Novels that feature serial killers

Hour Game  by David Baldacci
In the wake of murders in the Virginia countryside in which the killer leaves watches on the victims' bodies, investigators Sean King and Michelle Maxwell discover a possible link to a case involving an aristocratic southern family.

Bones by Jan Burke
Vicious serial killer Nicholas Parrish agrees to exchange information about the location of the body of a missing woman, Judith Sayre, for a deal in which authorities will not seek the death penalty for his crimes, an agreement that traps journalist Irene Kelly in the remote wilderness with a murderer. Winner of the Edgar Award.

Echo Park by Michael Connelly
Harry Bosch is still on the job, working out of LAPD's Open Unsolved Unit, and despite his best efforts at holding his antiestablishment impulses in check, he's in trouble again. This time the problem is an unsolved case that has haunted Harry since 1993. Now it appears that the killer has been caught, apprehended by chance and connected to a string of nine additional murders.

Cold Moon by Jeffrey Deaver
In the aftermath of two brutal New York City murders, quadriplegic detective Lincoln Rhyme and his team work doggedly to prevent additional killings by a time-obsessed serial murderer. First in the series featuring Lincoln Rhyme is The Bone Collector.

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
Pat Bateman, a 26-year-old who works on Wall Street, describes his designer lifestyle in excruciating detail. This is a world in which the elegance of a business card evokes more emotional response than the murder of a child. Then suddenly, for no apparent reason, Bateman calmly and deliberately blinds and stabs a homeless man. From here, the body count builds, as he kills a male acquaintance and sadistically tortures and murders two prostitutes, an old girlfriend, and a child he passes in the zoo.

Heartstopper by Joy Fielding
The small, close-knit community of Torrance, Florida, is torn asunder by a cold-blooded killer targeting teenage girls, and with gossip and fear gripping its citizens, high school teacher Sandy Crosbie vows to protect her family and find the attacker. 

Immoral by Brian Freeman
The disappearance of a teenage girl from the streets of Duluth, Minnesota draws Lieutenant Jonathan Stride into a conflict with evil as his search for a serial killer snares him in a web of secrets, lies, and illicit desire.

The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen
A female heart surgeon, terrorized by a serial killer in Boston using the same MO as a killer who attacked her during her internship years in Savannah, works with a detective to solve the crime while trying to stay alive.

Hannibal by Thomas Harris
Seven years after his escape from the authorities, Hannibal Lecter, a serial killer, is tracked down by one of his former victims using FBI agent Clarice Starling as bait.

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
In order to convince his son to come home, Herbert Greenleaf, a rich shipbuilder, sends Tom Ripley to Italy, but is unaware of his son's friend's criminal activities.

Absolute Fear by Lisa Jackson
When a series of brutal ritual slayings is linked to Our Lady of Virtues Hospital, Eve Renner, whose past is tied to this old asylum, must learn to trust her former lover Cole Dennis, who was accused of attempted murder, when she becomes the killer's next target.

Compulsion by Jonathan Kellerman (Alex Delaware series)
Baffled by a serial killer who uses disguises to claim his victims, LAPD Detective Milo Sturgis teams up with criminal psychologist Alex Delaware to track down one of the most ingenious and ruthless monsters they have ever faced.

Velocity by Dean Koontz
A series of communications from a deranged killer in which he is offered a number of devastating choices and deadlines draws Bill Wile into a confrontation with pure evil as his life becomes a downward spiral into a nightmare in which he must risk everything in a desperate race against time.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeffry P. Lindsay
Hiding a secret life as an assassin while working as a murder analyst for the Miami police, Dexter Morgan is intrigued by the work of a new serial killer whose style mimics his own.

Invisible Prey by John Sandford
Lieutenant Lucas Davenport is determined to track down a diabolically clever serial killer who leads a double life, carefully picks out his female victims, and taunts the police with notes signed "Maddog". The first in the series is Rules of Prey.

Copy Cat by Erica Spindler
Five years after failing to catch a serial killer who suffocated 10-year-old girls and placed them in their beds dressed as angels, Kitt Lundgren of the Rockford, Illinois, Violent Crimes Bureau investigates a new string of similar crimes.