Thriller · Similar reads
Books like The Pelican Brief
The best books like The Pelican Brief are The Firm, A Time to Kill, and Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup. The Pelican Brief by John Grisham is about political conspiracy, environmental law, power and vulnerability. 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.
- The Firm
01
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 → - A Time to Kill
02
John Grisham · Thriller
In Clanton, Mississippi, two white men rape and nearly kill ten-year-old Tonya Hailey.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
03
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
John Carreyrou · Business
Bad Blood is Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou's account of Theranos, the blood-testing startup founded by Elizabeth Holmes that claimed its proprietary technology could run hundreds of diagnostic tests from a single finger-prick of blood.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War
04
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 → - The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
05
The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
Lawrence Wright · History
Lawrence Wright's The Looming Tower is the most comprehensive account of how al-Qaeda came to attack the United States on September 11, 2001.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - Misery
06
Stephen King · Thriller
Paul Sheldon, a bestselling novelist, crashes his car in a Colorado blizzard.
Both dig into survival.
Read the summary → - Tell No One
07
Harlan Coben · Thriller
Tell No One is a standalone thriller by Harlan Coben published in 2001.
Both dig into institutional corruption.
Read the summary → - The Power of the Dog
08
Don Winslow · Thriller
The Power of the Dog is Don Winslow's epic of the American drug war, covering roughly three decades from the 1970s to the early 2000s and tracing the rise of the Sinaloa cartel through the lives of a DEA agent, a priest, a hitman, a cartel boss, and several other figures whose fates are bound together by money, faith, violence, and the specific kind of corruption that a war without exit produces.
Both dig into institutional corruption.
Read the summary → - A Court of Thorns and Roses
09
Sarah J. Maas · Fantasy
Feyre Archeron is nineteen, hunting in winter to feed her family, when she kills a wolf in the forest and is taken by a creature from Prythian — the land of the fae — as payment for a life.
Both dig into power and vulnerability.
Read the summary → - A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
10
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
Ishmael Beah · Memoir
Ishmael Beah was twelve years old when the Sierra Leone civil war reached his village and he was separated from his family.
Both dig into survival.
Read the summary → - All Quiet on the Western Front
11
All Quiet on the Western Front
Erich Maria Remarque · History
All Quiet on the Western Front follows Paul Bäumer, a young German soldier who enlists with his classmates during the First World War after being swept up in patriotic speeches.
Both dig into survival.
Read the summary → - All the Light We Cannot See
12
Anthony Doerr · Historical fiction
All the Light We Cannot See follows two children through the Second World War on a collision course neither can see coming.
Both dig into survival.
Read the summary →
Books like The Pelican Brief: quick answers
What are the best books like The Pelican Brief?
The best books like The Pelican Brief by John Grisham are The Firm by John Grisham, A Time to Kill by John Grisham, Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou, The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War by Ben Macintyre, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with The Pelican Brief, such as political conspiracy, environmental law, power and vulnerability.
What should I read after The Pelican Brief?
A natural next read after The Pelican Brief is The Firm by John Grisham. A kindred thriller read. Other strong choices are A Time to Kill by John Grisham, Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou, The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War by Ben Macintyre.
What books are similar to The Pelican Brief by John Grisham?
The Pelican Brief centers on political conspiracy, environmental law, power and vulnerability. Books with a similar feel include The Firm by John Grisham, A Time to Kill by John Grisham, Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou, The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War by Ben Macintyre, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright, Misery by Stephen King — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
