# Help me find new books to read. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 30, 2012, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-new-books-to-read/642594 "2012-11-30T18:32:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-new-books-to-read/642594/1 "2012-11-30T18:32:37Z")
This is for Mrs Cad. She loves Stephen King although she has been less than thrilled with his latest works. Her problem with Dean Koontz is that he writes the same story over and over and so he’s monotonous. She liked the Anne Rice vampire chronicles and IIRC that one about the castrati. She likes HBO’s Game of Thrones but doesn’t want to spoil the series by reading the books. So what book/series/author should she look at? Feel free to ask more questions if you need more information. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-new-books-to-read/642594/2 "2012-11-30T18:35:38Z")
[Wool](http://www.amazon.com/Wool-Omnibus-Edition-Hugh-Howey/dp/1469984202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354300446&sr=8-1&keywords=wool). Maybe not here genre,but it wasn’t really mine…futuristic, somewhat dystopian, but it is has a great story, great characterless, excellent writing. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-new-books-to-read/642594/3 "2012-11-30T18:41:29Z")
Oh and she liked the Thomas Covanent series too. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-new-books-to-read/642594/4 "2012-11-30T18:44:19Z")
If she’s a Stephen King fan, she’ll probably like Peter Straub (who is a better writer, IMO). These aren’t new, but she can’t go wrong with his first three Blue Rose books: [Koko](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19577.Koko), [Mystery](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19586.Mystery) and [The Throat](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/906491). There are a couple more recent ones, but they aren’t nearly as good. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-new-books-to-read/642594/5 "2012-11-30T19:30:54Z")
She might like Ruth Rendell. Her books are not about supernatural stuff, but do feature people battling their own internal demons, like many of King’s. The ones she has written under the name Barbara Vine are the first ones I thought of. She also has a more conventional detective series featuring Inspector Wexford. ---
**Author:** ![Sassy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@Sassy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sassy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-new-books-to-read/642594/6 "2012-11-30T20:23:07Z")
[Feed](http://miragrant.com/feed.php) This is the first of 3 books & I don’t even like horror/thrillers. Amazing world, amazing characters - please read this! ---
**Author:** ![melondeca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@melondeca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/melondeca)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-new-books-to-read/642594/7 "2012-11-30T20:28:33Z")
Stephen King’s son, Joe Hill, has written a couple books that I really enjoyed. [Heart-Shaped Box](http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Shaped-Box-Novel-Joe-Hill/dp/0061944890/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1354307211&sr=1-1&keywords=heart+shaped+box+joe+hill) scared the bejeezus out of me. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-new-books-to-read/642594/8 "2012-11-30T20:36:23Z")
Stephen King is my favorite author also. My second favorite is [Joe R. Lansdale](http://www.amazon.com/Joe-R.-Lansdale/e/B000AP8R6Y). He’s written stand-alone novels and short stories, well as the excellent Hap & Leonard series. She may also like Joe Hill, who is King’s son. Not as good as his dad, but no slouch! [dern you **melondeca**!] ---
**Author:** ![Zjestika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8edcca/32.png) [@Zjestika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zjestika)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-new-books-to-read/642594/9 "2012-11-30T20:43:03Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > [Wool](http://www.amazon.com/Wool-Omnibus-Edition-Hugh-Howey/dp/1469984202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354300446&sr=8-1&keywords=wool). Maybe not here genre,but it wasn’t really mine…futuristic, somewhat dystopian, but it is has a great story, great characterless, excellent writing. This was going to be my answer. It’s fantastic. And there’s 7 installments, so there’s planty to read if she likes it. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-new-books-to-read/642594/10 "2012-11-30T21:29:45Z")
I’ll second early Straub and Joe Hill and Joe Lansdale\* and _Wool_. Robert McCammon is often compared to King, so she might like his stuff – _Stinger, Swan Song, Boy’s Life, Mystery Walk, Bethany’s Sin, Baal, They Thirst_. Since she likes _Game of Thrones_, she’d probably like Robin Hobb’s Assassin, Liveships, and Tawny Man trilogies. There’s a fantasy series of novellas called _Legends_. Reading those samples would give her a good intro to what’s happening in fantasy. \*I thought his most recent Hap and Leonard story was awful. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-new-books-to-read/642594/11 "2012-11-30T21:41:41Z")
Julian May’s _Saga of Pliocene Exile_, beginning with _The Many-Colored Land_. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-new-books-to-read/642594/12 "2012-11-30T21:43:58Z")
**Don’t Breathe a Word** by Jennifer McMahon. Creepy, spooky, and you’re not sure what’s real and what isn’t… Her **Dismantled** is pretty good too. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-new-books-to-read/642594/13 "2012-11-30T22:44:33Z")
Also by Joe Hill, and well worth reading: the _Locke & Key_ graphic novels. He writes 'em, and Gabriel Rodriguez illustrates 'em. Funny, spooky, occasionally gory, but fantastic! Start with _Welcome to Lovecraft_. And if she likes both vampires and George R.R. Martin’s _Game of Thrones_, she can’t go wrong with Martin’s own _Fevre Dream_, a vampire thriller set on the Mississippi River before the Civil War. The kind of book Mark Twain and Bram Stoker would write together. Very, very good. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-new-books-to-read/642594/14 "2012-12-03T05:43:20Z")
If she likes Stephen King and doesn’t mind gore (more than King, even), Graham Masterton is a very good (and underrated in the U.S.) horror author. Just stay away from “Unspeakable,” which was awful. ---
**Author:** ![NadineBeyer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NadineBeyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NadineBeyer)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-new-books-to-read/642594/15 "2012-12-03T09:14:11Z")
Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, it’s one of those novels that you must read in life. It will soon be on HBO just like Game of Thrones. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-new-books-to-read/642594/16 "2012-12-03T14:21:11Z")
Kim Newman’s back-in-print-with-new-material ANNO DRACULA series, including The Bloody Red Baron, Dracula Cha-cha-cha (formerly Judgement of Tears), and upcoming, Johnny Alucard. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-new-books-to-read/642594/17 "2012-12-03T15:42:04Z")
The NYT has it’s annual Christmas books edition out this week. That’s a good summary of what they consider to be the best new books out there. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-new-books-to-read/642594/18 "2012-12-03T16:14:10Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > If she likes Stephen King and doesn’t mind gore (more than King, even), Graham Masterton is a very good (and underrated in the U.S.) horror author. Just stay away from “Unspeakable,” which was awful. **Ritual** was a very good King-like novel, up until the literal _deus ex machina_. Of course, that is in itself very King-like, so there you have it. And he didn’t really seem to know how to end **Plague**. Along similar (gory) lines, I would suggest Jack Ketchum. **Offspring** and **The Woman** have been my favorites. **The Girl Next Door** was also well-written, but harder to stomach, particularly since it was inspired by a true crime. If she’s willing to give him another try, Koontz’s recent **Frankenstein** series was okay. I’ve heard good things about the **Odd Thomas** series, but haven’t read it yet.