{"id":8967,"date":"2025-01-08T22:16:45","date_gmt":"2025-01-08T22:16:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/entertainment\/books\/circling-back-to-reading-dark-mystery-thrillers\/"},"modified":"2025-01-08T22:16:45","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T22:16:45","slug":"circling-back-to-reading-dark-mystery-thrillers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967","title":{"rendered":"Circling Back To Reading Dark Mystery & Thrillers"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Between 2016 and the pandemic, I absolutely became a person who began to seek comfort in my entertainment, including reading. Then I moved into only wanting<\/em> comforting books and having to force myself to read darker books, or anything that I assumed might be emotionally or mentally taxing. And now I\u2019ve cycled back to needing a balance.<\/p>\n

Well, 2016 was almost a decade ago (also, while I\u2019m here throwing out mean-time truths: the 1980s were not 20 years ago), and we aren\u2019t going to wake up tomorrow morning in a suddenly, magically better world. In the meantime, I don\u2019t want to continue being limited in my entertainment and missing out on things.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Not everyone delves into comforting things during hard times. Many people seek out dystopian books during pandemics, read history and activist books about current political issues, and some people with anxiety and panic disorder use horror books to give their anxiety \u201ca reason.\u201d As I keep working toward a balance in my own life, I thought I\u2019d highlight some \u201cdark\u201d books I\u2019ve really liked.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Exposure\"Exposure<\/a><\/p>\n

Exposure<\/a> (Rita Todacheene, #2) by Ramona Emerson<\/h3>\n
\n

This is dark in theme, cases, and graphically describes crime scenes.<\/p>\n

This is the sequel to Shutter<\/a>, and while you won\u2019t be lost starting here, it is about the lead unraveling from events in the first book. Exposure <\/em>is darker than Shutter<\/em>, so I selected the former for this list\u2019s purpose, but 100% recommend both! In Exposure<\/em>, you get two POVs: there\u2019s Rita Todacheene, a forensic photographer who grew up on a Navajo reservation and has been spiraling out from seeing ghosts because of how demanding and cruel they can be when she doesn\u2019t listen to them. And then there\u2019s a \u201crighteous\u201d serial killer who you watch grow up in a group home, and now think he\u2019s performing mercy killings. It\u2019s a haunting procedural with a fantastic lead character.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\"the\"the<\/a><\/p>\n

The Initial Insult<\/a> (The Initial Insult #1) by Mindy McGinnis<\/h3>\n
\n

This is dark in tone and theme (and has animal death), and an excellent exploration of revenge and anger.<\/p>\n

Tress Montor has a lot of things to be angry about, including being shunned by the entire town and believing her ex-best friend fed her dog to her alligator and graffitied her home (which has a dangerous animal attraction). Certain that her ex-best friend also knows what happened to her missing parents, Tress decides she\u2019s going to slowly brick her into a wall \u00e0 la Edgar Allan Poe (\u201cThe Cask of Amontillado\u201d) until she confesses. I know! The book is as wild and fckd up as that sounds!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

Unusual Suspects Newsletter<\/p>\n

Sign up to Unusual Suspects to receive news and recommendations for mystery\/thriller readers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Thank you for signing up! Keep an eye on your inbox.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\"Theme\"Theme<\/a><\/p>\n

Theme Music<\/a> by T. Marie Vandelly<\/h3>\n
\n

This is a dark mystery thriller with appeal for horror fans.<\/p>\n

The case\/mystery at the heart of the book\u2014which explores trauma\u2014is a family murder-suicide case where only a baby survived. No longer a baby, Dixie Wheeler decides to move back into the family home where her father murdered everyone else with an ax, and, obviously, that isn\u2019t a great idea. As she questions whether the actual house is now haunted, she also starts to think that maybe her uncle was right: maybe her father wasn\u2019t responsible for the murder-suicide\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Browse the books<\/strong> recommended in Unusual Suspects\u2019 previous newsletters on this she<\/a>lf<\/a>. See upcoming 2025 releases<\/a>, and mysteries from 2024<\/a> and 2023<\/a>. Check out this\u00a0Unusual Suspects Pinterest board<\/a>\u00a0and get Tailored Book Recommendations<\/a>! Until<\/strong> next time, keep investigating! In the meantime, come talk books with me on Bluesky<\/a>, Goodreads<\/a>, and Litsy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If a mystery fan forwarded this newsletter to you or you read it on bookriot.com<\/a> and you\u2019d like to get it right in your inbox,\u00a0you can sign up here<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Between 2016 and the pandemic, I absolutely became a person who began to seek comfort in my entertainment, including reading. Then I moved into only wanting comforting books and having to force myself to read darker books, or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[7578,277,2836,3646,7465],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-8967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","tag-circling","tag-dark","tag-mystery","tag-reading","tag-thrillers"],"yoast_head":"\nCircling Back To Reading Dark Mystery & Thrillers - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Circling Back To Reading Dark Mystery & Thrillers - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Between 2016 and the pandemic, I absolutely became a person who began to seek comfort in my entertainment, including reading. Then I moved into only wanting comforting books and having to force myself to read darker books, or […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-08T22:16:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/partial-cover-of-Exposure-Rita-Todacheene-2-by-Ramona-Emerson.jpg.optimal.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"375\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"Circling Back To Reading Dark Mystery & Thrillers\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-08T22:16:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967\"},\"wordCount\":672,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/partial-cover-of-Exposure-Rita-Todacheene-2-by-Ramona-Emerson.jpg.optimal.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Circling\",\"Dark\",\"Mystery\",\"Reading\",\"Thrillers\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Books\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967\",\"name\":\"Circling Back To Reading Dark Mystery & Thrillers - Som2ny Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/partial-cover-of-Exposure-Rita-Todacheene-2-by-Ramona-Emerson.jpg.optimal.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-08T22:16:45+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/partial-cover-of-Exposure-Rita-Todacheene-2-by-Ramona-Emerson.jpg.optimal.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/partial-cover-of-Exposure-Rita-Todacheene-2-by-Ramona-Emerson.jpg.optimal.jpg\",\"width\":700,\"height\":375},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Circling Back To Reading Dark Mystery & Thrillers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"description\":\"Daily Deals\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":86,\"caption\":\"Som2ny Network\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Circling Back To Reading Dark Mystery & Thrillers - Som2ny Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Circling Back To Reading Dark Mystery & Thrillers - Som2ny Network","og_description":"This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Between 2016 and the pandemic, I absolutely became a person who began to seek comfort in my entertainment, including reading. Then I moved into only wanting comforting books and having to force myself to read darker books, or […]","og_url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967","og_site_name":"Som2ny Network","article_published_time":"2025-01-08T22:16:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":700,"height":375,"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/partial-cover-of-Exposure-Rita-Todacheene-2-by-Ramona-Emerson.jpg.optimal.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371"},"headline":"Circling Back To Reading Dark Mystery & Thrillers","datePublished":"2025-01-08T22:16:45+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967"},"wordCount":672,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/partial-cover-of-Exposure-Rita-Todacheene-2-by-Ramona-Emerson.jpg.optimal.jpg","keywords":["Circling","Dark","Mystery","Reading","Thrillers"],"articleSection":["Books"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967","name":"Circling Back To Reading Dark Mystery & Thrillers - Som2ny Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/partial-cover-of-Exposure-Rita-Todacheene-2-by-Ramona-Emerson.jpg.optimal.jpg","datePublished":"2025-01-08T22:16:45+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/partial-cover-of-Exposure-Rita-Todacheene-2-by-Ramona-Emerson.jpg.optimal.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/partial-cover-of-Exposure-Rita-Todacheene-2-by-Ramona-Emerson.jpg.optimal.jpg","width":700,"height":375},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=8967#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Circling Back To Reading Dark Mystery & Thrillers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","name":"Som2ny Network","description":"Daily Deals","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization","name":"Som2ny Network","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","width":300,"height":86,"caption":"Som2ny Network"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/fivemor.com"],"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8967"},{"taxonomy":"dealstore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fdealstore&post=8967"},{"taxonomy":"offerexpiration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fofferexpiration&post=8967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}