A scathing, surreal descent into madness, art, and the terrifying cost of creativity.
In Diary, bestselling author Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club, Lullaby) delivers a mind-bending psychological horror novel wrapped in satire, suspense, and social critique. Misty Wilmot is a once-promising artist stuck in a dead-end job on touristy Waytansea Island. When her husband falls into a coma after a failed suicide attempt, Misty’s world begins to fracture.
 
As she documents her daily life in the form of a diary—intended for her comatose husband—Misty uncovers disturbing messages, strange town rituals, and a history of women artists who mysteriously disappeared. The more she paints, the more control she loses, as something ancient and terrifying awakens inside her and around the island.
 
Dark, hallucinatory, and sharply ironic, Diary is a twisted tale of art as possession, the madness of ambition, and the sinister undercurrents of conformity. A must-read for fans of gothic fiction, psychological thrillers, and Palahniuk’s trademark brand of dark satire.
 
❤️ Why You’ll Love It
🧠 Psychological Mind-Bender: A descent into madness wrapped in artistic obsession and small-town secrecy.
🎨 Dark Take on Creativity: Challenges the romanticism of the tortured artist with a nightmarish twist.
🌫️ Island Gothic: Claustrophobic and atmospheric, the island setting becomes a character in itself.
🔄 Unreliable Narration: Keeps readers second-guessing what’s real, what’s imagined, and what’s being rewritten.
🖋️ Sharp, Ironic Prose: Palahniuk’s writing cuts deep—often funny, always unsettling.
 
🎯 Perfect For
Fans of psychological thrillers and gothic horror
Readers who love dark literary fiction with unreliable narrators
Anyone fascinated by themes of madness, art, and control
Readers of Iain Reid, Shirley Jackson, and Ottessa Moshfegh
 
📚Fans of Diary may also like:
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
The Shining by Stephen King