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Riot Recommendation

Riot Recommendation: What Are Your Favorite Crime Thrillers with Badass Female Leads?

Vanessa Diaz

Managing Editor

Book Riot Managing Editor Vanessa Diaz is a writer and former bookseller from San Diego, CA whose Spanish is even faster than her English. When not reading or writing, she enjoys dreaming up travel itineraries and drinking entirely too much tea. She is a regular co-host on the All the Books podcast who especially loves mysteries, gothic lit, mythology/folklore, and all things witchy. Vanessa can be found on Instagram at @BuenosDiazSD or taking pictures of pretty trees in Portland, OR, where she now resides.

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Grand Central Publishing and Iris Johansen’s CHAOS.

CIA agent Alisa Flynn is willing to go rogue if it means catching the most heartless band of criminals she's ever encountered. In a ripped-from-the-headlines plot, schoolgirls in Africa have been kidnapped, and Alisa knows that billionaire Gabe Korgan has the courage, financial means, and high-tech weaponry to help rescue them. With additional assistance from renowned horse whisperer Margaret Douglas, Alisa and Gabe lay their rescue plans, only to see them descend into chaos. But with the help of a brave team and a horse with the heart of a warrior, they might just get out of this alive.

We love a pulse-pounding crime read on its own: the mystery, the action, the thrill of–hopefully—solving the case and bringing the bad guys to justice. Now throw in an ass-kicking, name-taking female lead and we’re furiously adding to cart! So come tell us: what are your favorite crime thrillers with badass female leads? Share those with us on Facebook and Twitter, then we’ll round up your answers and share that reading list with your fellow Riot readers next week. We’ll just be sitting here waiting to badassify our TBRs!