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Mental hospitals have long been a literary trope, with the mystery and history of the place drawing in authors, spawning numerous thriller books set in mental hospitals.
Donna Thompson, the author of Plot Twist, is also one of the many authors who answers to the allure of mental hospitals. Her wild storybook about a mental hospital titled Lost Causes: Silent Cream centers around a mental hospital with secrets. We’ll discuss more book details as we proceed with today’s post.
With the abundance of novels and books people can choose from, some readers might find it challenging to find a good story revolving around mental hospitals. This is why we’ve made this post so that you, our valued visitors, could have references for excellent thriller books.
Denis Mina’s Garnethill (1999)
In this story, former patient Maureen O’Donnell struggles to leave the shadow cast by the mental hospital where she received treatment after having a breakdown. Starting an affair with her dubious therapist, which ends when Maureen discovers him in her living room, his throat slashed and blood gushing out the gaping wound, does not help her rehabilitation.
The police view Maureen as the main suspect in what happened at first, then as an unstable and unreliable witness. Maureen understands that she must independently ascertain the truth regarding the murder. The quest returns her to Rainbow Clinic, the specialized facility for victims of sexual abuse that was formerly a section of Levanglen Lunatic Asylum.
Patrick McGrath’s Asylum (1996)
In Patrick McGrath’s outstanding novel, Asylum, the family of a physician employed at a high-security psychiatric facility takes center stage. The author grew up next to the criminally insane institution Broadmoor, where his father served as medical superintendent.
The novel then introduces Charlie, a ten-year-old boy who is the son of a doctor from the same institution. He enjoys the freedom of roaming around the vast hospital grounds and making friends with the inmates.
However, the youngster find himself in a dangerous situation when his mother starts a relationship with one of the inmates. A murderer who murdered and dismembered his wife.
Donna Thompson’s Lost Causes: Silent Scream (2013)
Readers looking for a wild storybook about a mental hospital will find the tale behind Donna Thompson’s book Lost Causes: Silent Scream to be a great read. The story begins when Detective Karl Larkin rejects the strange tale told by the attractive Psychologist Casey West regarding the mental hospital wherein she works.
Detective Larkin used to work in Springfield, and he was there for twenty years. When he was still working in the mental hospital, Lakeview Hospital never received a single complaint.
However, Detective Larkin believes Casey’s narrative may not be as far-fetched as initially thought. After Casey’s buddy, nurse Trudy Madison, is viciously murdered, the management’s version conflicts with the evidence. Detective Larkin starts to entertain the possibility of something nefarious happening in the mental hospital.
Dennis Lehane’s Shutter Island (2003)
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane is one of the hit thriller books set in mental hospitals that has a film adaptation. The novel’s narrative starts when an outsider offers a supposedly impartial point-of-view regarding Ashecliffe Hospital for those who are criminally insane.
US Marshal Teddy Daniels arrived at the island to track down a female patient after she escapes the hospital’s confines. The facility, located on an island within Boston Harbor, should be completely safe. However, as a hurricane approaches Shutter Island, a revelation of the hospital administration’s flaws occurs, and Teddy starts to sort out his connection to the facility.
Erin Kelly’s Stone Mothers (2019)
This gripping psychological thriller takes our hands and walks us through the bleak past of Nazareth Mental Hospital. We are starting with the structure’s contemporary incarnation as a block of opulent apartments.
The hospital has dominated the daily lives of those it treats for decades, even those who only visited briefly, as it towers above the flat landscape and the neighborhood. After being abandoned, the structure forces its way into the story with a tragic structural collapse.
However, the story brings to life when the readers get a terrifying look inside the treatment rooms and operating wards at their prime in the middle of the twentieth century.
The Pertinence of Thriller Books Set in Mental Hospitals
And with that, our list of the wild storybook about a mental hospital ends here. Thriller books set in mental hospitals will remain a staple in the literary world and works like Donna Thompson’s Lost Causes: Silent Scream won’t fade away anytime soon.
If you still haven’t decided what mental hospital book to read, you can check out some of our blogs. You can discover tips on writing compelling plot twists if you want to write your own story around a mental hospital!