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Top 14 Books Like Shutter Island Updated 03 /2024

Dennis Lehane
  Mar 29, 2024 4:57 AM

Here we ranked and reviewed the top 14 Books Like Shutter Island that are highly rated by 157,248 customers.

 


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    KitchenAid
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    Celadon Books
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    Penguin Books
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    Elizabeth F Hellmann
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9
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    Gallery/Scout Press
10
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12
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13
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    Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
14
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Books Like Shutter Island

If you're looking for a novel that will keep you on the edge of your seat with a slew of unexpected twists, you'll find a number of Shutter Island-like books on this list.

One of Dennis Lehane's most surprising stand-alone works is his 2003 novel following US Marshal Teddy Daniels, which is just one example of the author's numerous series of gripping psychological thrillers.

At the Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Mentally Ill on Shutter Island, Teddy has been sent to find an escaped serial killer, Rachel Solando. When Teddy and his partner Chuck Aule arrive, they find that nothing is as it seems.

Teddy's investigation into the disappearance of patients from locked rooms is anything but simple, and it seems that the closer he gets to the truth, the harder it becomes for him to determine what he is actually looking for.

The novel is completely absorbing, hooking you from the very first sentence thanks to Lehane's old school style and this mind-blowing plot. These books, like Shutter Island, will make you second-guess yourself, manipulate you, and make you question your grasp on reality.

Books like Shutter Island

Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier

Rebecca's meek and mild second wife, played by Daphne Du Maurier, is one of the few characters whose plight I sympathize with. When she moves in with Mr. de Winter at Manderley, the grand Cornish stately home he shared with his late wife, the titular Rebecca, their brief romance comes to an end.

With some of the household staff, particularly Mrs. Danvers, a close friend of Rebecca, she finds it difficult to adjust to her new role as lady of the house. To put an end to her nightmarish dreams, Mrs. de Winter sets out to discover what happened to Rebecca. She has no idea, however, what she will discover along the way.

Rebecca is a creepily atmospheric old school psychological thriller and the perfect book to kickstart this list of novels like Shutter Island by Du Maurier, who was gaslighting her characters before gaslighting entered our lexicon.

Surely you've heard of and enjoyed this well-known thriller? Here is a list of books that might interest you:

Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn is a page-turner that, like Shutter Island, comes complete with a shocking twist that most readers don't see coming.

They appeared to be a happy-go-lucky couple on the surface, as evidenced by Amy's diary entries. Nick's mother's deteriorating health necessitated the couple's return to Missouri, where their honeymoon faded quickly.

Five years after they were married, Amy vanishes without a trace. The only clue the authorities have is a friend's account that he was afraid of Amy and his strange behavior, neither of which are consistent with a bereaved husband's.

We follow Nick's search for his missing wife as he tries to unravel the mysteries of his wife's diary and the secrets she shared with her friends. Gone Girl is a book that you can't put down until you know what happened, with an ending that you won't believe!

Please tell me that you have already read this gripping novel. Please take a look at our Gone Girl-inspired book list!

Before I Go To Sleep, by S. J. Watson

In search of more books like Shutter Island? Check out S. J. Watson's Before I Go To Sleep, a story about the importance of memory and how it affects the characters' lives.

In the mornings, Christine wakes up in a nightmare. As if that weren't bad enough, she doesn't even know who the man sleeping beside her is or who the face she sees in the mirror is either.

Ben, Christine's husband, has to explain to her on a daily basis that she suffers from an amnesia condition he calls "anterograde amnesia," caused by a terrible accident she had decades earlier. When Christine tries to piece together her life on a daily basis, she finds that she has forgotten everything by the following day.

We, like Christine, learn along the way that not everything Ben tells her is accurate. If you're into psychological thrillers, you'll love Before I Go To Sleep.

The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins

The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins, is a classic example of a book that perfectly blends Victorian gothic and psychological realism, as seen in Shutter Island.

Previously, Walter Hartright had seen the woman in white on London's dark streets, realizing later that she had escaped a mental asylum and was on the run. During his time as drawing master to the Fairlie family, he is reminded of this eerie encounter when one of his students, Laura Fairlie, bears a striking likeness to her.

Laura marries Sir Percival Glyde, a sleazy heir to her fortune, despite her feelings for Walter. A tale of mistaken identities, insanity, corruption, and greed unfolds in the corridors of English country houses and city mental asylums...

I'm just as scared of this book now as I was the first time I read it, so be prepared for goosebumps and chills.

Tell No One, by Harlan Coben

Tell No One by Harlan Coben would have fit right in on this list of surprising books like Shutter Island, but I chose it because the protagonist is haunted by a tragic past.

Newlyweds David and Elizabeth Beck celebrate their first kiss anniversary at a private lake, but tragedy strikes and Elizabeth is kidnapped and murdered.

Despite the fact that the assailant has been apprehended, David is still grieving more than eight years after the incident. When two more bodies are discovered near the lake where Elizabeth went missing and police suspect David was involved, it becomes even more difficult for David to flee the tragedy.

As he tries to prove his innocence and find the source of a suspicious email that alludes to his wife's survival, David is asked to tell no one, a seemingly impossible task.

When you start reading Tell No One, you won't want to put it down until you've figured out what is going on.

See Jane Run, by Joy Fielding

In Joy Fielding's 1991 novel, See Jane Run, there is a further examination of memory.

Adjective-named Many problems can be solved by Jane, including figuring out how long a hypotenuse is. However, she is unable to explain how she ended up on a Boston street corner in a blood-soaked dress and $10,000 in cash.

Jane decides to go to the police station after a few days in a motel trying to remember and figure out what to do next. During the course of her examination, a man by the name of Dr. Whittaker steps forward and claims to be her spouse. Jane is taken back to their suburban home and forced to take an assortment of pills under the watchful eyes of Paula Marinelli, their housekeeper. She hopes this Dr Whittaker can fill in some of the blanks.

Jane's suspicions are fueled by the fact that she is unable to forget the traumatic events of her past, which she is unable to put into words. Shutter Island-esque thriller See Jane Run is a compelling, explosive, gripping read with a shocking ending that will leave you breathless.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, by Agatha Christie

Next on our list of books like Shutter Island is The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, an early Hercule Poirot mystery that is widely considered to be Christie's most daring.

They say that knowledge is power. Roger Ackroyd, on the other hand, will die because of what he has learned. Roger was aware that his wife poisoned her first husband to death. She committed suicide because she was being blackmailed for what she did, and he knew it. Someone stabs him right after he receives her suicide note, which confirms all of this and more!

Enter Hercule Poirot, the world's most famous Belgian detective.

The usual suspects, such as housekeepers, townspeople, and relatives who stand to gain financially from an inheritance, are among the suspects, but it is Poirot who solves the mystery of who killed Roger Ackroyd in a twist you won't see coming – Christie at her best!

Strangers on a Train, by Patricia Highsmith

The plots of books like Shutter Island and Patricia Highsmith's enduring novel Strangers on a Train are just as important as the characters entangled in them.

Highsmith introduces us to Guy Haines and Charles Anthony Bruno, two passengers on the same train, as the inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock's 1952 film of the same name. When Guy's divorce from his wife turns ugly, Bruno is there to manipulate Guy into trading murders with him. Bruno's a cunning psychopath.

If Guy kills Bruno's father for him, Bruno will assassinate Guy's wife.

Even the most ordinary of people can be capable of the most despicable crimes under the right circumstances, as Guy unwittingly becomes caught in Bruno's twisted plot.

Is violence a natural part of human nature or is it the result of our environment? This question is posed by Strangers on a Train, which remains as relevant today as when it was first released.

I enjoy books like Shutter Island because, in addition to their fascinating plots, they immerse the reader in the characters' dilemmas and reveal the solutions alongside them; it's a win-win situation.


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