Hey fellas

Hey fellas,
I need a break from the heavier literature and am looking for something with a captivating plot that's difficult to put down - preferably a thriller that's still OK written. Conspiracy, shadow governments, terrorism, you name it! American Tabloid was a great example.
Just no Dan Brown please.

I liked the Hunger Games a lot, read the series nonstop for a week, kept me up at night.

The City & The City by China Miéville. Great read. Well-written, check; connspiracy, check; shadow government, check.

The Secret History, by Donna Tart is exactly what you are asking for.

read the Stieg Larsson trilogy
China Mieville is a communist

1984 - orwell
a new atlantis - bacon
both are dystopian fiction, but bacons was written from a 1600s perspective vs the 1940s perspective of georgie

Similar situation as you, OP.
I find John Le Carré novels do the job nicely, actually.

Excluding Dan Brown, try these maybe

Foucault's Pendulum, Eco Umberto - heavy conspiracies. Couple of adolescents memeing everything into a conspiracy which turns out to be true, basically /pol/ the book.
The Giver, Lois Lowry - dystopian government

james bond books or flashman

This. Don't read a lot of him in a row, as he gets a little repetitive, but Le Carre is great at showing his characters' motivations without just telling you them. That, and spies who actually make sense.

Yeah, these are great, especially Flashman.
I'd also throw in Tom Sharpe's novels - in small doses.

Baudolino's the best conspiracy novel ever written
Dirk Gently and Confederacy of Dunces are just dope.

the Foundation series by Asimov is good

This is bait, so ignore it.

I recently read Zodiac by Neal Stephenson which I thought was OK. Same with The Three Body Problem by some chink (it's not well-written, but the ideas are kinda cool).

Or perhaps try some Paul Auster. It's great and pretty dark literature, though it's easy to read.

It's not bait, I enjoyed the books, they were easy and fun to read.

james ellroy

This

This is level 2 bait, ignore it.

Read Richard Bachmann, he writes nice and easy prose and has intriguing plots.

If you have not I urge you to read Lord of the Rings. I have just finished it and it is superb and marvelous and will drive you to soul searching.

If you want to want to kill yourself

1984