Lauren North studied psychology before moving to London, where she lived and worked for many years. She now lives with her family in the Suffolk countryside.The Perfect Son is her first novel, and she’s working on her second.
At CrimeReads North tagged "seven of [her] favorite books published in the last few years that really put the psychology in psychological suspense and psychological thrillers," including:
Beautiful Bad by Annie WardRead about another entry on the list.
Beautiful Bad opens with a crime scene in a family home. Something terrible has happened, someone is dead, and thereader is immediately desperate to know what tragedy has occurred. From the Balkans to England, Iraq to Manhattan, and to an ordinary family home in Kansas, the novel spans the sixteen years of Maddie and Ian’s relationship from a chance encounter overseas to the final weeks leading up to the tragedy.
The author has threaded the psychology into this book with deft ease. Post-traumatic stress disorder and coercive control play a huge part in the unravelling of Maddie and Ian’s relationship, but it’s the shocking twist at the end which really hammers home the psychology for me.
The Page 69 Test: Beautiful Bad.
--Marshal Zeringue
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