Friday, August 12, 2011

NPR's 100 Top Killer Thrillers (Last Summer's List)


Last summer the listeners of NPR, with some expert help, nominated and voted on their top 100 Thriller Killers.  I actually meant to post about this last summer, but totally forgot all about it.  I didn't think about it again until this year's list came out, Top 100 Science Fiction, Fantasy Books.  So before I shared the new list with you, I figured I better get the old one posted.  


What do you think about the choices made?  Myself, I'm pretty impressed that some of the books I voted for made the list.  It was nice to see Agatha Christie in the top 10, though I would have liked to see more of her books on it.  Dracula, coming in at 11 was a nice surprise.  I'm actually shocked by how many of these books I have never read, I've only read 12 of them (the red highlighted ones.)  I guess I have a lot of reading to do.




Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  • 1. The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
  • 2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
  • 3. Kiss the Girls, by James Patterson
  • 4. The Bourne Identity, by Robert Ludlum
  • 5. In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
  • 6. The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown
  • 7. The Shining, by Stephen King
  • 8. And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie
  • 9. The Hunt tor Red October, by Tom Clancy
  • 10. The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle



    Jurassic Park
    • 11. Dracula, by Bram Stoker
    • 12. The Stand, by Stephen King
    • 13. The Bone Collector, by Jeffery Deaver
    • 14. Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton
    • 15. Angels & Demons, by Dan Brown
    • 16. A Time to Kill, by John Grisham
    • 17. The Andromeda Strain, by Michael Crichton
    • 18. Mystic River, by Dennis Lehane
    • 19. The Day of the Jackal, by Frederick Forsyth
    • 20. Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier



      Girl Who Played With Fire
      • 21. Eye of the Needle, by Ken Follett
      • 22. It, by Stephen King
      • 23. The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas
      • 24. The Girl Who Played with Fire, by Stieg Larsson
      • 25. Jaws, by Peter Benchley
      • 26. The Alienist, by Caleb Carr
      • 27. Red Dragon, by Thomas Harris
      • 28. Presumed Innocent, by Scott Turow
      • 29. The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett
      • 30. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, by Stieg Larsson



        Rosemary's Baby
        • 31. No Country For Old Men, by Cormac McCarthy
        • 32. Gone Baby Gone, by Dennis Lehane
        • 33. Gorky Park, by Martin Cruz Smith
        • 34. Rosemary's Baby, by Ira Levin
        • 35. Subterranean, by James Rollins
        • 36. Clear and Present Danger, by Tom Clancy
        • 37. Salem's Lot, by Stephen King
        • 38. Shutter Island, by Dennis Lehane
        • 39. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, by John Le Carre
        • 40. The Poet, by Michael Connelly



          Pet Sematary
          • 41. The Boys from Brazil, by Ira Levin
          • 42. Cape Fear, by John MacDonald
          • 43. The Bride Collector, by Ted Dekker
          • 44. Pet Sematary, by Stephen King
          • 45. Dead Zone, by Stephen King
          • 46. The Manchurian Candidate, by Richard Condon
          • 47. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, by John Le Carre
          • 48. The Talented Mr. Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith
          • 49. Tell No One, by Harlan Coben
          • 50. Consent to Kill, by Vince Flynn



            61 Hours
            • 51. The 39 Steps, by John Buchan
            • 52. Blowback, by Brad Thor
            • 53. The Children of Men, by P.D. James
            • 54. 61 Hours, by Lee Child
            • 55. Marathon Man, by William Goldman
            • 56. The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins
            • 57. 206 Bones, by Kathy Reichs
            • 58. Psycho, by Robert Bloch
            • 59. The Killing Floor, by Lee Child
            • 60. Rules of Prey, by John Sandford



              The Hunger Games
              • 61. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
              • 62. In the Woods, by Tana French
              • 63. Shogun, by James Clavell
              • 64. The Relic, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
              • 65. Intensity, by Dean Koontz
              • 66. Casino Royale, by Ian Fleming
              • 67. Metzger's Dog, by Thomas Perry
              • 68. Timeline, by Michael Crichton
              • 69. Contact, by Carl Sagan
              • 70. What the Dead Know, by Laura Lippman



                Secret History
                • 71. The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
                • 72. The Cabinet of Curiosities, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
                • 73. Charm School, by Nelson DeMille
                • 74. Feed, by Mira Grant
                • 75. Gone Tomorrow, by Lee Child
                • 76. Darkly Dreaming Dexter, by Jeff Lindsay
                • 77. The Secret History, by Donna Tartt
                • 78. The First Deadly Sin, by Lawrence Sanders
                • 79. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
                • 80. The Brotherhood of the Rose, by David Morrell



                  Goldfinger
                  • 81. Primal Fear, by William Diehl
                  • 82. The Templar Legacy, by Steve Berry
                  • 82. The Hard Way, by Lee Child [tie]
                  • 84. The Last of the Mohicans, by James Fenimore Cooper
                  • 85. Six Days of the Condor, by James Grady
                  • 86. Fail-Safe, by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler
                  • 87. Strangers on a Train, by Patricia Highsmith
                  • 88. The Eight, by Katherine Neville
                  • 89. The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown
                  • 90. Goldfinger, by Ian Fleming



                    Bangkok 8
                    • 91. Bangkok 8, by John Burdett
                    • 92. The Kill Artist, by Daniel Silva
                    • 93. Hardball, by Sara Paretsky
                    • 94. The Club Dumas, by Arturo Perez-Reverte
                    • 95. The Deep Blue Good-by, by John MacDonald
                    • 96. The Monkey's Raincoat, by Robert Crais
                    • 96. Berlin Game, by Len Deighton [tie]
                    • 98. A Simple Plan, by Scott Smith
                    • 99. Child 44, by Tom Rob Smith
                    • 100. Heartsick, by Chelsea Cain

                    11 comments:

                    Jenny said...

                    Ooh great list! I haven't read too many on there (though more than I expected for some reason) but the ones I have read were definitely good. I'm glad to see Heartsick made it on there (just barely)... that series is twisted!!

                    bermudaonion said...

                    I've actually read 12 of the books on the list. Overall, I think the list is pretty good, but have to admit that I'm surprised a Patterson book is so high on the list.

                    Helen's Book Blog said...

                    Great list! I'm glad to see some of my favorites are on there, even if they are in the bottom half. I've read 9 of them, but seen 15 of them as movies. I guess I am more of a "see a thriller" than a "read a thriller" gal

                    Anonymous said...

                    I love lists like these. I've read 24 of them, but a couple more are on my shelf just waiting for me to get to them.

                    Marce said...

                    This is one of my favourite lists, I actually have it saved so I can go through it.

                    Silence of the Lambs is my all time favourite movie and I read that one this year to tick off the list also.

                    Yvette said...

                    Interesting list, Ryan. Some odd choices. I don't agree with some of them, but I do agree with a lot of them. Turns out I've read a bunch of 'em.

                    Lee Child always deserves to be on any thriller list as does Robert Crais.

                    I can't believe Dan Brown is anywhere on this list. He is a hack writer at best. As is James Patterson.

                    That stops me taking this list too seriously. ;)

                    Michelle (Red Headed Book Child) said...

                    I've read 16 of those. i am surprsied by a few of them but overall, the ones I am familiar with were definitely thrilling! Some I am now more curious about, like Lee Child and Michael Connelly. I kind of considered them mediocre. What do i know?!

                    Thanks Ryan!

                    Staci said...

                    I've read 17 from the list. Saw a few that I have sitting on my shelves!! LOL!!

                    KarenSi said...

                    Another great list. I got 20 in this one which is a big surprise to me as I thought I would have one or two at the most. Mind you a number of them were King books. Actually surprised that so many horror books made the list although I can see why they could be seen as killer thrillers.

                    Unknown said...

                    I've read more on this list then on Sci Fy list I think I see what I read more of. Thanks for sharing

                    Jill Buck said...

                    I've read 7, but again we have a lot of these books on our shelves that I just haven't gotten to yet. Maybe someday!