Five non-fiction books for people who normally read thrillers

Michelle McNamara became consumed by the search for the man she named the Golden State Killer, a serial rapist and murderer who terrorised California before disappearing. The book combines true crime, investigative obsession and the painstaking process of connecting crimes committed across different places and years. It reads partly as an investigation and partly as an account of what it costs to keep looking.

Cells taken from Henrietta Lacks without her knowledge in 1951 became one of the most important tools in medical research, while her family remained unaware for decades. Rebecca Skloot traces the scientific breakthroughs made possible by the cells alongside the human story of consent, race, medicine and ownership. The ethical questions are as gripping as any fictional conspiracy.

Oleg Gordievsky was a senior KGB officer who secretly worked for MI6 during the Cold War. His story involves surveillance, double agents, betrayal, coded signals and an extraordinary escape plan—everything a spy novelist might invent, except it happened. Ben Macintyre turns complex intelligence history into a narrative with the tension of a classic espionage thriller.

In 1920s Oklahoma, members of the oil-rich Osage Nation began dying in a series of murders linked to greed, corruption and a calculated attempt to steal their wealth. The investigation became part of the early history of the FBI, but the full scale of what happened reached far beyond a single case. It is both a compelling investigation and an appalling piece of American history.

Elizabeth Holmes claimed that Theranos had created technology capable of transforming blood testing, attracting vast investment and enormous publicity. The central problem was that the technology did not work as promised. John Carreyrou follows the deception, the people who challenged it and the culture that allowed an extraordinary corporate story to continue for so long.