Recommendations based on The Rule of Fourby Ian Caldwell

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

  1. The Black Dahlia

    by James Ellroy
    A 1940s Los Angeles detective story, exploring the depths of a gruesome unsolved murder.

    On January 15, 1947, the torture-ravished body of a beautiful young woman is found in a vacant lot. The victim makes headlines as the Black Dahlia—and so begins the greatest manhunt in California ... (Goodreads)

  2. World Without End

    by Ken Follett
    Epic tale of love and war, tracing the lives of two families over centuries.

    The novel begins in the fictional city of Kingsbridge, England in the year 1327 . Four children - Merthin, Caris, Gwenda, and Merthin's brother Ralph - head into the woods on All Hallows Day . ... (Wikipedia)

  3. The Children of Men

    by P.D. James
    In a world where no children have been born for 25 years, a man discovers a pregnant woman and must protect her.

    The narrative voice for the novel alternates between the third person and the first person , the latter in the form of a diary kept by Dr. Theodore "Theo" Faron, an Oxford don . The novel opens with ... (Wikipedia)

  4. Absolute Power

    by David Baldacci
    A power-hungry President, a daring thief and a determined investigator collide in a thrilling tale of manipulation and murder.

    An experienced burglar, Luther Whitney, breaks into a billionaire's house with the intent of robbing it. While there, he witnesses the President of the United States and the billionaire's wife having ... (Wikipedia)

  5. The Green Mile

    by Stephen King
    A prison guard discovers the power of redemption, and miracles, when he meets a mysterious inmate.

    Featuring a first-person narrative told by Paul Edgecombe, the novel switches between Paul as an old man in the Georgia Pines nursing home writing down his story in 1996, and his time in 1932 as the ... (Wikipedia)

  6. Plum Island

    by Nelson DeMille
    A mysterious investigation into a series of strange, unexplained events on a remote island.

    In 1997, NYPD detective John Corey is on the back porch of his uncle's waterfront home on the North Fork of Long Island recovering from three gunshot wounds while working in his town of Manhattan, ... (Wikipedia)

  7. The Fifth Gospel

    by Ian Caldwell
    A murder mystery set in the Vatican, exploring the relationship between two brothers and the secrets of the Catholic Church.

    A mysterious exhibit is under construction at the Vatican Museums. The curator is murdered at a clandestine meeting on the outskirts of Rome a week before it opens. That same night, a violent ... (Goodreads)

  8. The Haunting of Hill House

    by Shirley Jackson
    A group of people investigating a mysterious and haunted house, uncovering its secrets.

    It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a "haunting"; Theodora, the lighthearted ... (Goodreads)

  9. The Lion's Game

    by Nelson DeMille
    An international terrorist gives chase to a CIA operative, with the fate of the world in the balance.

    "The Lion" will be landing. And at New York's JFK Airport, an elite American task force waits as the notorious Libyan terrorist prepares to defect to the West. Then, aboard Flight 175, something goes ... (Wikipedia)

  10. Death of an Expert Witness

    by P.D. James
    A detective investigates a suspicious death in a hospital laboratory, uncovering a sinister conspiracy.

    Dr. Lorrimer appeared to be the picture of a bloodless, coldly efficient scientist. Only when his brutally slain body is discovered and his secret past dissected does the image begin to change. Once ... (Goodreads)

  11. These Happy Golden Years

    by Laura Ingalls Wilder
    A young girl's journey of self-discovery as she moves through adulthood.

    As the novel begins, Pa is taking Laura 12 miles from home in the dead of winter to her first teaching assignment at Brewster settlement. Laura being only 15 and a schoolgirl herself, is apprehensive ... (Wikipedia)

  12. Where the Heart Is

    by Billie Letts
    A journey of resilience and courage, as a young woman faces her struggles with poverty and hardship.

    This novel opens with Novalee and Willy Jack, her then boyfriend, traveling from Tennessee to California , where Willy Jack claims he was promised by his cousin, J. Paul, a job working at a train ... (Wikipedia)

  13. The Dante Club

    by Matthew Pearl
    A group of poets, scholars and academics band together to unravel a dark mystery in 19th century Boston.

    The Dante Club begins with the murder of fictional Massachusetts Chief Justice Artemus Healey, who had avoided taking a position to stop or support the escaped slaves of the South . Found by his ... (Wikipedia)

  14. Firestarter

    by Stephen King
    A young girl with pyrokinetic powers is pursued by a mysterious government agency.

    Andy and Charlene "Charlie" McGee are a father/daughter pair on the run from a government agency known as The Shop. During his college years, Andy had participated in a Shop experiment dealing with ... (Wikipedia)

  15. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane

    by Katherine Howe
    A graduate student uncovers a family secret and a mysterious book, leading her on a journey to uncover the truth about her ancestors and their involvement in the Salem witch trials.

    Harvard graduate student Connie Goodwin needs to spend her summer doing research for her doctoral dissertation. But when her mother asks her to handle the sale of Connie’s grandmother’s abandoned ... (Wikipedia)

  16. The High Window

    by Raymond Chandler
    Private detective's desperate hunt for a stolen gem and the mystery behind it.

    Private investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy widow Elizabeth Bright Murdock to recover a missing Brasher Doubloon , a rare and valuable coin. Mrs. Murdock suspects it was stolen by her ... (Wikipedia)

  17. Atlas Shrugged

    by Ayn Rand
    A tale of a dystopian future where the strongest minds take control of society.

    This is the story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world and did. Was he a destroyer or the greatest of liberators? Why did he have to fight his battle, not against his enemies, ... (Goodreads)

  18. Relic

    by Douglas Preston
    Scientists investigate an ancient secret, hidden deep in the South American jungle.

    In September 1987, Dr. Julian Whittlesey is leading an expedition through the Amazon Basin , in the Brazilian rainforest , in search of the lost Kothoga tribe. He hopes to prove that they still do ... (Wikipedia)

  19. The Beach House

    by James Patterson
    A family's summer holiday turns into a life-or-death struggle when their beach house is targeted by a ruthless criminal.

    Jack Mullen is a driven student of the law. His brother Peter is a servant of the rich, parking the cars of the Hamptons' elite –- and perhaps satisfying their more intimate needs as well. Then ... (Goodreads)

  20. The Birth of Venus

    by Sarah Dunant
    A passionate story of love and art set in 15th century Florence.

    Alessandra Cecchi is not quite fifteen when her father, a prosperous cloth merchant, brings a young painter back from northern Europe to decorate the chapel walls in the family’s Florentine palazzo. ... (Goodreads)

  21. Centennial

    by James A. Michener
    Epic journey through the history of the American West, painting a vivid picture of its people and culture.

    Written to commemorate the Bicentennial in 1976, James A. Michener’s magnificent saga of the West is an enthralling celebration of the frontier. Brimming with the glory of America’s past, the story ... (Goodreads)

  22. The Client

    by John Grisham
    A young boy is thrust into a legal battle, as he tries to protect himself and his family.

    Boyd Boyette, a United States Senator from Louisiana, goes missing. Because of his vocal opposition to a proposed major toxic landfill project by a company known to be Mafia-backed, murder is ... (Wikipedia)

  23. The Raven and Other Poems

    by Edgar Allan Poe
    A collection of dark, gothic poems, exploring the depths of the human psyche.

    A chilling, thrilling collection of Edgar Allan Poe's poetry, introduced by best-selling author Philip Pullman The Raven . . . Annabel Lee . . . Ulalume . . . these are some of the spookiest, most ... (Goodreads)

  24. The Rainmaker

    by John Grisham
    A young lawyer's quest to bring justice to a family in need.

    Rudy Baylor is about to graduate from Memphis State Law School . He secures a position with a Memphis law firm , who then loses his job when the firm is bought out by the large Memphis law firm ... (Wikipedia)

  25. Neverwhere

    by Neil Gaiman
    A mysterious journey through a hidden realm of London, filled with danger and unexpected allies.

    Neverwhere is the story of Richard Mayhew and his trials and tribulations in London. At the start of the story, he is a young businessman, recently moved from Scotland and with a normal life ahead. ... (Wikipedia)

  26. The Witness

    by Sandra Brown
    A successful lawyer becomes the target of a menacing stalker and must unravel a mystery to stay alive.

    After stumbling upon a chilling small-town secret in South Carolina, a determined public defender must protect herself — and her young son — from those who want them dead. Kendall Deaton pulls ... (Barnes & Noble)

  27. Labyrinth

    by Kate Mosse
    A woman searches for the secrets of her past that are hidden in a mysterious ancient labyrinth.

    When Dr Alice Tanner, who works as a volunteer at the archaeological site of Pic de Soularac, in France, discovers two skeletons in a long-hidden cave in the hillside, she unearths a link with an ... (Wikipedia)

  28. A Drink Before the War

    by Dennis Lehane
    Private detectives investigate a kidnapping case, uncovering dark secrets of the city.

    Boston private detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro receive a job from three state politicians, Sterling Mulkern, Jim Vurnan and Brian Paulson, to recover documents from a former cleaning ... (Wikipedia)

  29. A Woman of Substance

    by Barbara Taylor Bradford
    The rags-to-riches story of Emma Harte, who overcomes poverty and adversity to build a retail empire.

    One of the top-ten bestselling novels ever written. “An extravagant, absorbing novel of love, courage, ambition, war, death and passion.” —,The New York Times, Barbara Taylor Bradford’s The Emma ... (Barnes & Noble)

  30. Cause of Death

    by Patricia Cornwell
    A medical examiner and her team investigate a series of murders connected to a mysterious virus.

    It is New Year's Eve, the last day of Virginia's bloodiest year since the Civil War. Dr. Kay Scarpetta plunges into the murky depths of a ship graveyard to recover the very human remains of Ted ... (Goodreads)