The past couple of years I’ve been really getting into Jeffery Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme series. They’re fast-paced, suspenseful crime novels, intelligent and clever without taking themselves too seriously. Rhyme has become one of my all-time favorite literary characters. (I tried Deaver’s Kathryn Dance novels, but found I didn’t really like that character, so I haven’t been back to those.)
I devoured (pun intended) everything by Thomas Harris, until I got to Hannibal Rising, which just got way too dark for me.
I’ve read the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and I admire and appreciate it, but I don’t usually care to tackle something that dense. The Hobbit is more my speed, actually.
I should be way too old for Harry Potter, but I read 'em all and really enjoyed them. Hitchhiker’s Guide is great. I used to like Stephen King when I was younger, but now I just find him pretentious.
So, knowing all of the above (if you’re still with me), tell me what to read next.
Crime/punishment/trial/revenge: Try Jeffrey Archer’s A Prisoner of Birth. He’s a new author to me, so I don’t know about the rest of his work. I really enjoyed this one, though.
Paranormal/SciFi/Mystery: Try the books by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. I’d start with Relic, then Reliquary, then Cabinet of the Curiosities (in that order). I’ve read the majority of their books, and enjoyed them all. Their scifi is more of an extrapolation of current tech than a trip into fantasy.
I’m at work (got to get back to tasks). I’ll be back if I think of more.
Off the top of my head, I’d second the idea of Jim Butcher. Also Mike Carey.
I’d also suggest maybe Dick Francis who wrote a ton of thrillers. My husband was a big Deaver fan and he also liked Nelson DeMille.
Terry Pratchett might appeal to you in the same way Douglas Adams does. I don’t think anything matches Harry Potter in appeal, to be honest, but if you like HP and the Hobbit, maybe try Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain Chronicles.
You like H2G2, have you tried any Pratchett? (I know it’s a standard recommendation here, but there is a reason.) Try Guards! Guards! to start with. That or The Wee Free Men might fill your Harry Potter-ish needs (YA Discworld).
Dan Chaon’s Await Your Reply is a clever, well-crafted, very readable novel about identity theft. Highly recommended.
pullin recommends Jeffrey Archer, and he is indeed a very talented and compulsively readable storyteller. My favorite Archer book is First Among Equals, a page-turner of a novel about three (four, in the British edition) politicians’ efforts to become Prime Minister. There’s romance, backstabbing, intrigue, and lots of behind-the-scenes political stuff. The author’s Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less is a fun, good-natured revenge fantasy. Love 'em both.
George R.R. Martin’s Tuf Voyaging is a great sf satire about ultimate power, ecology and overpopulation. My all-time favorite sf novel (actually a collection of interrelated short stories).
Joe Haldeman’s Tool of the Trade is a Cold War sf thriller about a Soviet sleeper agent who develops a practical method of mind control. He’s soon on the run from both the CIA and the KGB, and decides to go to a U.S.-Soviet summit meeting. Very, very cool book.
My teenage son really likes the Rick Riordan Percy Jackson books, which are similar to Harry Potter, except that the hero is the son of Poseidon, and there’s a lot about Greek mythology.
If you haven’t read Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe mysteries, you need to go and do so. I don’t care for his non-Wolfe works much at all, but there’s a good reason why his Wolfes are still so loved. They were recently reprinted in paperback, too, so you should be able to find at least some of them in used book stores, if you like dead tree versions. As a general rule, you can read his books in any order, though you should look at the original copyright. For instance, some books are set during Prohibition, some during WWII, etc., and the stories reflect the times.
If you liked Harry Potter, then you might like Diana Wynne Jones’ YA books. She is not very good at ending her stories, but for most of the tale, you can just enjoy the ride. I think her books are far more interesting than the Harry Potter books. Most of her stories are one-offs, but she does have one quartet which should be read in order, and a Chrestomanci series, and also another series (Howl’s Moving Castle and its two sequels).
Last night I downloaded Book 1 of the Dresden Files, a free Jeffrey Archer short story, and a collection of three Nero Wolfe mysteries. These, along with an as-yet-unread Lincoln Rhyme novel, should keep me busy for a little while.
I’ll be traveling over the holidays, though, so I’ll surely be looking for more soon enough.
For fantasy, try the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, a close personal friend of Tolkien himself. Also try His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman. Both of these series, as well as the Hobbit, were intended for younger audiences (LOTR was not).
Try C.S. Lewis’s “Space” trilogy. This is SF by the author of Narnia and the main character is supposedly based on J.R.R. Tolkien himself.