Six thrillers with troubled parent-child relationships

Leah Rowan is an author living in Brooklyn and the Catskills.

Marion is her new thriller.

Megan Collins, author of Cross My Heart, called Marion a "pitch-perfect thriller that feels like the primal scream every woman has been holding back her entire life."

At CrimeReads Rowan tagged "six scintillating stories where the parent-child relationship is a little (or a lot) off." One title on the list:

Ainslie Hogarth, Motherthing

We’ve all heard of the mother-in-law from hell trope, but what if your vengeful mother-in-law was actually a ghost? Abby had a traumatic childhood, and so when she marries Ralph, she’s desperate to heal old wounds and bond with the new maternal figure in her life, her mother-in-law, Laura—but Laura’s cruelty and vitriol make that impossible, and when she takes her own life, her ghost threatens to destroy all that Abby cherishes.

Equal parts fierce and funny, Motherthing is a cathartic balm for anyone who’s ever had issues with their in-laws.

Read about the other thrillers on the list at CrimeReads.

--Marshal Zeringue