Books like Portrait of a Thief
12 books with a reading profile close to Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li. Balanced in tone; an easy read.
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1
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.
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2
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.
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3
When No One Is Watching
by Alyssa Cole
thriller, narrative
Sydney Green is a lifelong resident of Brooklyn who watches her neighborhood rapidly transform through aggressive gentrification.
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4
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.
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5
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.
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6
The Female of the Species
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.
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7
A Ladder to the Sky
by John Boyne
thriller, narrative
Maurice Swift is a young waiter with immense literary ambition but zero original ideas.
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8
The Other Black Girl
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.
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9
Sadie
thriller, narrative
Nineteen-year-old Sadie Hunter disappears from her small town following the brutal murder of her younger sister, Mattie.
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10
A Burning
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.
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11
Notes on an Execution
thriller, narrative
Ansel Packer sits on Texas death row with twelve hours left before his lethal injection.
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12
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.
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