The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion
The 100 best thrillers of all time? You be the judge.
Why do these lists always disappoint?
Mod
When I saw Emma Cline's The Girls on this list I almost choked.
Mod
:)
I am going to date myself, but I still like Frederick Forsyth and Jeffrey Archer.
Stieg Larsson is on it... am I the only one that doesn't like this utterly boring book? Likewise Donna Tartt...On the other hand: reading a list like this is fun because next year it could be a completely different one.
I was, however, happy to see that The Dinner by Herman Koch is on the list. He is Dutch ;-). And I was happy to see The Highrise by Ballard, because that is one of my all time favorite SF-books (it is as much SF as a thriller).
Mod
Lucky for publishers we all like different books. I don't think there is such a thing as the 100 best books, but I like looking through them to see what I might have missed. And I like a good moan about why some have made it when I didn't like it. Somehow nobody ever asks me :)
Mod
I look forward to the good moan. :)
Nancy wrote: "Gisela wrote: "Lucky for publishers we all like different books. I don't think there is such a thing as the 100 best books, but I like looking through them to see what I might have missed. And I li..."Well let's start with, what is Gone Girl doing there??? I admit I am one of the very few who didn't like it, but I REALLY didn't like it. So why is it on the list, nobody asked me!!!
However, just looked through it and there are some really good ones on there, which are now on my to read soon list.
Mod
Matt wrote: "I am going to date myself, but I still like Frederick Forsyth and Jeffrey Archer."I started the Clifton Chronicles this year, and then ended up buying Kane and Abel when it was on offer. I would like to finish the Chronicles, but not paying full kindle price for the next 4 books.
Interesting. But a bit of a stretch for me to consider some of these as thrillers.
Nancy wrote: "The only comment made to the article was interesting. Among other things, she notes that Ruth Rendell's A Dark-Adapted Eye wasn't on the list, which she calls a "glaring omission." I h..."Agreed.
I found a few books on this list that I added to my TBR pile. I'm not sure I would describe One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest as a thriller. That bothers me a lot, in fact.
Red Dragon is notably missing from this list.
I wouldn't even call The Girl on the Train one of the best 100 books I've read in the last year or so.
Tell No One is kind of bland and predictable, and also the author seems to have repeated himself several times after with a similar story.
I've only read one James Patterson book (London Bridges) and it was so bad I'll never read another.
Pattern Recognition was really boring and the other books in the series just got worse.
The Eight is the worst example I've ever seen of an author writing herself into her own book. Also it was sort of pretentious and dull.
The girl on the train is one the worst books I've read in recent years. I hated it so much that I never even bothered with gone girl (because they kept being compared). There are some on the list I still want to read but forgot about, so it's a good reminder 😊.
Mod
There are some on the list ..."
I couldn't stand Girl on The Train, and after that book, never went near another so-called domestic noir novel. I'm sure that many people enjoy that sort of thing, but it's just not for me.
Nancy wrote: "The only comment made to the article was interesting. Among other things, she notes that Ruth Rendell's A Dark-Adapted Eye wasn't on the list, which she calls a "glaring omission." I h...""Rendell ran rings around Paula Hawkins." Amen to that!
Boy are we good moaners. Agree with lots of you though :)
Jannelies wrote: "Stieg Larsson is on it... am I the only one that doesn't like this utterly boring book?..."I enjoyed the first one after I got past the initial 100 pages or so which are really boring. The ending was an eye-roller though. And the sequels are awful. The author had a terrible obsession with describing every meal his characters ate, and they all ate the same thing: black coffee, burned toast, microwave pizzas. Good grief!
Randy wrote: "Jannelies wrote: "Stieg Larsson is on it... am I the only one that doesn't like this utterly boring book?..."I enjoyed the first one after I got past the initial 100 pages or so which are really ..."
Again, this shows how you can't have a 100 best books, as everything you just described, especially the description of the foods (for reasons which are too long to write) I really liked. I loved Stieg Larsson's books.
Mod
I enjoyed the first one after I got past the initial 100 pages or so whi..."
Someone in one of my other groups posted a list of NPR's best 100 horror stories of all time, and I had to laugh. The big moan goes on, no matter which genre you read.
Gisela wrote: "Again, this shows how you can't have a 100 best books, as everything you just described, especially the description of the foods (for reasons which are too long to write) I really liked. I loved Stieg Larsson's books. "Vive la difference! :-)
Mod
Oui! D'accord.
I've read a few of the books and enjoyed. I'll have to check it out in more detail. Like I can always use more books.. :0)... What the heck is a domestic thriller? Murders in the kitchen?
I've read a good many of these books. Most of them were pretty good. "The best" of anything is such a subjective thing....We'd all probably come up with a different list.
Barbara wrote: "I've read a good many of these books. Most of them were pretty good. "The best" of anything is such a subjective thing....We'd all probably come up with a different list."
I agree!
What a list. I so agree with you guys, we would each make our own lists and it is hard to judge...but saying that it does seem like some fad books made the list than I would have liked!
Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "Why do these lists always disappoint?"I suppose because tastes are so darn varied. I agree that the "Top 100 Whatever" lists are quite often not suited to my preferences. There was a "Top 10 Burgers in DC" list that came out in the Washington Post last year though, and I don't know if they were the best but they were good! The Prez Obama burger at Good Stuff Eatery was my fave. Oops, I've gone off-topic!
Mod
To know if burgers or books are the best "of all time" requires that you have tried them all. With books it's okay to have read a ton. Not so much with burgers. :)
No Pierre Lemaitre? His Blood Wedding was a very interesting and uneasy read as you couldn't tell if the main character was imagining everything or not and the twist was incredible. The Camille Verhœven Series was full of twists and Peter Dinklage is a shoe-in to play the detective if this is ever made into a series or a movie. The author also won the Prix Goncourt (main literary prize in France) for The Great Swindle which is a thriller. The writing and the translation of his books just makes an impact.
A lot of good books out there. Hard to pick one! Love anything by Michael Connelly or Lee Child! Bravo👏
The list compiler(s) seem to have had trouble coming up with 100 to flesh out their list. Thus, Shari Lapena's The Couple Next Door, one of the worst books I've ever read, made the cut. Popularity seems to have factored into their calculations. I've never read any Dan Brown, but I've read enough about his work that I'm shocked to see him included on a "Best of" list.
Mod
This is about all time. When I was very young I saw the movie, Dorian Grey,s picture. The book is written by Oscar Wilde. I have never forgotten it!
A Time to Kill was far from Grisham's best. Interesting how the list maker broke things down into different sub-genres, which makes it easier to quibble about specific books left off the list within that sub-category. How is Michael Connelly not on the list somewhere? And why "IT" instead of "Carrie?" Well, reasonable minds may differ.
lisbeth salander is my favourite fictional character. but
seriously?
Saeed wrote: "lisbeth salander is my favourite fictional character. but seriously?"My favorite book. But probably not a "thriller."
I think it's a well-rounded list. I enjoyed the accompanying paragraphs which give the reasoning behind their choices. Maybe I'll see the film sequel to "It." :)
This is what I call a Whackadoodle list. Many of the books I would not consider mystery in any way. I still like Amazon's 100 Thrillers/Mysteries to read in a lifetime even though they only list 96. Also like goodreads list from earlier this year.
by Lawrence Sanders is one of the most unforgettable, disturbing, and overall best mystery/thrillers that I have ever read. I discovered the book decades ago and reread it when I purchased a Kindle back in 2014. The sequels that he wrote (Second, Third, and Fourth Deadly Sins) are exceptional in their own right. But aside from Sanders, there are any number of exceptional, complex and tightly plotted, "unputdownable" mystery thrillers out there to dwell exclusively on more recent novels that should not even be in the same library.
I would add "LA Requiem" by Robert Crais, replace "The Hunt for Red October" with "Without Remorse" for Clancy and put "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "The Three Musketeers" by Alexandre Dumas. I'd strongly argue that both are thrillers, within their time.Since "Frankenstein" is here, I'd also propose "Dracula", which is a better book.
Have to agree with "Killing Floor" by Lee Child. Though his later novels featured more inventive plots and polished writing, the raw brutality of this first book is hard to match
Mortal Fear (1997) by Greg ILes should be a contender. I read this novel in paperback in the late '90s. It is certainly one of the most intense, "unputdownable" chilling tales of suspense I have ever encountered. Readers today may be "put off" by the technology in the novel being "dated", but that fact should be irrelevant given the sheer power of this book to raise the hairs on the back of your neck. I like the last entry on this topic. I too would place The Killing Floor in a prominent position. It is perhaps the most chilling suspense that I have encountered in all of Reacher's escapades (and I've read them all).
The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group
Books mentioned in this topic
London Bridges (other topics)Pattern Recognition (other topics)
Red Dragon (other topics)
Adam and Eve and Pinch Me (other topics)
Tell No One (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
James Patterson (other topics)Pierre Lemaitre (other topics)
https://www.signature-reads.com/2018/...