6 of the Most Polarizing Mystery and Crime Books Ever Written

Here’s a perfect example of a polarizing mystery book, in that it generated controversy among readers and governments alike. Without spoiling anything, Gone Girl is known for its one big, supposedly mind-blowing plot twist that continues to divide readers (a plot twist that resulted in me declaring my hatred against this book for life and rating it one star on Goodreads circa 2014). And when you tell your friends a book has a mind-blowing plot twist, they’re all going to want to read it. Gone Girl was also adapted into a feature film starring Rosamund Pike and Ben Affleck, for which Pike was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Outside the literary community, this book was also banned in at least two U.S. states. Objections included sexually explicit material, LGBTQ references, suicide, drugs, violence, and profanity, to name only a few. Reminder: book bans are bad, and the censorship news cycle takes no days off.

Considered a literary mystery classic, Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” was quite controversial in its time — it was first published in 1843 — for its use of insanity as a legal defense. It involves an unnamed narrator recounting how he killed an elderly man he was living with, using various defenses against his crime before ultimately being driven mad by his conscience. Later published in a volume along with other pieces of writing as The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings in 1983, the titular story continues to both rivet and disturb readers and their communities. “The Tell-Tale Heart” has also been challenged by local governments who have objected to the violence and skewed sense of morality portrayed in the tale, which has continued to offend religious communities well into the 21st century.

First published in its native Japan in 1997 and translated into English in 2004, Natsuo Kirino’s Out has endured its fair share of controversy and pushback. It follows a young wife and mother named Masako Katori who strangles her deadbeat husband to death and seeks the aid of her co-workers to help her cover up the crime by hiding the body. Exploring the psychology of a violent crime, specifically through the lens of Japanese culture, including the yakuza, Out combines the dark humor of Thelma & Louise with the specific type of female bonding that comes with ending their suffering at the hands of men.

Described by readers as having visceral descriptions of the crime and its cover-up, Out has been polarizing in both Japanese and English for its portrayal of flawed female characters and their inherent hypocrisy and contradictions. Other readers have pointed to the female characters’ internalized misogyny as problematic, as well as the fact that Out simply isn’t for the faint of heart who can’t tolerate reading vivid descriptions of murder, dismemberment, and organized crime. The novel has also faced censorship in both Japan and North America for its graphic material, which to me just increases its appeal, don’t you think?

As an author, Cormac McCarthy was known for his graphic descriptions of violence, and as far as crime fiction goes, this one is pretty twisted. Set in the Appalachian hills, Child of God follows Lester Ballard, a man falsely accused of rape, as he is released from jail. Ballard is, however, a serial killer and necrophiliac, and the reader is invited into his mind to understand how it works, as townspeople’s perspectives on how he grew up offer insight into how he might’ve ended up this way.

Child of God was polarizing, to say the least, immediately upon its original publication in 1973. Readers found it deeply troubling, yet it has continued to be the subject of both literary and academic analysis, with scholars describing it as an early entry into the late-20th century obsession with serial killers and how they operate. The most notable controversy associated with Child of God, however, came in 2007 when a ninth-grader in Texas chose the book for an assigned book report. The student’s mother objected to the material to the point where the teacher was under investigation for providing harmful material to a minor. So, just how twisted is Child of God? Once again, maybe you’ll have to read it for yourself to find out.

Similar to Child of God, The Lovely Bones elicited similar polarization and controversy when it was first published some three decades later in 2002. Alice Sebold’s mystery tale follows a young girl who is kidnapped and murdered and then narrates her story from beyond the grave, watching from a personalized version of heaven as her loved ones come to terms with her death.

The subject matter divided readers in the early aughts, although the storyline seems less disturbing now compared to other narratives that would follow it in the years to come. (See also: literally any episode of Criminal Minds.) The Lovely Bones was a big bone of contention — no pun intended — for the parents of Malibu High School in 2006, who objected to the choice of the novel for a school-wide reading project spanning all four grades. But the choice was voted on by students, and the objection sparked a healthy debate about censorship for young people in high schools.

Much like When the Reckoning Comes, Alyssa Cole created her own version of polarizing reviews when the romance author jumped genres over to mystery and thriller with the publication of When No One is Watching in 2020. Exploring the grief associated with BIPOC communities and the horrors inflicted upon them throughout history by way of modern gentrification, the novel had some readers yelling brava while others were scratching their heads and raising an eyebrow. And that appears to be the author’s entire point, as she described her yearning to break free from the predictable, comforting confines of the romance genre and write something that would make people anxious in an interview with The New York Times. Described as both powerful and uncomfortable, When No One is Watching seems like yet another perfect example of a polarizing read whose ultimate value is left in the eye of the beholder.