Serial Killer

1988 · Thomas Harris · 338 pages · Thriller

Thomas Harris created something rare with The Silence of the Lambs: a thriller that works on every level simultaneously. The cat-and-mouse dynamic between Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter is one of the great psychological duels in fiction, and Harris's procedural detail grounds the horror in a recognizable world. The novel's middle section slows when it steps away from the Starling-Lecter dynamic, and Harris's clinical detachment can make the violence feel almost too precise. But as a study in how monsters hide in plain sight and how the people who hunt them risk absorbing what they find, this is the thriller against which all others are measured.

2017 · 2 Seasons · Netflix · Crime / Thriller

Mindhunter is one of the most intelligent crime shows ever produced, a series that finds its tension in conversation rather than action and trusts its audience to stay engaged with the psychology behind the violence. David Fincher's meticulous direction, Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany's compelling lead performances, and the chilling interview sequences create something that feels entirely distinct from any other show in the genre. Two seasons and 19 episodes is not enough, and the cancellation stings more with each passing year. What exists is exceptional, and anyone with patience for a slow-burn approach to storytelling about the darkest corners of human behavior will find this unforgettable.

2003 · Erik Larson · 447 pages · Nonfiction

Erik Larson's dual narrative about the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and serial killer H.H. Holmes is one of the most popular works of narrative nonfiction published this century. The fair sections are richly detailed and often fascinating, and Holmes provides a genuine sense of menace. The book's weakness is that the two stories never fully merge, leaving readers with two good books interleaved rather than one great one. Still, for readers who enjoy history written with the pace and tension of a thriller, this delivers.

2013 · 3 Seasons · BBC Two · Crime Thriller

The Fall is a hypnotic cat-and-mouse thriller built on Gillian Anderson's magnetic performance as DSI Stella Gibson and Jamie Dornan's unsettling portrayal of a serial killer hiding behind a family man facade. The Belfast setting and the show's willingness to spend time inside the killer's domestic life give it a creeping dread that more conventional crime dramas can't match. A third season that doesn't quite stick the landing prevents it from reaching the heights of its extraordinary first two seasons, but the journey there is some of the most compelling thriller television of the 2010s.

2024 · Osgood Perkins · 101 min · Horror / Thriller

Longlegs rode one of the great horror marketing campaigns of the decade into theaters, and the film underneath is a handsomely made occult procedural that splits its audience straight down the middle. Osgood Perkins builds dread with icy compositions and silence, Maika Monroe plays an FBI agent tuned to frequencies nobody else hears, and Nicolas Cage delivers a villain pitched somewhere between nightmare and glam-rock seance. Whether the third act's explanations deflate all that atmosphere or complete it is the entire debate. Expect craft, unease, and an ending people argue about.

2006 · 8 Seasons · Showtime · Crime / Thriller

Dexter's first four seasons deliver some of the most compelling antihero television of its era, anchored by Michael C. Hall's magnetic performance as a serial killer you can't stop watching. The fourth season in particular reaches a high point that the show simply never recovers from. What follows is a long, frustrating decline that culminates in a finale widely regarded as one of the worst in television history. The early seasons are good enough to be worth your time, but going in with realistic expectations about where the show ends up will save you the kind of disappointment that still haunts its fanbase.