Crime fiction fans who like it dark know that serial killer stories are a reliable source of uniquely chilling thrills. Murder as the product of greed, rage, jealousy, or revenge is at least understandable—but the profound pathologies that drive serial killers are as ungraspable as the stygian motivations of Lovecraft’s squamous, brooding elder gods. In other words, the serial killer narrative is a real-life monster story—who knows what that seemingly bland fellow in front of you in the supermarket checkout line has hidden in his basement? Some recent Indie titles dare to ask.

S.L. Woeppel’s The Butcher and the Liar offers a unique spin on the serial killer thriller by centering the perspective of a girl named Daisy, who, as a child, came upon her dad dismembering a woman in their basement. The girl is ultimately made the killer’s accomplice, and the novel follows her struggles in adulthood to escape her horrific past. Our reviewer praises Woeppel’s prose as “strikingly atmospheric, balancing bleak Midwestern landscapes with visceral details that never feel gratuitous”; this emotionally intense take eschews titillation to spotlight the often unacknowledged victims in these stories—the killers’ innocent loved ones, rendered collateral damage by a madman’s dark impulses.

Deep Trauma by Kat Edwards introduces series lead Riley Brighton, an embattled ER medic whose life only grows more complicated after she happens upon an apparent hit-and-run victim. As the body count continues to rise, it becomes apparent that somebody is targeting transgender people. Sickened by the hate crimes, Riley falls in with a vigilante group and becomes embroiled in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Our reviewer notes the novel’s “page-turning intrigue” and makes special mention of the new series’ lead, “an engaging hero…courageous whether confronting obnoxious colleagues or putting herself in risky situations.”

James Sackos’ Prey Before Bed gets up close and excruciatingly personal with a serial killer named Steve Balam who, based on appearances, is a loving family man. The narrative exerts a queasy fascination as it details Balam’s fastidious and diabolically clever efforts to evade detection—in what may be a bridge too far for all but the most jaded thriller fans, the killer plants DNA he harvests from a massage parlor where he’s an investor to frame innocent men for his crimes. Our reviewer lauds Sackos’ “taut writing;” for those with the stomach for such things, this is a fascinatingly intimate portrait of a seemingly good man compelled to visit unspeakable horror on his victims.

From the subhuman to the ridiculous: Jeremy Robinson’s 30seven is for anyone who’s ever wondered, What if a serial killer got loose aboard a UFO? The genre-bending novel pits a grieving game designer against the fiend who murdered his wife when they are among a group of humans kidnapped by a flying saucer. It sounds absurd, but the result is, as our reviewer notes, “an engaging blend of SF, horror, and mystery.” Iconic serial murderer Jason Voorhees made it to space himself in the Friday the 13th sequel Jason X, so there is a precedent…and as they say, in space, no one can hear you scream.

Arthur Smith is an Indie editor.