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Riot Recommendation

Riot Recommendation: Books With The Most Sinister Serial Killers

S. Zainab Williams

Executive Director, Content

S. Zainab would like to think she bleeds ink but the very idea makes her feel faint. She writes fantasy and horror, and is currently clutching a manuscript while groping in the dark. Find her on Twitter: @szainabwilliams.

This Riot Recommendation is sponsored by HQN Books, publisher of After The Dark by Cynthia Eden.

Former FBI agent Samantha Dark was one of the most respected profilers in the bureau, an expert on the twisted minds of the most depraved criminals. But when her own former lover turned out to be the serial killer she was hunting, Samantha’s career was destroyed..

Now an all-too-familiar killer is hunting once again. She can catch the cunning assassin, but that means putting her trust in her former partner, Blake Gamble. She knows he wants her back in the FBI…and possibly more.

But someone else wants her, too. A threat is waiting in the dark, a killer who has set his sights on the ultimate trophy victim—Samantha.


Accounts of Jack the Ripper, The Zodiac Killer, Ed Gein, and other serial killers have served as inspiration for a wealth of fiction and non-fiction titles…and a reason to keep the lights on at night. Made up or true to life, tell us in the comments below: what’s your favorite book featuring the most sinister serial killer?