Please recommend me the most gripping and absorbing book that you can

[FoxChops]

I’ve lost my reading mojo. I need something easy to get into, absorbing and maybe thriller -ish but I’m open to genre on the whole.

Thanks!

Oh god this. Like a car crash in slow motion. Unputdownable.

Oh yes, that was a great trilogy @GreenSedan

The Devil and the Dark Water, Stuart Turton

Oh another good one @ChopstickNovice

Stalled at 40% with this one (the mother's section). Does it improve again? I really enjoyed the first bit.

I read “ The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle” by Stuart Turton as a consequence of reading “The Devil and the Dark Water”. That’s good too.

Anything by Mark Edwards. Usually takes me a week or 2 to get through a book (ADHD!) but will read a Mark Edwards book in 1-2 days

Another vote for The Dry by Jane Harper. Unputtable down!

Came to say both this and Lisa Jewell’s None Of This Is True.

I’ve recommended American Dirt on here several times and someone admonished me for not giving a content warning as they found it very intense

Fingersmith is brilliant, recommend on here by loads of people and I couldn’t put it down either.

Exact thing happened to me, I could not read past that part. The text was all mashed together and I couldn’t get past it. Such a pity as it was really good!!

I second this! Really compelling, I loved it

Some of these might be daunting.
Try, 'What you are looking for is in the library'. Big hit last year, and not too long. Easy to read, not shitty cosy crime or trite, yet comforting. Thoughtful.

Short stories are also good. Sarah Hall writes good ones, as did Roald Dahl.
Good luck.

I recently read the Second Sleep by Robert Harris, it was the first book that gripped me for ages

All The Light We Cannot See is phenomenal. It’s several strands coming together tighter and tighter towards the climax - but you don’t know how and where they will meet.

I did the same. I left it for months before forcing myself to go back to it just so I could mark it as complete. Yes, it certainly does improve again - it built up to such a crescendo that I stayed up all night finishing it. A car crash in slow motion is a really good description.

Yes! Anything by Khaled Hosseini. I loved I am Pilgrim too. The Guest List by Lucy Foley is gripping but also easy to read

Two of my favourites already mentioned - A Thousand Splendid Suns , and Gentleman and Players.
Love everything by Kate Atkinson , recommend Human Croquet which seems to be less well known than some of her others.

Fingersmith
And The Mountains Echoed
The Girl with the Louding Voice
The Shadow of the Wind

The Last Secret Of The Secret Annex
Non fiction. Story of one of those who helped Anne Frank and her family, Bep Voskuijl

Great books on here.
If you want an easier read, a friend recently recommended Sally Page to me and I whizzed through two of hers, the keeper of stories, and the book of beginnings.

If you’re looking for an exciting, easy to read, compelling blockbuster, I can recommend The Godfather (upon which the movies are based). It will be very non-PC but it is a compelling saga.

Small great things by Jodie Picoult is good. Very thought provoking and helped me get my reading mojo back.

I’m loving John Marrs atm. Currently reading the one

Anything by Khaled Hosseini is utterly gripping in my opinion, both for his writing style and the subject matter.

For a more "airport read" I loved Shantaram but it wouldn't be called literary.

When I went through a similar slump I started limiting my reading choices to books under 300 pages for a bit. I think I'd read too many really long series of 700 pages for 5+ books, so I started getting book fatigue. Deliberately choosing short books for a while broke that feeling and might help get your reading mojo back too.