100 books like The Queen's Handmaid

This is another book that kept me guessing all the way through–not only about the whodunnit but also about what kind of book it even is.

I loved Vesta Gul, an older widow who just moved into a rural community, as the unlikely sleuth. You’d think she had enough problems living in the middle of nowhere with no support network other than her dog, but after she finds a mysterious note in the woods, she’s determined to solve the murder mystery on her own, even before she finds a body.

I enjoyed watching her find a destructive new sense of purpose as she stopped at nothing to complete the case.

Ok, it’s an old thriller set in the pre-Internet, pre-mobile phone, pre-EU world of the 1960s. It’s a piece of twentieth-century clockwork, but it delivers suspense! The amoral protagonist can’t summon help by phone or Google his adversaries to gain an advantage. He must work to gain leniency from the Turkish authorities by acting as a double agent, delivering weapons to a gang of potential terrorists so that he might spy on them. The writing has a sharp precision and crisp wit.

This book came at a time when publishing was receiving a lot of flack for its treatment of editors. This book touches on themes such as the toxic work environment for editors, again, how editors from marginalised backgrounds can barely survive in the recent publishing ecosphere.

But also, it's got a very Get Out—esque twist that readers will never see coming!

The action and adventure in this story were perfect for the thrill-seeker in me. I already knew that being an undercover agent as a teen would make for an interesting storyline, but then the author makes Christy join a group of adrenaline junkies, and the stakes keep getting higher, and the thrills keep getting scarier.

The thing that I loved most about this book was how each chapter end left me hanging and I had to keep reading to find out what happened next. I especially felt a kinship for Christy because, even though she is a teenager who is learning who she is, she is also a protector who has been enlisted by the FBI to save people. There is also a storyline of true love and friendship that grounded me and made me feel for the characters. 

Who hasn't heard of Dexter? A serial killer, a psychopath, who only kills bad guys: a great book, a TV series, and an iconic character.

Dexter is funny and carefree. He likes kids, but he's not sure why. He cares for his foster sister. He doesn't kill anyone who's not bad. He doesn't like sex, so that takes an icky part of most serial killers away too.

All of this is the genius of the author. I loved it! And this is just the first book in the series.

The Shadow Box was a step outside of my comfort zone, but I have no regrets for diving right in.

The novel crashes out of the gate when a left-for-dead artist named Claire Chase wakes up from being half-strangled in her garage by a man in a mask. She’s almost sure her assailant was her husband, Griffin who is also the Connecticut State Attorney and candidate for governor.

Claire has no idea who to trust and goes into hiding in the woods. She contacts a close friend and tries desperately to unearth the identity of her attacker while she is being searched for as a missing person. She’s incredibly resourceful and quite a rugged outdoorswoman as she searches for the man who tried to murder her.

I saw the 1987 film adaptation of this novel starring Scott Glenn before I read the book, which is set decades earlier.

I loved the progression of this hard-bitten, psychologically damaged mercenary coming to love this little girl that he is charged with protecting. It’s such a pure emotion for him and the fact that she returns it so completely, as only a child can, is heart-wrenching.

Both the 1987 and the 2004 film adaptations do a good job capturing the magic of this drama, but as is usually the case, the novel does it best. If someone loves The Mandalorian, it is worth trying Man on Fire, which the former has many parallels with.

When I was a kid, I used to love W. Somerset Maugham short stories. Often they were about two strangers, usually men, meeting in a remote colonial outpost, and one of the two would then proceed to tell the other a strange, violent, heartbreaking, life-altering story that had happened to him or that he had witnessed. Mouth to Mouth, which I loved, reminded me of those stories.

I listened to it on audiobook, and the narration is pitch-perfect. This novel is about two men who meet at an airport when their plane is delayed. They go into a lounge, where one of them, a rich art dealer named Jeff, proceeds to tell the other his life story.

It’s gripping. I sat in my car after I got home so I could listen to the last twenty minutes.

I’ve never wanted to be a spy so much until I read this book by Doug Solter. This fast-paced story made my heart beat fast because of the action and the romance! There were so many diverse characters, cool spy gadgets, and girl power. The drama of deep family secrets and a ruthless villain made me want to keep reading until I reached the final page.

There are lots of twists and turns that make you second-guess what you thought you knew. And the romance with a handsome and complex boy is one that pulled at my heartstrings and made me root for them so much. I loved this teenage version of Charlie's Angels, and I know fans of Ally Carter’s books will feel the same. 

In The Last Thing to Burn, Will Dean is very clever in his choice of location and how it’s become a prison for Jane.

Jane lives in a small cottage with her farmer husband surrounded by paddocks. The whole book is set in the cramped confines of the small cottage, where Jane’s husband rules over her and punishes her if she does anything wrong. Jane’s completely cut off from the rest of the world. Her whole world is the cottage.

I love the way Jane slowly realises that she may have a way out, and we join her, heart in mouth, as she plans her escape. I’ve never raced through the last forty pages of a book so fast!