Recommend me a thriller (book)

[nicky g]

Hi guys,

I've not been reading much fiction for a while but I'm very much in the mood to read some kind of thriller/spy type book and I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations. Doesn't need to be a literary masterpiece but on the other hand I hate really trashy/sloppy writing (I picked up what I think might have been a Robert Ludlum novel a while ago and in the first chapter it mentioned someone's "throbbing manhood" - that won't fly). I don't like the way John LeCarre writes either so sctratch him; somewhere in between. One pointer as to the kind of thing I like is that one of my favourite TV show's is 24; I know it's silly but that's the kind of thing I'm after - spies, tecchie stuff, double-crossing, suspense etc, and preferably reasonably well written. I'll consider detective fiction but am more interested in spy/political/terrorist plot type stuff.
Thanks for any help,
NG.

[The once and future king]

Shame about Le Carre as therefore I cant answer.

I find his books are a great read.

[nicky g]

I find his writing a struggle to get through; it's quite showy and unconcise. The characters irritate me a bit as well; all public schoolboy weirdos. It's a shame as he would be the idea author for the kind of thing I want to read.

[nicky g]

That said, I've only read one (Tinker, Tailor...) and started two others (the others in the trilogy). What would you recommend of his other than those?

[elwoodblues]

I like the Vince Flynn books. Below is the order of the books. You don't need to read the first one as the series really starts with the second.

Term Limits
Transfer of Power
The Third Option
Separation of Power
Executive Power
Memorial Day

For fluff cop books, I like the Alex Cross novels by James Patterson. Two were made into movies (Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls). They can be a bit over the top, but I still like 'em.

[The once and future king]

The writing in THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD is a bit more breft.

This is a good read.

[bernie]

Point of impact by Stephen Hunter

or

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

b

[La Brujita]

I read both of Bernie's suggestions I like the first, second is pretty good. Here are some more:

Killing Floor
The Alienist
A Place of Execution

These are more detective novels.

I also really liked The Bourne Supremecy if you are looking for a more espionage type book

[elwoodblues]

Agreed -- The Bourne books are pretty good (though The Bourne Ultimatum seemed a little forced to me)

[Toro]

Anything by Michael Connelly

[ThaSaltCracka]

I just finished The Da Vinci Code..... I enjoyeed it enormously, probably will check out Angels and Demons. I also read the The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, check it out as well.

[Francis Dollarhyde]

Red Dragon is always a nice choice. Or, if you have friends (which I don't) you can have them over and you can watch Manhunter and listen to Iron Butterfly.

[nolanfan34]

[ QUOTE ]
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

b

[/ QUOTE ]

Ditto that big time. Easy read, and fast paced. Better than DaVinci Code even I think.

[daveymck]

Somthing a bit more left field, Try Shaun Hutson, he is mainlly a horrer writer but has done some more thriller type books as well. Mainly around the IRA and the police infiltrating it.

Try any with Sean Doyle as the hero.

[url=Shaun Hutson History[/url] http://www.shaunhutson.com/history.htm

White Ghost and Knife Edge.

Warhols Prophecy is pretty good thriller type as well. And Exit Wounds is a decent crime thriller.

[Cyrus]

The spy genre is effectively dead now that the Russkies will not play along. And the Chinese are simply not up to it, you gotta admit. This is why one can say that the classics will not be surpassed any time soon. Graham Greene, John LeCarré, and so on.

Dare I recommend a trip down memory lane with any from the above? Simply can't miss.

...We watched over the weekend the "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" DVD, and am understably (and suitably) still a little elated by the madly atmospherics, so take this post with a dose of salt.

[nicky g]

Well, counter-terrorism has worked as an OK replacement in the movies/on TV, although I've yet to find any fiction that does it well. Greene I know inside out, although I don't really think of him as a spy writer in the way that LeCarre is. I haven't seen or read TSWCIFTC, it's on my list now.

Thanks to everyone for the recommendations, will check out as many as I can.

[elwoodblues]

The Vince Flynn novels that I mentioned earlier do it pretty well (even if the hero of the novels is a little too good)

[Koller]

Extraordinary powers By Joseph Finder

The Moscow club by Joseph Finder

Anything By Frederick Forsyth

[Toro]

The Lion's Game written by Nelson DeMille previous to 9/11 is eerily prophetic of that catostrophic day. No it doesn't predict that the World Trade Towers will be destroyed but pretty damn close.

[benfranklin]

Ditto the recommendation about Vince Flynn. In a review of his latest book, a foreign service officer was quoted as saying that you can't get into a Humvee in Iraq today without stepping on a Vince Flynn paperback.

Also recommend Chuck Logan, John Stanford, and Ridley Pearson.

Someone above recommended "The Killing Floor," which is by Lee Child. His books are good escapist action thrillers, but can be really hard to take if you are a gun owner. Child is dangerously ignorant about firearms, and many of his critical plot twists involve firearms in ways that are beyond the ridiculous and impossible. (In one book, the hero warns of the danger of a Beretta 92FS malfunctioning due to magazine-spring metal fatigue, and says that the proper way to keep such a weapon handy for self-defense is to keep one cartridge in the chamber, and the rest loose next to the magazine. He advises to make use of the round in the chamber while thumbing the loose rounds into the magazine with the other hand. I am not making this up. It gets worse after that.)

[sam h]

Take the best crime novelist in America, somebody who has basically redefined the "hard-boiled" crime genre.

Combine with vivid historical characters and events between 1958-1963, including the CIA trying to "clip The Beard" (Castro), JFK bonking everything in sight, Howard Hughes plotting to buy up Las Vegas while shooting himself up full of tranquilizers and Mormon blood, lots and lots of Mob Guys doing Mob Guy things, Jimmy Hoffa dodging subpoenas and killing people with machetes, Frank Sinatra kissing Kennedy ass and being a hump, J. Edgar Hoover orchestrating complex political machinations behind the scenes, etc.

Finally, add a touch of pure, un-PC, "F--- Y--" attitude that is rarely found in most thrillers.

What you end up with is this book, which I recommend to everybody on this board.

[Lumpy]

It has been mentioned already, but I will second The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown. Great story, very thought provoking. I even convinced my wife to read it and she can't put it down.

[sfer]

Read something by Graham Greene. It'll be a slight change-up but along the same lines.

[Dominic]

Have you read anything by Stephen Coonts? He's hardly a great writer, but if you like that techno-thriller-Ludlum meets clancy type of stuff, his books are great.

[Dominic]

Agreed...I love Greene for his style...beautiful writer.

[Dominic]

Also, the Burke novels of Andrew Vachs are amazing...very hard-boiled, Raymond Chandler like...but gritty and real.

[Rick Nebiolo]

give le carre another try. i agree with once and future king above that "the spy who came in from the cold" would be a good choice.

~ rick

[natedogg]

nt

[Zeno]

More adventure that turned into a thriller. All True.

Endurance (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/078670621X/qid=1092899119/sr=ka-1/ref=pd_ka_1/104-0826448-4537523)

Once you start it is hard to put down. Not quite what you asked for but very worthwhile.

-Zeno

[Ulysses]

I agree w/ the recommendations to give some of LeCarre's other work a try.

Michael Connelly - The Poet. Others have recommended some of his other work in other threads.

Frederick Forsyth is outstanding. Not the most complex of writing, but quick reads and great multilayered plots and fast-moving stories that you just can't put down. The Day of the Jackal is his classic work. Icon was recent and great. I just started his latest, Avenger, and it's off to a good start.

Robert Ludlum is one of my favorites. The Bourne series is my favorite, but I enjoy most of his work. Definitely start with the Bourne Identity / Ultimatum / Supremacy.

William Diehl - Primal Fear. Also a couple more in that series.

James Patterson - Along Came a Spider and a bunch in the series are all good stories.

Ken Follett is another excellent writer that hasn't been mentioned.

Looking at the bookshelf, a random one - Tami Hoag / A Thin Dark Line.

OK. That should do you for a while. /images/graemlins/grin.gif