Books like 'The Successor'
Readers who enjoyed The Successor by Ismail Kadare also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical mystery action / adventure historical-fiction politics crime journey literary-fiction
-
The Man Who Loved Dogs by Leonardo Padura
Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA gripping novel about the assassination of Leon Trotsky in Mexico City in 1940In The Man Who Loved Dogs, Leonardo Padura brings a noir sensibility to one of the most fascinating and complex political narratives of the past hundred years: the assassination of Leon Trotsky by Ramón Mercader... -
Confessions by Jaume Cabré
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAt 60, Adrià Ardèvol re-examines his life before his memory is systematically deleted. He recalls a loveless childhood where the family antique business and his father’s study become the centre of his world; where a treasured Storioni violin retains the shadows of a crime committed many years earlier...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction journey literary-fiction 21st-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Complete Short Stories Of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe Complete Sherlock Holmes Short Stories. This edition includes the five Sherlock Holmes Collections, bringing together the 56 short stories: The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes, The Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes, The Return Of Sherlock Holmes, His Last Bow and The Case-Book Of Sherlock Holmes. This book is a must have for any Sherlock Holmes lover...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction literary-fiction action-adventure adult anthologies classics fiction -
The Last Restaurant in Paris by Lily Graham
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsParis 1944. To save her people, she served the enemy.In enemy-occupied Paris, as the locals go to bed starving and defeated by the war, music and laughter spills through the door of a little restaurant, crowded with German soldiers. The owner Marianne moves on weary feet between its packed tables, carrying plates of steaming, wholesome food for the enemy officers...Categorized as:
historical-fiction journey literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure book female-mc fiction -
-
Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada, Geoff Wilkes
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsInspired by a true story, Hans Fallada's Alone in Berlin is the gripping tale of an ordinary man's determination to defy the tyranny of Nazi rule. This Penguin Classics edition contains an afterword by Geoff Wilkes, as well as facsimiles of the original Gestapo file which inspired the novel. Berlin, 1940, and the city is filled with fear...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction journey literary-fiction politics 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Tomorrow They Won't Dare to Murder Us by Joseph Andras
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWinner of the Prix Goncourt for first novel, one of the most prestigious literary awards in FranceA young revolutionary plants a bomb in a factory on the outskirts of Algiers during the Algerian War. The bomb is timed to explode after work hours, so no one will be hurt. But the authorities have been watching...Categorized as:
historical-fiction politics literary-fiction crime fiction historical 21st-century war -
The Borrowed by Chan Ho-Kei
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA propulsive crime drama featuring a legendary Hong Kong detective on a decades-long quest to expose the city’s dark underbelly...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction journey literary-fiction politics 21st-century action-adventure adult -
At The Heart Of It by Penny Vincenzi
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAT THE HEART OF IT is vintage Penny Vincenzi: rich with characters, life-changing decisions, love, desire and conflict. 'There are few things better in life than ... the latest novel by Penny Vincenzi' Daily Express1950s London. Tom Knelston is charismatic, working class and driven by ambition, ideals and passion. He is a man to watch. His wife Alice shares his vision... -
I Saw Her That Night by Drago Jančar
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsI Saw Her That Night, a love story in time of war, is a novel about a few years in the life and mysterious disappearance of Veronika Zarnik, a young bourgeois woman from Ljubljana, sucked into the whirlwind of a turbulent period in history... -
Cometh the Hour by Jeffrey Archer
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 28 ratings"Cometh the Hour" opens with the reading of a suicide note, which has devastating consequences for Harry and Emma Clifton, Giles Barrington and Lady Virginia.Giles must decide if he should withdraw from politics and try to rescue Karin, the woman he loves, from behind the Iron Curtain...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction literary-fiction politics 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Coronation by Boris Akunin
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsGrand Duke Georgii Alexandrovich arrives in Moscow for the coronation, with three of his children. During an afternoon stroll, daughter Xenia is dragged away by bandits, only to be rescued by an elegant gentleman and his oriental sidekick. The passing heroes introduce themselves as Fandorin and Masa, but panic ensues when they realise that four-year old Mikhail has been snatched in the confusion...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction literary-fiction 21st-century action-adventure adult audiobook book -
Games in Londinium by John Drake
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsIkaros of Apollonis is a long way from home. An educated and noble man enslaved by the Roman Empire that killed his family and destroyed his city, he is stranded in the bleak and inhospitable colony of Britannia. His only consolation is to be living in the city of Londinium, a place where all races, tribes and intellects meet, within the household of his dear friend, the military hero Morganus...Categorized as:
historical-fiction crime literary-fiction disability animals action-adventure thriller supernatural -
Venom by Colin Falconer
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFrom Saigon to Paris, from Bangkok to the Ganges, this thriller is the story of Michel Christian. Abandoned on the streets of Saigon when he is only a child, he grows up with a fatal attraction for women and an insatiable desire for revenge... -
The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFrom New York Times bestselling author Fiona Davis, an utterly addictive new novel that will transport you from New York City’s most glamorous party to the labyrinth streets of Cairo and back. Egypt, 1936: When anthropology student Charlotte Cross is offered a coveted spot on an archaeological dig in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, she leaps at the opportunity...Categorized as:
historical-fiction crime literary-fiction fiction mystery historical fantasy action-adventure -
-
Pereira Declares: A Testimony by Antonio Tabucchi
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsDr. Pereira is an aging, overweightjournalist who has failed to noticethe menacing cloud of fascism overSalazarist Portugal, until one day hemeets an aspiring young writer andanti-fascist. Breaking out of his apolitical torpor, Pereira reluctantly rises to heroism...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction journey literary-fiction politics 20th-century action-adventure adult -
An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsRobert Harris returns to the thrilling historical fiction he has so brilliantly made his own. This is the story of the infamous Dreyfus affair told as a chillingly dark, hard-edged novel of conspiracy and espionage. Paris in 1895...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction journey literary-fiction politics 21st-century action-adventure adult -
Mightier Than the Sword by Jeffrey Archer
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsA bomb goes off, but how many passengers on the MV Buckingham have lost their lives? You will find out only if you read the opening chapter of Mightier than the Sword...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction politics 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book -
Captain Nemo: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and the Mysterious Island by Jules Verne
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsHere in one binding are both of Jules Verne's Captain Nemo novels. In 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea we meet the enigmatic Captain Nemo and The Nautilus. Even after many adventures and much derring-do Nemo's secrets remain his own, and at the end of the novel we are left with many mysteries concering this mysterious and tragic man. In The Mysterious Island we once again encounter Captain Nemo...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction literary-fiction action-adventure book children children-books classics -
The Magdalene deception by Gary McAvoy, Will Damron
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA forbidden secret . . .The Church’s fate in the balance . . .Will a pair of amateur sleuths expose a truth that could upend the Christian world? Jesus’ resurrection is a cornerstone of Christian faith. But when a clue surfaces that hints at an alternate account, the ramifications stand to change Christianity forever...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction literary-fiction politics action-adventure adult audiobook book -
A Thread Unbroken by Kay Bratt, Nancy Wu
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsMany believe that those who are destined to be together are connected by an invisible red thread. If that is so, the fates of Chai and Josi are weaved together and tied with a knot that cannot be broken.Chai has been the self-appointed protector of her best friend, Josi, since their toddler days...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction journey literary-fiction politics action-adventure adult audiobook -
Riiginõunik by Boris Akunin
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSince the publication of The Winter Queen, a New York Times Notable Book and the first mystery featuring Erast Fandorin, Boris Akunin’s historical mystery series has become a worldwide sensation, selling millions of copies and propelling Akunin into the ranks of Russia’s most widely read contemporary novelists...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction literary-fiction politics 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Potato Factory by Bryce Courtenay
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIkey Solomon is very successful indeed, in the art of thieving. Ikey's partner in crime is his mistress, the forthright Mary Abacus, until misfortune befalls them. They are parted and each must make the harsh journey from 19th century London to Van Diemens Land. In the backstreets and dives of Hobart Town, Mary learns the art of brewing and builds The Potato Factory, where she plans a new future...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction literary-fiction action-adventure adult audiobook book drama -
Fire on the Hill by Gretta Curran Browne
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAlthough presented here as a novel, FIRE ON THE HILL is a true story based on recorded facts. Michael Dwyer was born, cradled and then grew from boy to man under the shade of the Wicklow Hills. He knows every inch of them, knows all their secrets: the river streams to quench a man’s thirst, the wild game to keep away hunger, the wood in excess to burn, and the sheltering caves... -
Family Plot by Sheri Cobb South
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe third installment of the John Pickett series of humorous Regency mysteries finds Bow Street runner Pickett in Scotland investigating a woman found unconscious on the beach—a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the local laird’s daughter, a girl missing and presumed dead for the last fifteen years...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction journey literary-fiction action-adventure adult audiobook book -
-
The Wind Dancer/Storm Winds by Iris Johansen
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsTwice the thrills—in one captivating volumePublished together for the first time, from #1 New York Times best-selling author Iris Johansen comes a gripping pair of historical thrillers that push the boundaries of intrigue, suspense, and danger...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction literary-fiction abuse action-adventure adult anthologies fiction -
The Sins of the Father by Jeffrey Archer
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsOn the heels of the international bestseller Only Time Will Tell, Jeffrey Archer picks up the sweeping story of the Clifton Chronicles.Only days before Britain declares war on Germany, Harry Clifton, hoping to escape the consequences of long-buried family secrets, and forced to accept that his desire to marry Emma Barrington will never be fulfilled, has joined the Merchant Navy...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction literary-fiction politics 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
China Blues by Ki Longfellow
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe Roaring Twenties, Chinatown, San Francisco: back-street blues and bathtub gin… hardball mobsters and hardheaded cops… seductive speakeasies and sizzling scandals. As the young Louis Armstrong blows his horn in the infamous Blue Canary, impetuous Nob Hill Socialite Elizabeth Stafford Hamilton plunges into a reckless affair with mysterious Li Kwan Won...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult book female-author -
La leyenda del ladrón by Juan Gómez-Jurado
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsPrepárate a transportarte a la Sevilla del XVI, a un fascinante mundo de mendigos y prostitutas, nobles y comerciantes, espadachines y ladrones. El amor, la pasión y la venganza son los pilares de esta magistral novela de aventuras en torno a un niño salvado misteriosamente de la muerte, que crecerá para erigirse en la última esperanza de los desfavorecidos... -
Epitaph by Mary Doria Russell
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsMary Doria Russell, the bestselling, award-winning author of The Sparrow, makes her Ecco debut with Epitaph—an American Iliad, this richly detailed and meticulously researched historical novel continues the story she began in Doc, following Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday to Tombstone, Arizona, and to the gunfight at the O.K. CorralA deeply divided nation. Vicious politics...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction literary-fiction politics 21st-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Girl They Left Behind by Roxanne Veletzos, Cassandra Campbell
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA sweeping family saga and love story that offers a vivid and unique portrayal of life in war-torn 1941 Bucharest and life behind the Iron Curtain during the Soviet Union occupation—perfect for fans of Lilac Girls and Sarah’s Key.On a freezing night in January 1941, a little Jewish girl is found on the steps of an apartment building in Bucharest...Categorized as:
historical-fiction journey literary-fiction politics 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Slave Players by Megan Allen
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIt’s modern day in the Deep South. Racial unrest is rampant, and outbreaks of violence reach epidemic proportions. When a church bus makes a wrong turn in the Alabama countryside, a dozen teenage girls become victims of a heinous crime. The resulting outcry is explosive, as a new civil war erupts, but this time it will be whites who are cast into bondage... -
Those Jensen Boys! by William W. Johnstone, J.A. Johnstone
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe Greatest Western Writers Of The 21st Century A bold, sprawling epic of the American West, the Jensen family saga has captivated readers for nearly three decades. Now comes the untold story of Smoke Jensen's long-lost nephews, Ace and Chance, a pair of young-gun twins as reckless and wild as the frontier itself. .Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction literary-fiction action-adventure adult audiobook book fiction -
The Kerrigans: A Texas Dynasty by William W. Johnstone, J.A. Johnstone
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAn All-New Frontier Series from the Authors of The Family JensenIn a sprawling new saga that embodies the pioneer spirit, the masters of the Western introduce the Kerrigans, a rough-and-tumble clan of pioneers making their own way across darkest America led by a woman as ferocious as the Texas sun... -
A Shrine of Murders by Celia L. Grace, Paul Doherty
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhen a series of murders paralyzes the town of Canterbury in the fifteenth century, physician and chemist Kathryn Swinbrooke, assisted by bumbling Irish soldier Colum Murtagh, searches for a killer with literary tastes and rather personal motives...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction journey politics action-adventure adult ancient-civilization book -
-
The Dark Side of Love by Rafik Schami
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAn international bestseller available in English for the first time,a story of forbidden love set against the background of Arabic culture and endless feuds between clansA dead man hangs from the portal of St Paul s Chapel in Damascus. He was a Muslim officer and he was murdered...Categorized as:
historical-fiction journey literary-fiction politics action-adventure adult book fiction -
Cool Hand Luke by Donn Pearce
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratings"An impressive novel . . . the most brutal and authentic account of a road gang that we have had." —New York TimesOut of his experiences working on a chain gang, Donn Pearce created Cool Hand Luke, the larger-than-life war hero—Good Guy Number One—turned drunkard, vandal, and convict. A blasphemer and "pretty evil feller" who "could work the hardest, eat the mostest, and tell the biggest lies...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction literary-fiction action-adventure adult book classics drama -
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre by B. Traven
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA CULT MASTERPIECE—THE ADVENTURE NOVEL THAT INSPIRED JOHN HUSTON'S CLASSIC FILM, BY THE ELUSIVE AUTHOR WHO WAS A MODEL FOR THE HERO OF ROBERTO BOLAÑO'S 2666 Little is known for certain about B. Traven. Evidence suggests that he was born Otto Feige in Schlewsig-Holstein and that he escaped a death sentence for his involvement with the anarchist underground in Bavaria...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult book classics -
Lies She Never Told Me by John Ellsworth
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsMichael Gresham is the lawyer you’d want to call if you were accused of a crime. Especially if you were guilty... Michael is a successful trial lawyer who’s been placed on medical leave. But he sorely misses the courtroom battles, where he excels. When Michael receives a call from the local jail he comes to life and knows he cannot resist getting involved. For it’s a case of Murder One...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction literary-fiction politics action-adventure adult book conspiracies -
The Road Beyond Ruin by Gemma Liviero
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFor some people in post–World War II Germany, the battle is not over.August 1945. As Stefano, an Italian POW, heads toward home across war-ravaged Germany, he encounters a young child beside his dead mother. Unable to leave him to an unknown fate, Stefano takes the boy with him, finding refuge in a seemingly abandoned house in a secluded woodland.But the house is far from vacant...Categorized as:
historical-fiction journey literary-fiction politics 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Death of a Lesser God by Vaseem Khan
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratings*** SHORTLISTED FOR HISTORICAL NOVEL OF THE YEAR at the FINGERPRINT AWARDS ***In the fourth rip-roaring thriller in the award-winning Malabar House series, Persis and Archie travel to the old colonial capital of Calcutta, where they collide head-on with the prejudices and bloody politics of an era engulfed in flame...Categorized as:
historical-fiction crime politics journey mystery fiction historical law-enforcement -
City of Ink by Elsa Hart
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFollowing the enthralling 18th century Chinese mysteries Jade Dragon Mountain and White Mirror, comes the next Li Du adventure in City of Ink.Li Du was prepared to travel anywhere in the world except for one place: home. But to unravel the mystery that surrounds his mentor’s execution, that’s exactly where he must go... -
Best Kept Secret by Jeffrey Archer, Otakar Brousek ml.
Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsThe third novel in Jeffrey Archer’s compelling saga, the Clifton Chronicles1945. The vote in the House of Lords as to who should inherit the Barrington family fortune has ended in a tie. The Lord Chancellor’s deciding vote will cast a long shadow on the lives of Harry Clifton and Giles Barrington...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction literary-fiction politics 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell, Виктор Вебер
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsThe year is 1799, the place Dejima in Nagasaki Harbor, the “high-walled, fan-shaped artificial island” that is the Japanese Empire’s single port and sole window onto the world, designed to keep the West at bay; the farthest outpost of the war-ravaged Dutch East Indies Company; and a de facto prison for the dozen foreigners permitted to live and work there...Categorized as:
historical-fiction journey literary-fiction politics 21st-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Songbirds by Christy Lefteri
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom the prize-winning author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo, a stunning novel about the disappearance of a Sri Lankan nanny and how the most vulnerable people find their voices.It began with a crunch of leaves and earth. So early, so cold, the branches shone with ice. I'd returned to collect the songbirds. They are worth more than their weight in gold...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction journey literary-fiction politics action-adventure adult animals -
-
Harsh Times by Mario Vargas Llosa
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe true story of Guatemala's political turmoil of the 1950s as only a master of fiction can tell it.Guatemala, 1954. The military coup perpetrated by Carlos Castillo Armas and supported by the CIA topples the government of Jacobo Árbenz...Categorized as:
historical-fiction journey literary-fiction politics 21st-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Dragon's Lair by Sharon Kay Penman
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsJuly 1193. King Richard Lionheart lies in a German prison, held for ransom by the emperor. His mother, Dowager Queen Eleanor, ransacks England for gold to buy his freedom, while his younger brother, John, plots with King Philippe of France to ensure that he rots and dies in chains. When a ransom payment vanishes, Eleanor hastily dispatches young Justin de Quincy to investigate... -
Fire Catcher by C.S. Quinn
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratings1666. London burns. And a killer tracking a dangerous secret fuels his own deadly blazes…Charlie Tuesday is the city’s best thief taker. And as fire ravages London he’s on the hunt for a killer fanning the flames. But time is running out. Each death brings the murderer closer to the ultimate prize—a fabled chest with the power to destroy London...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction literary-fiction action-adventure adult audiobook book early-modern -
A Dry White Season by André P. Brink
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAs startling and powerful as when first published more than two decades ago, André Brink's classic novel, A Dry White Season, is an unflinching and unforgettable look at racial intolerance, the human condition, and the heavy price of morality.Ben Du Toit is a white schoolteacher in suburban Johannesburg in a dark time of intolerance and state-sanctioned apartheid...Categorized as:
historical-fiction journey literary-fiction politics 20th-century action-adventure adult book -
Dark Assassin by Anne Perry
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFor countless readers, one of life's great pleasures is the mesmerizing magic of a Victorian mystery by New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry. Her dramas of good and evil unfolding inside London's lavish mansions and teeming slums hold us spellbound. Now, in Dark Assassin, she sweeps us into a darkly compelling world that we never dreamed existed...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction literary-fiction politics action-adventure adult audiobook book -
A Map for the Missing by Belinda Huijuan Tang
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAn epic, mesmerizing debut novel set against a rapidly changing post-Cultural Revolution China, A Map for the Missing reckons with the costs of pursuing one's dreams and the lives we leave behindTang Yitian has been living in America for almost a decade when he receives an urgent phone call from his mother: his father has disappeared from the family's rural village in China...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction journey fiction historical audiobook family mystery
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.