David Morrell on the classics of the thriller world

In a famous essay, Henry James once wrote, "The house of fiction has many windows." The same applies to thrillers. As we note on the home page of this website, there are many types: the legal thriller, the spy thriller, the action-adventure thriller, the medical thriller, etc. One of their common denominators is that they quicken the reader's heartbeat.

The following is a list of those we believe made a difference, compiled with the advice of several thriller reviewers. Books were chosen based on the impact that each had on the genre. Did the author contribute a new subject, direction, and/or technique that had a lasting effect? Did a work make such a impression that it has been frequently imitated? There will no doubt be objections about what was included and what wasn't. For that reason, please consider this a work in progress.

The list has a serious purpose. In "Tradition and the Individual Talent," T.S. Eliot insisted that every writer has an obligation to study the literary tradition in which that writer works. Eliot believed we have a responsibility to absorb and carry it forward, trying to add something of our own. Too often we pay attention only to current trends and lose the guidance that literary history can provide. Still, if we study our antecedents, we can strengthen our technical skills while using old concepts to go in new directions. At the least, we gain enough sophistication to know when we're innovating rather than performing the literary equivalent of reinventing the wheel.

One of the first things you'll notice is how inclusive the list is. Some of you might wonder why Bram Stoker's DRACULA is here, for example. Isn't that a horror novel? It certainly is. But if we change the paradigm, it is also a supernatural thriller. Indeed, if you remove the vampire element and think of Dracula as a serial killer, the novel becomes part of a tradition that leads directly to Thomas Harris's RED DRAGON and THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Plus, DRACULA is palpably vivid with heart-pounding scenes and one of the finest extended chases ever written. Some of this excitement might energize you to outdo it. Other titles will perhaps raise eyebrows, too. For example, Joseph Wambaugh's THE ONION FIELD is non-fiction. But if you didn't know that it depicted actual events, you'd swear it was a novel. The purpose of the list is to encourage new ways of thinking and show the thriller as an evolving form.

Many of the authors on this list wrote numerous memorable books. We selected only one book for each author. Conrad's THE SECRET AGENT could have been substituted for his HEART OF DARKNESS. Ian Fleming's GOLDFINGER could have been selected in place of FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE. Graham Greene's THIS GUN FOR HIRE or THE MINISTRY OF FEAR might have taken the place of THE THIRD MAN. John Le Carre's TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY is as worthy of consideration as his breakthrough novel THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD. Robert Louis Stevenson's TREASURE ISLAND is as valid a candidate as his THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JECKYLL AND MR. HYDE. When it comes to prolific writers of quality, mentally include your favorite title.

You'll note that there are far more male than female authors on the list. This imbalance is due to a publishing prejudice that for many years was a self-fulfilling prophecy. Editors felt that women couldn't convincingly dramatize sensational plots, although they were aware that a large percentage of fans were women. In turn, women avoided writing in the field because they couldn't overcome the bigotry. Helen MacInnes and Patricia Highsmith were two of the few who managed to survive and flourish despite this repressive environment. Both began publishing in the 1940s.

Only decades later did a new group of women finally make their marks and find stable homes in the field. In 1988, the publication of Katherine Neville's THE EIGHT was a gale-force breath of fresh air. Part swashbuckler, part intellectual feast, the novel rightfully became a cult classic, its puzzle-solving plot innovations making it the antecedent to THE DA VINCI CODE.

For the next seven years, trend-establishing women were again absent. Finally in 1995, Tami Hoag made the remarkable jump from being the bestselling star of Bantam's Loveswept series into suspense thrillers with NIGHT SINS. The book exploded onto bestseller charts, proving not only that a romance author could write a compelling suspense nail-biter, but that she could also carry her large audience of readers with her. Still, those who had never written romance remained shut out. That literary glass ceiling was shattered at last by Gayle Lynds, who debuted in 1996 with MASQUERADE, a post-Cold-War novel that integrated the contrasting traditions of Le Carré and Ludlum while its minimalist style added a modern slant.

Where to begin this must-read list? Historically, Wilkie Collins is credited with inventing "the novel of sensation” when he wrote THE WOMAN IN WHITE in1860. But obvious sensational works predate him. Poe seemed a good place to start. It's amusing to consider that the creator of the mystery story also created the thriller.

Where to end? With an obvious exception like Dan Brown's phenomenally successful (and controversial) THE DA VINCI CODE, it's impossible to assess the impact of any recent thriller, however much we admire them. Not enough time has passed. We don't have the perspective necessary to determine what is influential and what isn't. To prevent this list from becoming a mere reflection of current taste, we chose 1995, a decade ago, as an arbitrary cut-off date. Soon we'll add a second list — great contemporary thrillers that are also must-reads, but chosen according to different criteria. To get a sense of the authors who will be included, go to Steve Berry's excellent essay, "The International Thriller Lives Again,” posted in "The Thriller World” section of this website.

We encourage you to suggest inclusions and omissions to both endeavors. But consider whether the writer you nominate made a difference in the genre and does indeed write thrillers and not mysteries. For a definition, please check "What Is a Thriller?” on this website's home page.

Granted, some of the works we list no longer thrill as effectively as they once did. Tastes change. What excited one generation may seem tame to another. But in the context of their culture, they delivered the goods and made their mark. That is why we recommend that you investigate these titles in the order in which they were written. Consider each as part of a developing tradition in a lively discussion that we hope will make us more informed as well as better authors and readers. Some of the titles have been annotated. Eventually, all will have brief descriptions.

1. Edgar Allan Poe, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, 1838

Poe's only novel dramatizes harrowing episodes on a mysterious voyage to the South Pole. As in "The Fall of the House of Usher,” extreme sensations dominate. A chilling, enigmatic work by an author whose influence is incalculable.



2. Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo, 1845

None of the movie versions communicates the excitement and epic scope of this novel. The extended prison sequence culminates with a literally breath-taking watery escape in a shroud. A revenge thriller with chases, assumed identities, and discovered treasure. A masterwork.



3. Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White, 1860

Although Poe came first, Collins received the credit for inventing the "novel of sensation.” The title character is an apparition that appears on a lonely country road. Intrigue ensues, much of it involving switched identities (a phobia in the rigid class structure of Victorian society). Filmed twice. While the book's sensationalism has become dated, its influence persists as is evident when its villain, Count Fosco, appears as a contemporary character in Brimstone, a 2004 thriller by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.



4. H. Rider Haggard, King Soloman's Mines, 1885

5. Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, 1886

6. Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891

7. Bram Stoker, Dracula,1897

As with The Count of Monte Cristo, some readers assume they know Dracula because they've seen numerous film versions, but no movie does justice to this compelling, complex narrative. Led by archetypal Dr. Van Helsing, a terrified group of friends uses modern science (in the form of the telephone, the telegraph, the typewriter, and blood transfusions, etc.) to combat ancient superstition. Technically interesting because of its sequence of epistolary first persons, this masterwork has an epic scope. Another masterwork.



8. Rudyard Kipling, Kim, 1901

9. Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, 1902

Conrad's alter-ego Marlowe joins an expedition to the heart of the Congo in search of a mysterious man named Kurtz. This first-person-within-a-first-person narrative exposes increasing atrocities as the heart of the human soul is exposed. "The horror, the horror.” Meaningful as well as gripping, it was filmed as Apocalypse Now.

10. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1902

Few plots have achieved the iconic status that this one enjoys. Most of the Holmes short stories are calm and intellectual. But in this novel (one of Doyle's four), he explored highly charged, emotionally gothic territory, which is why we consider it a thriller as much as a mystery. The book's first-person narrative is revealing as Watson strains to maintain his physician's objective pose while describing Holmes's confrontation with evil.



11. Erskine Childers, The Riddle of the Sands, 1903

A British yachtsman discovers a German plot to invade England. The "sands” of the title are beaches on the Baltic Sea that are exposed at low tide. One of the seminal outdoor espionage tales. Major influence on Geoffrey Household. Marvelous local color and authentic yachting

information.

12. Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, 1912

13. Marie Belloc Lowndes, The Lodger, 1913

The first novel about Jack the Ripper. Filmed by Alfred Hitchcock and seminal in his work (thus seminal to thriller movies), it is an Edwardian example of the Victorian sensationalist movement begun by Wilkie Collins. Its suspense was considered extremely gore-ridden for its time.



14. John Buchan, The 39 Steps, 1915

15. Rafael Sabatini, Scaramouche , 1921

16. Richard Connell, "The Most Dangerous Game,” 1924

17. W. Somerset Maugham, Ashenden, or The Secret Agent, 1928

18. James M. Cain, The Postman Always Rings Twice, 1934

19. Eric Ambler, A Coffin for Dimitrios, 1939

20. Geoffrey Household, Rogue Male, 1939

A British big-game hunter stalks Hitler on the eve of World War II. Household is one of the masters of the outdoor hunter-hunted genre. Mystical approach to nature. His other great works are Watcher in the Shadows, The Courtesy of Death, and The Dance of the Dwarfs.

21.Helen MacInnes, Above Suspicion, 1941

22. Cornell Woolrich, The Night Has a Thousand Eyes, 1945

23. Kenneth Fearing, The Big Clock, 1946

Inspired two films, one with Ray Milland, the other with Kevin Costner (retitled No Way Out). Its central gigantic-clock image earned it a solid reputation as a new approach to a ticking-time story. Indeed, the clock becomes an elaborate, philosophical metaphor. With similar innovation, Fearing tells the story in a sequence of separate first-person narrators. An example of the kinds of thematic and stylistic challenges we welcome.

24. Graham Greene, The Third Man, 1950

25. Patricia Highsmith, Strangers on a Train, 1950

26. Jim Thompson, The Killer Inside Me, 1952

27. Daphne du Maurier, "The Birds,” 1952

28. Hammond Innes, Campbell's Kingdom, 1952

29. Jack Finney, The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 1954

30. Ian Fleming, From Russia with Love, 1957

31. Richard Condon, The Manchurian Candidate, 1959

32. Len Deighton, The Ipcress File, 1962

33. Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey, Seven Days in May, 1962

34. John le Carre, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, 1963

35. Alistair MacLean, Ice Station Zebra, 1963

36. Adam Hall, The Quiller Memorandum, 1965

37. Michael Crichton, The Andromeda Strain, 1969

38. James Dickey, Deliverance, 1970

39. Frederick Forsyth, The Day of the Jackal, 1971

40. Brian Garfield, Death Wish, 1972

41. David Morrell, First Blood, 1972

42. Trevanian, The Eiger Sanction, 1972

43. Joseph Wambaugh, The Onion Field, 1973

44. Peter Benchley, Jaws, 1974

45. William Goldman, Marathon Man, 1974

46. James Grady, Six Days of the Condor, 1974

47. Robert Stone, Dog Soldiers, 1974

48. Jack Higgins, The Eagle Has Landed, 1975

49. Clive Cussler, Raise the Titanic!, 1976

50. Ira Levin, The Boys from Brazil, 1976

51. Anne Rice, Interview with the Vampire, 1976

A ground-breaking supernatural thriller, powerful and original. Overwhelmed by personal tragedy, an 18th-century Lousiana plantation owner is turned into a vampire and lives to the present. This book created a tsunami of imitators as well as Rice's own Vampire Chronicles. T he epic story is told across three centuries and two continents, rich in detail (particularly the New Orleans sections), textured with historical, cultural, and literary references. In essence, it probes the complex nature of the human soul.

52. Robin Cook, Coma, 1977

53. Ken Follett, The Eye of the Needle, 1978

54. Stephen King, The Dead Zone, 1979

55. John D. MacDonald, The Green Ripper, 1979

56. Robert Ludlum, The Bourne Identity, 1980

57. Eric Van Lustbader, The Ninja, 1980

58. Thomas Harris, Red Dragon 1981

59. Tom Clancy, The Hunt for Red October,1984

60. Dale Brown, Flight of the Old Dog, 1987

61. Nelson DeMille, The Charm School,1988

62. Dean Koontz, Watchers, 1988

63. Katherine Neville, The Eight, 1988

Set in 1972 and 1790, two parallel stories — one about a young French nun, the other following an American computer expert — weave across time and continents, focusing on a missing chess set reputedly once owned by Charlemagne and endowed with remarkable powers. This genre-expanding novel is smart, exciting, and original, full of cultural and historical references, mysticism, politics, espionage, murder, and breathless high adventure. A cult book rightfully never out of print.

64. John Grisham, The Firm, 1991

65. James Patterson, Along Came a Spider, 1992

The kidnapping of two children at an elite private school sets this pulsing tale into motion. With impeccable timing, Patterson never releases the tension, instead tightening the suspense with each short chapter, with each surprise, each new twist. The psychotic villain is unusual, the stuff of nightmares, yet tied like a hangman's knot into today's violent culture — the villain's goal is to be even more infamous than the kidnapper of the Lindbergh baby. Relevant and chillingly intelligent.

66. Stephen Hunter, Point of Impact, 1993



67. Caleb Carr, The Alienist, 1994

68. John Lescroart, The Thirteenth Juror, 1994

Smooth as a stiletto, lyrically written, populated by compelling moral questions. Lescroart proved an author does not have to be an attorney to create riveting and authentic legal thrillers. Because of the novel's vast popularity, "the thirteenth juror" — law-office jargon for a trial judge — entered the public's vocabulary.

69. Tami Hoag, Night Sins, 1995

70. David Baldacci, Absolute Power, 1995