Books like 'Dead Simple'
Readers who enjoyed Dead Simple by Peter James also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary mystery horror action / adventure thriller crime law-enforcement suspense police-procedural paranormal
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Our Stolen Pieces by James Hunt
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhen the morning after a slumber party reveals two missing girls, a newly minted Detective and a young veteran are assigned the case. Recently partnered, the pair of detectives must set aside their troubled pasts to recover the pair of girls who may have been coerced by a stranger who had kidnapped before...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
Beneath Blackwater River by Leslie Wolfe, Gwendolyn Druyor
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsListening Length 13 hours and 4 minutesShe looked alive, her hair drifting freely in the water, her red lips gently parted, as if to let her final breath escape. A small locket floated by her face, attached to her neck with a silver chain…When Detective Kay Sharp first left Mount Chester—population 3,823—in her rear-view mirror, she promised never to look back...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Fifth To Die by J.D. Barker
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsAlternate cover art can be found hereIn the thrilling sequel to The Fourth Monkey, a new serial killer stalks the streets of Chicago, while Detective Porter delves deeper into the dark past of the Four Monkey Killer.Detective Porter and the team have been pulled from the hunt for Anson Bishop, the Four Monkey Killer, by the feds...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
Memories of Tomorrow by Dean Koontz
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhat strange science made Nameless who he is? What catastrophes have been erased from his memories? In the stunning conclusion of this series, the dark past comes flooding back, and Nameless must decide how much he really wants to know.In Indiana, a murderous psycho has kidnapped his own six-year-old stepson, Jamie, and secreted him away in a subterranean cave. It’s become their bunker... -
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A Time of Torment by John Connolly
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsDangerous and driven private investigator Charlie Parker returns in the latest gripping thriller of internationally bestselling author John Connolly’s series, in which ungodly fears haunt a strange and isolated community.Jerome Burnel was once a hero. He intervened to prevent multiple killings, and in doing so destroyed himself. His life was torn apart. He was imprisoned, brutalized... -
Gallery of the Dead by Chris Carter
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 19 ratings‘Thirty-seven years in the force, and if I was allowed to choose just one thing to erase from my mind, what’s inside that room would be it.'That’s what a LAPD Lieutenant tells Detectives Hunter and Garcia of the Ultra Violent Crimes Unit as they arrive at one of the most shocking crime scenes they have ever attended...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Cabinet of Dr. Leng by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAgent Pendergast faces his latest challenge in this next installment of the #1 NYT bestselling series by acclaimed authors Preston and Child, the second in the Leng Trilogy.Following the events of Bloodless, FBI Special Agent A.X.L. Pendergast and Constance Greene return. Against all odds, Constance has found a way back to the place of her origins, New York City in the late 1800s...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement paranormal police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
Dead Center by Dawn Lee McKenna, Axel Blackwell
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe quaint coastal town of Port St. Joe, FL isn’t the kind of place where people go around getting stabbed to death. So, when Jake Bellamy – an insurance agent and beloved father – is found murdered in the dewy grass of a local park, it comes as a bit of a shock. Now it’s up to Evan Caldwell, the new Sheriff and recent transplant, to solve the case...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense action-adventure adult book contemporary -
Looking Glass by Andrew Mayne
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsProfessor Theo Cray caught one of the most prolific serial killers in history using revolutionary scientific methods. Cut off from university research because of the shroud of suspicion around him after the death of his former student and the aftermath of catching his quarry, Cray tries to rebuild his life but finds himself drawn into another unsolved case...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement suspense thriller action-adventure adult amateur-sleuth audiobook -
The Silence of the White City by Eva García Sáenz de Urturi, Eva García Sáenz
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsA madman is holding Vitoria hostage, killing its citizens in brutal ways and staging the bodies. The city's only hope is a brilliant detective struggling to battle his own demons.Inspector Unai López de Ayala, known as "Kraken", is charged with investigating a series of ritualistic murders. The killings are eerily similar to ones that terrorized the citizens of Vitoria twenty years earlier...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller 21st-century action-adventure adult -
Police by Jo Nesbø
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsWhen a police officer is found murdered at the scene of an old unsolved murder case that he was involved in investigating, it can hardly be a coincidence. When the same thing happens to two other officers in a matter of months the pattern is as clear as it is terrifying. None of the old cases were ever solved. The killings are extremely brutal and the police have no leads...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller 21st-century action-adventure adult -
The Order of Brigid's Cross by Terri Reid
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsDetective Sean O’Reilly is called in to interrogate a young boy who is the only witness to a massacre during a gang war. The child’s story is too far-fetched for most of the Chicago Police Force to believe – claims of an army of other-worldly creatures who attacked and dismembered the rival gangs. But Sean O’Reilly believes him, because he’s seen them himself... -
Cold As The Grave: Inspector McLean Book 9 by James Oswald
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe ninth book in the Sunday Times-bestselling phenomenon that is the Inspector McLean series, from one of Scotland's most celebrated crime writers . Her lifeless body is hidden in the dark corner of a basement room, a room which seems to have been left untouched for decades. A room which feels as cold as the grave...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult assassins audiobook -
Blood Moon by Alexandra Sokoloff
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsBook II in the Thriller Award-nominated Huntress/FBI seriesTwenty-five years have passed since a savage killer terrorized California, massacring three ordinary families before disappearing without a trace...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement paranormal police-procedural suspense thriller abuse action-adventure -
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Missed Connections by Alexandria Clarke
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsHow far would you go for revenge? Veronica Bauer isn’t above homicide. Twelve years after a ruthless attack killed her mother and put her father in prison, she embarks on a mission to bring the real culprits to justice. As bodies start to drop, Detective Sheila Arden is assigned to the gruesome case, but she soon discovers that the truth is more complicated than she thought...Categorized as:
suspense crime law-enforcement police-procedural thriller mystery fiction contemporary -
Still Life With Crows by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsA small Kansas town has turned into a killing ground.Is it a serial killer, a man with the need to destroy?Or is it a darker force, a curse upon the land?Amid golden cornfields, FBI Special Agent Pendergast discovers evil in the blood of America's heartland.No one is safe...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement paranormal police-procedural suspense thriller 21st-century action-adventure -
The Thirst by Jo Nesbø
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsHarry Hole returns in the eleventh installment of the author's best-selling, electrifying crime fiction series—published in 48 languages, more than 30 million copies sold worldwide. In Police—the last novel featuring Jo Nesbø's hard-bitten, maverick Oslo detective—a killer wreaking revenge on the police had Harry Hole fighting for the safety of the people closest to him...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller 21st-century action-adventure adult -
A Killer's Mind by Mike Omer
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsA chilling thriller of serial murder and dark secrets that will leave you wondering, is the past really in the past?Three Chicago women have been found strangled, embalmed, and posed as if still alive. Doubting the findings of the local PD’s profiler, The FBI calls on forensic psychologist Zoe Bentley to investigate...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Search by Iris Johansen
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsBuilding on her series featuring forensic sculptor Eve Duncan, bestselling suspense writer Iris Johansen takes a slightly different tangent with her latest thriller, The Search. The search and rescue team of Sarah Patrick and her golden retriever, Monty, first appeared in The Killing Game, where they helped Eve track down a kidnapped child and a maniacal killer...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement paranormal police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
The Secrets of the Shadows by Helen Phifer
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSophie was afraid of the man in the shadows. He terrified her, but he would always disappear when someone else came. But one day in June 1984, she didn't escape. He took her. When a young woman is found draped over a gravestone in a chilling murder, police officer Annie Graham experiences a familiar sense of dread... -
The Girl in the Snow by Alexandria Clarke
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA retired FBI agent. A heartstopping tragedy. Carolina Caccia, a divorced mother of two, confronts her worst fears when her son goes missing during a family ski trip. As she discovers her son has been taken, she must revisit her dark past to rescue her child...Categorized as:
suspense law-enforcement crime police-procedural thriller mystery contemporary season-winter -
The Pretty Dead Girls by Skylar Finn
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhen two young girls go missing from a small Georgia town, the crime remains unsolved for nearly thirty years.When Savannah moves home to the small town of Humble, Georgia, she has no intention of getting involved in a kidnapping investigation. But when her older brother Mac becomes the main suspect, Savannah launches a secret investigation in order to clear her brother’s name...Categorized as:
suspense law-enforcement police-procedural crime mystery romance psychological murder -
Dance of Death by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsTwo brothers on opposite sides of the law battle it out on the streets of New York in this chill-inducing thriller, a follow-up to BRIMSTONE. — As the previous installment came to a close, vicious dogs and armed men surrounded FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast and his demise seemed certain. Nevertheless, he did leave behind a legacy: a letter for his friend, NYPD Lieutenant Vincent D'Agosta...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement paranormal police-procedural suspense thriller 21st-century action-adventure -
Voice of Fear by Heather Graham
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA killer is looking to silence them, once and for all.FBI agent Jordan Wallace is close to cracking the human trafficking case she’s been working, when she does the one thing she should never do: let her guard down. The botched undercover mission is semi-salvaged by the last-minute appearance of criminal psychologist Patrick Law, but Jordan can’t imagine making a worse first impression...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement paranormal police-procedural suspense action-adventure adult audiobook -
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A Caller's Game by J.D. Barker
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsDIE HARD meets TALK RADIO in this heart-pounding, relentlessly fast-paced thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Fourth Monkey—master of suspense, J.D. Barker. "I'm going to offer you a choice." Controversial satellite radio talk show host, Jordan Briggs, has clawed her way to the top of the broadcast world... -
Lone Wolf by Sara Driscoll, Jen J. Danna
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn the first book in a thrilling new series, FBI Special Agent Meg Jennings and Hawk, her loyal search-and-rescue Labrador, must race against time as they zero in on one of the deadliest killers in the country . . . Meg and Hawk are part of the FBI’s elite K-9 unit. Hawk can sniff out bodies anywhere—living or dead—whether it’s tracking a criminal or finding a missing person...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult animals -
All the Rage by F. Paul Wilson
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsCan you imagine a new chemical compound, a non-addictive designer drug that heightens your assertiveness, opens the door to your primal self, giving you an edge wherever you compete? Whether on the street or the football field, in a classroom or a boardroom. Wouldn’t you be tempted to try it . . -
Crisscross by F. Paul Wilson
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsRepairman Jack is back! An anonymous mercenary, with no last name and no social security number, Jack has thrilled a veritable army of readers ever since his bestselling debut in The Tomb. Jack can fix any problem, supernatural or otherwise, for a price. Now, in his latest gripping adventure, he takes on two cases at once... -
Gateways by F. Paul Wilson
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsFollowing last year's successful The Haunted Air, F. Paul Wilson returns with another riveting episode in the saga of Repairman Jack, the secretive, ingenious, and heroic champion of those whose problems no one else can solve. As Dean Koontz says, "Repairman Jack is one of the most original and intriguing characters to arise out of contemporary fiction in ages...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement paranormal suspense thriller action-adventure adult apocalyptic -
The Haunted Air by F. Paul Wilson
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsIn the sequel to The Tomb, Repairman Jack returns in a chilling adventure set against the backdrop of a Queens house haunted by the ghost of a nine-year-old girl as Jack becomes embroiled in a terrifying struggle in which the forces of evil threat... -
Triptych by Karin Slaughter
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsIn the city of Atlanta, women are dying—at the hands of a killer who signs his work with a single, chilling act of mutilation. Leaving behind enough evidence to fuel a frenzied police hunt, this cunning madman is bringing together dozens of lives, crossing the boundaries of wealth and race. And the people who are chasing him must cross those boundaries too...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller abuse action-adventure adult -
The Dark Corners of the Night by Meg Gardiner, Hillary Huber
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsListening Length: 11 hours and 45 minutesI am the legion of the night …He appears in the darkness like a ghost, made of shadows and fear—the Midnight Man. He comes for the parents but leaves the children alive, tiny witnesses to unspeakable horror. The bedroom communities of Los Angeles are gripped with dread, and the attacks are escalating...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Deepest of Secrets by Kelley Armstrong, Thérèse Plummer
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsNumber one New York Times best seller Kelley Armstrong returns to the captivating town of Rockton in The Deepest of Secrets, the next installment in one of the most imaginative crime series on shelves today. It’s not always easy to live in the hidden town of Rockton, something Detective Casey Duncan knows firsthand...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult alpha-mc -
The Lovers by John Connolly
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsCharlie Parker is a lost soul. Deprived of his private investigator's license and under scrutiny by the police, Parker takes a job in a Portland bar. But he uses his enforced retirement to begin a different kind of investigation: an examination of his own past and an inquiry into the death of his father, who took his own life after apparently shooting dead two unarmed teenagers... -
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Dead Like You by Peter James
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsDetective Superintendent Roy Grace is forever haunted by the unexplained disappearance of his wife, Sandy, nearly ten years ago. Ever since she went missing, he's been consumed with finding out what happened to her. Finally, he may be moving on. He has fallen in love and is going to marry his girlfriend, Cleo, who is pregnant with their child...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Vanished Ones by Donato Carrisi
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsWe call them the sleepers...At the elite Missing Persons bureau of the Federal Police, Mila Vasquez is tasked with finding the hundreds of lost people who have vanished from their former lives. However, the longer they are gone, they more they are forgotten by the world. Now they are returning...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
Harbingers by F. Paul Wilson
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsIt starts off so simply: Jack, still feeling down after the tragic events of Infernal, is hanging in Julio's when a regular named Timmy asks him for help. His teenage niece has been missing since this morning; the police say it's too early to worry, but Timmy knows something bad has happened. Jack says he'll put the word out on the street... -
The Mercy of Snakes by Dean Koontz
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA series of suspicious deaths in a retirement home draws Nameless into the confidence of a terrified former resident—and into the dark heart of a shocking conspiracy. In part five of the Nameless series, it’s time to hunt.Oakshore Park is Michigan’s most exclusive assisted-living community. Presided over by two killer angels of mercy, it’s also the go-to facility in assisted dying... -
Looking Good Dead by Peter James
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsTom Bryce did what any decent person would do. But within hours of picking up the CD that had been left behind on the train seat next to him, and attempting to return it to its owner, he is the sole witness to a vicious murder. Then his young family are threatened with their lives if he goes to the police...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Forbidden Door by Dean Koontz
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsJane Hawk—rogue FBI agent and the country's #1 fugitive--confronts her worst nightmare when her enemies strike shockingly close to home in the explosive new thriller from Dean Koontz, bestselling author of The Silent Corner.Jane Hawk thinks her precious five-year-old son is hidden safely away, with vigilant, indomitable friends... -
End of Watch by Stephen King
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsThe spectacular finale to the New York Times bestselling trilogy that began with Mr. Mercedes (winner of the Edgar Award) and Finders Keepers—In End of Watch, the diabolical “Mercedes Killer” drives his enemies to suicide, and if Bill Hodges and Holly Gibney don’t figure out a way to stop him, they’ll be victims themselves...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement paranormal police-procedural suspense thriller 21st-century action-adventure -
Lost Hills by Lee Goldberg
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsA detective’s brutal first case could make or break her career in an exhilarating thriller by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Goldberg.A video of Deputy Eve Ronin’s off-duty arrest of an abusive movie star goes viral, turning her into a popular hero at a time when the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is plagued by scandal...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
Shadow Unit 9 by Emma Bull, Elizabeth Bear
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit hunts humanity's worst nightmares. But there are nightmares humanity doesn't dream are real. The BAU sends those cases down the hall. Welcome to Shadow Unit. The Shadow Unit series was created by award-winning authors Emma Bull and Elizabeth Bear...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement paranormal police-procedural suspense action-adventure adult anthologies -
The Pulse by Skylar Finn
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAn EMP means the end of the world as they know it for a family who fights to survive. When disaster strikes in the form of an EMP, Charlie's family flees to their homestead. They fortify their ranch and prepare to ride out the worst of the chaos. Unfortunately, the gang of scavengers who followed them from the city have other plans...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense action-adventure adult book contemporary -
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7th Heaven by James Patterson, Maxine Paetro
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsA terrible fire in a wealthy suburban home leaves a married couple dead and Detective Lindsay Boxer and her partner Rich Conklin searching for clues. And after California's golden boy, Michael Campion has been missing for a month, there finally seems to be a lead in his case--a very devastating lead...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
4th of July by James Patterson, Maxine Paetro
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsAfter losing one of its own, police lieutenant Lindsay Boxer and the surviving members of Women's Murder Club make a courageous return for their fourth and most chilling case ever--one that could easily be their last. Unabridged...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Haunting of Riley Watson by Alexandria Clarke
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsTrapped in a haunted ski lodge by the season's worst snowstorm, Lucia deals with the consequences of a mysterious murder. When Lucia Star, a fake psychic and desperate for cash, takes a job at a ski lodge in the mountains of Vermont, she ends up in the middle of a real-life haunting...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement paranormal police-procedural suspense action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Haunting of Rachel Harroway by J.S. Donovan
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn 1983, a family of four was murdered in their nineteenth century Queen Anne manse. There were no witnesses, no real investigation, and no survivors. The discovery of a serial killer's burial ground rocks the peaceful town of Highlands, North Carolina. Rachel Harroway, a tragic detective with the ability to see the dead, and her brilliant atheistic partner, Jenson Peak, are put on the case...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement paranormal police-procedural suspense action-adventure adult book -
The Leopard: Harry Hole 8 by Jo Nesbø
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsIn the depths of winter, a killer stalks the city streets. His victims are two young women, both found with twenty-four inexplicable puncture wounds, both drowned in their own blood. The crime scenes offer no clues, the media is reaching fever pitch, and the police are running out of options. There is only one man who can help them, and he doesn't want to be found...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller 21st-century action-adventure adult -
Rum Runner by J.A. Konrath
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsCOULD YOUR MARRIAGE SURVIVE FIFTY KILLERS? Twenty years ago, a young cop named Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels arrested one of the most sadistic killers she'd ever encountered. She has since retired from the Chicago Police Department in order to raise her toddler daughter.But old grudges never die. They fester until the right opportunity comes along...
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