If you want a book that will have you on the edge of your bed, then the thriller genre is for you. With so many amazing books, you’ll never run out of books to read. But choosing the right ones isn’t always easy. That is why made this list of the 20 must read thriller books of all time!
There are many classics as well as modern thrillers that you should read. 20 books is not enough to cover this genre but we hope this is just the start of your journey. There are always many new thrillers that we can’t stop thinking about. You can see the full list below!
The 20 Must Read Thriller Books of All Time
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
- The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
- The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
- The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
- The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
- The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy
- The Guest List by Lucy Foley
- Killing Floor by Lee Child
- Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
- The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
- The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay
- 11/22/63 by Stephen King
- American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
- The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
- Misery by Stephen King
- Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
- Those Bones Are Not My Child by Toni Cade Bambara
- The Shining by Stephen King
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
- Strangers by Dean Koontz
Must Read Thrillers
Stephen King may be one of the best authors to pick up a pen in the mystery and thriller genre. He knows how to pique reader’s interest and never stops with the pace picking up after every chapter. The Shining is a classic but to be honest, you can’t go wrong with any of his novels.
A bunch of spy novels made the list because they were just that good. The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth is a brilliant novel that is a page turner! Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy speaks for itself as it has effortlessly become a mainstream phenomenon.
Is there a better thriller novel than Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris? When you are reading the novel, it doesn’t feel like there is. What makes this novel interesting is that it isn’t even the first novel in the Hannibal series. But it is definitely the best book partly because it centers around Hannibal.
One of my favorite all time novels that made this list is Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane. If you like reading novels where you can’t trust the protagonist, then this is for you. The movie is also great and I recommend watching it after reading the novel so the plot twist is spoiled.
Conclusion
That wraps up this list of the 20 must read thriller books of all time. How many books on the list have you read? What thrillers should we add to our next list? Let us know in the comments below!
The Girl on the Train is listed twice!
You have “The Girl on the Train” on the list twice.
You left out probably the best thriller that was published in the last ten years. “I am pilgrim” by Terry Hayes
“All time” seems to mean “the last fifty years” to the compiler of this list. For my money, Geoffrey Household’s “Rogue Male” is still the best pure thriller of all time.
I don’t consider 11/22/63 a “thriller”. It’s a fabulous story, but I might have picked “It” or “The Stand” as more in the thriller category.