Books like 'Those We Thought We Knew'
Readers who enjoyed Those We Thought We Knew by David Joy also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary mystery north-america north-carolina usa historical-fiction crime rural social-commentary literary-fiction
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Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsRuth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years' experience. During her shift, Ruth begins a routine checkup on a newborn, only to be told a few minutes later that she's been reassigned to another patient. The parents are white supremacists and don't want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child...Categorized as:
crime drama historical-fiction literary-fiction north-america poc-mc social-commentary usa -
![True to the Game II by Teri Woods]()
True to the Game II by Teri Woods
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsTRUE TO THE GAME II will pick up where True to the Game left off-- with one difference, Gena is now seeing a new guy named Jay. Little does Gena know that the man she has fallen in love with, so soon after Quadir's death, is his archrival, Jerrell Jackson. Unfortunately, Jerrell is determined to get his revenge against Quadir's crew and he'll start with Gena... -
![Dan Brown Inferno (Robert Langdon) Unofficial Guide by Stephen Eastment]()
Dan Brown Inferno (Robert Langdon) Unofficial Guide by Stephen Eastment
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe Dan Brown Inferno Unofficial Guide will allow you to decode the masterful and clever codes, symbols and art history of Dan Brown's fourth international blockbuster, Inferno and follow in the footsteps of the great puzzle solver Robert Langdon. Dan Brown's new international blockbuster, Inferno, will be his fourth book fusing history, art, codes and symbols... -
![A Scarcity of Condors by Suanne Laqueur]()
A Scarcity of Condors by Suanne Laqueur
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsJuleón "Jude" Tholet has survival in his DNA. His father, Cleón, lived through imprisonment and torture during Pinochet's military coup in Chile. His mother, Penny, risked everything to gain her husband's freedom and flee the country with their newborn son... -
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![Emily, Gone by Bette Lee Crosby]()
Emily, Gone by Bette Lee Crosby
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA missing child sets the lives of three women on a collision course in this powerful and compelling novel by USA Today bestselling author Bette Lee Crosby.1971.When a music festival rolls through the sleepy town of Hesterville, Georgia, the Dixon family’s lives are forever changed... -
![The Glass Rainbow by James Lee Burke]()
The Glass Rainbow by James Lee Burke
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsJames Lee Burke's eagerly awaited new novel finds Detective Dave Robicheaux back in New Iberia, Louisiana, and embroiled in the most harrowing and dangerous case of his career. Seven young women in neighboring Jefferson Davis Parish have been brutally murdered... -
![I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down: Collected Stories by William Gay]()
I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down: Collected Stories by William Gay
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWilliam Gay established himself as "the big new name to include in the storied annals of Southern Lit" (Esquire) with his debut novel, The Long Home, and his highly acclaimed follow-up, Provinces of Night. Like Faulkner's Mississippi and Cormac McCarthy's American West, Gay's Tennessee is redolent of broken souls... -
![La noche de la Usina by Eduardo Sacheri]()
La noche de la Usina by Eduardo Sacheri
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratings«Pampa y política, tiempos muertos de vida cotidiana y diálogos muy vivos, con un trasfondo crítico lleno de suspenso en el que la rabia fecunda es compatible con el humor más fresco.»Del acta del juradoEl secreto de sus ojos, que inspiró la película ganadora del Oscar.En un pueblo perdido de la provincia de Buenos Aires, muchas cosas están a punto de extinguirse... -
![Angelica And Francesca by Kenneth Jarrett Singleton]()
Angelica And Francesca by Kenneth Jarrett Singleton
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAngelica and Francesca are the identical twin daughters of Pellrue, Duke of Doretay. Doretay is a state within a kingdom called Vidien, which Angelica's and Francesca's great uncle, King Oscar, rules. Pellrue attempts to keep control of his wicked, evil daughters as they keep entering his city and raising havoc by torturing and murdering the common citizens within...Categorized as:
crime drama historical-fiction literary-fiction anthologies contemporary fiction horror -
![Coyote Songs by Gabino Iglesias]()
Coyote Songs by Gabino Iglesias
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn Gabino Iglesias’ second novel, ghosts and old gods guide the hands of those caught up in a violent struggle to save the soul of the American southwest.A man tasked with shuttling children over the border believes the Virgin Mary is guiding him towards final justice. A woman offers colonizer blood to the Mother of Chaos... -
![Anima by Wajdi Mouawad]()
Anima by Wajdi Mouawad
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA man, returning home one evening after work, discovers his wife brutally murdered, lying in a pool of blood. A cat, their cat, a domesticated animal, tells the man the macabre tale of what happened, and in the second chapter, birds at the window continue the tale... -
![Catedrales by Claudia Piñeiro]()
Catedrales by Claudia Piñeiro
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsUna adolescente aparece quemada y descuartizada en un descampado. Treinta años después, el crimen sigue sin aclararse y su familia y entorno se han desmoronado.Hace treinta años, en un terreno baldío de un barrio tranquilo, apareció descuartizado y quemado el cadáver de una adolescente... -
![Whisper My Name by Maureen Smith]()
Whisper My Name by Maureen Smith
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen a beautiful professor joins forces with a sexy detective to find a serial killer, shes caught in a web of danger and desire as she becomes the murderers next target. Original... -
![Diamond Sky by Annie Seaton]()
Diamond Sky by Annie Seaton
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe Kimberley can be a haven for those who can stand the heat, but its isolated beauty can also be deadly, if you're not paying attention... The remote Matsu diamond mine in the Kimberley is the perfect place for engineer Dru Porter to hide. Her insignificance in that vast and rugged landscape helps her feel invisible. And safe... -
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![The Lost Get-Back Boogie by James Lee Burke]()
The Lost Get-Back Boogie by James Lee Burke
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIry Paret's done his time -- two years for manslaughter in Louisiana's Angola State Penitentiary. Now the war vet and blues singer is headed to Montana, where he hopes to live clean working on a ranch owned by the father of his prison pal, Buddy Riordan. In prison, Iry tinkered with a song -- "The Lost Get-Back Boogie" -- that never came out quite right... -
![Brown Dog by Jim Harrison]()
Brown Dog by Jim Harrison
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsNew York Times best-selling author Jim Harrison is one of America’s most beloved writers, and of all his creations, Brown Dog, a bawdy, reckless, down-on-his-luck Michigan Indian, has earned cult status with readers in the more than two decades since his first appearance... -
![Till We Meet Again by Lesley Pearse]()
Till We Meet Again by Lesley Pearse
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsHow far would you go to save a friend?Susan Wright walked into a doctor's surgery and gunned down two members of staff in cold blood, then waited for the police to arrest her. Later that day a lawyer, Beth Powell, is assigned to defend her. Susan won't talk to anyone, even to Beth - until both women realise that twenty-nine years earlier they had been childhood friends... -
![Dead Certain by Mariah Stewart]()
Dead Certain by Mariah Stewart
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom New York Times bestselling author Mariah Stewart comes a novel of sexy romantic suspense for fans of Nora Roberts, Catherine Coulter, and Karen Robards. Three devious prisoners vow murderous revenge. Now the second is free. With her stalker captured, antiques dealer Amanda Crosby can finally sleep at night... -
![The Dead Girls by Jorge Ibargüengoitia]()
The Dead Girls by Jorge Ibargüengoitia
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThis is the first appearance in English of a Mexican novelist of enormous talent. His brilliant novel is based on fact: the discovery in the yard of a small-town brothel of the corpses of six prostitutes... -
![Joe by Larry Brown, Tom Stechschulte]()
Joe by Larry Brown, Tom Stechschulte
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNearing fifty, Joe Ransom won't slow down, not in his pickup, not with a gun-and certainly not with women. But all the fast living in Mississippi won't fill the hunger Joe can't name. At fifteen, Gary Jones is already slipping through the cracks. Part of a hopeless, homeless wandering family, he's desperate for a way out. He finds it in Joe... -
![Father and Son by Larry Brown]()
Father and Son by Larry Brown
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThis classic story of good and evil takes place in the rural American South of 1968. After being released from prison, Glen Davis returns to his hometown only to commit double homicide within forty-eight hours of his return... -
![A Memento for Istanbul by Ahmet Ümit]()
A Memento for Istanbul by Ahmet Ümit
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA thrilling take which moves back and forth through time, from the early days of Byzantium to the thriving metropolis of Istanbul... A corpse is discovered at the base of the statue of Ataturk in old Istanbul, an antique coin left in its hand... But it's not to be the last corpse and the bodies soon begin to pile up... And so the hunt for the killers begins.. -
![Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby]()
Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsLos Angeles Times Book Prize Winner • New York Times Notable Book • NPR’s Best Books of the Year • BookPage’s #1 Mystery and Suspense of the Year • Sun Sentinel’s #1 Best Mystery of the Year “I loved Blacktop Wasteland...[A] fast-paced, bareknuckle thriller.” -Stephen King“A roaring, full-throttle thriller, crackling with tension and charm... -
![Gradle Bird by J.C. Sasser]()
Gradle Bird by J.C. Sasser
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWINNER OF THE 2018 SOUTHERN BOOK PRIZEWINNER OF THE BENJAMIN FRANKLIN SIVER AWARD FOR BEST NEW VOICE IN FICTIONWILLIE MORRIS AWARD FOR SOUTHERN FICTION FINALIST2018 SIBA TRIO SELECTION2017 SIBA SPRING OKRA PICKSixteen-year-old Gradle Bird has lived her entire life with her Grandpa, Leonard, at a seedy motel and truck stop off Georgia’s I-16...Categorized as:
gothic historical-fiction literary-fiction southern-gothic book contemporary female-author fiction -
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![All Hat by Brad Smith]()
All Hat by Brad Smith
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 7 ratings“All Hat is a winner all the way.” — The Globe and Mail Ray Dokes is fresh out of prison and fresh out of options… He’s determined to turn his life around and stay out of trouble, but that means avoiding Sonny Stanton – the rich and violent heir of a thoroughbred dynasty Two horses – one an arrogant creature that’ll bite you as soon as you look away, the other gentle and friendly... -
![Never Come Morning by Nelson Algren]()
Never Come Morning by Nelson Algren
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsNever Come Morning is unique among the novels of Algren. The author's only romance, the novel concerns Brun Bicek, a would-be pub from Chicago's Northwest side, and Steffi, the woman who shares his dream while living his nightmare. "It is an unusual and brilliant book," said The New York Times. "A bold scribbling upon the wall for comfortable Americans to ponder and digest... -
![Our Little World by Karen Winn]()
Our Little World by Karen Winn
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratings"I was intrigued by Our Little World from the chilling first paragraph. It's a coming-of-age novel complicated by a tragic and untimely death, and it's also a novel about two sisters you will never forget. I fell in love with the confidence of the writing and the colorful nostalgia of the mid-'80s details. Our Little World will transport and transfix you."—Elin HilderbrandJuly 1985... -
![When These Mountains Burn by David Joy]()
When These Mountains Burn by David Joy
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAcclaimed author and "remarkably gifted storyteller" (The Charlotte Observer) David Joy returns with a fierce and tender tale of a father, an addict, a lawman, and the explosive events that come to unite them.When his addict son gets in deep with his dealer, it takes everything Raymond Mathis has to bail him out of trouble one last time... -
![The Past Is Never by Tiffany Quay Tyson]()
The Past Is Never by Tiffany Quay Tyson
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA compelling addition to contemporary Southern Gothic fiction, deftly weaving together local legends, magical realism, and the search for a missing child.Winner of the Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction, the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize, the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Fiction Award, and Mississippi Author Award for Adult fiction...Categorized as:
crime gothic historical-fiction literary-fiction southern-gothic adult audiobook book -
![Whispers of the Bayou by Mindy Starns Clark]()
Whispers of the Bayou by Mindy Starns Clark
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFrom the author of the popular Million Dollar Mysteries and Smart Chick Mysteries comes a new stand-alone novel full of hidden staircases, buried secrets, and the promise of hope found in knowing God. Miranda Miller wasn't looking for the news the day the letter came. But, trying to survive in troubled circumstances, she welcomes the chance to change her location for a period of time... -
![Big Bad Love: Stories by Larry Brown]()
Big Bad Love: Stories by Larry Brown
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsLarry Brown caught the rapt attention of readers and critics with the 1988 publication of Facing the Music, his prize-winning first collection of stories. The following year, his first novel, Dirty Work, won national acclaim as a work of uncompromising power and honesty. Big Bad Love, his third book, collects ten new stories... -
![Burning Bright by Ron Rash]()
Burning Bright by Ron Rash
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNew York Times bestselling and award-winning author Ron Rash is "a storyteller of the highest rank" (Jeffrey Lent) and has won comparisons to John Steinbeck, Cormac McCarthy, and Gabriel García Márquez...Categorized as:
gothic historical-fiction literary-fiction noir rural southern-gothic adult anthologies -
![The Hustler by Walter Tevis]()
The Hustler by Walter Tevis
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe legendary novel from the bestselling author of The Queen's Gambit about an ambitious pool shark who discovers what it takes to make the big time. The basis for the acclaimed film starring Paul Newman. To the strangers he plays in darkened pool halls, at first "Fast" Eddie Felson seems like a sloppy pool player with bright eyes and an extraordinary grin... -
![After Story by Larissa Behrendt]()
After Story by Larissa Behrendt
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhen Indigenous lawyer Jasmine decides to take her mother Della on a tour of England's most revered literary sites, Jasmine hopes it will bring them closer together and help them reconcile the past.Twenty-five years earlier the disappearance of Jasmine's older sister devastated their tight-knit community...Categorized as:
literary-fiction crime poc-mc social-commentary fiction contemporary audiobook indigenous-mc -
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![What Hell Is Not by Alessandro D'Avenia]()
What Hell Is Not by Alessandro D'Avenia
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsTake away love and you will have hell, ' you told me, Father Pino. 'Give love and you will have what hell is not.' Federico is a privileged teenager from Palermo. He is preparing to spend a summer learning English in Oxford when his teacher, Father Pino, asks him to help out at a youth centre in an area of Palermo dominated by mafia and misery...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction literary-fiction book contemporary fiction mystery organized-crime -
![Winter Loon by Susan Bernhard]()
Winter Loon by Susan Bernhard
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA haunting debut novel about family and sacrifice, Winter Loon reminds us of how great a burden the past can be, the toll it exacts, and the freedom that comes from letting it go...Categorized as:
drama historical-fiction literary-fiction north-america poc-mc usa audiobook bildungsroman -
![Hotel by Arthur Hailey]()
Hotel by Arthur Hailey
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsDuring five days in the midst of a hot, steamy Louisiana summer, the lives of a colorful cast of characters intertwine in a series of public, private, and personal dramas at the famed St. Gregory luxury hotel...Categorized as:
crime drama historical-fiction literary-fiction north-america usa 20th-century action-adventure -
![Music for Chameleons by Truman Capote]()
Music for Chameleons by Truman Capote
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsAt the centre of Music for Chameleons is Handcarved Coffins, a ‘nonfiction novel’ based on the brutal crimes of a real-life murderer. Taking place in a small Midwestern town in America, it offers chilling insights into the mind of a killer and the obsession of the man bringing him to justice...Categorized as:
crime drama gothic historical-fiction literary-fiction southern-gothic 20th-century adult -
![Guilty Until Innocent by Robert Whitlow]()
Guilty Until Innocent by Robert Whitlow
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhen an old case is reopened, two lawyers work to prove a man's innocence despite the odds stacked against them.After being fired from his last two jobs, Ryan Clark lands an associate position with a law firm run by his distant cousin, Tom, in a small North Carolina town... -
![The Heaviness of Things That Float by Jennifer Manuel]()
The Heaviness of Things That Float by Jennifer Manuel
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsJennifer Manuel skilfully depicts the lonely world of Bernadette, a woman who has spent the last forty years living alone on the periphery of a remote West Coast First Nations reserve, serving as a nurse for the community... -
![Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock]()
Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIn this unforgettable work of fiction, Donald Ray Pollock peers into the soul of a tough Midwestern American town to reveal the sad, stunted but resilient lives of its residents. Spanning a period from the mid-sixties to the late nineties, the linked stories that comprise Knockemstiff feature a cast of recurring characters who are woebegone, baffled and depraved but irresistibly, undeniably real... -
![Reap The Wind by Iris Johansen]()
Reap The Wind by Iris Johansen
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAn elusive killer...a deadly obsession...and a woman who must destroy him--or become his next victim.Some would kill to know what Caitlin Vasaro knows. For the secrets she’s kept hidden all her life are the kind that the rich and the powerful will do anything to possess. But not even Caitlin knows how much danger she is in--or how far someone will go to hunt her down... -
![A Feast of Snakes by Harry Crews]()
A Feast of Snakes by Harry Crews
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the acclaimed author of such novels as "Blood and Grits" and "Childhood" comes a wildly weird and breathtakingly original visit to the rural South that reveals the exotic subculture that erupts in all its glory at the Rattlesnake Roundup in Mystic, Georgia. "No number of adjectives in the thesaurus can do full justice to the dazzlingly bizarre nature of Crews' creations"... -
![Flight Risk by Joy Castro]()
Flight Risk by Joy Castro
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA woman is forced to face her past in a heartbreaking and triumphant novel of old wounds and family secrets by award-winning author Joy Castro.Isabel Morales is a successful Chicago sculptor hiding a brutal family history—one not even her husband knows. After decades of turning her back on her past, she’s forced to return to Appalachia when she receives news of her estranged mother’s death... -
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![Fay by Larry Brown]()
Fay by Larry Brown
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsShe's had no education, and you can't call what her father's been trying to give her "love." So at seventeen, Fay Jones leaves home, carrying a purse with half a pack of cigarettes and two dollar bills. She's headed for the bright lights and big times of Biloxi, and even she knows she needs help getting there. But help's not hard to come by when you look like Fay...Categorized as:
crime gothic historical-fiction literary-fiction noir rural southern-gothic audiobook -
![Desperation Road by Michael Farris Smith]()
Desperation Road by Michael Farris Smith
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn the vein of Daniel Woodrell's Winter's Bone and the works of Ron Rash, an Amazon Best Book of the Month set in a tough-and-tumble Mississippi town where drugs, whiskey, guns, and the desire for revenge violently intersect. For eleven years the clock has been ticking for Russell Gaines as he sits in Parchman Penitentiary in the Mississippi Delta...Categorized as:
crime gothic historical-fiction literary-fiction noir rural southern-gothic action-adventure -
![Tall Oaks by Chris Whitaker]()
Tall Oaks by Chris Whitaker
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFor fans of Twin Peaks and The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair, this brilliant debut is dark yet hilarious, suspenseful and sad.Everyone has a secret in Tall Oaks . . .When three-year-old Harry goes missing, the whole of America turns its attention to one small town. Everyone is eager to help. Everyone is a suspect.Desperate mother Jess, whose grief is driving her to extreme measures... -
![The Dork of Cork by Chet Raymo]()
The Dork of Cork by Chet Raymo
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhen Frank, an Irish dwarf, writes a personal memoir, he moves from dark isolation into the public eye. This luminous journey is marked by memories of his lonely childhood, secrets of his doomed young mother, and his passion for a woman who is as unreachable as the stars... -
![Close-up on Murder by Jessica Fletcher, Donald Bain]()
Close-up on Murder by Jessica Fletcher, Donald Bain
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsTHE LAST SHOTCabot Cove is being invaded—by Hollywood. One of Jessica’s older novels is being adapted into a big-budget movie. The producer has decided to shoot on location, since the book was loosely based on a murder that shocked Cabot Cove several years earlier.Unfortunately, everyone on the set seems to have a hidden agenda. A novice director wants his shot at the big time... -
![Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri by Martin McDonagh]()
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri by Martin McDonagh
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAfter months pass without a culprit in her daughter's murder case, Mildred Hayes pays for three signs challenging the authority of William Willoughby, the town's revered chief of police. When his second-in-command, Officer Dixon, a mother's boy with a penchant for violence, gets involved, the battle between Mildred and Ebbing's law enforcement threatens to engulf the town...
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