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The 18 Best Thriller Novels of the 1980s

By YPB Team

Cold War spy games, courtroom showdowns and serial-killer manhunts, from a decade when thrillers got slicker, smarter and impossible to put down. Which one wins?

  1. The Silence of the Lambs — ranked #11
    The Silence of the Lambs
    Thomas Harris's 1988 psychological thriller introducing Clarice Starling's pursuit of a killer with Hannibal Lecter's help.
    1000pts
  2. Red Dragon — ranked #22
    Red Dragon
    Thomas Harris's 1981 thriller that first brought Hannibal Lecter to the page via FBI profiler Will Graham.
    774pts
  3. The Little Drummer Girl — ranked #33
    The Little Drummer Girl
    John le Carré's 1983 espionage novel following an actress recruited into a Middle East intelligence operation.
    706pts
  4. Sphere — ranked #44
    Sphere
    Michael Crichton's 1987 techno-thriller about scientists investigating a mysterious craft on the ocean floor.
    611pts
  5. The Bourne Identity — ranked #55
    The Bourne Identity
    Robert Ludlum's 1980 thriller about an amnesiac assassin piecing together his lethal past.
    611pts
  6. The Name of the Rose — ranked #66
    The Name of the Rose
    Umberto Eco's 1980 medieval murder mystery set in an Italian monastery.
    611pts
  7. Red Storm Rising — ranked #77
    Red Storm Rising
    Tom Clancy's 1986 epic of a conventional NATO-Soviet war fought across land, sea, and air.
    529pts
  8. The Hunt for Red October — ranked #88
    The Hunt for Red October
    Tom Clancy's 1984 debut techno-thriller about a defecting Soviet submarine captain.
    529pts
  9. Patriot Games — ranked #99
    Patriot Games
    Tom Clancy's 1987 thriller pitting analyst Jack Ryan against a splinter terrorist cell.
    529pts
  10. The Bourne Supremacy — ranked #1010
    The Bourne Supremacy
    Robert Ludlum's 1986 sequel that drags Jason Bourne back into a deadly Asian conspiracy.
    529pts
  11. Presumed Innocent — ranked #1111
    Presumed Innocent
    Scott Turow's 1987 courtroom thriller about a prosecutor accused of murdering a colleague.
    433pts
  12. The Russia House — ranked #1212
    The Russia House
    John le Carré's 1989 thriller of a British publisher entangled in late-Cold War Moscow intrigue.
    433pts
  13. Lie Down with Lions — ranked #1313
    Lie Down with Lions
    Ken Follett's 1986 espionage thriller set against the Soviet-Afghan war.
    433pts
  14. A Perfect Spy — ranked #1414
    A Perfect Spy
    John le Carré's 1986 semi-autobiographical masterwork tracing a British agent's double life.
    317pts
  15. Clear and Present Danger — ranked #1515
    Clear and Present Danger
    Tom Clancy's 1989 thriller following a covert U.S. campaign against a Colombian drug cartel.
    317pts
  16. Misery — ranked #1616
    Misery
    Stephen King's 1987 thriller about a novelist held captive by his self-proclaimed number-one fan.
    0pts
  17. The Cardinal of the Kremlin — ranked #1717
    The Cardinal of the Kremlin
    Tom Clancy's 1988 Cold War thriller centered on a high-level Soviet spy and missile defense.
    0pts
  18. The Key to Rebecca — ranked #1818
    The Key to Rebecca
    Ken Follett's 1980 WWII spy thriller set in wartime Cairo.
    0pts

#books91#80s147#thriller50#fiction17

Comments

Misery, 1987: a captive novelist, a nurse with a hammer and almost no locations, filed with The Silence of the Lambs and The Hunt for Red October: https://youpick.best/articles/stephen-king-ranked-many-ways

YP
ypb-team·Aug 21·
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