There is something about being completely cut off from everyone else that makes an already creepy story so much worse.
A cabin in the middle of nowhere might sound peaceful until you start hearing something outside. A beautiful island is a little less appealing when the tide comes in and nobody can leave. And that cozy mountain lodge suddenly becomes a problem when a blizzard knocks out the power and somebody ends up dead.
These thriller and horror books all use isolation as part of the danger. Some are set on remote islands, others in snowed-in lodges, lonely houses or places so far from civilization that calling for help isn’t really an option.
If you like the Gothic side of creepy fiction too, I also have a list of must-read Gothic novels.
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Never Lie by Freida McFadden
My Rating: 4/5
Newlyweds Tricia and Ethan are looking for a house when they visit a remote manor that once belonged to psychiatrist Dr. Adrienne Hale, who disappeared years earlier.
Then a snowstorm traps them there.
While they’re waiting out the storm, Tricia discovers a hidden room filled with recordings of Dr. Hale’s old therapy sessions. Listening to them starts filling in the story of what happened before the psychiatrist disappeared.
A creepy house, a blizzard and a pile of recordings you probably shouldn’t be listening to? This one definitely understands the assignment.
Never Lie
Newlyweds are trapped by a snowstorm in a remote manor where hidden recordings begin revealing the truth about a psychiatrist who vanished years earlier.
One by One by Ruth Ware
A company retreat at a mountain chalet sounds nice enough until an avalanche leaves everyone cut off from the outside world.
The group already has plenty of tension before things start going wrong. Once they’re trapped together and people begin disappearing or dying, the beautiful snowy setting becomes a very different place.
This is exactly the kind of isolation I like in a thriller because the characters aren’t just somewhere remote. The weather actively takes away their ability to leave.
One by One
A company retreat turns deadly when an avalanche traps a group of coworkers at an isolated mountain chalet with no easy way out.
Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney
My Rating: 5/5
Adam and Amelia Wright take an anniversary trip to a remote location in Scotland, hoping the weekend might help their troubled marriage.
Obviously, that would make for a very different book if everything went according to plan.
Their marriage is full of secrets, somebody has manipulated the trip from the beginning, and being stuck somewhere isolated makes it much harder to figure out exactly who can be trusted.
This one mixes the creepy setting with a marriage where both people are holding things back, which makes the isolation even more uncomfortable.
Rock Paper Scissors
A troubled couple heads to a remote Scottish getaway for their anniversary, only to discover that secrets and lies may be more dangerous than the setting.
Shiver by Allie Reynolds
A group of former snowboarders reunites at a resort high in the French Alps, ten years after one of their friends disappeared.
Once they arrive, it becomes clear that someone has brought them back together for a reason.
They’re surrounded by snow and mountains in a deserted lodge, and old secrets start coming out while the group tries to figure out who arranged the reunion.
This is one of several snowbound books on this list, but the competitive history between the characters gives it a different feel.
Shiver
Former snowboarders reunite at a deserted lodge in the French Alps, where old secrets resurface and someone appears determined to uncover the truth.
Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six by Lisa Unger
Three couples head to a luxury cabin in the woods for what is supposed to be a relaxing weekend.
The house is remote, a storm is coming, the rental host seems a little too interested in what they’re doing, and the cabin has a history nobody mentioned in the listing.
Meanwhile, the people staying there have plenty of secrets of their own.
This is basically the darker version of wondering whether that gorgeous vacation rental in the middle of nowhere is maybe a little too far in the middle of nowhere.
Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six
Three couples spend a weekend at an isolated luxury cabin where a brewing storm, a strange host and buried secrets turn the getaway into something much darker.
An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena
A group of guests arrives at a secluded inn in the Catskills for a relaxing winter weekend.
Then a blizzard cuts the power and leaves them with no contact with the outside world.
When one guest dies, it might be an accident. When another one dies, that becomes a little harder to believe.
Nobody can leave, nobody can call for help and somebody inside the inn may be responsible.
This may be one of the purest examples on the whole list of isolation being used as part of the mystery.
An Unwanted Guest
Guests at a secluded Catskills inn are cut off by a blizzard, and panic sets in when people begin dying one by one.
No Exit by Taylor Adams
Darby Thorne is driving through a Colorado snowstorm when the weather forces her to stop at an isolated highway rest area.
She’s stuck there with four strangers until the roads reopen.
Then she discovers a kidnapped child locked inside a van in the parking lot.
One of the people inside that rest stop owns the van, and Darby has no idea which one.
There aren’t many places to hide at a highway rest stop, which makes this setup particularly nasty.
No Exit
Stranded at a remote highway rest stop during a snowstorm, a woman discovers a kidnapped child and realizes one of the strangers trapped there is responsible.
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
My Rating: 4/5
U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels travels to Shutter Island in 1954 to investigate the disappearance of a patient from Ashecliffe Hospital.
It’s already a strange place before a hurricane moves in.
The island becomes increasingly difficult to leave, the hospital staff aren’t exactly forthcoming, and Teddy begins questioning what is actually happening around him.
An isolated island containing a psychiatric hospital during a hurricane was never going to result in a relaxing mystery.
Shutter Island
A U.S. Marshal investigates a disappearance at an isolated psychiatric hospital while a hurricane closes in and nothing on the island is quite what it seems.
The Last Word by Taylor Adams
My Rating: 4/5
Emma Carpenter is house-sitting at a remote beachfront home on the Washington coast with her dog.
Most of her contact with other people happens from a distance, which suits her just fine.
Then she leaves a one-star review for a horror novel and gets into an online argument with the book’s author.
After strange things begin happening around the house, Emma starts wondering whether that angry author has somehow found her.
This is a particularly fun use of isolation because she’s alone before the threat even begins.
The Last Word
A woman house-sitting alone on the remote Washington coast begins to fear that the author of a book she gave a one-star review may be stalking her.
The Caretakers by Eliza Maxwell
Tessa Shepherd needs somewhere to disappear after her life falls apart, and an unexpected inheritance gives her exactly that.
Fallbrook is an isolated, crumbling estate with a dark history and only two elderly sisters still living there as caretakers.
Naturally, the house has secrets.
This one leans more Gothic than some of the straight thrillers on the list, but the abandoned estate and the feeling of being removed from everyone else fit perfectly.
The Caretakers
A woman retreats to an isolated inherited estate where two elderly caretakers and a crumbling mansion hide secrets tied to her family’s past.
Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
My Rating: 5/5
Daisy Darker’s family gathers at Nana’s old Gothic house on a tiny tidal island for her 80th birthday.
When the tide comes in, the family will be completely cut off from the mainland for eight hours.
Then Nana is found dead.
An hour later, someone else dies.
The family knows nobody is getting on or off the island until the tide changes, which means whoever is responsible is trapped there with them.
Or maybe they’re trapped there with the killer.
Daisy Darker
A family reunion on a remote island turns deadly when members begin dying one by one. Trapped by the rising tide, they must uncover the killer before it’s too late.
The Island House by Amanda Brittany
After her father’s death, Alice receives a mysterious photograph and an invitation to stay at a Gothic guesthouse surrounded by water.
She becomes convinced she’s been there before, even though she can’t clearly remember that part of her childhood.
Once she’s on the island, a storm rolls in and the sea cuts the house off.
Then guests start turning up dead and the hotel owner disappears.
There is a lot going on here, but the island setting is exactly what makes everything worse. Whatever is happening inside that house, leaving isn’t an option.
The Island House
After her father’s death, Alice is drawn to a mysterious island hotel tied to her forgotten past. But when a storm traps the guests and bodies start turning up, she must uncover the truth—before it’s too late.
The Last House on the Cliff by Anne Wyn Clark
Lowri returns to her late aunt’s home on the remote island of Anglesey with her daughter Ruby.
She hasn’t been there in years, and at first the island looks like a place where they might be able to start over.
Then Ruby starts talking about an old woman nobody else can see. A strange doll keeps appearing.
And then Ruby disappears.
This one has more of a creepy family-secret feeling than a locked-room thriller, but the remote island and lonely house are a big part of the atmosphere.
The Last House on the Cliff
A widow returns to a remote island with her daughter for a fresh start—but eerie events quickly follow. When her child disappears, she must uncover buried family secrets before it’s too late.
You Shouldn’t Have Come Here by Jeneva Rose
Grace Evans wants a break from New York, so she books a stay at a remote ranch in Wyoming.
Her host, Calvin, is attractive and initially seems welcoming.
But there’s no cell service. A local woman is missing. Something about the town feels wrong.
As Grace and Calvin become closer, both begin suspecting that the other person isn’t telling the truth.
A remote vacation rental once again proves that sometimes having absolutely no cell signal is not charming.
You Shouldn’t Have Come Here
A woman books a remote Wyoming ranch getaway and quickly realizes the lack of cell service, a missing woman and her increasingly unsettling host may be warning signs.
The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher
Mouse agrees to clean out her late grandmother’s house in rural North Carolina.
Unfortunately, Grandma was a hoarder, so the house is already a nightmare before Mouse discovers her step-grandfather’s strange journal.
Then she starts seeing some of the things he wrote about.
Unlike most of the psychological thrillers on this list, The Twisted Ones goes firmly into supernatural horror. Mouse is alone in the woods with her dog, and there really may be something impossible out there with them.
The Twisted Ones
A woman cleaning out her grandmother’s remote rural home discovers a strange journal and terrifying creatures lurking in the woods.
Death on the Island by Eliza Reid
Nine people gather for dinner in a tiny village on a remote Icelandic island.
A violent storm traps them there together.
Before the night is over, one of them is dead.
That leaves a limited group of suspects who can’t simply leave, and Jane, the wife of an ambassador attending the dinner, begins trying to work out what happened.
Remote island, dangerous weather and a closed group of suspects. This is exactly what this list is about.
Death on the Island: A Novel
Trapped on a remote Icelandic island during a storm, nine guests gather for a dinner where one will die. With secrets and tensions rising, it’s up to Jane to uncover the truth in this chilling locked-room mystery.
The Guest List by Lucy Foley
A wedding is being held on a remote island off the coast of Ireland.
It’s beautiful, dramatic and isolated enough to make for a memorable wedding location.
It also means a group of people carrying old grudges and secrets are gathered together somewhere that’s not particularly easy to leave.
Then somebody turns up dead.
This has that same setup I apparently cannot resist: put a bunch of people with complicated histories together somewhere remote and wait for everything to go horribly wrong.
The Guest List
A wedding on a remote Irish island brings together guests with secrets, grudges and complicated histories before the celebration ends in murder.
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
You can’t really make a list like this without And Then There Were None.
Ten people are invited to an isolated island under different pretenses. Once they arrive, they’re accused of crimes from their past.
Then they begin dying one by one.
There is no easy way off the island, and the shrinking group is forced to accept that the killer has to be one of them.
A lot of the books on this list use some version of that basic idea, which is part of the reason this one still belongs here.
And Then There Were None
Ten strangers are invited to an isolated island, accused of crimes from their past and then killed one by one with no clear way to escape.
When There’s Nowhere to Go, Everything Gets Creepier
A remote house can be creepy. A blizzard can be creepy. An island surrounded by rough water can be creepy.
But what really gets me is the moment the characters realize that whatever is happening, they can’t just leave.
That’s the thing connecting all of these books. The location isn’t simply scenery. It limits who can help, who can escape and sometimes even who could possibly be responsible.
If this particular flavor of creepy fiction works for you, you might also like my list of psychological horror books, because there is definitely some overlap between the two.
And after putting this list together, I think I’ve confirmed that if somebody ever invites me to a beautiful remote island for the weekend, I’m staying home.
