Psychological Thriller Short Stories

This is a story about one family's fight with a mentally ill mother and how as she gets further and further away from reality; how the family falls apart.

Carson Ryder thought he'd seen everything.… A specialist in twisted crimes, Detective Carson Ryder thought he'd seen the lowest depths of human depravity. But he's barely started his new job in Miami when called to a horrific scene: a concrete pillar built of human remains, their agony forever frozen in stone. Finding the secret of the pillar drags him into the sordid world of human trafficking, where one terrified girl holds the key to unravelling a web of pain, prostitution, and murder.

Damsel in distress or conniving temptress? Loner Jason Brock can’t make up his mind when a gorgeous woman approaches him for help. Soon he’s driving her home, but how will the night end?

What lengths would you go to in order to ensure a peaceful existence? Newlyweds Eve and Leigh Chandler are thrilled to be given a council house on a recently built estate after living with Eve's parents for a year, and are eager to get to know their new neighbors. Eve quickly forms a friendship with Tessa Patterson at number 16, but things turn sour when Mark Denny moves into number 18 with his two teenage sons.

A Short Walk to the Other Side is a second short story collection of supernatural, metaphysical, science fiction, and horror stories following "The Small Dark Room of the Soul" by award-winning author Matthew J. Pallamary that examines the shadow side of human nature.

A young man struggles with flashbacks and nightmares in a society which has a new and controversial way to deal with violent crime. Some say this is a groundbreaking new form of justice. Others say it's criminal.

This story is told as a series of journal entries from a woman who is on forced rest as a treatment for hysteria following the birth of her child. As was common in the time, she is forbidden from any work or "strenuous" tasks and is left to sit alone most of her days without mental stimulation, trapped in a room and a marriage that are not fulfilling her. The woman's isolation and mental state cause her to believe that there is a woman stuck in the wallpaper of her room.

Claire Delaney is a typical young teenage girl who likes nothing more than reading the latest gossip about what the celebs have been up to. Her ultimate dream is to become a famous A-list star, but without any real talent to speak of a dream it must remain - according to her mother, at least. Things aren’t so clear-cut these days, though, and one does not necessarily need to be a skilled actress, singer or model to become famous. Sometimes the stars align and people get what they wish for...but is Claire truly prepared for the consequences?

The first story collection from prize-winning author Fabio Morábito available in English, Mothers and Dogs features fifteen tales that show the emotional extremes in seemingly trivial details and quotidian situations: two brothers worry more about a dog locked in an apartment who hasn’t been fed than they do about their dying mother; when the lights go out on a racetrack, a man’s evening jog turns into a savage battle between runners; a daughter learns to draft business letters as an homage to her mother.

The world of the professional truck driver can be a lonely one. For Roy Harper, a man for whom loneliness coupled emotional baggage and a series of life failures, it all may be too much to handle. It all comes to a head when he is tormented by a younger driver who is the quintessential "Bully" on the road.

In these two short thrillers, best-selling author L.J. Sellers explores how the dark side of human nature takes over in crucial, fearful moments and leads to irreversible, life-changing repercussions.

The Fall of the House of Usher is a gothic novel by Edgar Allen Poe. The story tells of a mysterious house and an unnamed narrator's horrific experience with it.

An aging fisherman senses a coming storm, but his eyes reveal no such danger. Forced to choose between his eyes and his gut, his decision becomes one that sends him into a downward spiral of madness as the full brutality of the sea is revealed.

An amphibious aircraft crashes in Maine, a young girl skinny-dips with her elders, a distraught cruise ship dancer boards a water taxi in Grenada, and travelers to Dubai and Abu Dhabi long for familiar oceans; back in New England, small-town artists try to smudge out their tedium with seaside transgressions. Amphibians celebrates home in a cross-cultural way, and the sensation of feeling not quite right in one's own skin, on land and near water, at home and abroad.

Escaping Psychiatry has it all: intriguing characters, noir style, thrilling pursuits, dangerous situations, crime, serial killers, religion, family secrets, murder, psychological insights, mental illness, trauma, debates about prejudice and morality, heated trials, police investigations, corruption, and mystery. If you enjoy Wire in the Blood, Cracker and Lie to Me and you are not scared of going deeper and darker, dare to listen in.

A infelicidade é um destino ao qual se chega por inúmeros caminhos. O que leva uma mulher a colocar um detetive atrás do marido que sempre lhe foi fiel? Do que é capaz o ser humano ao ver sua grande paixão ir embora? Que tipo de laços afetivos une um tio bilionário a suas queridas sobrinhas? Que violência nós, brasileiros, aprendemos a tolerar?

A young man's desperate search for his biological mother leaves more questions than answers. After a solid lead takes him halfway across the country, the woman he encounters leaves a bad taste in his mouth.

Award-winning crime novelist Rob Riley takes a sharp turn into dark, psychological territory with his new short story, The Do-Over. Bill Simons, a man who needs to change his life and location, moves to New York City to begin again - in many ways. A professional and a gentleman, he is off to a fine start, when he meets and begins a relationship with a beautiful woman. The past oozes into and pollutes the present, and the changes he is forced to make bring a do-over of the nightmare from which he had escaped.

Gerald is his Mother's precious one, but his father doesn't share her opinion and neither do his school friends. He is both pampered and bullied until he discovers a unique telepathic skill. Aged seven, he wonders, what if everyone were a house, and what type of house would they be? These two moments eventually come together in adulthood, with frightening consequences....

Il professore universitario Tal dei Tali, corre per una strada nel cuore della notte. Sembra sia molto spaventato, ma a suo dire la fuga è dovuta al troppo coraggio, un coraggio così grande da averlo portato a trovarsi faccia a faccia con dei brutti ceffi e finire incastrato tra le maglie della giustizia. Il professore ci spiega perché nella vita non si scappa mai abbastanza. "La paura del coraggio" è un monologo che fa parte della raccolta "Dodici monologhi" di Luigi Arnaldo Vassallo.