The 100 best easy thrillers

Each point of light is one of the 100, placed by how hard it is to read. The brighter, the higher it ranks. The dotted line is one way up.

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No. 1 of 100

And Then There Were None

Agatha Christie · 1939

Difficulty 35/1002.8 hours

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About 646 hours for 100 of 100 books with measured lengths. Estimates use 250 words a minute, adjusted for each book's difficulty. At 2 hours a day, about 324 days for those books.

1–10 · 39 hours

  1. No. 1 on this list. And Then There Were None

    Agatha Christie · 1939

    Easy2.8 hours

    Taught in schools: Hungarian literature curriculum (magyar nyelv és irodalom) (Hungary)

    Christie's most celebrated novel holds a dominant place in the mystery canon and is widely recognized as the best-selling mystery of all time. It appears on virtually every 'greatest mysteries ever written' list — TIME's All-TIME 100 Novels, the BBC's Big Read — and is frequently taught in genre fiction courses. Its canonical standing within popular fiction far exceeds that of typical genre works, though it sits below the academic canonicity of literary fiction anchors like Gatsby or Beloved.

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  2. Launched one of the most acclaimed detective series in modern crime fiction. Edgar Award winner.

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  3. Gold Dagger winner. Launched one of crime fiction's most acclaimed series.

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  4. Launched one of crime fiction's most acclaimed series. The definitive Edinburgh detective.

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  5. Caleb Williams appears regularly on 18th-century British fiction and radical novel syllabi in university English departments, taught alongside Godwin's political philosophy as a dramatization of his ideas in Political Justice. Available in roughly 40 Wikipedia language editions, it occupies a respected but not dominant position in the canon—essential for students of Gothic and political fiction, less so for general literature courses.

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  6. Ranked by literary regard among eligible works in the current catalogue. This position reflects the available catalogue evidence.

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  7. A foundational text in spy and thriller fiction, widely known across the English-speaking world with Wikipedia articles in 40+ languages and multiple film adaptations. Not a fixture on university literature syllabi the way canonical literary fiction is, but taught in genre studies, British literature surveys, and popular culture courses.

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  8. Launched one of the bestselling thriller series. Reacher is a modern pop-culture icon.

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  9. The 39 Steps is not a fixture of standard literary curricula but holds an important place in genre-history courses on spy fiction, popular culture, and Edwardian literature. Widely assigned in British cultural studies and adapted so many times—most famously by Hitchcock in 1935—that it functions as shared cultural shorthand for the chase thriller. Its canonical status is medium-high within genre scholarship, lower in traditional literary canon.

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  10. The foundation of the most influential spy fiction franchise. Studied as Cold War cultural artifact.

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11–20 · 56 hours

  1. No. 11 on this list. The Stepford Wives · Ira Levin · 2002

    The title has become a cultural shorthand and the book is taught in feminist and genre courses, though it is not a core literary canon text.

    Easy1.9 hours

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  2. No. 12 on this list. Darkly Dreaming Dexter · Jeff Lindsay · 2004

    A pop-culture phenomenon through the TV adaptation. The novel launched the sympathetic-serial-killer trend.

    Easy5 hours

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  3. No. 13 on this list. Code Name Verity · Elizabeth Wein · 2012

    A modern classic of YA historical fiction, winner of the Edgar Award, and one of the most structurally ambitious YA novels of the 2010s.

    Easy5.5 hours

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  4. No. 14 on this list. Wool · Hugh Howey · 2011

    A self-publishing phenomenon. Widely read but not canonized in traditional SF criticism.

    Easy8.3 hours

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  5. No. 15 on this list. The Ministry of Fear · Graham Greene · 1943

    The Ministry of Fear occupies mid-tier status within Greene's own canon — The Power and the Glory, The End of the Affair, and The Heart of the Matter draw far greater critical and syllabus attention. Greene himself classified it as an 'entertainment' rather than a serious novel, which has shaped its reception as superior genre fiction rather than a canonical literary work.

    Easy4.1 hours

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  6. No. 16 on this list. The Perfect Nanny · Leïla Slimani · 2016

    Prix Goncourt winner. Major international literary event. Widely taught.

    Easy3.1 hours

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  7. No. 17 on this list. Out · Natsuo Kirino · 1997

    Increasingly recognized as a landmark of Japanese feminist crime fiction, studied in university courses worldwide.

    Moderate7.1 hours

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  8. No. 18 on this list. Battle Royale · Koushun Takami · 1999

    Foundational text in the survival-game genre. Cultural phenomenon in Japan. The film adaptation is widely studied. International recognition predates The Hunger Games.

    Easy11 hours

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  9. No. 19 on this list. Black Water Rising · Attica Locke · 2010

    Writing in the tradition of Dennis Lehane and Greg Iles, Attica Locke, a powerful new voice in American fiction, delivers a brilliant debut thriller that readers will not soon forget. Jay Porter is hardly the lawyer he set out to be. His most promising client is a low-rent call girl and he runs his fledgling law practice out of a dingy strip mall. But he's long since made peace with not living the American Dream and carefully tucked away his darkest sins: the guns, the FBI file, the trial that nearly destroyed him.Houston, Texas, 1981. It is here that Jay believes he can make a fresh start. That is, until the night in a boat out on the bayou when he impulsively saves a woman from drowning—and opens a Pandora's box. Her secrets put Jay in danger, ensnaring him in a murder investigation that could cost him his practice, his family, and even his life. But before he can get to the bottom of a tangled mystery that reaches into the upper echelons of Houston's corporate power brokers, Jay must confront the demons of his past.With pacing that captures the reader from the first scene through an exhilarating climax, Black Water Rising marks the arrival of an electrifying new talent.

    Moderate1.4 hours

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  10. No. 20 on this list. Red Dragon · Thomas Harris · 1981

    ReadingRate found no syllabus appearances or Wikipedia-language data for this work. It's occasionally assigned in genre-fiction or crime-writing courses but carries no 'essential reading' consensus, sitting closer to Gone Girl's classroom footprint than to any literary-canon fixture.

    Moderate8.7 hours

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21–30 · 68 hours

  1. No. 21 on this list. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo · Stieg Larsson · 2005

    A global publishing phenomenon and the definitive Scandinavian crime novel of the 21st century.

    Easy8.4 hours

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  2. No. 22 on this list. Alas, Babylon · Pat Frank · 1959

    A widely read Cold War classic of post-apocalyptic fiction, often assigned in schools and genre courses. It sits well below the literary canon's core.

    Easy5.4 hours

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  3. No. 23 on this list. State of Wonder / The Song of Achilles / Painter of Silence · Ann Patchett · 2012

    A bestselling contemporary novel by a prominent author, it is read in book clubs and some contemporary literature courses but is not a staple of syllabi.

    Easy5.1 hours

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  4. No. 24 on this list. Eye of the Needle · Ken Follett · 1978

    A genre classic widely regarded as one of the finest WWII spy thrillers ever written.

    Easy5.4 hours

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  5. No. 25 on this list. Misery · Stephen King · 1987

    Misery does not appear widely on university syllabi and sits outside the traditional literary canon. It is, however, one of the most culturally recognized horror novels of the twentieth century, and its premise — the captive author, the demanding fan — has entered the broader cultural vocabulary in a way that most genre novels do not.

    Moderate7.2 hours

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  6. No. 26 on this list. The Troop · Nick Cutter · 2014

    A popular horror novel that earned strong genre recognition. Not yet canonical but frequently recommended in horror circles.

    Easy4.9 hours

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  7. No. 27 on this list. Jurassic Park · Michael Crichton · 1990

    Defined the techno-thriller genre. One of the bestselling novels of the 1990s. Cultural touchstone through film adaptation.

    Easy5 hours

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  8. No. 28 on this list. The Thirst · Jo Nesbø · 2017

    The Thirst appears on no university syllabi and has no tracked literary awards in this database, consistent with genre crime fiction rather than assigned reading. Nesbø's Harry Hole series has a devoted international readership and bestseller status in over 50 countries, but its canonical standing rests on popularity, not curricular inclusion.

    Easy11 hours

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  9. No. 29 on this list. The Poet · Michael Connelly · 1996

    A major work in American crime fiction, widely read and frequently cited in discussions of the genre.

    Easy7.7 hours

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  10. No. 30 on this list. Firestarter · Stephen King · 1980

    A bestselling horror and thriller novel, studied mainly in genre courses, though King is widely taught.

    Easy8 hours

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31–40 · 59 hours

  1. No. 31 on this list. The Alienist

    Caleb Carr · 1994

  2. No. 32 on this list. Complicity

    Iain Banks · 1993

  3. No. 33 on this list. A Guardian and a Thief

    Megha Majumdar · 2025

  4. No. 34 on this list. Sharp Objects

    Gillian Flynn · 2006

  5. No. 35 on this list. Child 44

    Tom Rob Smith · 2008

  6. No. 36 on this list. The Death of Mrs. Westaway

    Ruth Ware · 2018

  7. No. 37 on this list. In the Miso Soup

    Ryū Murakami · 1997

  8. No. 38 on this list. Knife

    Jo Nesbø · 2019

  9. No. 39 on this list. An Officer and a Spy

    Robert Harris · 2013

  10. No. 40 on this list. Cycle of the Werewolf

    Stephen King · 1985

41–50 · 67 hours

  1. No. 41 on this list. The Girl Who Played with Fire

    Stieg Larsson · 2009

  2. No. 42 on this list. Dark Places

    Gillian Flynn · 2009

  3. No. 43 on this list. The Day of the Jackal

    Frederick Forsyth · 1971

  4. No. 44 on this list. The Leopard

    Jo Nesbø · 2009

  5. No. 45 on this list. Heaven, My Home

    Attica Locke · 2020

  6. No. 46 on this list. The Hole

    Pyun Hye-young · 2016

  7. No. 47 on this list. Gorky Park

    Martin Cruz Smith · 1981

  8. No. 48 on this list. A Time to Kill

    John Grisham · 1989

  9. No. 49 on this list. The Secret of Chimneys

    Agatha Christie · 1925

  10. No. 50 on this list. We Were Liars

    E. Lockhart · 2014

51–60 · 70 hours

  1. No. 51 on this list. Patriot Games

    Tom Clancy · 1987

  2. No. 52 on this list. Project Hail Mary

    Andy Weir · 2021

  3. No. 53 on this list. The Da Vinci Code

    Dan Brown · 2003

  4. No. 54 on this list. The Hot Zone

    Richard Preston · 1994

  5. No. 55 on this list. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

    Stieg Larsson · 2010

  6. No. 56 on this list. No Orchids for Miss Blandish

    James Hadley Chase · 1939

  7. No. 57 on this list. The Terror

    Dan Simmons · 2007

  8. No. 58 on this list. Thinner

    Richard Bachman · 1996

  9. No. 59 on this list. The Dry

    Jane Harper · 2016

  10. No. 60 on this list. The Maidens

    Alex Michaelides · 2021

61–70 · 72 hours

  1. No. 61 on this list. The 5th Wave

    Rick Yancey · 2013

  2. No. 62 on this list. The Ice Princess

    Camilla Läckberg · 2003

  3. No. 63 on this list. The Dinner

    Herman Koch · 2009

  4. No. 64 on this list. The Hunt for Red October

    Tom Clancy · 1984

  5. No. 65 on this list. The Sum of All Fears

    Tom Clancy · 1991

  6. No. 66 on this list. The Man Who Died Twice

    Richard Osman · 2021

  7. No. 67 on this list. American Dirt

    Jeanine Cummins · 2020

  8. No. 68 on this list. The Silent Wife

    A.S.A. Harrison · 2013

  9. No. 69 on this list. Dark Matter

    Blake Crouch · 2016

  10. No. 70 on this list. The Client

    John Grisham · 1993

71–80 · 98 hours

  1. No. 71 on this list. Leviathan Wakes

    James SA Corey · 2011

  2. No. 72 on this list. The Bourne Identity

    Robert Ludlum · 1980

  3. No. 73 on this list. The Widow

    John Grisham · 2025

  4. No. 74 on this list. They Thirst

    Robert McCammon · 1988

  5. No. 75 on this list. Blue World

    Robert McCammon · 1990

  6. No. 76 on this list. Ninth House

    Leigh Bardugo · 2019

  7. No. 77 on this list. Killer on the Road / The Babysitter Lives

    Stephen Graham Jones · 2025

  8. No. 78 on this list. City of Stairs

    Robert Jackson Bennett · 2014

  9. No. 79 on this list. The Historian

    Elizabeth Kostova · 2005

  10. No. 80 on this list. Noble House

    James Clavell · 1981

81–90 · 58 hours

  1. No. 81 on this list. You

    Caroline Kepnes · 2018

  2. No. 82 on this list. The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

    Grady Hendrix · 2020

  3. No. 83 on this list. Bury Your Gays

    Chuck Tingle · 2024

  4. No. 84 on this list. The Lovely Bones

    Alice Sebold · 2002

  5. No. 85 on this list. Red Rising

    Pierce Brown · 2014

  6. No. 86 on this list. Golden Son

    Pierce Brown · 2015

  7. No. 87 on this list. Before I Go to Sleep

    S.J. Watson · 2011

  8. No. 88 on this list. The Husband's Secret

    Liane Moriarty · 2013

  9. No. 89 on this list. The Fourth Protocol

    Frederick Forsyth · 1996

  10. No. 90 on this list. The Kind Worth Killing

    Peter Swanson · 2015

91–100 · 59 hours

  1. No. 91 on this list. The Whisper Man

    Alex North · 2019

  2. No. 92 on this list. Whistle

    James Jones · 1999

  3. No. 93 on this list. Recursion

    Blake Crouch · 2019

  4. No. 94 on this list. The Martian

    Andy Weir · 2011

  5. No. 95 on this list. In a Dark, Dark Wood

    Ruth Ware · 2015

  6. No. 96 on this list. Little Heaven

    Nick Cutter · 2017

  7. No. 97 on this list. Morning Star

    Pierce Brown · 2016

  8. No. 98 on this list. The Night Boat

    Robert McCammon · 1988

  9. No. 99 on this list. Wild Dark Shore

    Charlotte McConaghy · 2025

  10. No. 100 on this list. The Housemaid

    Freida McFadden · 2022

About this list

These 100 books are the highest-scoring eligible easy thrillers currently in the catalogue. By literary regard, it opens with And Then There Were None, The Black Echo and The Mermaids Singing. About 646 hours of reading in all. Difficulty runs from 30 to 37 out of 100 for the middle half of the list; the summit is Black Water Rising at 45.

This list is ranked by literary regard, with a consistent order for equal scores. Membership follows authors and co-authors, not translators or editors. Catalogue coverage and the historical canon both limit what this list can represent, and genre labels are the catalogue’s own, gathered into broader kinds.

When we matched the Canons dataset to our catalogue in October 2026, our canonical-status scores rose with the number of school curricula, publisher series and lists in it that cite a work: the median score was 72 for books one such source cites, 84 at two, 88 at three, 92 at four and 93 at five or more. Prizes are left out of that count. Outside the state curricula, the dataset’s sources choose mostly from what has been translated into English or French, so it is a weaker check on other literatures. Source: Canons (Andrew Piper), CC BY 4.0

Questions people actually ask

What are the best easy thrillers?
By literary regard, which weighs canonical status, critical standing and influence, And Then There Were None, The Black Echo, The Mermaids Singing, Knots and Crosses and Caleb Williams lead. ReadingRate ranks 100 such books, each with a difficulty score and a reading-time estimate.
Where should I start with easy thrillers?
Start from difficulty, not from rank. The most approachable books on this list that still carry top literary regard are The Black Echo by Michael Connelly (about 6 hours), The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid and And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie.
How hard are easy thrillers to read?
Most of this list sits between 30 and 37 on ReadingRate's 100-point difficulty scale, where 40 to 55 is moderate. The summit is Black Water Rising at 45. Every entry carries its own score, so a reader can pick a great book at a difficulty they will finish.
How is this list ranked?
On literary-regard data: how canonically established a work is, its critical standing, and its influence on later writing. It is not a readers’ poll, which is why recent bestsellers rarely appear. Membership follows authors and co-authors, not translators or editors. A list that is not a genre list keeps to literature (fiction, poetry, drama and philosophy), with philosophy taking no more than one slot in five while there is literature left to rank; every list holds at most three works by one author.