LET'S TALK ABOUT THRILLERS
I'm a nut about thrillers. I read every one that I can. Some thrillers are great, and some put
me to sleep. To be a great thriller, a story must grab me immediately, preferably on the first
page, and never let go. Look at the opening pages of Silence of the Lambs or The Lion's
Game. In each, you feel the stirring of something big and terrible that is going to happen,
and you are not disappointed.
A thriller must involve high stakes, believable characters, a twisting plot, and breathtaking
suspense. By suspense, I mean the feeling you get when the young woman, alone in a house,
must recover something from a pitch-black cellar. She enters it, drops her flashlight, and it
breaks. You know, and I know, that a homicidal maniac is down there, but she doesn't know
it. As she feels her way through the cellar's blackness, that is suspense.
Below, I list recent thrillers that grabbed me. I also list my choices of the all-time best
thrillers. It may be that you know of thrillers that I have missed. If so, I would like to hear
from you..
me to sleep. To be a great thriller, a story must grab me immediately, preferably on the first
page, and never let go. Look at the opening pages of Silence of the Lambs or The Lion's
Game. In each, you feel the stirring of something big and terrible that is going to happen,
and you are not disappointed.
A thriller must involve high stakes, believable characters, a twisting plot, and breathtaking
suspense. By suspense, I mean the feeling you get when the young woman, alone in a house,
must recover something from a pitch-black cellar. She enters it, drops her flashlight, and it
breaks. You know, and I know, that a homicidal maniac is down there, but she doesn't know
it. As she feels her way through the cellar's blackness, that is suspense.
Below, I list recent thrillers that grabbed me. I also list my choices of the all-time best
thrillers. It may be that you know of thrillers that I have missed. If so, I would like to hear
from you..
George Webster's List of the All-Time Best Thrillers
1. War of the Worlds - H.G. Wells (1898)
2. The Hound of the Baskervilles - A. Conan Doyle (1902)
3. The Lodger - Marie Belloc Lowndes (1927)
4. The Postman Always Rings Twice - James M. Cain (1934)
5. And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie (1939)
6. Ministry of Fear - Graham Greene (1943)
7. The Dark Tunnel - Ross MacDonald (1944)
8. The Third Man - Graham Greene (1950)
9. Eye of the Needle - Ken Follett (1978)
10. The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris (1988)
11. Days of Drums - Philip Shelby (1996)
12. Kiss the Girls - James Patterson (1997)
13. The Lion's Game - Nelson DeMille (2000)
1. War of the Worlds - H.G. Wells (1898)
2. The Hound of the Baskervilles - A. Conan Doyle (1902)
3. The Lodger - Marie Belloc Lowndes (1927)
4. The Postman Always Rings Twice - James M. Cain (1934)
5. And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie (1939)
6. Ministry of Fear - Graham Greene (1943)
7. The Dark Tunnel - Ross MacDonald (1944)
8. The Third Man - Graham Greene (1950)
9. Eye of the Needle - Ken Follett (1978)
10. The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris (1988)
11. Days of Drums - Philip Shelby (1996)
12. Kiss the Girls - James Patterson (1997)
13. The Lion's Game - Nelson DeMille (2000)
George Webster's List of the Best, Recent Thrillers
1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson (2008)
2. Frozen Fire - Bill Evans and Marianna Jameson (2009)
3. The Girl Who Played with Fire - Stieg Larsson (2009)
4. Fragment - Warren Fahey (2009)
5. The Ninth Judgement - James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (2010)
6. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet"s Nest - Stieg Larsson (2010)
7. Unbroken - Laura Hillenbrand (2010)
8. The Lion - Nelson DeMille (2010)
1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson (2008)
2. Frozen Fire - Bill Evans and Marianna Jameson (2009)
3. The Girl Who Played with Fire - Stieg Larsson (2009)
4. Fragment - Warren Fahey (2009)
5. The Ninth Judgement - James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (2010)
6. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet"s Nest - Stieg Larsson (2010)
7. Unbroken - Laura Hillenbrand (2010)
8. The Lion - Nelson DeMille (2010)
Updated 27 January 2011
