100 Best Pulp Fiction Books of All Time

We've researched and ranked the best pulp fiction books in the world, based on recommendations from world experts, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. Learn more

Featuring recommendations from Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Richard Branson, and 34 other experts.
1
An ingenious code hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci.

A desperate race through the cathedrals and castles of Europe.

An astonishing truth concealed for centuries . . . unveiled at last.


While in Paris, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is awakened by a phone call in the dead of the night. The elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum, his body covered in baffling symbols. As Langdon and gifted French cryptologist Sophie Neveu sort through the bizarre riddles, they are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the...
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Recommended by Ev Williams, Neal O'Gorman, and 2 others.

Neal O'GormanCertainly, a previous non-business book which I really enjoyed (along with many other people) was the Da Vinci Code. I was living in the States at the time, and it was a rare occasion to be on a plane and not see someone reading it. (Source)

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2
WINNING MEANS FAME AND FORTUNE.
LOSING MEANS CERTAIN DEATH.
THE HUNGER GAMES HAVE BEGUN. . . .


In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and once girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her...
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Recommended by Bill Gates, Robert Muchamore, and 2 others.

Bill Gates[On Bill Gates's reading list in 2012.] (Source)

Robert MuchamoreA brutal, exciting, action-based sci-fi novel. Hugely popular and excellent fun. (Source)

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3

The Big Sleep (Philip Marlowe, #1)

"Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid....He is the hero; he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man.

This is the Code of the Private Eye as defined by Raymond Chandler in his 1944 essay 'The Simple Act of Murder.' Such a man was Philip Marlowe, private eye, an educated, heroic, streetwise, rugged individualist and the hero of Chandler's first novel, The Big Sleep. This work established Chandler as the master of the 'hard-boiled' detective novel, and his articulate...
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Recommended by Simon Brett, and 1 others.

Simon BrettI think the writing is just so beautiful. Raymond Chandler’s hopeless at plots, as we know. He said himself, if he couldn’t think of what to do, he brought in a man with a gun. But the language… I remember some years ago an American publisher got the rights to do a book called Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe and got various contemporary crime writers to write a Philip Marlowe story. I was asked... (Source)

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4

Tarzan of the Apes (Tarzan, #1)

Tarzan of the Apes
How is this book unique?
Illustrations Included
Free Audiobook
Unabridged Edition
Original Edition
E-Reader friendly

Tarzan of the Apes is a novel written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the first in a series of books about the title character Tarzan. It was first published in the pulp magazine All-Story Magazine in October, 1912. The character was so popular that Burroughs continued the series into the 1940s with two dozen sequels.
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5

A Princess of Mars (Barsoom, #1)

A Princess of Mars is the first of eleven thrilling novels that comprise Edgar Rice Burroughs' most exciting saga, known as The Martian Series. It's the beginning of an incredible odyssey in which John Carter, a gentleman from Virginia and a Civil War veteran, unexpectedly finds himself on to the red planet, scene of continuing combat among rival tribes. Captured by a band of six-limbed, green-skinned savage giants called Tharks, Carter soon is accorded all the honor of a chieftain after it's discovered that his muscles, accustomed to Earth's greater gravity, now give him a decided advantage... more

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6
Poem and first 13 tales, in order written, plus Miscellanea drafts, notes, maps by author.
Cimmeria poem
1 The Phoenix on the Sword 1932
2 The Frost-Giant's Daughter 1976
3 The God in the Bowl 1952
4 The Tower of the Elephant 1933
5 The Scarlet Citadel 1933
6 Queen of the Black Coast 1934
7 Black Colossus 1933
8 Iron Shadows in the Moon 1934
9 Xuthal of the Dusk 1933
10 The Pool of the Black One 1933
11 Rogues in the House 1934
12 The Vale of Lost Women 1967
13 The Devil in Iron 1934
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7

The Maltese Falcon

Sam Spade is hired by the fragrant Miss Wonderley to track down her sister, who has eloped with a louse called Floyd Thursby. But Miss Wonderley is in fact the beautiful and treacherous Brigid O'Shaughnessy, and when Spade's partner Miles Archer is shot while on Thursby's trail, Spade finds himself both hunter and hunted: can he track down the jewel-encrusted bird, a treasure worth killing for, before the Fat Man finds him? less
Recommended by Armistead Maupin, James Twining, and 2 others.

Armistead MaupinThe Modern Library named The Maltese Falcon one of the top 100 novels of the century. It was the first, and probably the greatest, hard-boiled detective novel. It pretty much invented the genre and its archetypes, including the femme fatale and the hard-drinking detective – in this case Sam Spade. Hammett created a prototype that’s been followed ever since. (Source)

James TwiningIn this one you’ve got an interesting central character, Sam Spade, who’s bitter and sardonic and plays each side off against the other. (Source)

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8

The Bloody Crown of Conan (Conan the Cimmerian, #2)

In his hugely influential and tempestuous career, Robert E. Howard created the genre that came to be known as sword and sorcery-and brought to life one of fantasy's boldest and most enduring figures: Conan the Cimmerian-reaver, slayer, barbarian, king.

This lavishly illustrated volume gathers together three of Howard's longest and most famous Conan stories-two of them printed for the first time directly from Howard's typescript-along with a collection of the author's previously unpublished and rarely seen outlines, notes, and drafts. Longtime fans and new readers alike will agree...
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9

A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance, #1)

Librarian's Note: Alternate-cover edition for ISBN 0385338600 / 9780385338608

Before The Firm and The Pelican Brief made him a superstar, John Grisham wrote this riveting story of retribution and justice. In this searing courtroom drama, best-selling author John Grisham probes the savage depths of racial violence...as he delivers a compelling tale of uncertain justice in a small southern town...Clanton, Mississippi.

The life of a ten-year-old girl is shattered...
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Recommended by The Secret Barrister, and 1 others.

The Secret BarristerThis was the holiday-reading book which, as a teenager, inspired me to pursue criminal law. The gritty reality of criminal practice is of course somewhat removed from the fictionalised ideal, and any lawyer acting in the way that our hero Jake Brigance does in securing a just outcome for his innocent client would have to deal with fairly serious professional consequences, but the underlying... (Source)

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10

The Shining

Jack Torrance's new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he'll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote...and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around the Overlook is Danny Torrance, a uniquely gifted five-year-old. less
Recommended by Daisy Johnson, R J Ellory, and 2 others.

Daisy JohnsonIf you think you know the story because you’ve seen the film then you’d be wrong. This book is an absolute classic and a great way into the vast King oeuvre. (Source)

R J ElloryI have always rated Stephen King. I think he is so much more than just a commercially successful horror writer. (Source)

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11

The Pelican Brief

In suburban Georgetown a killer's Reeboks whisper on the front floor of a posh home... In a seedy D.C. porno house a patron is swiftly garroted to death... The next day America learns that two of its Supreme Court justices have been assassinated. And in New Orleans, a young law student prepares a legal brief... To Darby Shaw it was no more than a legal shot in the dark, a brilliant guess. To the Washington establishment it was political dynamite. Suddenly Darby is witness to a murder -- a murder intended for her. Going underground, she finds there is only one person she can trust -- an... more
Recommended by Louise Bagshawe, and 1 others.

Louise BagshaweThis was probably the last book I read where I literally stayed up until three o’clock in the morning because I could not stop reading it. I just think it is such a brilliant fast-paced story. The characterisation is sparse, terse, but nevertheless really well-drawn. He doesn’t do psychology but it’s a chase story with an ongoing mystery in the back. (Source)

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12

The Girl Who Played with Fire (Millennium, #2)

Part blistering espionage thriller, part riveting police procedural, and part piercing exposé on social injustice, The Girl Who Played with Fire is a masterful, endlessly satisfying novel.
 
Mikael Blomkvist, crusading publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation. On the eve of its publication, the two reporters responsible for the article are murdered, and the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to his friend, the troubled genius hacker Lisbeth Salander. Blomkvist, convinced of...
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13

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1)

Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden’s wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.

An international publishing sensation, Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo combines murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue into...
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14

The Andromeda Strain

In this bestselling classic, four scientists race to prevent a biochemical disaster after a space probe landing goes awry.

A military space probe, sent to collect extraterrestrial organisms from the upper atmosphere, is knocked out of orbit and falls to Earth. Twelve miles from the crash site, an inexplicable and deadly phenomenon terrorizes the residents of a sleepy desert town in Arizona, leaving only two survivors: an elderly addict and a newborn infant. The United States government is forced to mobilize Project Wildfire, a top-secret emergency response protocol. Four of...
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Recommended by Tess Gerritsen, Dez Blanchfield, and 2 others.

Tess GerritsenThis was the first science thriller I ever read. I remember thinking it was the first book to make real science so exciting. (Source)

Dez Blanchfield@isotopp wasn't that an awesome book ( and movie ) (Source)

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15
Marlowe's about to give up on a completely routine case when he finds himself in the wrong place at the right time to get caught up in a murder that leads to a ring of jewel thieves, another murder, a fortune-teller, a couple more murders, and more corruption than your average graveyard. less
Recommended by Dennis McDougal, and 1 others.

Dennis McDougalIt’s a hardboiled Raymond Chandler murder mystery that’s been made and remade into movies. It’s not only a great read filled with crackerjack characters but it really captures the essence of Southern California, even though it was published well over a half century ago, back when there was no freeway system at all. (Source)

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16

Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park, #1)

An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now humankind’s most thrilling fantasies have come true. Creatures extinct for eons roam Jurassic Park with their awesome presence and profound mystery, and all the world can visit them—for a price.

Until something goes wrong. . . .

In Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton taps all his mesmerizing talent and scientific brilliance to create his most electrifying technothriller.
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Recommended by Richard Branson, and 1 others.

Richard BransonToday is World Book Day, a wonderful opportunity to address this #ChallengeRichard sent in by Mike Gonzalez of New Jersey: Make a list of your top 65 books to read in a lifetime. (Source)

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17
World-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a cryptic symbol seared into the chest of a murdered physicist. What he discovers is unimaginable: a deadly vendetta against the Catholic Church by a centuries-old underground organization -- the Illuminati. In a desperate race to save the Vatican from a powerful time bomb, Langdon joins forces in Rome with the beautiful and mysterious scientist Vittoria Vetra. Together they embark on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, and deserted cathedrals, and into the depths of... more

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18
The biggest, the boldest, the most comprehensive collection of Pulp writing ever assembled.

Weighing in at over a thousand pages, containing over forty-seven stories and two novels, this book is big baby, bigger and more powerful than a freight train—a bullet couldn’t pass through it. Here are the best stories and every major writer who ever appeared in celebrated Pulps like Black Mask, Dime Detective, Detective Fiction Weekly, and more. These are the classic tales that created the genre and gave birth to hard-hitting detectives who smoke criminals like packs...
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19
Hannibal Lecter. The ultimate villain of modern fiction. Read the five-million-copy bestseller that scared the world silent. The Silence of the Lambs. A young FBI trainee. An evil genius locked away for unspeakable crimes. A plunge into the darkest chambers of a psychopath's mind--in the deadly search for a serial killer. - back cover less
Recommended by James Twining, Peter James, and 2 others.

James TwiningHarris breaks a story in that he popularised or exposed the workings of the FBI’s criminal profiling unit. He put them on the map. (Source)

Peter JamesIf you want to be a crime writer it is one of the books that you absolutely have to read. It has been one of the most successful, if not the most successful, crime novel of the 20th century. (Source)

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20

Sphere

A group of American scientists are rushed to a huge vessel that has been discovered resting on the ocean floor in the middle of the South Pacific. What they find defies their imaginations and mocks their attempts at logical explanation. It is a spaceship of phenomenal dimensions, apparently, undamaged by its fall from the sky. And, most startling, it appears to be at least three hundred years old....

"The suspense is real."
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

"A page-turner...Chichton's writing is cinematic, with powerful visual images and nonstop action. This book...
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Recommended by Ev Williams, Estelle Francis, and 2 others.

Estelle FrancisThis has got to be one of my all-time favourite books. As you say, Crichton manages to incorporate countless scientific details without it becoming too overwhelming. (Source)

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Don't have time to read the top Pulp Fiction books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.

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  • Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
  • Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
21

The Conquering Sword of Conan (Conan the Cimmerian, #3)

From Robert E. Howard, the master of heroic fantasy, come five classic adventures featuring Conan, the legendary Cimmerian.

Listen to The Conquering Sword of Conan on your smartphone, notebook or desktop computer.
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22

Carrie

A modern classic, Carrie introduced a distinctive new voice in American fiction -- Stephen King. The story of misunderstood high school girl Carrie White, her extraordinary telekinetic powers, and her violent rampage of revenge, remains one of the most barrier-breaking and shocking novels of all time.

Make a date with terror and live the nightmare that is...Carrie
--back cover
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Recommended by Darren Aronofsky, and 1 others.

Darren AronofskyI proceeded to pound through procrastinating by reading [this book], scaring the living crap out of myself. (Source)

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23

The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane

With Conan the Cimmerian, Robert E. Howard created more than the greatest action hero of the twentieth century—he also launched a genre that came to be known as sword and sorcery. But Conan wasn’t the first archetypal
adventurer to spring from Howard’s fertile imagination.

“He was . . . a strange blending of Puritan and Cavalier, with a touch of the ancient philosopher, and more than a touch of the pagan. . . . A hunger in his soul drove him on and on, an urge to right all wrongs, protect all weaker things. . . . Wayward and restless as the wind, he was consistent in only...
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24

Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs, #1)

Four hundred years from now mankind is strung out across a region of interstellar space inherited from an ancient civilization discovered on Mars. The colonies are linked together by the occasional sublight colony ship voyages and hyperspatial data-casting. Human consciousness is digitally freighted between the stars and downloaded into bodies as a matter of course.

But some things never change. So when ex-envoy, now-convict Takeshi Kovacs has his consciousness and skills downloaded into the body of a nicotine-addicted ex-thug and presented with a catch-22 offer, he really...
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Recommended by Zooko Wilcox, and 1 others.

Zooko WilcoxI have vivid memories of the [Altered Carbon] book(s). (Source)

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25
James Bond is marked for death by the Soviet counterintelligence agency SMERSH in Ian Fleming’s masterful spy thriller, and the novel that President John F. Kennedy named one of his favorite books of all time.

SMERSH stands for “Death to Spies” and there’s no secret agent they’d like to disgrace and destroy more than 007, James Bond. But ensnaring the British Secret Service’s most lethal operative will require a lure so tempting even he can’t resist. Enter Tatiana Romanova, a ravishing Russian spy whose “defection” springs a trap designed with clockwork precision. Her mission:...
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Keith JefferyAlthough Bond gets wounded or into trouble, he always manages to come out on top in the end. (Source)

James TwiningYou’d have to struggle to look at literary fiction over the past 50 years and come up with a character who has really inhabited the popular consciousness. (Source)

Pete WinnerWell, this is all about the Cold War. It is a similar story to what Gaz Hunter was into – going across the East German border, lurking around, possibly getting captured and tortured by the Russians. (Source)

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26
The stunning third and final novel in Stieg Larsson's internationally best-selling trilogy.

Lisbeth Salander - the heart of Larsson's two previous novels - lies in critical condition, a bullet wound to her head, in the intensive care unit of a Swedish city hospital. She's fighting for her life in more ways than one: if and when she recovers, she'll be taken back to Stockholm to stand trial for three murders. With the help of her friend, journalist Mikael Blomkvist, she will not only have to prove her innocence, but also identify and denounce those in authority who have allowed the...
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27

The Firm

When Mitch McDeere signed on with Bendini, Lambert and Locke of Memphis, he thought he and his beautiful wife, Abby, were on their way. The firm leased him a BMW, paid off his school loans, arranged a mortgage, and hired him a decorator. Mitch McDeere should have remembered what his brother Ray-doing fifteen years in a Tennessee jail- already knew. You never get nothing for nothing. Now the FBI has the lowdown on Mitch's firm and needs his help. Mitch is caught between a rock and a hard place, with no choice-- if he wants to live. less

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28

The Godfather

The Godfather—the epic tale of crime and betrayal that became a global phenomenon.

Almost fifty years ago, a classic was born. A searing portrayal of the Mafia underworld, The Godfather introduced readers to the first family of American crime fiction, the Corleones, and their powerful legacy of tradition, blood, and honor. The seduction of power, the pitfalls of greed, and the allegiance to family—these are the themes that have resonated with millions of readers around the world and made The Godfather the definitive novel of the violent subculture that, steeped in intrigue and...
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Recommended by Nicky Cullen, Michal Ptacek, and 2 others.

Nicky CullenThat is such a tough question. I'm going to say The Godfather because I couldn't stop until it was finished. (Source)

Michal PtacekMy most favourite book is Godfather by Mario Puzo. I think it is even slightly more interesting and better than a movie which is almost perfect. Total masterpiece :) (Source)

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30
Down-and-out drunk Terry Lennox has a problem: his millionaire wife is dead and he needs to get out of LA fast. So he turns to the only friend he can trust: private investigator Philip Marlowe. Marlowe is willing to help a man down on his luck, but later Lennox commits suicide in Mexico and things start to turn nasty. Marlowe is drawn into a sordid crowd of adulterers and alcoholics in LA's Idle Valley, where the rich are suffering one big suntanned hangover. Marlowe is sure Lennox didn't kill his wife, but how many stiffs will turn up before he gets to the truth? less
Recommended by Lynda La Plante, and 1 others.

Lynda La PlanteRaymond Chandler is a master of the crime novel and his short stories are a terrific read that I return to very often. (Source)

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Don't have time to read the top Pulp Fiction books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.

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  • Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
  • Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
  • Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
31
HARRY DRESDEN — WIZARD

Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment.

Harry Dresden is the best at what he does. Well, technically, he's the only at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal creativity or capability, they come to him for answers. For the "everyday" world is actually full of strange and magical things—and most don't play well with humans. That's where Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a—well, whatever....
more

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32

Red Harvest

When the last honest citizen of Poisonville was murdered, the Continental Op stayed on to punish the guilty--even if that meant taking on an entire town. Red Harvest is more than a superb crime novel: it is a classic exploration of corruption and violence in the American grain. less

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33

The Warlord of Mars (Barsoom, #3)

John Carter risks everything to rescue his wife, Princess Dejah Thoris, from the clutches of his evil adversaries, but he is always just one step behind! His battles cover the face of the red planet, as his quest carries him ultimately to the mysterious northern pole. Will this civilization, submerged in ice, prove fatal to our hero? This is the third of eleven in the popular 'Martian' series by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Duration: 5 hr., 48 min.
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34

The Postman Always Rings Twice

Cain's first novel - the subject of an obscenity trial in Boston and the inspiration for Camus's The Stranger - is the fever-pitched tale of a drifter who stumbles into a job, into an erotic obsession, and into a murder. less

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35

Red Storm Rising

"Allah!"

With that shrill cry, three Muslim terrorists blow up a key Soviet oil complex, creating a critical oil shortage that threatens the stability of the USSR.

To offer the effects of this disaster, members of the Politburo and the KGB devise a brilliant plan of diplomatic trickery - a sequence of events designed to pit the NATO allies against each other - a distraction calculated to enable the Soviets to seize all the oil in the Persian Gulf.

But as this spellbinding story of international intrigue and global politics nears its climax, the Soviets are faced with another...

more

Cristian-Dragos BaciuRed Storm Rising by Tom Clancy also deserves mentioning. (Source)

P W Singer and August ColeTom Clancy was the master and Red Storm Rising was written at the height of his game. The reading experience was addictive. (Source)

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36
In the novel that introduced James Bond to the world, Ian Fleming’s agent 007 is dispatched to a French casino in Royale-les-Eaux. His mission? Bankrupt a ruthless Russian agent who’s been on a bad luck streak at the baccarat table.

One of SMERSH’s most deadly operatives, the man known only as “Le Chiffre,” has been a prime target of the British Secret Service for years. If Bond can wipe out his bankroll, Le Chiffre will likely be “retired” by his paymasters in Moscow. But what if the cards won’t cooperate? After a brutal night at the gaming tables, Bond soon finds himself dodging...
more
Recommended by Ben Macintyre, and 1 others.

Ben MacintyreI think it’s the best of them, and it’s wonderful because it reveals what I think is the essential Bond. (Source)

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37

The Rainmaker

InThe Rainmaker, John Grisham tells the story of a young man barely out of law school who finds himself taking on one of the most powerful, corrupt, and ruthless companies in America -- and exposing a complex, multibillion-dollar insurance scam. In his final semester of law school Rudy Baylor is required to provide free legal advice to a group of senior citizens, and it is there that he meets his first "clients," Dot and Buddy Black. Their son, Donny Ray, is dying of leukemia, and their insurance company has flatly refused to pay for his medical treatments. While Rudy is at first... more

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38

Deception Point

When a new NASA satellite spots evidence of an astonishingly rare object buried deep in the Arctic ice, the floundering space agency proclaims a much-needed victory...a victory that has profound implications for U.S. space policy and the impending presidential election. With the Oval Office in the balance, the President dispatches White House Intelligence analyst Rachel Sexton to the Milne Ice Shelf to verify the authenticity of the find. Accompanied by a team of experts, including the charismatic academic Michael Tolland, Rachel uncovers the unthinkable: evidence of scientific trickery -- a... more
Recommended by Nic Nemeth, and 1 others.

Nic NemethDeception Point is the best Dan Brown book... https://t.co/DBhQVzsqVH (Source)

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39

Joyland

Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, Joyland tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever.

Joyland is a brand-new novel and has never previously been published.
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40
Ex-military policeman Jack Reacher is a drifter. He's just passing through Margrave, Georgia, and in less than an hour, he's arrested for murder. Not much of a welcome. All Jack knows is that he didn't kill anybody. At least not here. Not lately. But he doesn't stand a chance of convincing anyone. not in Margrave, Georgia. Not a chance in hell. less

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Don't have time to read the top Pulp Fiction books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.

Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:

  • Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
  • Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
  • Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
41
In this classic, John le Carre's third novel and the first to earn him international acclaim, he created a world unlike any previously experienced in suspense fiction. With unsurpassed knowledge culled from his years in British Intelligence, le Carre brings to light the shadowy dealings of international espionage in the tale of a British agent who longs to end his career but undertakes one final, bone-chilling assignment. When the last agent under his command is killed and Alec Leamas is called back to London, he hopes to come in from the cold for good. His spymaster, Control, however, has... more
Recommended by Ben Macintyre, Keith Jeffery, and 2 others.

Ben MacintyreI think it sets the standard for all spy literature. It’s very hard to improve on The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. It’s the classic le Carré recipe of compromised individuals trying to find their way through a labyrinth of deception and self-deception (Source)

Keith JefferyThis is at the far end of the spectrum from James Bond, but it also says a lot about the bureaucracy of the Service. (Source)

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42

The Client

In a weedy lot on the outskirts of Memphis, two boys watch a shiny Lincoln pull up to the curb...Eleven-year-old Mark Sway and his younger brother were sharing a forbidden cigarette when a chance encounter with a suicidal lawyer left Mark knowing a bloody and explosive secret: the whereabouts of the most sought-after dead body in America. Now Mark is caught between a legal system gone mad and a mob killer desperate to cover up his crime. And his only ally is a woman named Reggie Love, who has been a lawyer for all of four years. Prosecutors are willing to break all the rules to make Mark... more

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43

The Return of Tarzan (Tarzan, #2)

The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs The story of a young man who, although born of a woman, was left by a succession of untoward circumstances to be reared in an African jungle by a she-ape, the only mother he ever knew. Tarzan was drawn from the jungle by love for a young American girl whom chance threw in his way. Disappointment in love, in this new volume, results in his return to the jungle where he has many strange adventures and whence he is again led forth by love, this time happy love.

The Return of Tarzan is the second in the series of books about the title...
more

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44

Double Indemnity

Tautly narrated and excruciatingly suspenseful, Double Indemnity gives us an X-ray view of guilt, of duplicity, and of the kind of obsessive, loveless love that devastates everything it touches. First published in 1935, this novel reaffirmed James M. Cain as a virtuoso of the roman noir. less

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45
The Thriller Award–winning series continues as Detective Jude Fontaine finds a decades-old connection to missing children that will freeze her blood.

A boy’s frozen body is found trapped in the ice of a Minneapolis lake. The horrifying discovery leads Detective Jude Fontaine and her partner, Uriah Ashby, to more bodies in the ice, all of twelve-year-old boys missing for twenty years.

Then, in one of the worst blizzards the city has ever seen, a four-year-old is abandoned on Jude’s doorstep. The child can’t tell them where he’s from, who his parents are, or how he got...
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46

The Beasts of Tarzan (Tarzan, #3)

As THE BEASTS OF TARZAN begins, Tarzan -- as Lord Greystoke -- is settled in civilized London. But two of his enemies, Nikolas Rokoff and henchman Alexis Paulvitch, are on his trail. The pair abducts Jane -- and Tarzan's son, Jack. Tarzan himself is stranded on a desert island, but with the help of Sheeta the panther and Akut the great ape he makes it back to the mainland. There he meets Mugambi, the giant chief of the Wagambi tribe, who becomes Tarzan's lifelong friend and ally. The group heads into the deep jungle after the kidnappers -- and when Tarzan finds them he lets the beast inside... more

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47
For the 1st printing edition of this ISBN, see here.

HARRY DRESDEN -- WIZARD

Lost items found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates.
No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment

Ever since his girlfriend left town to deal with her newly acquired taste for blood, Harry Dresden has been down and out in Chicago. He can't pay his rent. He's alienating his friends. He can't even recall the last time he took a shower.
more

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48
Never forgive, never forget.

Jack Reacher lives for the moment. Without a home. Without commitment. But he has a burning desire to right wrongs - and rewrite his own agonizing past.

Never apologize. Never explain.

When Reacher witnesses a brutal kidnap attempt, he takes the law into his own hands. But a cop dies. Has Reacher lost his sense of right and wrong?
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Recommended by Louis Grenier, Andre Chaperon, and 2 others.

Louis GrenierAbout storytelling: one book in particular that was recommended by one of my guests, Andre Chaperon, who’s one of the best copywriters out there. Books by Lee Child: one of his series is Jack Reacher, which is basically a thriller series of books. The way the stories are told is breathtaking and you can apply a lot of storytelling principles in your marketing by just reading those books. (Source)

Andre ChaperonThe very first fiction book I read, like a proper fiction book was Persuader by Lee Child which is book number seven of his Jack Reacher series. I was 35 at the time, I’m 43 now so that was a few years ago. It just changed everything for me. It set the biggest impact on my writing style, it’s reading those Lee Child books, those Jack Reacher books. For me, that was the biggest shift. It’s like,... (Source)

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49
The instant New York Times, USA TODAY, and Publishers Weekly bestseller!

Over 100,000 copies sold!

"Joel C. Rosenberg continues to mix his unique blend of prophetic fiction and nonstop action unlike anyone else working today."
--The Real Book Spy on The Persian Gamble.

"The plot is intriguing. The pace just keeps accelerating. A must read!" --Porter Goss, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency on The Persian Gamble.

In the follow-up to the New York Times bestselling Kremlin...
more

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50

Twilight (Twilight, #1)

About three things I was absolutely positive.

First, Edward was a vampire.

Second, there was a part of him—and I didn't know how dominant that part might be—that thirsted for my blood.

And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.

Deeply seductive and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight is a love story with bite.
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51
Quentin Tarantino - director of "Reservoir Dogs" and writer of "True Romance" - won the Palme d'Or for best film at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival for "Pulp Fiction, " his unique vision of the underworld, starring John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis, Samuel Jackson, and Harvey Keitel. Taking his inspiration from the popular, and often lurid, "pulp" crime stories of the thirties and forties, Tarantino intertwines three narratives and introduces a variety of fascinating characters; thick-witted hit men, a double-crossing prizefighter on the run, his absent-minded French girlfriend, the hit... more

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52
From a helicopter high above the empty California desert, a man is sent free-falling into the night…. In Chicago, a woman learns that an elite team of ex–army investigators is being hunted down one by one.... And on the streets of Portland, Jack Reacher—soldier, cop, hero—is pulled out of his wandering life by a code that few other people could understand. From the first shocking scenes in Lee Child’s explosive new novel, Jack Reacher is plunged like a knife into the heart of a conspiracy that is killing old friends…and is on its way to something even worse.

A decade postmilitary,...
more

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53

Kiss the Girls (Alex Cross, #2)

In Los Angeles, a reporter investigating a series of murders is killed. In Chapel Hill, North Carolina, a beautiful medical intern suddenly disappears. In Washington D.C. Alex Cross is back to solve the most baffling and terrifying murder case ever. Two clever pattern killers are collaborating, cooperating, competing - and they are working coast to coast. less

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54

Thuvia, Maid of Mars (Barsoom, #4)

Mars has become divided by love. Not one, but two princes and a Jeddak are vying for the love of Thuvia of Ptarth. When she is mysteriously kidnapped, treachery threatens to throw Barsoom into bloody war. Now Cathoris must follow in the footsteps of his father, John Carter, and overcome phantom armies, dangerous spies and savage beasts as he attempts to save his true love and reunite Mars. The fourth Martian novel from Burroughs.

Excerpt:
Upon a massive bench of polished ersite beneath the gorgeous blooms of a giant pimalia a woman sat. Her shapely, sandalled foot tapped...
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55
WHO KNOWS WHAT EVIL LURKS IN THE HEARTS OF MEN?

THE SHADOW KNOWS. But no one knows THE SHADOW. Cloaked in darkness and mystery, the man in black is a legend to those who have felt his remorseless hand: The Underworld. One step outside the law and many leagues ahead of the police in the battle against crime, he haunts the forbidding canyons of Manhattan with a mocking laugh that strikes terror into the souls of the guilty everywhere.

With his invisible network of crimefighters who have pledged him their loyalty--and their lives, THE SHADOW stalks a trial of blood that...
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56
Hitching rides is an unreliable mode of transport. In temperatures of over a hundred degrees, you’re lucky if a driver will open the door of his air-conditioned car long enough to let you slide in. That’s Jack Reacher’s conclusion. He’s adrift in the fearsome heat of a Texas summer, and he needs to keep moving through the wide open vastness, like a shark in the water. The last thing he’s worried about is exactly who picks him up.

He never expected it to be somebody like Carmen. She’s alone, driving a Cadillac. She’s beautiful, young and rich. She has a little girl who is being...
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57

The Chessmen of Mars (Barsoom #5)

Impetuous and headstrong is Tara, Princess of Helium and daughter of John Carter. Tara meets Prince Gahan of Gathol, and is initially unimpressed, viewing him as something of a popinjay. Later she takes her flier into a storm and loses control of the craft, and the storm carries her to an unfamiliar region of Barsoom. After landing and fleeing from a pack of ferocious Banths (Martian lions), she is captured by the horrific Kaldanes, who resemble large heads with small, crab-like legs. The Kaldanes have bred a symbiotic race of headless human-like creatures called Rykors, which they can attach... more

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58

Without Fail (Jack Reacher, #6)

Skilled, cautious, and anonymous, Jack Reacher is perfect for the job: to assassinate the vice president of the United States. Theoretically, of course. A female Secret Service agent wants Reacher to find the holes in her system, and fast - because a covert group already has the vice president in their sights. They've planned well. There's just one thing they didn't plan on: Reacher. less

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59

The Other Side of Midnight (Midnight #1)

Paris...Washington...a peaceful Midwestern campus...a fabulous villa in Greece...all part of a terrifying web of intrigue and treachery as a ruthless trio of human beings - an incredibly beautiful film star, a legendary Greek tycoon, a womanizing international adventurer- use an innocent American girl as a bewildered, horror-stricken pawn in a desperate game of vengeance and betrayal, love and lust, life and death... less

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60
Jack Reacher, ex-military policeman relaxed in Key West until Costello turned up dead. The amiable PI was hired in New York by the daughter of Reacher's mentor and former commanding officer, General Garber. Garber's investigation into a Vietnam MIA sets Reacher on collision with hand-less "Hook" Hobie, hours away from his biggest score. less

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61
The bestselling novel featuring the "wonderfully epic hero" (People) who inspired the hit film Jack Reacher.

Across the country women are being murdered, victims of a disciplined and clever killer who leaves no trace evidence, no fatal wounds, no signs of struggle, and no clues to an apparent motive. They are, truly, perfect crimes. In fact, there’s only one thing that links one victim to the next. Each of the women knew Jack Reacher. And this time, even he’s running blind.
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62

Then She Was Gone

THEN
She was fifteen, her mother's golden girl. She had her whole life ahead of her. And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone.

NOW
It’s been ten years since Ellie disappeared, but Laurel has never given up hope of finding her daughter.

And then one day a charming and charismatic stranger called Floyd walks into a café and sweeps Laurel off her feet.

Before too long she’s staying the night at this house and being introduced to his nine year old daughter.

Poppy is precocious and pretty - and meeting her completely takes Laurel's...
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63

Kull

Exile of Atlantis

“Howard’s writing seems so highly charged with energy that it nearly gives off sparks.”
–Stephen King

“Robert E. Howard had a gritty, vibrant style–broadsword writing that cut its way to the heart, with heroes who are truly larger than life.”
–David Gemmell

In a meteoric career that spanned a mere twelve years, Robert E. Howard single-handedly invented the genre that came to be called sword and sorcery. From his fertile imagination sprang some of fiction’s most enduring heroes. Yet while Conan is indisputably Howard’s greatest creation, it was in his earlier...
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64

Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar (Tarzan, #5)

Here Tarzan returns to Opar, the source of the gold for lost Atlantis. Ages ago Atlantis sunk beneath the waves -- but the denizens of Opar still mine the gold of this lost colony. Tarzan, following greedy pair -- one Belgian, one Arab -- into the jungle, where they stumble into the lost city. Bad enough -- and then Tarzan injures his head in a fight and loses his memory. That's great news for La, the high priestess for the Flaming God, who's had a serious crush on the apeman since their first encounter. But the priests who work for her have other ideas: they don't intend to allow Tarzan to... more

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66

The Son of Tarzan (Tarzan, #4)

Alexis Paulvitch, one of Tarzan's enemies, wants to get even, so he draws Tarzan's son, Jack, away from London, but Jack isn't so easy to capture and kill. He escapes, and makes a home among the apes as his father did. He becomes known as Korak the Killer, and meets a lovely young woman named Meriem. Narrow escapes, fun action, and a definite sense of adventure in the wilds of Africa make this a must-read book. less

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67

Money Shot (Angel Dare #1)

THEY THOUGHT SHE'D BE EASY. THEY THOUGHT WRONG.

It all began with the phone call asking former porn star Angel Dare to do one more movie. Before she knew it, she'd been shot and left for dead in the trunk of a car. But Angel is a survivor. And that means she'll get to the bottom of what's been done to her even if she has to leave a trail of bodies along the way...

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68
The New York Times and Washington Post bestselling serial-killer thriller that will leave you wondering, is the past really in the past?

Three Chicago women have been found strangled, embalmed, and posed as if still alive. Doubting the findings of the local PD’s profiler, The FBI calls on forensic psychologist Zoe Bentley to investigate.

Zoe quickly gets off on the wrong foot with her new partner, Special Agent Tatum Gray. Zoe’s a hunter, intense and focused; Tatum’s a smug maverick with little respect for the rules. Together, they must descend into...
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69

With two street gangs on the brink of war, Detective Michael Kelly must solve a murder before the entire town goes up in flames.

THE SECOND NOVEL OF THE NEW BOSTON CRIME THRILLER SERIES BY FORMER DETECTIVE BRIAN SHEA.

Boston Homicide Detective Michael Kelly just took his latest case.

It seemed simple enough: a convenience store clerk gunned down in cold blood.

There’s just one catch...the store was under the protection of the Irish mob.

When all evidence points to an up-and-coming street gang, the mob closes in. But...

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70

Digital Fortress

When the National Security Agency's invincible code-breaking machine encounters a mysterious code it cannot break, the agency calls its head cryptographer, Susan Fletcher, a brilliant and beautiful mathematician. What she uncovers sends shock waves through the corridors of power. The NSA is being held hostage... not by guns or bombs, but by a code so ingeniously complex that if released it would cripple U.S. intelligence.

Caught in an accelerating tempest of secrecy and lies, Susan Fletcher battles to save the agency she believes in. Betrayed on all sides, she finds herself...
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71

Timeline

In an Arizona desert, a man wanders in a daze, speaking words that make no sense. Within twenty-four hours he is dead, his body swiftly cremated by his only known associates. Halfway around the world, archaeologists make a shocking discovery at a medieval site. Suddenly they are swept off to the headquarters of a secretive multinational corporation that has developed an astounding technology. Now this group is about to get a chance not to study the past but to enter it. And with history opened up to the present, the dead awakened to the living, these men and women will soon find themselves... more

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72

GLOBAL STRIKE: The final book in the USA Today bestselling War Planners series.

It has been over a year since the war began. A year since China launched a surprise attack on America.

On that fateful day, EMP and cyber weapons plunged much of the nation into a dark chaos. Thousands of anti-ship missiles gutted the US Pacific fleet. A Chinese-allied North Korea launched an all-out attack on South Korea. And a Chinese information warfare campaign tricked America into launching its own limited nuclear strike.

The aftermath was devastating.

But the...

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73

A Fighting Man of Mars (Barsoom, #7)

Tan Hadron from the realm of Gathol encounters a wide range of enemies in this science fiction thriller of the 1930's. He fends off green men, mad scientists, cannibals, spiders and white apes. The main character, Tan Hadron, finds himself an unlikely hero in this pulp fiction classic. "A Fighting Man of Mars," is the seventh book in the Edgar Rice Burroughs Martian series. less

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74
Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here

In a Chicago suburb, a dentist is met in his office parking lot by three men and ordered into the trunk of his Lexus. On a downtown sidewalk, Jack Reacher and an unknown woman are abducted in broad daylight by two men - practiced and confident - who stop them at gunpoint and hustle them into the same sedan. Then Reacher and the woman are switched into a second vehicle and hauled away, leaving the dentist bound and gagged inside his car with the...
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76

Doctor No (James Bond, #6)

The sixth James Bond thriller from Ian Fleming’s typewriter.

Dispatched by M to investigate the mysterious disappearance of MI6’s Jamaica station chief, Bond was expecting a holiday in the sun. But when he discovers a deadly centipede placed in his hotel room, the vacation is over.

On this island, all suspicious activity leads inexorably to Dr Julius No, a reclusive megalomaniac with steel pincers for hands. To find out what the good doctor is hiding, 007 must enlist the aid of local fisherman Quarrel and alluring beachcomber Honeychile Rider.

Together they...
more
Recommended by Pete Winner, and 1 others.

Pete WinnerWell, this is the one where James Bond has to go out to Jamaica and investigates the disappearance of Strangways, the head of Station J in Kingston. What I really like about all his books is the attention to detail. It was all based on his experiences when he worked for naval intelligence during the war. He could use terminology like Sit Rep. Many people had never heard of Sit Rep before but in... (Source)

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77

Quest of Qui (Doc Savage #12)

WHO IS DOC SAVAGE?

To the world at large, Doc Savage is a strange, mysterious figure of glistening bronze skin and golden eyes. To his amazing co-adventurers - the five greatest brains ever assembled in one group - he is a man of superhuman strength and protean genius, whose life is dedicated to the destruction of evil-doers. To his fans he is one of the greatest adventure heroes of all time, whose fantastic exploits are unequalled for hair-raising thrills, breathtaking escapes and bloodcurdling excitement.

DOC SAVAGE AND HIS FABULOUS CREW BATTLE THE TERROR OF...
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78

The Grifters

To his friends, to his coworkers, and even to his mistress Moira, Roy Dillon is an honest hardworking salesman. He lives in a cheap hotel just within his pay bracket. He goes to work every day. He has hundreds of friends and associates who could attest to his good character.

Yet, hidden behind three gaudy clown paintings in Roy's pallid hotel room, sits fifty-two thousand dollars--the money Roy makes from his short cons, his "grifting." For years, Roy has effortlessly maintained control over his house-of-cards life--until the simplest con goes wrong, and he finds himself critically...
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79

The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories

An unstoppable anthology of crime stories culled from Black Mask magazine the legendary publication that turned a pulp phenomenon into literary mainstream. 
 
Black Mask was the apotheosis of noir.  It was the magazine where the first hardboiled detective story, which was written by Carroll John Daly appeared.  It was the slum in which such American literary titans like Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler got their start, and it was the home of stories with titles like “Murder Is Bad Luck,” “Ten Carets of Lead,” and “Drop Dead Twice.” Collected here is best of the...
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80

The Lost Oasis (Doc Savage, #6)

While seeking to solve the mystery of "the trained vampire murders," Doc Savage and his amazing crew suddenly find themselves prisoners of Sol Yuttal and Hadi-Mot aboard a hijacked Zeppelin. Their deadly destination is a fabulous lost diamond mine guarded by carnivorous plants and monstrous, bloodsucking bats. less

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81

The Master Mind of Mars (Barsoom #6)

Former Earthman Ulysses Paxton served Barsoom's greatest scientist, until his master's ghoulish trade in living bodies drove him to rebellion. Then, to save the body of the woman he loved, he had to attack mighty Phundahl, and its evil, beautiful ruler. less

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82

Pulp

Opening with the exotic Lady Death entering the gumshoe-writer's seedy office in pursuit of a writer named Celine, this novel demonstrates Bukowski's own brand of humour and realism, opening up a landscape of seamy Los Angeles. less

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83
Ayla The darkness never truly left me. It less

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84
When the Chinese military launches a surprise attack on the United States, the world is thrown into chaos.

The Manning family is spread out over the globe, each doing their part to defend America.

With the Chinese fleet advancing, Admiral Manning commands the USS FORD carrier strike group near Midway. CIA operative Chase Manning is sent home to the US to fight a lethal unit of Chinese special forces. LCDR Victoria Manning hunts submarines off the coast of Guam. And intelligence analyst David Manning tries to decipher Chinese plans.

But President...
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85

Rage of Angels

A worldwide bestseller first published in 1980, this novel tells the story of Jennifer Parker, a successful lawyer who is loved by two men, one a politician, the other, a mafia don. less

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86
Expect the unexpected in this gritty, tense, and page-turning mystery from New York Times bestselling author Mary Burton.

After multiple women go missing, Agent Melina Shepard of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation makes the impulsive decision to go undercover as a prostitute. While working the street, she narrowly avoids becoming a serial killer’s latest victim; as much as it pains her to admit, she needs backup.

Enter lone wolf FBI agent Jerrod Ramsey. Stonewalled by a lack of leads, he and Melina investigate a scene where a little girl has been found...
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87

King Solomon's Mines (Allan Quatermain, #1)

H. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines has entertained generations of readers since its first publication in 1885. Following a mysterious map of dubious reliability, a small group of men trek into southern Africa in search of a lost friend-and a lost treasure, the fabled mines of King Solomon. Led by the English adventurer and fortune hunter Allan Quartermain, they discover a frozen corpse, survive untold dangers in remote mountains and deserts, and encounter the merciless King Twala en route to the legendary hoard of diamonds. less

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89
A couple of missing wives—one a rich man's and one a poor man's—become the objects of Marlowe's investigation. One of them may have gotten a Mexican divorce and married a gigolo and the other may be dead. Marlowe's not sure he cares about either one, but he's not paid to care. less

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90

The Killer Inside Me

Everyone in the small town of Central City, Texas loves Lou Ford. A deputy sheriff, Lou's known to the small-time criminals, the real-estate entrepreneurs, and all of his coworkers--the low-lifes, the big-timers, and everyone in-between--as the nicest guy around. He may not be the brightest or the most interesting man in town, but nevertheless, he's the kind of officer you're happy to have keeping your streets safe. The sort of man you might even wish your daughter would end up with someday.

But behind the platitudes and glad-handing lurks a monster the likes of which few have...
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91

El Borak and Other Desert Adventures

Robert E. Howard is famous for creating such immortal heroes as Conan the Cimmerian, Solomon Kane, and Bran Mak Morn. Less well-known but equally extraordinary are his non-fantasy adventure stories set in the Middle East and featuring such two-fisted heroes as Francis Xavier Gordon—known as “El Borak”—Kirby O’Donnell, and Steve Clarney. This trio of hard-fighting Americans, civilized men with more than a touch of the primordial in their veins, marked a new direction for Howard’s writing, and new territory for his genius to conquer.

The wily Texan El Borak, a hardened fighter who...
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92

The Sargasso Ogre (Doc Savage, #18)

WHO IS DOC SAVAGE?

To the world at large, Doc Savage is a strange, mysterious figure of glistening bronze skin and golden eyes. To his amazing co-adventurers - the five greatest brains ever assembled in one group - he is a man of superhuman strength and protean genius, whose life is dedicated to the destruction of evil-doers. To his fans he is one of the greatest adventure heroes of all time, whose fantastic exploits are unequalled for hair-raising thrills, breathtaking escapes and bloodcurdling excitement.

THE SARGASSO OGRE

A ruthless attempt on...
more

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93

Pop. 1280

Nick Corey is a terrible sheriff on purpose. He doesn't solve problems, enforce rules or arrest criminals. He knows that nobody in tiny Potts County actually wants to follow the law and he is perfectly content lazing about, eating five meals a day, and sleeping with all the eligible women.

Still, Nick has some very complex problems to deal with. Two local pimps have been sassing him, ruining his already tattered reputation. His girlfriend Rose is being terrorized by her husband. And then, there's his wife and her brother Lenny who won't stop troubling Nick's already stressed mind....
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94
During the 20th century’s first half, millions of Americans flocked to newsstands every month in search of thrills provided by all-fiction magazines printed on cheap pulp paper. These periodicals introduced and popularized such famous characters as Tarzan, Zorro, Sam Spade, Buck Rogers, Doc Savage, Hopalong Cassidy, and Conan the Barbarian, to name just a few. The producers of pulp fiction churned out their vigorous and occasionally outré stories at a feverish pace, generally for a mere penny per word. Some eventually graduated from the pulps to become world-famous, best-selling authors—among... more

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95

Prey

In the Nevada desert, an experiment has gone horribly wrong. A cloud of nanoparticles -- micro-robots -- has escaped from the laboratory. This cloud is self-sustaining and self-reproducing. It is intelligent and learns from experience. For all practical purposes, it is alive.

It has been programmed as a predator. It is evolving swiftly, becoming more deadly with each passing hour.

Every attempt to destroy it has failed.

And we are the prey.
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96
After he evens the score with those who betrayed him and recovers the money he was cheated out of from the syndicate, Parker is riding high. Until, that is, he's fingered by a squealer who rats him out to The Outfit for the price they put on his head. less

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97

Pick-Up

In Pick-Up, Charles Willeford has created a work of psychological suspense that is at once poignant, terrifying, and utterly authentic in its depiction of alcoholic desire and destruction. less
Recommended by Rachel Kushner, and 1 others.

Rachel KushnerIt is a very compelling, weird little book, hidden inside the genre of the dimestore novel. (Source)

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98
After the long exile on Earth, John Carter finally returned to his beloved Mars. But beautiful Dejah Thoris, the woman he loved, had vanished. Now he was trapped in the legendary Eden of Mars -- an Eden from which none ever escaped alive. less

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99

Llana of Gathol (Barsoom, #10)

"Llana of Gathol" is a collection of four novellas written in the Martian series of Edgar Rice Burroughs which was written for Amazing Stories in 1941. Llano, the daughter of Gahan of Gothol, is the perfect damsel in distress. "Llana of Gathol" consists of four stories. First "The Ancient Dead" (originally "The City of Mummies") followed by "The Black Pirates of Barsoom", "Escape on Mars" and finally "Invisible Men of Mars". The four books in this series is truly comprised of parody and satire. These books are a good laugh with many futuristic encounters and wild characters. less

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100

The Drop

In his fierce search for a new case, Detective Harry Bosch discovers a killer hiding behind suspicious DNA evidence -- and a political conspiracy that could destroy the Los Angeles Police Department.

DNA from a 1989 rape and murder matches a 29-year-old convicted rapist. Was he an eight-year-old killer or has something gone terribly wrong in the new Regional Crime Lab? The latter possibility could compromise all of the lab's DNA cases currently in court.

Then Bosch and his partner are called to a death scene fraught with internal politics. Councilman Irvin...
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