Six top uncanny domestic thrillers

Maia Chance is the author of the thriller The Body Next Door as well as ten mystery novels. Originally from northern Idaho, she has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in violin performance and a Ph.D. in English Literature. She lives on a bucolic island in Puget Sound with her husband, two children, and her dog.

At CrimeReads Chance writes:

I love how magic, ghosts, robots, and demons inject domestic thrillers with fresh imagination. I especially love how uncanny elements open up new ways to write about marriage, family, and home. I mean, any domestic thriller can explore the idea that, say, a baby or a mother-in-law is monstrous, but why not go there and make the baby or the mother-in-law an actual monster?

She tagged six favorite uncanny domestic thrillers. One title on the list:

The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

Sager’s The House Across the Lake also engages the voyeuristic set-up of the drunk woman who’s just a little too interested in the apparently perfect lives of her neighbors. When she enters their orbit by rescuing the wife from drowning, things take a turn. And then another turn. And another. And another. The series of twists in this book isn’t for the fainthearted, but I enjoyed how Sager dares to go all the way.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The House Across the Lake is among Alice Blanchard's five mysteries set in still waters.

--Marshal Zeringue