“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.”
Some of the most compelling stories in the world begin with a single fixation. Whether it’s an all-consuming romance, an unhealthy pursuit of success, or a dangerous fascination that spirals out of control, books about obsession explore the intense desires that can drive people to the extraordinary – and often destructive – lengths. The best novels about obsession delve deep into the human psyche, showcasing how passion can warp into compulsion, and how ambition, love, jealousy, and revenge can become impossible to resist. From literary classics to modern psychological thrillers, these stories feature obsessive characters whose fixations drive every choice, leading to unforgettable tension and drama. If you’re looking for books about unhealthy obsession, psychological books about desire, or gripping fiction on the darker side of human nature, this list has something for you. Brimming with complex characters, unsettling relationships, and page-turning plots, these are the best books about obsession.
The Picture Of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
Kicking off our list of the best books about obsession is Oscar Wilde’s classic literary work, The Picture of Dorian Gray. In this iconic gothic tale, Dorian Gray exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty after being captivated by an exquisite portrait of himself. Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life, indulging his desires in secret whilst remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society. Only his portrait bears the traces of his decadence. Causing a scandal following its first release in 1890, The Picture of Dorian Gray shocked its readers with its hints at unspeakable sins, and was even used as evidence against Oscar Wilde at the Old Bailey.
Check Out The Best Books Featuring Unhinged Main Characters
The Secret History – Donna Tartt
One of the first works you think of when you think about novels about obsession, The Secret History orbits around a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college. Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, they discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries.
But, when they go beyond the boundaries of normal mortality, they find themselves slipping gradually from obsession to corruption and betrayal, and at last – inexorably – into evil. The Secret History is an homage to the obsessive pursuit of beauty, belonging, and intellectual brilliance.
Check Out Our The Secret History Book Review
Perfume – Patrick Süskind
In the slums of eighteenth-century France, the infant Jean-Baptiste Genouille is born with one sublime gift – an absolute sense of smell. As a boy, he lives to decipher the odours of Paris, and apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer who teaches him the ancient art of mixing precious oils and herbs. But Genouille’s genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and fresh-cut wood.
Then, one day, he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever-more-terrifying quest to create the “ultimate perfume” – the scent of a beautiful young virgin. Told with a dazzling narrative brilliance, Perfume is a hauntingly powerful tale of murder and sensual depravity.
Death In Her Hands – Ottessa Moshfegh
While on her daily walk in the forest woods, our protagonist happens upon a note, handwritten and carefully pinned to the ground with a frame of stones. “Her name was Magda. Nobody will ever know who killed her. It wasn’t me. Here is her dead body.” Our narrator’s brooding about this note soon grows into a full-blown obsession, and she begins to devote herself to exploring the possibilities of her conjectures about who this woman was and how she came to meet her fate.
Yet as we readers follow her investigation, strong dissonances start to accrue, and our faith in her grip on reality weakens, until finally we are forced to confront the prospect that there is either a more innocent explanation to all of this, or a far more sinister one. Death in Her Hands asks us to consider how the stories we tell ourselves both guide us closer to the truth and keep us at bay from it.
Our Wives Under The Sea – Julia Armfield
Miri thinks she has got her wife back when Leah finally returns after a deep-sea mission that ended in catastrophe. It soon becomes clear, though, that Leah is not the same. Whatever happened on that vessel, whatever it was they were meant to be studying before they were stranded on the ocean floor, Leah has brought part of it back with her, onto dry land and into their home.
Moving through something that only resembles normal life, Miri comes to realise that the life that they had before might be gone for good. Though Leah is still there, Miri can feel the woman she loves slipping from her grasp. Our Wives Under the Sea is a story about falling in love, loss, grief, and what life there is in the deep, deep sea.
Check Out The Best Books Like Our Wives Under The Sea
My Dark Vanessa – Kate Elizabeth Russell
2000. Bright, ambitious, and yearning for adulthood, fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye becomes entangled in an affair with Jacob Strane, her magnetic and guileful forty-two-year-old English teacher. 2017. Amid the rising wave of allegations against powerful men, a reckoning is due. Strane has been accused of assault by a former student, who reaches out to Vanessa. Is it possible that the man she loved as a teenager may be far different from what she always believed?
Alternating between Vanessa’s present and her past, My Dark Vanessa juxtaposes memory and trauma with the breathless excitement of a teenage girl discovering the power her own body can wield. Thought-provoking and compelling, this is a masterful depiction of troubled adolescence and its repercussions that raises vital questions about agency, consent, complicity, and victimhood.
Misery – Stephen King
Another one of the all-time classic horror novels about obsession, Misery opens with successful novelist Paul Sheldon. Paul has just met his most adoring fan. Her name is Annie Wilkes, and she is more than just a rabid reader obsessed with all things to do with his work – she is Paul’s nurse, tending his shattered body after an automobile accident. Yet she is also his captor, keeping him prisoner in her isolated house.
Earthlings – Sayaka Murata
Natsuki isn’t like other girls. She has a wand and a transformation mirror. She might be a witch or an alien from another planet. Together with her cousin Yuu, Natsuki spends her summers in the wild mountains of Nagano, dreaming of other worlds. When a terrible sequence of events threatens to part the two children forever, they make a promise: survive, no matter what.
Now Natsuki has grown. She lives a quiet life with her asexual husband, surviving as best she can by pretending to be normal. But the demands of Natsuki’s family are increasing, her friends wonder why she’s still not pregnant, and dark shadows from Natsuki’s childhood are pursuing her. Fleeing the suburbs for the mountains of her childhood, Natsuki prepares herself for a reunion with Yuu. Will he still remember their promise? And will he help her keep it?
A Touch Of Jen – Beth Morgan
Remy and Alicia, a couple of insecure service workers, are not especially happy together – but they are bound by a shared obsession with Jen, a beautiful former co-worker of Remy’s who now seems to be following her bliss as a globe-trotting jewellery designer. In and outside of the bedroom, Remy and Alicia’s whole relationship revolves around fantasies of Jen, whose every Instagram caption, outfit, and New Age mantra they know off by heart.
Imagine their confused excitement when they run into Jen, in the flesh, and she invites them on a surfing trip to the Hamptons with her wealthy boyfriend and their group. Once there, Remy and Alicia do all they can to fit into this social circle, but violent desire and class resentment bubble beneath the surface of this beachfront paradise. As small disturbances escalate into outright horror, the couple tumble into a new reality shaped by their most unspeakable, deviant, and intoxicating fantasies.
Moby Dick – Herman Melville
One of the greatest works in literary history, and perhaps the most iconic book about obsession, Moby Dick is a story of an eerily compelling madman pursuing an unholy war against a creature as vast, dangerous, and unknowable as the sea itself. Yet it is more than just a novel of adventure, more than an encyclopedia of whaling lore and legend; the book can be seen as part of the author’s lifelong meditation on America.
Written with wonderfully redemptive humour, Moby Dick is also a profound examination of character, faith, and perception.
Notes On A Scandal – Zoë Heller
When Sheba Hart joins St. George’s as the new pottery teacher, lonely Barbara Covett senses that she has found a kindred spirit. But Barbara is not the only one drawn to Sheba. Before long, Sheba is involved in an illicit affair with a pupil, and Barbara is powerless to stop Sheba from pursuing her foolhardy course of action.
But when the liaison is found out, and Sheba’s marriage falls apart, Barbara is loyally standing by, ready to provide succour.
You – Caroline Kepnes
When a beautiful, aspiring writer strides into the East Village bookstore where Joe Goldberg works, he does what anyone would do: he Googles the name on her credit card. There is only one Guinevere Beck in New York City. She has a public Facebook account and Tweets incessantly, telling Joe everything he needs to know: she is simply Beck to her friends, she lives on Bank Street, and she’ll be at a bar in Brooklyn tonight – the perfect place for a “chance” meeting.
As Joe invisibly and obsessively takes control of Beck’s life, he orchestrates a series of events to ensure Beck finds herself in his waiting arms. Moving from stalker to boyfriend, Joe transforms himself into Beck’s perfect man, all while quietly removing the obstacles that stand in their way – even if it means murder.
Check Out The Best Books Like You
Wild Dark Shore – Charlotte McConaghy
Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny weather-lashed island that is home to the world’s largest seed bank. As Shearwater risks being lost to rising sea levels, the island’s researchers have fled, and only the Salts remain.
Until, during the worst storm in living memory, a stranger washes ashore. The family nurse the woman, Rowan, back to health, but it seems she isn’t telling the whole truth about why she’s there. And when Rowan happens upon sabotaged radios and recently dug graves, she realises she’s not the only one on this island with a secret. A novel of breathtaking twists, dizzying beauty, and ferocious love, Wild Dark Shore is about the impossible choices we make to protect the people we love.
Check Out Our Wild Dark Shore Book Review
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
