Happy National Book Lovers Day, everyone!
My favorite day of the year, I am personally celebrating by listening to the audiobook of Brad Thor’s new Scot Harvath thriller, Shadow of Doubt. I’ve already read it and written my review here, but because he is one of my all-time favorite authors ever, I always enjoy re-experiencing Thor’s books on Audible once they come out.
But really, as long as you’re reading . . . something . . . you can’t go wrong today!
So, in honor of National Book Lovers Day, here are a bunch of mysteries & thrillers I personally recommend every diehard reader check out, along with a quick note about why I love each book.
Above all else . . .
Happy reading!
American Assassin by Vince Flynn
Mitch Rapp #1
In #1 New York Times bestselling author Vince Flynn’s explosive and “captivating” (Glenn Beck) thriller, witness the young Mitch Rapp as he takes on his first assignment.
Mitch Rapp was a gifted college athlete without a care in the world…and then tragedy struck. Terrorists attacked innocent American citizens, and Rapp’s girlfriend was among the murdered. Two hundred and seventy souls perished on that cold December night, and thousands of family and friends were left searching for comfort. Mitch Rapp was one of them, but he was not interested in comfort. Now he wants retribution.
Two decades of cutthroat partisan politics have left the CIA and the country in an increasingly vulnerable position. Cold War veteran CIA Operations Director Thomas Stansfield knows he must prepare his people for the next war. America must confront Islamic terrorism with full force. Stansfield directs his protégée, Irene Kennedy, and his old Cold War colleague, Stan Hurley, to form a new group of clandestine operatives who will work outside the normal chain of command—men who do not exist.
What type of man is willing to kill for his country without putting on a uniform? Six months of intense training have prepared him to take the war to the enemy’s doorstep, and he does so with brutal efficiency. Rapp starts in Istanbul, where he assassinates the Turkish arms dealer who sold the explosives used in the terrorist attack. Rapp then moves on to Hamburg with his team and across Europe, leaving a trail of bodies. All roads lead to Beirut, though, and what Rapp doesn’t know is that the enemy is aware of his existence and has prepared a trap. The hunter is about to become the hunted, and Rapp will need every ounce of skill and cunning if he is to survive the war-ravaged city and its various terrorist factions.
This is “a bold and brawny tale that never wavers or lets up. The voice of today’s postmodern thriller generation, Flynn has never been better” (The Providence Journal) in this unforgettable novel of a young man primed to become an American assassin.
From TRBS: Vince Flynn will forever be my all-time favorite author, and to be frank, this book changed my life. American Assassin is the book that made me really fall in love with thrillers, want to cover them (which led to me launching The Real Book Spy) for a living, and eventually, even write my own books. Mitch Rapp is the most badass character ever created, period. I even named my youngest son Mitchell—after the American assassin himself. Please, if you’ve yet to discover this series, do yourself a favor and order this book immediately. I promise you won’t regret it.
Joe Pickett #16
G.P. Putnam’s Sons
The Red Desert of Wyoming is a beautiful and punishing place for anybody, even for game warden Joe Pickett and his friend Nate Romanowski in this #1 New York Timesbestselling thriller…
Nate is off the grid, recuperating from wounds and trying to deal with past crimes, when he is suddenly surrounded by a small team of elite professional special operators. They’re not there to threaten him, but to make a deal. They need help destroying a domestic terror cell in Wyoming’s Red Desert, and in return they’ll make Nate’s criminal record disappear.
But they are not what they seem, as Nate’s friend Joe Pickett discovers. They have a much different plan in mind, and it just might be something that takes them all down—including Nate and Joe.
From TRBS: I had to think long and hard about this one. Box is my favorite living author, and I love everything he’s ever written. I nearly went with Winterkill here, but in the end, Off The Grid might just be my very favorite Joe Pickett novel so far. If you’re new to the series, you can jump in here. And don’t worry, you don’t have to be a fan of Westerns to fall in love with these books. Box is a supremely gifted storyteller, and when it comes to developing a cast of characters, there’s no one better.
Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
Susan Ryeland #1
Harper
“Magpie Murders is a double puzzle for puzzle fans, who don’t often get the classicism they want from contemporary thrillers.” –Janet Maslin, The New York Times
New York Times bestseller |Winner of the Macavity Award for Best Novel |NPR best book of the Year |Washington Post best book of the Year |Esquire best book of the Year
From the New York Times bestselling author of Moriarty, this fiendishly brilliant, riveting thriller weaves a classic whodunit worthy of Agatha Christie into a chilling, ingeniously original modern-day mystery.
When editor Susan Ryeland is given the manuscript of Alan Conway’s latest novel, she has no reason to think it will be much different from any of his others. After working with the bestselling crime writer for years, she’s intimately familiar with his detective, Atticus Pünd, who solves mysteries disturbing sleepy English villages. An homage to queens of classic British crime such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, Alan’s traditional formula has proved hugely successful. So successful that Susan must continue to put up with his troubling behavior if she wants to keep her job.
Conway’s latest tale has Atticus Pünd investigating a murder at Pye Hall, a local manor house. Yes, there are dead bodies and a host of intriguing suspects, but the more Susan reads, the more she’s convinced that there is another story hidden in the pages of the manuscript: one of real-life jealousy, greed, ruthless ambition, and murder.
Masterful, clever, and relentlessly suspenseful, Magpie Murders is a deviously dark take on vintage English crime fiction in which the reader becomes the detective.
From TRBS: I have literally read thousands of books, both as a fan and critic, and I would rank this one—easily—in my all-time Top 5 favorite books. Never have I been more stunned nor sat in awe longer after turning the final page than I did after finishing this book. I still don’t know how Horowitz pulled off what he did here, but it’s incredible. There is a bit of buildup before the story really takes off, but that isn’t a knock. It’s necessary for all that follows—so give it time, and trust me, you will love this book.
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
William Morrow Paperbacks
“If you’re one of the few who haven’t experienced the genius of Agatha Christie, this novel is a stellar starting point.” — DAVID BALDACCI, #1New York TimesBestselling Author
An exclusive authorized edition of the most famous and beloved stories from the Queen of Mystery.
Ten people, each with something to hide and something to fear, are invited to an isolated mansion on Indian Island by a host who, surprisingly, fails to appear. On the island they are cut off from everything but each other and the inescapable shadows of their own past lives. One by one, the guests share the darkest secrets of their wicked pasts. And one by one, they die…
Which among them is the killer and will any of them survive?
“Agatha Christie is the gateway drug to crime fiction both for readers and for writers. . . .Just one book is never enough.” — VAL MCDERMID, Internationally Bestselling Author
From TRBS: Probably the greatest mystery novel ever written, Agatha Christie—the Queen of Crime—dazzles readers with her twisting plot about a group of people who wind up trapped on an island and then begin dying one by one. Look, Hercule Poirot is one of my all-time favorites. I adore that neurotic Belgian detective with the “little gray cells,” so it pains me not to pick a book starring him here, but this really is the mystery novel that every writer has been striving to match since the moment Agatha wrote it. If you’re younger and haven’t given Christie’s stuff a go, hear me out . . . you have to read this book. You just do. Give it a couple of chapters, and you’ll see why. The tension and suspense reach near-uncomfortable levels, and you will have no fingernails by the time you get the shocking conclusion. (Note: you know it’s a once-in-a-lifetime book because it has been ripped off so many times. Like, so many times. By other writers and in Hollywood.)
Scot Harvath #18
Atria/Emily Bestler Books
“Raw emotion, nonstop action, and relentless pacing makes Backlash another one-night read from Brad Thor.” —The Real Book Spy
#1 New York Times and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author Brad Thor is back with his most gripping thriller yet!
In ancient texts, there are stories about men who struck from the shadows, seemingly beyond the reach of death itself. These men were considered part angel, part demon. Their loyalty was to their families, their friends, and their kings. You crossed these men at your peril. And once crossed, there was no crossing back.
They were fearless; men of honor who have been known throughout history by different names: Spartan, Viking, Samurai.
Today, men like these still strike from the shadows. They are highly prized intelligence agents, military operatives, and assassins.
One man is all three.
Two days ago, that man was crossed—badly. Now, far from home and surrounded by his enemy, Scot Harvath must battle his way out.
In the most explosive novel Brad Thor has ever written, page after captivating page of action, intrigue, loyalty, and betrayal will keep you hooked until the very last sentence.
From TRBS: Like Flynn, Thor played a pivotal role in my falling in love with thrillers, and I can honestly say that without him, there would be no Real Book Spy today, and I certainly wouldn’t be an author myself. I’ve read every word he’s ever written, but picking a favorite of his books was grueling. I love them all and for different reasons. I already told you I’m celebrating National Book Lovers Day by reading his latest release, Shadow of Doubt, so for this list, I ultimately decided to go with Backlash—which, for my money, is easily one of the best thrillers to hit store shelves in the last twenty years.
Dutton
A widowed veteran gets the shock of her life in this impossible-to-put-down thriller from the bestselling author and creator of the hit Netflix dramas The Stranger and Stay Close.
In the course of multiple consecutive #1 New York Times bestsellers, millions of readers have discovered Harlan Coben’s page-turning thrillers, filled with his trademark edge-of-your-seat suspense and gut-wrenching emotion. In Fool Me Once, Coben once again outdoes himself….
Former special ops pilot Maya, home from the war, sees an unthinkable image captured by her nanny cam while she is at work: her two-year-old daughter playing with Maya’s husband, Joe—who was brutally murdered two weeks earlier. The provocative question at the heart of the mystery: Can you believe everything you see with your own eyes, even when you desperately want to? To find the answer, Maya must finally come to terms with deep secrets and deceit in her own past before she can face the unbelievable truth about her husband—and herself.
From TRBS: Of all the books that I have reviewed, more than a thousand since launching TRBS in 2015, none have rocked me harder than Coben’s Fool Me Once. Pulling off a great twist is hard, but here, Coben lands the near-impossible, jaw-dropping double-twist ending, and it’s an experience unlike anything else I’ve come across.
The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
Gallery/Scout Press
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER * FROM THE AUTHOR OF IN A DARK, DARK WOOD
Featured in TheSkimm * An Entertainment Weekly “Summer Must List” Pick * A New York Post “Summer Must-Read” Pick
A gripping psychological thriller set at sea from an essential mystery writer in the tradition of Agatha Christie.
In this tightly wound, enthralling story reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s works, Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. At first, Lo’s stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for—and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong…
With surprising twists, spine-tingling turns, and a setting that proves as uncomfortably claustrophobic as it is eerily beautiful, Ruth Ware offers up another taut and intense read in The Woman in Cabin 10—one that will leave even the most sure-footed reader restlessly uneasy long after the last page is turned.
From TRBS: Think Agatha Christie’s non-Poirot books, but with double the suspense, and you’ve got Ware’s The Woman in Cabin 10.
James Reece #6
Atria/Emily Bestler Books
Navy SEAL James Reece faces a devastating global conspiracy in this high-adrenaline thriller ripped from the headlines—by the “seriously good” (Lee Child) #1 New York Times bestselling author, Jack Carr.
In 1980, a freshman congressman was gunned down in Rhode Island, sending shockwaves through Washington that are still reverberating over four decades later.
Now, with the world on the brink of war and a weakened United States facing rampant inflation, political division, and shocking assassinations, a secret cabal of global elites is ready to assume control. And with the world’s most dangerous man locked in solitary confinement, the conspirators believe the final obstacle to complete domination has been eliminated. They’re wrong.
From the firms of Wall Street to the corridors of power in Washington, DC, and Moscow, secrets from the past have the uncanny ability to rise to the surface in the present.
With the odds stacked against him, James Reece is on a mission generations in the making. Unfortunately for his enemies, the former SEAL is not concerned with odds. He is on the warpath. And when James Reece picks up his tomahawk and sniper rifle, no one is out of range.
From TRBS: I’m going to guess that there is a zero percent chance that anyone reading this hasn’t already devoured Jack Carr’s books, but just in case, I’m adding his sixth James Reece thriller here. I love all of his books, but this one is special, and there is so much action. I’ll just say it . . . Carr is a unicorn. There is nobody like him in publishing today. He’s reached a level that few have ever seen and has become a bonafide celebrity. I know the guy personally, having met him before all the fame, and I really mean this: he hasn’t changed a bit. It honestly makes me happy that one of the most famous authors on the planet is also a really good guy. Simply put, Jack Carr is this generation’s Tom Clancy.
One Minute Out by Mark Greaney
The Gray Man #9
Berkley
A #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!
From Mark Greaney, the New York Times bestselling author of Mission Critical and a coauthor of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan novels, comes another high-stakes thriller featuring the world’s most dangerous assassin: the Gray Man.
While on a mission to Croatia, Court Gentry uncovers a human trafficking operation. The trail leads from the Balkans all the way back to Hollywood.
Court is determined to shut it down, but his CIA handlers have other plans. The criminal ringleader has actionable intelligence about a potentially devastating terrorist attack on the US. The CIA won’t move until they have that intel. It’s a moral balancing act with Court at the pivot point.
From TRBS: This one was a toss-up. I love Greaney’s work, and Back Blast is probably tied for my favorite Gray Man thriller to date. But, full disclosure, this one holds a special place in my heart. Not only is it awesome, opening with a brilliant first chapter that will have you racing to see how Courtland Gentry gets out of his current situation, but it was also the book that I had with me when my youngest child was born. I actually took my advance copy to the hospital and finished it just before my son was born. (Greaney even sent me a signed copy after the fact the commemorate the occasion.) So, while this is my pick, you truly can’t go wrong with any of the Gray Man books.
Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby
Flatiron Books
Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner • New York Times Notable Book • NPR’s Best Books of the Year • BookPage’s #1 Mystery and Suspense of the Year • Sun Sentinel’s #1 Best Mystery of the Year
“I loved Blacktop Wasteland…[A] fast-paced, bareknuckle thriller.” –Stephen King
“A roaring, full-throttle thriller, crackling with tension and charm.” –The New York Times Book Review
“One of the year’s strongest novels.” –Sun Sentinel
A husband, a father, a son, a business owner…And the best getaway driver east of the Mississippi.
Beauregard “Bug” Montage is an honest mechanic, a loving husband, and a hard-working dad. Bug knows there’s no future in the man he used to be: known from the hills of North Carolina to the beaches of Florida as the best wheelman on the East Coast.
He thought he’d left all that behind him, but as his carefully built new life begins to crumble, he finds himself drawn inexorably back into a world of blood and bullets. When a smooth-talking former associate comes calling with a can’t-miss jewelry store heist, Bug feels he has no choice but to get back in the driver’s seat. And Bug is at his best where the scent of gasoline mixes with the smell of fear.
Haunted by the ghost of who he used to be and the father who disappeared when he needed him most, Bug must find a way to navigate this blacktop wasteland…or die trying.
Like Ocean’s Eleven meets Drive, with a Southern noir twist, S. A. Cosby’s Blacktop Wasteland is a searing, operatic story of a man pushed to his limits by poverty, race, and his own former life of crime.
From TRBS: Cosby might be the most talented wordsmith working today, and I do not say that lightly. Armed with a lyrical prose and razor-sharp dialogue, Cosby knows how to keep readers hanging on his every word, and few writers can match him step-for-step when it comes to plotting and character development. The man is brilliant, and whether it’s this book or one of his other titles, make sure you check out his work straight away.
Inspector Gamache #2
Minotaur Books
From the #1 New York Times bestseller Louise Penny comes the second Armand Gamache mystery set in the stunning countryside of Quebec.
Winner of the 2007 Agatha Award for Best Novel!
Welcome to winter in Three Pines, a picturesque village in Quebec, where the villagers are preparing for a traditional country Christmas, and someone is preparing for murder.
No one liked CC de Poitiers. Not her quiet husband, not her spineless lover, not her pathetic daughter―and certainly none of the residents of Three Pines. CC de Poitiers managed to alienate everyone, right up until the moment of her death.
When Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, of the Sûreté du Quebec, is called to investigate, he quickly realizes he’s dealing with someone quite extraordinary. CC de Poitiers was electrocuted in the middle of a frozen lake, in front of the entire village, as she watched the annual curling tournament. And yet no one saw anything. Who could have been insane enough to try such a macabre method of murder―or brilliant enough to succeed?
With his trademark compassion and courage, Gamache digs beneath the idyllic surface of village life to find the dangerous secrets long buried there. For a Quebec winter is not only staggeringly beautiful but deadly, and the people of Three Pines know better than to reveal too much of themselves. But other dangers are becoming clear to Gamache. As a bitter wind blows into the village, something even more chilling is coming for Gamache himself.
From TRBS: This one has a major Agatha Christie feel to it, and in some ways, Gamache might be the best detective since Hercule Poirot. Here, you will find a beautiful winter setting, engaging characters, and a riveting mystery that begs to be solved.
How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin
Dutton
One of Amazon’s Top 10 Best Books of April,One of Jimmy Fallon’s favorite books for Spring 2024, The Top LibraryReads pick for March 2024, A Publishers Marketplace 2024 BuzzBook
Named most anticipated by: Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, BookRiot, BookBub, The Nerd Daily, Shelf Reflection, Novel Suspects, Borrow Read Repeat, The Everygirl, The Scout Guide, The Real Book Spy
For fans of Knives Out and The Thursday Murder Club, an enormously fun mystery about a woman who spends her entire life trying to prevent her foretold murder only to be proven right sixty years later, when she is found dead in her sprawling country estate…. Now it’s up to her great-niece to catch the killer.
It’s 1965 and teenage Frances Adams is at an English country fair with her two best friends. But Frances’s night takes a hairpin turn when a fortune-teller makes a bone-chilling prediction: One day, Frances will be murdered. Frances spends a lifetime trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet, compiling dirt on every person who crosses her path in an effort to prevent her own demise. For decades, no one takes Frances seriously, until nearly sixty years later, when Frances is found murdered, like she always said she would be.
In the present day, Annie Adams has been summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, Frances is already dead. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’s lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager might just have a motive for her murder. Can Annie safely unravel the dark mystery at the heart of Castle Knoll, or will dredging up the past throw her into the path of a killer?
As Annie gets closer to the truth, and closer to the danger, she starts to fear she might inherit her aunt’s fate instead of her fortune.
From TRBS: I’ve been high on this book since before it hit bookstores. Fans of Richard Osman and Freida McFadden should especially move Perrin’s book to the top of their TBR pile. Just make sure that you clear your calendar before you start because this one is nearly impossible to set down.
Pike Logan #10
Dutton
World war is on the horizon in New York Timesbestselling author Brad Taylor’s tenth heart-pounding Pike Logan thriller.
The Taskforce has stopped countless terrorist threats across the globe, operating outside of US law to prevent the death of innocents. But now, along the fault lines of the old Iron Curtain, the danger is far greater than a single attack. With Russia expanding its influence from Syria to the Baltic States, the Taskforce is placed on stand-down because of the actions of one rogue operator.
Meanwhile, Pike Logan and Jennifer Cahill travel to Poland, hired to verify artifacts hidden for decades in a fabled Nazi gold train, only to find themselves caught amid growing tensions between East and West. A Russian incursion into Belarus under the facade of self-defense is trumped by a horrific attack against the United States, driving NATO to mobilize even as it tries to determine who is behind the strike.
From TRBS: They don’t make many authors quite like Brad Taylor. A veteran of more than twenty years in the U.S. Army, including eight years in 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta, commonly known as Delta Force, Taylor knows his stuff. But here’s the thing . . . whereas some writers are known as special forces operators who became authors, Taylor is different. This guy is a world-class New York Times bestselling author who just so happens to be a former Tier One operator. Smart, insightful, and articulate, when Taylor talks, people should listen. And when he tells a story, just know that there’s a good chance it’ll one day play out in future headlines. It was hard to pick just one Pike Logan thriller for this list, and in reality, you can’t go wrong with any of them.
The English Girl by Daniel Silva
Gabriel Allon #13
Harper
ONE GIRL. SEVEN DAYS. NO SECOND CHANCES.
Madeline Hart is a rising star in British government: beautiful, intelligent, driven to succeed by an impoverished childhood. But she also has a dark secret: she is the lover of Prime Minister Jonathan Lancaster. When she disappears on the island of Corsica, it’s clear her kidnappers know about the affair and intend to make the PM pay dearly for his sins. Fearful of a scandal that will destroy his career, Lancaster decides to handle the matter privately, and not involve the police.
Enter Gabriel Allon—assassin, art restorer, and spy—who must find Madeline within seven days before she is executed. With the clock ticking, Allon is thrust into a deadly game of shadows in which nothing is what it seems—and where the only thing more dangerous than his enemies is the truth.
From TRBS: Silva, one of the greatest spy novelists of all time, is in many ways America’s le Carre. Here, his beloved hero, Gabriel Allon—an Israeli spy who happens to be one of the world’s most respected art restorers—has just one week to find an English woman with ties to the Prime Minister. That sounds pretty straightforward, but expect the unexpected because as soon as Allon goes on the hunt, things begin twisting and turning in ways you won’t believe.
The Only One Left by Riley Sager
Dutton
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Named a summer book to watch by The Washington Post, Boston Globe, USA Today, Oprah, Paste, Country Living, Good Housekeeping, and Nerd Daily
“Propulsive … a dizzying Gothic whodunit.”
—New York Times Book Review
Bestselling author Riley Sager returns with a Gothic chiller about a young caregiver assigned to work for a woman accused of a Lizzie Borden-like massacre decades earlier.
At seventeen, Lenora Hope
Hung her sister with a rope
Now reduced to a schoolyard chant, the Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929.While most people assume seventeen-year-old Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it. Other than her denial after the killings, she has never spoken publicly about that night, nor has she set foot outside Hope’s End, the cliffside mansion where the massacre occurred.
Stabbed her father with a knife
Took her mother’s happy life
It’s now 1983, and home-health aide Kit McDeere arrives at a decaying Hope’s End to care for Lenora after her previous nurse fled in the middle of the night. In her seventies and confined to a wheelchair, Lenora was rendered mute by a series of strokes and can only communicate with Kit by tapping out sentences on an old typewriter. One night, Lenora uses it to make a tantalizing offer—I want to tell you everything.
“It wasn’t me,” Lenora said
But she’s the only one not dead
As Kit helps Lenora write about the events leading to the Hope family massacre, it becomes clear there’s more to the tale than people know. But when new details about her predecessor’s departure come to light, Kit starts to suspect Lenora might not be telling the complete truth—and that the seemingly harmless woman in her care could be far more dangerous than she first thought.
From TRBS: Sager is such a talent. It’s hard to describe his stuff, but I think “Stephen King meets Agatha Christie” might do it. This book is scary-good, literally, but then again, so is everything he’s written. Strap in tight and prepare to be thrilled.
