Recommend some thrillers!

[Catlady]

I like thrillers in which an ordinary (or seemingly ordinary) person or family becomes enmeshed in some extraordinary circumstances, and the focus is on how they resolve their plight, with any police/professional involvement in the background.

Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson, Sister by Rosamund Lupton, and Never Look Away by Linwood Barclay are examples of what I mean. I'm currently in the midst of reading all of Barclay's thrillers.

I enjoy suspense and atmosphere. Romance, if any, should be in the background.

Recommendations, please!

[Dr. Drib]

You may wish to check this earlier thread on Thrillers, also in this Reading Recommendations Forum:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=207671



Don

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

You may wish to check this earlier thread on Thrillers, also in this Reading Recommendations Forum:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=207671

Don

I've seen that, thanks. But I'm looking for a more specific kind of thriller.

[Mike L]

... thrillers in which an ordinary (or seemingly ordinary) person or family becomes enmeshed in some extraordinary circumstances

Eric Ambler comes straight to mind - if you don't mind the older period (most of his books were set in the 30s to 50s, I think).

Mike

[BenG]

The Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett

[Catlady]

Mike L, I will look into Eric Ambler for the future. But right now I'm looking less for spies and international intrigue and more for "smaller" plots revolving around such things as missing persons, kidnappings, amnesia victims, murders that are not what they seem.

BenG, I've read Eye of the Needle and think it's a terrific book, but, again, it's not the sort of thing of I'm looking for now.

Thanks to both of you.

[Apache]

First Blood by David Morrell. It is not the movie starring Sylvester Stallone.
Apache

[elemenoP]

Did you read Gone Girl? That's the only one I've read of Gillian Flynn, but apparently her others are great, too.

EDIT: also you might like Tana French a lot.

[Catlady]

Apache, it's a little hard for me to wrap my head around the notion that Rambo might fit my criteria, but I'll add it to my list. I think I even have that in an ancient paperback somewhere, actually. Thanks.

elemenoP, I already have a hold on Gone Girl at the library (I think I'm 150 or so on the waiting list!). Thanks for recommending Tana French.

[davidfor]

I think Dick Francis and Desmond Bagley books might fit what you want. Both tend to have the main character in the wrong place at the wrong time and spend the rest of the time working out why.

[DianNC]

Harlan Coben, Louise Penny, Karin Slaughter.

Older fare, but Lawrence Sanders has provided hours of entertainment with his 'deadly sins' books.

(I'm a fan of Linwood Barclay, too).

Edit to add: Robert Crais. His books are always about regular people -- some moments of humor, too.

[bfisher]

If you don't mind going too far back, you might like some of John Buchan's thrillers
The Thirty-Nine Steps http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/b/buch...eps/index.html

or Buchan's Dickson McCunn novels (starting with "Huntingtower")

[orlok]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I like thrillers in which an ordinary (or seemingly ordinary) person or family becomes enmeshed in some extraordinary circumstances, and the focus is on how they resolve their plight, with any police/professional involvement in the background.

I would say most of Robert Goddard's books fit into this category. Most are standalone, and can be read in any sequence, but I would recommend starting with one of the early ones, such as In Pale Battalions, Painting the Darkness or Into the Blue (this one does have a sequel, and was made into a TV drama with John Thaw - alias Morse - which Goddard was unhappy with).

His stories centre largely around an individual confronted with deep dark secrets, often within their own family, who generally actively avoid involving the police and the authorities, and who set about investigating the truth, sometimes at great personal cost. He has been called "The Master of the Clever Twist".

[Apache]

How about some of Alistair MacLean's books.
The Golden Gate
The Golden Rendezvous
Breakheart Pass
The Seawitch
Ice Station Zebra
Apache

[Rizla]

Andrew Vachss.