14 Popular Mystery & Thriller Books

14 Popular Mystery & Thriller Books

Books in list (14)


Title: The Postman Always Rings Twice

The sultry young wife of a diner owner conspires with an aimless drifter to murder her husband
Author(s): James M. Cain
ISBN 13: 9780679723257
Pages: 128
This book is in (4) other book lists, learn more.


Title: The Secret History

Truly deserving of the accolade a modern classic, Donna Tartt’s novel is a remarkable achievement—both compelling and elegant, dramatic and playful.

Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality their lives are changed profoundly and forever, and they discover how hard it can be to truly live and how easy it is to kill.

An impressive debut novel from a new voice in fiction, The Secret History tells of a small circle of friends at an esteemed college in New England, whose studies in Classical Greek lead them to odd rituals, shocking behavior--and murder.

Author(s): Donna Tartt
ISBN 13: 9781400031702
Pages: 576
This book is in (3) other book lists, learn more.

Title: Missing, Presumed - A Novel

Author(s): Susie Steiner
ISBN 13: 9780812998320
This book is in (2) other book lists, learn more.

Title: Wife of the Gods

Author(s): Kwei Quartey
ISBN 13: 9781400067596
This book is in (2) other book lists, learn more.

Title: The Water Knife

By the National Book Award-finalist author of The Windup Girl.
Author(s): Paolo Bacigalupi
ISBN 13: 9780385352871
Pages: 384
This book is in (4) other book lists, learn more.

Title: The Last Good Kiss (C.W. Sughrue Series #1)

Tough, hard-boiled, and brilliantly suspenseful, The Last Good Kiss is an unforgettable detective story starring C. W. Sughrue, a Montana investigator who kills time by working at a topless bar. Hired to track down a derelict author, he ends up on the trail of a girl missing in Haight-Ashbury for a decade. The tense hunt becomes obsessive as Sughrue takes a haunting journey through the underbelly of America's sleaziest nightmares.

Author(s): James Crumley
ISBN 13: 9780394759890
Pages: 256
This book is in (2) other book lists, learn more.

Title: The Last One

This is an uncompromising, thought-provoking debut."--Justin Cronin "Haunting, moving, and remarkable, Alexandra Oliva's debut novel is clever in its concept and gripping in its delivery.
Author(s): Alexandra Oliva
ISBN 13: 9781101965085
Pages: 304
This book is in (2) other book lists, learn more.

Title: Playing with Fire

"--The Huffington Post "Will make readers drop everything to immerse themselves in its propulsive dual narrative."--Los Angeles Times From the Hardcover edition.
Author(s): Tess Gerritsen
ISBN 13: 9781101884362
Pages: 320
This book is in (2) other book lists, learn more.

Title: The Kill Artist (Gabriel Allon Series #1)

Former Israeli intelligence operative Gabriel Allon is drawn back into the game to take on a cunning terrorist on one last killing spree, a Palestinian zealot who played a dark part in Gabriel's past. And what begins as a manhunt turns into a globe-spanning duel fueled by both political intrigue and deep personal passions...

Author(s): Daniel Silva
ISBN 13: 9780451209337
Pages: 512
This book is in (2) other book lists, learn more.

Title: Behind Closed Doors

A chilling thriller that will keep you reading long into the night.” —Mary Kubica, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Good Girl "This outstanding debut novel will leave you breathless." —Bella "Brilliant, chilling, ...
Author(s): B A Paris
ISBN 13: 9781250121004
Pages: 304
This book is in (3) other book lists, learn more.

Title: The Neon Rain (Dave Robicheaux Series #1)

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR JAMES LEE BURKE

THE NEON RAIN

Detective Dave Robicheaux has fought too many battles: in Vietnam, with killers and hustlers, with police brass, and with the bottle. Lost without his wife's love, Robicheaux's haunted soul mirrors the intensity and dusky mystery of New Orleans' French Quarter — the place he calls home, and the place that nearly destroys him when he becomes involved in the case of a young prostitute whose body is found in a bayou. Thrust into the world of drug lords and arms smugglers, Robicheaux must face down a subterranean criminal world and come to terms with his own bruised heart in order to survive.

Author(s): James Lee Burke
ISBN 13: 9780743449205
Pages: 288
This book is in (2) other book lists, learn more.

Title: The Bourne Identity

His memory is a blank. His bullet-ridden body was fished from the Mediterranean Sea. His face has been altered by plastic surgery. A frame of microfilm has been surgically implanted in his hip. Even his name is a mystery. Marked for death, he is racing for survival through a bizarre world of murderous conspirators—led by Carlos, the world’s most dangerous assassin. Who is Jason Bourne? The answer may kill him.
Author(s): Robert Ludlum
ISBN 13: 9780553593549
Pages: 599
This book is in (5) other book lists, learn more.

Title: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Norton Critical Edition

This Norton Critical Edition of Stevenson's enduringly popular and chilling tale is based on the 1886 First British Edition, the only edition set directly from Stevenson's manuscript and for which he read proofs. The text has been rigorously annotated for student readers and is accompanied by a textual appendix.

"Backgrounds and Contexts" includes a wealth of materials on the tale's publication history as well as its relevance to Victorian culture. Twelve of Stevenson's letters from the years 1885-87 are excerpted, along with his essay "A Chapter on Dreams," in which he comments on the plot's origin. Ten contemporary responses—including those by Julia Wedgwood, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Henry James—illustrate Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde's initial reception. Stevenson's 1885 tale "Markheim," a precursor to Jekyll and Hyde and a window onto the Victorian sensation market, is reprinted in its entirety in this Norton Critical Edition. Karl Miller, Jenni Calder, and Judith Halberstam discuss literary genres central to Jekyll and Hyde. Four scientific essays—including one by Stephen Jay Gould—elucidate Victorian conceptions of atavism, multiple-personality disorder, narcotics addiction, and sexual aberration. Judith R. Walkowitz and Walter Houghton consider the implications of Victorian moral conformity and political disunity for society at large.

"Performance Adaptations" addresses—in writings by C. Alex Pinkston, Jr., Charles King, and Scott Allen Nollen—the many ways in which Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has been dramatized over more than a century and explores its status as a perpetually effective vehicle for changing psychological and social concerns. A checklist of major performance adaptions is provided, along with a sampler of publicity photos.

"Criticism" includes essays by G. K. Chesterton, Vladimir Nabokov, Peter K. Garrett, Patrick Brantlinger, and Katherine Linehan that center on the tale's major themes of morality, allegory, and self-alienation.

A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included.

Author(s): Robert Louis Stevenson
ISBN 13: 9780393974652
Pages: 240
This book is in (2) other book lists, learn more.

 


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