Shannon Kirk
My top 14 books of all time are as follows, in the following order--as in, if I was allowed only 14 books to bring to a deserted island where I was marooned for the rest of my life, these are what I would pack:
1. Love in the Time of Cholera (Gabo)
2. Orphan Master's Son (Adam Johnson)
3. The Mummy Market (Nancy Brelis), tragically out of print, which makes ZERO sense because it's a classic
4. The Incarnations (Susan Barker) AMAZING
5. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
6. Night Circus (Erin Morgenstern)
7. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
8. Swamplandia, and every single word ever written by: (Karen Russell)
9. Everything is Illuminated (Jonathan Safran Foer)
10. The Keep, Jennifer Egan
11. The Sea (John Banville)
12. Someone Else's Love Story, Joshilyn Jac
If you like author Shannon Kirk here is the list of authors you may also like
Buy books on AmazonTotal similar authors (40)
-
Kelly J. Ford
Kelly J. Ford is the Anthony-nominated author of REAL BAD THINGS; COTTONMOUTHS, a Los Angeles Review Best Book of 2017; and THE HUNT. Kelly writes crime fiction set in the Ozarks and Arkansas River Valley.
Buy books on Amazon
https://www.instagram.com/kellyjforda...
I dislike rating systems. If I like a book I give it 5 stars. -
Rebecca Hanover
Rebecca Hanover is the NY Times bestselling author of THE SIMILARS series and two domestic thrillers, THE LAST APPLICANT (2023) and SEEMS PERFECT (2025). She earned a bachelor of arts from Stanford University in English and drama and won an Emmy as a staff writer on the CBS daytime drama Guiding Light. (It's surprisingly heavy, and has scary sharp wings).
Buy books on Amazon
Rebecca lives in San Francisco with her husband and three kiddos, where she enjoys matcha lattes, hoodies, and a complete lack of seasons.
Instagram: @rebeccahanover
Twitter: @rebeccahanover -
Paul Pen
🇺🇸Paul Pen is a bestselling Spanish author whose four novels have been translated to many languages. The Light of the Fireflies was his first book to be translated to English, becoming an international bestseller. This book was followed by Desert Flowers and Under the Water, with which he reaffirmed his unmistakable brand of literary suspense and ability to create a deeply immersive reading experience for the mind, heart and nerves. Now, his debut novel of almost ten years ago, The Warning, is being published in English for the first time, finally offering readers around the globe the chance to read a story already adapted to the big screen in 2018. Motion pictures of The Light of the Fireflies and Desert Flowers are also in development, th
Buy books on Amazon -
Daisy Pearce
Daisy Pearce was born in Cornwall and grew up on a smallholding surrounded by hippies. She read Stephen King’s 'Cujo' and The Hamlyn Book of Horror far too young and has been fascinated with the macabre ever since.
Buy books on Amazon
She began writing short stories as a teenager and after spells living in London and Brighton Daisy had her first short story ‘The Black Prince’ published in One Eye Grey magazine. Another short story, ‘The Brook Witch’, was performed on stage at the Small Story Cabaret in Lewes in 2016. She has also written articles about mental health online. In 2015, The Silence won a bursary with The Literary Consultancy, and later that year Daisy also won the Chindi Authors Competition with her short story ‘Worm Food’. Her second novel was lon -
Jo Taylor
Jo Taylor is an obstreperous, retired ER Nurse who is likely an obstreperous writer too. She grew up with three stepmothers (not at the same time). She's lived on a boat and traced her genealogy back to the year 310 (maybe, probably, you know how genealogy is). She's been married for 33 years and all her hero characters are based on her husband, a hero in real life. Her first book, Postcards: Collected of Poems and Short Stories came out in July 2024. Margaret of Thibodaux is her first novel.
Buy books on Amazon -
Meg Elison
Meg Elison is a science fiction author and feminist essayist. Her series, The Road to Nowhere, won the 2014 Philip K. Dick award. She was a James A. Tiptree Award Honoree in 2018. In 2020, she is publishing her first collection, called “Big Girl” with PM Press and her first young adult novel, “Find Layla” with Skyscape. Meg has been published in McSweeney’s, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Fangoria, Uncanny, Lightspeed, Nightmare, and many other places. Elison is a high school dropout and a graduate of UC Berkeley. Find her online, where she writes like she’s running out of time.
Buy books on Amazon
megelison.com
@megelison -
Heather Levy
Heather Levy is a born and bred Oklahoman and graduate of Oklahoma City University’s Red Earth MFA program for creative writing. The New York Times called her Anthony-nominated debut, Walking Through Needles, “a spellbinding novel at the nexus of power, desire, and abuse that portends a bright future,” and the Los Angeles Times called it “a standout for its frank but sensitive exploration of trauma and desire.” Publisher's Weekly says her thriller Hurt for Me "delivers both heat and heart." Her novels focus on sexuality and complex women. Levy lives in Oklahoma with her husband, two kids, and three murderous cats. Readers can follow her on X and IG @heatherllevy.
Buy books on Amazon -
Nova Lee Maier
Nova lee Maier is a pseudonym of Esther Verhoef, Dutch best seller author of psychological thrillers, action thrillers, novels and short stories.
Buy books on Amazon
Her thrillers alone have sold over 2.5 million copies in the Netherlands. Every thriller she wrote has been nominated for one or more prizes. She has won, among others, the NS Publieksprijs (NS Audience Award), the Hebban Crimezone Award, the Diamanten Kogel (Diamond Bullet) and the prestigious Gouden Strop (Golden Noose).
Verhoefs work has been translated into numerous languages. -
Catharine Riggs
Thriller writer | Author of the twin thrillers WHAT SHE GAVE AWAY and WHAT SHE NEVER SAID
Buy books on Amazon
Connect:
https://www.instagram.com/catharineriggs
https://www.pinterest.com/criggswrite/
https://partners.bookbub.com/authors/...
Purchase:
https://www.amazon.com/author/cathari... -
Samantha M. Bailey
Samantha M. Bailey is the USA TODAY and #1 international bestselling author of WOMAN ON THE EDGE, optioned for series adaptation, WATCH OUT FOR HER, shortlisted for Canada Reads 2025, and A FRIEND IN THE DARK, an Amazon Charts bestseller. Her novels have sold in twelve countries. She lives in Toronto, where she can usually be found tapping away at her computer or curled up on her couch with a book. Samantha's next domestic suspense, HELLO, JULIET, will be published in April 2025.
Buy books on Amazon -
John Katzenbach
John Katzenbach is a U.S. author of popular fiction. Son of Nicholas Katzenbach, former United States Attorney General, John worked as a criminal court reporter for the Miami Herald and Miami News, and a featured writer for the Herald’s Tropic magazine. He is married to Madeleine Blais and they live in western Massachusetts.
Buy books on Amazon
He left the newspaper grind to write books, racking up 12 novels so far, psychological thrillers that have made him an international success. His first, 1982's bestselling *In the Heat of the Summer, became the movie *The Mean Season , filmed partially in The Herald's newsroom ans starring Kurt Russell and MAriel Hemingway.
Two more of his books were made into films in the United States, 1995's *Just Cause and 2002's *Har -
Erin Flanagan
Erin Flanagan's forthcoming novel, Come with Me (Thomas & Mercer), releases in August 2023. Her novel Deer Season (University of Nebraska Press) won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by an American Author and was a Macavity finalist for Best First Mystery. Her second novel, Blackout (Thomas & Mercer) was a June 2022 Amazon First Reads pick. She is also the author of two collections: It's Not Going to Kill You and Other Stories, and The Usual Mistakes. Erin is an English professor at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and a regular book reviewer for Publishers Weekly. For more information about her and her writing, please visit www.erinflanagan.net or say hello on Twitter at @erinlflanagan.
Buy books on Amazon -
Steena Holmes
Steena Holmes is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author with nearly 3 million copies of her titles sold worldwide, including The Patient, The Forgotten Ones, and Sister Under the Stairs.
Buy books on Amazon
Named in the Top 20 Women Author to Read by Good Housekeeping, she won the National Indie Excellence Award for her breakout novel Finding Emma and the USA Book News Award for The Word Game. Steena has been featured in various newspapers and magazines, websites such as Goodreads, BookBub, RedBook, Glamour, Coastal Living and Goodhousekeeping.
One of Steena's passions is to travel with her readers, so she created her Sweet Tours, where she shares her love for the sweet life with her readers, whether in Paris, Italy, or exploring Christmas Markets -
Lucy Goacher
Lucy Goacher was born and raised in Worthing, and can often be found braving the windy weather on the seafront. She has an English degree and a Master’s in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of Sussex, and was a finalist in the 2017 Daily Mail First Novel Competition. The Edge is her first novel.
Buy books on Amazon
Her time is split between writing, pampering her cat, and photographing the urban foxes who visit her garden every night for dinner—much to her cat’s annoyance.
You can follow Lucy (and her foxes) on Twitter and Instagram: @goachwriter. -
Jennifer Jaynes
Jennifer Jaynes was an accomplished author having published 7 books and was both a USA Today Best Seller and Amazon #1 best seller.
Buy books on Amazon -
J.M. Winchester
J.M. Winchester is the dark alter ego of an author who usually writes Happily Ever Afters. Her fascination with the workings of an evil mind compelled her to start writing psychological thrillers and All The Lovely Pieces is her debut novel in this genre. Originally from the east coast of Canada, she now lives in Alberta with her husband and son. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, International Thriller Writers and FAVA. More information can be found on her website at: www.authorjmwinchester.com
Buy books on Amazon -
Victoria Helen Stone
Wall Street Journal bestselling writer Victoria Helen Stone, author of the runaway hit Jane Doe, pens critically acclaimed novels of dark intrigue and emotional suspense. Her work includes Follow Her Down, At the Quiet Edge, Problem Child, Half Past, and the chart-toppers False Step, and Evelyn, After. Bald-Faced Liar is her tenth suspense.
Buy books on Amazon
Victoria writes in her home office in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, far from her origins in the flattest plains of Minnesota, Texas, and Oklahoma. She enjoys gorgeous summer trail hikes in the mountains almost as much as she enjoys staying inside by the fire during winter. Victoria is passionate about dessert, true crime, and her terror of mosquitoes, which have targeted her in a diabolical conspiracy to -
E.C. Diskin
E.C. Diskin studied Radio/TV/Film and English in Texas (TCU), moved to New York to dance with a tap dance company in Soho, and finally became "an adult" when she moved to Chicago for law school. But after several years behind a desk, a drawer full of story ideas, and two little ones at home, she took a break from the law and began writing fiction. Fortunately, the fantasy of living a creative life became reality with the success of her debut legal thriller, The Green Line. Her second, Broken Grace, ventured into psych thrillers. Her third, Depth of Lies, dove into the veneers and secrets behind the closed doors of suburbia, and her latest, Desperate Paths, centers on one small town’s unraveling as secrets, lies, sex, guns, and extremists co
Buy books on Amazon -
James Hankins
USA Today bestselling author James Hankins's newest novel of suspense, A BLOOD THING, came out on June 5, 2018. Each of his previous thrillers (including THE PRETTIEST ONE, SHADY CROSS, BROTHERS AND BONES, and more) spent time in the Kindle Top 100 and became Amazon #1 bestsellers, while THE PRETTIEST ONE reached #1 across all categories in the Kindle Store. SHADY CROSS received a coveted starred review from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews gave BROTHERS a starred review and named it to their list of Best Books of 2013. (PLEASE NOTE that there are others who publish under the name James Hankins, so please see James's website for a complete list of his books.)
Buy books on Amazon -
Saskia Noort
Saskia Noort is a Dutch crime-writer and freelance journalist.
Buy books on Amazon
She has written articles for the Dutch editions of Marie Claire and Playboy as well as publishing three novels, The Dinner Club being published in English in 2007 by Bitter Lemon Press, translated by Paul Vincent.
Her third book, "New Neighbours", was released in May 2006 in the Netherlands and was a huge bestseller. The rights have been sold to England. -
Sue Watson
Sue Watson was a TV Producer at the BBC until she wrote her first book and was hooked.
Buy books on Amazon
Now a USA Today bestselling author, Sue has sold almost 2 million books and explores the darker side of life, writing psychological thrillers with big twists. Originally from Manchester, she now lives with her family in leafy Worcestershire where much of her day is spent writing – and procrastinating. Her hobby is eating cake while watching diet and exercise programmes from the sofa, a skill she’s perfected after many years of practice.
For up-to-date offers and news of Sue's latest books, click the 'Follow' button next to her photo on Amazon.
Sue would love to meet you on FaceBook at https://www.facebook.com/suewatsonbooks
And on Instagram @suewatsonbooks -
Caroline Mitchell
New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post and International #1 Bestselling Author. Shortlisted by the International Thriller Awards for best ebook 2017 and the Killer Nashville Best Police Procedural 2018.
Buy books on Amazon
** See all my books in order here: https://caroline-writes.com/books **
**Join my writing course here: https://www.caroline-mitchell.com **
Now available:
Amy Winter thriller series: https://geni.us/AmySeries
Slayton thriller series: https://geni.us/Slaytonseries
Jennifer Knight thriller series: https://geni.us/JKSeries
The Islanders psych thriller: https://geni.us/TheIslandersCM
The Village psych thriller: https://geni.us/thevillage -
Lori Roy
Lori Roy’s debut novel, Bent Road, was awarded the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel by an American Author. Her work has been twice named a New York Times Notable Crime Book and has been included on various “best of” and summer reading lists. Until She Comes Home was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and a finalist for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel.
Buy books on Amazon
Let Me Die in His Footsteps was included among the top fiction of 2015 by Books-A-Million and named one of the best fifteen mystery novels of 2015 by Oline Cogdill. The novel also received the 2016 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel, making Lori the first woman to receive an Edgar Award for both Best First Novel and Best Novel—and only the third person ever to have done so. G -
Paul Pen
🇺🇸Paul Pen is a bestselling Spanish author whose four novels have been translated to many languages. The Light of the Fireflies was his first book to be translated to English, becoming an international bestseller. This book was followed by Desert Flowers and Under the Water, with which he reaffirmed his unmistakable brand of literary suspense and ability to create a deeply immersive reading experience for the mind, heart and nerves. Now, his debut novel of almost ten years ago, The Warning, is being published in English for the first time, finally offering readers around the globe the chance to read a story already adapted to the big screen in 2018. Motion pictures of The Light of the Fireflies and Desert Flowers are also in development, th
Buy books on Amazon -
Steena Holmes
Steena Holmes is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author with nearly 3 million copies of her titles sold worldwide, including The Patient, The Forgotten Ones, and Sister Under the Stairs.
Buy books on Amazon
Named in the Top 20 Women Author to Read by Good Housekeeping, she won the National Indie Excellence Award for her breakout novel Finding Emma and the USA Book News Award for The Word Game. Steena has been featured in various newspapers and magazines, websites such as Goodreads, BookBub, RedBook, Glamour, Coastal Living and Goodhousekeeping.
One of Steena's passions is to travel with her readers, so she created her Sweet Tours, where she shares her love for the sweet life with her readers, whether in Paris, Italy, or exploring Christmas Markets -
Joe Hart
Joe Hart is the Edgar Award-winning and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of seventeen novels including The River Is Dark, Obscura, The Last Girl, and Or Else. His work has been optioned for film and translated into eight languages. He lives with his family in Minnesota.
Buy books on Amazon -
James Hankins
USA Today bestselling author James Hankins's newest novel of suspense, A BLOOD THING, came out on June 5, 2018. Each of his previous thrillers (including THE PRETTIEST ONE, SHADY CROSS, BROTHERS AND BONES, and more) spent time in the Kindle Top 100 and became Amazon #1 bestsellers, while THE PRETTIEST ONE reached #1 across all categories in the Kindle Store. SHADY CROSS received a coveted starred review from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews gave BROTHERS a starred review and named it to their list of Best Books of 2013. (PLEASE NOTE that there are others who publish under the name James Hankins, so please see James's website for a complete list of his books.)
Buy books on Amazon -
D.M. Pulley
D.M. Pulley lives in northeast Ohio with her husband, her two children, and a dog named Hobo. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked as a Professional Engineer rehabbing historic structures and conducting forensic investigations of building failures. Pulley's structural survey of a vacant building in Cleveland inspired her debut novel, The Dead Key, the winner of the 2014 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Since then, Pulley has sold over a half a million books worldwide, and her work has been translated into eight different languages.
Buy books on Amazon
Pulley's historical mysteries shine a light into the darker side of life in the Midwest during the twentieth century, when cities like Detroit and Cleveland struggled to survive. Her latest novel, No One -
Elizabeth Hall
Elizabeth Hall spent most of her life in the mountains of Colorado. She has worked as a teacher and communications consultant, including hosting, writing, and producing the radio show Heart of the West (KRZA, Alamosa) and producing an oral history compilation for the Great Sand Dunes National Park. She now lives in the Pacific NW.
Buy books on Amazon -
P.J. Parrish
P.J. Parrish is the New York Times bestselling author of ten Louis Kincaid and Joe Frye thrillers. The author is actually two sisters, Kristy Montee and Kelly Nichols. Their books have appeared on both the New York Times and USA Today best seller lists. The series has garnered 11 major crime-fiction awards, and an Edgar® nomination. Parrish has won two Shamus awards, one Anthony and one International Thriller competition. Her books have been published throughout Europe and Asia.
Buy books on Amazon
Parrish's short stories have also appeared in many anthologies, including two published by Mystery Writers of America, edited by Harlan Coben and the late Stuart Kaminsky. Their stories have also appeared in Akashic Books acclaimed Detroit Noir, and in Ellery Queen M -
Nova Lee Maier
Nova lee Maier is a pseudonym of Esther Verhoef, Dutch best seller author of psychological thrillers, action thrillers, novels and short stories.
Buy books on Amazon
Her thrillers alone have sold over 2.5 million copies in the Netherlands. Every thriller she wrote has been nominated for one or more prizes. She has won, among others, the NS Publieksprijs (NS Audience Award), the Hebban Crimezone Award, the Diamanten Kogel (Diamond Bullet) and the prestigious Gouden Strop (Golden Noose).
Verhoefs work has been translated into numerous languages. -
Samantha M. Bailey
Samantha M. Bailey is the USA TODAY and #1 international bestselling author of WOMAN ON THE EDGE, optioned for series adaptation, WATCH OUT FOR HER, shortlisted for Canada Reads 2025, and A FRIEND IN THE DARK, an Amazon Charts bestseller. Her novels have sold in twelve countries. She lives in Toronto, where she can usually be found tapping away at her computer or curled up on her couch with a book. Samantha's next domestic suspense, HELLO, JULIET, will be published in April 2025.
Buy books on Amazon -
Chelsea Ichaso
Chelsea Ichaso writes twisty thrillers for young adults and is also the author of the adult thriller, So I Lied. Her novel, The Summer She Went Missing, earned a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, a spot on Barnes & Noble’s Best of 2024 list, and was a 2025 TAYSHAS reading list selection. Her latest release, We Were Warned, is a Junior Library Guild Selection and has been featured on Marie Claire’s list of the 18 Most Anticipated Mystery Thrillers of 2025 as well as Goodreads Guide to 2025’s Biggest Mysteries & Thrillers. Chelsea currently resides in Southern California with her husband and children. When she’s not writing, she can be found cheering from the sidelines at her kids' soccer games or attempting to strum a tune on the guita
Buy books on Amazon -
Kathleen M. Willett
Kathleen M. Willett is an English teacher who grew up in New Jersey and London. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, two daughters, and a cat named Mr. Sparkles.
Buy books on Amazon -
D.M. Pulley
D.M. Pulley lives in northeast Ohio with her husband, her two children, and a dog named Hobo. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked as a Professional Engineer rehabbing historic structures and conducting forensic investigations of building failures. Pulley's structural survey of a vacant building in Cleveland inspired her debut novel, The Dead Key, the winner of the 2014 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Since then, Pulley has sold over a half a million books worldwide, and her work has been translated into eight different languages.
Buy books on Amazon
Pulley's historical mysteries shine a light into the darker side of life in the Midwest during the twentieth century, when cities like Detroit and Cleveland struggled to survive. Her latest novel, No One -
Jane Holland
Jane Holland is an award-winning British poet and novelist, and proud mum of five amazing kids. The middle child of romance legend Charlotte Lamb, she grew up in Essex and the Isle of Man, but now lives in Cornwall. As Jane Holland, she writes poetry, thrillers, historical suspense and some romance. She also writes commercial women's fiction as Betty Walker, best known for her Cornish Girls wartime sagas. ALSO, try her popular contemporary romance and romcoms as Beth Good! (She also writes as Victoria Lamb, Elizabeth Moss, and Hannah Coates, among other names.)
Buy books on Amazon
Photograph credit: Anand Chhabra -
Elizabeth Hall
Elizabeth Hall spent most of her life in the mountains of Colorado. She has worked as a teacher and communications consultant, including hosting, writing, and producing the radio show Heart of the West (KRZA, Alamosa) and producing an oral history compilation for the Great Sand Dunes National Park. She now lives in the Pacific NW.
Buy books on Amazon -
Marián García
María de los Ángeles García García (1982), más conocida como Boticaria García, es doctora en Farmacia, graduada en Nutrición Humana y Dietética y en Óptica y Optometría. Compagina la docencia en el Grado de Nutrición de la Universidad Isabel I con una intensa labor de divulgación sanitaria en medios de comunicación y redes sociales.
Buy books on Amazon
Es colaboradora habitual en Zapeando (La Sexta) y anteriormente trabajó en los programas Saber vivir (La 1), Ya es mediodía (Telecinco) y Órbita Laika (La 2). En radio colabora semanalmente en RNE en el programa de Pepa Fernández De Pe a Pa, tras su paso por No es un día cualquiera y El gallo que no cesa. En prensa es columnista en el suplemento «Papel» del periódico El Mundo.
Defensora de la divulgación a través -
Lisa Preston
Lisa Preston (1964- ) turned to writing after careers as a fire department paramedic and a city police officer. Experience in her earlier professions enhance the medical and legal passages of her fiction and non-fiction.
Buy books on Amazon
Her debut novel, Orchids and Stone, was released by Thomas & Mercer in April 2016, and has been described both as a thriller and as domestic noir.
Her published work includes non-fiction books and articles on animals, particularly the care and training of dogs and horses.
Away from her desk, she spends hours on backcountry trails as a runner and rider, sometimes combining her two outdoor pursuits via the obscure sport of Ride and Tie.
She lives with her husband and Malinois on Washington State's vast Olympic Peninsula. -
Alistair B. Hayward
Alistair B. Hayward is the author of gleefully graphic, gripping and disturbing serial killer horror books that will leave you unsettled and shaken.
Buy books on Amazon
In real life, however, he's very nice indeed. When not exploring the beautiful outdoors and plotting the terrible things that will befall his characters, he's a big fan of death metal, 70s paperbacks, 80s slasher films, and the stories of Chris Carter, Stephen King, Bret Easton Ellis, Bryce Courtney, and James Patterson.
He lives in Auckland, New Zealand, with his family. He'd love you to tell him how disturbed you were by his book.