The Greatest Books of All Time on Violence

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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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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
4223 The Spectre Of Alexander Wolf Gaito Gazdanov 1947 French Russian
4267 Cases Daniil Kharms 1939 Russian Russian
4270 Eight Million Ways To Die Lawrence Block 1982 American English
4309 The Getaway Jim Thompson 1958 American English
4442 Oblivion Héctor Abad Faciolince 2006 Colombian Spanish
4448 Abyssinian Chronicles Moses Isegawa 1998 Dutch English
4475 Al Mawt `Ala Al Asfalt `Abd al-Rahman Abnudi 1960 Egyptian Arabic
4525 Falconer John Cheever 1977 American English
4539 Affliction Russell Banks 1989 American English
4541 The Stone Of Laughter Hoda Barakat 1990 Lebanese Arabic
4615 The Fifth Woman Henning Mankell 1996 Swedish Swedish
4618 Deacon King Kong James McBride 2020 American English
4633 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha Roddy Doyle 1993 Irish English
4652 The Forever War Dexter Filkins 2008 American English
4653 True West Sam Shepard 1980 American English
4663 Dusklands J. M. Coetzee 1974 South African English
4668 Allah Is Not Obliged Ahmadou Kourouma 2000 French French
4742 Willard and His Bowling Trophies Richard Brautigan 1975 American English
4745 Nos Matamos O Cão Tinhoso Bernardo Honwana 1964 Mozambican Portuguese
4748 Blood Oranges John Hawkes 1971 American English
4761 For Kicks Dick Francis 1965 British English
4939 In the Heart of the Country J. M. Coetzee 1977 South African English
4940 Being Dead Jim Crace 1999 British English
4941 Ghettoside Jill Leovy 2015 American English
4949 Aggression Friedrich Hacker 1971 Unknown German
4949 Sergeant Getúlio João Ubaldo Ribeiro 1971 Brazilian Portuguese
4999 Teach Us To Outgrow Our Madness Kenzaburō Ōe 1969 Japanese Japanese
5016 Broken April Ismail Kadare 1978 Albanian Albanian
5019 The Werewolf Aksel Sandemose 1958 Norwegian Norwegian
5030 The Sluts Dennis Cooper 2004 American English
5037 Eight Men Richard Wright 1961 American English
5098 Three To Kill Jean-Patrick Manchette 1976 French French
5112 Let The Right One In John Ajvide Lindqvist 2004 Swedish Swedish
5153 Cursed Bunny Bora Chung 2021 Korean Korean
5234 Intensity Dean R. Koontz 1995 American English
5290 Revenge Yōko Ogawa 1998 Japanese Japanese
5308 Ice-Candy-Man Bapsi Sidhwa 1988 Pakistani English
5324 If He Hollers Let Him Go Chester Himes 1945 American English
5339 Days Without End Sebastian Barry 2016 Irish English
5368 White Jazz James Ellroy 1992 American English
5411 Reflections In A Golden Eye Carson McCullers 1941 American English
5412 Nineteen Seventy Four David Peace 1999 British English
5415 The Brodeck Report Philippe Claudel 2007 French French
5425 At Night All Blood Is Black David Diop 2018 French French
5427 Black Sunday Thomas Harris 1975 American English
5456 Mercy Among The Children David Adams Richards 2000 Canadian English
5465 In The Solitude Of Cotton Fields Bernard-Marie Koltès 1986 French French
5489 The Slap Christos Tsiolkas 2008 Australian English
5497 The Underground Man Ross Macdonald 1971 American English
5581 Democracy Joan Didion 1984 American English
5594 The Sound Of Things Falling Juan Gabriel Vásquez 2011 Colombian Spanish
5595 The Lazarus Project Aleksandar Hemon 2008 Bosnian English
5631 Sabrina Nick Drnaso 2018 American English
5664 Rich Man, Poor Man Irwin Shaw 1969 American English
5690 Period Dennis Cooper 1994 American English
5691 Night Boat To Tangier Kevin Barry 2019 Irish English
5696 Tapping The Source Kem Nunn 1984 American English
5700 A Place of Greater Safety Hilary Mantel 1992 British English
5737 Anil's Ghost Michael Ondaatje 2000 Canadian English
5738 One Of Us Asne Seierstad 2013 Norwegian Norwegian
5755 Brown Girl In The Ring Nalo Hopkinson 1998 Canadian English
5756 Come Closer Sara Gran 2003 American English
5813 Cyclops Euripides -405 Greek Ancient greek
5816 Perma Red Debra Magpie Earling 2002 American English
5828 Fuente Ovejuna Lope de Vega 1619 Spanish Spanish
5858 Jack’s Return Home Ted Lewis 1970 British English
5929 King Kong Theory Virginie Despentes 2006 French French
5936 Hurramabad Andrei Volos 1998 Russian Russian
5955 House Of Hunger Dambudzo Marechera 1978 Zimbabwean English
5985 Ham On Rye Charles Bukowski 1982 American English
6002 Bound To Violence Yambo Ouologuem 1968 Malian French
6002 Testimony Charles Reznikoff 1965 American English
6078 The Power Of The Dog Don Winslow 2005 American English
6082 My Sister, The Serial Killer Oyinkan Braithwaite 2018 Nigerian English
6099 Life and a Half Sony Labou Tansi 1979 French French
6135 The Queen Of The South Arturo Pérez-Reverte 2002 Spanish Spanish
6147 In The Distance Hernan Díaz 2017 American English
6150 Hell's Angels Hunter S. Thompson 1966 American English
6151 CivilWarLand in Bad Decline George Saunders 1996 American English
6153 Use Of Weapons Iain Banks 1990 Scottish English
6168 I Spit On Your Graves Boris Vian 1946 French French
6186 Guerrillas V. S. Naipaul 1975 Trinidadian English
6232 The Cannibal John Hawkes 1949 American English
6250 The Vortex José Eustacio Rivera 1924 Colombian Spanish
6261 Shane Jack Schaefer 1949 American English
6273 American Tabloid James Ellroy 1995 American English
6275 Citizens Simon Schama 1989 British English
6300 Lord Of The Barnyard Tristan Egolf 1998 American English
6340 Kriminalgeschichte Des Christentums Karlheinz Deschner 1986 German German
6360 The Restraint Of Beasts Magnus Mills 1998 British English
6374 Beartown Fredrik Backman 2016 Swedish Swedish
6409 Live Flesh Ruth Rendell 1986 British English
6423 Cape Fear John D. MacDonald 1957 American English
6449 Orthokostá Thanassis Valtinos 1994 Greek Greek
6461 Things We Lost In The Fire Mariana Enríquez 2016 Argentinian Spanish
6470 The Neon Rain James Lee Burke 1987 American English
6529 Born A Crime Trevor Noah 2016 South African English
6533 The Fog James Herbert 1975 British English
6535 The Empathy Exams Leslie Jamison 2014 American English
6590 A Touch Of Frost R. D. Wingfield 1987 British English
6619 Zone Mathias Enard 2008 French French
6651 The Beast Óscar Martínez 2013 Salvadoran Spanish
6662 Preparation for the Next Life Atticus Lish 2014 American English
6680 Blacktop Wasteland S. A. Cosby 2020 American English
6694 The Stories Of Breece D'j Pancake Breece D'J Pancake 1983 American English
6710 Ooga-Booga Frederick Seidel 2006 American English
6729 Saturday Ian McEwan 2005 British English
6734 The Deep Blue Good By John D. MacDonald 1964 American English
6792 Men Explain Things To Me Rebecca Solnit 2014 American English
6801 Bird Box Josh Malerman 2014 American English
6812 Scorched Wajdi Mouawad 2003 French French
6821 Let It Come Down Paul Bowles 1952 American English
6835 There Are No Children Here Alex Kotlowitz 1991 American English
6855 Ualalapi Ungulani Ba Ka Khosa 1987 Mozambican Portuguese
6864 Wolf Hunt Ivaylo Petrov 1986 Bulgarian Bulgarian
6889 Frisk Dennis Cooper 1991 American English
6913 With The Animals Noëlle Revaz 2002 Swiss French
6922 Necropolitics Achille Mbembe 2003 French French
6936 Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Joyce Carol Oates 1966 American English
6945 A Cool Breeze On The Underground Don Winslow 1991 American English