The best books about kidnapping (picked by 9,000+ authors)

All Your Twisted Secrets

By Diana Urban,

From the list on YA thrillers you’ll stay up way too late reading.

By Marie Hoy-Kenny Author

Why did Marie love this book?

This book is an awesome locked-room thriller about six teens who are invited to a dinner and find themselves trapped in a room with a bomb, a syringe filled with poison, and a note with instructions that they have to decide who among them to kill within the next hour or they’ll all be murdered.

There’s something about close-proximity thrillers that gets me every single time. As a person who is definitely not a big fan of enclosed spaces in real life, these types of books have me breathless.

All Your Twisted Secrets

By Diana Urban,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked All Your Twisted Secrets as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A thrilling debut, reminiscent of new fan favorites like One of Us Is Lying and the beloved classics by Agatha Christie, that will leave readers guessing until the explosive ending.

"Welcome to dinner, and again, congratulations on being selected. Now you must do the selecting."

What do the queen bee, star athlete, valedictorian, stoner, loner, and music geek all have in common? They were all invited to a scholarship dinner, only to discover it's a trap. Someone has locked them into a room with a bomb, a syringe filled with poison, and a note saying they have an hour to…

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Thrillers

The Cellar

By Natasha Preston,

From the list on throwing you directly into the character's shoes.

By Christina Casino Author

Why did Christina love this book?

The Cellar will have you holding your breath at each turn! I felt like my skin was crawling while I was reading this book and I was thinking of ways to escape the nightmare. Natasha Preston did a fantastic job of making you feel like you’re living in Summer’s shoes. It’s a gripping story of a horrific kidnapping and the new life Summer finds herself living in. This book makes you glance twice over your shoulder when you’re walking alone at night and it is a reminder of how quickly something like this can happen. The Cellar opens your mind to both the kidnapper and the captives. Highly recommend this book!

The Cellar

By Natasha Preston,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Cellar as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The #1 New York Times bestseller!
A gripping, ripped-from-the-headlines, twisty psychological thriller from the New York Times bestselling thriller author Natasha Preston!
Summer is trapped in a cellar with the man who took her-and three other girls: Rose, Poppy, and Violet. His perfect flowers. His family. But flowers can't survive long cut off from the sun, and time is running out...
Teen thrillers also by Natasha Preston:
Awake
The Cabin
You Will Be Mine
The Lost
The Twin

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Wanderlust

By Skye Warren,

From the list on gothic with obsessed characters.

By Kay Freeman Author

Why did Kay love this book?

Skye Warren is one of my favorite romance authors. Her Endgame Trilogy got me hooked on romance. However, I love Wanderlust even more.

It chronicles the story of a budding photographer who leaves her overbearing mother to work in another city. On her way there, a trucker kidnaps and holds her in the back of his truck as they cross the country. This book has a similar theme as my book and some of the others I've listed and deals with captivity and power.

I've read this book several times, once as a reader and then as a writer, analyzing how to transform a morally gray character or someone despicable into someone readers could care about. Turning hatred for an abductor into pity and wanting him to be with the heroine is no easy feat. I'm still impressed with her skill.

Wanderlust

By Skye Warren,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Wanderlust as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"I loved the story! I loved that it made me feel, that it turned me on, turned me off, made me pause and think, twisted my stomach into knots..." - Haydee's ReviewsCan love come from pain?Evie always dreamed of seeing the world, but her first night at a motel turns into a nightmare. Hunter is a rugged trucker willing to do anything to keep her--including kidnapping. As they cross the country in his rig, Evie plots her escape, but she may find what she's been looking for right beside her.Wanderlust is a full-length dark romance novel that explores captivity and…

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Coming soon!

Dear Miss Metropolitan

By Carolyn Ferrell,

From the list on linking characters who seem to be strangers.

By Joan Silber Author

Why did Joan love this book?

In a novel inspired by the decade-long kidnapping of three women in Cleveland, Ferrell has crafted a story out of voices. We hear each of the young women—their inner obsessions and distractions, the details they live inside of—before, during, and after their confinement, and their joy in each other. But Ferrell has also included the Miss Metropolitan of her title, a nosy woman living on the same street, with her eager attentions misdirected, one of the neighbors who didn’t notice. There’s an extra ambition in the reach of that, a context that insists on including unexpected corners, picking up lots of loosely connected characters to get the full meaning of the story.

Dear Miss Metropolitan

By Carolyn Ferrell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Dear Miss Metropolitan as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A finalist for the 2022 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
A finalist for the 2022 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel

Introducing an extraordinary and original writer whose first novel explores the intersections of grief and rage, personal strength and healing--and what we owe one another.

Fern seeks refuge from her mother’s pill-popping and boyfriends via Soul Train; Gwin finds salvation in the music of Prince much to her congregation’s dismay and Jesenia, miles ahead of her classmates at her gifted and talented high school, is a brainy and precocious enigma. None of this matters to Boss Man, the monster who abducts…

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Show Me a Sign

By Ann Clare LeZotte,

From the list on historical fiction for young readers.

By Shirley Vernick Author

Why did Shirley love this book?

This engrossing book, inspired by the true history of a thriving deaf community on Martha's Vineyard in the early 1800s, triumphantly probes our perceptions of ability and disability. I’m always drawn to stories that explore what it means to be and/or feel different. Too many youngsters (and adults) equate being different with being less than, whether the different person is themselves or someone else. I don’t know if our species will ever fully break free of that false belief, but novels like this one go a long way toward achieving that goal.

Show Me a Sign

By Ann Clare LeZotte,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Show Me a Sign as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Don't miss the companion book, Set Me Free

CRITICS ARE RAVING ABOUT SHOW ME A SIGN

Winner of the 2021 Schneider Family Book Award * NPR Best Books of 2020 * Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2020 * School Library Journal Best Books of 2020 * New York Public Library Best Books of 2020 * Chicago Public Library Best Books of 2020 * 2020 Jane Addams Children's Book Award Finalist * 2020 New England Independent Booksellers Award Finalist

Deaf author Ann Clare LeZotte weaves a riveting story inspired by the true history of a thriving deaf community on Martha's Vineyard…

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Along Came a Spider

By James Patterson,

From the list on thrillers and mysteries that don’t let go.

By J.J. McGraw Author

Why did J.J. love this book?

I was hooked by James Patterson’s first book of the Alex Cross series by James Patterson. A predator that enjoys playing mind games with Detective Cross, and a kidnapping that sends one of those thoughts through your mind, “No, they didn’t do that, did they?” One of the things I enjoyed are the short chapters. It’s filled with psychological suspense, a real thriller that I didn’t want to put down. This is something that I crave in books. For it to grab my attention, hold it, and surprise me at the end. And Patterson delivers.

Along Came a Spider

By James Patterson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Along Came a Spider as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The legendary thriller that launched the Alex Cross phenomenon

Adapted into a major Hollywood movie starring Morgan Freeman
_________________________________

Two children have been kidnapped from an elite private school in Washington DC, and Detective Alex Cross is charged with finding them.

The kidnapper's identity is quickly determined as one of the children's teachers. But capturing him is the true challenge.

As Cross gets pulled deeper into the strange world of the kidnapper, it becomes clear he is far more dangerous than anyone could have anticipated.
_________________________________

'No one gets this big without amazing natural storytelling talent - which is what…

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Bring Back Our Girls

By Joe Parkinson, Drew Hinshaw,

From the list on hostage negotiation.

By Kenneth Dekleva Author

Why did Kenneth love this book?

This book is an incredible story of the behind-the-scenes efforts to locate and free the 276 young Nigerian [Chibok] schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014, a kidnapping which attracted worldwide media attention.

It’s a story of 2 tales: first, of the incredible courage and Christian faith of those young girls, which in many cases, sustained them, keeping them alive physically, psychologically, and spiritually as they underwent immense hardships and tortures. Second, it’s a tale of two other heroes, a Nigerian lawyer, Zanna Mustapha, and a Swiss diplomat, Pascal Holiger, who worked tirelessly over many years to free many of the hostages.

A gripping read about Nigeria, Christian faith, hostage negotiation, terrorism, and redemption.

Bring Back Our Girls

By Joe Parkinson, Drew Hinshaw,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Bring Back Our Girls as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

What happens after you click tweet?. . . The heart-stopping and definitive account of the rescue mission to free hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls, and their heroic survival, after their 2014 kidnapping spurred a global social media campaign that prompted the intervention of seven militaries, showing us the blinding possibilities-for good and ill-of activism in our interconnected world.

In the spring of 2014, American celebrities and their Twitter followers unwittingly helped turn a group of teenagers into a central prize in the global War on Terror by retweeting #BringBackOurGirls, a call for the release of 276 Nigerian schoolgirls who'd been kidnapped…

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Biographies

In the Presence of the Enemy

By Elizabeth George,

From the list on families disguised as mysteries.

By Vee Kumari Author

Why did Vee love this book?

Threat of exposure of a scandalous affair takes Lynley and his sidekick Havers from London into the countryside, where they reveal how a hidden past and the mistaken identity of a father by his son, led to murder. I love it for the writing style – George's later books became too big for me – the characters she creates with such clarity and passion, who are put into situations that threaten their lives, reputation, and ideals.

In the Presence of the Enemy

By Elizabeth George,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked In the Presence of the Enemy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

As the editor of a popular left-wing tabloid, Dennis Luxford has made a career out of scandal. But this time the scoop involves his own daughter. To save the life of his child, Luxford must expose the girl's mother - Eve Bowen, now Under Secretary of State for the Home Office. And Eve refuses to involve the police, convinced that Charlotte's disappearance is just one more shabby tabloid ploy.

Only when events take an unbearable turn is New Scotland Yard brought in, in the guise of Inspector Thomas Lynley and his partner, Barbara Havers. And as their investigations move from…

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The Eagle Has Landed

By Jack Higgins,

From the list on Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

By Trevor D'Silva Author

Why did Trevor love this book?

Even though this book is mainly about a group of Germans trying to kidnap Prime Minister Winston Churchill as he is on his way to the Tehran Conference in 1943, the backstory gave me a few ideas for my book. It has an unusual story of an English woman revered by the villagers, but only when the Germans take over the village, her real identity is revealed. She is actually a Boer and was a survivor of a Boer Concentration camp run by the British during the Second Anglo Boer in South Africa. Filled with vengeance against the British for what they did to the Boers and to her family, she changes her identity, moves to England, and works as a spy for the Germans to kidnap PM Churchill.

The Eagle Has Landed

By Jack Higgins,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Eagle Has Landed as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

As the Allied forces slowly begin turning the tide of war, Hitler vehemently orders the impossible-kidnap Winston Churchill, or kill him. A crack team of commandos led by a disgraced war hero must venture into the heart of England to carry out their mission, or die trying.

Meanwhile, in a quiet seaside village, a beautiful widow and an IRA assassin have already laid the groundwork for what will be the most treacherous plot of the war. It begins on November 6, 1943, when Berlin receivs the fateful message...

"First rate...a fascinating adventure story." -San Francisco Chronicle

"The master's master of…

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And Then She Was Gone

By Rosalind Noonan,

From the list on missing children.

By Kate Robards Author

Why did Kate love this book?

This book is haunting, and different from other missing child stories in that the child returns home early in the story.

And Then She Was Gone is about the healing journey of the victim and family, with a captivating mystery at its core. It’s intensely emotional, thought-provoking, and deeply believable. The changing points of view are well done, and each character stands on their own.

And Then She Was Gone

By Rosalind Noonan,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked And Then She Was Gone as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Eleven-year-old Lauren O'Neil vanished one sunny afternoon as she walked home from school. Six years later, her parents Rachel and Dan still tirelessly scour their Oregon hometown and beyond, always believing Lauren will be found. Then one day, the call comes.

Lauren has been rescued from a secluded farm mere miles away, and her abductor has confessed. Yet her return is nothing like Rachel imagined. Though the revelations about what Lauren endured are shocking, most heartbreaking of all is to see the bright-eyed, assertive daughter she knew transformed into a wary, polite stranger.

Lauren's first instinct is to flee. For…

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Stolen

By Lucy Christopher,

From the list on teenagers in love and lust.

By Patrick Cave Author

Why did Patrick love this book?

This disturbing and sensual tale of a teenage girl kidnapped and held by an obsessive young man was something I had to read in a day. The writing has a kind of D.H. Lawrence quality in that every part of the Outback landscape, every object and garment and exchange seems to vibrate with physicality and sexuality. The story is also gripping, a page-turner, and such a wonderful examination of where love and obsession meet, of Stockholm Syndrome and survival, and the jumble of feelings from the most animal to the most selfless that we all have to pick our way through.

Stolen

By Lucy Christopher,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Stolen as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

I was stolen from an airport.

Taken from everything I knew, everything I was used
to.

Taken to sand and heat, dirt and danger. And he expected
me to love him.

This is my story.

Sixteen year old Gemma is kidnapped from Bangkok airport and taken
to the Australian Outback.

Ty, her captor, is no stereotype - he's young and attractive.

This new life in the wilderness has been years in the planning.
He loves only her, wants only her.

Under the hot glare of the Australian sun, cut off from the world
outside, can the force of his love…

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Blue Monday

By Nicci French,

From the list on crime fiction with memorable plots and characters.

By Jenny Twist Author

Why did Jenny love this book?

Frieda Klein is a psychotherapist dedicated to helping her patients overcome their private horrors. She tells them that they are in a safe place with her—nothing will go beyond these walls. Until one day, a patient’s dreams and desires accord so closely to the case of a missing child that she decides to break that promise.

She finds herself involved in a complex police investigation that can only be solved with her specialist insight. The tension mounts to breaking point as she tracks down the killer, ending in a shocking climax that comes straight out of the left field.

Blue Monday

By Nicci French,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Blue Monday as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The first book in the Frieda Klein Mystery series

"Complex psychological suspense at its best." -Booklist (starred review)

Immensely intelligent and poignantly human, Frieda Klein has captivated book critics and crime readers everywhere with her debut outing as Blue Monday's iconoclastic heroine. A psychotherapist and insomniac who spends her nights walking along the ancient rivers that lie beneath modern London, Frieda stars in a dazzling new crime series in which the terrors of the mind spill over into real life.

When five-year-old Matthew Farraday is abducted, Frieda cannot ignore the fact that his photograph perfectly matches the boy one of…

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Say Nothing

By Patrick Radden Keefe,

From the list on sad but funny bummer literature.

By Jane Hamilton Author

Why did Jane love this book?

Say Nothing is nonfiction. Keefe is a first-rate storyteller, an expert researcher, and a writer who can explain complex matters simply and beautifully.

Even if you’re not interested in the Troubles of Ireland, or in Ireland, this book allows for an understanding of how local war is, how neighbors become enemies, how war breeds war, and how governments don’t work to erase poverty or manage the anger of young people.

On top all of that, there are the archives at Boston University, which figure in the tale, and, the passage of time, which allows the participants to reflect on their youth. This was the best book that I read in 2018.

Say Nothing

By Patrick Radden Keefe,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked Say Nothing as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER •From the author of Empire of Pain—a stunning, intricate narrative about a notorious killing in Northern Ireland and its devastating repercussions

"Masked intruders dragged Jean McConville, a 38-year-old widow and mother of 10, from her Belfast home in 1972. In this meticulously reported book—as finely paced as a novel—Keefe uses McConville's murder as a prism to tell the history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Interviewing people on both sides of the conflict, he transforms the tragic damage and waste of the era into a searing, utterly gripping saga." —New York Times Book Review

Jean McConville's…

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The Butterfly Garden

By Dot Hutchison,

From the list on stories involving kidnapping.

By Jeannette de Beauvoir Author

Why did Jeannette love this book?

This book is both absolutely gorgeous and deeply disturbing.

The premise is simple: in an FBI interview, a young woman recounts the horrific ordeal she’s survived as a member of a serial killer’s “garden” of kidnapped victims. The reading experience is considerably more complex. Much of the story is told in flashbacks, allowing the reader to explore Maya’s experience in the Garden; that’s then balanced with her FBI interview, filling in blanks and establishing her as an almost-reliable narrator.

The dual timeline—one of my favorite devices to read and write—is handled brilliantly, and Hutchinson successfully achieves a formidable tightrope act, balancing the brutality of torture and murder with an elegant and refined narrative.

Her darkness is graceful—but it’s still darkness.

The Butterfly Garden

By Dot Hutchison,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Butterfly Garden as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An Amazon Charts bestseller.

Near an isolated mansion lies a beautiful garden.

In this garden grow luscious flowers, shady trees...and a collection of precious "butterflies"-young women who have been kidnapped and intricately tattooed to resemble their namesakes. Overseeing it all is the Gardener, a brutal, twisted man obsessed with capturing and preserving his lovely specimens.

When the garden is discovered, a survivor is brought in for questioning. FBI agents Victor Hanoverian and Brandon Eddison are tasked with piecing together one of the most stomach-churning cases of their careers. But the girl, known only as Maya, proves to be a puzzle…

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Descent

By Tim Johnston,

From the list on thrillers that give you something to chew on.

By Jennifer Fawcett Author

Why did Jennifer love this book?

This book is a meticulous and gut-wrenching story of the unraveling of a family. At its center, is a young woman who is abducted while running in the Rockies, but it is so much more than that (and that story in and of itself is riveting). I’ve always been drawn to stories that look at the ripples of an act of violence. There’s the shock of the act itself, but then there’s all of the days and years after. What Johnston does so beautifully in this story is show how this family unravels but also how each one of them fights like hell to survive within that unraveling and how that hope ultimately saves them all.

Descent

By Tim Johnston,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Descent as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

As their world comes undone, the Courtlands are drawn into a vortex of dread and recrimination. Why weren't they more careful? What has happened to their daughter? Is she alive? Will they ever know? Caitlin's disappearance, all the more devastating for its mystery, is the beginning of the family's harrowing journey down increasingly divergent and solitary paths until all that continues to bind them together are the questions they can never bring themselves to ask: At what point does a family stop searching? At what point will a girl stop fighting for her life? Written with a precision that captures…

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Gone Missing in Harlem

By Karla FC Holloway,

From the list on fabulous historical mysteries set in American cities.

By G.P. Gottlieb Author

Why did G.P. love this book?

This novel about an African American family struggling to survive in early 20th century America touches upon many things, including African American soldiers coming home from WWI, the Great Migration north, and the world of 1930s Harlem.

It’s historical literary fiction and a mystery, but it’s ultimately a stunning novel about the lengths a mother will go to protect her family. Holloway is emerita professor of English and Law at Duke University, and I loved talking to her about her retirement career as an author!

Gone Missing in Harlem

By Karla FC Holloway,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Gone Missing in Harlem as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In her anticipated second novel, Karla Holloway evokes the resilience of a family whose journey traces the river of America's early twentieth century. The Mosby family, like other thousands, migrate from the loblolly-scented Carolinas north to the Harlem of their aspirations-with its promise of freedom and opportunities, sunlit boulevards, and elegant societies.

The family arrives as Harlem staggers under the flu pandemic that follows the First World War. DeLilah Mosby and her daughter, Selma, meet difficulties with backbone and resolve to make a home for themselves in the city, and Selma has a baby, Chloe. As the Great Depression creeps…

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The Lucky One

By Lori Rader-Day,

From the list on cold cases involving unidentified victims.

By Deborah Halber Author

Why did Deborah love this book?

I am biased toward any writer who features amateur sleuths. Lori Rader-Day not only plunges readers into a compelling story with a delightfully twisty ending, she also pays tribute to the volunteers who slave away on real-life sites such as The Doe Network. When the protagonist comes across a picture of a missing person, she realizes it’s someone from her past and resolves, for complicated reasons, to track him down.

The Lucky One

By Lori Rader-Day,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Lucky One as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"This might well be my favorite Rader-Day so far: a brilliant premise intriguingly developed, totally believable characters and a climax that took my breath away." - Ann Cleeves, New York Times bestselling author of The Shetland and Vera Series

From the author of the Edgar Award (R)-nominated Under A Dark Sky comes an unforgettable, chilling novel about a young woman who recognizes the man who kidnapped her as a child, setting off a search for justice, and into danger.

Most people who go missing are never found. But Alice was the lucky one...

As a child, Alice was stolen from…

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The End of Miracles

By Monica Starkman,

From the list on the fluidity of reality.

By C.J. Washington Author

Why did C.J. love this book?

False Pregnancy, a mysterious and fascinating condition, is a topic of The End of Miracles, written by a psychiatrist who has witnessed the condition up close.

The novel examines how unfulfilled desire can meet with mental illness (or perhaps lead to mental illness) and alter our perceptions in ways that can have outsized effects on our behavior. The tale is told with great sympathy and respect for its protagonist and has no shortage of surprising twists.

The End of Miracles

By Monica Starkman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The End of Miracles as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

International Book Awards 2016 finalist for literary fiction

The End of Miracles is a twisting, haunting story about the drastic consequences of a frustrated obsession.

A woman with a complex past wants nothing more than to become a mother, but struggles with infertility and miscarriage. She is temporarily comforted by a wish-fulfilling false pregnancy, but when reality inevitably dashes that fantasy, she falls into a depression so deep she must be hospitalized. The sometimes-turbulent environment of the psychiatry unit rattles her and makes her fear for her sanity, and she flees. Outside, she impulsively commits a startling act with harrowing…

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Kidnapped

By Robert Louis Stevenson,

From the list on bringing european history vividly to life.

By Catherine Czerkawska Author

Why did Catherine love this book?

Kidnapped was the first novel to make me understand how a talented writer could turn historical events into an entertaining story.

Written in 1886, it is set in 1751, just after the Jacobite Rising of 1745. As a young writer, I dramatised it for BBC Radio, fell in love with Alan Breck and still find him the most attractive man in literature. "A man I would rather call my friend than my enemy" as Stevenson describes him. Kidnapped is a romance as well as an adventure or, more accurately, a bromance between young David Balfour and irrepressible, dangerous, honourable Alan Breck.

It highlights the differences between highland and lowland Scottish culture, differences that persist to this day. If you love history and Scotland, I defy you not to be captivated by it.

Kidnapped

By Robert Louis Stevenson,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Kidnapped as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Robert Louis Stevenson's classic, swashbuckling novel about a young boy who is forced to go to sea and who is then caught up in high drama, daring adventure and political intrigue.

Part of the Macmillan Collector's Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is introduced by Louise Welsh and features black and white illustrations.

Headstrong David Balfour, orphaned at seventeen, sets out from the Scottish Lowlands to seek his fortune in Edinburgh. Betrayed by his wealthy Uncle…

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The Emperor's Tomb

By Steve Berry,

From the list on weaving adventure and history.

By E. Chris Ambrose Author

Why did E. Chris love this book?

Dan Brown may have initiated the genre, but Steve Berry takes it a few steps further. He spends more time developing the historical reality, and less time on invention, and his streamlined prose really delivers on the promise of his plot.

In this book, Berry links a contemporary interest in fossil fuels with a striking source of historical data—a lamp taken from the tomb of the first Emperor of China, familiar to a Western audience mainly because of the army of terra cotta warriors defending the tomb to this day. Berry delves into the legends about that tomb, then brings it vividly to life.

If Brown gives his readers entry into a secret society, Berry hands over the key to a hidden realm, but one with implications for our own world. Berry manages multiple viewpoints with a skill I hope to emulate.

The Emperor's Tomb

By Steve Berry,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Emperor's Tomb as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A new Cotton Malone adventure that takes our hero from Europe to the Far East in a race to unlock the mystery of an ancient tomb.

Hearing that his old friend Cassiopeia Vitt is in trouble, Malone follows the few clues he has and realises that they are in the middle of something huge, involving Russian and US oil interests and a centuries-old secret.

After stumbling across two dead bodies and into the crosshairs of his former boss, Malone finds himself in a race to unravel the mystery of an emperor's tomb, a sinister society, and a deadly battle between…

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The best books about kidnapping

Who picked these books? Meet our 136 experts.

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