The NYT: Best Thrillers

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/books/best-thriller-books-21st-century.html

It's standard practice to complain when a newspaper publishes a "Year's Best" list. Best movies. Best fashion statements. Best actors. A complaint then triggers a counter-complaint: "If you wanted to include THAT addition, which name would you REMOVE from the current list?" I'm not writing in a serious spirit. I'm not going to argue for *subtractions* from the NYT thriller list. I'm just going to say that certain omissions surprised me.

First, Anthony Horowitz is among the most important popular writers in England right now. He has created a series for Lesley Manville, updated the James Bond series in plausible ways, insightfully championed the works of other writers (Ira Levin, Sarah Waters). Horowitz is on the current list for "Magpie Murders," a great novel. But his career-defining series--Horowitz and Hawthorne--is off the list. At least one of these novels deserves a spot.

I'm including the opening of "The Word Is Murder" in this post. Horowitz writes just for himself. He is a born writer. He enjoys taking walks and noticing the world. You can tell from the quoted passage--the details, e.g., "the sunshine is almost white and promises a warmth it doesn't deliver," the hair is "sharply cut," the necklace is "heavy with beads and stones" and "might or might not be expensive." As far as I can tell, no current thriller writer outshines Horowitz in the intelligence and stylishness departments.

The writer Peter Swanson--to his credit--nominated Ruth Rendell for the Times list. Swanson chose "Adam and Eve and Pinch Me" (2001). I'm on board. "Adam and Eve"--named "a gem" by "Publishers Weekly"--concerns several eccentric characters in the grip of a con man. One has an unhealthy obsession with hygiene; others are deeply troubled by food and diet. I still remember aspects of this book after twenty years. In the late stages of her career, Rendell is interested in social commentary *alongside* a mystery plot. She writes in a clinical way about eating disorders. It's exhilarating to see someone tackle the topic of food without sermons and without piety. I'm a little embarrassed for the Times that Ruth Rendell is not on the list.

The last additional name I'd include is Thomas Perry, a favorite of my old teacher, Amy Bloom. Perry ended his career with "The Tree of Light and Flowers." I love Perry's interest in social codes; one of the motifs of "Flowers" involves a new dad patiently narrating all of his choices for his nonverbal infant (because, of course, there is quite a bit that an infant cannot easily decipher within an adult's range of behaviors). The novel's protagonist, Jane, is brilliant and lethal. She keeps her eyes open. In the first scene, Jane studies a parking lot. "The woman in the red SUV didn't appear to be much of a threat, but Jane didn't appear to be a threat either, so she watched the woman as she parked at the DSW store and went inside...."

Justice for Thomas Perry!

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Liars and Saints

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