It’s the time of year when I put down the sad girl literary fiction and pick up more fast-paced stuff. I’m in a bit of a slump and I feel like this is what my mind is craving!
Any recommendations for smart gripping thrillers, sci fi, action and mysteries? Or shorter books in general that will keep you reading past your bed time.
I have read and enjoyed:
Girl with the dragon tattoo trilogy
Project hail mary
Dark matter
Dungeon Crawler Carl
Jackal (Erin E Adams)
The Secret History
Woman in Cabin 10
by General-Shoulder-569
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Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel
The Power by Naomi Alderman
Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton
The Boys from Brazil — Ira Levin
American assassin — Vince Flynn
The Wayward Pines trilogy from Blake Crouch is fast paced and meets your sci fi/mystery/action requirements.
Read all three last week and enjoyed them immensely.
Scifi – **Hunter’s Run** co-written by George R. R. Martin, Garden Dozois, Daniel Abraham (from the Expanse).
More thriller Scifi – **Saturn Run** co-written by John Sanford (crime novels) and Ctein.
Thriller/fantasy – **Carrion Comfort** by Dan Simmons (from Hyperion).
More vampires – **Fevre Dream** by George R. R. Martin.
Ender’s Game, Fight Club, Here Beneath Low Flying Planes, anything by Billy Collins, Bobiverse, Fred the Vampire Accountant series, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Hunt for Red October… These are books I didn’t want to put down at the time I read them.
Short and gripping: She Rides Shotgun (won an Edgar in 2018)
Eleven-year-old Polly McClusky is shy, too old for the teddy bear she carries with her everywhere, when she is unexpectedly reunited with her father, Nate, fresh out of jail and driving a stolen car. He takes her from the front of her school into a world of robbery, violence, and the constant threat of death. And he does it to save her life.
Nate made dangerous enemies in prison—a gang called Aryan Steel has put out a bounty on his head, counting on its members on the outside to finish him off. They’ve already murdered his ex-wife, Polly’s mother. And Polly is their next target.
If your library has Hoopla it’s available there.
The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch
Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey
Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent
Content warning for all, please take care & look up specific triggers if needed.
You might like Dick Francis if you are looking for something fast paced. He wrote thrillers that take place in the horse racing world, but you do not have to have any affinity with horse racing to enjoy his books. They’re always easy to get into.