The Reading List
A reader recently asked if we have a list of top suspense novels, and this got us thinking…what if we had a list of all the novels (and films and series) we’ve written about here at Present Tense?
We’ve tried to capture everything we’ve discussed at some length (mostly analyses and interviews tied to a particular novel).
Here’s everything we (and our contributors) have found time to write about so far…
A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham
A Step Past Darkness by Vera Kurian
Birnham Wood by Eleanor Catton
I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai
I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh
In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O’Brien
Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn
Master Slave Husband Wife by Ilyon Woo
Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka
Please See Us by Caitlin Mullen
Pony Confidential by Christina Lynch
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
Survival Instincts by Jen Waite
The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay
The Deepest Lake by Andromeda Romano-Lax
The Fall of the House of Usher (series)
The Perfect Neighborhood by Liz Alterman
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
The Spare Room by Andrea Bartz
Thicker than Water by Megan Collins
What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall
What the Neighbors Saw by Melissa Adelman
Where the Cryptids Fled by Mo Drammeh
CRAFT BOOKS
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami
The Life of Crime by Martin Edwards
The Thorn Necklace by Francesca Lia Block
The Truth About Lisa Jewell by Will Brooker
Last updated: 3/5/25