January’s Top Picks in Thrillers
Share
The first book you read each year sets the tone for what follows. So why not make sure that first book is as thrilling as possible? Here are our picks for the best thrillers to get your January off to an exciting start.
{{ product: 9780316407069 }}NYPD Red 4, by James Patterson & Marshall Karp
Patterson teams up with Marshall Karp for a fourth adventure with the elite division of the New York Police Department dealing with high-profile cases involving the rich, the famous, and the connected. Detectives Zach Jordan and Kylie MacDonald are called to a movie premiere after a brazen heist turns the red carpet into a bloody murder scene. Half the fun comes when the brilliant detectives face off against the privileged people they’re assigned to serve and protect, and as always, Patterson and Karp make a wonderful team, spinning a tense tale of crime among the elites.
Scandalous Behavior, by Stuart Woods
Stone Barrington returns in the 36th entry of the series, set shortly after the lat book, Foreign Affairs. Barrington is looking for some peace and quiet in England, and seems determined to buy a new lifestyle, purchasing a country estate, a new car, and a new wardrobe in short order. Unfortunately, the estate comes with a corpse on the lawn—a corpse that only leads to the real mystery, involving a Satanic cult with a grudge against Stone and his filmmaker son. Roaring through serious glitz and glamour, with a mystery that evolves into a thrilling battle of wills between the capable Barrington and cult leader Dr. Don Beverly Calhoun, Woods has crafted a twisty story centered on one of the most long-lived characters in modern lit.
After the Crash, by Michel Bussi
With an ending even the most seasoned thriller reader won’t see coming, French author Bussi’s English debut crackles with tension and smart storytelling. In 1980, a plane crash leaves an infant girl as the sole, miraculous survivor—but is she the heir to a vast fortune, or the granddaughter of a poor couple? The era’s DNA technology cannot solve the mystery, so a sketchy former mercenary turned private investigator, Crédule Grand-Duc, takes on the case, spending 18 years pursuing the clues. Between the intriguing premise, the unique characters, and the unpredictable plotting, it’s a book best read at breathless speed.
The First Order, by Jeff Abbott
The fifth novel featuring ex-CIA operative Sam Capra twists two exciting storylines into one fantastic novel. Capra seeks the assistance of the secretive Round Table, an alliance dedicated to being a force of good in the world, as he investigates the supposed execution of his brother in the Hindu Kush. Meanwhile, a killer named Philip Judge is offered an incredible payday to pull off the most audacious—and dangerous—assassination in history.
The Illegal, by Lawrence Hill
This inventive thriller tells thee story of Keita Ali, a gifted long-distance runner from the fictional Zantoroland, who is forced to flee to the neighboring Freedom State after his father is arrested and executed as a dissident. Living as an undocumented alien, he is subjected to racists attacks and unfair treatment as he competes to win prize money, hoping to secure the release of his sister, a captive in his home country. Hill uses the invented elements to tell real, harrowing stories of the illegals who have fled African nations in desperation, finding themselves unwelcome and unassisted in strange lands.
The Drifter, by Nicholas Petrie
This debut novel introduces likable hero Peter Ash, a former Marine who leaves behind eight years of service in Iraq and Afghanistan to come to Milwaukee to help the widow of an old friend. When he finds a suitcase filled with cash—and explosives—under the widow’s porch, he starts down a path of dark discovery that seems to point at a domestic terrorism plot with horrifying potential consequences. Petrie’s skill at shading his characters make this story come alive.
Forty Thieves, by Thomas Perry
Perry returns with a story that pits married cops-turned-private investigators Sid and Ronnie Abel against married sociopathic assassins Ed and Nicole Hoyt. The Abels are hired by a corporation to look into the murder of a scientist, but no sooner do they launch their investigation than the Hoyts go into ruthless action to prevent them from discovering the truth. This face-off between two equally skilled couples on opposite sides of the moral divide provides plenty of thrills as the body count rises and the stakes keep getting higher.