Books like 'Beartown'

Readers who enjoyed Beartown by Fredrik Backman also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

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  • A Merciful Promise by Kendra Elliot

    A Merciful Promise by Kendra Elliot

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    The Wall Street Journal bestselling series continues as Mercy Kilpatrick becomes embedded in the nightmare of a terrorist conspiracy.The job: infiltrate a militia amassing illegal firearms in an isolated forest community. FBI agent Mercy Kilpatrick is the ideal candidate. She knows Oregon. She’s near the compound...
  • Shamrock: A Linear Tactical Romantic Suspense Standalone by Janie Crouch

    Shamrock: A Linear Tactical Romantic Suspense Standalone by Janie Crouch

    Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    Every mission has a price.He never meant for her to pay it. Aiden has never left anyone behind. Not a comrade and certainly not an innocent. But when an undercover mission goes wrong, he's forced to abandon a woman trapped in a human trafficking ring. Violet learned brutally that no one is promised a happy ending...
  • A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny

    A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny

    Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars
    · 33 ratings
    When an intricate old map is found stuffed into the walls of the bistro in Three Pines, it at first seems no more than a curiosity. But the closer the villagers look, the stranger it becomes. Given to Armand Gamache as a gift the first day of his new job, the map eventually leads him to shattering secrets. To an old friend and older adversary...
  • Sacrifice The Knight by Emilia Finn

    Sacrifice The Knight by Emilia Finn

    Rated: 4.64 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Sacrifices are never ideal, but to win the game, sometimes the knight must fall. Katrina Blair is a single mom to a daredevil teen, which means she has no time for fruitless endeavours such as dating. Why? Because men are all the same: liars, thieves, and unreliable a**holes...
  • A Merciful Fate by Kendra Elliot

    A Merciful Fate by Kendra Elliot

    Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    In the next book in the Wall Street Journal bestselling Mercy Kilpatrick series, there are no such things as little secrets…Raised by preppers, survivalist and FBI agent Mercy Kilpatrick has a deep-rooted need for a safe place. Her getaway in the Cascade Foothills is her secret...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  suspense  thriller  abuse  action-adventure
  • Save Your Breath by Melinda Leigh

    Save Your Breath by Melinda Leigh

    Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    Morgan Dane and PI Lance Kruger investigate the mysterious disappearance of a true-crime writer.When true-crime writer Olivia Cruz disappears with no signs of foul play, her new boyfriend, Lincoln Sharp, suspects the worst. He knows she didn’t leave willingly and turns to attorney Morgan Dane and PI Lance Kruger to find her before it’s too late...
  • Lady Luck by Kristen Ashley

    Lady Luck by Kristen Ashley

    Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars
    · 29 ratings
    Ty Walker was wrongly imprisoned and for the five years he was inside, he honed his plan so when he gets out, he has nothing but vengeance on his mind.But then he walks straight to stylish, leggy, beautiful, goofy Lexie Berry and he suddenly has something else to think about...
  • Secrets Never Die by Melinda Leigh

    Secrets Never Die by Melinda Leigh

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    The #1 Amazon Charts bestselling series continues as Morgan Dane and PI Lance Kruger fight for the innocence of a young murder suspect—if only they could find him.When a retired sheriff’s deputy is shot to death in his home, his troubled teenage stepson, Evan, becomes the prime suspect. Even more incriminating, the boy disappeared from the scene of the crime...
  • Wolf Pack by C.J. Box, David Chandler

    Wolf Pack by C.J. Box, David Chandler

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett encounters bad behavior on his own turf--only to have the FBI and the DOJ ask him to stand down.The good news is that Joe Pickett has his job back, after his last adventure in The Disappeared...
  • Possession by Helen Hardt

    Possession by Helen Hardt

    Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars
    · 25 ratings
    Your Escape Into A World of Dark Mysteries & Spicy Romance.Jade Roberts’s love for Talon Steel is the real deal, and she’s more determined than ever to help him come to grips with whatever is haunting him. To that end, she continues her investigation of the Steels…and unknowingly attracts some dangerous foes from their shrouded history...
    Categorized as:
    bullying  crime  dark  drama  family  sad  suspense  abuse
  • A Cold Trail by Robert Dugoni

    A Cold Trail by Robert Dugoni

    Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    In New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni’s riveting series, Seattle homicide detective Tracy Crosswhite returns home to a brutal murder and her haunted past. The last time homicide detective Tracy Crosswhite was in Cedar Grove, it was to see her sister’s killer put behind bars...
  • Phoenix by Janie Crouch

    Phoenix by Janie Crouch

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Adrenaline junky. Adventure traveler. Extreme sport sensation. They’re all labels Riley Harrison—known to the world as Phoenix—wears as easily as the tattoos covering his body. But it’s his role as undercover operative for Linear Tactical’s kidnap and ransom unit that makes his blood sing. Riley uses his celebrity status to help infiltrate locations and situations nobody else can get into.In. Out...
  • Blaze by Jocelynn Drake, Rinda Elliott

    Blaze by Jocelynn Drake, Rinda Elliott

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    The rings have been selected. The champagne placed on ice. The cake decorated. And the pre-wedding sex is off the charts... Lucas Vallois and Andrei Hadeon are finally ready to walk down the aisle. There’s just one small problem. A ghost from Lucas’s past shows up days before the wedding, desperate for help...
    Categorized as:
    crime  drama  family  lgbtq  suspense  abuse  action-adventure  adult
  • Shadow: A Linear Tactical Romantic Suspense Standalone by Janie Crouch

    Shadow: A Linear Tactical Romantic Suspense Standalone by Janie Crouch

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Heath Kavanaugh lost years of his life working for a covert agency that ended up being the enemy. Knowing they put something inside his head— constant, incomprehensible whispers —is driving him crazy.  He needs answers, but they’re nowhere to be found...
  • Edge of Nowhere by Freya Barker

    Edge of Nowhere by Freya Barker

    Rated: 4.75 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Open roads and honor meets poke bowls and self-controlI’m a homesick nomad.A protégé, a mountain man, an ally, and a seeker.My name is Wapi.I’m a work in progress looking to belong, and though my road has been a winding one, my heart has found focus.I’m a straightlaced hellcat.A princess, a fool, a target, and a handle.My name is Lindsey...
  • Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson

    Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson

    Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars
    · 43 ratings
    Pip is not a detective anymore.With the help of Ravi Singh, she released a true-crime podcast about the murder case they solved together last year. The podcast has gone viral, yet Pip insists her investigating days are behind her.But she will have to break that promise when someone she knows goes missing...
  • Angel by Janie Crouch

    Angel by Janie Crouch

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    Even angels have their demons Jordan Reiss is well aware that if she was on fire the entire town of Oak Creek would probably go inside and make a sandwich. She can’t blame them. Her father scammed half the town out of their retirement funds, and then she…She did so much worse.She doesn’t expect forgiveness...
  • A Better Man by Louise Penny

    A Better Man by Louise Penny

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 30 ratings
    Catastrophic spring flooding, blistering attacks in the media, and a mysterious disappearance greet Chief Inspector Armand Gamache as he returns to the Sûreté du Québec in the latest novel by #1 New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny.It's Gamache's first day back as head of the homicide department, a job he temporarily shares with his previous second-in-command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir...
  • Rocky Ground by Kaylea Cross

    Rocky Ground by Kaylea Cross

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    She’s been hurt too many times… Single mom Tiana Fitzgerald has sworn off all romantic relationships to protect herself and her daughter. Her track record is disastrous and she’s done getting hurt. But a certain sexy Scotsman in Crimson Point has other ideas, and somehow manages to sneak past her defenses at every turn...
    Categorized as:
    dark  drama  family  suspense  action-adventure  adult  audiobook  book
  • A Merciful Secret by Kendra Elliot

    A Merciful Secret by Kendra Elliot

    Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    In this Wall Street Journal bestseller, a pair of ritual murders could expose Mercy Kilpatrick to something terrifying: her own past…Raised off the grid by survivalists, Mercy Kilpatrick believed in no greater safeguard than the backwoods of Oregon. Unforgiven by her father for abandoning the fold for the FBI, Mercy still holds to her past convictions. They’re in her blood...
  • Colorado Cold Case by Elle James

    Colorado Cold Case by Elle James

    Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Sole survivor of a mission gone wrong, Griff left the Navy to recover from his wounds and grief. The one person he’d loved had left San Diego while he'd been on a mission and hadn't returned or reached out. She’d said she was from Colorado...
  • The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny

    The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny

    Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars
    · 30 ratings
    You’re a coward.Time and again, as the New Year approaches, that charge is leveled against Armand Gamache.It starts innocently enough.While the residents of the Québec village of Three Pines take advantage of the deep snow to ski and toboggan, to drink hot chocolate in the bistro and share meals together, the Chief Inspector finds his holiday with his family interrupted by a simple request...
  • Hide Away by Jason Pinter

    Hide Away by Jason Pinter

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    From the bestselling author of the Henry Parker series comes a page-turning thriller about a vigilante who’s desperate to protect her secrets—and bring a killer to justice.On the surface, Rachel Marin is an ordinary single mother; on the inside, she’s a fierce, brilliant vigilante...
  • In the Absence of Light by Adrienne Wilder

    In the Absence of Light by Adrienne Wilder

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    For years Grant Kessler has smuggled goods from one end of the world to the next. When business turns in a direction Grant isn’t willing to follow he decides to retire and by all appearances he settles down in a nowhere town called Durstrand. But his real plan is to wait a few years and let the FBI lose interest, then move on to the distant coastal life he’s always dreamed of...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  lgbtq  realistic  sad  suspense  abuse
  • The Slow Burn of Silence by Loreth Anne White

    The Slow Burn of Silence by Loreth Anne White

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    From the crossroads of small town mystery and dark suspense comes a romance that explores the bonds of family, the power of love, and the potentially explosive collateral damage of the secrets we keep... Sometimes a contract to forget can be as powerful as a promise to remember..
  • Absolving Blue by Freya Barker, Operation Alpha

    Absolving Blue by Freya Barker, Operation Alpha

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    For long-time Durango Fire Department EMT, Ava ‘Blue’ Navarro, her teammates at Station 3 represent a family more loyal than her own. However, when patients start dying on her watch, she draws the attention of local law enforcement. In particular the smooth-talking detective she’s successfully evaded for years, fearing he might stir up her quiet existence...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  family  suspense  action-adventure  adult  alpha-mc  book
  • Payback by Rebecca Deel

    Payback by Rebecca Deel

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    A mission from his past threatens his future. A stalker has his sights set on art history teacher Ivy Monroe. Still recovering from a relationship with an abusive former boyfriend, she's determined to win this fight over fear and intimidation. No one has the right to cage her again. When Ivy is nearly killed, she takes refuge in the arms of the one man she trusts...
  • Redeeming Ryker by Kelly Collins

    Redeeming Ryker by Kelly Collins

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Imagine finding out that everything about your life is a lie. Imagine falling for the man who thinks he killed you. Imagine having to remain dead so you can keep him. Twenty-four-year-old Ana Barrett knows who she is. She’s a struggling artist, a loyal friend, an orphan raised by loving grandparents...
  • Domestic Animals by Gregory Ashe

    Domestic Animals by Gregory Ashe

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Sometimes, the most dangerous animals are the ones you let inside.When a man hires Emery Hazard to track down a teenager who, he claims, robbed him, Hazard isn’t convinced. The story has holes in it, and the client seems eager—too eager—to keep the authorities from getting involved. But Hazard is willing to play along; he suspects something much darker is going on, and he wants to know what it is...
    Categorized as:
    crime  lgbtq  suspense  family  drama  romance  mlm  mystery
  • Deserted by Cara Dee

    Deserted by Cara Dee

    Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    Deserted is the third book in the Auctioned Series, following book 1, Auctioned, and book 2, Stranded. Gray Nolan had survived a kidnapping where he was supposed to have been auctioned off to the highest bidder. He had also survived being stranded on an island, under siege from a different set of foes, and throughout the hell they’d all endured, their motto had been “Leave no man behind...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  journey  lgbtq  suspense  abuse
  • Ghost: A Linear Tactical Romantic Suspense Standalone by Janie Crouch

    Ghost: A Linear Tactical Romantic Suspense Standalone by Janie Crouch

    Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Everyone eventually breaks under torture. It’s a truth elite solider and government agent Dorian Lindstrom, codename Ghost, knows firsthand. His body may have recovered from what was done to him in that Afghani prison six years ago, but his mind…not quite so much.He’s seeing dead people.Grace Brandt, government codename Wraith, knows her past can’t be forgiven...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  friendship  sad  suspense  abuse  action-adventure  adult
  • Whiplash by Janet Dailey

    Whiplash by Janet Dailey

    Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Fans of edge of your seat romance and readers of B.J. Daniels, Lindsay McKenna, and Diana Palmer won’t want to miss this electrifying and genuine new page-turner from the bestselling romance legend. When Val Champion returns to the family ranch, she’s ready to put her past behind her. Her dreams of a Hollywood acting career have become a nightmare of fear...
  • Rescued by Stephanie St. Klaire

    Rescued by Stephanie St. Klaire

    Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Just as the walls start to come down, boundaries redefine, and things heat up, tragedy hits the small mountain town of McKenzie Ridge. Sexy EMT Dawson Tayler made hearts break, and panties melt with a single look. Far from home, in the charming tourist town, he lives a simple life his family would be appalled by – if they were alive...
  • The Obsession by Nora Roberts

    The Obsession by Nora Roberts

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · 34 ratings
    The riveting new novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts“She stood in the deep, dark woods, breath shallow and cold prickling over her skin despite the hot, heavy air. She took a step back, then two, as the urge to run fell over her.” Naomi Bowes lost her innocence the night she followed her father into the woods...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  friendship  realistic  suspense  abuse
  • Shelter in Place by Nora Roberts

    Shelter in Place by Nora Roberts

    Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars
    · 29 ratings
    From Nora Roberts comes the #1 New York Times bestseller Shelter in Place (June 2018) — a powerful tale of heart, heroism...and propulsive suspense.It was a typical evening at a mall outside Portland, Maine. Three teenage friends waited for the movie to start. A boy flirted with the girl selling sunglasses...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  friendship  realistic  sad  suspense
  • Bad Beat by Giulia Lagomarsino

    Bad Beat by Giulia Lagomarsino

    Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Bad Beat is book 7 in the series A Good Run Of Bad Luck and should be read in order. This book also precedes Parker and GoodKnight from The Reed Security series.FinnMy wife and child were gone in the blink of an eye, and I wasn't there for it. I gave up all I owned, sold everything I had just to find them, but after two years I had no more resources. I finally admitted they were never coming home...
  • Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

    Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

    Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars
    · 45 ratings
    From the #1 New York Times bestselling author comes a captivating love story filled with suspense and mystery.When a mysterious young woman named Katie appears in the small North Carolina town of Southport, her sudden arrival raises questions about her past...
  • Paradox by Catherine Coulter

    Paradox by Catherine Coulter

    Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    With unparalleled suspense and her trademark explosive twists, #1 New York Times bestselling author Catherine Coulter delves into the terrifying mind of an escaped mental patient obsessed with revenge in this next installment of her riveting FBI series...
  • Distracted by A.K. Evans

    Distracted by A.K. Evans

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Marriage of convenience? More like marriage of inconvenience. Especially when it turns deadly.Ellery Cross did what she had to do to save her family from ruin. She married a man she wasn’t in love with. Worse, she married a man she knew nothing about.But Ellery eventually learns all she needs to know about her husband. And sticking around is not an option...
  • Her Last Goodbye by Melinda Leigh

    Her Last Goodbye by Melinda Leigh

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · 29 ratings
    Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh’s Morgan Dane series continues as the fearless attorney and her partner, investigator Lance Kruger, take on a disturbing disappearance…Young mother Chelsea Clark leaves the house for a girls’ night out…and vanishes. Her family knows she would never voluntarily leave her two small children...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  suspense  abuse  action-adventure  adult
  • Walk the Edge by Katie McGarry

    Walk the Edge by Katie McGarry

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    One moment of recklessness will change their worlds.Smart. Responsible. That's seventeen-year-old Breanna's role in her large family, and heaven forbid she put a toe out of line. Until one night of shockingly un-Breanna-like behavior puts her into a vicious cyber-bully's line of fire—and brings fellow senior Thomas "Razor" Turner into her life...
  • Bluegrass Undercover by Kathleen Brooks

    Bluegrass Undercover by Kathleen Brooks

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    In her first follow-up to the Best Selling Bluegrass Series, Kathleen Brooks brings Keeneston back to life through the Davies Brothers. Cade Davies had too much on his plate to pay attention to newest resident of Keeneston. He was too busy avoiding the Davies Brothers marriage trap set by half the town...
  • Killman Creek by Rachel Caine

    Killman Creek by Rachel Caine

    Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars
    · 34 ratings
    Every time Gwen closed her eyes, she saw him in her nightmares. Now her eyes are open, and he’s not going away.Gwen Proctor won the battle to save her kids from her ex-husband, serial killer Melvin Royal, and his league of psychotic accomplices. But the war isn’t over. Not since Melvin broke out of prison. Not since she received a chilling text…You’re not safe anywhere now...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  lgbtq  suspense  thriller  abuse
  • Vandal: An MM Bully Romance by Rachel Leigh

    Vandal: An MM Bully Romance by Rachel Leigh

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    I have a secret. A deep and painful secret that has been feasting on my insides. Clawing at my heart and lacerating it in a slow and painful agony. If Wyatt thinks that he can just walk into my life and rattle things up,he’s got another thing coming.He’s nothing to me.Scum.Dirt.As good as dead.You see, I have a secret, but so does he...
  • Custody Battles by Gregory Ashe

    Custody Battles by Gregory Ashe

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Some parents would die for their children. Others will do a whole lot worse.Emery Hazard and his husband, John-Henry Somerset, are settling into their new normal—at home, with the latest addition to their family, and at work, as Somers adapts to his new role and Hazard manages his expanding agency. The only thing Hazard is worried about is getting through dinner with his in-laws...
    Categorized as:
    crime  lgbtq  suspense  family  dark  romance  mlm  mystery
  • No Holding Back by Lori Foster

    No Holding Back by Lori Foster

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Not needing him won’t stop her from wanting him…Trucker Sterling (Star) Parson is no stranger to the challenges a woman faces, both in her industry and in life. But she can take care of herself. She’s never needed—or wanted—a man around...until she meets Cade McKenzie. The take-charge bar owner sets off all kinds of alarm bells for Sterling, but he also sets her heart racing...
  • Indelible by Karin Slaughter

    Indelible by Karin Slaughter

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 31 ratings
    Gillian Flynn says, "Karin Slaughter is simply one of the best thriller writers working today."Two armed men enter the police station in tiny Heartsdale, Georgia, and open fire. When the shooting stops, an officer is dead, Police Chief Jeffrey Tolliver is seriously wounded, and the survivors—including a class of grade-school children and medical examiner Sara Linton—are held hostage...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  suspense  thriller  abuse  action-adventure  adult
  • Broken by Karin Slaughter

    Broken by Karin Slaughter

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 31 ratings
    When Special Agent Will Trent arrives in Grant County, he finds a police department determined to protect its own and far too many unanswered questions about a prisoner's death. He doesn't understand why Officer Lena Adams is hiding secrets from him. He doesn't understand her role in the death of Grant County's popular police chief. He doesn't understand why that man's widow, Dr...
  • The Quiet Game by Greg Iles

    The Quiet Game by Greg Iles

    Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars
    · 28 ratings
    The New York Times bestselling author of Spandau Phoenix and Mortal Fear returns with a rich and atmospheric novel of high suspenseWhen recently widowed Penn Cage leaves Houston with his young daughter and returns to his hometown seeking peace, he finds something very different. Natchez, Mississippi, is the jewel of the antebellum South, a city of old secrets and older money...
  • And I Love Her by Marie Force

    And I Love Her by Marie Force

    Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    A Green Mountain Romance from the New York Times bestselling author of I Saw Her Standing There...
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