Technothrillers: Best of the 2020s (15 books)

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Technothrillers: Best of the 2020s
Best Technothrillers of the 2020s (published 2020-2029)
  • not a challenge list, don't click on every book you've read
  • select only books you’ve read and ranked 3 stars or better
  • if you’ve only read 1, read more, enjoy, don’t vote for just 1
  • only 1? “you know nothing Jon Snow," not which are best
  • vote for at least 3 books and rank your picks best to worst
  • do not vote for books with less than 1000 ratings
  • do not vote for non-English books on this list

Techno-thrillers explore the ramifications of emerging technology, science, or natural phenomena in a story where your pulse races to thriller intensity at least briefly. The genre tends toward the relatively near-reaching possibilities of sci-fi, and usually includes enough technical detail/explanation to satisfy your inner geek. This is not your classic crime mystery novel. Not a galaxy far, far away. Not a fantasy. Nothing magical. Plausible physics on/near Earth in roughly the near present/future. It can be also be non-fiction, or yes, sometimes it can indeed be rather far-fetched.

Book Group: Technothrillers
Lists:
  • Technothrillers: Favorite Authors
  • Technothrillers: Best of All Time
  • Technothrillers: Best of the 20th Century
  • Technothrillers: Best of the 21st Century
  • Technothrillers: Best of Pre-1960s
  • Technothrillers: Best of the 1960s
  • Technothrillers: Best of the 1970s
  • Technothrillers: Best of the 1980s
  • Technothrillers: Best of the 1990s
  • Technothrillers: Best of the 2000s
  • Technothrillers: Best of the 2010s
  • Technothrillers: Best of the 2020s
Additional Lists:
  • Best Technothrillers Ever
  • Best Science Thrillers

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All Votes Add Books To This List

1	Artificial Wisdom (Wisdom, #1) by Thomas R. Weaver (Goodreads Author) 3.88 avg rating — 9,674 ratings score: 97, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
1	Extinction (Cash & Colcord, #1) by Douglas Preston (Goodreads Author) 4.06 avg rating — 27,694 ratings score: 92, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
1	Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Goodreads Author) 4.51 avg rating — 1,909,305 ratings score: 300, and 3 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
1	Eruption by Michael Crichton 3.74 avg rating — 74,326 ratings score: 291, and 3 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
1	The Extinction Trials by A.G. Riddle (Goodreads Author) 3.97 avg rating — 19,290 ratings score: 88, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
1	Upgrade by Blake Crouch (Goodreads Author) 3.80 avg rating — 131,447 ratings score: 194, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
1	Beachhead (Aggressor #2) by F.X. Holden (Goodreads Author) 4.56 avg rating — 1,409 ratings score: 98, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
1	Aggressor (Aggressor #1) by F.X. Holden (Goodreads Author) 4.51 avg rating — 1,700 ratings score: 99, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
1	Swarm: The hit series continues (The Aggressor Series Book 3) by F.X. Holden (Goodreads Author) 4.57 avg rating — 1,134 ratings score: 96, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
1	The Secret of Secrets (Robert Langdon, #6) by Dan Brown (Goodreads Author) 3.91 avg rating — 210,510 ratings score: 89, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
1	Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks (Goodreads Author) 3.89 avg rating — 61,707 ratings score: 94, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
1	Critical Mass (Delta-v, #2) by Daniel Suarez (Goodreads Author) 4.18 avg rating — 5,116 ratings score: 90, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
1	Midnight: A gripping Aggressor Inc. action thriller (The Aggressor Series Book 4) by F.X. Holden (Goodreads Author) 4.65 avg rating — 1,056 ratings score: 93, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
2	The Object by Joshua T. Calvert (Goodreads Author) 4.11 avg rating — 7,615 ratings score: 87, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
3	The Apollo Murders (Apollo Murders, #1) by Chris Hadfield 3.91 avg rating — 21,038 ratings score: 86, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

15 books · 5 voters · list created August 17th, 2024 by Steve Shelby (votes) .

Tags: 2020s, best, decade, sci-fi, science, science-fiction, scifi, techno-thriller, technothriller, thriller

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People Who Voted On This List (5)

Steve 1080 books
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~☆~Autumn 8169 books
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Joan 7381 books
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Darrin 997 books
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TonyTwoToes 729 books
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Comments Showing 1-4 of 4 (4 new)

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message 1: by Steve (last edited May 25, 2026 11:47AM) (new)

May 09, 2026 06:01PM

Blockchained: A Novel has 5 ratings. Do not add or vote for books with less than 1000 ratings, as specified in the list description. Please delete this from the list.

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message 2: by Steve (last edited May 29, 2026 10:55AM) (new)

May 29, 2026 10:54AM

Blockchained is gone. Lately spam is quite an annoying battle on these lists.

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message 3: by Steve (last edited Sep 12, 2026 09:04AM) (new)

Sep 09, 2026 09:57PM

The book KING OF THE WORLD: The Global Coup by Randall Coleman was voted as best of the decade, despite have only 1 rating. At least 1000 ratings are required for this list. This account, Brossard, also voted for this one book on 7 lists and this account joined 5 groups today and posted the same promotional paragraph on all of them. He says: “It's like a Tom Clancy novel on steroids.” This author also has the same book, with the same cover, released in 2015. This one has added a byline, but has the same cover, which does not include the byline.

Update: Now they dropped the byline. It isn’t listed as a separate book but just a rerelease 2026 edition of the same book published in 2015. A book first published in 2015 doesn’t belong in a 2020s decade list. With less than 100 ratings, it is well short of the minimum of 1000 ratings, and shouldn’t be on any of the lists.

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message 4: by Steve (last edited Sep 17, 2026 10:49PM) (new)

Sep 15, 2026 08:54PM

Now the Randall Coleman books spammer from King of the World is voting in mass for other books he wrote, which also do not have enough ratings to be on this list. This is willful harassment and this book and author are no longer welcome on this list. The Dreamers by the same author was put on this list by another spammer.

Update: Both books purged.

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