Here are 4 books that The Instrumentalist fans have personally recommended if you like The Instrumentalist. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Book cover of Long Island Compromise

Eileen Ogintz Author Of The Kid's Guide to New York City

From Eileen's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Eileen's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Eileen Ogintz Why Eileen loves this book

I grew up on Long Island, New York where this book was set and it took me back to my childhood as well as offering a really interesting take on how a traumatic event can have lifelong repercussions.

By Taffy Brodesser-Akner ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Long Island Compromise as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Everything I was dreaming it would be - shocking, tender, profound and delicious' EMILY MAITLIS

'Both enjoyable and funny while also substantive and profound' CATHY RENTZENBRINK

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Fleishman Is in Trouble comes Long Island Compromise, a darkly exhilarating novel about an American family and its inheritance - the safety and wealth that they fought for, and the precarity of their survival that is their legacy.

In 1980, a wealthy businessman named Carl Fletcher is kidnapped from his driveway in the nicest part of the nicest part of Long Island. He is brutalised, held for…


If you love The Instrumentalist...

Ad

Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

Book cover of The Hunter

Becky Oles

From Becky's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Unknown Author Why Becky loves this book

This is Tana French’s follow up to “The Searcher”. I am a big Tana French fan, and found both The Searcher and The Hunter extraordinary. French’s ability to immerse you into the world of a small Irish community is spot on. Although these to books are not her usual police procedural novels, but much more character/community driven, and I found them exceptional.

By Tana French ,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked The Hunter as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

It’s a blazing summer when two men arrive in a small village in the West of Ireland. One of them is coming home. Both of them are coming to get rich. One of them is coming to die.

Cal Hooper took early retirement from Chicago PD and moved to rural Ireland looking for peace. He’s found it, more or less: he’s built a relationship with a local woman, Lena, and he’s gradually turning Trey Reddy from a half-feral teenager into a good kid going good places. But then Trey’s long-absent father reappears, bringing along an English millionaire and a scheme…


Book cover of The History of Sound

Cheryl Bulow

From Cheryl's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Unknown Author Why Cheryl loves this book

The interconnected stories were thought provoking. Style of rhyming couplets was original and compelling.

By Ben Shattuck ,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked The History of Sound as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Now a major movie starring Paul Mescal and Josh O'Connor

'Triumphant' The Times
'Stellar' Daily Mail
'Exceptionally accomplished' The Scotsman
'Sublime' Observer
'Exquisite' Sunday Post

In twelve luminous stories set across three centuries, The History of Sound examines the unexpected ways the past returns to us and how love and loss are entwined and transformed over generations. In Ben Shattuck's ingenious collection, each story has a companion story, which contains a revelation about the previous, paired story. Mysteries and murders are revealed, history is refracted, and deep emotional connections are woven through characters and families.

The haunting title story recalls…


If you love Harriet Constable...

Ad

Book cover of Trusting Her Duke

Trusting Her Duke by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.

Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…

Book cover of The Correspondent

winter

From Winter's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Unknown Author Why Winter loves this book

I seem to be drawn to epistolary novels (Guernsey Literary and 84 Charing Cross) though I resist it! It takes a great author to create a fascinating whole out of fragments. The main character is someone I feel I'd like to know IRL--and like I already do. The conclusion of the major plot point was unexpected. I've speculated about how it would affect me.

By Virginia Evans ,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked The Correspondent as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


Book cover of Long Island Compromise
Book cover of The Hunter
Book cover of The History of Sound

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,210

readers submitted
so far, will you?