100 books like Fair Warning

Many medical thrillers are set in a hospital or similar setting, but this one is, I believe, the only one set on the International Space Station.

I found it so scary to experience one catastrophe after another in a place where access to help is so far away. I also loved the unique combination of medical science and space science, something that is rarely seen in thriller fiction.

The first section of this book feels so accurate in its depiction of the Smersh (death to spies) training camp that I hardly missed 007 at all, who appears on page 95 in part two of the book. I first came across James Bond when my sister, who was three years my senior, got me to see the 1963 film. I was twelve at the time. I wonder what today’s politically correct regime would have to say about that? My sister was probably underage as well but looked older, so she passed muster.

This book is my favorite of Fleming’s Bond books. I have read it many times, yet when I pick it up to start again, there is that air of excitement; I can almost smell the exotic location of Istanbul, Bond being pitched against a dangerous adversary, and, to top it all, the remarkable character, Colonel Rosa Klebb,… show more.

The plot premise of an infectious disease outbreak is all too common among medical thrillers, but when you have a young investigator from the Centers for Disease Control looking into it and uncovering a shocking scheme, the result is a thrilling detective novel that is oriented in medicine, not just a medical thriller.

I especially loved how the text incorporates a hardboiled narrative tone in the spirit of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, something that is characteristic of crime fiction but not medical fiction.

This book changed my life. Honest to God. I always wanted to be a novelist and TV writer, but this book made me believe I could. I can still remember exactly where I was when I read it–late at night, in a sleeping bag in an old wooden cabin at Loon Lake, Washington.

I marveled at how the characters and story emerged almost entirely through the dialogue, which is so snappy, clever, and funny that the original book cover was just an excerpt of it against a black background. But MacDonald also manages to strike a perfect balance between laugh-out-loud humor and the mystery-crime story he’s telling without sacrificing the puzzle's suspense or pleasure.

I didn’t know if I could ever be a prose stylist, but this book showed me that I didn’t have to be. I just needed to capture how people talked, how they saw the world, and… show more.

Something that really drew me into this book is how slippery the sense of danger is: Is journalist Scott McGrath only risking further legal trouble with Stanislas Cordova if he continues to research the suicide of the mysterious director’s daughter, or is he up against something far more evil?

After his last encounter with Cordova destroyed his career, reputation, and marriage, Scott McGrath should be worrying about other things… but he can’t help himself. I was also intrigued by his shifting motivations: Is he driven by a need to know the truth, seeking revenge, fascinated by the story, or trying to protect himself and his loved ones?

Many scenes felt like optical illusions where I could see entirely different truths depending on what perspective I looked at them from.

ODESSA was a port-war organization established to re-establish the power of SS mass murderers throughout the world and carry out Hitler’s Final Solution 20 years after his death.

In researching for ODESSA Files, Forsyth talked to several former SS members and used their memories to enhance the atmosphere and feeling of reality throughout the book.

It’s a look at what Hitler and the SS had in mind for the world. Almost every chapter bristles with suspense and excitement when a journalist starts to expose them. It’s cleverly plotted and has you on edge from start to finish.

For me, this book had it all: a behind-the-scenes look at the incredible investigative journalism by NY Times journalists Jodi Cantor and Meghan Twohey, who exposed Harvey Weinstein’s decades of sexual assaults.

And the courageous journey of the survivors who chose to tell their stories—which ultimately ignited the #MeToo movement.

Thriller writer and contemporary ‘queen of crime’ Val McDermid draws deeply on her own years as a tabloid journalist to bring fictional reporter Allie Burns to life during the winter of discontent. This unputdownable tale of a newspaper investigation into matters of life, death, and corruption is so evocative of a 1970s Glasgow newsroom that I could practically smell the fags and taste the whisky. More Allie Burns stories are promised, and I for one can’t wait.

I loved the main character Paddy Meehan’s voice in this series. Paddy is a lowly copygirl at a Glasgow newspaper with dreams of becoming an investigative journalist during a time when girls are expected to marry out of high school and have babies, not unlike the way things were when I entered the work world. Paddy is intelligent and driven and so outside the mold that her family and boyfriend, indeed the Scottish community, cannot understand her drive to be more than what society demands she should be. She’s someone I rooted for every step of the way as she navigates the old boys’ club in the 1980s and 1990s. Combine Paddy with Mina’s brilliant writing, realistic dialogue, and compelling plotlines, and this series is one to be savored. 

Bad City: Peril and Power in the City of Angels, written by investigative reporter Paul Pringle is another gem of this literary genre.

What began as Pringle’s investigation of a young woman’s overdose, led him to the prominent dean of the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC). Once on this trail, he uncovered the corruption at USC, the incompetence of the Pasadena Police Department, and a coverup at the Los Angeles Times.

After reading the first few pages, I was forced to cancel all meetings and plans. Pringle investigative reporting not only helped to uncover the toxic mix of money and power, but the mechanics and drudgery of getting to the bottom of things.