Authors who keep you on the edge

Nothing can be better than a book which gives you an adrenaline rush and keeps you buried under and hooked in its pages. Crime novels are known to give one that rush, mainly because of the subjects they deal with – death, disappearance, and normal-looking characters that are anything but normal. Who are the writers who come up with such works and what kind of styles do they have? The Week compiled a list of writers best known to serve adventure and thrill in a way you won’t easily forget.

Keigo Higashino
Talk about twists – Higashino used to work as an engineer when he started writing, and earned himself an award in 1985. This made him quit his job as an engineer for good and begin writing full-time. Since then, Higashino's writing has won him recognition and awards as a mystery and crime writer. But as the genre demands, his crime novels dwell more on the characters, the relationship they have with each other rather than the twist in the end or the unexpected revelation. In an interview, he even said, "People show their true nature in the act of committing a crime." So instead of making it your regular crime thriller, the story focuses more on 'how they try to get away with it'. But still if you think that it makes the novels any less thrilling, then you are in for a big surprise.

We recommend: Malice, The Devotion of Suspect X

PD James
In her long writing career, she penned a number of novels, non-fictions, and detective series – Adam Dalgliesh mysteries and Cordelia Gray mysteries being some of them. James started writing, something she had yearned to do since she was young, only when she was 42, after going through many years of difficulty. She grew up visiting mental hospitals as her mother was admitted in one most of the times, her father was a cold-hearted man who chose to eat alone, and though she bottled the emotions perfectly and behaved properly, one can safely assume that it served as fodder for her crime fictions. She once said, "Death has 10,000 doors to let out life, and the detective story has made use of most of them." This may show what kind of books you can expect from her.

We recommend: Cover Her Face, A Mind to Murder, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman

James Patterson

Here is a crime writer who wants to entertain people and does his 'best to make sure the books are as good as they can be.' Patterson focuses on storytelling and his books are known to move fast, keep the readers on the edge, and give you the gratification a crime novel does. "Anytime you pick one of my books, you know that the pages are really going to fly," he said in an interview. That only proves how confident he is about his writing. He is a prolific writer and works in multiple projects at once, publishing as many as 13 books in a year. He is famous for the Alex Cross series that also shot him to fame, the Michael Bennett series and the Women's Murder Club novels.

We recommend: 14th Deadly Sin, Miracle at Augusta, Truth or Die

Chris Mooney
What keeps you on the edge of your seat and makes you squirm in half delight and half shock? An unexpected turn, and that is exactly what Chris Mooney's books are known for. Readers love Chris Mooney for dishing out excellent plot and characterization, making his books compelling page-turners. Mooney is known to make his characters deep and eerie – just the right ingredients to maintain that suspense, and yet give enough glimpse into their lives as you imagine what might happen next, only to have that guess brought down. After all, he actually believes that the 'best bet would be to "tease" the audience', especially because it helps build the tension and suspense.

We recommend: Remembering Sarah, The Missing, The Dead Room

Karen Rose
Rose's books are deemed racy because of killers who have a creepy MO, and that is almost more than enough to make it attention seeking and full of suspense. Besides that, what keeps a reader hooked are the interesting subplots, surprising twists and unexpected turns. She is primarily known as a romantic suspense writer, and if you're a sucker for romantic reads intertwined with horror, you've found your literary goddess. There's just the right amount of romance to go with the blood and gore, and it's crafted in a way that will make you happy that you read it. Be prepared for a reading session full of thrill and nail-biting moments when you are reading one of her books.

We recommend: Die For Me, Have You Seen Her? Count to Ten

Sophie Hannah
Hannah has established herself as a writer of psychological crime fiction with books like Little Face and The Wrong Mother and is known for unique story lines and good writing. Readers say that her books have plots that are unpredictable and an ending that you hadn't foreseen. Because her forte is psychological crime thriller, she says that many of the events in the books are not just to entertain a thrill-seeking reader, but also to educate them on the complexity of life. Her writings are personal in that way, as she says that not everything in the books is fictional. So, if you're up for a psychological thrill, then Hannah's books are just what you need.

We recommend: Little Face, The Wrong Mother, Lasting Damage

Patricia Cornwell
Cornwell is a crime novelist, who writes stories where the central character is Kay Scarpetta, a medical examiner. Scarpetta, along with her tech-savvy niece, Lucy, and fellow investigator Pete Marino, solves the cases that come her way. Because the series, containing 23 books, have the same main characters, it will also be a treat to see them grow, making each book a thrill. The series is also known as the first CSI crime thriller, and because they were written in the 1990s, prepare yourself to find elements that will mesmerize you with goriness that you have not known.

We recommend: Postmortem, Body of Evidence, From Potter's Field