The Most Dark, Unique, and Twisted Books–Ranked

One thing that sets apart certain books from others is the actual writing style of the author. Since I read so frequently, I’ve come across multiple various styles of writing, which has helped me find what I like and don’t like. It’s also helped me narrow down my absolute favorite style of storytelling: dark, twisted, terrifying, and hauntingly beautiful—all at the same time. These kinds of books, to me, have a uniquely exquisite way of executing a dark, creepy, and disturbing story so eloquently that it is breathtaking. It’s hard to truly put the writing style into words.

I’ve only stumbled into these kinds of books within the past year or so, but let me tell you: they are for me. Oh my God, are they for me. Unfortunately, I find that sometimes these types of books and wonderful style of writing have a tendency to get lost in the shuffle. People will shy away from them because it’s hard to classify them into one specific genre. In this post, I’ve picked out the books that fit this style of storytelling—the eight that I’ve read and have stayed with me—and ranked them.

Let me finish off by saying this: these books and this style of writing are not for everyone. Occasionally, they can be disturbing, and not everyone can stomach it. The writing style is also extremely unique, so it’s not always easy for everyone to get into. However, if you can keep an open mind and try to remember what I’ve said in the first paragraph, are able to go into the novel looking for and appreciating the beauty of it; then I have no doubt you will fall in love with these books just as I have.

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The most dark, unique, and twisted books – ranked:

8) Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott

For a full, in-depth review on camera, check out this video on my YouTube channel.

This book was my first introduction to Megan Abbott, and it got me hooked on her writing forever. Give Me Your Hand was also my first introduction to this specific style of writing and genre. All of the characters in this book are creepy and odd in their own way, and to top it all off, the subject matter the scientists are studying—PMDD—makes it all the more unsettling.

Give Me Your Hand is a story about friendship, rivalry, and debilitating secrets. Kit and Diane are two brilliant young woman who are trying to make it to the top of their profession. BFF’s and inseperable as teens, Diane’s ruthless aggression and ambition is what drew Kit to her in the first place. Ambition: it’s in the blood. Their shared goal is to work for the famous Dr. Severin—a female scientist whose sole focus is on PMDD (premenstrual dysmorphic disorder). But everything changes after Diane reveals a shocking secret to Kit—one so horrifying it causes their friendship to fall apart. Now, years later, Kit is working day in and day out for Dr. Severin in hopes that she’ll land a spot on the research team for PMDD. When Diane shows up in Kit’s workplace gunning for the same spot, it becomes eerily clear that life as Kit now knows it is about to unravel—and it’s all going to be because of Diane, again.

“You don’t have a self until you have a secret.” Kit Owens is our narrator and tells us the story through first person POV. The novel is separated into three parts and weaves between NOW and THEN. We see that Kit is still haunted by her ex-BFF Diane nearly a decade later. We learn about the mysterious, charming, and brilliant Diane Fleming from Kit, who unravels her complicated past as she looks to her future. We see Kit struggle with the burden of carrying Diane’s biggest secret, and how she deals with it in total isolation. Of course it’s simple, and something that’s been done before: two girls, one secret that will bind them together for all eternity. It’s the theme of many popular novels and TV shows, but, I can promise you this: it has never been done this way before.

“The blood is life.” This mantra is repeated throughout the book, which I thought only added to the more chilling atmosphere, as blood is one of the main themes in this story. Blood from cuts, bruises, and death; blood from menstrual cycles, the blood in our veins; and the blood-pact-like secrets that bind people together forever. Fans of Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects will love this one. Give Me Your Hand is a great book to start with for this genre, as the mystery is enticing and the struggles the characters face are relatable and mature.

7) You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott

Of course I had to include another novel from Megan Abbott! All of her novels are wicked and charming, her writing style is so unique. It makes her stories addictive, all the while subliminally increasing your sense of dread and unease; the most simple plots suddenly become darker and more chilling.

You Will Know Me is, at it’s core, a murder mystery. A murder mystery, and yet, the story revolves around The Knox family, a family whose gymnastics prodigy of a daughter—Devon Knox— is the center of their world. We have Devon Knox—a young girl caught up in the world of elite gymnastics and adolescence; Katie Knox—a mother overwhelmed by her changing daughter and life in general; Eric Knox—a father who will go to any length to see his daughter achieve her dreams; and Drew Knox—a boy who is often forgotten about but sees and hears more than anyone realizes. When a murder comes into the Knox’s world and shakes up the entire gymnastics community, everyone (especially the Knox family) realizes that they may not know each other as well as they think.

Abbott nails the world of teenage girls, drama, pettiness, sex, love, confusion, and jealousy so perfectly I’m almost convinced that every experience she writes about she’s gone through herself. The whole time I was reading this book I wasn’t even focused on solving the murder—I was more focused on the unraveling of the characters and savoring the details that kept me on the edge of my seat. If you’re like me or you’re looking for a fresh style of writing, and love the slow unraveling of characters, enchanting and creepy storytelling, and unnerving suspense that builds with every page—then this is the book for you. I just want Megan Abbott to bottle up her writing and keep it forever because it is just magical. She is one of my all time favorite authors.

6) The Club by Takis Würger

5) Temper by Layne Fargo

4) The Body Lies by Jo Baker

From the moment I saw this book at the library (yes, I get my books at the library because I have to save that $$$!) I knew I was going to be fall in love with it. There was something about it that just spoke to me. To confirm what I already knew going into it, the book gripped me immediately, opening up like this:

The beck is frozen into silence. Snow falls. It muffles the road, bundles up the houses, deepens the meadows, turns the river black by contrast. It settles along the gray-green twigs and branches of the beech wood, sifts like sugar to the hard earth below—and dusts the young woman curled there, her skin blue-white, dark hair tumbled over her face. She doesn’t say a word; she doesn’t even shiver now. Her breath comes thinly.

A deer, scraping at the snow for roots, stops and snuffs the air, and scents her, and turns to move silently from the place.

Above the canopy, the sky is clear, the moon stands full. An owls scuds across the meadows, drops to kill a vole. In the shadow of the beech tree, there is stillness, not a breath. The body lies.

The book starts off with an assault on an unnamed thirty year old pregnant woman. Thankfully, the woman and baby are okay. Three years later, the woman, still shaken up from the attack; takes a job offer teaching a masters writing class at a university in a remote countryside. Her husband, Mark, stays behind in the city to be closer to his job. Between the two of them, they decide the woman will take their three year old, Sammy, with her, and Mark will visit on the weekends.

Then it all falls apart.

The students in this book are very prominent characters, but the one who stands out is Nick—a troubled young man who is writing about the death of a young woman he loved, and his anguish and struggles after her death. Nick believes that everything he writes must be true, and he always sticks to the story.

There is something very wrong about almost everyone and everything in this book. The Body Lies has a slight claustrophobic feeling, almost making the reader feel as if the walls are closing in on them themselves. Rape is also brought up in this book; so again: if that’s something that bothers you I would advise to go into this one cautiously. Baker’s writing is truly remarkable. We never find out the name of our main character, and yet I was still able to get 100% invested into her. An author who can do that is a true, incredible talent.

3) Pursuit by Joyce Carol Oates

In this sad, dark mystery, our main character—Abby Hayman—has been suffering from the same recurring nightmare for years: sorting through carnage of what seems like an endless grassy field, until she finally comes to find skeletons nestled among the tall grass. We’re introduced to this nightmare right away, which happens to occur on the day of her wedding. The day after the wedding, Abby gets hit by a bus. From there, we delve into the heart of this story as Oates takes us through Abby’s past, and her new husband tries to find the answer to one question: was the bus hit accidental, or on purpose?

Told through four POV’s, Oates brilliantly weaves this story, tangling it up ever so slightly so we don’t know what to think, or who to believe. The characters are flawed, deeply disturbed, and vulnerable. It’s not so much what’s happened or what’s going to happen—it’s more about the unraveling and telling of the story, which brings the reader to its’ final page; where the truth is finally revealed to us. I adored this short book.

2) The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh

“Absorbing the guilt and sorrow is something the world expects of women.”

Since I’m being transparent here, I’ll admit that the label of “feminist dystopia” (found on the inside blurb of the book) almost turned me away. I’m typically not a fan of the dystopia genre, but something about this book was calling me, and I am so glad I listened. Broken into three parts: Part One: Father, Part Two: Men, Part Three: Sisters; The Water Cure is about sisters Grace, Lia, and Sky, and their dysfunctional relationship with each other, men, society, and the world. This is a story of exploitation, fear, and violence. They are repeatedly told and reminded to fear men, their bodies, and outside love. The first sentence of the book goes like this: “First we have a father, but our father dies without us noticing.”

The sisters are subjected to horrifying rituals by their parents, especially their mother, who is extremely sadistic. The abuse is prominent through this disturbing and somewhat stomach-churning story; so be sure you can handle that before you go into it. If you think you can handle it, I would recommend reading this one right away. I especially loved how symbolic water and the idea of water was heavily used throughout this book. There were times in the story that reminded of me of the Christian ritual of baptism—the cleansing, washing, and ridding of original sin. The horrific rituals the girls use in order to “purify” themselves went along with that same idea.

“Sudden love, when gifted to a habitually unloved person, can induce nausea. It can become a thing you would claw and debase yourself for. It is necessary to wean yourself onto it, in small portions.”

Mackintosh has written a haunting, chilling, and thought provoking debut of a novel. Her writing is so effortless, simple, haunting, terrifying, and beautiful at the same time. The depth of this book is really amazing, the story has the ability to settle firmly under the surface of your skin. I read this back in June, and as I write this now, there are still new thoughts about this story that come to mind. The Water Cure is mesmerizing, lyrical, heartbreaking, and beautiful.

1) Looker by Laura Sims

Imagine if everyone could hear, read, or know our innermost thoughts—the ones we keep to ourselves; the ones we can’t say out loud, because if we did, everyone would think we’d totally lost our mind.

This is EXACTLY what Laura Sims’ Looker is: a deep, dark, twisted character study. This book was unlike anything I’ve ever read before, and I l o v e d every second of it.

“How does one get to live such a charmed life? How does one literally get to have it all?”

In this novel debut (Sims has published poetry before), the author’s talent shines through each and every page. Our narrator is a woman who’s unraveling at the seams; unhappily childless and recently separated, she becomes fixated on her neighbor—the actress. Neither of these characters are ever named, and that’s one of the qualities that makes this book all the more dazzling and phenomenal. There’s barely any dialogue, minus a few quick exchanges here and there; and the rest of the story is told through the disturbed and miserable narrator’s mind. What begins as an innocent admiration for the actress—her husband and their three kids, the immaculate Brownstone they inhabit—quickly turns into something much more frightening and sinister.

“I am sick to death of men. Buzzing, angry men. Hot liquid men. Men wanting sex. Men wanting to touch and be touched. Men leaving their refuse everywhere: inside, outside, all over the world.”

This book reminded me a lot of Megan Abbott because of the likeness in the creepy writing style—the kind that slips underneath the surface of your skin and absorbs every pore in your body, until you’re buzzing with suspense, inside and out. If you are looking for wild, action packed thrills, this will not be the book for you. However, if you’re interested in or find enjoyment in watching characters unravel slowly, and take more pleasure in dark, obsessive, sinister stories: this is the book for you.