Books like White Noise — picked by fans

I find this book to be an unsettling but impactful read, both thought-provoking and complex. We Need to Talk about Kevin follows the mother of a troubled teenager responsible for a school shooting.

It’s about nature versus nurture, the relationship between mother and child, and deeply seated guilt. It draws inspiration from real events, including the 1999 shooting at Columbine, which wasn’t the U.S.’s first mass shooting at a school, but it would become one of the most infamous.

Shriver’s novel raises unsettling questions about a mother’s guilt and self-justification and a community’s heartache and blame. I consider it to be a captivating and moving book.

This list wouldn’t be complete without a story about a journalist in peril.

Reporter Camille Preaker returns to her hometown to cover the murder of teen girls after she’s been through a tough time herself. As she covers the story and meets some interesting characters, she begins piecing things together, never realizing how close she is to the true danger. 

Camille has had a rough past, which colors her worldview and her judgment. The book explores how grief and trauma aren’t easily overcome and can’t be shelved simply because time has passed and other people have told you to move on.

I love the notion that sometimes danger is much closer than you think. As readers, we care and worry about Camille as she attempts to not just report on this story but also crack the case.

I finished this novel almost as quickly as I started it.

Though, aside from its fantastic hook, I loved Little Fires Everywhere because it’s one of the most empathetic character-driven novels that I’ve read. It’s clear that no character is entirely “in the right” throughout the novel, yet I understood their perspectives equally.

I think Ng’s writing is unflinchingly sincere, even toward characters who keep secrets, act on jealousy, lie, and cause damage. 

Lachlan Harvey is a biologist who is kidnapped and taken to a secret facility. He discovers the only way to survive is to comply with the orders made by his captors which involve him using his skills to carry out unethical and inhumane experiments.

Detective Cameron Cole and Rachael Blake are assigned the role of following up on Harvey's disappearance and they become sucked into a web of lies, corruption, and the stark reality that people in high places are not who they thought they were. 

LJ Duncan cleverly intersects each scene and plot twist to encompass the looming fates of each character, adding layers of complexity to propel the plot forward, which makes the reader root for the protagonist. Duncan's build in pace to the climatic ending is impeccable.

This is a nail-biting thriller set in rural Australia that centres around the protagonist Jarrod O'Connor, a weary detective who is exhausted due to the harrowing case he is investigating. Three children lose their parents in the most brutal way and the man responsible is more dangerous than O'Connor could ever begin to imagine. The antagonist is presented as a well-rounded character whom the reader gets to psychoanalyse as we consider whether this man was simply born evil, or whether he is an abomination of human nature. From derelict farmhouses to cosy suburbia, the settings are vividly described in each scene. The cast of characters is well defined and the story unravels at just the right pace to keep the reader turning the pages which is a must!

Rapid Eye Movement is an intense and enlightening read. The descriptive prose and carefully constructed characters stand out throughout. Jennifer and Ilan are running for their lives in Cyprus, where a car accident leaves Jennifer with a head wound. The reader is introduced to Lucy who stumbles down a rabbit hole and suffers a head injury that leaves her in a coma. The story moves on to a series of dream sequences where the two women somehow become connected. The reader becomes hooked on the intensity of their lucid dreams and becomes curious about the mystery surrounding this. Sheridan expertly weaves backwards and forwards in a seamless manner, adding depth to the story. The intensity builds as the finale approaches which creates just enough tension between the two main characters to make the book 'unputdownable'.

I'd read mixed reviews but read Devil's Demise with an open mind. I thought it was brilliant! I could imagine each scene in great detail, it kept me frantically turning the pages, and I loved the believable Edinburgh cop camaraderie. The book is very graphic with intense scenes of sex, rape, and violence but it didn't faze me, if anything it made it more realistic albeit disturbing. This one does come with trigger warnings for the reasons above.

I love any book that delves into the psychology of cults. This is a fictional account of a real-life cult that existed not far from where I live, and I have grown up hearing about the victims. The charismatic and highly disturbed female leader was an unusual twist on the standard stories we read about cults that are often led by men. 

Her determination to be the ‘mother’ of every child, have them all look the same (blond hair cut into a bob), and worship her was infuriating and intriguing. Taking vulnerable women, who were also mothers, and luring them into her secret commune, forcing them to make sacrifices, including their own children, deeply affected me as a woman and a mother.

Deliciously evil.  

I should perhaps be concerned about how much I liked the main character in C.J.Skuse’s Sweetpea given that she’s a murdering psychopath. She’s very normal on the surface but, oh the things she does to men who follow women on dark canal paths… I’m sure we’ve all had little fantasies about doing the same (I hope it’s not just me). She’s rude, funny, and extremely violent!

Everyone needs a little camp in their lives. This book is about the “OG” group of friends who get entangled in a hush-hush death and are hunted and haunted (literally!) by the secret. It even inspired an equally campy and fun-filled movie starring young Hollywood stars from the ’90s!

We literary types often forget that books are meant to entertain. I love being transported to an absurd world with high drama, rollercoaster twists and turns, and a central mystery so far out there that you’ll roll your eyes, laugh, and keep turning those pages with abandon.