Thriller · Similar reads
Books like The Bat
The best books like The Bat are In Cold Blood, The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War, and Death on the Nile. The Bat by Jo Nesbø is about cultural displacement, violence against women, guilt and complicity. 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.
- In Cold Blood
01
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 Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War
02
The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War
Ben Macintyre · History
Ben Macintyre tells the story of Oleg Gordievsky, a KGB officer who became the most important British spy of the Cold War.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - Death on the Nile
03
Agatha Christie · Mystery
A luxury Nile cruise becomes the setting for one of Agatha Christie's most accomplished locked-room puzzles.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - The Devil in the White City
04
Erik Larson · History
The Devil in the White City tells two stories that unfolded simultaneously in Chicago in 1893.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - Blood Meridian
05
Cormac McCarthy · Literary fiction
Blood Meridian, or The Evening Redness in the West is set along the Texas-Mexico border in the 1840s and loosely follows a teenage runaway known only as the kid, who falls in with the Glanton gang — a historical band of scalp hunters hired by the Mexican government to kill Apache raiders.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - Blindsighted
06
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.
Both dig into violence against women.
Read the summary → - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
07
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Stieg Larsson · Thriller
Mikael Blomkvist is a financial journalist in Stockholm who has just lost a libel case brought by a billionaire industrialist.
Both dig into violence against women.
Read the summary → - The Black Dahlia
08
James Ellroy · Mystery
In January 1947, the body of Elizabeth Short — a young woman who wanted to be an actress — is found mutilated in a vacant lot in Los Angeles.
Both dig into violence against women.
Read the summary → - The Dry
09
Jane Harper · Mystery
Federal agent Aaron Falk returns to the drought-ravaged farming town of Kiewarra, Victoria, for the first time in twenty years, drawn back by the apparent murder-suicide of his childhood friend Luke Hadler.
Both dig into guilt and complicity.
Read the summary → - The Long Call
10
Ann Cleeves · Mystery
The Long Call opens a new series from Ann Cleeves, best known for the Vera and Shetland books, set on the remote north Devon coast.
Both dig into guilt and complicity.
Read the summary → - The Poisonwood Bible
11
Barbara Kingsolver · Literary fiction
In 1959, Baptist missionary Nathan Price moves his wife and four daughters from Georgia to a remote village in the Belgian Congo.
Both dig into guilt and complicity.
Read the summary → - The Secret History
12
Donna Tartt · Literary fiction
The Secret History opens with its ending: the narrator, Richard Papen, tells us on the first page that his friend Bunny is dead, and that he and four other students killed him.
Both dig into guilt and complicity.
Read the summary →
Books like The Bat: quick answers
What are the best books like The Bat?
The best books like The Bat by Jo Nesbø are In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War by Ben Macintyre, Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie, The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with The Bat, such as cultural displacement, violence against women, guilt and complicity.
What should I read after The Bat?
A natural next read after The Bat is In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. A kindred thriller read. Other strong choices are The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War by Ben Macintyre, Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie, The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.
What books are similar to The Bat by Jo Nesbø?
The Bat centers on cultural displacement, violence against women, guilt and complicity. Books with a similar feel include In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War by Ben Macintyre, Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie, The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
