The Greatest Books of All Time on Secrets

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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  1. 826. How To Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

    In 1965 a fortune-teller tells teenage Frances Adams she will be murdered. She spends a lifetime compiling dirt on everyone she meets to prevent that fate, but nearly sixty years later she is found dead at her sprawling country estate. Her great-niece Annie arrives and must sift through Frances's files and a village of possible suspects to catch the killer before she becomes the next target.

    The 17117th Greatest Book of All Time
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  2. 827. Bleeding Heart Yard by Elly Griffiths

    When Cassie Fitzgerald attends a school reunion nearly twenty years after she and friends killed a classmate, she tries to keep the past buried. Cassie is now a married mother and a police officer who has almost erased the memory of that night. After MP Garfield Rice is found dead at the reunion, DI Harbinder Kaur leads the inquiry while Cassie suspects one of her classmates has struck again and skews the investigation until another attendee is found dead in Bleeding Heart Yard.

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  3. 828. The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths

    A ninety-year-old woman with a heart condition dies and Detective Sergeant Harbinder Kaur initially sees nothing suspicious. Natalka found many crime novels dedicated to Peggy, each bearing a mysterious postscript: PS: for PS. A gunman breaks in to steal a book and an author is found dead soon after. As attacks spread from an Aberdeen literary festival to Edinburgh, Kaur follows leads across Europe and questions how authors devise such realistic crimes.

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  4. 829. The Lost Love Songs Of Boysie Singh by Ingrid Persaud

    Four women are bound to notorious gangster Boysie Singh. Popo is brilliant and vulnerable, determined to escape past traps; Mana Lala is a devoted mother whose only tie to her man is their little boy. Doris hopes to reshape her husband into a path to climb the social ladder despite awful stories, while Rosie wants only to mind her business, her lover Etty, and her store. They recount the man they believed could love or free them and how some survived to tell the tale.

    The 17117th Greatest Book of All Time
  5. 830. The Rising Tide by Ann Cleeves

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  6. 831. A Empregada by Freida McFadden

    Millie limpa a casa de Nina e Andrew Winchester todos os dias e prepara as refeições antes de comer sozinha em seu minúsculo quarto no sótão. Nina começa a sujar os cômodos de propósito, conta mentiras perturbadoras sobre a filha e tortura psicologicamente o marido, que fica cada vez mais fragilizado. Apesar do passado problemático, Millie imagina ter a vida de Nina com roupas, carro e marido perfeitos. Logo os Winchesters descobrirão que não sabem quem Millie é nem do que ela é capaz.

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  7. 832. The Memory Painter by Womack, Gwendolyn

    An emotionally taut psychological thriller about an artist who begins producing paintings tied to memories she cannot explain; as the images surface details of a long-buried disappearance and tangled family secrets, she must unravel who she once was, who she can trust, and whether revealing the truth will bring healing or put her—and those she loves—at risk.

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  8. 833. Island Of Whispers by Frances Hardinge

    On the island of Merlank the Dead must not be allowed to linger. The very sight of their ghosts can kill. When Milo is thrust into the role of Ferryman after his father's sudden death he must carry away the Dead. Pursued by a vengeful lord and two malignant magicians, Milo must navigate strange and perilous seas where untold threats whisper in the mist while he struggles to find the courage and imagination to complete his urgent mission.

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  9. 834. Perlmann's Silence by Pascal Mercier

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  10. 835. Cold Harbor by Matthew FitzSimmons

    After brutal isolation in a CIA black-site prison, former Marine and hacker Gibson Vaughn is freed with no idea where he was or how much time he has lost. Struggling to hold on to reality, he races to rebuild the life he left and becomes consumed by vengeance against the man responsible for his rendition. As old enemies and once-trusted allies resurface, a murderous conspiracy closes in and forces him to confront the truth about those he once trusted.

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  11. 836. Call Me Irresistible by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

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  12. 837. The Dawn Of Love by Barbara Cartland

    Hertigen av Windlemere, Alstone, är stilig, populär och aktad i societeten men han är uttråkad och saknar spänning i livet. För att göra vardagen mer omväxlande utmanar han sin vän sir Hugo att ta en kvinna av låg börd, göra henne till en respektabel dam och introducera henne i societeten. Sir Hugo skickar sin föräldralösa brorsdotter Lorena. När hon får syn på Alstone blir hon hänförd och efter att ha tillbringat tid tillsammans upptäcker Alstone att hennes känslor är besvarade.

    The 17117th Greatest Book of All Time
  13. 838. Flowers For The God Of Love by Barbara Cartland

    Margaret has spent her childhood watching her parents' unhappy marriage, which made her a fierce opponent of the traditional, passionless union. Being a woman with a modern mind is difficult in a time when female submission is still considered a virtue. After their father dies in a car accident Margaret and her mother become unexpected allies as they set out to live their lives, while trying to avoid falling in love with men along the way.

    The 17117th Greatest Book of All Time
  14. 839. Identical by Ellen Hopkins

    Told in spare, lyrical verse, the novel follows identical twin sisters whose shared upbringing in a deeply dysfunctional family and hidden traumas drive them in opposite directions—one striving for control and outward success while the other spirals into risky, self-destructive behavior—until long-buried secrets and betrayals erupt, forcing both to confront questions of identity, blame, and survival.

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  15. 840. Daring And The Duke by Sarah MacLean

    The Bareknuckle Bastards Book III

    Grace Condry has spent a lifetime running from her past. Betrayed as a child by her only love and raised on the streets, she now hides in plain sight as queen of London's darkest corners. Ewan, Duke of Marwick, returns after a decade of searching, determined to win her back and make her his duchess. Grace vows revenge and keeps him close, but their reunion threatens the life she has claimed and the heart she swore he would never steal.

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  16. 841. Envy by Sandra Brown

    A New York editor Maris Matherly-Reed receives a partial manuscript from an anonymous writer traced to a Georgia island and travels to meet him. She meets Parker Evans, a wheelchair-bound man who hides his past, and coaxes from him a tale about a boat trip that leaves only one person returning. Troubled by her attraction to Parker and doubts about her marriage, Maris returns home when new chapters suggest the tale is real and pursues a truth tied to a crime and vengeful man.

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  17. 842. Just Take My Heart by Mary Higgins Clark

    After actress Natalie Raines is found dying from a gunshot, police suspect her agent and soon to be ex-husband, Gregg Aldrich. Two years later a criminal says Aldrich tried to hire him to kill Natalie, and assistant prosecutor Emily Wallace takes the case. She gives a seemingly well meaning neighbor a key to care for her dog, unaware of his violent past. The trial draws headlines and eerie sentiments haunt Emily after the jury decides Aldrich's fate, putting her transplanted heart and life at risk.

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  18. 843. Deeper Than The Dead by Tami Hoag

    When three children discover a shallow grave in 1984, a California community is shaken. The victim is a young woman with her eyes and lips sealed, the third in two years, and the FBI identifies a serial killer called the See-No-Evil killer. Agent Tony Mendez focuses on Dr. Peter Crane, a respected volunteer and father of one of the children. Tommy's teacher, Anne Navarre, is asked to probe tangled connections between two families and a revelation of evil so deep no one may survive.

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  19. 844. Secrets To The Grave by Tami Hoag

    Marissa Fordham is dead. Her daughter is found at the crime scene, injured but alive. Sheriff’s detective Tony Mendez and child advocate Anne Leone begin to peel back layers of Marissa’s life, and the shocking truth they uncover puts them directly in the sights of a killer desperate to protect a stunning secret. Marissa Fordham never existed.

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  20. 845. Down The Darkest Road by Tami Hoag

    Four years after her sixteen-year-old daughter disappeared, Lauren Lawton is the only one still chasing the ghosts of their Santa Barbara life. She believes she knows who took her daughter but has no evidence. Her husband killed himself and the suspect still stalks the family. They move to Oak Knoll, but the suspect turns up there as Leah nears sixteen. Sheriff's detective Tony Mendez and his team begin to close in on an increasingly disturbing case that poses a stunning question.

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  21. 846. Almost Dead by Lisa Jackson

    Three people have been killed: one pushed to her death, one who suffered a fatal overdose, and one shot in the heart. The victims are people labeled as obstacles and deserving of death. Cissy Cahill's family is unraveling as members die and she begins to feel watched. She hears footsteps, smells a woman's perfume, notices small personal items missing, and must uncover a shocking family secret rooted in the past before more blood is shed.

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  22. 847. Absolute Fear by Lisa Jackson

    A serial killer stalks New Orleans, leaving victims tattooed with a series of numbers. The only lead points to a crumbling asylum, Our Lady of Virtues Hospital, and to Eve Renner, who grew up exploring its secret chambers as the daughter of one of its doctors. As new bodies appear, Eve races to assemble a deadly puzzle while a killer watches and lures her back to the ruins where past betrayals may be revealed.

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  23. 848. You Will Pay by Lisa Jackson

    A prank at Camp Horseshoe one summer intended to scare a fellow counselor left two girls missing and one presumed drowned. Two decades later, detective Lucas Dalton, whose father ran the camp and who worked there that summer, investigates human remains found in a cavern and has jeopardized his career by removing evidence. Five former counselors return, each with secrets, and start receiving notes bearing a personal memento and the message You will pay, then murders begin.

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  24. 849. If She Only Knew by Lisa Jackson

    The Cahills are a wealthy San Francisco family with twisted secrets. Marla Cahill wakes from a coma after a highway crash with no memory and a reconstructed face while another woman died. Her family calls her Marla, but they are strangers as she recuperates in an isolated mansion and grows increasingly certain she is not who they say and that her life is in danger.

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  25. 850. After She's Gone by Lisa Jackson

    Sisters Cassie and Allie leave Oregon to pursue acting in Los Angeles, but Allie becomes a star while Cassie remains stuck in bit parts. When Allie's body double is shot and Allie goes missing, police trace a last call to Cassie though she has no memory of placing it, and she is confined to a Portland psych ward amid public suspicion. Cassie checks out to find Allie, but macabre murders that mimic her family make her doubt everyone and herself.

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Reading Statistics

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If you're interested in downloading this list as a CSV file for use in a spreadsheet application, you can easily do so by clicking the button below. Please note that to ensure a manageable file size and faster download, the CSV will include details for only the first 500 books.

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