Recommendations based on House of Cardsby Michael Dobbs

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. The History of the Hobbit, Part One: Mr. Baggins

    by John D. Rateliff
    A detailed exploration of the early drafts and revisions of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit," shedding light on its creation and evolution.

    First published in 1938, The Hobbit is a story that “grew in the telling,” and many characters and events in the published book are completely different from what Tolkien first wrote to read aloud to ... (Goodreads)

  2. Sword of Destiny

    by Andrzej Sapkowski
    Epic fantasy adventure of a witcher on a quest to protect the world from dark forces.

    The anthology consists of several stories, loosely linked in a chronology. The short stories in this collection take place before the events of the novels and introduce characters that become major ... (Wikipedia)

  3. The Last Wish

    by Andrzej Sapkowski
    A dark fantasy adventure, filled with monsters, magic, and morality.

    The King of Temeria, Foltest, has offered a reward to anyone who can lift the curse on his daughter, Adda (the result of an incestuous union with his late sister, also named Adda), who was born as a ... (Wikipedia)

  4. From Russia With Love

    by Ian Fleming
    James Bond is sent to Istanbul to retrieve a Russian decoding machine, but is caught in a deadly game of espionage and seduction.

    SMERSH , the Soviet counterintelligence agency, plans to commit a grand act of terrorism in the intelligence field. For this, it targets British secret service agent James Bond . Due in part to his ... (Wikipedia)

  5. Never Go Back

    by Lee Child
    Ex-army cop Jack Reacher returns to take on a powerful adversary.

    At a motel outside Washington D.C. , former army cop Jack Reacher is confronted by two men, who call him a disgrace and order him to leave town. Reacher refuses, and subdues them in a brief ... (Wikipedia)

  6. Darkly Dreaming Dexter

    by Jeff Lindsay
    An introspective serial killer navigates the dark side of morality, guided by his own code of justice.

    The novel's protagonist , Dexter Morgan , works for the Miami-Dade Police Department as a forensic blood spatter analyst . In his spare time, Dexter is a serial killer who kills murderers, rapists, ... (Wikipedia)

  7. 61 Hours

    by Lee Child
    An ex-military cop races against the clock to uncover a sinister plot and protect a witness in small-town South Dakota.

    Jack Reacher is hitching a ride on a senior citizen's tour through South Dakota in the middle of winter when the bus skids out on the interstate, disabling it. Together with the bus driver and the ... (Wikipedia)

  8. The Wasp Factory

    by Iain Banks
    A disturbed teenage boy discovers startling truths about his family and himself.

    The story is told from the perspective of 16-year-old Frank Cauldhame. Frank lives with his father on a small island in rural Scotland , and he has not seen his mother in many years. There is no ... (Wikipedia)

  9. Shutter Island

    by Dennis Lehane
    A U.S. Marshal investigates a psychiatric hospital on a remote island, uncovering chilling secrets and an unexpected truth.

    In 1954, widower U.S. Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels and his new partner, Chuck Aule, go on a ferry boat to Shutter Island, the home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane, to investigate ... (Wikipedia)

  10. The Tower of the Swallow

    by Andrzej Sapkowski
    A powerful sorceress and her companions battle dangerous forces to protect their kingdom.

    Vysogota, an elderly philosopher living alone in the Pereplut swamp, comes upon an injured Ciri near his retreat and takes her in, caring for her until she is ready to continue her journey. During ... (Wikipedia)

  11. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

    by Douglas Adams
    An eccentric detective's surreal journey through time and space to solve a mysterious case.

    Richard MacDuff attends the Coleridge dinner at his old college St Cedd's , where he witnesses his former tutor, Professor Urban "Reg" Chronotis , perform an inexplicable magic trick in which he ... (Wikipedia)

  12. Demons

    by Fyodor Dostoevsky
    A fictional exploration of the human condition, examining the darker sides of our nature.

    The novel is in three parts. There are two epigraphs, the first from Pushkin's poem "Demons" and the second from Luke 8:32–36. After an almost illustrious but prematurely curtailed academic career ... (Wikipedia)

  13. I Can Be a Better You

    by Tarryn Fisher
    A twisted tale of obsession and identity, as two women become dangerously entangled in a game of manipulation and deceit.

    When Fig Coxbury buys a house on West Barrett Street, it's not because she likes the neighborhood, or even because she likes the house. It's because everything she desires is next door: The husband, ... (Goodreads)

  14. A Well-Tempered Heart

    by Jan-Philipp Sendker
    A woman travels to Burma to find her missing father and discovers love, loss, and the power of forgiveness.

    The sequel to the international best-selling novel, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, , , Almost ten years have passed since Julia Win came back from Burma, her father’s native country. Though she is a ... (Goodreads)

  15. The Dark Tower

    by Stephen King
    Epic fantasy quest to save the world by reaching the mysterious Dark Tower.

    The seventh and final installment of Stephen King's The Dark Tower saga is perhaps the most anticipated book in the author's long career. King began this epic tale about the last gunslinger in the ... (Goodreads)

  16. Red Dragon

    by Thomas Harris
    A serial killer stalks the night, and a former FBI agent is the only one who can stop him.

    In 1975, Will Graham , a brilliant profiler of the FBI , captured the serial killer Hannibal Lecter . However, Graham suffered serious injuries from the encounter and retired afterwards. Four years ... (Wikipedia)

  17. 'Salem's Lot

    by Stephen King
    A small town is terrorized by a vampire, forcing its citizens to fight for survival.

    Ben Mears, a writer who spent part of his childhood in Jerusalem's Lot , Maine , has returned after 25 years. He quickly becomes friends with high-school teacher Matt Burke and strikes up a ... (Wikipedia)

  18. Ms. Marvel

    by G. Willow Wilson
    Kamala Khan, a Pakistani-American teenager from Jersey City, discovers she has superpowers and becomes the new Ms. Marvel.

    Marvel Comics presents the all-new MS. MARVEL, the ground breaking heroine that has become an international sensation! Kamala Khan is just an ordinary girl from Jersey City–until she is suddenly ... (Goodreads)

  19. Traitor's Blade

    by Sebastien de Castell
    Three musketeers-like tale of a disbanded group of swashbuckling heroes fighting for justice in a corrupt kingdom.

    Falcio is the first Cantor of the Greatcoats. Trained in the fighting arts and the laws of Tristia, the Greatcoats are travelling Magisters upholding King’s Law. They are heroes. Or at least they ... (Goodreads)

  20. Strip Tease

    by Carl Hiaasen
    A stripper fights to regain custody of her daughter while navigating corrupt politicians and dangerous men. Darkly humorous and satirical.

    During a late-night bachelor party at the Eager Beaver, a striptease club in Fort Lauderdale , Florida, drunken groom-to-be Paul Guber climbs on stage and grabs Erin Grant, one of the dancers. Before ... (Wikipedia)

  21. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

    by Jules Verne
    A thrilling adventure beneath the depths of the sea, discovering a strange and wondrous world.

    During the year 1866, ships of various nationalities sight a mysterious sea monster , which, it is later suggested, might be a gigantic narwhal . The U.S. government assembles an expedition in New ... (Wikipedia)

  22. The Shepherd's Tale

    by Joss Whedon
    A fantastical adventure of a young shepherd and her magical protector, as they battle a dark force threatening to destroy their world.

    One of Serenity 's greatest mysteries is finally revealed in The Shepherd's Tale , filling in the life of one of the show's most beloved characters—Shepherd Book! Who was Book before meeting Mal and ... (Goodreads)

  23. Blackout

    by Marc Elsberg
    A massive power outage hits Europe, plunging the continent into chaos and revealing the fragility of modern society.

    The novel starts with a collapse of electrical grids across Europe, plunging the population into darkness and disaster. , , The prolonged electricity cut causes major problems: no more petrol , no ... (Wikipedia)

  24. Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All

    by Jonas Jonasson
    A hitman, a receptionist, and a priest team up to start a revenge-for-hire business. Chaos ensues.

    A madcap new novel from the #1 internationally bestselling author of, The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window, and, The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden, Hitman Anders, recently out of ... (Goodreads)

  25. Fields of Fire

    by Marko Kloos
    A group of soldiers fight for survival on a hostile planet, facing not only the enemy but also their own demons.

    The time has come to take the fight to the Lankies. Mars has been under Lanky control for more than a year. Since then, the depleted forces of Earth's alliances have rebuilt their fleets, staffing ... (Goodreads)

  26. Cloud Atlas

    by David Mitchell
    A dynamic narrative spanning centuries, exploring the interconnectedness of humanity.

    The book consists of six nested stories; each is read or observed by a main character of the next, thus they progress in time through the central sixth story. The first five stories are each ... (Wikipedia)

  27. Set in Darkness

    by Ian Rankin
    A murder investigation in Edinburgh uncovers corruption and political intrigue. Detective Rebus navigates the murky waters of power and deception.

    The Scottish Parliament is about to reopen in Edinburgh (in 1999) after 300 years. Detective Inspector John Rebus is in charge of liaison, as the new parliament is in his patch. While on a tour of ... (Wikipedia)

  28. Archangel

    by Robert Harris
    A British historian uncovers a secret Stalin-era plot to create a puppet monarch in Russia. The past and present collide in a thrilling tale of espionage and betrayal.

    While attending a conference in Moscow , historian Christopher "Fluke" Kelso is met by an old man named Papu Rapava, who claims to have been present at the death of Joseph Stalin . Immediately after ... (Wikipedia)

  29. The Sworn Sword

    by George R.R. Martin
    A tale of chivalry, loyalty, and honor as a knight undertakes a perilous quest.

    The Sworn Sword is a novella by George R. R. Martin that first appeared in the Legends II anthology series. This is the second in the series of Dunk and Egg stories. ... (Goodreads)

  30. The Black Book

    by Ian Rankin
    Detective Rebus investigates a serial killer who leaves pages from a notebook at each crime scene.

    Five years ago, a mysterious fire burned Edinburgh's seed Central Hotel to ashes. Long-forgotten and unsolved, the case reappears when a charred body–with a bullet in its head--is found amongst the ... (Goodreads)