Gasp from the Past: 9 Great Historical Thrillers
Did you know that the thriller genre has technically been around since the time of Homer in Ancient Greece? It’s true! The Iliad and The Odyssey are considered thrilling epic poems. And since then, books published in several genres can be considered thrillers. Grimm’s Fairytales? The original ones are SCARY and quite thrilling. There have been revenge thrillers, mystery thrillers, horror thrillers, and espionage thrillers on the bestseller lists for decades now. People love thrillers!
Another amazing offshoot of the thriller genre is the historical thriller: thrillers where the action and intrigue take place in an earlier time period. This subset has been responsible for some of the best books in the business, like The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett and The Alienist by Caleb Carr. Sometimes, they’re even a great way to learn about real things that happened in history!
Whether you’re a historical thriller aficionado or are trying to decide which one to pick up first, here is a list with nine wonderful options–from several different time periods–for you to consider.
New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci, who has several thrilling series under his belt, now introduces readers to a new series set just a few years after the end of World War II. Veteran Aloysius Archer is a new parolee, having just been released from prison. He's supposed to keep his nose clean, but his first job as a debt collector for a powerful businessman brings heaps of trouble down on his head. Now Archer must solve a murder he's suspected of committing, or he'll wind right back up in the slammer–this time for life.
This thrilling World War II novel is based on an actual person! One day, Nancy Wake is living a quiet life with the man she loves in France, and the next, she's the White Mouse, the Nazis' most-wanted resistance fighter. With a 5-million-franc bounty on her head, she escapes to Britain, where her actions against the Germans place her and the ones she loves in even greater danger. But Nancy isn't going to let a little danger stand in her way.
This is a gripping thriller set in the Victorian era. When a terrifying killer strikes London, his crimes are similar to ones committed 43 years earlier. They seem to be influenced by an essay about murder as a fine art by Thomas De Quincey, a known writer in the area. So, of course, suspicion falls on Thomas. Desperate to clear his name, but struggling with an opium addiction, he turns to his daughter, Emily, to help him solve the case.
This gripping novel is set in the Soviet Union in 1953, where the citizens supposedly live crime-free under Stalin. But when a vicious murderer goes on a killing spree, security officer Leo Demidov must figure out who is responsible and stop them, before the citizens learn that they are not as safe as they were told.
Related: Six Historical Suspense Audiobooks To Listen To Right Now
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Liberty Hardy is a Book Riot senior contributing editor and velocireader living in the great state of Maine with her three cats, who hate to read.