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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask you to name a book you couldn't put down?

252 replies

pinklite · 21/08/2024 16:11

I've started getting into reading again and now looking for book recommendations. I don't know if it's just me not enjoying reading as much as I used to, but some of the titles I've read/attempted to recently just don't seem to grab my attention and I struggle to get through them.

I'm currently reading People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd. It's ok, but a bit slow.

I prefer mysteries and thrillers.

Please give me some ideas!

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MamaBanana12 · 01/09/2024 08:26

Bit late to the party but I just read Ward D by Freida McFadden in about 9 hours. Good suspense building and twisty ending! Really enjoyed it, slightly creepy!

Other good ones I've read recently (just got myself a kindle and It's the best gift I've ever got myself)

The silent patient- Alex Michaelidias
The fury - Alex michaelidias
Don't let her in - Joanne Ryan
Her husbands lie - Amanda Reynolds
Gone girl - Gillian Flynn

HamBagelNoCheese · 26/08/2024 07:37

Aquamarine1029 · 25/08/2024 03:52

Intensity by Dean Koontz. Very creepy and I could not put it down until I finished it.

Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.

I keep seeing intensity recommended. Where does it sit on a scale of "totally plausible" to "complete fantasy"?

Pogggle · 25/08/2024 21:17

I’ve just finished none of this is true by Lisa Jewell. Read it in 2 days as I couldn’t put it down!

Also recommend anything written by T.M Logan, his are always good

ClementineChurchill · 25/08/2024 21:05

AuntieMarys · 25/08/2024 07:41

Station Eleven

Great book, totally gripping

AuntieMarys · 25/08/2024 07:41

Station Eleven

Tiredofallthis101 · 25/08/2024 06:40

The Road, Cormac McCarthy. Brutal though.

stayathomer · 25/08/2024 06:39

The girl with no past by Kathryn Croft and Hide and Seek by Andrea Mara. Rom com wise anything by Fiona Gibson or Jane Linfoot

rayofsunshine86 · 25/08/2024 06:36

The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey. It's not quite a thriller but it's definitely a thrill to read!

The Kurt Wallander series by Henning Mankell. The first book is Faceless Killers. I could read them time and time again.

XChrome · 25/08/2024 06:33

Aquamarine1029 · 25/08/2024 03:52

Intensity by Dean Koontz. Very creepy and I could not put it down until I finished it.

Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.

Agree. Intensity was riveting.

Grimgrump · 25/08/2024 06:26

Sara Parestsky’s V.I. Warshawski series

OnlyFrench · 25/08/2024 06:20

@Touty The Five, House of Glass, A Life in Secrets are my three favourite non fiction, plus pretty much anything by Ben Macintyre

CobraChicken · 25/08/2024 05:59

Doesn't fit into the criteria/genres you mentioned, but if you're open to sci-fi, try Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. He wrote the more well known The Martian, but I think Project Hail Mary is likely to appeal to a lot more people. It's less "dry" and definitely gripping.

AuntieMarys · 25/08/2024 05:43

Station 11

Aquamarine1029 · 25/08/2024 03:52

Intensity by Dean Koontz. Very creepy and I could not put it down until I finished it.

Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.

JellybeanMama · 25/08/2024 03:31

Housemaid (1st of 3). If you liked couple next door, you’ll love this.

XChrome · 25/08/2024 03:19

Anything by James Lee Burke, but particularly The Tin Roof Blowdown which is set during the time of Hurricane Katrina.
His prose is rich and gorgeous in everything he writes and the depth of thought is breathtaking.
But his work is very much a slice of Americana, so if that's not your thing, skip it.

Lentilpasta · 25/08/2024 02:57

PUSH, a psychological thriller.

melisma · 25/08/2024 02:53

@Mistycactus definitely persist with I am Pilgrim! I hope you enjoy it.

@beetlebrain thank you for the reminder of Piranesi! I really enjoyed that book. So unusual and imaginative. I've recommended it to lots of people!

FastFood · 24/08/2024 11:36

Few classics I read recently and couldn't put down

  • Albert Camus - The Stranger (I'm actually ashamed that I never read it before, I'm French so no excuse at all)
  • Leo Tolstoy - The death of Ivan Ilyitch
  • Emile Zola - Thérèse Raquin (I love all Zola's, but this one is really gripping)
Elsvieta · 24/08/2024 11:28

The Secret History by Donna Tartt.

Don't read anything about it beforehand; you don't want spoilers. Don't read the blurb on the back or in the front. Let it all be a surprise. It's just amazing.

Captainmycaptains · 23/08/2024 13:52

Unravelling Oliver
Strange Sally Diamond
Yellowface
Bandit Queens
The 7!husbands of Evelyn hugo
All of the Strike books except the Ink Black heart which was rubbish!
The Chain - a bit silly but a real page turner
Last House in Needless street - creepy!
Anything by Jan Carson - but then raptures is fab
The Silence Project
Treachery of Spies
My sister, the serial killer
Shuggie Bain
Big girl, Small town

Lessstressedhemum · 23/08/2024 13:39

tolerable · 22/08/2024 00:22

necroscope-brian lumley(full lot)

I loved those when I read them as a teenager back when dinosaurs roamed the earth! Loved Dean Koontz in those days, too, and early Stephen King. I was 17 when Pet Cemetery came out. I didn't sleep for about a week.
Also couldn't put down
The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan and latterly, Brandon Sanderson.
Elantris or the first Mistborn trilogy also by Brando Sando
The first 3 or 4 books of The Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind. Richard Cypher is the perfect fantasy hero but after about book 4 the series becomes ever more just a mouthpiece for Goodkind's political outlook and his pomposity. Didn't stop me reading them all, though. You've got to finish a series after all.

RogueFemale · 22/08/2024 21:01

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
Pride & Prejudice, Jane Austen
The End of the Affair, Graham Greene
Invitation to the Waltz, Rosamund Lehmann

WayTooManyTabsOpen · 22/08/2024 20:43

Not a thriller but completely utterly thrilling - Endurance by Alfred Lansing about Shackleton’s voyage. I don’t often read non-fiction but I couldn’t put this down. It’s unbelievable and yet true.

Also the Constant Gardener by John Le Carre and Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton.

madamehooch · 22/08/2024 19:34

I'm a Bookseller and I recommend books all day!

I see that you like easy to read thrillers so would recommend the following:

None of This is True by Lisa Jewell

Our House by Louise Candlish

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaeledes

A bit more left field, but try Yellow Face by R F Kuang or The Echo Man by Sam Holland

Even more left, left field is The Chain by Chimene Suleyman (a biography that will make your blood boil) and The List of Suspicious Things by Jenny Godfrey - a beautifully-written yet extremely easy to read family drama/crime/historical novel set in Yorkshire in the 1970s where everyone is obsessed with The Yorkshire Ripper...

I could waffle on for ages but will leave it at that for now.