Books that feel like movies?

September 10, 2024 5:15 PM

Looking for fiction that feels like a movie in terms of pacing, intrigue, and plot. Can be action/crime or thriller (but not horror). I like political conspiracies though not too woo-woo - just your usual trope of uncovering something.

Basically:
- Something that's fast-paced, that makes me want to race through the chapters
- Good writing (no to Dan Brown crap)
- Protagonists who have a good sense of justice and bad-assery but nothing too self-righteous
- Good villain/conflict where the hero rises to the challenge
- Doesn't need to be a love interest but if there is I don't mind as long as it's not the centre of the story
- Investigative is great (think the Spotlight movie)

I guess I'm looking for the same feeling I got when I read:
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (first 3 original books - though this is kinda a slow burn)
- Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
- Iris Johansen books

I like the world-building in Game of Thrones, and the politics and twists and turns, but not really into fantasy at the moment.

P.S. I've browsed through other threads and saw the most common recommendations (Stephen King, John Grisham, etc) so would like more/other titles to peruse. Thank you!

posted by benimaru to Media & Arts (33 answers total)

The Expanse! Nine of ‘em - great stuff.
Altered Carbon.
The Rook, and sequel Stiletto.
posted by whatevernot at 5:21 PM on September 10 [8 favorites]

Yes to The Rook

Just finished rereading it last night.
Never liked Stiletto as much as I miss Myfawny and Shantay too much. Need to reread Stiletto so I can move on to Blitz.

Anything Murderbot.
posted by Windopaene at 5:30 PM on September 10 [5 favorites]

Hunger Games.
posted by Melismata at 5:46 PM on September 10 [2 favorites]

If you liked Heat (1995), then Heat 2 was published as a novel a couple of years ago. It reads a 500 page screenplay treatment written by cowritten by one of the greatest action/crime filmmakers ever, because that's what it is. You'll want to (re)watch the movie before reading Heat 2.
posted by caek at 5:49 PM on September 10 [2 favorites]

What about old noiry things like The Postman Always Rings Twice or Double Indemnity?

Friends of Eddie Coyle is one of the most dialogue heavy books I've ever read (in a good way) and was made into a film.

Then there's Jim Thompson's stuff like The Killer Inside Me or Pop. 1280.

Or Trevaian's stuff, Shibumi and The Eiger Sanction.

Early Bond novels like Casino Royale and Dr. No?
posted by dobbs at 5:55 PM on September 10 [2 favorites]

Shubumi is in my bathroom bookshelf! Haven't read it in 20 years, but recall it was pretty good. Never read The Eiger Sanction, but it was a good movie.
posted by Windopaene at 6:00 PM on September 10

It may be a bit too sedate, but the book that immediately came to my mind is The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. See if this Time Magazine writeup about it resonates with you.
posted by cadge at 6:06 PM on September 10 [1 favorite]

Shibumi is hilariously over the top - a perfect send up of the genre.

The Last Policeman trilogy by Ben Winters.

S. A. Cosby - Southern Noir and truly excellent stuff.
posted by whatevernot at 6:06 PM on September 10 [1 favorite]

I think you might like Blake Crouch. I’d start with Upgrade for you, then maybe Recursion (which has a stronger romantic subplot), but I like pretty much everything I’ve read from this author.
posted by Night_owl at 7:13 PM on September 10 [1 favorite]

I was stunned when reading Dracula, it felt so much like a movie! But I guess adventure books were the movies of the 1800s, so it makes sense.
posted by emd3737 at 7:28 PM on September 10

City of Thieves by David Benioff, historical fiction about the Seige of Leningrad. Adventurous, fast paced, plotty, funny.
posted by vunder at 7:40 PM on September 10 [2 favorites]

I think you might like The End of October by Lawrence Wright.
posted by brookeb at 8:19 PM on September 10

Have you tried the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child? Checks all your boxes.
posted by olopua at 8:21 PM on September 10 [2 favorites]

Many of Dean Koontz' thrillers have that movie sort of pacing.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 8:42 PM on September 10 [1 favorite]

Homeland, the sequel to Little Brother by Doctorow is pretty good. "Red Team Blues" and "The Bezzle", two more by Doctorow, definitely meet your needs, in my opinion. The both feature the same protagonist, and there may be more coming in that series.

"While Justice Sleeps", followed by "Rogue Justice", both by Stacey Abrams (yes, _that_ Stacey Abrams) will also fit the bill I believe.
posted by TimHare at 10:11 PM on September 10 [2 favorites]

Harlan Coben, 30+ mystery thrillers. A mix of humor (early books mainly) and serious (starting with Tell No One).
posted by billsaysthis at 10:11 PM on September 10

The Slough House series by Mick Herron
Everybody Knows by Jordan Harper
posted by matildaben at 10:15 PM on September 10 [5 favorites]

Hey, I just read one of those. The Thirty Nine Steps, by John Buchan. 1915. Probably started a lot of those tropes.
posted by zompist at 1:49 AM on September 11

Basically all of the Pendergast books are like this. Start with Relic.

The Lincoln Lawyer books are also very fun reads.
posted by phunniemee at 4:26 AM on September 11

Slow Horses AKA Slough House series (mentioned above) gets lots of play here.
posted by ovvl at 5:02 AM on September 11 [1 favorite]

You might like Stacy Abrams’ legal thrillers. The first is While Justice Sleeps.

I also agree with the Blake Crouch and Last Policeman recommendations.
posted by jeoc at 6:39 AM on September 11

Gone Girl (they did make a movie of it too!)
posted by St. Peepsburg at 9:27 AM on September 11

Blacktop wasteland by S.A. Cosby was absolutely a book that felt like a movie. Great writing and just thrilling to read.
posted by pie_seven at 10:07 AM on September 11

Night Film!
posted by haplesschild at 10:14 AM on September 11

"On a Quiet Street" by Seraphina Nova Glass. Maybe reads more like a mini-series, but I think it'd be up your alley.
posted by backwards guitar at 11:14 AM on September 11

You said "no Dan Brown crap", but what you're describing matches the concept of "airport thrillers" close enough that I think you shouldn't hesitate to investigate other examples. These books are practically free at used bookstores and don't require a lot of continuity knowledge so I recommend being adventurous; anything shelved in "thriller", with the author's name bigger than the title and a "the New York Times bestseller now in paperback!" logo, and an author or main character you may have heard of one time, is probably worth the dollar or two and 50 pages or so to see if the tense plotting outweighs the short dry sentences and stock characters for you. (This is assuming you a) prefer paper books and b) have access to the kind of used bookstore I am lucky enough to live near.) In particular I personally would second the Jack Reacher series (especially in light of some of your other specifics) and anti-second Dean Koontz, but it can be pretty idiosyncratic, which is why I recommend casting a wide net. Michael Connelly is good for noir mystery, and Clive Cussler is worth a shot for the globetrotting adventurer thing. You might also try Neal Stephenson's non-SF novels Zodiac and Cryptonomicon, though the latter is infamous for going on tangents and asides so unless they appeal to you that might flub your criterion for momentum.
posted by dick dale the vampire at 11:37 AM on September 11 [1 favorite]

Manhattan Beach, by Jennifer Egan. About a female marine diver during WW2 who gets drawn into the New York underworld while searching for her dad who disappeared when she was a teenager. Lots of reviews praised (and alternately criticized) it for a cinematic approach to story-telling.
posted by sohalt at 11:53 AM on September 11

I just finished God of the Woods and couldn't put it down!
posted by reksb at 12:50 PM on September 11

The Prey series by John Sandford. The only thrillers I can devour in a single sitting and I read a lot of them. The Virgil Flowers and Letty Davenport spinoffs are great too.

Nthing Jack Reacher. As pulpy as it gets, but talk about propulsive.
posted by gottabefunky at 1:34 PM on September 11 [1 favorite]

Elmore Leonard's work is very cinematic — Rum Punch was adapted by Tarantino into the movie Jackie Brown, or try 52 Pick-Up, LaBrava, Swag, or Glitz.
posted by pollytropos at 1:48 PM on September 11 [3 favorites]

I enjoyed these fast-paced novels by David Koepp, he's the screenwriter for Jurassic Park and other big name movies.

Linking to Overdrive/Libby to borrow the ebook/audiobook at a public library near you:

Cold Storage
Aurora
posted by judypjhsu at 9:03 PM on September 11

I think you want The Gone World, by Tom Schweterlitsch. It is sci fi with a bit of horror (more scary if you think about implications than what you see on the page). I thought it was extremely cinematic when I read it!
posted by zoetrope at 1:01 PM on September 13

Y'know, this is the opposite direction from my last answer, but when I read Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf I found, to my pleasant surprise, that the verse brought it a kind of immediacy that made it "feel" more like an action movie than some stuffy classic.
posted by dick dale the vampire at 12:52 PM on September 22