Please recommend a gripping, unputdownable book to get me back into reading!

[TheFreaksShallInheritTheEarth]

I used to be a voracious reader; for my whole life until bout 4/5 years ago when my concentration and ability to focus seem to have gone AWOL -probably as a menopause thing - and I've not read a book for an embarassingly long time.

Please recommend books that you couldn't tear yourself away from! I'm hoping that some gripping books will keep me hooked and re-establish my reading habit.

TIA.

Simon or Stephan Booth could be the author of the Derbyshire detective series you are thinking of.

Fairytale by Stephen King was a great read. Not his usual horror.

This is a really good book.

Another vote for “Wrong Time, Wrong Place” by Gillian McAllister. I liked a lot of the other recommendations but I wouldn’t choose them as a route back to reading.

For horror, Dark Matter by Michelle Paver was utterly gripping. I’m about to start Thin Air. also the Woman in Black is excellent.

I’ve been re-reading old Stephen Kings - Salem’s Lot, Pet Cemetery, Misery. Also the Stand and It. Just brilliant and absolutely gripping. The newer ones are okay, but I much prefer the older ones. I hear you though - there’s a lack of decent modern horror, have tried quite a lot and always disappointed.

I’d you like Dickens do try Demon Copperhead - just read it for my book club and loved it.

i just finished I’m Sorry You Feel That Way by Rebecca Wait. If you are interested in mothers, daughters, families, mental illness…it’s gripping, partly to find out what awful things they are going to say to each other next!

Agree great book. Also some good book suggestions but maybe not for getting back into reading.....some of them of really long!

@rickyrickygrimes and others who recommended michelle paver.. I just finished dark matter yesterday and before that thin Air. You would probably like a haunting in the Arctic by c j cooke..that was brilliant

I just finished In Memorium, and I loved it.

I found this very ‘young adult’.

I’m liking the Marlow Murder Club on Spotify audio books - classic lightweight murder mystery but I really like the way the female characters are drawn, and the voice of the narrator.

Demon Copperhead is amazing but maybe too long for a first book after a drought!

Thank you so much OP! This has been a brilliant post. I used to read a lot until I got a tablet and developed a scrolling habit! By the time I put the tablet down my eyes had done enough print and I did not want to read a book as well unless I was on a long train journey or something.

However I have fought back this year and read first thing before getting up for the day. I have an excellent new bedside reading lamp and special reading glasses which I only use in bed (better than my varifocals). I aim for 30 pages a day but usually do more.

Another vote here for Ken Follett. He is a master storyteller who incorporates lots of historical research. The Evening and The Morning really romps along though it is a hefty size. I couldn't wait to carry on the next day.

There are so many great suggestions here. Am off to do some ordering now...!

I absolutely loved strange sally diamond and the best book I read last year was the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I am currently reading the count of monte cristo which is proving to be my favourite book of all time

The Wych Elm by Tana French. It was recommended on here and it was indeed gripping!

So many to recommend (and thanks to this thread, so many more to add to my reading list!)

• A Thousand Splendid Suns
• Kite Runner
• The Beekeeper of Aleppo
• The Nightingale
• The Tattooist of Auschwitz
• A Man called Ove
• American Dirt
• Where the Crawdads Sing
• Lessons in Chemistry

Also currently, finally, reading Hamnet & really enjoying that.

I work in a library so surrounded by books & my interest is often piqued by what other people bring back! Don't read as much as I should though, somehow after a day of books it is often the last thing I fancy. Belonging to a Book Club (big group of friends) 'makes' me read & books I wouldn't normally look twice at (although we are not strict at all on reading the books).

Amazing book

@efeslight it was Stephen Booth, thank you. I found the first two in Oxfam bookshop years ago then there were no more.

I will see if I can get them on Ebay

Pleased to help!
He is still publishing as far as I know, have got quite a collection of his books.

In case these authors haven't been mentioned, there isn't a dud book between them. Kate Morton, family saga thrillers and Jane Harper, thrillers set in Australia. Easy to read and re-read.

Similarly lapsed reader. I am going to read "The Secret History" again, as I remember it being gripping.

Thanks all again, for all of your suggestions. So much to investigate! From the acclaimed and literary, to the schlocky thriller. All fabulous.

I dipped my toe in this afternoon dog walk, and listened to a long short story (1hr 45) "The Didomenico Fragment" by Amor Towles, who has been suggested on this thread. It was fabulous and has helped spark further interest in stories. It's free to download on audible, if anyone's interested.

Will get some titles from this thread in the next few days. Thanks again 📚 😁

By the way, I'm sure everyone knows this but if you have a. Spotify subscription, there are loads of free audiobooks!

I didn't know this!

Thank you

I didn't know it either!

Thanks from me, too 😁

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Only part way through reading this wonderful thread and I've added loads to my Amazon wish list!!

Don't know if the op has said yet what her interests are but I'd recommend:

Anything by Liane Moriarty (I loved Nine perfect strangers - book was much better than tv adaptation)

Harlan Coben- gets quite samey but some of his are crackers (don't ask which ones though because, you know, menopause...)

I second salmon fishing in the Yemen. Completely different to the others I've recommended but brilliant.

If you haven't seen the film then Gone Girl is gripping. Took me a little while to get into it but I was so hooked!

Also second the Thursday murder club series. Wonderful.

I might come back with more after I've pondered a bit!