OS T R IL LI N G T H EV E R REA DS

othic dramas, serial killers and derring-do secret agents. Which mysteries, thrillers and suspense novels are considered the greatest of all time? These bestselling writers share their picks. —Michael Giltz

G1 Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell Before Jennifer Lawrence starred as an Ozark teen in the Hollywood adaptation, Winter’s Bone was a hit, according to James Patterson (whose novel with Dolly Parton, Run, Rose, Run, is out March 7). “It’s rare, maybe a 100,000 to 1 shot, that a novel will succeed on every level—story, characters, dialogue and description that rises to the level of poetry. But that’s what Woodrell achieved here.”

A Judgement in Stone by Ruth Rendell “You know the victims, kĶlliÀ >n` moÌĶÛi vÀom Ìhi wÀÃÌ sentence,” says author Donna Leon (her latest Brunetti mystery, Give Unto Others, is out March 15). “But the reader spends the next 300 pages hoping to prevent these poor lambs from leading themselves to the slaughter.”

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3 True Grit by Charles Portis Author Jasper Fforde (The Constant Rabbit) says this stone-cold classic (narrated by an unforgettable 14-year-old girl) belongs in the celebration of thrillers: “A revenge story, manhunt,

thriller and a story of trust, love, bravery and tenacity—True Grit has it all.”

A Perfect Spy John le Carré

No one writes espionage like le Carré, says The Bone Collector author Jeffery Deaver. “I’ve picked A Perfect Spy because it is also one of the most engrossing and harrowing portraits of a father-son relationship I’ve ever read.”

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The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith It is one of the best (if not the best) thrillers of all time, says Karin Slaughter,

whose latest novel, Girl, Forgotten, hits shelves later this year. “Tom Ripley is not just a classic antihero, he is a preVÕÀÃoÀ Ìo Ão m>nÞ y>Üi` min Üi½Ài

meant to root for, from Don Draper to Tony Soprano.”

5 6 Live and Let Die

by Ian Fleming For author Ken Follett (Never), this second entry in the James Bond series—more brutal and blunt than the wlmÃpli>`Ã Ìhi ÌhÀĶlliÀ

pack. “I remember asking my father what a martini was,” Follett says. “‘Some kind of drink,’ he said grumpily, clearly h>ÛĶn} no Ķ`i>° VoÕl` h>À`lÞ Ü>ĶÌ Ìo wn` oÕÌ°»

7 Room by Emma Donoghue The darkest novels don’t plunge us into depravity but shine a light so we can confront them. That’s why Room captured the imagination of bestselling author Kristin Hannah ( ĶÀiyÞ >ni, The Four Winds). “It’s quite simply one of the most powerful, most beautiful novels I’ve ever read,” she says. “It’s one of those stories that lingers and makes you see the world in a slightly different way.”