Books Like The Devil in the White City

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Scott Brick reads Erik Larson's dual narrative with a steady authority that holds the architectural story and the serial-killer story in parallel without letting either overshadow the other — at 15 hours, the pacing matches the meticulous research, and Brick's voice gives both threads the same documentary weight. He returns as for four of the recommendations, and two more are Larson titles, so if you want more of that serious narrative nonfiction where Brick's deep, measured delivery becomes part of the listening experience itself, the list is built around that combination.

10 books for fans of The Devil in the White City

  1. 1
    Dead Wake cover

    Dead Wake

    by Erik Larson

    4.13 Goodreads (163.2K ratings)
  2. 2
    In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin cover

    In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin

    by Erik Larson

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    Chicago professor William Dodd becomes America's first ambassador to Hitler's Germany while his daughter Martha falls for Nazi charm in 1933.

    3.90 Goodreads (221.9K ratings)
  3. 3
    Salt cover

    Salt

    by Mark Kurlansky

    3.75 Goodreads (77.3K ratings)
  4. 4
    The Nightingale cover

    The Nightingale

    by Kristin Hannah

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    Hannah follows two sisters through occupied France — one hiding refugees, one smuggling Allied airmen — as ordinary women become unlikely heroes.

    4.65 Goodreads (2.2M ratings)
  5. 5
    The Frozen River cover

    The Frozen River

    by Ariel Lawhon

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    A midwife in 1789 Maine becomes a detective when a man's body is found frozen in the river, drawing on her intimate knowledge of every family secret in town. Lawhon turns colonial America into a forensic thriller.

    4.38 Goodreads (594.0K ratings)
  6. 6
    The Shadow of the Wind cover

    The Shadow of the Wind

    Cemetery of Forgotten Books • Book 1

    by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

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    In 1945 Barcelona, a boy finds a cursed novel in a secret library, uncovering a decades-old mystery involving a forgotten author, book burning, and revenge.

    4.31 Goodreads (727.6K ratings)
  7. 7
    In the Heart of the Sea cover

    In the Heart of the Sea

    by Nathaniel Philbrick

    4.17 Goodreads (119.9K ratings)
  8. 8
    The Women cover

    The Women

    by Kristin Hannah

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    Hannah chronicles the untold story of women who served in Vietnam, tracking one nurse's journey through war trauma and the hostile homecoming that awaited female veterans.

    4.59 Goodreads (1.6M ratings)
  9. 9
    The Things We Cannot Say cover

    The Things We Cannot Say

    by Kelly Rimmer

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    Rimmer weaves together a Polish woman's wartime survival story with her granddaughter's modern family struggles, including caring for an autistic child. The parallel narratives explore how family secrets across generations can both wound and ultimately heal.

    4.54 Goodreads (284.0K ratings)
  10. 10
    Homegoing cover

    Homegoing

    by Yaa Gyasi

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    Two family branches—one sold into slavery, one complicit in selling—unfold across three centuries from 18th-century Ghana to contemporary America.

    4.47 Goodreads (410.6K ratings)