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'Leave the World Behind' Read Alikes

Created on December 19, 2023, 1:17 pm

Last Updated March 1, 2024, 5:36 pm

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam is a novel about a family who is sheltering in place at a New York beach house after a black blackout. With no information about what is happening, the family has to deal with the owners of the home coming out of the blue due to the black out to the house and a growing concern that the property is not safe. This list attempts to find books that have sympathetic characters, that are character driven, and intricately plotted psychological suspense thrillers for those people interested in books similar to this title.

1) The Snakes: A Novel

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Description

"The Snakes is many things—a parable and an ancient drama where a father's greed devours his children, a police procedural, an avid take on tabloid venality, and a bitter comedy, superbly observed, where behind a woman's eyes she is 'all movement inside herself, like a wasp in a glass.' I admit that I'm still shaken by parts of this novel. Sadie Jones writes with pitiless aplomb and corrosive intelligence."—Louise Erdrich

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2) beginning at the end

This entry no longer exists in the catalog

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McCarthy, Cormac

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Book, CD Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

America is a barren landscape of smoldering ashes, devoid of life except for those people still struggling to scratch out some type of existence. Amidst the destruction, a father and his young son walk, always toward the coast, but with no real understanding that circumstances will improve once they arrive. Still they persevere, and their relationship comes to represent goodness in a world that is utterly devastated.

4) If, then: a novel

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Description

“A must-reada gorgeous literary novel that asks us to imagine all the possible versions of ourselves that might exist.”J. Courtney Sullivan, New York Times bestselling author of Saints for All Occasions. The residents of a sleepy mountain town are rocked by troubling visions of an alternate reality in this dazzling debut that combines the family-driven suspense of Celeste Ngs Little Fires Everywhere with the inventive storytelling of The Immortalists....

5) The cabin at the end of the world: a novel

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Book, eAudiobook

Description

"Paul Tremblay's terrifying twist to the home invasion novel-inspiration for the upcoming major motion picture from Universal Pictures "Tremblay's personal best. It's that good." - Stephen King Seven-year-old Wen and her parents, Eric and Andrew, are vacationing at a remote cabin on a quiet New Hampshire lake. Their closest neighbors are more than two miles in either direction along a rutted dirt road. One afternoon, as Wen catches grasshoppers in...

6) California: a novel

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Book, eBook, Kindle

Description

After escaping the crumbling ruins of Los Angeles for a shack in the wilderness, Cal and Frida realize they are pregnant and seek refuge in the nearest settlement--a guarded, dark, and paranoid community that poses a whole new set of dangers.

7) The age of miracles: a novel

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Walker, Karen Thompson

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Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

Imagines the coming-of-age story of young Julia, whose world is thrown into upheaval when it is discovered that the Earth's rotation has suddenly begun to slow, posing a catastrophic threat to all life.

8) The only survivors: a novel

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Series

Thorndike Press large print core

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Large Print

Description

"From the New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls and “master of suspense, Megan Miranda” (Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Girl), a thrilling mystery about a group of former classmates who reunite to mark the tenth anniversary of a tragic accident—only to have one of the survivors disappear, casting fear and suspicion on the original tragedy. Seven hours in the past. Seven days in the present....

9) Bad summer people

Author

Rosenblum, Emma

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Large Print

Description

"Emma Rosenblum's Bad Summer People is a whip-smart, propulsive debut about infidelity, backstabbing, and murderous intrigue, set against an exclusive summer haven on Fire Island. "This roiling beach community satire serves up wicked, clever fun that is White Lotus sharp." ―Kevin Kwan, New York Times bestselling author of Crazy Rich Asians and Sex and Vanity None of them would claim to be a particularly good person. But who among them is actually...

10) The woman in the window

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Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Large Print

Description

"It isn't paranoia if it's really happening... Anna Fox lives alone -- a recluse in her New York City home, drinking too much wine, watching old movies... and spying on her neighbors. Then the Russells move next door: a father, a mother, their teenaged son. The perfect family. But when Anna sees something she shouldn't, her world begins to crumble -- and its shocking secrets are laid bare. What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in...

11) The girl on the train

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Formats:

Book, CD Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Large Print

Description

There she sits, the girl on the train. What she sees gazing out the window, will change everything. Every day the same. Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and night. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She looks forward to it. She's even started to feel like she knows them. Jess and Jason...

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Formats:

Book, Book (Paperback), eBook, Kindle, Large Print

Description

Three people-- a suburban housewife, a talented documentary photographer, and a detective-- living lives they never wanted, hiding secrets that even those closest to them would never suspect, will find that the past doesn't recede ... and that desperation and hunger can lurk behind even the prettiest facades.

13) The couple next door

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Formats:

eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Large Print

Description

Anne and Marco Conti seem to have it all--a loving relationship, a wonderful home, and their beautiful baby, Cora. But one night when they are at a dinner party next door, a terrible crime is committed. Suspicion immediately focuses on the parents. But the truth is a much more complicated story. Inside the curtained house, an unsettling account of what actually happened unfolds. Detective Rasbach knows that the panicked couple is hiding something....

14) Do not become alarmed: a novel

Author

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

When Liv and Nora decide to take their families on a holiday cruise, everyone is thrilled. But when they all go ashore in beautiful Central America, a series of minor misfortunes leads the families farther and farther from the ship's safety. "From a beloved, award-winning writer, the much-anticipated novel about what happens when two families go on a tropical vacation--and the children go missing. When Liv and Nora decide to take their families...

15) Grist Mill Road: a novel

Author

Yates, Christopher J

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Description

"Four distinct voices tell the story of a disturbing incident and its far-reaching aftermath...It's a labyrinth of shifting perspectives, but the narrators keep this grim story focused and mesmerizing." AudioFile Magazine. The highly anticipated new audiobook from the author whose debut was called “The smart summer thriller youve been waiting for...The novel you should be reading tonight” (NPRs All Things Considered) and was named a Book of the...

16) Secluded cabin sleeps six

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Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

"What could be more restful than a weekend getaway with family and friends? An isolated luxury cabin in the woods, spectacular views, a hot tub and a personal chef. Hannah’s generous brother found the listing online. The reviews are stellar. It'll be three couples on this trip with good food, good company and lots of R & R. But the dreamy weekend is about to turn into a nightmare. A deadly storm is brewing. The rental host seems just a little too...

17) The house across the lake: a novel

Author

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Large Print

Description

Casey Fletcher, a recently widowed actress trying to escape a streak of bad press, has retreated to the peace and quiet of her family’s lake house in Vermont. Armed with a pair of binoculars and several bottles of bourbon, she passes the time watching Tom and Katherine Royce, the glamorous couple living in the house across the lake. They make for good viewing—a tech innovator, Tom is powerful; and a former model, Katherine is gorgeous. One day...

18) The last house on Needless Street

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Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

"Catriona Ward's The Last House on Needless Street is a shocking and immersive read perfect for fans of Gone Girl and The Haunting of Hill House. "The new face of literary dark fiction." -Sarah Pinborough, New York Times bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes "The buzz...is real. I've read it and was blown away. It's a true nerve-shredder that keeps its mind-blowing secrets to the very end." -Stephen King In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street...

19) None of this is true: a novel

Author

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Large Print

Description

"From the #1 New York Times bestselling author known for her "superb pacing, twisted characters, and captivating prose" (BuzzFeed), Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true crime podcast. Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is...

20) The vacationers: a novel

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Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

For the Posts, a two-week trip to the Balearic island of Mallorca with their extended family and friends is a celebration: Franny and Jim are observing their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary, and their daughter, Sylvia, has graduated from high school. The sunlit island, its mountains and beaches, its tapas and tennis courts, also promise an escape from the tensions simmering at home in Manhattan. But all does not go according to plan: over the course...