From Ghostly Doubt to Family Secrets: 3 Best Thriller Books to Read This Weekend, Oct. 24–25
A Gothic Classic of Doubt
Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw centers on an unnamed governess hired to care for Flora and Miles at Bly Manor, a secluded estate in Essex. Strange events lead her to suspect the children may be experiencing a supernatural haunting.
The novel’s tension comes from uncertainty over whether the governess’s fears reflect reality or manipulation. James builds a gloomy atmosphere with restraint, leaving readers to interpret what is happening. Of the book’s adaptations, the article singles out the 1961 version starring Deborah Kerr as the one that comes closest to its quality.
A Bleak Cold War Mission
In John Le Carré’s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, British operative Alec Leamas goes to East Germany during the Cold War. He poses as a defector and accuses counterintelligence officer Hans Dieter-Mundt of being a double agent.
The novel depicts espionage as a corrupt business, with The Circus portrayed as no more moral than German organizations. Leamas, tired and struggling to understand love, is at the center of a story whose defeated pessimism and infamous ending distinguish it from other spy fiction.
Family Secrets and Witchcraft
Freida McFadden’s The Witch follows Julia Barlow, who moves to her family’s estate in Pemberton, Massachusetts, to care for her aging grandmother. There, Julia discovers a dangerous connection to witchcraft and dark family secrets.
The novel combines domestic-thriller suspense with supernatural dread. Its focus is Julia’s psychological strain as she uncovers potentially lethal secrets, supported by a dual narrative.
Key points
- The Turn of the Screw uses uncertainty and a gloomy setting to build psychological dread.
- The Spy Who Came in from the Cold follows Alec Leamas on a dangerous Cold War mission.
- The Witch brings supernatural danger and family secrets to a modern domestic thriller.
- The three novels offer gothic horror, espionage and contemporary suspense.