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??? Can anyone suggest a gripping crime/detective thriller novels?

Hi everyone!???

Can anyone suggest a gripping crime/detective thriller novels?I am on my longest book slump (blaming it on pregnancy hormones) and I can’t get a grip on a good book.Thank you!???

Ei #recommend #crime #thriller

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123 Answers

Alison

I loved “The Secrets She Keeps”, by Michael Robotham. “Behind Her Eyes” is also fabulous.

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Erin

I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes. It is thrilling and and so well written!

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Karoline

I second this.

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Celia

#ditto

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Dvora

You have inspired me to buy the hardcover of this book. Something I very rarely do these days.

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Sharon

Anything by John Sandford or Michael Connolly. Tana French is also great.

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Carolyn

My suggestions as well…

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Samantha

Chelsea Cain, HEARTSICK

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Jo

I was just going suggest any Chelsea Cain book!

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Jen

Tana French, Karin Slaughter, Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling)

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Ann

I AM PILGRIM is as gripping as it gets!

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Ruth

Anything by Michael Connelly, Robert Crais or Dennis Lehane.

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Jami

Linda Castillo. Sooo good!

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Marian

I am Pilgrim, Terry Hayes

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Amanda

I could >not< get into this (Pilgrim). I felt like it was 50 pages of telling and info dump... and I put it down shortly thereafter. Is there any action in it at all?

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Karoline

@Amanda Yes, there’s a lot.

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Celia

Gripping read

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Lynda

The Monkey’s Mask by Dorothy Porter … it’s in verse, but brilliantly written.

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Amanda

Handmaid’s Tale remains one of the best books I have ever read, and as a writer, I am a very harsh, unforgiving judge. However, I can totally recommend Peter James’s Roy Grace series. Great pacing, excellent writing, and best of all, outstanding characterisation

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Mary

I just read the first one, Dead Simple, and loved it!

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Melanie

The Scarpetta series by Patricia Cornwell. I believe it starts with “Postmortem”, if I remember correctly. My favorite crime novels of all time.

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Colleen

Love the early Cornwell books,not so much the last few.

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Melanie

She did change voices and tenses about 12 books in and it threw me off, for sure.

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Mary

Loved the first ones but I can’t stand the ones that are all about Lucy.

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Earleen

Department Q series by Jussi Adler-Olsen…gripping Danish cold case detective. Read in order, starting with https://www.amazon.com/Keeper-Lost-Causes-First-Department-ebook/dp/B0052RDIUA/ref=la_B0043BVIJE_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1505274735&sr=1-2

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Cynthia

LOVE this series!

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Kathy

Agreed. Big fan.

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Jessica

In the Woods by Tana French

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Patti

Reading Faithful Place by Tana French and enjoying it as well

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Melanie

I tried that one and couldn’t get into it. I’m not sure what my problem was.

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Eve

Shari Lapena.

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Susie

If you’re looking for something not too graphic… I enjoyed Ware’s 1st novel, the second not so much, & currently reading the 3rd (they’re stand alones): http://www.ruthware.com/

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Laura

Donald Westlake’s Dortmunder series of crime novels is smart (even though some of Dortmunder’s criminal colleagues aren’t), and uproariously funny. Bank Shot, one of my favorites, is sure to grab you in spite of pregnancy brain.

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Bonnie

Elizabeth George novels. Addictive, wonderful well developed characters in the series.

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LJ

Definitely the newest Sharon Bolton book, “Dead Woman Walking.”

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Rosalie

Jo Nesbo, the bat.

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Karen

Lee Child – Jack Reacher books.

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Linda

Agree. Easy to read but interesting.

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Melanie

Just don’t imagine Tom Cruise as Reacher-so awful!

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Karen

@Melanie so bad. Not hulky or 6’4″ and blonde!!

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Jamie

Robert Bryndza – Erika Foster series

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Jamie

And his chick-lit books are excellent if you’re into those.

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Karen

Anything by Jo Nesbo.

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Karoline

Anything in Jo Nesbo’s Harry Hole-series. I read them in Norwegian, but I have heard that the English translations are excellent.

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Carolyn

Julia Spencer-Fleming!

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Amanda

Intensity by Dean Koontz

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Becky

Plum Island by Nelson Demille

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Nicola

Lars Kepler … The Hypnotist, The Nightmare, The Fire Witness, The Sandman and Stalker AND I’m Travelling Alone by Samuel Bjork

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Sarah

Stephen King’s Mr Mercedes is an easy read. It’s very good but not too taxing if you’re not looking for something too heavy.

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Melany

the bone collector by jeffrey deaver

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Karen

The Dry by Jane Harper, the audiobook is great with the Aussie accents, The Passenger by Lisa Lutz (go girl power), American Housewife: Stories, by Helen Ellis, very funny stuff. Departure by A.G. Riddle, if you liked Lost (tv show) you will like this. Good luck, don’t feel bad about not finding something you like, it happens. There are SO many books in the world. I will give a book a second chance later on, because maybe it was just my mood at the time. If I don’t like it twice, out it goes. Congrats on the baby!

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Amanda

Great with the Aussie accents, lol…I live in one of those places that gets a dry…

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Celia

Totally agree about The Dry.

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Patricia

Once again, I will mention Laurie R. King. This time her Kate Martinelli series. It starts with A Grave Talent.

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Vincenza

Tana French or Adrian McKintey

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Lori

John Connelly’s “Charlie Parker” series.

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Jan

I really enjoy the Camilla Lackberg books. The series is called “Patrik Hedstrom” or “Fjallbacka” series. She’s a Swedish author and I think there are 8 out and translated into English. You can get some of them in epub format from ebook.bike for free. If you decide to try them I suggest you do read them in order if you want to follow the lives of the main detective. I’d be interested to hear what you think. I’ve recommended them to a few people and they’ve enjoyed them.

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Vincenza

@Rosalie check out these recommendations

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Celia

The Chemist by Stephanie Meyer. Kept me totally engaged.

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Donna

Laura Lippman, lots of good mysteries.

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Marianne

More mysteries then thriller – but love Louise Penny Inspector Gamache series.
Need to be read in order.
Also enjoy Prey series with Lucas Davenport by author John Sanford.

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Sharon

Also John Sanford’s Virgil Flowers series…

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Krista

I was going to recommend the Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny too. Agree, read them in order. I believe that ‘Still Life’ is the title of the first book.

They aren’t thrillers, but they are great crime mysteries that are really character driven. I LOVE this series.

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Vanessa

the latest book by michael connelly

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Shannon

I recently read Boar Island by Nevada Barr. Good detective thriller. Also liked You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott.

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Teresa

I was recently reminded of a terrific series I read years ago and loved. I’m planning to listen to the first in the series on audiobook in December on a road trip with my family. Hoping they’ll love it as much as me and maybe it would be a good series for you also. A strong interesting older female character. It’s the Mrs. Pollifax series by Dorothy Gilman. Any other fans out there?

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Marianne

I loved the Pollifax series. Read them when they first came out in the 1970s, 80s. I reread a couple recently and seemed dated so not quite as good as when I first read them but still enjoyable.

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Barbara

The Louise Penny books…start with Still Life and read in order

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Beverly

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/657034.Heartsick?from_search=true

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Laura

Ruth Rendell’s Detective Wexford mysteries never disappoint. Haven’t checked the thread so please forgive if this has already been suggested.

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Jan

I agree. Great series. Also P.D. James and John Sandford.

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EiQuestion author

Hi everyone..thank you so much for all your recommendations..everything has been noted..I will go over each book and their reviews tomorrow and hopefully I can start reading again.This pregnancy is giving me a hard time and I am mostly tied to the bed (as per OB’s order).You are all great and thank you so much for giving a bit of your time to comment and give suggestions.Appreciate it!Hugs to everyone!???

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Jill

Linda Fairstein. Alex cooper novels. An NYC prosecutor. Great series.

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Twila

ALL of Michael Connelly’s books are fabulous- I think he is the best mystery writer out there.

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Jeri

By Reason of Insanity by Shane Stevens is by far the best crime novel I have ever read.

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Andrea

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith is fantastic! It’s been around awhile so you may have read it already.

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Rosalie

All books by Tana French are fabulous. Also like series like Louise Penney, Elizabeth George, Anne Perry, Michael Connelly. All should be read in order.

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Saundra

I like Tana French

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Maureen

Berlin Noir

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Barbara

T. Jefferson Parker, esp. Pacific Beat, Silent Joe, and the Merci Rayburn series. Just read Wendy Corsi Staub’s Blood Red. Very good. And Janelle Brown’s new Watch Me Disappear. Also great.

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Jaye

I really like several Scandinavian authors…Jo Nebsco, Henning Markell, Camilla Lackberg, Stieg Larson (The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo- series) I also like Greg Iles series in Mississippi-best read in order.

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Susan

Helter Skelter

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Barbara

I read this years ago and recently bought it but haven’t reread it yet. Thanks for the reminder

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Penny

My favorite web site for finding crime/detective thrillers is
http://stopyourekillingme.com/

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Penny

“Stop, You’re Killing Me! is a resource for lovers of mystery, crime, thriller, spy, and suspense books. We list over 4,900 authors, with chronological lists of their books (over 57,000 titles), both series (5,800+) and non-series. Use the alphabetical author and character links above Top or the special indexes in the left column. And it’s perfectly fine with us if you print our pages for your private use, especially for a trip to your local library or bookstore.”

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Melanie

the Alex Cross series by James Patterson, especially the early ones,

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Amanda

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

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Sally

Inherit the Bones by Emily Littlejohn The detective is pregnant!

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Joseph

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

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Tim

Rebus series by Ian Rankin. Also, Val Macdermid is really good. Both are British authors

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Toby

Nutshell by McEwan read while pregnant!

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Saundra

The Girl with The Dragon tattoo

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Susan

True crime: In Cold Blood

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Becca

Anything by Agatha Christie ? also Dominance by Will Lavender, as well as his other book Obedience.

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Rosalie

Tana French books are all great and don’t have to be read in order. Same for Dennis Lahane. His books are different each time. Lots have been made into movies.

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Carol

Robert Parker’s Spenser series. Its fun to start at the beginning and watch the evolution of both characters and the author. An easy but satisfying read.

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Rosemary

The man on the train by Patricia Highsmith.

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Barbara

Strangers on a Train?

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Rosemary

@Barbara oh yeah, that’s it.

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Rosemary

@Barbara oh yeah, that’s it.

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Jackie

Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith aka JK Rowling

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Joy

Blind Man of Seville, by Robert Wilson. (And then the rest of the books in that series, but you have to go in order.)

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Stephanie

No one has mentioned Sue Grafton. I have not read her books but am about to start A is for Alibi. Should I not?

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Rosalie

Probably not for an avid, serious reader

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Stephanie

@Rosalie interesting. Thanks. I will give the book a try but sounds like I will not like it. I have heard so much about her books esp the newest. I read hardly any crime/mystery. I have read Still Life & liked it alright also Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie which I loved. That is about it.

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Stephanie

Teresa Baker Infinite Jest is on my TBR list. My husband says it is genius & I will love it. I consider myself a serious reader so we shall see what I think. Thanks for your comment

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Sue

I loved her books and have read all of them. Interesting characters that you look forward to finding out what they are doing in the next book.

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Michelle

I love the Mr. Mercedes series by Stephen King and Tana French’s Dublin Squad books. Both pretty dark but excellent and amazingly written. I also like Sue Graftons Alphabet series.

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Jaye

I am a big Stephen King fan….I actually think his writing is even better now than some of his earlier books, which at the time I thoroughly enjoyed.

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Michelle

He’s my most favorite. I am a Constant Reader for sure! ?

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Davida

My husband is completely hooked on the Jeffrey Archer Clifton Chronicles, but they’re more thriller/action books. What about Nicci French’s “Frieda Klein” novels with the weekdays in each of the titles (starting with Blue Monday)?

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Joseph

Andrea Camilleri’s Montalbano books, starting with The Shape of Water, and Harry Bingham’s Fiona Griffiths series, starting with Talking to the Dead

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Laura

Anything by Elmore Leonard.

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Quintino

bleeding edge by thomas pynchon

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Richard

The Dublin Murder Squad series by Tana French.

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Leah

Steve Hamilton, Faye Kellerman, Jo Nesbo, Donna Leon, Peter Robinson, Ian Rankin….

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Beverly

Dick Francis.

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Toby

Excellent but dated by new technology

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Vickie

Robert Crais. You LOVE the characters

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Vickie

LA Reqiuem. Oh my gosh, these are all great crime thrillers

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Jon
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Earleen

Jussi Adler-Olsen Dept Q series. Gripping

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Nikhil

Raymond Chandler works

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