Thriller · Similar reads
Books like A Time to Kill
The best books like A Time to Kill are Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, and In Cold Blood. A Time to Kill by John Grisham is about racial injustice, vigilante justice, law and morality. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
01
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
Bryan Stevenson · Memoir
Bryan Stevenson's memoir of his career as a capital defense attorney in Alabama, and specifically of his years working on the case of Walter McMillian — a Black man wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to death in Monroe County, Alabama — is simultaneously a riveting legal narrative and a sustained moral argument about the American criminal justice system's treatment of the poor and of Black defendants.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
02
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
Michelle Alexander · Politics
Michelle Alexander's central argument is stark: the United States has not ended racial caste, it has merely redesigned it.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - In Cold Blood
03
Truman Capote · Memoir
Truman Capote's account of the 1959 murders of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas — and of the investigation, capture, trial, and execution of the killers Perry Smith and Richard Hickock — is the founding document of the true crime genre and one of the most admired works of American nonfiction of the twentieth century.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - The Firm
04
John Grisham · Thriller
Mitch McDeere is a Harvard Law graduate who accepts a job at a small, lavishly compensating Memphis firm called Bendini, Lambert & Locke.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - The Pelican Brief
05
John Grisham · Thriller
Two Supreme Court justices are assassinated in a single night.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - To Kill a Mockingbird
06
Harper Lee · Literary fiction
Jean Louise "Scout" Finch is six years old at the start of the novel and nine by the end.
Both dig into racial injustice.
Read the summary → - Along Came a Spider
07
James Patterson · Thriller
Along Came a Spider introduces Alex Cross, a Black homicide detective and forensic psychologist working in Washington D.C., in the case that made James Patterson a bestseller.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - Angels & Demons
08
Dan Brown · Thriller
Physicist Leonardo Vetra is found dead at CERN with a symbol burned into his chest: the Illuminati ambigram.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - Big Little Lies
09
Liane Moriarty · Thriller
Big Little Lies begins with a death at a school trivia night and then spends its entire length working backward to explain how it happened.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - Blacklands
10
Belinda Bauer · Thriller
Twelve-year-old Steven Lamb lives in the shadow of an unresolved disappearance.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - Blindsighted
11
Karin Slaughter · Thriller
Blindsighted is Karin Slaughter's debut novel, published in 2001, and the first book in the Grant County series set in fictional Heartsdale, Georgia.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - Dark Places
12
Gillian Flynn · Thriller
Libby Day survived the Kansas farmhouse massacre that killed her mother and two sisters when she was seven.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary →
Books like A Time to Kill: quick answers
What are the best books like A Time to Kill?
The best books like A Time to Kill by John Grisham are Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, The Firm by John Grisham, The Pelican Brief by John Grisham, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with A Time to Kill, such as racial injustice, vigilante justice, law and morality.
What should I read after A Time to Kill?
A natural next read after A Time to Kill is Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson. A kindred thriller read. Other strong choices are The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, The Firm by John Grisham.
What books are similar to A Time to Kill by John Grisham?
A Time to Kill centers on racial injustice, vigilante justice, law and morality. Books with a similar feel include Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, The Firm by John Grisham, The Pelican Brief by John Grisham, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
