer action / adventure thriller crime amateur-sleuth vigilante justice suspense
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Dead Souls by Angela Marsons
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe truth was dead and buried…until now. When a collection of human bones is unearthed during a routine archaeological dig, a Black Country field suddenly becomes a complex crime scene for Detective Kim Stone. As the bones are sorted, it becomes clear that the grave contains more than one victim. The bodies hint at unimaginable horror, bearing the markings of bullet holes and animal traps... -
![The Infirmary by L.J. Ross, Jonathan Keeble]()
The Infirmary by L.J. Ross, Jonathan Keeble
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIntroducing the new, unabridged version of The Infirmary by LJ Ross, the author of the international number one best-selling series, the DCI Ryan Mysteries.There's a serial killer targeting the streets of Newcastle, seemingly picking his victims at random but subjecting them all to the same torturous end... -
![Beware the Past by Joy Ellis]()
Beware the Past by Joy Ellis
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsOne terrible case always haunted detective Matt Ballard. Now many years later, the killer seems to be back. And this time he's after Matt. When Matt Ballard was starting out his career, three boys were murdered in the same area, the remote and bleak Gibbet Fen. When the main suspect was killed in a hit-and-run, the killings stopped... -
![In the Darkness by Mike Omer]()
In the Darkness by Mike Omer
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA forensic psychologist fights a mental war against two serial killers in this disturbing thriller from Mike Omer, Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestselling author of A Killer’s Mind.An online video of a girl clawing at the ceiling of her own grave could be the worst thing FBI forensic psychologist Zoe Bentley has ever seen... -
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![Winter's Redemption by Mary Stone]()
Winter's Redemption by Mary Stone
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Preacher is killing again...The serial killer who slaughtered Winter’s parents has come out of retirement, leaving bloody victims in his wake. Special Agent Winter Black has spent her entire life preparing for this moment, and she intends to end the man who took everything from her and solve the disappearance of her little brother—no matter the cost... -
![The Knight by Steven James]()
The Knight by Steven James
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn The Knight, the third installment in the bestselling series of thrillers featuring FBI criminologist Patrick Bowers, the stakes have never been higher.Agent Bowers is used to tracking the country's most dangerous killers, but now it looks like a killer is tracking him... -
![Fear on the Fens by Joy Ellis]()
Fear on the Fens by Joy Ellis
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsNow.In the beautiful gardens of Shelley House a shocking discovery is made. A blackened hand dangles over the side of a wheelbarrow. The horrific scent of burnt flesh lingers in the air.Detective Nikki Galena and Joseph Easter are called in to investigate.Twenty years ago.A family destroyed by tragic secrets. The scientist father who killed their gardener, before being murdered himself... -
![Killing Season by L.T. Vargus, Tim McBain]()
Killing Season by L.T. Vargus, Tim McBain
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsLet it bleed. Watch it burn.The first shot punches through the windshield of an SUV. A head shot. The driver's death is instantaneous.By the time Special Agent Violet Darger arrives in Atlanta, the city teeters toward panic. The vacant streets and restaurants paint an eerie picture. No one dares to venture out.A killer walks among them. A shadow... -
![The Bishop by Steven James]()
The Bishop by Steven James
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsF.B.I. Special Agent Patrick Bowers's cutting edge 21st century geospatial investigative techniques and impeccable logic have helped him track some of the country's most grisly killers. But those skills are pushed to the limit in this new installment of the highly acclaimed, award winning The Bowers Files series... -
![Memories of Tomorrow by Dean Koontz]()
Memories of Tomorrow by Dean Koontz
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhat strange science made Nameless who he is? What catastrophes have been erased from his memories? In the stunning conclusion of this series, the dark past comes flooding back, and Nameless must decide how much he really wants to know.In Indiana, a murderous psycho has kidnapped his own six-year-old stepson, Jamie, and secreted him away in a subterranean cave. It’s become their bunker... -
![Fear No Evil by James Patterson]()
Fear No Evil by James Patterson
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAlex Cross enters the final showdown with the relentless killer who has stalked him and his family for years.Dr. Alex Cross and Detective John Sampson venture into the rugged Montana wilderness—where they will be the prey. They’re not on the job, but on a personal mission... -
![Hide Away by Jason Pinter]()
Hide Away by Jason Pinter
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of the Henry Parker series comes a page-turning thriller about a vigilante who’s desperate to protect her secrets—and bring a killer to justice.On the surface, Rachel Marin is an ordinary single mother; on the inside, she’s a fierce, brilliant vigilante... -
![Dawn Girl by Leslie Wolfe]()
Dawn Girl by Leslie Wolfe
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA GRIPPING SERIAL KILLER THRILLERHer blue eyes wide open, glossed over. A few specks of sand clung to her long, dark lashes. Her beautiful face, immobile, covered in sparkling flecks of sand. Her lips slightly parted as if to let a last breath escape... -
![Crimson Lake Road by Victor Methos]()
Crimson Lake Road by Victor Methos
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsBestselling author Victor Methos’s acclaimed series continues as prosecutor Jessica Yardley races to catch an art-obsessed serial killer before she becomes his next masterpiece.Retiring prosecutor Jessica Yardley can’t turn down one last investigation. This time, it’s a set of murders inspired by a series of grisly paintings called The Night Things... -
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![Criss Cross by James Patterson]()
Criss Cross by James Patterson
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsA killer with all the skills of a master detective has made Alex Cross the subject of his deranged "investigation." In a Virginia penitentiary, Alex Cross and his partner, John Sampson, witness the execution of a killer they helped convict. Hours later, they are called to the scene of a copycat crime. A note signed "M" rests on the corpse. "You messed up big time, Dr. Cross... -
![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... -
![The Second Sign: A Sean Wyatt Archaeological Thriller: 19 by Ernest Dempsey]()
The Second Sign: A Sean Wyatt Archaeological Thriller: 19 by Ernest Dempsey
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFor millennia, stories of God’s greatest prophets have inspired Christians across the world, urging them toward the kind of faith that compelled these celebrated sages of old.But one modern madman wants that power for himself, to conquer a world he views as filled with unrepentant sinners as he ushers in a new age of religious rule... -
![Gallery of the Dead by Chris Carter]()
Gallery of the Dead by Chris Carter
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 19 ratings‘Thirty-seven years in the force, and if I was allowed to choose just one thing to erase from my mind, what’s inside that room would be it.'That’s what a LAPD Lieutenant tells Detectives Hunter and Garcia of the Ultra Violent Crimes Unit as they arrive at one of the most shocking crime scenes they have ever attended... -
![Looking Glass by Andrew Mayne]()
Looking Glass by Andrew Mayne
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsProfessor Theo Cray caught one of the most prolific serial killers in history using revolutionary scientific methods. Cut off from university research because of the shroud of suspicion around him after the death of his former student and the aftermath of catching his quarry, Cray tries to rebuild his life but finds himself drawn into another unsolved case... -
![Impostor by L.J. Ross]()
Impostor by L.J. Ross
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFROM THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE DCI RYAN MYSTERIES There’s a killer inside all of us… After an elite criminal profiling unit is shut down amidst a storm of scandal and mismanagement, only one person emerges unscathed... -
![Under the Bones: A Lou Thorne Thriller by Kory M. Shrum]()
Under the Bones: A Lou Thorne Thriller by Kory M. Shrum
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEnemies make the best allies. Louie Thorne is good at only one thing. Killing. She knows peace only when she kills and this relentless thirst drives her to hunt the world's worst crime lords. But when her cancer-stricken aunt makes a dying wish, Louie is torn between her own dark nature and a promise made to the only family she has left... -
![Unbound Ties: When the past unravels, all that’s left is death ... by Liz Mistry]()
Unbound Ties: When the past unravels, all that’s left is death ... by Liz Mistry
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen the past unravels, all that’s left is death.Lavender’s blue, dilly dilly,When DI Gus McGuire is called out to the murder of a pregnant woman, the crime scene tells him that this killer is not only taunting them … he’s also just getting started.Lavender’s green,With ritualistic precision, the killer has placed a series of clues beneath the victim’s feet...Categorized as:
suspense crime thriller mystery law-enforcement police-procedural domestic-drama killer -
![The Thames Path killer by Biba Pearce]()
The Thames Path killer by Biba Pearce
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA SCINTILLATING DEBUT MYSTERY FROM YOUR NEW CRIME FICTION OBSESSION: BIBA PEARCE.Please note this book is a completely revised edition of THE SURREY STALKER.A deranged serial killer targeting brides-to-be. An ambitious young detective. A case that could destroy everything.A young woman is brutally attacked on her way home. It looks like she was the victim of a jilted — and twisted — ex-lover... -
![Wired In by Toby Neal]()
Wired In by Toby Neal
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsParadise has no protection from a hacker with a hidden agenda.Do you love a woman sleuth with a dark past, a great dog, and a complicated romantic life?Meet tech agent Sophie Ang.Sophie’s emotions are battered by a child kidnapping case, and in tracking the criminal ring, her rogue data analysis program D.A.V.I.D... -
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![Follow Me Home by D.K. Hood]()
Follow Me Home by D.K. Hood
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratings‘Don’t you agree Detective? That some people deserve to die? I’ve killed the first. I’ve killed the second. Now will you catch the others, or do I have to kill them too?’ The body of Amos Price lies in a pool of blood on the polished floor of an otherwise empty house. With no signs of a break in, and no clues left at the scene, Detective Jenna Alton is at a loss... -
![Cross Justice by James Patterson]()
Cross Justice by James Patterson
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsFor Alex Cross, the toughest cases hit close to home-and in this deadly thrill ride, he's trying to solve the most personal mystery of his life.When his cousin is accused of a heinous crime, Alex Cross returns to his North Carolina hometown for the first time in over three decades... -
![Winter Prey by John Sandford]()
Winter Prey by John Sandford
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 31 ratings"Winter Prey" is a John Sandford suspense masterpiece! Following the international success of "Shadow Prey" and "Silent Prey," he creates another heart-pounding chapter in the career of Lucas Davenport, the brilliant, hard-bitten detective from the Twin Cities.The Iceman is Lucas Davenport's most determined foe - a serial killer driven to cover his brutal tracks with blood... -
![Shattered by Allison Brennan]()
Shattered by Allison Brennan
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsOver a span of twenty years, four boys have been kidnapped from their bedrooms, suffocated, and buried nearby in a shallow grave. Serial killer or coincidence?That’s the question investigative reporter Maxine Revere sets out to answer when an old friend begs her to help exonerate his wife, who has been charged with their son’s recent murder. But Max can do little to help because the police and D... -
![Seven Days by Alex Lake]()
Seven Days by Alex Lake
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe twisty new psychological thriller from the USA Today bestselling author Maggie Taylor’s son is a week away from his third birthday, and she is terrified. Because in her world, third birthdays are the day on which the worst possible thing happens…She loses her child.For the last decade, Maggie has been imprisoned in a basement. Kidnapped aged sixteen, she has not seen a sunrise for ten years... -
![The Rook by Steven James]()
The Rook by Steven James
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAn arsonist has struck a top-secret research facility at a key US naval base. But it's not just a random terrorist attack. These people were after something specific. When Special Agent Patrick Bowers is called in to investigate, he is drawn into a deadly web of intrigue and deception... -
![Light Has Weight, but Darkness Does Not by Dean Koontz]()
Light Has Weight, but Darkness Does Not by Dean Koontz
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsInstinct and violent visions compel Nameless to embark on an unplanned mission to help a desperate mother and daughter on the run. Why is this rescue so strangely familiar to a man with no memories?Evie and her daughter, Asteria, are fleeing an abusive cult when they meet a stranger in an abandoned Arizona shopping mall. Fate hasn’t set Nameless on their trail... -
![Killer Lawyer by Mark Nolan]()
Killer Lawyer by Mark Nolan
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsJake Wolfe is a young lawyer who leads a secret life as a government assassin. Trained by the CIA, Jake now wants a new life of peace and quiet, living on a boat and practicing law. But when his city is shocked by a serial killer and he’s framed for the murder of a friend, Jake must race against time to find the killer before he strikes again... -
![One-Eyed Jack by Kristi Belcamino]()
One-Eyed Jack by Kristi Belcamino
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe men, mostly virgins, gather in the darkest corners online, drawn together by a common self-hatred. They hate the way they look. They hate their disastrous sex lives. They hate alpha malesThere is only one thing they hate women.Women are the root of all their problems. Women are inferior and deserve to be punished for rejecting them... -
![Bad Blood by L.T. Vargus, Tim McBain]()
Bad Blood by L.T. Vargus, Tim McBain
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe body slumps over the steering wheel. Pools of blood going tacky on the dash. Two shots to the back of the head. A mafia-style hit in a small town.So Special Agent Violet Darger arrives in rural Michigan. She must make sense of this savagery. Figure out how something like this could happen in an idyllic town of just 5,000.The victim had been living the American dream... -
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![The Guilty Ones by Joy Ellis]()
The Guilty Ones by Joy Ellis
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsTHE MOST DIFFICULT CASE OF DETECTIVE JACKMAN’S LIFE. WHO ARE THE GUILTY ONES AND IS ANYONE REALLY INNOCENT? THIS TIME IT’S VERY PERSONAL FOR JACKMAN. Jackman’s sister-in-law Sarah disappears to London and throws herself into the river. What drove her to this? She was a woman with a seemingly happy home life and two beloved sons. DI Jackman and DI Evans dig into Sarah’s life... -
![Fair Warning by Michael Connelly]()
Fair Warning by Michael Connelly
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsThe hero of The Poet and The Scarecrow is back in the new thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly. Jack McEvoy, the journalist who never backs down, tracks a serial killer who has been operating completely under the radar--until now... -
![Blood Moon by Alexandra Sokoloff]()
Blood Moon by Alexandra Sokoloff
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsBook II in the Thriller Award-nominated Huntress/FBI seriesTwenty-five years have passed since a savage killer terrorized California, massacring three ordinary families before disappearing without a trace... -
![The House of Cross by James Patterson]()
The House of Cross by James Patterson
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe thirty-second instalment in James Patterson's globally bestselling Alex Cross series. It’s time to put the guns down, Detective Cross. Even if you knew the way out of this place, we would catch you.A serial killer is taking out America’s finest legal minds, and Alex Cross is called to investigate their brutal murders... -
![Secret Prey by John Sandford]()
Secret Prey by John Sandford
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsThe company chairman lay dead in the woods, his orange hunting jacket punctured by a bullet at close range. Around him stood the four executives with whom he had been hunting, each with a reason not to be sorry about the man's death. A classic murder mystery, it would seem: the kind where the detective gathers everyone together at the end and solves the case... -
![YOU DID THIS by Jamie Millen]()
YOU DID THIS by Jamie Millen
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsA sister’s worst nightmare. A homicide detective’s destiny.Everybody loves Claire’s little sister, Tina. But only Claire sees the twisted psychopath hiding behind her sister’s angelic face. When Tina is brutally murdered on her fourteenth birthday, the day Claire failed to walk her home from school, Claire never forgives herself. And neither does their mother... -
![Murder of the Bride by Faith Martin, Gemma Dawson]()
Murder of the Bride by Faith Martin, Gemma Dawson
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsDI Hillary Greene is called out to attend a suspicious death at Three Oaks Farm in the picturesque village of Steeple Barton. The large farmhouse is filled with music and revelers, but when she steps into the farm's cowshed, Hillary finds a dead bride. Dressed in a sumptuous white wedding gown, the young, beautiful redhead had clearly been strangled... -
![Mastermind by Andrew Mayne]()
Mastermind by Andrew Mayne
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsA mysterious electrical storm plunges Manhattan into darkness. As a strange, smothering fog rolls in, all communication crashes. In the blink of an eye, the island seems to vanish into a void.FBI special agent Jessica Blackwood and brilliant scientist Dr. Theo Cray know this isn’t a freak accident. It’s a sinister sleight of hand... -
![Murder Theory by Andrew Mayne]()
Murder Theory by Andrew Mayne
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe desire to kill is becoming contagious in this riveting novel of conceivable mad science by the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Naturalist.Computational biologist and serial-killer hunter Dr. Theo Cray receives an off-the-record request from the FBI to investigate an inexplicable double homicide. It happened at the excavation site where a murderer had buried his victims’ remains... -
![Almost Dead by T.R. Ragan]()
Almost Dead by T.R. Ragan
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsLife for private investigator Lizzy Gardner will never be the same. It’s been three weeks since her fiancé, Jared, was shot on what was supposed to be their wedding day. He’s in a coma now, and Lizzy is being forced to make a decision she might not be able to live with.But a string of deaths has forced her to get back to work... -
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![Gentle Is the Angel of Death by Dean Koontz]()
Gentle Is the Angel of Death by Dean Koontz
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsTo some he’s a medical genius. To others, a twisted angel of mercy with a necessary solution to what he sees as an ugly dilemma. Only one man can help Dr. Death face the evil of his ways.Henry Siphuncle has a selfless mission: releasing his patients forever from their distasteful imperfections. It’s for their own good. And the world’s. Even Henry’s own wife didn’t survive his disgust... -
![Find Her by Lisa Gardner]()
Find Her by Lisa Gardner
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsLisa Gardner's runaway New York Times bestseller--a fast-paced thrill ride featuring Detective D. D. Warren. Seven years ago, carefree college student Flora Dane was kidnapped while on spring break. For 472 days, Flora learned just how much one person can endure... -
![The Evil That Was Done by Michele Pariza Wacek]()
The Evil That Was Done by Michele Pariza Wacek
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe shocking conclusion to the award-winning Secrets of Redemption series. It’s happening again—people are disappearing. And just like before, the finger is pointed at Becca. She knows how it looks … and that she’s being set up. Someone is following her. Sneaking into her house. Planting evidence to make her look guilty. The problem is, she has no idea why... -
![The People vs. Alex Cross by James Patterson]()
The People vs. Alex Cross by James Patterson
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsINSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERThis time it's Alex Cross on trial.Alex Cross is on the wrong side of the law. Serving a suspension from the force while he awaits trial for murder, Cross has been branded as a trigger-happy cop, another bad apple walking the streets with a gun, an accusation that Cross will do anything to refute... -
![The Next Accident by Lisa Gardner]()
The Next Accident by Lisa Gardner
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFBI Agent Pierce Quincy is haunted by his daughter's death in a drunk-driving accident. Pierce knew about his daughter's problem with alcohol, and about her loneliness. And so, he is sure, did the man who killed her. Rainie Conner is an ex-cop with a past overshadowed by violence. She was once involved with Pierce in a harrowing case that brought them together personally and professionally... -
![Dead End Girl by L.T. Vargus, Tim McBain]()
Dead End Girl by L.T. Vargus, Tim McBain
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsHer body is broken. Wrapped in plastic. Dumped on the side of the road. She is the first. There will be more.The serial killer thriller that "refuses to let go until you've read the last sentence."The most recent body was discovered in the grease dumpster behind a Burger King. Dismembered. Shoved into two garbage bags and lowered into the murky oil...
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