Like other peddlers of the macabre, I read the short story The Most Dangerous Game at an alarmingly young age, and it was the proverbial needle that pricked my fascination. In actuality, I’m not a huge game person except with Clue and Mafia because, well, who doesn’t want to try and solve (or get away with…) figurative murder? However, raise the stakes, add fear, or make it an escape room, and you have my attention (let’s not examine what that says about me, thanks).
There’s a curious psychological element to something fun and innocent turning dark and dangerous, with panic and the stakes rising like a tide, where the only way through is to out-play the game or gamemaster—or change the rules. Great movies like The Game, Game Night, Jumanji, War Games, even The Menu nail this feeling beautifully. And so, while I was scheming up my first adult thriller, You Are Fatally Invited, I had the thought that if I enjoy stories about adrenaline-laced games, surely others might, too?
I primarily wanted You Are Fatally Invited to be fun, but also bone-deeply chilling, with a nice heap of the psychological—so my solution: games. In the story, murder mystery dinners, riddles, Clue, escape rooms, and even hints of Mafia take a lethal turn as J.R. Alastor, renowned anonymous author, forces six thriller authors to play his games. Everyone’s got a secret and each game peels back a layer, and the only way for the authors to survive the tropes so rampant in their own books is to confess.
But some secrets are worth dying to keep.
May I offer you a serving of books with similarly twisted games? Here are a few that capture that heart-in-your-throat sensation, and made my heart tap against my ribs:
Look In The Mirror by Catherine Steadman
Game: escape room
After the passing of her beloved father, a young woman discovers that he owned a secret house in the Cayman Islands. Grappling with the realization that she might not truly know her father, the woman flies to the island to settle his estate… and discover what he was hiding in the luxury mansion overlooking the cliffs.
Completely unrelated, we also encounter an au-pair, Anna, who arrives ahead of her new employers at a certain mansion overlooking the cliffs. She can do as she likes while she waits for the family to arrive—except open the door with the blinking blue light.
Gee, what could be behind that door? It couldn’t be some sort of test, or… game, now, could it?
Hide by Kiersten White
Game: hide and seek
Nothing screams deadly games like a hide-and-seek competition in an abandoned amusement park—seriously, would anyone think everyone would make it out in one piece, or even two? Regardless, it’s all fun and games (literally) until the fourteen contestants realize there are guards stationed around the park’s perimeter… and they’re not allowed to leave. And as their number shrinks, the rest of the competitors realize they’re not just hiding from each other. Filled with hair-raising moments and a slow-burn rivals-to-friends dynamic, Hide is a fun, blood-spattered romp.
Kiersten White excels at psychological horror, and Mister Magic—her second adult book, which follows a children’s television show turned sinister—also warrants an honorable mention for this list.
Rock, Paper, Scissors by Alice Feeney
Game: rock, paper, scissors
This isolated, wintery thriller follows a husband and wife on a romantic getaway—only, ten years of secrets lie festering between them, and they quickly discover their every move is being stalked. Anniversary letters, foreshadowingly specific words of the year, and a slow-burn, creeping unease saturate the story. The couple has used the titular game as a way to settle disagreements and make decisions; only, some decisions shouldn’t be left to chance, should they? It’d sure be a shame if the game came back to bite them…
Also, this book ties with Alex Michaelides’ The Silent Patient for one of the best plot twists I’ve ever read. Like Alice Feeney does so brilliantly, I too aspire to make readers gape at the wall questioning everything they know.
The Family Game by Catherine Steadman
Game: scavenger hunt, survive the in-laws-to-be (I propose that this be an official game)
Noticing a trend? For all your psychologically intense needs, Catherine Steadman has you covered. The Family Game follows a novelist who becomes engaged to the son of an extremely wealthy, extremely… family—and finds herself caught in their completely normal, benign family tradition: a dangerous game involving secrets, high stakes, and a not-at-all-terrifying Christmas Eve scavenger hunt. Initially a slow burn, the story snowballs as family tensions escalate and their cutthroat nature comes out to play. It is delightfully over-the-top, atmospheric, and teeming with clever, eccentric characters.
Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix
Game: hide and seek… ish
This delightfully dark little book brings such a smile to my face. As someone who grew up playing hide-and-seek in and out of wardrobes in IKEA, it’s a sheer delight to read about employees camping out overnight in a sentient IKEA—‘scuse me, ORSK—to try and figure out who (what) is trashing the store every night, leading them on a slightly… different type of hide-and-seek than the one I grew up playing. The book is also peppered with drawings of the furniture, complete with how-to-build instructions that become more and more sinister as the book goes on. Few people can wed horror and humor together like Grady Hendrix; IKEA veterans will nod knowingly at the pivotal (ha) use of a variant of the all-hallowed IKEA Allen wrench. It’s definitely not the darkest/goriest of Hendrix’s books, but it’s not for the (very) faint of heart.
The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Game: chess, scavenger hunts, word games, puzzle boxes, etcetera
Think Knives Out, but with so many more games, both physical and psychological. Homeless high school senior Avery Grambs—a ruthless chess champion with a knack for poker—is suddenly named heir to the fortune of one of the richest men in the world, a man she has never met, but whose fascination with games of all sorts is legendary. At the estate, Avery encounters the slighted former heirs: four brothers, each more clever than the last. Avery finds herself caught in a war of family members vying for the fortune and a killer seeking her more, shall we say, permanent removal.
But Avery is no one’s pawn.
The Inheritance Games is technically Young Adult, but its clever games and whip-smart plotting is sure to delight both YA and adult readers and has left fingerprints over most of the thrillers I write.
What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall
Game: playing pretend
This sinister story follows three girls who grew up playing a game of pretend they called “The Goddess Game,” which comes to a screeching halt when one of the girls is viciously attacked in the forest. She survives, miraculously, and the testimony of the three girls puts the man—a serial killer—behind bars. The only problem? The girls didn’t tell the whole truth about what they saw.
Twenty years later, with the past catching up to them, they’re forced to remember what actually happened when they were children and must differentiate their fantastical game of pretend from reality. What Lies in the Woods is a razor-sharp cautionary tale of toxic friendship, the power of childhood imaginations, and how you probably shouldn’t play with a skeleton you find in the woods.
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