New Reading Material

[apd193]

So I am looking for new reading material. I read political thrillers mostly, but will read almost anything at least once. Any good fictional books to help unwind the mind at bed time?

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[Kimber Custom]

I'm a big fan of Mike Resnick. You might check out Purgatory or Ivory.

 

[lowly monk]

American shaolin, Polly. Its a hoot.

 

[MikeE]

Anything by Alan Furst - 'The Blood of Victory' a good place to start. The early days of WW11 and the lead up. Regular people figuring out which side they are on, all the political complications of the real world at that time.

 

[carracer]

"One Second After"

 

[Siglvr]

Highly recommend "Ghost Wars". Amazingly well told. Amazon.com: Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (9780143034667): Steve Coll: Books

I'm on my 2nd time through and am enjoying it as much the 2nd time.

 

[Sling Blade]

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, or if you like violent westerns based on history, Blood Meridian by the same author.

 

[Vantage]

For the record... This is a great thread. I'd love for it to be sticky or something, so we can always come back to it.

My .02

I love Dean Koontz books. Two specific ones that I think would fit in this forum are:

The Good Guy

Big Tim Carrier maintains the lowest possible profile, but that tactic crumbles after he is mistaken for a hit man, and when the hit man arrives, poses as the client and tries to cancel. But no one aborts this guy's missions. Tim rushes to shield the prospective victim, writer Linda Paquette, and it soon becomes obvious that the killer has access to every auto-, phone-, and credit-tracing device known to law enforcement (is he a cop?). Moreover, he somehow can pressure law enforcement to be unhelpful, as Tim and Linda discover when Tim's police friend Pete Santo is warned off so firmly that he joins Tim and Linda on the run. For most of its length, this is white-knuckle suspense as gripping as any Koontz has ever written, and the principals all have intriguing backstories that are eventually, with the frustrating exception of the killer's, fully disclosed. Yet the climax and the denouement seem half-baked and perfunctory. This is, however, as politically passionate and common-guy witty as his other, better recent books. Ray Olson

And another one is..

The Husband

*Starred Review* It's another boring day in paradise for gardener Mitch Rafferty, planting impatiens on a rich client's lawn. Then his cell rings. It's Holly, his wife, and she doesn't sound good. Someone slaps her, she screams, and a man comes on to tell Mitch that he has 60 hours to raise $2 million to ransom her. Just so Mitch knows they mean business, the man says, see the guy walking a dog across the street? Mitch looks and blam! A bullet to the head kills the dog walker. Let this be a warning, too, that the kidnapper-killers will know if Mitch says word one to the cops about his predicament, and Holly will suffer. Where is a gardener supposed to get $2 million? The sinister caller says he'll let Mitch know; just be a good machine and follow instructions. Despite his terror, Mitch does until . . . But uh-uh-uh, nothing should be given away about this sinuous nail-biter's developments. Suffice it to say that Mitch's intensely warped family, managed according to his rigidly materialistic psychologist-father's theories; two betrayals, one of Mitch, the other of the kidnappers; a slick child pornography entrepreneur; a humane but persistent police detective; and a New Ager psychopath all help ratchet up the suspense and the violence. But Koontz focuses relentlessly on Mitch and, in chapters scattered judiciously throughout the latter 230 pages, Holly. Not for him the flirtation with evil thinking that an Elmore Leonard does so well or the temptation to sympathize with evildoers that an Alfred Hitchcock offers. And yet Koontz is no less an artist for his championing of the good and his determination to have readers identify with it, as this hair-raising thriller attests. Ray Olson

Both are quick reads that "take off" right away within the first few pages.

And you either order then brand new off amazon, or find them for a couple buck at your local used book store.

 

[4dogs]

Author Vince Flynn is highly recommended. He has written a series of CIA thriller-type novels. Read them in sequence, though.

 

[Teufel_Hunden]

+1 for Vince Flynn. Also Brad Thor is awesome!

 

[jbett98]

"Earth Abides" This book really knocks you back in it's clear vision of what could happen when a biological firestorm of a flu like disease spreads around the globe.
A post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by American writer George R. Stewart. It tells the story of the fall of civilization from deadly disease and its rebirth. Beginning in the United States in the 1940s, it deals with Isherwood "Ish" Williams, Emma, and the community they founded. The survivors live off the remains of the old world, while learning to adapt to the new. Along the way they are forced to make tough decisions and choose what kind of civilization they will rebuild.
Written in 1947 but relevant to what could happen in our future.

 

[CAL30M1]

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, or if you like violent westerns based on history, Blood Meridian by the same author.

Great book!

 

[KalamaMark]

Stephen Hunter ( Point of Impact, Black Light, Time to Hunt, The 47th Samurai, Night of Thunder, I, Sniper, Dead Zero)

Lee Child (Die Trying, Tripwire, Running Blind, Echo Burning, Without Fail, Persuader, The Enemy, One Shot, Bad Luck and Trouble, Nothing to Lose, Gone Tomorrow, 61 Hours, Worth Dying For, The Affair)

Tim Dorsey cracks me up with his bizzaro tales of Florida.

 

[RR Rover]

Detective/Crime would be Robert Parker and Robert Tannenbaum. Military is WEB Griffin. Gun-related is Carston Stroud, especially SNIPERS MOON and LIZARD SKIN, and Robert Ruark UHURU, SOMETHING OF VALUE, and USE ENOUGH GUN.

The best hunting/outdoors book I have ever read in my 70+ years is THE OLD MAN AND THE BOY by Robert Ruark. I have given at least 30 copies of this book to men whose kids were reaching the age to be interested in the outdoors and camping and hunting and shooting. He evokes the memories of your first gun, first buck, first hunting dog, and first time being included in the group of men going hunting so vividly and with such warmth that your eyes will get wet. It is a book that every person who considers themselves a sportsman should read and treasure.

 

[STNOSU]

I second some of the authors above, if you like the fantasy type things that have an interesting them look at books by SM Stirling. The Emberverse series starts with Dies the Fire, its one of those end of the world series all like an EMP strike over the world. Its set in the Willamette Valley.