My Favourite Crime Thriller Authors

It’s not really a secret that I’m a massive fan of crime thriller/psychological thriller books. I have two massive shelves full of them (on my IKEA Billy bookcase, obviously).

I find the more gruesome the book the better to be honest. I don’t seem to be able to visualise scenarios very well so I can read the words but it doesn’t conjure any of the images in my head so I stay pretty detached from it all. Just as well really as some of the books I own are pretty dark and vile!

I thought I’d give you the brief synopsis of the first book from each author, so you can get a glimpse of what the tone of the books are like 🙂

Here are my four favourite crime thriller authors:

1. Tim Weaver is an author I discovered at the beginning of last year and had to buy every book in the series! His books are written about David Raker, a missing persons investigator, and are all set primarily in London.

There are currently 9 books in the series, with a 10th coming out in May 2019. I’ve read 8 of them so far, having just picked up the 9th a couple of weeks ago (which is sat in my TBR pile).

The first book; Chasing The Dead follows the story of Mary, who hires David Raker to look into her son who disappeared six years ago. The thing is, he turned up five years as a fatal victim of a car crash, but his mother swears she saw him last month in town. David agrees to look for him, but he discovers that Alex, the son, isn’t as innocent as his mum would like to think!

2. Karen Rose is an American author I discovered a few years ago, thanks to my mum. Karen has 22 published books which are separated into 8 different series and set in various US cities.

I have two complete sets; the first of which (Die For Me, Scream For Me and Kill For Me) are all set in Philadelphia/Atlanta but follow different characters and the second (I Can See You and Silent Scream) are set in Minneapolis.

Die For Me (which isn’t her first book but I don’t own Don’t Tell) follows Detective Vito Ciccotelli as a body is found in a snow-covered field in Philadelphia. The ground is frozen so he asks Sophie Johannsen, an archaeologist, for help to determine exactly what else is in the field. Not only do they discover precisely dug graves filled with victims, they also discover empty graves. Because the killer isn’t finished yet.

3. Chris Carter is an author I discovered just before Christmas. His books follow Robert Hunter, a Special Homicide detective for the LAPD, who, together with his partner Carlos Garcia, deals with violent, gruesome and sadistic killings.

Chris has 10 books out to date, and although I’ve only read three of them (I’m currently reading the fourth at the moment), I’m absolutely addicted already and I can’t wait to complete my collection!!

The Crucifix Killer begins when a body of a woman is found in an abandoned cottage in the middle of the LA national forest. Not only was she bound naked to two parallel wooden posts, all the skin on her face had been ripped off. While she was still alive. On the nape of her neck is the unmistakable signature of the Crucifix Killer, which is impossible because two years ago, he was caught and executed. Now Robert Hunter and his partner, Carlos Garcia, have to work out if there’s a copycat killer or if the wrong man was sentenced to death.

4. I’ve been reading Karin Slaughter for years (I discovered her around the same time I discovered Karen Rose). I don’t seem to have as many books as I thought, but I think that’s because I was mostly reading my mum’s and not buying my own!

Whilst Triptych isn’t the first book in the series (Blindsighted is), it’s the first one I own. Triptych is the first in the Will Trent series and set in Atlanta where women are dying. A serial killer is killing them and mutilating them with his own special signature. He’s also leaving enough evidence at the crime scenes to spark a frenzied police hunt. When an ex-con accidentally stumbles across the killer’s trail, he could be the key to breaking the case open!

I also have a few other books on my shelves that I haven’t read in years and some I’m not sure I’ve ever read; I think I might have to settle down over a few weekends to binge read them to see if I can find more authors to love 🙂

Who are your favourite crime thriller authors? Let me know in the comments below 🙂 x

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16 Comments

  1. Thank you for posting this! I tend to gravitate toward standalones (“The Girl With bla bla” or “The Woman” or “The Sister” or etc.) but I am starting to find them so cliche. I don’t really know where to even start with crime series so I am going to have to give these a try!

    1. You’re more than welcome! I love series because you can see the development of the characters!! I picked Tim Weaver and Chris Carter because I was drawn to the book covers!

  2. I love Karen Rose and Karin Slaughter!! Closer Than You Think is my favourite Karen Rose book so far.
    Daniel Cole and Katerina Diamond are other crime thriller authors I enjoy.
    Definitely going to keep an eye out for for some of these books!
    Saph x
    simplysaph.co.uk

    1. Ah I’ve not heard of Daniel Cole or Katerina Diamond, I’ll have to keep an eye out for these ones, thanks for the recommendations! Xx

  3. You have such an impressive collection of crime and thriller novels here Holly. Two of my favourites are Jeffery Deaver (especially The Lincoln Rhyme novels) and Kathy Reichs. Other than that I enjoy Stephen King novels.

    1. Thank you! I wasn’t too keen on Kathy Reichs because of the tense she wrote in. I attempted to read Kujo once but couldn’t get on with it ☹️☹️

      1. Too be honest I started reading Kathy Reichs because of the TV show Bones. 😅 A great way to learn a little more about those characters. I couldn’t get into that one either to be honest. One of my favourites from his newer novels is Cell, along with 11/22/63.

  4. I don’t read a lot of books, but knew a few of these titles because my mum is a big fan of thriller/psychological thriller books. I prefer watching the film version of them, if comes out.

    My favourite author is definitely Stephen King. Once again, I’ve seen the film version of his books so I can only base the fact on that, but loved all the films based on his novels!

    Isa

  5. This is my kind of post! I have several series that I love:
    Tom Douglas series by Rachel Abbott
    Helen Grace series by M J Arlidge
    Jessica Daniel series by Kerry Wilkinson
    Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith (aka J K Rowling)

    I haven’t read any of yours, I’ll add them to my list!

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