What books do you read? Recommendations wanted.

richardast
richardast Posts: 273
edited April 2008 in The bottom bracket
I'm heavily into my trashy crime thrillers.
My habit is to find an author I really like and read everything they've ever written.
Please can somebody with a similar taste recomend a good author because I'm desperate for something new.

My recents favourites, whose works I've exhausted are:
Lee Child, Jonathan Kellerman, Simon Kernick, Mark Billingham.

Nothing too cerebral please. Just lots of suspense, violence and twisty plots.

Comments

  • Roger_This
    Roger_This Posts: 136
    You've tried Michael Connelly, right? And James Elroy?
  • pedylan
    pedylan Posts: 768
    richardast wrote:
    Nothing too cerebral please. Just lots of suspense, violence and twisty plots.

    Tried Martyn Waites? Newcastle set crime novels by Geordie writer.

    Not too cerebral - check
    Suspense - check
    Violence - check
    Twisty plots (and characters you can sort of care about) - check.

    If you haven't read him try The Mercy Seat first.
    Where the neon madmen climb
  • geoff_ss
    geoff_ss Posts: 1,201
    Ken Follet or Clare Francis write enjoyable thrillers/mystery novels. Terry Prachet is my favourite living author for sheer enjoyment and brilliant imagination, but they're not thrillers in the conventional sense - nor are they really SF; they're oblique stories about modern life.

    Geoff
    Old cyclists never die; they just fit smaller chainrings ... and pedal faster
  • TheGreatGatsby
    TheGreatGatsby Posts: 818
    I'm with Geoff on the Pratchett front - for sheer chilidish sci-fi nonsense you can't beat a bit of pratchett. Currently I have a list of books on my table ready to read

    Roadie- the miss understood world of the bike racer by Jamie Smith
    The Cheese monkeys and The Learners - both by Chipp Kidd
    How Brand become Icons - the principles of cultural branding - by D B Holt.

    Try Mo Hayder for crime stuff, Tess Garriston, Harlan Coben or for a bit more of a light hearted approoach anything by Carl Hiaassen.

    Gats
  • andy_winch
    andy_winch Posts: 48
    Two favourite authors at the moment.
    Tess Gerritsen, crime thrillers, really, really, really good, can`t put down cos of suspense.

    The other is Danny King, 4 books, bank robber diaries, hitman diaries, pornographer diaries, and burglar diaries. All 4 great, laugh out loud comedy books. Very funny.
    And on the 7th day...............
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  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Dennis Lehane. Smart, well-written, funny, great characters, violent, and a little bit disturbing.

    Start with the Kenzie and Gennaro private detective novels, especially "Darkness, Take My Hand" and "A Drink Before the War".

    Oh, also try Colin Bateman. Northern Irish crime writer, REALLY funny. You might now him from "Murphy's Law" - the TV programme starring Jimmy Nesbitt. That series was based on his stories, but the books are much funnier and much better.
  • TheBoyBilly
    TheBoyBilly Posts: 749
    I'm reading 1914 by Lyn Macdonald. The Great War is a passion of mine, so I look out for anything written by the above author, or Prof. Richard Holmes, John Terraine or John Keegan. I just can't get into fiction, never have really.
    To disagree with three-fourths of the British public is one of the first requisites of sanity - Oscar Wilde
  • richardast
    richardast Posts: 273
    Many thanks for all the suggestions. I will give some of them a try. :)

    Amazon used to be good for getting an idea of similar authors but the new revamped style of the website has put me off. Ironically, for an online bookshop, it induces something almost like dyslexia in me so I'm looking at the screen but just not seeing anything that makes sense. :?

    Cheers
  • redddraggon
    redddraggon Posts: 10,862
    I like the Bernard Cornwell books - military history fictions, You've all heard of Richard Sharpe from TV, but the books are better. He's also got quite a few other good historical fiction series.
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  • richardast
    richardast Posts: 273
    I read the Arthur books and the Grail trilogy of his a few years ago. Both very, very good.
  • redddraggon
    redddraggon Posts: 10,862
    richardast wrote:
    I read the Arthur books and the Grail trilogy of his a few years ago. Both very, very good.

    Haven't read the Arthur books, but I think the Grail trilogy is my favourite.
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  • PostieJohn
    PostieJohn Posts: 1,105
    Peter James', novels tick all your boxes.

    They have an extra interest for me as they are based in Sussex/Brighton.
    However his 'Roy Grace' series seems to have tailed off a little, I can't help thinking they have become more 'lightweight' as talk of TV/film has come into it.
    That's not to say the first couple in the series aren't excellent reads. (There's no great loss in not reading in order)
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  • Ieuanllan
    Ieuanllan Posts: 152
    I'm becoming a big fan of Andrea Camilleri.
    They're translated Italian detective novels set in Sicily, a lot lighter than your Kellermans and suchlike, but very good in my opinion.

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