Books like

Books like A Ladder to the Sky

12 books with a reading profile close to A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne. Balanced in tone; a moderate read.

  1. 1 The Female of the Species

    The Female of the Species

    by Mindy McGinnis

    thriller, narrative

    Alex Craft is a high school student who functions as a vigilante in her small town, three years after the rape and murder of her older sister.

  2. 2 Sadie

    Sadie

    by Courtney Summers

    thriller, narrative

    Nineteen-year-old Sadie Hunter disappears from her small town following the brutal murder of her younger sister, Mattie.

  3. 3 White Ivy

    White Ivy

    by Susie Yang

    thriller, narrative

    Ivy Lin grew up in Chinese immigrant poverty in suburban America, raised by a mother who steals and a grandmother who pushes her to succeed.

  4. 4 The Other Black Girl

    The Other Black Girl

    by Zakiya Dalila Harris

    thriller, narrative

    Nella Rogers is an editorial assistant and the only Black employee at Wagner Books, a prestigious but white-dominated publishing house in New York City.

  5. 5 The River

    The River

    by Peter Heller

    thriller, narrative

    College friends Wynn and Jack embark on a canoe expedition down the Maskwa River in northern Canada, seeking a wilderness escape before returning to society.

  6. 6 Notes on an Execution

    Notes on an Execution

    by Danya Kukafka

    thriller, narrative

    Ansel Packer sits on Texas death row with twelve hours left before his lethal injection.

  7. 7 A Burning

    A Burning

    by Megha Majumdar

    thriller, narrative

    Set in contemporary Kolkata, the story begins when Jivan, a young Muslim woman living in the slums, posts a comment on Facebook questioning the government’s response to a deadly terrorist attack on a train.

  8. 8 State of Wonder

    State of Wonder

    by Ann Patchett

    thriller, narrative

    Pharmacology researcher Marina Singh travels from Minnesota to the Amazon basin to investigate the death of a colleague and the status of a long-delayed drug project.

  9. 9 Blacktop Wasteland

    Blacktop Wasteland

    by S.A. Cosby

    thriller, narrative

    Beauregard "Bug" Montage is a mechanic in rural Virginia struggling to keep his family business afloat while facing mounting household debts.

  10. 10 Portrait of a Thief

    Portrait of a Thief

    by Grace D. Li

    thriller, narrative

    Will Chen, a senior at Harvard, is recruited by a shadow corporation to spearhead a heist reclaiming five looted zodiac fountainheads from European museums.

  11. 11 The Beach

    The Beach

    by Alex Garland

    thriller, narrative

    Alex Garland’s novel follows Richard, a young British backpacker in Bangkok who acquires a hand-drawn map promising a hidden coastal paradise.

  12. 12 Maya's Notebook

    Maya's Notebook

    by Isabel Allende

    thriller, narrative

    Maya Vidal is nineteen, a drug addict and a fugitive from Berkeley, California, who has fled to a remote island in Chiloé, in southern Chile, to hide from criminals and the FBI.

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