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Word Count for Mystery & Thriller Books

The word count range for Mystery & Thriller books is 80,000 to 110,000. There are numerous examples of books going high in this genre, including The Da Vinci Code with 138,952 words and Gone Girl with 145,719 words. Still, first time authors should try to keep it lower. Here are a few examples:

80,000 -
A Is for Alibi by Sue Grafton 76,481
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn 80,565
Shutter Island by Dennis LehaneĀ  81,666
Tell No One by Harlan Coben 83,732
I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga 87,053
90,000
Heartsick by Chelsea Cain 93,416
The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen 98,039
Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell 98,130
Just One Look by Harlan Coben 99,347
Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz 99,438
100,000 +
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins 101,704
Defending Jacob by William Landay 122,475
The Firm by John Grisham 135,293
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown 138,952
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn 145,719