Trust Us: You'll Love These Books With Unreliable Narrators

Nothing is as it seems in "Shutter Island" ($12), the book that inspired the movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio. In 1954, US Marshal Teddy Daniels and his new partner, Chuck Aule, arrive at Shutter Island, home of Ashecliffe Hospital For the Criminally Insane, to investigate the disappearance of a patient. A murderer on the loose, a killer hurricane on its way, and ever-evolving mysteries and secrets make the job more threatening.

"Rebecca" ($17) is named not for its narrator, but for the dead wife of the narrator's new husband. When the narrator arrives at her new home, a massive country estate, she realizes how large a shadow his late wife will cast over their lives — presenting her with a lingering evil that threatens to destroy their marriage from beyond the grave. "Rebecca" is a gothic romance and historical thriller that will please fans of all genres.

The narrator of Ian McEwan's beloved classic "Atonement" ($10) doesn't reveal their identity until the end of the book, making it difficult to know whose bias tints the story until the very end. A single moment on a hot summer day between a young man and a young woman, observed by the woman's younger sister, will change all three of their lives forever.

Maybe the most unreliable narrator of them all, Christine in "Before I Go to Sleep" ($12) has lost the ability to form new memories ever since a car accident that happened two decades ago. Or, at least, that's what her husband tells her every morning when she wakes up next to him. Christine's doubt mirrors the reader's as we race to find out who's telling the truth and who's lying.

Micah is a compulsive liar who's always managed to stay one step ahead of her lies: with her classmates, her teachers, and even her parents. That is, until her boyfriend dies under brutal circumstances and her dishonesty begins to catch up with her. To exonerate herself and prove her innocence, Micah has to learn to tell the truth — which is more difficult than it sounds when lying comes as easily as breathing. Reading from her perspective will have you debating what's true and what's false all the way until the last page of "Liar" ($15).

Not Haruki Murakami's first venture into unreliable narration, but maybe his finest, "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" ($19) follows a young man searching first for his wife's missing cat, and then for his wife, in a Tokyo suburb. Throughout his search, he encounters a bizarre group of allies and antagonists in what becomes not only an imaginative detective story, but an account of a disintegrating marriage. Murakami weaves in buried secrets from Japan's forgotten campaign in Manchuria during World War II as well.

If you love unreliable narrators, you've probably picked up "One of Us Is Lying" ($10) based on the title alone. A student at Bayview High is killed, and four of his high-profile classmates become suspects when investigators discover his plan to reveal juicy secrets about them. But did one of them actually kill him? Or are they just the perfect suspects to distract from the real murderer's crime?

Christopher, the narrator of "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" ($8), is described as knowing "all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057," but nothing about human emotions. However, he relates well to animals, and when a neighbor's dog is killed, Christopher's carefully constructed universe is threatened. He sets out to solve the murder in the style of his favorite detective, Sherlock Holmes, and the ensuing story is a heartfelt and fascinating exploration of a person whose curse and blessing is to perceive the world entirely literally.

The title "American Psycho" ($34) is the first thing that tips you off that the narrator of this book, 26-year-old Patrick Bateman, may be unreliable. Bateman narrates both his Wall Street job and the illicit, to say the least, exploits he carries out after hours. "American Psycho" is described as "a bleak, bitter, black comedy about a world we all recognize but do not wish to confront."

Now a movie starring Emily Blunt, "The Girl on the Train" ($8) follows Rachel, a woman who takes the same commuter train every morning and starts to observe one of the couples in a house along her route. Their life appears perfect to her — until she witnesses something shocking. It's only a minute until the train moves on, but it's enough, and it gives Rachel a chance to become part of their lives. Told from the perspectives of three unreliable narrators, you won't be able to put this one down.

Famously full of twists and turns, the unreliable narration of "Gone Girl" ($13) is what makes it so compelling — and the final plot twist so delicious. On the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick's wife, Amy, suddenly disappears and he's framed as the main murder suspect. Nick is left shocked and confused, wondering if he knows his wife at all. Amy's side of the story only makes things more confusing, and you'll stay up late so you can finally learn what happened — and who pulled what off.

"The Lovely Bones" ($14) is told in the voice of Susie Salmon, a 14-year-old girl who informs the reader in the first paragraph of the book that she's been murdered. She looks down from heaven as her family grieves, her killer tries to cover his tracks, and her friends and local police search everywhere for her. It's not until the end of the book that all the puzzle pieces come together, but you'll love trying to figure it out as you read.

Chronicling a young woman's descent into insanity, there's no wonder that the narrator, Esther Greenwood, can't be relied on. Plath's voice shines through in "The Bell Jar" ($16), which tracks Esther's breakdown with harrowing realism.

Taking readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" ($9) is an unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the struggle that ensues when a cousin arrives at their estate. The unreliable narration comes from Merricat, a young member of the family who hides her family's dark secret until the very end.

Like "The Lovely Bones," "Room" ($10) has a narrator whose unreliability is the result of youth and naivete rather than a twisted mind. The narrator, Jack, has spent all five years of his life inside one room with his mother. The room is his entire world, and he's never known anything else, so he doesn't question it — which makes the search for the truth all the more complicated as you read further.