Here are 100 books that 26 Below fans have personally recommended if you like
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I’ve been fascinated by the potential of the Internet ever since I chaired the Metadata subcommittee for the American Library Association. Here was a device capable of benefiting lives or destroying mankind simultaneously. Particularly intriguing was its almost supernatural ability to accomplish these ends as if we were gods beyond the realms of morality or accountability. I’m not a very spiritual person, but such potential calls out for revising our old worldviews and/or exploring new ways of coping with our burgeoning technical prowess and moral responsibilities. Dealing with these conflicts is what I write about and what stories from other authors I recommend to readers.
I could not put this book down. Lavish settings, exotic locales, hardened professionals—this book has it all—and that describes the good guys. Each chapter introduces a new, fully-developed character with his or her justifiable motivation for engaging in a sinister plot to disrupt Singapore’s financial system.
Cyber-attack expert Wendy Chen and her spy-lover Guy Anderson must thwart the attack before it happens, but will her computer expertise and his secret agent skills accomplish it before they are killed? I loved the fast-paced and colorful description done in the best Ian Fleming fashion. Added bonus: Kinsey’s narrative increased my cyber-thriller writer vocabulary.
A talented Russian hacker is hired to cripple Singapore with a cyberattack. Wendy Chen and Guy Andersons life had returned to normal. Their exploits in North Korea, where they had neutralised a malware designed to trigger a missile attack on Japan now seemed like a distant dream. But for Wendy, this was to turn into a nightmare when she encountered Talon, a Korean assassin in Singapore. With help from Plug, their friend at MI6 in Hong Kong, the trio unravel a sophisticated cyberattack designed to economically cripple Singapore, and Wendy once again finds herself face-to-face with her nemesis.From the author:…
A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.
German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
I’ve been fascinated by the potential of the Internet ever since I chaired the Metadata subcommittee for the American Library Association. Here was a device capable of benefiting lives or destroying mankind simultaneously. Particularly intriguing was its almost supernatural ability to accomplish these ends as if we were gods beyond the realms of morality or accountability. I’m not a very spiritual person, but such potential calls out for revising our old worldviews and/or exploring new ways of coping with our burgeoning technical prowess and moral responsibilities. Dealing with these conflicts is what I write about and what stories from other authors I recommend to readers.
This book’s narrative zooms from the get-go. When Crouch introduces the controlled and calculating master villain, Michael Jeter, plotting his revenge in the first chapter, the tension never disappears.
Detective Tanner Dempsy’s marriage proposal to computer security expert Bree Daniels takes a back seat to their preventing murders by slow drowning that they witness over the Internet. I was thrilled at how the author filled each page with tension, terror, and repressed longing as his hunters became the hunted.
Deputy Tanner Dempsey and Bree Daniels are tasked with tracking a killer on the loose, and Bree's computer genius is their only hope at solving the crime. Tanner is determined to make sure both solve the crime but what happens when they both become a killer's next target...
Colton on the Run
By Anna J. Stewart
A mysterious woman...
And a killer on the lose
When he finds a half-dead woman stranded in his barn, rancher Leo Slattery feels his blood run cold. Though she…
I’ve been fascinated by the potential of the Internet ever since I chaired the Metadata subcommittee for the American Library Association. Here was a device capable of benefiting lives or destroying mankind simultaneously. Particularly intriguing was its almost supernatural ability to accomplish these ends as if we were gods beyond the realms of morality or accountability. I’m not a very spiritual person, but such potential calls out for revising our old worldviews and/or exploring new ways of coping with our burgeoning technical prowess and moral responsibilities. Dealing with these conflicts is what I write about and what stories from other authors I recommend to readers.
The plot twist at the beginning delighted me. Anti-heroine and computer hacker Nina Walker plays Robin Hood on behalf of her grandmother and pays the price—a mysterious man named Carter kidnaps and forces her to return the money she stole to the other unpaid claimants. But Carter, too, has been blackmailed by the gangster Dante to retrieve the funds and has other personal motivations for dealing with him.
This twist sets up unique moral dilemmas for both characters. Though needing each other to survive, each must decide whether their growing attraction for each other outweighs their family bonds. It is a fine thriller that operates on several levels; my sole reservation is how the book’s character descriptions provide only shadowy outlines instead of fully-fleshed individuals.
When Nina's disabled grandmother’s insurance company refuses to pay for a recent hospital admission, the determined IT assistant decides she’ll teach them a lesson. Nina hacks their system, steals their data, and demands a ransom. Upon payment, she distributes the money to their customers—people like her grandmother who need it to survive. But not everyone sees her as a modern-day Robin Hood. Despite good intentions, her actions are...well, illegal.
Carter’s life—and career—is built on secrets that haunt him while he sleeps. Carter wants to leave it all behind him, but when his brother…
The Everlasting Life of Charlie Wall
by
Paul Wilborn,
It’s 1985, and Ronald Armstrong, known in the magic mushroom trade as “Trip,” takes a “sober” job as a driver for a retired Tampa mobster. His boss, Charlie Wall, has survived four attempts on his life, the last one in 1955. When Charlie falls into depression, Trip rebuilds his boss’…
I’ve been fascinated by the potential of the Internet ever since I chaired the Metadata subcommittee for the American Library Association. Here was a device capable of benefiting lives or destroying mankind simultaneously. Particularly intriguing was its almost supernatural ability to accomplish these ends as if we were gods beyond the realms of morality or accountability. I’m not a very spiritual person, but such potential calls out for revising our old worldviews and/or exploring new ways of coping with our burgeoning technical prowess and moral responsibilities. Dealing with these conflicts is what I write about and what stories from other authors I recommend to readers.
This book grabbed my attention by literally plunging me into the middle of the action. As she often does, special agent Sophie Ang defies FBI protocol by breaking through a closet ceiling to rescue a nine-year-old kidnap victim.
Her computer skills protect her from professional reprimand; however, a mysterious figure called the Ghost challenges her to the fullest by using Sophie’s childhood trauma against her to pull off his next caper. The narrative starts fine, slows a bit while establishing her budding romance with her Tae Kwon Do instructor, then returns her cat-and-mouse game with the Ghost center stage in a nail-biter ride all the way to the end.
Paradise has no protection from a hacker with a hidden agenda. Do you love a woman sleuth with a dark past, a great dog, and a complicated romantic life?
Meet tech agent Sophie Ang.
Sophie’s emotions are battered by a child kidnapping case, and in tracking the criminal ring, her rogue data analysis program D.A.V.I.D. identifies an anomaly that leads her into a cat-and-mouse game online with a deadly enemy whose motives are unclear. The chase lures her through dark corridors of cyberspace into a confrontation with the violence from her past that sent her fleeing to the United States.…
As both a librarian and a writer, I've dedicated my life to reading, creating, and recommending books that blur genres. I'm always searching for something that jams Sci-Fi, Horror, Mystery, Fantasy, and Romance together with LitFic. Every week, I'm trying to put something unique into a library patron's hands, something that may not be on the New York Times best sellers list...or may not even be in a genre they knew existed. There's so much good literature out there and I want people to be able to find the weirdest things their hearts desire...and maybe I'll write that thing along the way if it doesn't already exist.
I've been reading Kelly Link's genre-bending stories for years and had been waiting for her to put out a novel forever, and wow, I was not disappointed by this one! I'm a sucker for any book about resurrection, teen angst, bargains with the gods, and finding love in a complicated world.
I loved following the story of the four teenagers as they formed and dissolved their alt-rock band, as they tried to solve the mystery of their own deaths, and as they stumbled through relationship after relationship in hilarious/heartfelt ways.
The novel is sprawling and made me feel like I was living in town with these cosmically cursed kids, living through each of the magical happenings right by their side. When it was all over, I felt bereft because I was no longer their neighbor...and I think that's the best possible way to feel after finishing the last chapter.
'A dizzying dream ride you will never forget' LEIGH BARDUGO 'An astonishing, gorgeous novel' HOLLY BLACK 'An incredible achievement' CASSANDRA CLARE FROM PULITZER-PRIZE FINALIST KELLY LINK Supernatural beings and chaos descend on the small seaside town of Lovesend, Massachusetts, in the wake of the unexpected return of three missing teenagers. Laura, Daniel and Mo disappeared without trace a year ago. They have long been presumed dead. Which they were. But now they are not. And it is up to the resurrected teenagers to discover what happened to them. Revived by Mr Anabin - the man they knew as their high…
A decade ago, we could not have imagined a world where democracy would be in existential crisis. Perhaps it’s overly dramatic to think that way – I hope so – but it does seem realistic at this moment. That is why I am so passionate about wanting to defend democracy and the kind of society it makes possible and why I am so drawn to works that express that passion through artful writing and story-telling. With authoritarian and totalitarian regimes dangerously on the rise, books that demonstrate the profound inhumanity and injustice of such regimes and how they extinguish democracy and human rights are needed now more than ever.
Isabelle Allende is truly one of the great writers of our time, a strong recommendation in itself. What I found particularly thrilling about this book, however, was the way she shed light on how authoritarianism and fascism are disproportionately devasting for the most vulnerable among us – children.
By weaving together narratives about the displacement of and harm to children during the Nazi holocaust and under the brutal immigration policies of President Trump, Allende provokes outrage and inspires compassion.
THE POWERFUL AND MOVING NEW NOVEL FROM LITERARY LEGEND ISABEL ALLENDE PRAISE FOR THE AUTHOR 'A grand storyteller' - KHALED HOSSEINI 'A new novel by Isabel Allende is always a treat' - DAILY MAIL 'What a joy it must be to come upon Allende for the first time' - COLUM MCCANN No, we're not lost. The wind knows my name. And yours too. Vienna, 1938. Samuel Adler is five years old when his father disappears during Kristallnacht - the night their family loses everything. As her child's safety seems ever harder to guarantee, Samuel's mother secures a spot for him…
Delve into this internationally best-selling series, now complete! A fast paced laugh-out-loud mix of Urban Fantasy and Mystery.
I can tell when you’re lying. Every. Single. Time. I’m Jinx, a PI hired to find a missing university student, I hope to find her propped up at a bar–yet my gut…
Why I chose to write about cold climates: I spent nearly seven years living in the North of Norway in the Sámi reindeer herding village called Guovdageaidnu, or Kautokeino in Norwegian. I cherish my time in that part of the world.
This novel had to go to the top of my list because it’s brilliant and delivered through an indigenous perspective.
Authored by the Swedish Sámi journalist Ann-Helén Laestadius, the book tells a story–based on real events–involving reindeer, an essential part of culture and identity for many Sámi. It takes place in a part of the world where I spent many years, Sápmi, which is the Sámi region that contains parts of, and predates, the modern borders of Sweden, Norway, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula of Russia.
Laestadius brings a compelling voice to the still prevalent issue of prejudice against this cultural minority. A film adaptation of the book will air on Netflix in April 2024, and I’m excited to see it because so many friends from that part of the world worked on it.
**SOON TO BE A MAJOR NETFLIX FILM** **THE INTERNATIONAL NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER** 'Written with heart and great appeal' FINANCIAL TIMES 'A coming-of-age-story to be loved everywhere in the world' FREDRIK BACKMAN, author of A MAN CALLED OVE 'Has struck a chord worldwide' NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ___________________________________________ The international sensation: the story of a young Sami girl's coming-of-age, and a powerful fable about family, identity and justice Nine-year-old Elsa lives just north of the Arctic Circle. She and her family are Sami - Scandinavia's indigenous people - and make their living herding reindeer. One morning when Elsa goes skiing alone, she witnesses…
I’ve always been drawn to stories about daughters coming home to complicated mothers and the unfinished versions of themselves they left behind. As an immigrant who moved from India to the U.S. at thirteen, and now as a physician and mother, I live in that in-between space where past and present, duty and desire constantly collide. Reading great novels that explored these tensions was the spark that pushed me to start writing my own. I gravitate toward books where family love is real but messy, home is both refuge and trigger, and women are allowed to be imperfect, angry, tender, and still deeply human.
This novel dives headfirst into the most uncomfortable corners of a mother–daughter relationship.
I love how Doshi refuses to make either woman simply "good" or "bad" and instead sits in the murky space of resentment, obligation, and love. It's a book that made me feel complicit, unsettled, and oddly seen—as both a daughter and a mother.
Shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize, Avni Doshi's Burnt Sugar is a searing literary debut novel set in India about mothers and daughters, obsession, and betrayal.
NPR Best Book of 2020
A Pen America Literary Award Finalist
“I would be lying if I say my mother's misery has never given me pleasure,” says Antara, Tara's now-adult daughter.
In her youth, Tara was wild. She abandoned her marriage to join an ashram, and while Tara is busy as a partner to the ashram's spiritual leader, Baba, little Antara is cared for by an older devotee, Kali Mata,…
I am, first and foremost, an avid reader. And romance, especially romantic comedy, is my go-to choice. And if that romantic comedy has a fake-dating theme…YAY! It was only natural that I write that theme. I believe that life throws you love at the most unexpected times and unexpected places. I love writing character-driven stories, and what better way to have them show off their true selves than by pretending to be in a relationship with a stranger?
I was surprised I loved Just for the Summer so much. I’d never read Abby Jimenez before, but I was delightfully surprised. How could you not love that both Justin and Emma have a love curse hanging over their heads? The person they date goes on to find their one true love. So why not date each other and break the curse? The premise is not only original, but the situations she brings to this are hilarious. Like the Toilet King billboard. I now need a Toilet King T-shirt.
The characters are charming, loving people—people I wanted to see have their happily ever after. The secondary characters are just as lovable and realistic. I loved this book, though, because of the realism of their predicaments. They lived through problems that weren’t sugar-coated.
Instant #1 New York Times bestseller and a Good Morning America Book Club Pick! This witty, slow-burn rom-com is the "ideal beach read." --Elle
Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it's now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They'll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other’s out, and they’ll both go on to find the love of their lives. It’s…
The authoritative but accessible history of the birth of modern American intelligence in World War II that treats not just one but all of the various disciplines: spies, codebreakers, saboteurs.
Told in a relatable style that focuses on actual people, it was a New Yorker "Best of 2022" selection and…
I grew up hearing stories about my grandfather, who was the blacksmith in Saratoga, California, from the 1920s to the 1940s, and I wanted to write a novel about him. As I began to research his life, a world opened up to me. I learned how the suburbs I’d grown up in were built on one of the world’s greatest fruit-growing regions, and the story about my grandfather grew into a story about the profound changes we’ve wrought upon the land. That novel, The Blossom Festival, was the beginning of my lifelong engagement with the peoples and places of my home state that I’ve carried through in all the books I’ve written.
Set in the inland regions of Southern California, far from glamor, this novel contains a cross section of characters from California’s past, present, and future, all connected by blood, by place, by history. It begins with an act of violence committed to disrupt a sexual assault, and that act has consequences that echo through decades. The landscape, beautiful and treacherous and fire-prone, acts like one more character.
The novel ends with a standoff between the characters we’ve grown to know and love and ICE agents—a haunting and newly relevant image. A tremendous work of art.
One of The Washington Post's Ten Best Books of 2022. Finalist for the 2022 Kirkus Prize and the 2023 Dayton Literary Peace Prize. One of the New York Times' 10 Best California Books of 2022 and one of NPR's Best Books of 2022. A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice.
"A wide and deep view of a dynamic, multiethnic Southern California . . . Susan Straight is an essential voice in American writing and in writing of the West." ―The New York Times Book Review
From the National Book Award finalist Susan Straight, Mecca is a stunning epic tracing…
