10 Best Dark and Noir Books!
If you're the kind of reader who gets a thrill out of gloomy alleyways, elusive femme fatales, hard-boiled detectives, and a plot tangled with crime and corruption, then you're in the right place. Welcome, fellow lovers of all things dark and noir, to this handpicked selection of the crème de la crème. We're about to delve deep into the shadows of literature, where every corner is shrouded in mystery and everyone has a secret to hide. These 10 top shelf, noir novels and comics, are drenched in an atmosphere as thick as fog, and they'll draw you in until reality fades away. They're filled with suspense, psychological depth, and a level of intricacy that makes you question everything. Expect seductive storytelling that makes your heart race and your palms sweat. But beware, dear reader, once you're in, there's no going back. Ready to surrender to the irresistible pull of the underworld, to embark on a black and white journey trailing smoky bars and rat-infested basements? Well then, dim the lights, pour yourself a stiff drink, and let's jump into the world of the 10 best dark and noir books. Remember, in this world, nothing is as it seems.
『In a Lonely Place』
A classic California noir with a feminist twist, this prescient 1947 novel exposed misogyny in post-World War II American society, making it far ahead of its time. Los Angeles in the late 1940s is a city of promise and prosperity, but not for former fighter pilot Dix Steele. To his mind nothing has come close to matching “that feeling of power and exhilaration and freedom that came with loneness in the sky.” He prowls the foggy city night—bus stops and stretches of darkened beaches and movie houses just emptying out—seeking solitary young women. His funds are running out and his frustrations are growing. Where is the good life he was promised? Why does he always get a raw deal? Then he hooks up with his old Air Corps buddy Brub, now working for the LAPD, who just happens to be on the trail of the strangler who’s been terrorizing the women of the city for months... Written with controlled elegance, Dorothy B. Hughes’s tense novel is at once an early indictment of a truly toxic masculinity and a twisty page-turner with a surprisingly feminist resolution. A classic of golden age noir, In a Lonely Place also inspired Nicholas Ray’s 1950 film of the same name, starring Humphrey Bogart.
Author | Dorothy B. Hughes |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | New York Review of Books |
Release Date | Aug 15, 2017 |
Source | Google Books |
『Caught Stealing』
A retired baseball player finds himself fighting for his life in this “fantastically hopped-up thriller [with] a wrong-man plot worthy of Hitchcock” (Entertainment Weekly, Editor’s Choice). “Wow! Brutal, visceral, violent, edgy, and brilliant.”—Harlan Coben In development as a major motion picture starring Austin Butler and directed by Darren Aronofsky Henry “call me Hank” Thompson used to play California baseball. Now he tends to a bar on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. When two Russians in tracksuits beat Hank to a pulp, he gets the clue: someone wants something from him. He just doesn’t know what it is, where it is, or how to make them understand he doesn’t have it. Within twenty-for hours, Hank is running over rooftops, playing hide-and-seek with the NYPD, riding the subway with a dead man at his side, and counting a whole lot of cash on a concrete floor. All because of some Russian hoods and a flat-out freakshow of goons. All because once, in another life, the only thing Hank wanted to steal was third base—without getting caught.
Author | Charlie Huston |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Ballantine Books |
Release Date | May 31, 2005 |
Source | Google Books |
『The Drawing of the Three』
THE DRAWING OF THE THREE is the second volume in Stephen King's epic Dark Tower series. The Dark Tower is soon to be a major motion picture starring Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba, due in cinemas July 28, 2017. In the second novel of King's bestselling fantasy masterpiece, Roland of Gilead, the Last Gunslinger, encounters three doors which open to 1980s America. Here he joins forces with the defiant Eddie Dean and courageous, volatile Odetta Holmes. And confronts deadly serial killer Jack Mort. As the titanic forces gather, a savage struggle between underworld evil and otherworldly enemies conspire to bring an end to Roland's quest for the Dark Tower... Masterfully weaving dark fantasy and icy realism, THE DRAWING OF THE THREE compulsively propels readers toward the next chapter. And the Tower is closer... THE DARK TOWER SERIES: THE DARK TOWER I: THE GUNSLINGER THE DARK TOWER II: THE DRAWING OF THE THREE THE DARK TOWER III: THE WASTE LANDS THE DARK TOWER IV: WIZARD AND GLASS THE DARK TOWER V: WOLVES OF THE CALLA THE DARK TOWER VI: SONG OF SUSANNAH THE DARK TOWER VII: THE DARK TOWER THE WIND THROUGH THE KEYHOLE: A DARK TOWER NOVEL
Author | Stephen King |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Hodder Paperbacks |
Release Date | Feb 01, 2012 |
Source | Google Books |
『All That Glitters』
In Michael Murphy’s rollicking new Jake & Laura mystery, the hard-boiled writer and the aspiring movie star head for sun-drenched Los Angeles, where a cold-blooded murderer lurks behind the scenes. Just arrived from New York, Broadway actress Laura Wilson is slated to star in Hollywood’s newest screwball comedy. At her side, of course, is Jake Donovan, under pressure to write his next mystery novel. But peace and quiet are not to be had when an all-too-real murder plot intrudes: After a glitzy party, the son of a studio honcho is discovered dead from a gunshot wound. And since Jake exchanged words with the hothead just hours before his death, the bestselling author becomes the LAPD’s prime suspect. In 1930s Tinseltown, anything goes. Proving his innocence won’t be easy in a town where sex, seduction, and naked power run rampant. With gossip columnist Louella Parsons dead-set on publicizing the charges against him, Jake has no choice but to do what everyone else does in the City of Angels: act like someone else. Blackie Doyle, the tough-talking, fist-swinging, womanizing hero from Jake’s novels wouldn’t pull any punches until he exposed the real killer—nor will Jake, to keep the role of a lifetime from being his last. Praise for All That Glitters “Jake and Laura really do remind me of Dashiell Hammett’s Nick and Nora Charles. They are fun, witty, and charming, and the novel is filled with the same kind of 1930s Hollywood glamour that made the film of The Thin Man such a classic.”—Popcorn Reads “Art imitates life imitates art imitates life, with just as terrific results as the first book in this series, The Yankee Club.”—Reading Reality “Michael Murphy has pulled off another successful novel with interesting characters, a riveting story, and a great setting that transports us back to Prohibition-era Hollywood.”—The Book Binder’s Daughter “Murphy has a good thing going with this great new historical mystery series. . . . [They’re] fast-paced and a good look back at an interesting era and the people in it.”—Joyfully Retired “Highly entertaining . . . Mystery lovers, noir fans and lovers of classic movies will really go for this book.”—The Reader’s Hollow “I couldn’t put this book down. It grabbed me right from the start and I was quickly invested in the characters and their lives. . . . A great read and wonderfully fun characters.”—Mystery Playground “You know how it is when you have the perfect cup? The aroma is great, the perfect balance in taste, it’s hot enough to warm your soul, but not too hot to burn your tongue, and the mug fits perfectly in your hands. All the senses are engaged and you forget the world around you. That is this book to a mystery reader- it has the impeccable balance.”—Lilac Reviews
Author | Michael Murphy |
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Price | $6.99 |
Publisher | Alibi |
Release Date | Jan 06, 2015 |
Source | Google Books |
『The Book of Azrael』
World Ender meets Ender of Worlds... For thousands of years after The Gods War the Etherworld has known peace but soon that too will change. An old enemy driven by revenge slowly builds an army behind the scenes. Temples are ransacked in search of an item long lost and enemies since the dawn of time must put aside their differences if they have any hope for survival.
Author | Amber Nicole |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | |
Release Date | Mar 29, 2022 |
Source | Google Books |
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Author | |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | |
Release Date | |
Source | Google Books |
『Field Gray』
This Edgar® Award-nominated novel in Philip Kerr’s New York Times bestselling Bernie Gunther series reveals the cynical, hard-boiled detective’s harrowing history as an unwilling SS officer in World War 2. During his eleven years working homicide in Berlin's Kripo, Bernie Gunther learned a thing or two about evil. Then he set himself up as a private detective—until 1940 when Heydrich dragooned him into the SS's field gray uniform and the bloodbath that was the Eastern Front. Spanning twenty-five tumultuous years, Field Gray strides across the killing fields of Europe, landing Bernie in a divided Germany at the height of the Cold War—revealing a treacherous world where the ends justify the means and no one can be trusted...
Author | Philip Kerr |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Penguin |
Release Date | Feb 28, 2012 |
Source | Google Books |
『The Road』
"A father and his young son walk alone through burned America, heading slowly for the coast. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. They have nothing but a pistol to defend themselves against the men who stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food - and each other." -- back cover.
Author | Cormac McCarthy |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Pan Macmillan |
Release Date | Jan 01, 2010 |
Source | Google Books |
『The Maltese Falcon (Special Edition)』
ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME • A special edition of this coolly glittering gem of detective fiction that has haunted three generations of readers, from one of the greatest mystery writers of all time. Featuring an introduction by James Ellroy. A treasure worth killing for. Sam Spade, a slightly shopworn private eye with his own solitary code of ethics. A perfumed grafter named Joel Cairo, a fat man name Gutman, and Brigid O’Shaughnessy, a beautiful and treacherous woman whose loyalties shift at the drop of a dime. These are the ingredients of Dashiell Hammett's iconic, influential, and beloved The Maltese Falcon. A Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Special Edition
Author | Dashiell Hammett/Josephine Hammett Marshall |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Vintage Crime/Black Lizard |
Release Date | Aug 09, 2022 |
Source | Google Books |
『Sharp objects』
Author | Gillian Flynn |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Rizzoli narrativa |
Release Date | Jan 01, 2018 |
Source | Google Books |
Alright folks, there you have it. Our list of some of the best dark and noir novels guaranteed to send chills down your spine. These books probe the deepest, darkest corners of human nature and modern society, delving into the realms of psychology, morality, and the thin, wavering line between right and wrong. Each one is a ticket to a shadowy world where moral ambiguities reign supreme and a sense of haunting dread looms constantly. So, next time you're in the mood to plunge into an atmospheric abyss littered with a gripping plot, sharp and intricate characters, and lots and sometimes too much honesty, do remember this list. Grab a book off this collection, find a cozy corner, and lose yourself in the riveting world of dark noir fiction. Promise, it's an intoxicating journey you won't forget anytime soon. And hey, if you end up having nightmares, don't say we didn't warn ya! Happy reading, you brave souls!
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