Sunday, August 8, 2010

NPR Audience Picks - Top 100 Killer Thrillers


The NPR audience nominated some 600 novels to our "Killer Thrillers" poll and cast more than 17,000 ballots. to continue reading go here

The Winner: The Silence Of The Lambs by Thomas Harris beat out two other serial killer books -- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson and Kiss the Girls by James Patterson -- for the No. 1 spot.


Here is the List - I have watched a ton of the movies, I need to get to reading. Stephen King is my brothers favourite author so I have access to all those books to read.  There are a few I am not interested in though, eg. Dan Brown.
 
1. The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris (My ultimate favourite movie) 4 1/2


2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

3. Kiss the Girls, by James Patterson

4. The Bourne Identity, by Robert Ludlum

5. In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote

6. The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown

7. The Shining, by Stephen King

8. And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie 4

9. The Hunt tor Red October, by Tom Clancy  (My boyfriends favourite movie)

10. The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

11. Dracula, by Bram Stoker  3

12. The Stand, by Stephen King (Watched Movie)

13. The Bone Collector, by Jeffery Deaver  4

14. Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton

15. Angels & Demons, by Dan Brown

16. A Time to Kill, by John Grisham

17. The Andromeda Strain, by Michael Crichton

18. Mystic River, by Dennis Lehane

19. The Day of the Jackal, by Frederick Forsyth

20. Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier  5 (A favourite of all time)

21. Eye of the Needle, by Ken Follett

22. It, by Stephen King (DNF, not my cup of tea)

23. The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas

24. The Girl Who Played with Fire, by Stieg Larsson (DNF, not my cup of tea)

25. Jaws, by Peter Benchley

26. The Alienist, by Caleb Carr

27. Red Dragon, by Thomas Harris

28. Presumed Innocent, by Scott Turow

29. The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett

30. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, by Stieg Larsson

31. No Country For Old Men, by Cormac McCarthy

32. Gone Baby Gone, by Dennis Lehane

33. Gorky Park, by Martin Cruz Smith

34. Rosemary's Baby, by Ira Levin

35. Subterranean, by James Rollins

36. Clear and Present Danger, by Tom Clancy (Watched Movie)

37. Salem's Lot, by Stephen King (TBR)

38. Shutter Island, by Dennis Lehane  3

39. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, by John Le Carre

40. The Poet, by Michael Connelly

41. The Boys from Brazil, by Ira Levin

42. Cape Fear, by John MacDonald

43. The Bride Collector, by Ted Dekker

44. Pet Sematary, by Stephen King

45. Dead Zone, by Stephen King

46. The Manchurian Candidate, by Richard Condon

47. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, by John Le Carre

48. The Talented Mr. Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith

49. Tell No One, by Harlan Coben

50. Consent to Kill, by Vince Flynn

51. The 39 Steps, by John Buchan

52. Blowback, by Brad Thor

53. The Children of Men, by P.D. James

54. 61 Hours, by Lee Child

55. Marathon Man, by William Goldman

56. The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins

57. 206 Bones, by Kathy Reichs

58. Psycho, by Robert Bloch  5

59. The Killing Floor, by Lee Child

60. Rules of Prey, by John Sandford

61. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins  3 1/2 (Movie 5)

62. In the Woods, by Tana French

63. Shogun, by James Clavell

64. The Relic, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child  4 1/2

65. Intensity, by Dean Koontz

66. Casino Royale, by Ian Fleming

67. Metzger's Dog, by Thomas Perry

68. Timeline, by Michael Crichton

69. Contact, by Carl Sagan

70. What the Dead Know, by Laura Lippman

71. The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

72. The Cabinet of Curiosities, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

73. Charm School, by Nelson DeMille

74. Feed, by Mira Grant

75. Gone Tomorrow, by Lee Child

76. Darkly Dreaming Dexter, by Jeff Lindsay  2

77. The Secret History, by Donna Tartt

78. The First Deadly Sin, by Lawrence Sanders

79. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson

80. The Brotherhood of the Rose, by David Morrell

81. Primal Fear, by William Diehl

82. The Templar Legacy, by Steve Berry [tie]

82. The Hard Way, by Lee Child [tie]

84. The Last of the Mohicans, by James Fenimore Cooper

85. Six Days of the Condor, by James Grady

86. Fail-Safe, by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler

87. Strangers on a Train, by Patricia Highsmith

88. The Eight, by Katherine Neville

89. The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown

90. Goldfinger, by Ian Fleming

91. Bangkok 8, by John Burdett

92. The Kill Artist, by Daniel Silva

93. Hardball, by Sara Paretsky

94. The Club Dumas, by Arturo Perez-Reverte

95. The Deep Blue Good-by, by John MacDonald

96. The Monkey's Raincoat, by Robert Crais

96. Berlin Game, by Len Deighton [tie]

98. A Simple Plan, by Scott Smith

99. Child 44, by Tom Rob Smith

100. Heartsick, by Chelsea Cain 3 1/2


So do you have any recommendations that you think I should add to my TBR list?  Go over to Stacy's Books to see her comments on the list, she recommends # 98.

Read 11 - 2 DNF = 13 (updated Jan 2013)

Thanks for visiting Tea Time with Marce

9 comments:

  1. I counted over on Stacy's blog and I think I've read 12 of the books. I think overall, it's probably a pretty good list, though.

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  2. Wow, great list! I'm going to use it as a sort of reference when I'm in the mood for thrillers. Thanks! :D

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  3. Wow, this is a great list. I've read 16 of them and have many more on my shelves.

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  4. Think 'Silence of the Lambs' was a scary movie and probably a scarier book, so I won't be reading that one! Yes, I am a wuss. *L*

    I've read 24 on the list and have 3 more in my TBR pile, which sort of surprised me. Think some of them are more horror than thriller, but that's just my opinion. I really like Lee Child and Dean Koontz, so would recommend any of their titles. Have fun!

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  5. I have only read 13. I wonder if you would like Rebecca. Hunger Games is surprisingly very enjoyable.

    I have Silence of the Lambs and should really read it soon. Kiss the Girls maybe my first James Patterson book. Thanks for the list.

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  6. Oh no! My TBR list just grew by leaps & bounds (gulp).....

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  7. I love thrillers so will definitely have to look through this and see what I don't have yet! With regards to Waking The Witch, you can read it as a standalone, but it'd make more sense if you read Stolen (the second book) as it refers back to someone in that book. I would highly recommend the whole series though, it's fantastic :)

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  8. Thanks for the shout out :) I love Silence of the Lambs too and really need to read the book.

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  9. Anything by stephen king is brilliant. In Cold Blood is interesting especially seeing as how Truman Capote became friends with the killers. Personally, I didn't find The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo that thrilling but each to their own...

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