Nonfiction for Thriller LoversLike this list

32 items

• The CIA Book Club

  the Secret Mission to Win the Cold War With Forbidden Literature

  English, Charlie,

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  “Spring-loaded with tradecraft, English’s account feels like it’s torn from the pages of Ian Fleming. . . . An indelible reminder . . . that words matter, and that perhaps the most patriotic thing one can do is read.”—The Washington Post

• The Gales of November

  the Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald

  Bacon, John U., 1964-

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  "A work of spectral beauty destined to be a classic. Readers of Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm, Erik Larsen’s Dead Wake, and Nathaniel Philbrick’s In the Heart of the Sea will love this deeply reported tale." ―Hampton Sides, New York Times…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Marriage at Sea

  a True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck

  Elmhirst, Sophie,

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  “Such an emotionally vivid portrait of a couple in isolation that I was shocked it wasn’t fiction. How could a writer get so deeply into the minds of two real people in such extraordinary circumstances? … So brilliantly depicted.” – Elle

• A Flower Traveled in My Blood

  the Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children

  Cohen Gilliland, Haley, 1989-

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  “Inspiring…A triumphant saga of ordinary people doing extraordinary things in the face of pure malevolence.” —Hampton Sides • “Enthralling…Written with the nail-biting verve of a thriller.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

• Murderland

  Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers

  Fraser, Caroline,

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  “Murderland is wonderfully propulsive and hard to put down.” —The Atlantic

• Chasing Evil

  Shocking Crimes, Supernatural Forces, and An FBI Agent's Search for Hope and Justice

  Edward, John,

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  “This riveting true crime book is a thriller, a memoir, and a meditation on the unknown, with all the intensity of a big-screen drama and the soul of deeply personal reckonings. […] The tension is relentless, the writing cinematic, and the tone…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Wide Wide Sea

  Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook

  Sides, Hampton,

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  “Gripping . . . It isn’t possible in this short space to describe Side’s hair-raising accounts of the journey . . . Sides recreates the newness of the experience, the vast differences in and among Indigenous cultures, and natural phenomena that were…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum

  the Rise and Fall of An American Organized-crime Boss

  Fox, Margalit,

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  “Fox succeeds in rescuing a once-notorious public figure from historical obscurity. An engrossing portrait of an unlikely criminal mastermind.”—Kirkus Reviews

• Challenger

  a True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space

  Higginbotham, Adam,

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  From the New York Times bestselling author of Midnight in Chernobyl comes the definitive, "compelling, and exhaustively researched" (The Washington Post) minute-by-minute account of the Challenger disaster, based on fascinating and new archival…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Trail of the Lost

  the Relentless Search to Bring Home the Missing Hikers of the Pacific Crest Trail

  Lankford, Andrea,

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  From an award-winning former law enforcement park ranger and investigator, this female-driven true crime adventure follows the author’s quest to find missing hikers along the Pacific Crest Trail by pairing up with an eclectic group of unlikely…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Now Let Me Fly

  a Portrait of Eugene Bullard

  Wimberly, Ronald,

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  On the eve of World War I, Eugene Bullard was a refugee of the Jim Crow South who was determined to find a place where a Black man would be treated as a fellow human being. His search took him from rural Georgia to the streets of Paris, from the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Art Thief

  a True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession

  Finkel, Michael,

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  This riveting true story of art, crime, love and an insatiable hunger to possess beauty at any cost draws us into the strange and fascinating world of prolific art thief, Stéphane Breitwieser, who stole and kept more than 300 objects until one final…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Underworld

  Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean

  Casey, Susan, 1962-

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  “An irresistible mix of splendid scholarship, heart-stopping adventure writing, and vivid, visceral prose." —Sy Montgomery, New York Times best-selling author of The Soul of an Octopus

• Code Name Blue Wren

  the True Story of America's Most Dangerous Female Spy and the Sister She Betrayed

  Popkin, Jim,

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  The incredible true story of Ana Montes, the most damaging female spy in US history, drawing upon never-before-seen material and to be published upon her release from prison, for readers of Agent Sonya and A Woman of No Importance.

• The Wager

  a Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

  Grann, David,

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  In this tale of shipwreck, survival and savagery, the #1 New York Times best-selling author of Killers of the Flower Moon recounts the events on His Majesty’s Ship The Wager, a British vessel that left England in 1740 on a secret mission, resulting…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• River of the Gods

  Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile

  Millard, Candice,

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  Set against the backdrop of the race to exploit Africa by the colonial powers, a story of courage and adventure brings to life the rivalry between two enemies—a decorated soldier and a young aristocrat/Army officer—as they set out to find the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The First Counterspy

  Larry Haas, Bell Aircraft, and the FBI's Attempt to Capture a Soviet Mole

  Haas, Kay • Pickut, Walter W.

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  The First Counterspy is the pulse-quickening and traumatic story of spy, counterspy, and an American family unwittingly caught in its web. Until this case, the FBI had never recruited civilian counterspies to catch a Soviet agent.

• Information Hunters

  When Librarians, Soldiers, and Spies Banded Together in World War II Europe

  Peiss, Kathy

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  "This well-written and astutely researched book makes the wartime work of librarians engaging and engrossing. Those fascinated by intelligence missions or keen on the history of library science will appreciate this excellent read." -- Library…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• My Friend Anna

  the True Story of the Fake Heiress

  Williams, Rachel DeLoache,

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  Tells the true story of Anna Delvey, a young con artist posing as a German heiress in New York City—as told by the former Vanity Fair photo editor who got seduced by her friendship and then scammed out of more than $62,000.

• The Outlaw Ocean

  Journeys Across the Last Untamed Frontier

  Urbina, Ian,

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  A Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times investigative reporter profiles the rampant criminal and exploitative activities of the world’s unmonitored ocean regions, uncovering a vast global network of industry corruption, piracy and trafficking.