There’s a lot about a cabin in the woods that sounds idyllic. A remote cottage is synonymous with solitude. The wooded location makes for a beautiful, even romantic setting: Picture sitting on a deck overlooking a lake, sunlight filtering through leaves and birds singing in the trees. But a cabin can just as easily be terrifying. After all, you never know what might be lurking at night in those same trees, right outside your door.
Modern conveniences, like the internet and cellphone reception, don’t always exist in the woods; access to emergency services is often wanting. And it isn’t just the cabins themselves you have to worry about. It’s the people who choose to live there in isolation. Maybe there’s a perfectly upstanding reason they crave solitude — or their avoidance of strangers could be a way of protecting dark secrets.
All of this makes the cabin an ideal setting for thriller writers, myself included. My debut, “The Good Girl,” is about a man who kidnaps a woman and keeps her in a Minnesota cabin; my book “The Other Mrs.” follows a family that inherits a home on a Maine island accessible only by ferry; and in my latest novel, “It’s Not Her,” two families rent cottages on a lake in Wisconsin’s Northwoods for a vacation that goes very, very wrong. There is no end to the terrible things that can happen to people in the woods, especially when there’s almost no one around to witness it.
These are a few of my favorite chilling novels by other writers who also love a secluded cabin setting. Be warned: They may make you think twice about where you want to vacation this year.
Still Missing
by Chevy Stevens
Stevens’s dark and unsettling debut novel follows Annie O’Sullivan, a real estate agent who is abducted at an open house. Stevens switches back and forth between Annie’s year in captivity and the aftermath of her escape. It is a heart-wrenching but incredibly powerful survival story, with a killer twist to boot. If you haven’t read Stevens yet, start here. Read our review.
The Cabin at the End of the World
by Paul Tremblay
This book (recently adapted into an M. Night Shyamalan film) was a rare foray into horror for me, but one that made me want to read the genre more. The home invasion story gets an apocalyptic twist here when a family trip to New Hampshire is interrupted by a doomsday cult convinced that the vacationers hold the key to saving the world. It is equal parts tense, terrifying, thoughtful and tragic, but what I enjoyed most were the characters — even the ones you wouldn’t expect to be drawn to. Read our review.
In a Dark, Dark Wood
by Ruth Ware
In this Agatha Christie-esque whodunit, a group of old friends come together in the English countryside for a bachelorette party after years apart — and soon realize they are not alone. The story toggles between the past and present; the reader knows something bad has happened, but the pieces take a while to come together. With a unique glass house, a creepy wooded setting and plenty of drama, this book will keep you turning the pages late into the night.
The Overnight Guest
by Heather Gudenkauf
While “The Overnight Guest” takes place in an old, isolated farmhouse rather than a cabin, the effect is the same: chilling, claustrophobic and atmospheric. Add in a blizzard, a true crime writer, a brutal cold case murder and a child who appears from out of nowhere and the result is an eerie, unputdownable story. Read our review.
Nice Girls
by Catherine Dang
Dang’s novel about two women who vanish from the same small Minnesota town explores social bias and “missing white women syndrome,” or the tendency of the media to disproportionately cover crimes involving white women, while ignoring or undercutting the disappearances of women of color. This gritty debut is smart and suspenseful, with a page-turning mystery and unforgettable characters.
The Quiet Tenant
by Clémence Michallon
A seemingly perfect man leads a double life as a serial killer in Michallon’s terrifying first novel. Told from the alternating perspectives of the women in his life, including the hostage he’s kept locked in a shed in upstate New York for years, this book is an immersive, edge-of-your-seat thriller. Read our review.
These Silent Woods
by Kimi Cunningham Grant
Set deep in the Appalachian Mountains, “These Silent Woods” follows Cooper, a father with a secret past, and his daughter, Finch, whom he keeps isolated from the outside world. When Cooper’s friend fails to show up for his annual supply run, the pair’s cloistered existence starts to unravel. Eerie and deeply affecting, this book is part slow-burn mystery, part deep dive into the bonds of family and what we’ll do to keep from losing the things that matter most. Tissues required!
Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six
by Lisa Unger
Can you ever really know people, even those closest to you? In Unger’s thriller about three couples on a weekend getaway that goes deadly wrong, the answer is a resounding no. Throw in a cabin with a dark past, a potential haunting, a creepy homeowner and an incoming storm and you’ve got all the ingredients for a perfect locked-room mystery.
What Wild Women Do
by Karma Brown
A struggling screenwriter looking to unwind lands herself in the middle of a decades-old cold case in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains in this captivating mystery. With dual timelines, strong female characters and feminist undertones, this is both a moving story of self-discovery and an immersive missing person whodunit.
Misery
by Stephen King
No list of cabin mysteries would be complete without this classic. When a best-selling author crashes his car in the middle of a Colorado blizzard, he’s rescued (really, taken hostage) by his biggest fan. It’s a timeless story of obsession and the blurred line between reality and fiction: Thanks to King, the words “I am your No. 1 fan” will forever fill every writer with dread. Read our review.
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