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$20.14The Story
Eighteen thrillers and crime novels that cover the map — literally. This collection moves from a killer who hunts in the path of Oklahoma tornadoes to the brutal streets of post-apartheid Cape Town, from WWII Tokyo to the new Russia, from a Mongolian murder investigation to a Mafia don who has decided that the best way to fix a trial is to terrify the juror. There's Robert Ludlum in full Cold War mode, one of the great unsung Lionel Davidson novels, a Mallory thriller, and a debut that James Patterson called "a gripping page-turner you won't be able to stop reading." Strong box from top to bottom.
1. The Breathtaker — Alice Blanchard A serial killer who strikes in the chaos of tornado season in Oklahoma — and a detective who begins to suspect the storms aren't just cover, but something the killer is drawn to. Blanchard builds atmosphere and dread with equal skill. The Daily Express called it "Superb," and they weren't wrong.
2. Wilde Lake — Laura Lippman A new State's Attorney investigates a rape case while an older crime from her own family's past resurfaces alongside it. Lippman is one of the most genuinely literary crime writers in America — this is intelligent, layered, and quietly devastating.
3. The Club — Mandasue Heller Gritty, propulsive crime fiction set in the world of Manchester nightlife, where the music is loud and the secrets are lethal. If you like Martina Cole, the cover promises you'll love Heller — and it's a fair comparison.
4. Borrowed Time — Robert Goddard Goddard's speciality is the mystery that reaches back through time — the secret buried in the past that is still capable of killing in the present. This one involves a man determined to understand his ex-wife's death and wishing, eventually, that he'd left it alone.
5. Mixed Blood — Roger Smith Cape Town noir at its most unsparing. Roger Smith writes about post-apartheid South Africa's violence and inequality with a ferocity that makes most crime fiction look tame. Not for the faint-hearted, and absolutely unforgettable.
6. The Suspect — John Lescroart A legal thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Hunt Club — a man is suspected of murdering his wife, and the case against him is devastating. Lescroart writes courtroom tension with real procedural authority.
7. The Apocalypse Watch — Robert Ludlum A list of secret Nazi sympathisers embedded at the highest levels of Western society. A plan decades in the making. Ludlum at his most paranoid and propulsive — the kind of thriller that was made for reading in one sitting.
8. The Domino Game — Greg Wilson "Corruption, betrayal, death — welcome to the New Russia." A thriller set in the chaotic, dangerous world of post-Soviet power struggles, where the old rules no longer apply and the new ones are written in money and blood.
9. A Long Way to Shiloh — Lionel Davidson Davidson is one of the most criminally underrated thriller writers of the twentieth century — Kingsley Amis called him the best of his generation. This one follows an Israeli professor on the hunt for the lost menorah of the Temple. Brilliant, tense, and very funny in the way only truly confident writers can manage.
10. Winter House — Carol O'Connell Mallory is back. The NYPD's most compelling and troubling detective finds herself fighting something more dangerous than the usual — a case that cuts closer to home than any before it. O'Connell's prose is like no one else's in crime fiction: precise, cold, and electric.
11. The Juror — George Dawes Green A Mafia don needs to walk free. He selects a juror and tells her exactly what will happen to her son if the verdict goes wrong. Made into a film with Demi Moore and Alec Baldwin — but the novel is darker, smarter, and more deeply unsettling than Hollywood dared to go.
12. The Accident Man — Tom Cain A hitman who specialises in making murders look like accidents discovers he's been set up — and the only way out is through. Wilbur Smith said it was the best thriller he'd read since The Day of the Jackal. That's a high bar. Cain clears it.
13. The Mark — Jason Pinter A young journalist stumbles into a conspiracy that puts a target on his back before he understands what he's found. James Patterson called it "a gripping page-turner you won't be able to stop reading" — high praise from the man who invented the genre template.
14. Kill Me First — Kate Morgenroth A psychological thriller that inverts the usual power dynamic — a novel about who controls the narrative and what happens when control slips. Morgenroth writes with an unsettling precision that gets under the skin.
15. The Shadow Walker — Michael Walters A crime thriller set in Mongolia — genuinely rare territory for the genre. Inspector Nergui investigates in a landscape that feels as alien as another planet, and Walters makes the most of a setting that gives the story a strangeness no European city could provide.
16. Hunter in Huskvarna and Other Stories — Sara Stridsberg The odd one out in this collection — and all the better for it. Stridsberg is a Swedish literary author whose dark, poetic fiction sits closer to Toni Morrison than Nordic noir. A reminder that Scandinavian crime country produces writers of extraordinary range.
17. Tokyo Station — Martin Cruz Smith From the author of Gorky Park — WWII Japan, a war correspondent, and a plot that runs from Pearl Harbor to the streets of Tokyo. Smith brings the same layered moral complexity to Japan that he gave Russia, and the result is one of his finest novels.
18. Six Seconds — Rick Mofina A terrorist plot. A countdown. A journalist and an Interpol agent racing toward the same truth from opposite directions. James Patterson said it "moves like a tornado" — and for once, a cover quote is an accurate description of the reading experience.
Description
Eighteen thrillers and crime novels that cover the map — literally. This collection moves from a killer who hunts in the path of Oklahoma tornadoes to the brutal streets of post-apartheid Cape Town, from WWII Tokyo to the new Russia, from a Mongolian murder investigation to a Mafia don who has decided that the best way to fix a trial is to terrify the juror. There's Robert Ludlum in full Cold War mode, one of the great unsung Lionel Davidson novels, a Mallory thriller, and a debut that James Patterson called "a gripping page-turner you won't be able to stop reading." Strong box from top to bottom.
1. The Breathtaker — Alice Blanchard A serial killer who strikes in the chaos of tornado season in Oklahoma — and a detective who begins to suspect the storms aren't just cover, but something the killer is drawn to. Blanchard builds atmosphere and dread with equal skill. The Daily Express called it "Superb," and they weren't wrong.
2. Wilde Lake — Laura Lippman A new State's Attorney investigates a rape case while an older crime from her own family's past resurfaces alongside it. Lippman is one of the most genuinely literary crime writers in America — this is intelligent, layered, and quietly devastating.
3. The Club — Mandasue Heller Gritty, propulsive crime fiction set in the world of Manchester nightlife, where the music is loud and the secrets are lethal. If you like Martina Cole, the cover promises you'll love Heller — and it's a fair comparison.
4. Borrowed Time — Robert Goddard Goddard's speciality is the mystery that reaches back through time — the secret buried in the past that is still capable of killing in the present. This one involves a man determined to understand his ex-wife's death and wishing, eventually, that he'd left it alone.
5. Mixed Blood — Roger Smith Cape Town noir at its most unsparing. Roger Smith writes about post-apartheid South Africa's violence and inequality with a ferocity that makes most crime fiction look tame. Not for the faint-hearted, and absolutely unforgettable.
6. The Suspect — John Lescroart A legal thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Hunt Club — a man is suspected of murdering his wife, and the case against him is devastating. Lescroart writes courtroom tension with real procedural authority.
7. The Apocalypse Watch — Robert Ludlum A list of secret Nazi sympathisers embedded at the highest levels of Western society. A plan decades in the making. Ludlum at his most paranoid and propulsive — the kind of thriller that was made for reading in one sitting.
8. The Domino Game — Greg Wilson "Corruption, betrayal, death — welcome to the New Russia." A thriller set in the chaotic, dangerous world of post-Soviet power struggles, where the old rules no longer apply and the new ones are written in money and blood.
9. A Long Way to Shiloh — Lionel Davidson Davidson is one of the most criminally underrated thriller writers of the twentieth century — Kingsley Amis called him the best of his generation. This one follows an Israeli professor on the hunt for the lost menorah of the Temple. Brilliant, tense, and very funny in the way only truly confident writers can manage.
10. Winter House — Carol O'Connell Mallory is back. The NYPD's most compelling and troubling detective finds herself fighting something more dangerous than the usual — a case that cuts closer to home than any before it. O'Connell's prose is like no one else's in crime fiction: precise, cold, and electric.
11. The Juror — George Dawes Green A Mafia don needs to walk free. He selects a juror and tells her exactly what will happen to her son if the verdict goes wrong. Made into a film with Demi Moore and Alec Baldwin — but the novel is darker, smarter, and more deeply unsettling than Hollywood dared to go.
12. The Accident Man — Tom Cain A hitman who specialises in making murders look like accidents discovers he's been set up — and the only way out is through. Wilbur Smith said it was the best thriller he'd read since The Day of the Jackal. That's a high bar. Cain clears it.
13. The Mark — Jason Pinter A young journalist stumbles into a conspiracy that puts a target on his back before he understands what he's found. James Patterson called it "a gripping page-turner you won't be able to stop reading" — high praise from the man who invented the genre template.
14. Kill Me First — Kate Morgenroth A psychological thriller that inverts the usual power dynamic — a novel about who controls the narrative and what happens when control slips. Morgenroth writes with an unsettling precision that gets under the skin.
15. The Shadow Walker — Michael Walters A crime thriller set in Mongolia — genuinely rare territory for the genre. Inspector Nergui investigates in a landscape that feels as alien as another planet, and Walters makes the most of a setting that gives the story a strangeness no European city could provide.
16. Hunter in Huskvarna and Other Stories — Sara Stridsberg The odd one out in this collection — and all the better for it. Stridsberg is a Swedish literary author whose dark, poetic fiction sits closer to Toni Morrison than Nordic noir. A reminder that Scandinavian crime country produces writers of extraordinary range.
17. Tokyo Station — Martin Cruz Smith From the author of Gorky Park — WWII Japan, a war correspondent, and a plot that runs from Pearl Harbor to the streets of Tokyo. Smith brings the same layered moral complexity to Japan that he gave Russia, and the result is one of his finest novels.
18. Six Seconds — Rick Mofina A terrorist plot. A countdown. A journalist and an Interpol agent racing toward the same truth from opposite directions. James Patterson said it "moves like a tornado" — and for once, a cover quote is an accurate description of the reading experience.
