Top Five Psychological Thrillers by Colette McBeth

Today's post is by the lovely Colette McBeth author of Precious Thing which is out today! Woohoo Happy publication Day Colette! 

To help celebrate I am taking part in the blog tour for Precious Thing and Colette is hear to tell us all about her top 5 Psychological Thrillers...

Also make sure you follow the other blogs on the tour for great reviews and content as you don't want to miss out.

Top Five Psychological Thrillers by Colette McBeth

My main problem in choosing my top five psychological thrillers is poor memory. I’d love to be one of those people who can recite the whole plot of a novel years after reading it or extract quotes from memory, but sadly I’m not.  I’ve promised myself that from now on I’m going to make a note of all the novels I read alongside a little review to remind myself why I liked or disliked them but none of that helps me now.  The following books are ones I’ve loved, I remember I loved them, just don’t expect me to  recall every plot point and character!

The Beach - Alex Garland

This book captured the hopes of my generation and turned them into something dark and ugly. We all wanted to go travelling to escape life for a year or two and find ourselves on a remote beach. So it struck a chord, depicted something we thought we wanted only to show us why we might not want it after all. The descent into darkness is so subtle you almost don’t realise it until you are right there at the heart of it. The first person narrative means you are in Richard’s head and become almost complicit in his actions.  That sense of complicity was something I tried to achieve in Precious Thing. 

Notes on a Scandal – Zoe Heller

I’m a huge fan of Zoe Heller’s writing because it’s so brilliantly observed and dry and funny. I loved pretty much everything about this book.  I read it as the characters in Precious Thing were beginning to come to life in my head and it stuck with me as a masterful psychological portrayal of an unbalanced, obsessive friendship.

Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow – Peter Hoeg

This thriller was recommended to me when I was writing Precious Thing. It has a striking sense of place, brilliant observations and above all it’s is beautifully written. I’ll admit it lost me a bit towards the end but I could forgive it that because the rest of it was so good. 

The Silent Wife, A.S.A Harrison

I received this as a proof last year and finished it in a day and a half. Occasionally I’ll just pick it up and read a random page because I love the writing that much. Neither Jodie nor Todd are my kind of people. She’s uptight, has made herself subservient and overlooked his transgressions. He is a grade A liar and a cheat. BUT just because I wouldn’t want to share a bottle of wine with the characters doesn’t mean I don’t care what happens to them.  Basically, it’s a brilliant and poetic portrayal of relationship breakdown and I’ve thrust it on to everyone I know. 

The Secret History, Donna Tartt 

I read this so long ago and consequently remember so little I wondered if I was being a bit of a fraud by including it. But I know this one really got me. It was my book of the year (whenever it was I read it) so I decided to go back and start reading it again to remind myself.  And I still love it- the voice, the darkness, the apprehension. I love that Richard Papen sets out to create a new history for himself because he frankly doesn’t care much for the one his parents gave him. I’m fascinated by the idea that when you put yourself among a new group of people you can become anyone you want to be, and also that fate dictates where our lives take us. Mainly though, I adore the writing because it makes me want to write better. 

Buy your copy right now in either Paperback or E-book.

PaperBack                   E-book

 Thank You Colette for sharing your top 5 thrillers.

I now have a great competition to win your very own copy of Precious Thing which you will be dying to read as it is amazing and very gripping.

All you have to do to be entered for a copy is to comment below and I'll choose by random and the competition will end on Sunday 13th at 9pm.

Good Luck!

xox