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Hotlists 2008

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Booklists

Lists of books, many of which received at least one starred review (indicating a work of unusual merit) from the following review sources: Booklist , Publisher's Weekly (PW), Kirkus and Library Journal (LJ). Additional titles of interest may be included on the lists. Titles are generally listed alphabetically by author.

 

 

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Booklists and Suggested Reading

Thrillers Crime Fiction Booklist

 

Page Modified: April 5, 2008

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Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram Book Magazine, unless noted.

• Breathtaker
  Author: Blanchard, Alice
  Publisher: Warner $ 24.95 ISBN: 0446531391 Date: 2003
  LJ
  An award-winning author delivers a must-read literary thriller--a twister of a tale about a detective trying to outwit a killer (and Mother Nature) in Tornado Alley.
  Suggested Reading: Stormy Weather
  Updated 9.25.03
• The Last Good Day
  Author: Blauner, Peter
  Publisher: Little, Brown $ 24.95 ISBN: 0316098736 Date: 2003
  PW
  Murder among the minivans: an electrifying thriller from the renowned author of The Intruder reveals the underworld of secrets and crimes hiding just beneath the surface in suburbia.
  Updated 3.27.03
• Slipping Into Darkness
  Author: Blauner, Peter
  Publisher: Little Brown $ 24.95 ISBN: 0316098663 Date: 2006
  Kirkus
  The bestselling author of The Intruder delivers his most gripping thriller yet: A detective investigating a brutal murder discovers an impossible link to a case he closed 20 years before.
  Updated 11.22.05
• Blood Junction
  Author: Carver, Caroline
  Publisher: Mysterious $ 24.95 ISBN: 0892967706 Date: 2002
  PW Library Journal
  The outstanding thriller from the winner of the Crime Writer's Association's Debut Dagger Award is set in the unforgiving landscape of the Australian outback. When journalist India Kane is framed for the murders of a friend and a cop, she resolves to find out why they died.
  Suggested Reading: First Fiction & Mystery Debuts | Survival
  Updated 8.16.02
• The Murder Artist
  Author: Case, John
  Publisher: Ballantine $ 25.95 ISBN: 0345464710 Date: 2004
  Kirkus PW
  A TV reporter sets out on a coast-to-coast quest against time to save his twin sons in this novel by the Hammett Prize-nominated author of the Eighth Day.
  Suggested Reading: Twins
  Updated 9.20.04
• Persuader
  Author: Child, Lee
  Publisher: Delacorte $ 24.95 ISBN: 0385336667 Date: 2003
  PW Kirkus Booklist
  Introducing Persuader, Child's most electrifying suspense novel yet--featuring his utterly unique hero, ex-Army cop Jack Reacher. This time Reacher goes undercover to investigate the disappearance of a federal agent from a drug dealer's home.
  Suggested Reading: All Stars | Thrillers
  Updated 3.31.03
• Death Match
  Author: Child, Lincoln
  Publisher: Doubleday $ 24.95 ISBN: 0385506708 Date: 2004
  Kirkus
  In Child's latest thriller, former FBI forensic psychologist Christopher Lash is asked to investigate when seemingly perfect young couples begin committing double-suicides. The case leads him to a high-tech matchmaking company and brings him face-to-face with his own demons.
  Suggested Reading: Dating Stars
  Updated 3.11.04
• No Second Chance
  Author: Coben, Harlan
  Publisher: Dutton $ 24.95 ISBN: 0525947299 Date: 2003
  Booklist
  Both a white-knuckle thriller and a story about the loyalty of old friends and the love of a father, this is a masterpiece from a bestselling author (Tell No One, Gone for Good) who writes "suspense at it's finest."--Jeffrey Deaver.
  Updated 3.31.03
• Just One Look
  Author: Coben, Harlan
  Publisher: Dutton $ 25.95 ISBN: 0525947914 Date: 2004
  Booklist
  From the manicured lawns of suburbia to a maximum security penitentiary where a killer has an extraordinary secret to tell, one tragic mistake from years ago will not be forgotten in this powerful thrill ride of a novel unlike any other.
  Updated 3.11.04
• Chasing the Dime
  Author: Connelly, Michael
  Publisher: Little Brown $ 25.95 ISBN: 0316153915 Date: 2002
  Kirkus
  From the bestselling author of A Darkness More than Night comes a searing thriller about a simple wrong number that opens a line into terror. Henry Price has a whole new life--new apartment, new telephone, new telephone number. He soon discovers that the messages on his line are for a woman named Lilly, and she is in serious trouble that could cost him all he holds dear.
  Updated 8.27.02
• In the Company of Liars
  Author: Ellis, David
  Publisher: Putnam $ 24.95 ISBN: 0399152474 Date: 2005
  PW LJ
  Told in chronological reverse, from its enigmatic end to its brilliant beginning, this original thriller is centered on a woman on trial for murder and caught between compelling forces, each represented by someone who may not care if the pressure kills her in the end.
  Updated 3.21.05
• Pyro
  Author: Emerson, Earl
  Publisher: Ballantine $ 24.95 ISBN: 0345462882 Date: 2004
  Kirkus
  From the bestselling author of Vertical Burn and Into the Inferno comes a pulse-racing thriller based on startling true events involving arson and murder.
  Suggested Reading: On Fire
  Updated 6.30.04
• Death Dance
  Author: Fairstein, Linda A.
  Publisher: Scribner $ 26 ISBN: 0743254899 Date: 2006
  Booklist LJ
  The bestselling author of Entombed goes behind the scenes of New York City's theater world--from Broadway to Lincoln Center--in this riveting Alexandra Cooper thriller rich with authenticity, history, and suspense.
  Updated 11.22.05
• The Warlord's Son
  Author: Fesperman, Dan
  Publisher: Knopf $ 23 ISBN: 0375414738 Date: 2004
  PW
  In this electrifying thriller set in present-day Afghanistan, the fates of an American journalist and his Pakistani translator become dangerously intertwined with the fortunes of warlords, spies, and dubious corporate interests.
  Suggested Reading: Afghanistan | Adult Books for Teens
  Updated 8.16.04
• Avenger
  Author: Forsyth, Frederick
  Publisher: St Martins $ 26.95 ISBN: 0312319517 Date: 2003
  Booklist PW LJ
  In this heart-stopping thriller of murder, intrigue, deception, and revenge, attorney Calvin Dexter is called upon to settle an old score. But the game is changing, and this time CIA agent Kevin McBride must find a way to stop Dexter before his quest for vengeance throws the world into chaos.
  Suggested Reading: All Stars | Adult Books for Teens | Former Yugoslavia
  Updated 9.08.03
• Vertical Run
  Author: Garber, Joseph R.
  Publisher: Bantam $ 21.95 ISBN: 0553100335 Date: 1995
  Booklist
  A hot, compelling thriller sure to be one of the biggest hits of the summer. Every morning, in his 45th-floor executive office, David Elliot savors the moments before his workday begins--until the morning his boss aims a gun at him. For the rest of the day, everyone David meets will try to kill him. He has 24 hours to find out why.
  Suggested Reading: Time Changes | The Office
  Updated 8.24.05
• The Killing Hour
  Author: Gardner, Lisa
  Publisher: Bantam $ 23.95 ISBN: 0553802526 Date: 2003
  PW
  As a heat wave of epic proportions descends, the game begins again. Two girls have disappeared . . . and the clock is ticking. Rookie FBI agent Kimberly Quincy knows she'll have to break some rules to beat an exactingly vicious criminal at a game he's had time to perfect.
  Updated 7.1.03
• Alone
  Author: Gardner, Lisa
  Publisher: Bantam $ 24 ISBN: 0553802534 Date: 2005
  LJ
  When a sniper with the Massachusetts State Police SWAT Team saves a woman and her young son by shooting her armed husband, he finds himself in a twisted minefield of sordid wealth and family secrets--and a lot of trouble.
  Updated 12.27.04
• The Hostage
  Author: Griffin, W.E.B.
  Publisher: Putnam $ 26.95 ISBN: 0399153144 Date: 2006
  PW
  An American diplomat's wife is kidnapped, and her husband murdered before her eyes. Her children will be next, if she doesn't tell the kidnappers where her brother is--a brother who may know quite a bit about the burgeoning UN/Iraq oil-for-food scandal. There is an awful lot of money flying around, an awful lot of hands reaching out to grab it--and some of those hands don't mind shedding as much blood as it takes.
  Updated 11.7.05
• Got the Look
  Author: Gripando, James
  Publisher:HarperCollins $ 24.95 ISBN: 006056458x Date: 2006
  LJ
  A chilling ransom note demands a wealthy husband pay what his wife's worth. The husband decides she's worth nothing because she's been having an affair with attorney Jack Swyteck. Swyteck, who had no idea his new girlfriend was married, goes up against the fiendishly clever kidnapper.
  Updated 12.27.05
• In a True Light
  Author: Harvey, John
  Publisher: Carroll & Graf $ 26 ISBN: 0786710535 Date: 2002
  PW Booklist
  A master at the top of his form redefines the crime novel with a gripping neo-noir thriller that revisits the bohemian art scene of 1950s New York.
  Suggested Reading: Noir | Art
  Updated 8.13.02
• Turning Angel
  Author: Iles, Greg
  Publisher: Scribner $ 25.95 ISBN: 0743234715 Date: 2006
  PW
  "New York Times" bestselling author Greg Iles brings the secrets of the South alive in this vibrant novel of infatuation, murder, and sexual intrigue set in his hometown of Natchez, Mississippi.
  Updated 10.31.05
• The Death Collectors
  Author: Kerley, Jack
  Publisher: Dutton $ 24.95 ISBN: 0525948775 Date: 2005
  Kirkus PW LJ
  The Hundredth Man was universally praised as the debut novel in a series to watch. Now, author Jack Kerley returns with The Death Collectors, which will establish him as one of the most innovative thriller writers today.
  Suggested Reading: All Stars
  Updated 6.29.05
• Hitler's Peace: A Novel of the Second World War
  Author: Kerr, Philip
  Publisher: Putnam $ 26.95 ISBN: 0399152695 Date: 2005
  LJ
  From the author of the Berlin Noir trilogy comes a stunning World War II "what if" thriller in which the fate of Europe--and of its remaining three million Jews--hangs in the balance.
  Suggested Reading: Alternate History | World War Stars
  Updated 4.19.05
• Velocity
  Author: Koontz, Dean
  Publisher: Bantam $ 27 ISBN: 0553804154 Date: 2005
  PW
  Koontz delivers the must-read thriller of the summer, with a tour de force of suspense squarely in the tradition of his classic #1 "New York Times" bestseller, Intensity.
  Updated 4.25.05
• The Ethical Assassin
  Author: Liss, David
  Publisher: Ballantine $ 24.95 ISBN: 140006421x Date: 2006
  Kirkus
  Edgar Award-winning author Liss's first contemporary thriller offers an original view of odd dreamers, political intrigue, and the strange, corrupt ways of life in America.
  Suggested Reading: If You Like Carl Hiaasen
  Updated 10.25.05
• The Wall
  Author: Long, Jeff
  Publisher: Atria $ 24 ISBN: 0743266161 Date: 2006
  PW
  When Hugh Glass sets off into the vertical wilderness of El Capitan with his former climbing partner, the two become entangled in a deadly rescue attempt where the rescuers become victims hounded by their demons.
  Suggested Reading: Rock Climbing | Wild Life
  Updated 11.7.05
• The Sniper's Wife
  Author: Mayor, Archer
  Publisher: Mysterious $ 23.95 ISBN: 0892967676 Date: 2002
  PW
  In a triumphant departure from his acclaimed Joe Gunther series, bestselling author Archer Mayor delivers a new stand-alone thriller that follows Detective Willy Kunkle through the darkest corners of New York City in search of a vicious killer.
  Updated 9.30.02
• Heart of the Hunter
  Author: Meyer, Deon
  Publisher: Little Brown $ 23.95 ISBN: 0316935492 Date: 2004
  LJ Kirkus Booklist
  In his stunning American debut, the South African thriller writer delivers the story of a kidnapping and of a man refusing to reclaim the ruthless methods he mastered in the darkest days of South Africa's battle for survival.
  Suggested Reading: All Stars | South Africa
  Updated 7.6.04
• Dead at Daybreak
  Author: Meyer, Deon
  Publisher: Little Brown $ 23.95 ISBN: 0316000124 Date: 2005
  LJ Booklist PW
  The newest headspinning thriller from the breakout South African crime writer, author of Heart of the Hunter, is the story of an ex-cop who has seven days to solve a seemingly unsolvable crime--the answer to which lies in his own dark past.
  Suggested Reading: All Stars
  Updated 7.11.05
• Cold Pursuit
  Author: Parker, T. Jefferson
  Publisher: Hyperion $ 23.95 ISBN: 0786868058 Date: 2003
  Booklist Kirkus
  From the Edgar Award-winning author of Silent Joe comes a new hard-hitting thriller of murder, vengeance, and secret passions that will keep readers spellbound.
  Updated 1.26.03
• The Big Bad Wolf
  Author: Patterson, James
  Publisher: Little Brown $ 27.95 ISBN: 0316602906 Date: 2003
  PW
  Number 1 bestselling author James Patterson's Alex Cross makes his debut with the FBI in this action-packed rollercoaster of a thriller.
  Updated 10.7.03
• Cold Springs
  Author: Riordan, Rick
  Publisher: Bantam $ 23.95 ISBN: 0553802364 Date: 2003
  Booklist
  The "king of Texas crime-writing" showcases the talent that has earned him the Edgar, the Shamus, and the Anthony Awards, in a blistering stand-alone thriller that hits with all the force of a Texas tornado.
  Updated 3.31.03
• Falling Off Air
  Author: Sampson, Catherine
  Publisher: Mysterious $ 22.95 ISBN: 0892968133 Date: 2004
  Booklist
  Sampson's debut thriller is about a young mother who becomes embroiled in a murder investigation when her neighbor's body falls past her window.
  Suggested Reading: Debuts
  Updated 5.7.04
• Blindfold Game
  Author: Stabenow, Dana
  Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 031234323x Date: 2006
  PW
  A CIA analyst traces the sale of black market plutonium, realizing that a terrorist attack is under way on a valuable American target. He also sees that the Coast Guard cutter his estranged wife serves on is sailing right into the attack and the heart of an international crisis.
  Updated 10.17.05
• Monkeewrench
  Author: Tracy, P.J.
  Publisher: Putnam $ 23.95 ISBN: 0399149783 Date: 2003
  PW
  Haunted by their pasts, Grace McBride and the crew of her software company, Monkeewrench, create a computer game where the killer is always caught and the good guys always win. But their game becomes a nightmare when someone begins duplicating the fictional murders in real life, down to the last detail.
  Updated 3.3.03
• Kill Me
  Author: White, Stephen
  Publisher: Dutton $ 25.95 ISBN: 0525949305 Date: 2006
  LJ
  In this "thinking person's thriller" (Jeffery Deaver), bestselling author Stephen White throws out everything readers think they know about twists, turns, and surprises as he introduces the Death Angels.
  Updated 12.27.05

 

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