The 100 best thrillers of all time? You be the judge.

[Bill]

Pisces51 wrote: "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 ev..."

I've only read Natchez Burning by Iles, was quite impressed.

[Pisces51]

Mortal Fear was the first novel I read by Greg Iles, and it is Mississippi Book 1, and Book 2 is 24 Hours. It, too, is a chilling novel of suspense. I've read it over the years a couple of times. I am not sure I would place it in the Top 100 of all time. There is a movie adaptation of it with Charlize Theron, but as usual the book was immensely better. Another thrilling suspense tale from his is True Evil, a standalone. It is outstanding not to mention original. Mississipi Books 3, 4 and 5 are also outstanding (Dead Sleep, Sleep No More and Blood Memory respectively). The first two are more in line with chilling psychological suspense thrillers but Blood Memory is a standout as a dark dramatic mystery that "takes no prisoners", hooks you from the first page, one of my favorites of all his books. If anyone hasn't explored Iles' works he or she is really missing out on some outstanding thrillers. I've only mentioned ones that are more appropriate for this discussion of "thrillers".

[Richard]

Jannelies wrote: "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 co..."

I don't know if you're the only one, but you are greatly outnumbered. I thought the Larsson books were awesome, action packed, thrilling.

[Richard]

I realize I am late to this party, but this list, excuse the expression, sucks. Gone Girl? One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest? Not really in the thriller genre are they. Mysterys, ok. The author of this list was perhaps confused. There are also a lot of really dated books on here. Hunt for Red October did not age well, and Pattern Recognition was unreadable. Neuromancer was Gibson's only readable book. I have a lot of objections to this list even though there are a few gems like Larsson. Sherlock Holmes? Sure, the stories are awesome but everyone has already read Doyle, get with the times. I can't trust the list's author's tastes and so won't be trying any of the ones I haven't read.

[Gail]

really enjoyed dorothy sayers lord whimsey series - read them years ago - I'd like to see them on Netflix or prime as 6 - 8 episodes to do them justice
more recently I've really enjoyed Louise Penny (gamache), Jacqueline winspear (Maisie dobbs), Elly griffiths (galloway), and Robert Galbraith (strike) - I find them all well written and I always learn something new

[Susan]

I love the Ruth Galloway series but I think Maisie Dobbs is getting a little tired. I like the Strike series too. Good choices.

[Jannelies (living between hope and fear)]

Richard wrote: "Jannelies wrote: "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 yea..."

Well, let's agree to disagree... that is the nice thing about being here on GR. We all have different tastes but we don't judge each other.

[Gretchen]

Gisela wrote: "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 mi..."

I didn't like Gone Girl the book much at all but I really liked the movie.

[Darshna]

How about The Chain by Adrian McKinty?

[Susan]

There is probably no bigger fan of McKinty than me ( I have even done a tour of his haunts in Carrickfergus-out of Belfast) but there is no way I would put The Chain on the top 100 books of all time.

[Amy]

M.L. wrote: "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." :)"

Thanks for posting that Amazon list!

I'm so glad I found this group, so many good books to add to my reading queue.

I just peeked at Berlin Noir (a collection of books) by Philip Kerr and where has that been all my life??

I admit I like Gillian Flynn but preferred Dark Places much more than Gone Girl. I've tried multiple times to start Paula Hawkins but never got hooked enough to pursue it.

I recently began reading mystery and genre fiction because I just couldn't continue with the quality of literary fiction now published, if the extreme focus on the mundane and autofiction is adopted by the literary fiction world anymore, it seems literary fiction might fall into a black hole of nothingness.

I'm open to novels without a plot but just burnt out I guess on the inward focus of literary fiction.

[Anna]

Nancy wrote: "Another list that will add more books to your tbr pile:

https://www.signature-reads.com/2018/......"
So many I haven't read. I'm horrified and now want to commit WAY more time to reading! I'd have to say I'm a Steig Larsson fan in as much as I couldn't wait to see what Lizbeth would do next. I love that Misery by Stephen King is on it as I was literally on pins and needles for how the author would get out of that cocka-doody house!

[Amanda]

I was thinking about this subject in a general way lately, but for mysteries and thrillers as a single group, since I don't really distinguish. I think such a list should work like the Rock & Roll hall of fame: no one is eligible to be on it until the applicable book (or at least the first book, if it's a series) has been around for at least 20 or 25 years. That way you can blunt the effect that we tend to remember the most recent books we've read better.
There should be an official (not sure who should publish it) "Hall of Fame" list. I was thinking about this because my local library has almost no books that are more than 10 years old, and when there are series, usually has only one or two of the most recent titles. That means there's really no way for people to discover authors whose books are not new, which is a shame.

[Julian]

No, too many of these are just silly.
There's so few good crime novels out there that they have to include SciFi in a thrillers list? :(

[Barbara]

I would probably replace The DaVinci Code with A Ring of Roses, eliminate The Girls, The Conformist, Rant and Jurassic Park and add
The Other, by Thomas Tryon
Rosemary's Baby, Ira Levin
The Collector, John Fowles
The Auctioneer, Joan Samson

[Robbert]

"A sight for sore eyes" by Rendell is not even in it? Hahaha..What a farce

[James]

I will echo Pisces51 in praising the works of Greg Iles. His absence on the list is quite glaring. But then, I think several of the entries are stretching the definition of a "thriller".

And while I love the movie, there is no way that JAWS should be on that list. While the descriptions of the attacks and the hunt for the shark (which takes up the last third of the novel) are often quite chilling, the rest of the book just doesn't measure up.

The characters are not interesting or sympathetic, the Matt Hooper/Ellen Brody affair is pointless, and the mafia-keeping-the-beaches-open rationale was tired even back in 1974 when the book was released.

Spielberg effectively dumped most of the novel in favor of a better crafted screenplay that would make the audience identify and like the main characters (Brody, Hooper, Quint) while turning the scare meter up to 11... Basically, JAWS is a far, far better thriller as a film than it ever was as a novel.

[Nellie]

Ludlum and Robert Parker come to mind.

[Nellie]

And of course, DeMille, Silva, Le Carre,

[[deleted user]]

On the list, I'd go with The Hound of the Baskervilles, although The Sign of the Four is actually my favourite Sherlock Holmes novel.

Also (apologies if I've missed them), but why don't Frederick Forsyth or Ian Rankin get a mention? The Day of the Jackal and Black and Blue warrant a place in any list of top thrillers.

[Amy]

My favourite book of 2021 so far is Turning the Tide by Elizabeth Harvey!
It's about a Head Teacher who returns to a village she left under mysterious circumstances.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Turning-Tide...

[Randall]

Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne series was not easy to put down. Anyone agree with that?

[Huck]

There are so many omissions from this list it's staggering - i haven't read many of these, or even heard of the authors - that doesn't mean they're not great, but i'd certainly question many of the inclusions i have read.. Talented Mr Ripley, Rebecca, The Big Sleep, Hound of the Baskervilles, Spy Who Came In from the Cold, Double Indemnity would probably make my top 100. Dan Brown, Stieg Larsson, Donna Tartt, Lee Child, John Grisham - all bestsellers but those aren't "great" books. Graham Greene and James Ellroy have much better books in print.

[Peggy]

The Charm School by Nelson DeMille first hooked me on his writing and later, The Lion's Gate. However, I did not attempt to mimic his style of mystery when I began writing the first of my 26 novels. As we've all been told. Write about what you know. From an author’s perspective, writing in a popular genre and about a place I've enjoyed for a half century just made sense. My stories lean toward psychological suspense as they intentionally lack the gratuitous violence that saturates other genre. I appreciate authors who don’t insult my intelligence or my senses, so I purposely design stories to encourage my audience to think, not blink or worse… stop reading.

[Kirsten]

Peggy wrote: "The Charm School by Nelson DeMille first hooked me on his writing and later, The Lion's Gate. However, I did not attempt to mimic his style of mystery when I began writing the first of my 26 novels..."

I've never read a Nelson DeMille. Who would you compare him to?

[Tara]

Randall wrote: "Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne series was not easy to put down. Anyone agree with that?"

So much richer and more developed than the movies. Very readable for sure.

[Andrew]

Please don't hang me, but i've never read a Stieg Larsson book. I promise you all I will, honestly.

[Bruce]

Same Andrew. That’s on my list after a lot of other books, but I do want to read them.

[Rob]

I'm curious at all the dislike for Gone Girl. I read it expecting to hate it - 'anything this popular must be lowest common denominator garbage, right?' - but found it thrilling, disturbing, witty, sharply observed. I loved it - and I read several of the books that are now compared to it and have titles that are obviously intended to evoke it and didn't think any of them came anywhere close. I'd love to hear from people who disagree - what didn't you like?

[Randy]

Don't look at me. I thought it was a terrific. If it seemed implausible to some -- well, sure; but so is Hannibal Lector.

[Tone]

I'm not one of the haters either. On the contrary, I enjoyed this book very much. In particular, I was thrilled by the use of different perspectives and unreliable narrators that started a trend at the time. It was something new and refreshing. Still, I agree that it worked better in Gone Girl than in most of the similar books that followed.

[James]

I will echo the love for The Charm School by Nelson DeMille. But I enjoyed some of his later novels just as much, if not more, than that particular title.

I have not sampled Gone Girl as a novel. I saw the movie adaptation and thought it was okay, but it didn't make me want to read the book. Though I did read Sharp Objects and enjoyed it.

[Ivory]

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 like a good moan ..."

Agreed! I'll definitely be adding The Secret History, Rebecca, and Woman in White to my list now!

[Christine]

Gisela wrote: "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 whi..."

I was thrilled with Stieg Larsson's trilogy from the first page, but I had watched the Swedish TV series based on the books first and the movie with Daniel Craig. The English translation is not very smooth, the German translation is a lot better.

Obviously nobody noticed the similarities between Val MacDermind's novel "A Place of Execution" and the first Stieg Larssonvolume. He even mentions somewhere in the first book that one of the protagonists is reading Val MacDermid.

[Christine]

Nancy wrote: "Another list that will add more books to your tbr pile:

https://www.signature-reads.com/2018/......"

One of the best crime novels I've read is by French author Jean-Paul Izzo, his Marseille trilogy (Total Cheops, Chourmo, Solea). French noir style. I have been to Marseille several times and also watched the TV mini series "Fabio Montale" (we requested it from our public library here in MA) with Alain Delon which is excellent and did inspire me to read the books.

[Nancy, Co-Moderator]

Christine wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Another list that will add more books to your tbr pile:

https://www.signature-reads.com/2018/......"

I loved those books; one of the best playlists I've ever concocted came out of the trilogy.

[Christine]

A friend of mine from Munich, Germany, talked me into reading "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt. She said you'll love it, it's set in Vermont. I love books set in New England, so I gave it a try. Started reading it and read the first 200 or so pages and nothing much happened. I was about to give up, but she convinced me to read on. So I did. After 350 pages I stopped as still nothing much had happened. I found the book very boring and lacking of atmosphere.

[Carol]

I loved Dracula, I loved Bourne series, Love In Death series, love Alex Cross series. Many happy hours here.

[Nancy, Co-Moderator]

Carol wrote: "I loved Dracula, I loved Bourne series, Love In Death series, love Alex Cross series. Many happy hours here."

I liked Alex Cross at the beginning of the series, a long time ago; I think I got to The Big Bad Wolf before saying I'd had enough. My husband really liked the series.

[Georgia]

I love Michael Connelly’s books

[Khosch]

For me:
Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
Intensity by Dean Koontz

I have read and enjoyed many of the books mentioned here, but those three stand apart.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Khosch wrote: "For me:
Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
Intensity by Dean Koontz

I have read and enjoyed many of the books mentioned here, but those three stand apart."

I'm definitely going to read Intensity then, because the two Thomas Harris books you mentioned were both amazing.

[Khosch]

Yeah, it is fantastic! Not like his usual stuff (with a small exception).
I first listened to the book and it is like it takes place in real time. Incredibly gripping.
Enjoy!