Killer Thrillers – The Long List!

This will be the longest post ever on The Reader…

Earlier this year, National Public Radio initiated a survey among it’s listeners to ask them to nominate their favourite thrillers of all time. They came up with a very longlist of 200 titles!

Please note that their working definition of thriller must have been very broad, as there are titles included on the list not typically considered a thriller, e.g. The Hound of the Baskervilles, In Cold Blood, The Shining.

I had fun counting how many titles I had read (or tried to read).
I also have placed several titles on hold. There are many years worth of reading suggestions here if you are a reader into adrenaline fiction.

Here is the (very long) list, including hyperlinks to the print versions in our cool new library catalogue:

206 Bones by Kathy Reichs
The 39 Steps by John Buchan
61 Hours by Lee Child

The Alienist by Caleb Carr
American Tabloid by James Ellroy
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
Angels & Demons by Dan Brown

Bad Things Happen by Harry Dolan
Bangkok 8 by John Burdett
Berlin Game by Len Deighton
Blowback by Brad Thor
The Bone Collector by Jeffery Deaver
The Book of Spies by Gayle Lynds
The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin
The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker
The Brotherhood of the Rose by David Morrell

The Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Cape Fear by John MacDonald
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
Cathedral by Nelson Demille
The Chancellor Manuscript by Robert Ludlum
Charm School by Nelson Demille
Chernobyl Murders by Michael Beres
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
Children of Men by PD James
China Lake by Meg Gardiner
Chinaman’s Chance by Ross Thomas
Christine Falls by Benjamin Black
Clear and Present Danger by Tom Clancy
The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte
Consent to Kill by Vince Flynn
Contact by Carl Sagan
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
Dark Star by Alan Furst
Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
The Day After Tomorrow by Allan Folsom
The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
Dead I Well May Be by Adrian McKinty
Dead Zone by Stephen King
Declare by Tim Powers
The Deep Blue Good-by by John MacDonald
The Deep Shadow by Randy Wayne White
Depths by Henning Mankell
The Devil’s Star by Jo Nesbo
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Dragon Factory by Jonathan Maberry
Drawn in Blood by Andrea Kane

The Eight by Katherine Neville
The Endless Game by Bryan Forbes
Evidence of Murder by Lisa Black
Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett

Fail-Safe by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler
Falcon Seven by James Huston
Fall From Grace by Larry Collins
Fault Line by Barry Eisler
Feed by Mira Grant
The Fifth Profession by David Morrell
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Final Stroke by Michael Beres
The Firm by John Grisham
First Blood by David Morrell
The First Deadly Sin by Lawrence Sanders

Garnethill by Denise Mina
Ghost Shadow by Heather Graham
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Goldfinger by Ian Fleming
Gone Baby Gone by Dennis Lehane
Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child
Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith
The Guards by Ken Bruen

The Hard Way by Lee Child
Hardball by Sara Paretsky
Headhunter by Michael Slade
Heartsick by Chelsea Cain
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Hunt For Red October by Tom Clancy

Ice Station by Matthew Reilly
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
In The Woods by Tana French
Inca Gold by Clive Cussler
Instinct by Jeremy Robinson
Intensity by Dean Koontz
It by Stephen King

Jaws by Peter Benchley
Journey Into Fear by Eric Ambler
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

The Kill Artist by Daniel Silva
The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson
The Killing Floor by Lee Child
Killshot by Elmore Leonard
Kiss the Girls by James Patterson

The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
Lie in the Dark by Dan Fesperman
The Likeness by Tana French
The List of 7 by Mark Frost
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell
The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon
Marathon Man by William Goldman
Masquerade by Gayle Lynds
The Matarese Circle by Robert Ludlum
Metzger’s Dog by Thomas Perry
The Ministry of Fear by Graham Greene
The Monkey’s Raincoat by Robert Crais
The Mystic Arts of Eliminating All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston
Mystic River by Dennis Lehane

The Negotiator by Frederick Forsyth
Night Gardener by George Pelecanos
The Ninja by Eric Van Lustbader
No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

Out by Natsuo Kirino

Parallax View by Loren Singer
The Passage by Justin Cronin
Persuader by Lee Child
Pet Sematary by Stephen King
The Poet by Michael Connelly
Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow
Primal Fear by William Diehl
Psycho by Robert Bloch
Pulse by Jeremy Robinson

Rain Fall by Barry Eisler
Raise the Titanic! by Clive Cussler
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett
Reflex by Dick Francis
The Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Road Dogs by Elmore Leonard
Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household
Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin
Rules of Prey by John Sandford

Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
The Salzburg Connection by Helen MacInnes
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Seven Days in May by Fletcher Knebel & Charles W Bailey II
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Shibumi by Trevanian
The Shining by Stephen King
Shogun by James Clavell
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
Silent Joe by T. Jefferson Parker
A Simple Plan by Scott Smith
The Sisterhood by Michael Palmer
The Sisters by Robert Littell
Six Days of the Condor by James Grady
Slayground by Richard Stark
Song of Kali by Dan Simmons
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John Le Carre
The Stand by Stephen King
Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
Strong Justice by Jon Land
Subterranean by James Rollins

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
Tears of Autumn by Charles McCarry
Tell No One by Harlan Coben
The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry
The Third Rail by Michael Harvey
A Time to Kill by John Grisham
Timeline by Michael Crichton
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carre
The Tomb by F. Paul Wilson
Tropic of Night by Michael Gruber

Under the Dome by Stephen King
The Unlikely Spy by Daniel Silva

Vanished by Joseph Finder

Watchlist: a serial thriller by Jeffery Deaver et al.
What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman
Wired Kingdom by Rick Chesler
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

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The Big Move to Toronto