These are items that I can, and do, recommend.
This page is broken into content types. And the header for each type section is also a link that will take the reader to all items (with or without a thumbs up) of that content type, in the order I've consumed them (newest at top). That means this page is an entry to my entire database of books, movies and tv/series.
Content types: tv/series β’ movies β’ print books β’ Libby audio books
All of the LibriVox books are free to anyone on any platform without signing up for anything. You can simply listen to them online or download them as a collection of MP3 files. It is a world of literature for all. LibriVox contains the best books in the history of the world.
π Les MisΓ©rables (1862) by Victor Hugo
π Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1917) His Last Bow
π Wuthering Heights (1847), by Emily Bronte
π The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde
π The Monk: A Romance, by Matthew Lewis
π The Man Who Would Be King, by Rudyard Kipling
π Barchester Towers (1857) Anthony Trollope
π Jane Austen (1775 - 1817) Pride and Prejudice
π The Pickwick Papers (1836) by Charles Dickens
π The Gold Bag (1911) by Carolyn Wells
π Dracula (1897, by Bram Stoker)
π A Tale of Two Cities (1859) by Charles Dickens
π The Count of Monte Cristo (1844) by Alexandre Dumas
π The Quest of the Historical Jesus, by Albert Schweitzer
π The Man of Property (Forsyte Saga Vol. 1) (1906), By John Galsworthy
π A Study in Scarlet (1887), by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
π Treasure Island (1881), by Robert Louis Stevenson
π The Valley of Fear (1914-15), by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
π The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905), by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
π The Sign of the Four (1890), by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
π Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), by Friedrich Nietzsche
π The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927) part 1, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
π Siddhartha (1922), by Hermann Hesse
π Bleak House, by Charles Dickens
π The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
π Moby Dick, or the Whale (1851) by Herman Melville
π Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) by Lewis Carroll
π The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1893)Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
π The Man in the Iron Mask, By Alexandre Dumas
π The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902), by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
πΊ Dept.β―Q (2025) β Carl, a former top-rated detective, is wracked with guilt following an attack that left his partner paralysed and another policeman dead. On his return to work, Carl is assigned to a cold case that will consume his life.
πΊ Columbo (1968) β Columbo is the landmark series that inspired an entire genre. Columbo stars Peter Falk in his 4-time Emmy-winning role as the cigar-chomping, trench coat-wearing police lieutenant. I watched this show as a kid. Watching it again will be like a stroll down memory lane.
πΊ Agatha Christie's Poirot β David Suchet stars as the dapper, diminutive Belgian who solves the most serpentine cases with the sharpest of minds and the driest of wits.
πΊ Pie in the Sky (1994) β After being shot, DI Crabbe retires from the police force and sets up his own restaurant. Unfortunately, his ex-boss, Chief Constable Fisher, is constantly dragging him back in. Honestly, the premise is pretty dopey, but there's something very appealing and comforting about this show.
πΊ A Nero Wolfe Mystery (2001) β Genius detective Nero Wolfe and his right-hand man: Archie Goodwin, solve seemingly impossible crimes, in 1950's New York.
πΊ The OA (2016) β a popular, mind-bending Netflix original series about Prairie Johnson, a blind woman who returns home after being missing for seven years, now with her sight restored, and recruits locals for a mysterious mission involving other dimensions and near-death experiences.
πΊ Miss Marple (1984) - I can watch this kind of stuff all day long.
πΊ Towards Zero (2025) (TV series) β England, 1936. Tennis star Nevile Strange's scandalous divorce sparks tension at Lady Tressilian's estate. When a murder occurs, detective James Leach must uncover the truth before someone else falls victim to the unknown killer. Really a movie broken into 3 parts. A BBC One mystery television series, adapted by Rachel Bennette from the 1944 novel Towards Zero by Agatha Christie.
πΊ Fisk (2021) β An Australian comedy series starring Kitty Flanagan as a recently disgraced lawyer navigating probate law in a quirky Melbourne firm. The showβs charm lies in its deadpan humor, oddball characters, and understated storytelling, making it a refreshing, grounded alternative to flashy legal dramas. Reminds me a great deal of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
πΊ Breaking Bad (2008) - 5 seasons β follows Walter White (Bryan Cranston), an over-qualified, dispirited high-school chemistry teacher struggling with a recent diagnosis of stage-three lung cancer. White turns to a life of crime and partners with a former student, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), to produce and distribute methamphetamine to secure his family's financial future before he dies, while navigating the dangers of the criminal underworld.
πΊ The Office (US) β Based on the award-winning British comedy of the same name, "The Office" exposes the humorous and often foolish events at Dunder-Mifflin Paper Company.
πΊ Shrinking - Jason Segel and Harrison Ford star in this comedy series about a therapist who decides to be brutally honest.
πΊ The Booth at the End (2011) β One of the best, if not the best, series I've ever seen. Season 1 & Season 2
πΊ Reacher (2022) - "Saddle up, cause we're about to do a whole lot of cowboy shit."
πΊ Sherlock (2010) β a modern adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyleβs detective stories, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson. Set in contemporary London, the series follows the brilliant, eccentric detective solving complex cases with sharp wit, aided by Watsonβs loyalty.
πΊ Agatha Christie's Marple (2004) 6 seasons β Geraldine McEwan brilliantly portrays the iconic Miss Marple as she astutely investigates a series of crimes, even when the police are reluctant to accept her help.
πΊ The Office (UK) β Manager David Brent has office workers squirming on their sofas in this multi-award winning comedy. File this fly-on-the-wall mocumentary under petty rivalry, bad management and easily bruised egos.
πΊ A Ghost Story for Christmas (series) β a British TV anthology series, originally aired by the BBC from 1971, adapting classic ghost stories, primarily M.R. Jamesβs tales. Airing around Christmas, it delivers chilling, atmospheric supernatural narratives set in eerie British locales, blending gothic horror with psychological depth and period settings.
πΊ Three Pines (2022) β Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the SuΜreteΜ du QueΜbec and his team investigate a series of perplexing murders in the mysterious Eastern Townships village of Three Pines, uncovering the buried secrets of its eccentric residents and in the process forcing Gamache to confront buried secrets of his own.
πΊ Silicon Valley (2014) β Parodying the culture of the technology industry in Silicon Valley, the series focuses on Richard Hendricks (Thomas Middleditch), a programmer who founds a startup company called Pied Piper, and chronicles his struggles to maintain his company while facing competition from larger entities.
πΊ Broken (2017) β Drama series about a well-respected Catholic priest presiding over a large parish on the outskirts of a major city in northern England.
πΊ The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1985) 4 seasons β a British TV series starring Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes and David Burke as Dr. Watson. Faithfully adapting Conan Doyleβs stories, it follows the detectiveβs brilliant investigations in Victorian London, blending mystery, wit, and period authenticity with exceptional performances.
πΊ A Touch of Frost (1992) - It takes a lot of tea drinking to commit and solve murders in England.
π¦ Down Terrace (2010) β After being released from jail, a father and son struggle to rebuild the family crime business in this clever British gangster comedy. (It's like Curb Your Enthusiasm meets The Sopranos)
π¦ Black Mirror (2011) β Black Mirror is an anthology series that taps into our collective unease with the modern world, with each stand-alone episode a sharp, suspenseful tale exploring themes of contemporary techno-paranoia.
π¦ Road to Perdition (2002) β Mike Sullivan works as a hit man for crime boss John Rooney. After his son is witness to a killing, Sullivan finds him self on the run trying to save the life of his son and looking for revenge on those who wronged him.
π¦ It's time!!! No, not for the pheasant, but for the holiday tradition of watching the 1970 musical version of the Charles Dicken's, A Christmas Carol AKA Scrooge, directed by Ronald Neame.
π¦ Murder in the First (1995) β a American legal drama film, directed by Marc Rocco, written by Dan Gordon, and starring Christian Slater, Kevin Bacon, Gary Oldman, Embeth Davidtz, Brad Dourif, William H. Macy, and R. Lee Ermey. It tells the alternate history of a petty criminal named Henri Young who is sent to Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary and later put on trial for murder in the first degree as the lawyer representing him recounts Henri's life and when he represented Henri.
π¦ The First (2018) β The historical events of the early 18 century have become the heart of the adventure action packed film "The First", which will tell us about the times when explorers from all over the world were rushing into expeditions full of danger and difficulties in order to discover uncharted territories Once you get used to the English overdub this story is quite good.
π¦ The Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020) β A stressed-out police officer struggles not to give in to the paranoia that grips his small mountain town as bodies turn up after each full moon. Much better than I expected.
π¦ The Vanishing (2019) - Three lighthouse keepers on a remote Scottish isle discover a chest full of gold - and are ensnared in a web of greed, paranoia, and murder.
π¦ Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) β A maverick creator of America's favorite game shows gains notoriety for his smash television hits, he is also drawn into a shadowy world of dangers as a covert government operative. But soon his life begins to spiral out of control - both of them! A comedy thriller based on Chuck Barris' cult-classic autobiography.
π¦ Finestkind (2023) directed by Brian Helgeland β a crime thriller set in New Bedfordβs fishing community. Brothers Tom (Ben Foster) and Charlie (Toby Wallace) face debts, leading to a dangerous drug deal. With strong performances, including Jenna Ortega and Tommy Lee Jones, the slow-burn drama explores family and sacrifice.
π¦ The Usual Suspects (1995) β Five career criminals are caught up in the filmβs labyrinthine plot that involves an intriguing, seldom-seen, almost legendary criminal mastermind named Keyser Soze.
π¦ Elephant Song (2015) directed by Charles Biname - When a psychiatrist goes mysteriously missing from a hospital that has recently been plagued by scandal, Dr. Toby Green (Bruce Greenwood) is called in to investigate before the news goes public.
π¦ Leaves of Grass (2010) β "Leaves of Grass" is a comic thriller seen through the dual perspectives of identical twins Bill and Brady Kincaid (two-time Academy Award-nominee Edward Norton, "American History X"), which weaves together such disparate narrative elements as Ivy League politics, backwoods drug deals, classical philosophy and the Jewish community of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
π¦ Into the Labyrinth (2020) β When a kidnapping victim turns up alive after fifteen years, a profiler and a private investigator try to piece together the mystery. This movie has scenes in English, but about half in Italian (with subtitles) so your going to do a lot of reading. But, the film is quite gripping
π¦ The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle (2005) β Set between 1892 and 1899 when Sherlock Holmes was killed off by his creator and Doyle was in his late 30s. It was during this electrifying and disturbed period that Doyle agrees to work with a biographer, Seldon, to write an account of his life. To Doyle's mounting horror, Seldon begins to peel back the many faces of Holmes to reveal his true origins. β A treat for Sherlock Holmes fans.
π¦ The Men Who Stare At Goats (2009) β Astonishing revelations about a top-secret wing of the U.S. military come to light when a reporter encounters an enigmatic Special Forces operator on a mind-boggling mission. It's like a Coen Brothers movie. Two s up
π¦ An Inspector Calls (2015) Director Aisling Walsh β An Inspector Calls is a mysterious detective thriller set in 1912 and written by English dramatist J.B. Priestley. Following the suicide of a young woman from the local town, an inspector calls unexpectedly to interrogate the wealthy Birling family. As their world unravels, each member of the family is revealed to have unwittingly played a part in her demise.
π¦ The Quiet Man (1952) β An American ex-boxer returns to Ireland to win the hand of a spirited young woman. He is confronted by local customs and the woman's belligerent brother. Set in the verdant Irish countryside, this film has beautiful scenery and local charm.
π¦ The Imitation Game (2014) β Benedict Cumberbatch shines as real-life war hero and pioneer of modern-day computing, Alan Turing, who saved millions of lives by cracking Germany's so-called unbreakable code during WWII.
π¦ Frailty (2002) Directors Bill Paxton β A man confesses to an FBI agent his family's story of how his religious fanatic father's visions lead to a series of murders to destroy supposed "demons."
π¦ Panic (2000) β On the surface, Alex (William H. Macy) is a normal man with a wife, a son and a steady job. But Alex has a secret life no one knows about: he's a contract killer suffering a midlife crisis.
π¦ Stranger than Fiction (2006) β An IRS auditor suddenly finds himself the subject of narration only he can hear: narration that begins to affect his entire life, from his work, to his love-interest, to his death. π£ Way better than I was expecting.
π¦ Gran Torino (2008) β a recently widowed Korean War veteran alienated from his family. When Kowalski's neighbor Thao Vang Lor is pressured by his cousin into stealing Walt's prized Ford Torino for his initiation into a gang, Walt thwarts the theft and develops a relationship with the boy and his family.
π¦ The Village (2004) Directed by M. Night Shyamalan β When a willful young man tries to venture beyond his sequestered Pennsylvania hamlet, his actions set off a chain of chilling incidents that will alter the community forever.
π¦ The Sense of an Ending (2017) β Jim Broadbent leads an all-star cast in this gripping story based on the acclaimed novel about a man whose quiet life is upset by the consequences of decisions made a lifetime ago.
π¦ Zodiac (2007) β A newspaper cartoonist obsessed with solving San Francisco's infamous "Zodiac" serial killer case closes in on a suspect long after the case has become cold.
π¦ Hearts in Atlantis (2001) β A Stephen King adaptation about a man who recalls his boyhood summer of 1960 and his friendship with a mysterious clairvoyant stranger.
π¦ Burn After Reading (2008) β a 2008 black comedy film written, produced, edited and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. It follows a recently jobless CIA analyst, Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich), whose misplaced memoirs are found by a pair of dimwitted gym employees (Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt).
π¦ Mr. Holmes (2015) β In 1947 in a Sussex village, a retired Sherlock Holmes lives languidly with his housekeeper and her young son. While battling the beginnings of dementia, Holmes is haunted by a 30-year old case and the memory of a mysterious woman.
π¦ All Good Things (2010) Directed by Andrew Jarecki - Ryan Gosling stars as the heir to a real estate dynasty who is suspected of murdering his wife in this chilling psychological thriller.
π¦ A Simple Plan (1998) is a tense, snow-covered thriller about greed unraveling loyalty. Three men find a crashed plane with millions in cash and spiral into paranoia. Directed by Sam Raimi, it features powerful performances and moral complexity, exploring how ordinary people justify terrible choices when temptation overwhelms conscience.
π¦ Her (2014) β The film follows Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), a man who develops a relationship with Samantha (Scarlett Johansson), an artificially intelligent virtual assistant personified through a female voice.
π¦ A Landing on the Sun (1994) Director Nick Renton - 20 years ago, George Summerchild fell to his death from a Ministry of Defence building. Was it suicide? Despite all the speculation, no one has ever solved the mystery. Now Brian Jessel, another civil servant, has been asked to investigate. What he uncovers is a curious romance which forces him to consider his own bleak life, the nature of happiness and the blinding power of true love.
π¦ The Gift (2015) β A horrifying secret emerges when a married couple encounter an acquaintance from the man's past.
π¦ The Hound of the Baskervilles (2002) Director David Attwood - A captivating 21st-century version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's chilling masterpiece. The legendary Sherlock Holmes and dynamic Dr Watson grapple with an adversary that threatens to overwhelm them on the forbidding moors of England. As Holmes investigates the mystery of Sir Charles Baskerville's recent death, events spiral out of control. Is his adversary human or occult?
π¦ Rough Magic (1997) - Set in the 1950s, Rough Magic tells the story of what happens when a pretty apprentice magician goes to Mexico to escape her fiancΓ©, a wealthy politician, and to find a Mayan shaman who will teach her ancient principles of magic. She is being trailed by a detective hired by her fiancΓ©. Much better than I thought it was going to be.
π¦ The Perfect Host (2011) β A career criminal finds himself on the doorstep of a consummate host preparing for a dinner party. As the wine flows and the evening progresses, we become deeply intertwined in the lives of these two men and discover just how deceiving appearances can be.
π¦ Synchronic (2020) β When New Orleans paramedics and longtime best friends, Steve and Dennis are called to a series of bizarre, gruesome accidents, they chalk it up to the mysterious new party drug found at the scene. But after Dennis's oldest daughter suddenly disappears, Steve stumbles upon a terrifying truth about the psychedelic that will challenge everything he knows about reality and the flow of time itself. β Excellent concept
π¦ Bliss (2021) Director Mike Cahill β Bliss is a mind-bending love story following Greg (Owen Wilson) who, after recently being divorced and then fired, meets the mysterious Isabel (Salma Hayek), a woman living on the streets and convinced that the polluted, broken world around them is just a computer simulation. Doubtful at first, Greg eventually discovers there may be some truth to Isabelβs wild conspiracy.
π¦ Inside (2023) β Anything with Willem Dafoe is worth trying. Later... a one man show. Better than I thought it was going to be once I realized how it was unfolding. Dafoe is quite the actor. Few could pull something like this off.
π¦ The Raven (2012) β In 19th-century Baltimore, Detective Emmett Fields makes a horrifying discovery: The murders of a mother and daughter resemble a fictional crime described in a story by Edgar Allan Poe. When another murder occurs, also seemingly inspired by Poe's writings, Fields realizes a serial killer is on the loose and enlists Poe's help in catching the felon.
π¦ Inside Man (2006) β A tough detective matches wits with a cunning bank robber, as a tense hostage crisis is unfolding. Into the volatile situation comes a woman named Madaline, a mysterious power broker who has a hidden agenda and threatens to push a tense situation past the breaking point.
π¦ Walden (2023) β Discovering he has a terminal illness sends a court reporter into a rage that has been simmering deep within him for years and now he is about to take justice into his own hands.
π¦ Knives Out (2019) Director: Rian Johnson - When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey is found dead at his estate, the inquisitive Detective Benoit Blanc is mysteriously enlisted to investigate. From Harlan's dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan's untimely death.
π¦ My Week With Marilyn (2011) β The guy who wrote the book(s) that the movie was based on, Colin Clark, is the son of Kenneth Clark, you know, the historian that wrote Civilization. I used to own the paperback with that picture on the cover. It is truly a small world after all.
π Jeff Sharlet (2008) The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power β The book investigates the political power of The Family or The Fellowship, a secretive fundamentalist Christian association led by Douglas Coe.
π Tom Robbins (1976) Even Cowgirls Get the Blues β Sissy Hankshaw, the novel's protagonist, is a woman born with enormously large thumbs who considers her mutation a gift. The novel covers various topics, including free love, feminism, drug use, birds, political rebellion, animal rights, body odor, religion, and yams.
π Elle Hardy (2022) Beyond Belief: How Pentecostal Christianity Is Taking Over the World β How has a Christian movement, founded at the turn of the twentieth century by the son of freed slaves, become the fastest-growing religion on Earth? Pentecostalism has 600 million followers; by 2050, they'll be one in ten people worldwide. This is the religion of the Holy Spirit, with believers directly experiencing God and His blessings: success for the mind, body, spirit and wallet.
π Jon Gertner (2012) The Idea Factory β From its beginnings in the 1920s until its demise in the 1980s, Bell Labs-officially, the research and development wing of AT&T - was the biggest, and arguably the best, laboratory for new ideas in the world. From the transistor to the laser, from digital communications to cellular telephony, it's hard to find an aspect of modern life that hasn't been touched by Bell Labs.
π Understanding Power: The Indispensible Chomsky (2002) by Noam Chomsky β A collection of previously unpublished transcripts of seminars, talks, and question-and-answer sessions conducted from 1989 to 1999.
π Pepper White (1991) Learning to Think (at MIT) β I like the idea of getting a CorningWare glass titration drip apparatus connected to a rod stand that I can place next to and above my Melita drip coffee maker slowly drip by drip instead of sorting of doing it that way by hand in the morning. That way, my cup of coffee would be better, AND I could go pee while the dripping is happening. I know that's kind of crazy, but after reading this book, it doesn't feel as crazy now.
π Blue Highways: A Journey into America (1982) William Least Heat Moon β Chronicles William Least Heat-Moonβs journey along Americaβs back roads after personal loss, capturing forgotten towns, diverse voices, and landscapes. Itβs a meditation on travel, resilience, and the hidden heart of America.
π Walter Isaacson (2023) Elon Musk β From the author of Steve Jobs and other bestselling biographies, this is the astonishingly intimate story of the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our eraβa rule-breaking visionary who helped to lead the world into the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration, and artificial intelligence. Oh, and took over Twitter.
π Amusing Ourselves To Death (1985) β Postman distinguishes the Orwellian vision of the future, in which totalitarian governments seize individual rights, from that offered by Aldous Huxley in Brave New World, where people medicate themselves into bliss, thereby voluntarily sacrificing their rights. Drawing an analogy with the latter scenario, Postman sees television's entertainment value as a present-day "soma", the fictitious pleasure drug in Brave New World, by means of which the citizens' rights are exchanged for consumers' entertainment.
π Tom Robbins (1980) Still Life With Woodpecker β is the third novel by Tom Robbins, concerning the love affair between an environmentalist princess and an outlaw. The novel encompasses a broad range of topics, from aliens and redheads to consumerism, the building of bombs, romance, royalty, the Moon, and a pack of Camel cigarettes. The novel continuously addresses the question of "how to make love stay" and is sometimes referred to as "a post-modern fairy tale".
π Peter Matthiessen (1978) The Snow Leopard β It is an account of his two-month search for the snow leopard with naturalist George Schaller in the Dolpo region on the Tibetan Plateau in the Himalaya.
π Ray Kurzweil (1999) The Age of Spiritual Machines β A non-fiction book by inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil about artificial intelligence and the future course of humanity. In the book Kurzweil outlines his vision for how technology will progress during the 21st century.
π Peter Zeihan (2022) The End of the World is Just the Beginning β a nonfiction book written by Peter Zeihan, a geopolitical strategist who formerly worked for the geopolitical intelligence firm Stratfor.
π Gil Fronsdal (2016) The Buddha Before Buddhism β One of the earliest of all Buddhist texts, the Atthakavagga, or βBook of Eights,β is a remarkable document, not only because it comes from the earliest strain of the literature β before the Buddha, as the title suggests, came to be thought of as a βBuddhistβ β but also because its approach to awakening is so simple and free of adherence to any kind of ideology. Instead the Atthakavagga points to a direct and simple approach for attaining peace without requiring the adherence to doctrine.
π The Life We Bury (2014) Allen Eskens β College student Joe Talbert stumbles into a mystery that unravels his past and tests his moral compass. Tasked with a biography assignment, Joe interviews Carl Iverson, a dying Vietnam veteran and convicted murderer residing in a nursing home.
π Dale Carnegie (1936) How to Win Friends and Influence People β One of the best-known motivational guides in history, Dale Carnegieβs groundbreaking book has sold tens of millions of copies, been translated into almost every known language, and has helped countless people succeed. Buy the oldest edition you can find. Often as time passes publishers and chapters to books and make edit to keep up with the modern world. I always recommend getting the authors original thoughts. Dale Carnegie lived before there was any social networks or anything like that. So you don't want an addition where the publishers have added their thoughts about social networks, you want the original authors thoughts.
π Tom Robbins (1971) Another Roadside Attraction β Centers on John Paul Ziller and Amanda, who run a peculiar zoo. Their lives intersect with a monk, Brother Fiasco, leading to the discovery of Jesus Christ's body. The novel humorously explores themes of religion, freedom, and the absurd nature of life.
π Marshall McLuhan (1964) Understanding Media β Terms and phrases such as "the global village" and "the medium is the message" are now part of the lexicon, and McLuhan's theories continue to challenge our sensibilities and our assumptions about how and what we communicate.
π The Last Murder at the End of the World (2024) Stuart Turton β On a remote island shielded from a lethal fog, 122 villagers and three scientists live under strict protection. When one scientist is murdered, the fog-barrier begins failing. With memories wiped and only hours to act, Emory must solve the crime before the world ends.
π The Life We Bury (2014) Allen Eskens β College student Joe Talbert stumbles into a mystery that unravels his past and tests his moral compass. Tasked with a biography assignment, Joe interviews Carl Iverson, a dying Vietnam veteran and convicted murderer residing in a nursing home.
π Dan Chaon (2022) Sleepwalk β Sleepwalk by Dan Chaon is a 2022 literary thriller about Will Bear, a man living off-grid who works as a henchman for a shadowy organization, whose life is upended when he's contacted by a woman claiming to be his daughter, leading him on a journey through a near-future America divided by factions. The novel blends suspense, dark humor, and science fiction as it follows his road trip and search for connection in a dystopian world dominated by corporations and fringe groups.
π Alex North (2023) The Angel Maker β weaves a dark and unsettling tale about fate, memory, and the consequences of violence. The story revolves around Katie Shaw, a woman haunted by a brutal attack on her brother years earlier, and Detective Laurence Page, who investigates a new murder connected to an old crime. As past and present converge, the novel explores how trauma and guilt shape lives and how evil can linger in unexpected places. North blends psychological suspense with philosophical depth, creating an atmospheric, twisting narrative that examines whether destiny can ever be escaped.