The 50 Best Thrillers of the 21st Century

[MsAmerica]

The New York Times had a Book Review section devoted to this. I don't read thrillers myself (I was surprised to find I'd read three on the list), but I thought some of you might be interested.

The actual NYT article is impossible to wrestle with, and has a paywall, but I found a link which will at least have the bare list, though without the capsule description of each book.

https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/fb9054d53ca5a0ba/2843c0c1-full.pdf

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/books/best-thriller-books-21st-century.html?unlocked_article_code=1.FlE.Mxaj.wzPzMWao_COI&smid=url-share

This should work.

Apparently a paywall unless you want to provide your email.

It's meant to be a gift so I assumed it would just work without complications. Shame!

It does have a lot of very good titles but it also includes The Da Vinci Code which was such an incredibly badly written book it sullies everything else on the list.

I've only read two on the list one of which is the Da Vinci Code which I read when it first came out as it was recommended to me.

The other is Fingersmith which was a cracking read.

I was surprised to see I had read anything from the list

I’ve read 7 they were all excellent books.

I know. Very nice of you, thanks. You're right, gift links usually do go through with no problems.

I wouldn't discount the whole list on account of two or three duds. It is, after all, a joint effort.

Here's the blurb on Da Vinci, certainly not claiming that it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

It's hard to convey to readers who weren't there what a sensation this book was in the mid-2000s. Whole sections of big-chain bookstores were devoted to knockoffs, spinoffs and earnest explorations of pagan and Christian symbolism in Western art and culture. What a time to be alive! But even after that craze subsided, this remains Brown's best, most Brownian novrl. The character names are impeccable; Robert Langdon's death-defying symbologible derring-do is played for almost plausible stakes; and Paris and London provide a perfect touristcc backdrop.

I've read 21 on that list! Many were brilliant, others much less so but I've got some new authors to try. Thanks OP

A list of 21st century thrillers without Robert Galbraith?