Books like Two Trains Running by Andrew Vachss

Irvine Welsh’s debut novel follows a tight-knit group of Edinburgh young men as they navigate drug addiction, friendship, and the harsh realities of everyday life.

Patricia Highsmith’s classic thriller follows architect Guy Haines and psychopath Charles Bruno, who meet aboard a train and scheme to exchange murders, exposing the ordinary man's potential for violence.

A brutal 19th‑century Yorkshire whaler, The Volunteer, sails to the Arctic, where harpooner Henry Drax clashes with ex‑army surgeon Patrick Sumner, the ship’s medic, in a violent, ill‑fated adventure.

Charles Orsino is a young man who becomes entangled in the complex world of organized crime in a futuristic America ruled by the Syndicate and the Mob.

The Bailey brothers, Peter and Daniel, dominate London’s East End from the late 1970s, ruling a ruthless gang that shrouds its family in violence and loyalty. When their sons join the business, the stakes rise—until a tragedy forces Tania to choose a perilous path to survive.

In 1933 New York, the Corleone crime family battles for dominance.

The Spanish translation of Mario Puzo’s crime‑fiction classic "Omerta," a tale of mafia honor and its breach.

Nick Stone, a SAS‑trained British intelligence operative, must survive a high‑stakes kidnapping of a Chechen mafioso, then protect a computer spy in Finland, only to find himself stranded in Estonia’s brutal winter without weapons.

The time, 1959 America. The place-a small, entirely corrupt Midwestern burg named Locke City, currently owned top to bottom by homegrown Royal Beaumont. Crippled by a childhood disease, Royal rules from a wheelchair-throne; few, though, have ever doubted that his power is absolute. Or not until now, when rival mobs-one Irish, one Italian-suddenly sense windows of opportunity. They lurk at Locke City's perimeter and sniff around Royal's honey-pots-prostitution, gambling, protection-in a way calculated to cause maximum anxiety. In response, Royal sends for outside help in the form of Walker Dett, a man with the sort of "stillness" to him. Dett is a killer, a hired gun with the war smarts of a Clausewitz. There's plot and counterplot as hard guys maneuver for position and form unlikely alliances. Dett, however, is always in charge, a dodge ahead of his enemies. He schemes, lures and, when at last he pounces, few are left standing. But Dett has a softer side and it catches him unaware. One night, the Angel of Death meets an Earth Angel and, to his astonishment, he falls in love. Life altering for Dett; for thereader unexpectedly moving. A bit of a slow coach in the middle, but it recovers well.

A high‑stakes gangster thriller set in the post‑World War II era, following the Corleone family’s ruthless quest for power and retribution across New York and New Orleans.

The Good Guys follows FBI agents and mob operatives as they race through New York’s underworld, uncovering a missing professor, a mob hit, and a war between rivals.

Mario Puzo's novels explore the world of organized crime and the lives of Italian Americans in New York.