There’s nothing quite as enthralling as a good mystery. The human mind is hard-wired to seek answers, and modern storytelling has very thoroughly optimized the art of creating questions that we will desperately want answers to to keep us reading.
We’ve previously covered some of our favorite mystery novels, but we’re coming back to the idea again because we want to place a spotlight on a specific kind of mystery, those with a darker tone. This list is about horrible questions with horrible answers, about dark truths you just can’t help seeking even though you’ll regret finding them.
The Silence Of The Lambs
Incredibly iconic cast
The second story ever to feature the iconic character of Hannibal Lecter, this gripping crime thriller tells the story of a young FBI trainee’s search for a villain who is certainly one of the most terrifying serial killers of all time.
We begin with one of the most renowned crime thrillers of all time, a title this book earned, in part, by popularizing what has since become one of pop culture’s most popular antiheroes. Though this book is the second to feature the character of Hannibal Lecter, its film adaptation of the same name was the primary introduction of the character into the popular consciousness.
Mind you, he’s not the only thing good about this novel. It’s gripping, and its protagonist’s journey is satisfying to follow. While the nature of this novel’s villain has… aged poorly, there’s still a ton to love here.
Angels & Demons
Make plans to read this in one sitting
Though this novel is best known for the popularity of its sequel, the Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons is the ideal place to begin your trek into one of the most popular series ever written.
A surprising number of people might not know that the smash hit novel The Da Vinci Code is not the first entry in its series. It was proceeded by this novel, Angels & Demons, and if you’re interested in the complex, highly theological, and totally bonkers universe shared by those novels and several others, this is the ideal place to start.
Chronicling a jaded academic’s struggle to thwart the Illuminati’s attempted bombing of the Vatican (we did warn you it was bonkers), this story is incredibly intriguing. Though some might not appreciate how its use of real-life conspiracy theories risks popularizing those ideas, it’s nevertheless impressive how this book makes something that should be hokey work surprisingly well when you’re swept up in it.
The Bill Hodges Trilogy Boxed Set
It’s frickin Steven King so of course it’s good
From the most popular horror writer in history, bar none, this trilogy of detective novels has an amazing sense of tension, and is just the right flavor of dark for this list.
It’s not a surprise for Stephen King to be on this list. We could’vepopulated this list with nothing but Stephen King novels, as essentially all of his horror stories hit the vibe this list is going for. However, we chose this trilogy for two reasons. First, it fits this list because its mystery element is relatively robust and receives a lot of focus, whereas other King novels more are more focused on being scary. Second, it’s just really, really good, a long-form mystery that’ll keep you intrigued the whole way through.
And Then There Were None
Among Us but it’s on earth and from the 30s
From one of the most renowned and prolific mytery authors ever to write, this deeply intriguing and very bloody novel tells the story of a struggle to survive on an island where folks are dropping like flies and everyone is sus.
Agatha Christie is a giant within the mystery genre, whose work is excellent and enormously influential. Many of the standby features of mystery novels as we know them were first popularized by her. Though not all of her stories are dark enough for this list, many of them are, and this is one of our favorites. It’s a very thrilling little book, with a ton of death and violence and some amazing plot twists.
Gillain Flynn embodies the spirit and mood of this list. Her novels are complex and disturbing psychological thrillers with amazing villains, great twists, and a fantastic command of tone. All of her novels have an unmatched ability to mislead you and keep you guessing. Picking just one of them for this list would’ve been painful, and we are very thankful that this boxed set has spared us that choice.
The most popular book here is Gone Girl, a masterful novel full of challenging twists and unreliable narration. The book also contains her debut novel Sharp Objects, which is a very fun and surprising mystery, and Dark Places, a gripping mystery that is somehow more screwed up than either of them (believe us that is saying something).
House Of Leaves
Literally indescribable
One of the most delightfully strange books ever written, this mind-bending horror novel about an exceptionally strange and mysterious house is sometimes difficult to read but totally impossible to put down.
One of the strangest books ever written, House of Leaves isan absolutely masterful horror novelwith an unmatched ability to extract tension from strange places. This story is about a family that moves into a strange house. There are a lot of stories about strange houses, and it takes quite a bit for one of them to set itself apart, but oh boy does this novel pull it off.
As this novel continues, and the extreme strangeness of its house is revealed, the book itself begins to twist and unravel, altering its formatting in stranger and stranger ways, eventually losing coherence, order, and reason. It’s a one-of-a-kind experience that will bend your mind in ways you never thought possible.
Annihilation: A Novel
Somehow the best liminal space on a list that also contains House of Leaves
Annihilation is the beginning of an excellent series of sci-fi mystery novels rich with strange questions and horrific answers, with mysteries you’re desperate to see solved, even though you know you’ll wish they weren’t.
On a list that already contains House of Leaves, standing out as even a little bit mind-bending is a massive accomplishment. While Annihilation doesn’t have House’s formatting tricks, it nevertheless recordsthe exploration of a very strange and interestingliminal space, whose secrets are as alluring as they are frightening. There are two stories here, the one starring our main characters and the one that resulted in this strange place’s creation, and they are both fascinating.
The Whisper Man
A multi-generational mystery
This engaging thriller about a father and son dealing with the disappearance of a child and the serial killer responsible for it has a lot of good characterization and dynamics.
An excellent fusion of horror and mystery, this engaging thriller manages to be very scary, very intriguing, and very emotional all at once, with character relationships that are extremely engaging. A lesser book would’ve taken a more cold and distant approach to the threat posed by this novel’s killer, but this story is great at keeping things close to home where the tension will be the highest.
FAQ
Who is the queen of crime novels?
This title is most often used to describe Agitha Christie, the author of And Then There Were None, as well as numerous other mystery novels.
What is the best-selling mystery novel of all time?
It’s And Then There Were None, one of the novels on this list.
