Books-for-Luther-fans

Reading lists

12 must-read books for Luther fans

Serial-killer-books

13 of the best serial killer thrillers

Poppet

Mo Hayder's Jack Caffery series is not for the faint-hearted. 
DI Jack Caffery specialises in the most gruesome, twisted and terrifying crimes. Against the clock to find the killer before the next murder is committed, Caffery is young, unshockable and driven.

The heartstopping new Jack Caffery novel - a Sunday Times Top 10 Bestseller

Bestselling and prize-winning author Mo Hayder has penned another spine-tingling and stomach-churning thriller that is guaranteed to keep you turning the pages. Creepy, enthralling, twisty and very moving, Poppet is perfect for fans of Stephen King, Stuart MacBride and Karin Slaughter. 
 
'Hayder has a profound ability to shock and surprise her readers' -- Karin Slaughter 
'With Mo Hayder you never know where you are going until you get there' -- The Times 
'Oozes sinisterness from the first page' -- Entertainment weekly 
'Full of twists, turns and lots of tension . . . deliciously dark and creepy.' -- ***** Reader review 
'Completely compulsive reading . . . gritty and often shocking.' -- ***** Reader review 
'Poppet had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up from the very beginning.' -- ***** Reader review 
'Full of twist and turns with a totally unexpected twist at the end!' -- ***** Reader review 
************************************************************************* 
THE MAUDE IS OUTSIDE. 
 
IT WANTS TO COME IN. 
 
IT WANTS TO SIT ON YOUR CHEST. 
 
The patients at Beechway High Secure Unit are terrified. Unexplained power cuts have lead to a series of horrifying incidents. And now fear has spread from the inmates to the staff. 
 
DI Jack Caffery is called to investigate, whilst working the most impossible case of his life. 
 
Will he be able to stare pure evil in the eye, and survive?

Hayder has a profound ability to shock and surprise her readers

With Mo Hayder you never know where you are going until you get there

Extraordinarily good. Creepy, enthralling, twisty and very moving. Wow.

Enthralling...Hayder’s sharply drawn characters, major and minor, and her psychological acumen combine for a frightening and convincing read.

Bestselling and prize-winning author Mo Hayder has penned another spine-tingling and stomach-churning thriller that is guaranteed to keep you turning the pages. Creepy, enthralling, twisty and very moving, Poppet is perfect for fans of Stephen King, Stuart MacBride and Karin Slaughter. 
 
'Hayder has a profound ability to shock and surprise her readers' -- Karin Slaughter 
'With Mo Hayder you never know where you are going until you get there' -- The Times 
'Oozes sinisterness from the first page' -- Entertainment weekly 
'Full of twists, turns and lots of tension . . . deliciously dark and creepy.' -- ***** Reader review 
'Completely compulsive reading . . . gritty and often shocking.' -- ***** Reader review 
'Poppet had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up from the very beginning.' -- ***** Reader review 
'Full of twist and turns with a totally unexpected twist at the end!' -- ***** Reader review 
************************************************************************* 
THE MAUDE IS OUTSIDE. 
 
IT WANTS TO COME IN. 
 
IT WANTS TO SIT ON YOUR CHEST. 
 
The patients at Beechway High Secure Unit are terrified. Unexplained power cuts have lead to a series of horrifying incidents. And now fear has spread from the inmates to the staff. 
 
DI Jack Caffery is called to investigate, whilst working the most impossible case of his life. 
 
Will he be able to stare pure evil in the eye, and survive?

Hanging Hill

Even good people do bad things . . . in the new standalone bestseller by the UK's most spine-tingling thriller writer, winner of the prestigious Edgars Best Novel of the Year.

Tense, thrilling and brilliantly original, Hanging Hill reveals the evil side of human nature and the terrible things normal people can do... Perfect for fans of Stephen King, Stuart MacBride and Karin Slaughter. 
 
'An authentically disturbing, gripping winner' -- Financial Times 
'With Mo Hayder you never know where you are going until you get there. A chiller to the very end' -- The Times 
'Fantastically tense thriller with a sickening twist at the end' -- ***** Reader review 
'Great characters, great story and great twists and turns!' -- ***** Reader review 
'Mo Hayder has done it again. Frightened the life out of me and left me shouting at my book - No!!!!!!!!' -- ***** Reader review 
'One of my best ever reads' -- ***** Reader review 
************************************************************************** 
EVEN GOOD PEOPLE DO BAD THINGS... 
 
The Victim: 
A teenage girl has been brutally murdered on her way home from school. The cryptic message 'all like her' is crudely written on her body. 
 
The Silence: 
The dead girl's friends are deeply shocked and upset, but they all refuse to reveal anything about her last movements. Who are they protecting? And what more do they know? 
 
The Fear: 
Headstrong Detective Inspector Zoë Benedict knows exactly how she wants to work this case. But Zoë's own dark past, if exposed, may jeopardize the search for justice . . . and destroy her too.

An authentically disturbing, gripping winner

With Mo Hayder you never know where you are going until you get there.  A chiller to the very end

She handles the plot with all the expertise and flair that her earlier work leads you to expect

Hayder is an excellent writer ... She has the priceless ability to keep you  turning the pages ... especially with the novel's sly and beautifully finessed twist in the tail

(Jack Caffery Book 5): the thrilling page-turner that will keep you hooked from bestselling author Mo Hayder

Gone

Featuring Jack Caffrey, star of BBC’s Wolf series. A scary and page-turning thriller from the bestselling author

He watches. He waits. And then he takes what isn't his. The latest Jack Caffery bestseller, winner of the prestigious Edgar prize for Best Novel from the Mystery Writers of America.

Fans of Stephen King, Karin Slaughter and Stuart MacBride will love this gut-churning, chilling and darkly compelling thriller. 
 
'Lacerating' Independent 
'Stomach-churning, fast-paced, top-notch' Sunday Express 
'A particularly potent blend of terror and horror' The Times 
'Nothing short of brilliant' Daily Mail 
 
---------------------------------------- 
 
HE WATCHES. HE WAITS. HE TAKES WHAT ISN'T HIS. 
 
Night is falling as murder detective Jack Caffery arrives to interview the distraught victim of a car-jacking. 
 
What he hears horrifies him. The car was taken by force, and on the back seat was a passenger. An eleven-year-old girl. Who is still missing. 
 
Before long the jacker starts to communicate with the police. And Caffery becomes certain that he is planning to take another car. And another child. 
 
Who is the car-jacker? How is he choosing his targets? And - most urgent of all - can Caffery find the child? 
 
Before it's too late . . .

Stomach-churning, fast-paced, top-notch

A particularly potent blend of terror and horror

The Devil of Nanking

Now reissued as a B-format paperback, an extraordinary, electrifying thriller by one of Britain's bestselling crime-writers.

Fans of Stephen King, Stuart MacBride and Karin Slaughter will devour this warped and brutally bloodthirstly thriller from bestselling and prize-winning author Mo Hayder. Deeply haunting, this will stay with you well after the final page is turned... 
 
'Haunting, lyrical, disturbing, important, suspenseful and wonderfully written' -- HARLAN COBEN 
'Left me stunned and haunted. This is writing of breathtaking power and poetry' -- 
TESS GERRITSEN 
'Couldn't put it down' -- ***** Reader review 
'One of the best books I have read in a long time' -- ***** Reader review 
'Weird, creepy, vile......brilliant!!!!!' -- ***** Reader review 
'An absolutely brilliant book. Read it NOW!' -- ***** Reader review 
 
********************************************************************************************** 
1990: Tokyo 
 
Grey Hutchins is in pursuit of an obsession. She is searching for a piece of film taken during the infamous Nanking massacre of 1937. Some say it never existed. Grey is certain that it does, and that it lies hidden - somewhere in Tokyo. 
 
Alone in an alien city, Grey becomes a hostess in an exclusive club catering for Japanese businessmen - and gangsters. One gangster dominates - an old man in a wheelchair surrounded by a terrifying entourage - who is rumoured to rely on a powerful elixir for his continued health. It is an elixir that others want - at any price ... 
 
Previously published as Tokyo, The Devil of Nanking is a literary thriller of the highest order. With its heady atmosphere of overt violence, lurking fear and sexual tension, this is a novel that takes hold of the reader and does not let go until its explosive final pages.

Haunting, lyrical, disturbing, important, suspenseful and wonderfully written

Deeply felt and haunting. Elegiac and important. Most of all it sticks with you well after the final page is turned

Left me stunned and haunted. This is writing of breathtaking power and poetry

Pig Island

Now reissued in B-format paperback, a terrifying stand-alone thriller by one of Britain's bestselling crime-writers.

Fans of Stephen King, Stuart MacBride and Karin Slaughter will devour this warped and brutally bloodthirsty thriller from bestselling and prize-winning author Mo Hayder. Guaranteed to mess with your mind, you'll be on the edge of your seat from start to finish... 
 
'Mo Hayder has a profound ability to shock and surprise her readers, and Pig Island surpasses anything she has written before. She's the bravest writer I know' -- Karin Slaughter 
'The goriest thriller writer this side of the pond' -- Mirror 
'No matter how much you might despise yourself for getting sucked into such places, she is brilliant at making you read on' -- Daily Telegraph 
'Engrossing and a definite page turner' -- ***** Reader review 
'Keeps you gripped' -- ***** Reader review 
'Awesome writing' -- ***** Reader review 
'Gripping from the start' -- ***** Reader review 
 
*********************************************************************************** 
SEE EVIL 
Journalist Joe Oakes makes a living exposing supernatural hoaxes. But what he sees when he visits a secretive religious community on a remote Scottish island forces him to question everything he thought he knew. 
 
HEAR EVIL 
Why have the islanders been accused of Satanism? What has happened to their leader? And why will no one discuss the strange creature seen wandering the lonely beaches of Pig Island? 
 
READ EVIL 
In PIG ISLAND, Mo Hayder dares you to face your fears head on and to look at what lurks beneath the surface of everyday normality. Because people are perfectly capable of doing unspeakable things to each other...

Mo Hayder has a profound ability to shock and surprise her readers, and Pig Island surpasses anything she has written before. She's the bravest writer I know

Mo Hayder is the closest thing we've got to Stephen King, which is close enough...the goriest thriller writer this side of the pond

She has created the most warped and bloodthirsty visions of psychopathic behaviour. No matter how much you might despise yourself for getting sucked into such places, she is brilliant at making you read on

Hayder’s writing is, as ever, briskly paced and fluid

Hayder has always had the unrivalled ability to conjure up grotesqueries that chill, but here she outdoes herself

Featuring Jack Caffrey, star of BBC’s Wolf series. A tense and terrifying thriller from the bestselling author

Skin

DI Jack Caffery and Police Diver Flea Marley join forces in Mo Hayder's terrifying new bestseller

This dark and disturbing, edge-of-your-seat thriller from bestselling and prize-winning author Mo Hayder is perfect for fans of Stephen King, Stuart MacBride and Karin Slaughter. Full of twists and turns, it's an unmissable, engrossing read... 
 
'Hayder has a profound ability to shock and surprise her readers. She is the bravest writer I know' -- Karin Slaughter 
'Warped ... bloodthirsty ... No matter how much you despise yourself for getting sucked into such places, Hayder is brilliant at making you read on' -- Daily Telegraph 
'A story I found hard to put down.' -- ***** Reader review 
'Gripping to the very end' -- ***** Reader review 
'My night-time reading - so good it's a wonder l go to sleep at all!' -- ***** Reader review 
'A proper page-turning thriller' -- ***** Reader review 
 
********************************************************************************* 
YOU'VE GOT SOMETHING THIS KILLER WANTS... 
 
When the decomposed body of a young woman is found near railway tracks just outside Bristol one morning, everything points to suicide. That's how the police want it too: all neatly squared and tidied away. 
 
But DI Jack Caffery is not so sure. He is on the trail of someone predatory - someone who hides in the shadows. And for the first time in a very long time, he feels scared. 
 
Police Diver Flea Marley is working alongside Caffery. With the traumas of her past safely behind her, she's beginning to wonder whether their relationship could go beyond the professional. But then she finds something that changes everything. 
 
Not only is it far too close to home for comfort - it's so horrifying that she knows that nothing will ever be the same again. 
 
And this time, no one - not even Caffery - can help her ...

Hayder has a profound ability to shock and surprise her readers. She is the bravest writer I know

Warped ... bloodthirsty ... No matter how much you despise yourself for getting sucked into such places, Hayder is brilliant at making you read on

Hayder is the closest we've got to Stephen King ... the goriest thriller writer this side of the pond

Hayder's gory insights into the dark are compelling

Fast paced and absorbing ... complex and gripping

(Jack Caffery Book 3): the terrifying, tense and spine-tingling thriller from bestselling author Mo Hayder

Ritual

Featuring Jack Caffrey, star of BBC’s Wolf series. A gripping and compelling thriller from the bestselling author

DI Jack Caffery is back on the beat in Mo Hayder's terrifying new bestseller.

Fans of Stephen King, Stuart MacBride and Karin Slaughter will devour this dark and disturbing thriller from bestselling and prize-winning author Mo Hayder. Expertly weaving ancient rites with modern forensics, it draws you in and paints a picture so vivid and compelling in the mind, you'll be hooked from page one... 
 
'Intensely enthralling' - OBSERVER 
'Expect plenty of blood, gore and black magic' -- DAILY MIRROR 
'A vivid and thorough exploration of the clash between ancient superstition and modern science, with plenty of thrills and chills along the way' - GUARDIAN 
'Really can recommend and I'm not one for giving the story away so try it yourself and you won't be disappointed!' -- ***** Reader review 
'I couldn't put it down and finished it in a week' -- ***** Reader review 
'Fantastic and thrilling' -- ***** Reader review 
'Darkly enthralling, was hooked in' -- ***** Reader review 
 
******************************************************************************************** 
Just after lunch on a Tuesday in April, nine feet under water, police diver Flea Marley closes her gloved fingers around a human hand. The fact that there's no body attached is disturbing enough. Yet more disturbing is the discovery, a day later, of the matching hand. 
 
Both have been recently amputated, and the indications are that the victim was still alive when they were removed. 
 
 DI Jack Caffery has been newly seconded to the Major Crime Investigation Unit in Bristol. He and Flea soon establish that the hands belong to a boy who has recently disappeared. 
 
 Their search for him - and for his abductor - lead them into the darkest recesses of Bristol's underworld, where drug addiction is rife, where street-kids sell themselves for a hit, and where an ancient evil lurks; an evil that feeds off the blood - and flesh - of others ...

Mo Hayder is inimitable. She surpasses even Ruth Rendell in her ability to find horror in everyday things... Intensely enthralling

A vivid and thorough exploration of the clash between ancient superstition and modern science, with plenty of thrills and chills along the way

A combination of irresistible prose and hateful subjects makes Hayder's books not-to-be-missed bestsellers

Expect plenty of blood, gore and black magic

If it's real terror you're after, Mo Hayder is your woman... Hayder is a brave writer and she requires brave readers

A gruesomely involving, imaginative story...a gripping book, high on atmosphere, convincing in its portrayal of major and minor characters and their emotions, and totally involving to the reader

(Jack Caffery Book 1): the gruesome and gripping first book in the bestselling Jack Caffery series

Birdman

Mo Hayder's terrifying first novel introducing DI Jack Caffery - now reissued in B-format paperback.

This dark and disturbingly compelling thriller from bestselling and prize-winning author Mo Hayder is not for the faint-hearted. Perfect for fans of Stephen King, Stuart MacBride and Karin Slaughter, it is one read you won't be able to forget easily... 
 
'A first-class shocker . . . a frightening mix of forensics, thrills, analytical police work and poetic images.' -- Guardian 
'Wickedly constructed . . . The detail, if you can stomach it, is fascinating.' -- Daily Telegraph 
'Hayder's vibrant narrative and crunchy characterisation propel the book along to its denouement with fearsome velocity' -- The Times 
'WOW! This is one scary thriller, gripping from the first page to the last' -- ***** Reader review 
'I was hooked!' -- ***** Reader review 
'An exhilarating, but disturbing, read that has you on the edge of your seat from the get go' -- ***** Reader review 
 
********************************************************************************************* 
THE RITUAL HAS TO END. SOON. 
 
Greenwich, south-east London: Detective Inspector Jack Caffery - young, driven, unshockable - is called to one of the most gruesome crime scenes he has ever seen. Five young women have been ritualistically murdered and dumped on wasteland near the Millennium Dome. Subsequent post-mortems reveal a singular, horrific signature linking the victims. 
 
Soon Caffery realises that he is on the trail of that most dangerous offender: a serial killer. Beset by animosity within the police force, haunted by the memory of a very personal death long ago, Caffery employs every weapon forensic science can offer to hunt him down. 
 
Because he knows that it is only a matter of time before this sadistic killer strikes again...

Not for the faint-hearted... what sets Birdman apart is Hayder's talent

A first-class shocker... a frightening mix of forensics, thrills, analytical police work and poetic images... a young writer in touch with her dark side and a major new talent

Wickedly constructed... Her cast of suspects is the most spooky since Dickens... The detail, if you can stomach it, is fascinating

Hayder's vibrant narrative and crunchy characterisation propel the book along to its denouement with fearsome velocity

This dark and disturbingly compelling thriller from bestselling and prize-winning author Mo Hayder is not for the faint-hearted. Perfect for fans of Stephen King, Stuart MacBride and Karin Slaughter, it is one read you won't be able to forget easily... 
 
'A first-class shocker . . . a frightening mix of forensics, thrills, analytical police work and poetic images.' -- Guardian 
'Wickedly constructed . . . The detail, if you can stomach it, is fascinating.' -- Daily Telegraph 
'Hayder's vibrant narrative and crunchy characterisation propel the book along to its denouement with fearsome velocity' -- The Times 
'WOW! This is one scary thriller, gripping from the first page to the last' -- ***** Reader review 
'I was hooked!' -- ***** Reader review 
'An exhilarating, but disturbing, read that has you on the edge of your seat from the get go' -- ***** Reader review 
 
********************************************************************************************* 
 THE RITUAL HAS TO END. SOON. 
 
Greenwich, south-east London: Detective Inspector Jack Caffery - young, driven, unshockable - is called to one of the most gruesome crime scenes he has ever seen. Five young women have been ritualistically murdered and dumped on wasteland near the Millennium Dome. Subsequent post-mortems reveal a singular, horrific signature linking the victims. 
 
 Soon Caffery realises that he is on the trail of that most dangerous offender: a serial killer. Beset by animosity within the police force, haunted by the memory of a very personal death long ago, Caffery employs every weapon forensic science can offer to hunt him down. 
 
 Because he knows that it is only a matter of time before this sadistic killer strikes again...

(Jack Caffery Book 2): the dark, disturbing and devastating thriller from bestselling author Mo Hayder

The Treatment

Featuring Jack Caffrey, star of BBC’s Wolf series. A gruesome and gripping thriller from the bestselling author

Also featuring DI Jack Caffery, Mo Hayder's terrifying second novel now reissued in B-format.

The Treatment is another gritty and gruesome thriller from bestselling and prize-winning author Mo Hayder. Utterly absorbing, it weaves a horrifying, gut-wrenching and compelling web, making it impossible to put down...or forget. Fans of Stephen King, Stuart MacBride and Karin Slaughter will not be disappointed. 
 
'One of the most frightening books I've ever read... Hayder's gory insights into the dark side are compelling' -- GUARDIAN 
'Bleak, powerful... The Treatment is cleverly plotted and Caffery is a believable creation' -- OBSERVER 
'Chilling... the book is surprisingly hard to put down. The plot develops with satisfying unpredictability; the characters are compellingly drawn... its final twist a bravura savagery' -- DAILY TELEGRAPH 
'A terrifying and tense read' -- ***** Reader review 
'An OUTSTANDING 5 star read that chilled me with its creepiness' -- ***** Reader review 
'A page-turning crime novel' -- ***** Reader review 
'An excellent read, kept me reading for hours at a time' -- ***** Reader review 
'I could not put it down and read it in two days' -- ***** Reader review 
 
******************************************************************* 
A quiet residential street in south London. 
 
A husband and wife are discovered, imprisoned in their own home. Badly dehydrated, they've been bound and beaten. He is close to death. But worse is to come: their young son is missing. 
 
When Detective Inspector Jack Caffery is called in to investigate, the similarities with events in his own past make it impossible for him to view this new crime dispassionately. 
 
And as he digs deeper - as he attempts to hold his own life together in the face of ever more disturbing revelations about both his past and his present - the real nightmare begins ...

One of the most frightening books I've ever read... Hayder's gory insights into the dark side are compelling

Chilling... the book is surprisingly hard to put down. The plot develops with satisfying unpredictability; the characters are compellingly drawn... its final twist a bravura savagery

Bleak, powerful... The Treatment is cleverly plotted and Caffery is a believable creation

Mo Hayder's debut, Birdman, was deservedly an unqualified success... and Hayder has lost none of her descriptive expertise along the way

There is no better example of a contemporary masterpiece than Mo Hayder's The Treatment. Whether she's exploring social issues such as homelessness and child abuse or just scaring the bejeezus out of you, Hayder spins a tale that feels like a razor slicing apart your soul. The plotting is extremely disciplined, the sort of structure to which all authors should aspire, and the story is a searing dark tale that makes you bolt up in bed during the middle of the night, wondering if that sound you heard was the cat, or Death dragging its sickle across the floor

Mo Hayder

Hayder keeps you guessing adroitly - and has in Caffrey, a maverick cop so fascinatingly weird that he makes Ian Rankin's Rebus seems a stolid conformist

Builds to its mesmerising climax with a brilliantly paced sense of menace.  Masterful

Now a major BBC TV series! A gripping and chilling thriller from the bestselling author

SHE'S LOCKED THE DOOR BUT THE KILLER'S INSIDE 
 
I believe, from what I can hear, that either my daughter or my wife has just been attacked. I don't know the outcome. The house is silent. 
 
Fourteen years ago two teenage lovers were brutally murdered in a patch of remote woodland. The prime suspect confessed to the crimes and was imprisoned. 
 
Now, one family is still trying to put the memory of the killings behind them. But at their isolated hilltop house . . . the nightmare is about to return.

Mo Hayder

Books by Mo Hayder

Series by Mo Hayder

Jack Caffery

Articles featuring Mo Hayder

12 must-read books for Luther fans

13 of the best serial killer thrillers

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter