Ten spooky thrillers for the dark season that will really pull you in
Created: 12/24/2022, 1:00 p.m
Woman shudders while reading in the dark © IMAGO / Westend61
How about a Steven King classic?
Or should it rather be a new release by Chris Carter?
Interesting facts about ten exciting thrillers for the dark season.
Gloomy wafts of fog envelop entire streets, hardly anyone can be seen now, only eerie shadowy figures roam along the walls of houses... and then: a shot!
A scream!
Sounds never heard before!
Something terrible must have happened!
Exciting crime novels with syndicates, detectives, profilers and police work inspire - especially during the Christmas season, when you finally have time to switch off from everyday life, snuggle up on the couch and relax.
In the publisher-independent book community www.buechertreff.de, readers not only list good crime novels and good thrillers, but the fifty best for them.
We took a closer look at the first ten.
These include legendary classics as well as exciting new releases.
JD Robb "In the Arms of the Night"
JD Robb "In the Arms of Night" © Blanvalet
A new explosive lady thriller and a new case for Eve Dallas that takes her deep into her own past.
In the middle of the night, the New York City Police Department receives a scared 911 call from a little girl.
Eve Dallas sets out immediately, but she's too late: the entire Swisher family is dead and it seems that highly professional killers were at work who left no trace.
Only one family member - nine-year-old Nixie - escaped the bloodbath.
When Eve sees the trembling girl, it's over for her.
She wants to protect the child at all costs, because Nixie is the only eyewitness in the greatest danger... "In the Arms of the Night" is the 20th volume in the Eve Dallas series.
It comprises 67 parts and started in 1995. The last or newest part of the series will appear in 2023.
JD Robb "In the Arms of the Night"
2013, Blanvalet ISBN-13 978-3-442-36966-9
Price: Paperback €9.99, 560 pages
Order here!
Chris Carter "Bloody Steps"
Chris Carter "Bloody Steps" © Ullstein
A horribly battered corpse of a woman - and fear is only the beginning.
A new, bloody case for the LAPD Ultra Violent Crimes Unit.
Detective Robert Hunter and his partner Garcia hunt down a perfidious serial killer.
The bloody way of killing isn't the only thing that drives this killer.
For him, fear, pain and death are part of a lesson.
And he is the teacher.
When a second woman is brutally murdered, Hunter and Garcia wonder how many more poems this serial killer will write.
You don't have much time... "Bloody Stairs" is the 12th book in the best-selling series "Hunter and Garcia": The series about the detectives Robert Hunter and Carlos Garcia of the LAPD's brutal crime squad is one of the best and most successful thrillers -Rows.
Chris Carter "Bloody Steps"
Translated from English by Sybille Uplegger
2022 Ullstein, ISBN-13 978-3-548-06447-5
Price: paperback €11.99, e-book €9.99
Order here!
JD Robb "Deadly Innocence"
"Deadly Innocence" by JD Robb © Blanvalet
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My space
Oppressive summer heat lies over New York, the city is heated up violently.
Is this why a previously inconspicuous little dealer suddenly freaks out until a cop's bullet stops him?
What does the mysterious message "Absolute purity reached" mean on his computer screen?
Eve Dallas comes under pressure when the police computer specialist runs amok under similar circumstances.
A terrible suspicion arises in Eve: Death is coming online... In "Deadly Innocence" Nora Roberts shows a completely different side: Exciting, dangerous and sexy.
JD Robb "Deadly Innocence"
2009 Blanvalet, IBSN-13 978-3-442-36599-9
Price: Paperback €9.99, 480 pages
Order here!
"The Green Mile"
Stephen King "The Green Mile" © Heyne
The Green Mile is the name of Cold Mountain State Penitentiary's death row.
John Coffey was sentenced to death for allegedly molesting and murdering two girls.
But the giant also has supernatural powers.
So Paul Edgecomb, the Warden of Ward E of the penitentiary, wonders: Can a murderer also be a gifted healer?
And if so, can or should one kill him?
The Green Mile is the final book in the Green Mile series.
It comprises six parts and started in 1996. The last newest part of the series dates from 1999. In this year "The Green Mile" was filmed with Oscar winner Tom Hanks.
A must for Stephen King fans.
Stephen King "The Green Mile"
2011 Heyne, ISBN-13 978-3-453-43584-1
Price: paperback 12 €, 592 pages
Order here!
JD Robb "The Killer's Smile"
JD Robb “The Killer's Smile © Blanvalet
The seduction was perfect - soft candlelight, romantic music, rose petals on the bed.
But why did the young woman throw herself from the 12th floor of the apartment building after the rendezvous with the stranger?
Eve Dallas has serious doubts about the suicide theory because a dangerous substance is found in the victim's blood.
A drug that makes women willing.
The crime gives Eve sleepless nights because the perpetrator could strike again at any moment.
And the killer's cruel act reopens old wounds that Eve has been trying to forget at all costs since childhood.
The Killer's Smile is the 13th book in the Eve Dallas series.
It comprises 67 parts and started in 1995. The last or newest part of the series will appear in 2023.
JD Robb "The Killer's Smile"
2007 Blanvalet, ISBN-13 978-3-442-36334-6
Price: Paperback €9.99, 544 pages
Order here!
JD Robb "Symphony of Death"
JD Robb "Symphony of Death" © Bllanvalet
A maid is brutally murdered in a New York luxury hotel.
Under suspicion: the professional killer Yost.
But who hires a hitman for a harmless employee?
This is Lieutenant Eve Dallas' twelfth case - and her most exciting!
In "Symphony of Death" Nora Roberts once again shows a different side as an author: dangerous, fast-paced, romantic!
"Symphony of Death" is the twelfth book in the Eve Dallas series.
It comprises 67 parts and started in 1995. The last or newest part of the series will appear in 2023.
JD Robb "Symphony of Death"
2007 Blanvalet, ISBN-13 978-3-442-36333-9
Price: Paperback €9.99, 528 pages
Order here!
Andreas Gruber "Death Mark"
Andreas Gruber “Mark of Death” © Goldmann
A mysterious nun enters the BKA building in Wiesbaden and announces that she will commit seven murders in the next seven days.
She only wants to talk to profiler Maarten S. Sneijder about everything else.
But he has just resigned, and so Sneijder's colleague Sabine Nemez is questioning the nun.
But she remains silent - and the first murder happens.
Now she has Sneijder's attention too.
And while the nun is in custody, Sneijder and Nemez become the victims of a cunning plan that mercilessly claims one human life after the other and whose origin lies in a cruel, dark past ... "Todesmal" by the Austrian author Andreas Gruber is the fifth volume the Sabine Nemez and Maarten S. Sneijder series.
It comprises eight parts and started in 2012. The last or
Andreas Gruber "Death Mark"
2019 Goldman, ISBN-13 978-3-442-48656-4
Price: paperback €12, e-book €10.99, 592 pages (varies in format)
Order here!
Chris Carter "The Silent Beast"
Chris Carter "The Silent Beast" © Ullstein
Profiler Robert Hunter trusts few people.
Actually, there is only one for whom he always puts his hand in the fire: Lucien Torture, his friend from student days.
Both can read people better than anyone else.
Hunter confided his closest secrets to torture.
Until he suddenly disappeared.
Now there's a call.
The body parts of countless murder victims have turned up, grisly trophies.
Lucien is accused of torture.
And he only wants to talk to one person: Robert Hunter.
The Silent Beast is the sixth book in the Robert Hunter series.
It comprises 13 parts and started in 2009. The last or newest part of the series dates from 2022.
Chris Carter "The Silent Beast"
2015, Ullstein ISBN-13 978-3-548-28712-6
Price: paperback €11.99, e-book €9.99, 448 pages (varies in format)
Order here!
JD Robb "Invitation to Murder"
JD Robb "Invitation to Murder" © Blanvalet
Revenge is sweet.
But often bitter in taste.
Some do this work with zeal, others with equanimity, and still others regard murder as a labor of love!
When Walter Pettibone comes home from work at exactly 7:30 p.m., over a hundred guests are waiting for him.
However, the real surprise is yet to come.
At 8:45 p.m., a woman with green eyes and red hair hands him a glass of sparkling wine. One sip and Walter falls dead.
Nobody knows the mysterious stranger - except for Eve Dallas, the investigating police officer.
"Invitation to Murder" is the 14th book in the Eve Dallas series.
It comprises 67 parts and started in 1995. The last or newest part of the series will appear in 2023.
JD Robb "Invitation to Murder"
From the American by Uta Hege
2008 Blanvalet, ISBN 978-3-442-36595-1
Price: Paperback €11
Order here!
Linda Castillo "Burning Grave"
Linda Castillo "Burning Grave" © Fischer Paperback
News of the burning barn at Gingrich Farm comes in late in the evening.
Kate Burkholder sets off immediately, the fire brigade is alerted.
What initially looks like arson turns out to be a brutal murder when a male corpse is found: the burning barn became a deadly trap.
Who hated 18-year-old Daniel Gingrich so much they burned him alive?
Daniel was considered efficient, friendly and reliable.
But the investigations also bring a dark side of him to light.
A side that the Amish community doesn't want to know anything about, only whispers go on behind closed doors.
As Kate Burkholder gets to the bottom of things, there are suddenly more suspects than she would like.
Someone must have hated Daniel Gingrich to no end.
so much
that he lured him into the barn and then set it on fire.
Burning Grave is the tenth book in the Kate Burkholder series.
It comprises 23 parts and started in 2009. The last or newest part of the series will appear in 2023.
Linda Castillo "Burning Grave"
Translated by Helga Augustin
2019 Fischer Paperback, ISBN-13 978-3-596-70426-2
Price: paperback €10.99, e-book €9.99, 352 pages (varies in format)
Order here!
If you've had enough of reading yourself and want to read to your children, we recommend these books for Christmas.
And these Christmas films based on books are also great for relaxing.
