The Greatest Thrillers of All Time

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 394 '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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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
14 Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky 1866 Russian Russian
63 In Cold Blood Truman Capote 1966 American English
58 Rebecca Daphne du Maurier 1938 British English
74 Dracula Bram Stoker 1897 British English
91 The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas 1844 French French
93 The Long Goodbye Raymond Chandler 1953 American English
110 The Hound of the Baskervilles Arthur Conan Doyle 1902 British English
120 The Maltese Falcon Dashiell Hammett 1930 American English
123 The Talented Mr. Ripley Patricia Highsmith 1955 American English
143 The Name of the Rose Umberto Eco 1980 Italian Italian
158 The Woman in White Wilkie Collins 1860 British English
159 And Then There Were None Agatha Christie 1939 British English
207 Brighton Rock Graham Greene 1938 British English
210 The Spy Who Came in From the Cold John le Carré 1963 British English
223 The Shining Stephen King 1977 American English
229 The Stand Stephen King 1978 American English
247 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Agatha Christie 1926 British English
254 The Secret History Donna Tartt 1992 American English
280 The Godfather Mario Puzo 1969 American English
294 2666 Roberto Bolaño 2004 Chilean Spanish
325 The Daughter of Time Josephine Tey 1951 British English
352 The Quiet American Graham Greene 1955 British English
365 The Postman Always Rings Twice James M. Cain 1934 American English
424 Casino Royale Ian Fleming 1953 British English
434 The Silence of the Lambs Thomas Harris 1988 American English
453 American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis 1991 American English
526 The Last of the Mohicans James Fenimore Cooper 1826 American English
544 The Day of the Jackal Frederick Forsyth 1971 British English
546 Gaudy Night Dorothy L. Sayers 1935 British English
551 We Have Always Lived in the Castle Shirley Jackson 1962 American English
558 Rosemary's Baby Ira Levin 1967 American English
579 The Magus John Fowles 1965 British English
627 The Mask of Dimitrios Eric Ambler 1939 British English
633 Fingersmith Sarah Waters 2002 British English
643 Salem's Lot Stephen King 1975 American English
664 The Adventures of Caleb Williams William Godwin 1794 British English
670 Beast In View Margaret Millar 1955 Canadian English
692 Gone Girl Gillian Flynn 2012 American English
709 The Thin Man Dashiell Hammett 1934 American English
718 In A Lonely Place Dorothy B. Hughes 1947 American English
730 Them Joyce Carol Oates 1969 American English
753 The Sympathizer Viet Thanh Nguyen 2015 American English
799 A Kiss Before Dying Ira Levin 1953 American English
814 The Midwich Cuckoos John Wyndham 1957 British English
835 Misery Stephen King 1987 American English
844 Double Indemnity James M. Cain 1943 American English
868 Fantômas Marcel Allain, Pierre Souvestre 1911 French French
880 Smilla's Sense of Snow Peter Høeg 1992 Danish Danish
720 It Stephen King 1986 American English
882 The Wasp Factory Iain Banks 1984 British English
944 The Exorcist William Peter Blatty 1971 American English
972 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy John le Carré 1974 British English
997 The Last Good Kiss James Crumley 1978 American English
1001 Devil in a Blue Dress Walter Mosley 1990 American English
1008 Get Shorty Elmore Leonard 1990 American English
1046 The Killer Inside Me Jim Thompson 1952 American English
1049 Rogue Male Geoffrey Household 1939 British English
1093 Faceless Killers Henning Mankell 1991 Swedish Swedish
1130 Smiley's People John le Carré 1979 British English
1139 Snow Crash Neal Stephenson 1992 American English
1165 House of Leaves Mark Z. Danielewski 2000 American English
1187 The Round House Louise Erdrich 2012 American English
1208 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
1222 A Perfect Spy John le Carré 1986 British English
1240 Psycho Robert Bloch 1959 American English
1242 The Hunt for Red October Tom Clancy 1984 American English
1310 Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead Olga Tokarczuk 2009 Polish Polish
1313 A Judgement In Stone Ruth Rendell 1977 British English
1317 Deliverance James Dickey 1970 American English
1329 The Manchurian Candidate Richard Condon 1959 American English
1367 Red Dragon Thomas Harris 1981 American English
1410 The Zebra Striped Hearse Ross Macdonald 1962 American English
1419 Foucault's Pendulum Umberto Eco 1988 Italian Italian
1426 The Children of Men P. D. James 1992 British English
1431 The Laughing Policeman Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö 1968 Swedish Swedish
1462 Ghost Story Peter Straub 1979 American English
1491 Where Are The Children? Mary Higgins Clark 1975 American English
1551 Out Natsuo Kirino 1997 Japanese Japanese
1568 Presumed Innocent Scott Turow 1987 American English
1582 Sandman Neil Gaiman 1989 British English
1587 A Dark Adapted Eye Barbara Vine 1986 British English
1596 The Club Dumas Arturo Pérez-Reverte 1993 Spanish Spanish
1618 Shogun James Clavell 1975 British English
1621 The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown 2003 American English
1719 Cause for Alarm Eric Ambler 1938 British English
1793 Carrion Comfort Dan Simmons 1989 American English
1812 The Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafon 2001 Spanish Spanish
1828 The Chill Ross Macdonald 1964 American English
1836 The Collector John Fowles 1963 British English
1862 The Black Dahlia James Ellroy 1987 American English
1878 Pet Sematary Stephen King 1983 American English
1910 The Damnation Game Clive Barker 1985 British English
1932 The Four Just Men Edgar Wallace 1905 British English
1954 Night Has A Thousand Eyes George Hopley 1945 American English
1979 Daisy Miller Henry James 1878 American English
2000 The Honjin Murders Seishi Yokomizo 1946 Japanese Japanese
2008 If He Hollers Let Him Go Chester Himes 1945 American English
2018 From Russia with Love Ian Fleming 1957 British English
2025 The Leavenworth Case Anna Katharine Green 1878 American English
2025 The Crime At Black Dudley Margery Allingham 1929 British English
2025 The Patient In Room 18 Mignon G. Eberhart 1929 American English
2025 The Conjure Man Dies Rudolph Fisher 1932 American English
2025 A Man Lay Dead Ngaio Marsh 1934 New Zealander English
2025 Beat Not The Bones Charlotte Jay 1952 Australian English
2101 The Asphalt Jungle W. R. Burnett 1949 American English
2117 Invasion Of The Body Snatchers Jack Finney 1955 American English
2118 The Pledge Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1958 Swiss German
2155 Strangers On A Train Patricia Highsmith 1950 American English
2156 Killing Floor Lee Child 1997 British English
2175 Your Face Tomorrow Javier Marias 2002 Spanish Spanish
2193 The Hot Rock Donald E. Westlake 1970 American English
2213 The Goodbye Look Ross Macdonald 1969 American English
2302 The Bourne Identity Robert Ludlum 1980 American English
2314 The Andromeda Strain Michael Crichton 1969 American English
2324 A Place Of Execution Val McDermid 1999 British English
2349 The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins 2008 American English
2351 Postmortem Patricia Daniels Cornwell 1990 American English
2420 No Country for Old Men Cormac McCarthy 2005 American English
2442 Cop Hater Ed McBain 1956 American English
2455 Death Of A Red Heroine Qiu Xiaolong 2000 Chinese English