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Summaries of 9,834 books.

  1. Shutter Island

    Dennis Lehane

    ★ 4.1 (163k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A U.S. Marshal investigates a vanished patient from a remote asylum for the criminally insane, only to confront a spiraling hurricane, sinister medical secrets, and the terrifying possibility that his own identity is the most dangerous illusion of all.

  2. The Kill Order

    James Dashner

    ★ 3.7 (163k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    After sun flares and a fast-spreading, rage-inducing disease devastate Earth, two survivors navigate a dangerous world where humanity's last hope is a risky cure, and every life has a price.

  3. The Invention of Hugo Cabret

    Brian Selznick

    ★ 4.2 (163k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    In a 1930s Paris train station, an orphaned clockmaker's quest to fix a broken automaton reveals a secret linking his past to a reclusive toymaker and the start of cinema.

  4. Fool Moon

    Jim Butcher

    ★ 4.0 (162k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    When a gruesome murder with animal hallmarks appears under a full moon, Chicago's only professional wizard, Harry Dresden, must hunt a monstrous killer before more victims die from a lycanthropic curse.

  5. The Haunting of Hill House

    Shirley Jackson

    ★ 3.8 (162k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    Four strangers seeking proof of the paranormal find themselves ensnared by Hill House, a malevolent entity that hungers for the fragile mind of one lonely woman to claim as its own.

  6. We Need to Talk About Kevin

    Lionel Shriver

    ★ 4.0 (162k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    A mother grapples with her own complicity and chilling dislike for her son, who has committed an unspeakable high school massacre, in a series of searing letters to her estranged husband.

  7. The Neverending Story

    Michael Ende

    ★ 4.2 (162k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    A lonely boy named Bastian literally enters a magical book, going on a quest through Fantastica to save it from a creeping Nothingness, finding courage and himself along the way.

  8. The Tale of Despereaux

    Kate DiCamillo

    ★ 4.0 (162k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    A small mouse with big ears defies his kind to save a princess, intertwining the lives of a lonely rat and a simple serving girl.

  9. A is for Alibi

    Sue Grafton

    ★ 3.9 (162k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A twice-divorced P.I. with a soft spot for lost causes takes on the cold case of a woman convicted of killing her husband, only to uncover a second corpse and a sharper edge to her own investigation.

  10. The Throne of Fire

    Rick Riordan

    ★ 4.2 (162k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    With the world on the edge of chaos, teenage magicians Carter and Sadie Kane must bring back the ancient, senile sun god Ra by finding his lost spell book, all while escaping a monstrous serpent set on destroying the world.

  11. Old Man's War

    John Scalzi

    ★ 4.2 (162k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    At 75, John Perry leaves his wife's grave for an interstellar battlefield, where the Colonial Defense Force turns retirees into enhanced soldiers to fight alien wars for humanity's survival and a chance at a new life.

  12. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

    Frank Miller

    ★ 4.3 (161k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    An aging, embittered Bruce Wayne emerges from a decade of retirement to don the cowl once more, battling a new wave of savage criminals, a psychopathic Joker, and even Superman in a decaying, near-future Gotham.

  13. Lover Awakened

    J.R. Ward

    ★ 4.4 (161k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    A tormented vampire warrior, scarred by a brutal past, finds his savage heart awakened by a compassionate aristocrat. His thirst for vengeance then threatens their fragile new love amidst an ancient war.

  14. Fire

    Kristin Cashore

    ★ 4.1 (161k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    In a kingdom on the brink of civil war, a striking human with fiery hair and the power to control minds must confront her past to save the monarchy that fears her.

  15. The Cider House Rules

    John Irving

    ★ 4.1 (161k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    In a world of ether addiction, unwanted pregnancies, and the sweet-sour tang of cider, an orphan named Homer navigates love, loyalty, and the moral complexities of his mentor's controversial legacy in rural Maine.

  16. In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin

    Erik Larson

    ★ 3.9 (161k) average on GoodreadsPolitics
  17. Four: A Divergent Story Collection

    Veronica Roth

    ★ 4.0 (161k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Before Tris, a sixteen-year-old Tobias renames himself 'Four' and plunges into Dauntless, battling his past and the corrupt faction system, only to find his true self unlocked by a fearless initiate two years later.

  18. Flowers in the Attic

    V.C. Andrews

    ★ 3.8 (161k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    Trapped in an attic by their greedy mother and cruel grandmother, four beautiful children fight for survival and sanity as years of isolation twist their innocence into a desperate struggle for freedom and revenge.

  19. Fallen Too Far

    Abbi Glines

    ★ 4.2 (161k) average on GoodreadsYoung Adult

    A naive Southern girl is drawn to her jaded, rockstar stepbrother, a forbidden desire threatening to consume them both in a world of privilege and hidden truths.

  20. Gathering Blue

    Lois Lowry

    ★ 3.8 (161k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    An orphan with a talent for weaving uncovers her society's dark truths, forcing her to choose between complacency and a dangerous quest for change.

  21. Waiting for Godot

    Samuel Beckett

    ★ 3.8 (160k) average on GoodreadsPhilosophy

    Two poor men have absurd conversations and wait for a mysterious "Godot" near a bare tree, their useless anticipation reflecting humanity's endless, often funny, search for meaning in a meaningless world.

  22. Interpreter of Maladies

    Jhumpa Lahiri

    ★ 4.2 (160k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    Jhumpa Lahiri's "Interpreter of Maladies" explores the emotions of Indian and Indian-American characters as they deal with love, identity, and displacement across different places and times.

  23. The Wide Window

    Lemony Snicket

    ★ 3.9 (160k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Three resourceful orphans face hungry leeches, a treacherous hurricane, and a villain's disguise while trying to uncover the truth behind their guardian's suspicious 'accident' in a house teetering over a perilous lake.

  24. Congo

    Michael Crichton

    ★ 3.6 (159k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A primatologist and a talking gorilla join a desperate expedition into the heart of the Congo, where a lost city, deadly diamond mines, and a terrifying, intelligent species of ape guard the secrets of a massacred research team.

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