Looking for new to me authors

[motely36]

I read a lot. My recent reading list include Greg Iles, Preston & Childs, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson.

Have read most of James Patterson, David Baldacci, Michael Connely, Ken Follett.

I see authors at the bookstore that have lots of stuff out that I know nothing about.

Tell me why I should read your favorite author.

[seabeyond]

1. vince flynn and brad thor. i have not read either but

i was talking to a man at the bookstore and he recommended these two authors for my husband. the first book he had me get was vince flynn, transfer of power.

maybe someone else will know these authors.

[motely36]

2. I think I have read some Thor

Thanks

[seabeyond]

3. i enjoy john sanford. he has a whole series i liked. nt

[cyberswede]

4. Seconded

John Sanford's "Prey" series are fun. He's also written some about a hacker (Kidd, I think), and the Virgil Flowers series is good, too.

[seabeyond]

8. i liked the kidd too, not a huge fan of flowers, but meh....

i even liked them. i had read all his books and went onto other authors. time to get back to him. 3 or four i havent read

[motely36]

5. I'll check him out.

[krispos42]

6. Try out Jasper Fforde

Cut your teeth on the "Nursery Crime" stories, "The Big Over Easy" and "The Fourth Bear".

Then consume the "Thursday Next" series, starting with "The Eyre Affair".


Complex books, full of byplay, literary references, etc. Funny and interesting!

[MaineDem]

7. Lee Childs' Reacher series is good

Right now I'm reading the John Rain series by Barry Eisler.

Have you checked out the list of series by author that's here somewhere? Some wonderful ideas there. Here's that post: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1193227

[seabeyond]

9. i like lee childs. just isnt going to work putting tom cruise as reacher.

sigh

son and i went thru the actors about that age finding a handful that would work better.

[cyberswede]

10. Augh!!!

That is the worst miscasting I can imagine!!

Reacher should be someone with a lot more gravitas, and grittier, and less "pretty-boy." This is terribly disappointing.

[MaineDem]

12. I totally agree with you.

In addition to gravitas, Cruise doesn't have the stature of Reacher. Cruise is a little guy and Reacher is far from that.

[mvccd1000]

20. Size-wise and comportment-wise, I'd like to see the Rock play Reacher

But I'm open to suggestions.

Absolutely won't even go see a movie with Cruise trying to play that part.

[MaineDem]

21. I agree again. n/t

[seabeyond]

25. ok, i am very bad at google, i dont know how to install picture, i need my teenage son to help and

Last edited Tue Jan 3, 2012, 10:13 PM - Edit history (8)

he left me. he knows todays actors and reads child. but, here are some i gathered. dont recognize any of them though. fingers crossed the pictures come up


julian mcmahon




alex olaughlin




jason lewis




Alexander Skarsgård

[dixiegrrrrl]

22. Strongly agree.

With any luck, Cruise will let the option rights lapse without making the movie.
2nd better would let the option rights lapse after making a bomb of a movie.

I really enjoyed all the Reacher books, for light reading, nice dessert after all the non-fiction I usually read.

[SheilaT]

32. Are they really casting

Tom Cruise as Reacher? That's one movie, probably several movies I won't be seeing.

[seabeyond]

33. Tom Cruise Confirmed to Play Jack Reacher in ‘One Shot’

The good news: a film based on one of the great Jack Reacher books by Lee Child is really going to happen, after years and years of development on various titles in the series that will number 16 novels when The Affair is released this fall. The bad news (perhaps): Jack Reacher, written as a six and a half-foot, sandy-haired slab of a man, will definitely be played by Tom Cruise in Christopher McQuarrie‘s One Shot.

This is a confirmation of word that came down a months ago. Paramount has had Christopher McQuarrie developing One Shot since this time last year; he wrote the latest draft of the script and will direct. And now Cruise, who starred in the McQuarrie-penned Valkyrie, is going to step into Reacher’s massive shoes and disposable clothes.

*

As was obvious last time I covered this casting possibility, I hate the idea. I think Tom Cruise is wrong for the character in many different ways. The physical difference between he and the version of Jack Reacher on the page is something I can dismiss; it’s a question of the actor being able to capture and develop the character’s quiet capability and confidence. Reacher is a far cry from the brash and brazen Cruise.

But this is happening, so that’s the last I’ll say about it. Even with the issues in casting I’m excited at the idea of seeing a Reacher project being made top priority at a studio. If the movie is good, that’ll be the only important thing in the long run.

http://www.slashfilm.com/tom-cruise-confirmed-one-shot/
___________________

appears so. lol. check the thread with actors son and i found. tell me which works the best.

[cyberswede]

11. A few more

James Lee Burke - Dave Robicheaux series

Ian Rankin, especially the Rebus books

Jonathan Kellerman (Faye Kellerman, too).

Just for fun, you might try Raymond Chandler; Michael Connelly counts him as an influence. I think his stuff is great, even though it's not as contemporary as that of other writers in this thread.

[Paladin]

13. I Second The James Lee Burke Rec

The Robicheaux books are all good. "In the Electric Mist With Confederate Dead" has acquired cult following status.....

[ceile]

27. Second Ian Rankin

The Rebus novels are the best detective fiction I've ever read.

[MaineDem]

28. Glad to hear that

I have the first one on my wish list at audible.

[getting old in mke]

14. 1 - Robert Crais

I see you have Michael Connelly listed, so definitely take a look at Robert Crais and his Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series. It occupies basically the same LA as Connelly's Bosch/Haller books. As a matter of fact, Bosch makes an (unnamed) appearance in one of the Cole books and vice versa.

Connelly and Crais are buddies and thought it would be entertaining to do so. (Lee Child is a third of their triumvirate, but don't look for Reacher crossover to that LA too soon...although maybe they were lying to me...)

[getting old in mke]

15. 2 - F Paul Wilson and Jim Butcher

I also noticed the YA fantasy series along with mysteries, so you might want to try F Paul Wilson's "Repairman Jack" series, starting with _The Tomb_. Jack's just this guy, you see, living in the cracks of society in New York that can fix things and situations, be they mundane or demonic. Great character.

"The Dresden Files" now has (I think) thirteen novels and a book of short stories about a wizard working as a private eye in Chicago. Tasty and light enough to zip through in a day or two.

[LearnedHand]

30. Totally second Jim Butcher recommendation

I stumbled on the Harry Dresden Files through Amazon. I go through them pretty quickly but Dresden is a great character -- very dry humored and funny. He's a modern day wizard who helps the Chicago police on strange (i.e., supernatural) cases. And each book's story builds a little on the previous stories. Butcher almost -- but not quite -- gives Terry Pratchett a little American competition. Well worth reading!

[Dr. Strange]

42. Some free F. Paul Wilson

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/15264 <-- A Repairman Jack tale
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/23892

[Little Star]

16. Have you looked into this thread....

fadedroses"s Fiction Book Series Authors (A-Z).

There are lots of good series listed in there and some of them have comments about the books also.

Here is the link:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1193227

[jannyk]

17. I've read all the authors you mention - you might want to try Henning Mankel's 'Wallender' series.

They are great books - I just finished the series - now to start on some of his other novels.

[Curmudgeoness]

18. Have you read any Tess Gerritsen?

From some of the authors that you have read, you might like her books. I especially enjoyed the first few.

[seabeyond]

31. i read one of hers. dont remember what it was. she is on my list to go back to.

did she have a series?

i tend to series.

[mainer]

35. Rizzoli & Isles series

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_2_15?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=rizzoli+%26+isles&sprefix=rizzoli+%26+Isles

It's now a TV show too.

[Curmudgeoness]

36. My favorites are her medical thrillers

and Harvest was the first that I know about. It was very good, but I have the feeling that many of her newer books are probably not as good---you know how it is when an author gets too prolific the quality suffers.

I do know that The Surgeon was a thriller that was a first of a series that continued with The Apprentice---and continues from there. I only read The Surgeon and was more interested in the medical thrillers.

[TBF]

19. Deborah Crombie -

British police couple who solve mysteries - love her!

[dixiegrrrrl]

23. Barry Eisler ( Rain series) and Lee Child ( Reacher series) are tops

for strong intelligent capable leading men, with good plots, good characters, perfect books for reading in a day or two, yet memorable. Little mind adventures to different locales ( Rain is set in Japan)
I think of them as the more up to date, more intelligent James Bond successors
( pls don't even think of the Bond films when you read this sentence), and a perfect bedtime read,
great anti-dote to too much non-fiction, pleasant escapism, for when I don't want to read science fiction.

[Moe Shinola]

24. Here are a few:

Like Sci-Fi? Try Charles Stross, starting with Singularity Sky

Horror? +1 for F. Paul Wilson(the Repairman Jack Series, starting with The Tomb)

Crime drama? John Sanford's Prey books are very good. The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins is great.

Spy/Historical: Len Deighton(just finishing SS-GB and loving it)

Tess Gerritson writes good medical crime novels. I really liked The Sinner.

[backtoblue]

26. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

If you like YA fiction, this series is a really good read.

[matt819]

29. I've had fun with a load of Scandinavian writers

Last edited Sat Jan 7, 2012, 05:48 PM - Edit history (1)

Henning Mankell is the grand old man of Scandinavian mystery writers, but he goes far beyond that in some of his novels. It's best to read his Kurt Wallender stories in order, as Mankell does a fine job developing his characters over time, and it might not make sense if you pick them up at random. Sweden
Jo Nesbo and his Harry Hole series - Norway
Karin Fossum, Swedish police procedurals.
Lars Kepler, The Hypnotist - good book, but could be shorter
The Keeper of Lost Causes - Jussi (?) Adler - also could be shorter, but a good book
Arnaldur Idridason - Icelandic police procedural
Michael Ridpath - Where the Shadows Lie - He's British, but the novel is based in Iceland.
Stieg Larson, of course - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series. People love these or hate them - not much in between. I'm a fan.

Nothing from Denmark that I can remember.

Edited to correct national identity of one author.

[SheilaT]

34. Robert Sawyer and Robert Charles Wilson.

Canadian s-f writers. In recent years I've discovered that the Canadians are writing far more original, much less formulaic fiction.

Another Canadian I'm fond of is Andrew Pyper. His first novel, "Lost Girls" (not to be confused with anything else by that name, and it's best located by looking up by author) is absolutely amazing. An attorney with a bit of a drug problem goes to a small town in northern Ontario to defend a teacher accused of murdering two teenage girls. There are twists and turns and the language is amazing. I found myself reading passages out loud to my husband because they were so good.

[fadedrose]

40. Not just Canadians

I agree with you. Many (not all) American writers seem to be writing the same story with different names in different places. Not as many multiple plots as in the foreign books.

[fadedrose]

37. Some good ones

My favorite is James D. Doss - about a 7-ft Ute Indian in CO, modern times. Good yarns and except for the first book in the series, some really funny scenes in every book.

http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/D_Authors/Doss_James.html

M. C. Beaton - Two series - one about Hamish MacBeth, constable in Scotland, and another about Agatha Raisin, retired lady who loves detective work - England..

http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/B_Authors/Beaton_M-C.html

Louise Penney - mysteries in Canada

http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/P_Authors/Penny_Louise.html

Sharyn McCrumb - Inexplicable happenings in Tennesse mountains - not so much of mysteries as mystifying stories...great writer...

Stieg Larsson

Other good ones posted above in earlier replies....

[ohheckyeah]

38. Sharyn McCrumb is an interesting woman.

When I was the director of a small museum I had a book signing event for her as we carried her books in our gift store. She and I had lunch and I enjoyed talking with her about the mountains we both love. She lives in rural southwest Virginia now.

Her book about Dale Earnhardt, Sr. was an interesting look at how people feel like they know someone like him who is their hero.

[ohheckyeah]

39. I recently discovered a few new authors

that are pretty good - I found them getting free Kindle books. One is Rebecca Forster who does thrillers and one is L.J. Sellers who writes mysteries.

I'm reading a legal thriller by Randy Singer right now and he's pretty good, too.

[motely36]

41. Thanks for all the responses!

I can't wait to go to BAM!