Books
Tim Weaver: My 5 favourite thrillers
All 14 of the novels in my David Raker series begin with a mysterious, unexplained and seemingly impossible disappearance – and my latest novel, The Missing Family, is no different. Actually, that’s not quite true. It is slightly different: it begins with two disappearances instead of one.
In The Missing Family, Raker investigates how a family on a boat in the sea could vanish in less than a minute, while also trying to find a killer who disappeared from his cell. The Missing Family can be enjoyed as a standalone, with no prior knowledge of the series needed. But for long-term readers, there are small Easter eggs and the reappearance of a character from Raker’s past.
What might not be so clear, though – whether you’re new to the series or not – are the books that inspired me. So here are five thrillers I read before I’d ever published a word, that inspired me to want to write thrillers of my own…
A Simple Plan by Scott Smith
A Simple Plan by Scott Smith
This might be my all-time favourite crime novel. In rural Ohio, in the middle of a bitter winter, two brothers and a friend discover a downed plane in the middle of an isolated forest. Everyone on board is dead but there’s a gym bag in the cockpit containing $4.4 million. The men decide to keep the money – which turns out to be the worst decision of their lives. A Simple Plan is not only a page-turning masterclass but also a beautifully written study of relationships and trauma. For me, it’s not just one of the best thrillers of the ’90s, but one of the best thrillers ever.
Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
It’s close between this and The Silence of the Lambs, but Red Dragon edges it for me. Forty-three years on, it’s sometimes easy to forget just how ahead of its time this novel was when it arrived in 1981, as FBI profiler Will Graham hunts a serial killer while seeking the assistance of an imprisoned Hannibal Lecter. Lecter doesn’t even feature that much, and the novel is all the better for it, zeroing in on Graham as he wrestles with his gift – or maybe his curse – for catching psychopaths, and his quarry, The Tooth Fairy, who Harris does a clever, intricate job of making more than just a snarling, one-dimensional killer. Brilliantly written and incredibly tense, I could read this again and again.
The Poet by Michael Connelly
The Poet by Michael Connelly
Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch series has been a huge influence on the Raker books – in fact, he is probably my favourite ever writer. But his standalone, The Poet, was the first novel of his that I read in the summer after I finished my A-Levels, and has always retained a special place in my heart. When Jack McEvoy, a journalist in Denver, starts digging into his brother Sean’s suicide, he starts to suspect it was staged and that Sean was actually murdered. But it gets even worse when Jack realises the staged suicides are the work of a below-the-radar serial killer. I haven’t read this one for a while, but a couple of its scenes have always stuck in my mind – as has the expertly-handled twist.
The Green Mile by Stephen King
The Green Mile by Stephen King
I’m not sure if this makes me a charlatan or not, but I actually prefer Stephen King’s non-horror books. Different Seasons is incredible. So is 11.22.63. I’ve enjoyed his crime novels as well. But my favourite book of his has always been The Green Mile. In fact, The Green Mile is one of my all-time favourite books, full stop. And, yes, it’s true, it does include some horrific moments (as well as some supernatural elements), but what I always remember more is the insanely good writing, the incredible characters, and the sheer emotional heft of this journey through a 1930s penitentiary and the prisoners awaiting execution on death row. Make sure to bring the hankies for the ending.
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
Many people will have seen the film version with Will Smith, but it’s not even in the same ballpark as Matheson’s superb novel. I Am Legend kickstarted my fascination with the idea of someone surviving alone in terrifying circumstances (echoes of which you’ll be able to see in my alone-on-an-island standalone thriller, Missing Pieces), but while Matheson’s thriller bolts sci-fi and horror elements to its story of Robert Neville – the last human survivor of a deadly pandemic – it’s the thriller mechanics that carry this so successfully. It also has an immense last-page pay-off. A stone-cold classic.
How many of Tim Weaver’s favourite thrillers have you read? Let us know in the comments below…
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