My usual genre of choice is fantasy, but I’ve recently started reading action adventure. I’m really enjoying the treasure hunt, the top secret government agents, the exotic locales, the twist and turns, etc. I’m currently reading Sandstorm, which is the first Sigma Force novel by James Rollins. My tbr has a stand alone Rollins book, and one by Matthew Reilly.
Who are some of the other authors I should look for? Do the Clive Cussler and Robert Ludlum novels still stand up after so many years?
It’s a little different from what you asked for, but the ‘Flashman’ novels by George McDonald Fraser are packed with action, adventure and humour.
Our ‘hero’ is in fact a bully and a coward 
- but he manages to get involved in real historical events in the 1800s.
The books are meticulously researched and well-written.
The Flashman Papers - Wikipedia
Flashman (The Flashman Papers, Book 1) eBook : Fraser, George MacDonald: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
Bernard Cornwell is a terrific action writer; most of his stories are historical. I highly recommend the Saxon Stories and the Sharpe series. Tons of action in both.
Robert Ludlum, Alistair MacLean, Ken Follett, Thomas Perry. I still like the Matt Helm and Johnny Fedora books (by Donald Hamilton and Desmond Cory, respectively), but they are a bit dated (as might be expected of early '60s secret-agent stories).
Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October is pretty good. Clear and Present Danger has good action as well. The rest are… hit and miss.
The Robert Langdon series by Dan Brown is very good.
This is the first thing the OP made me think of. I’d call them “guilty pleasures” rather than “very good,” but he’s good at keeping you turning the pages.
By “read an action movie,” I’m guessing you meant novel, not a screenplay.
“Point of Impact” by Stephen Hunter is about as good as it gets.
I strongly disagree. Maybe bad fantasy?
Lee Child’s Reacher novels are like potato chips- you know they arent good for you, but you cant help but read another. Fast and enjoyable. The new Amazon series is quite accurate. Not great lit by any means but still fun.
And do read the original Reacher… John MacDonald’s series starring an archetypal '60s beach-bum, one Travis McGee.
Probably my favorite escapism.
I mean, ‘Trav’ lives on a houseboat that he won in a poker game. And “takes his retirement on an installment basis” (earn enough money helping beautiful women and friends recover what they got cheated out of, take revenge on the bad guy, then spend a few months anchored off some picturesque Florida Key).
Matthew Reilly writes STUPID STUPID STUPID action adventure novels but in an 80s action movie way so they’re actually great. Gorillas trained to fire machine guns show up in one of his books and are treated like they’re not that special, it’s awesome
I read those as well as Patriot Games years ago. My problem with Clancy is probably the same as everyone else - 1. Very technical, often way too much, and 2. I don’t need or care to read 70+ pages of A-10 pilot’s life story, and not hear from him for the rest of the book.
How about the Preston and Child novels, or John Gilstrap? Anyone read those?
I am a fan of Aloysius Xingu Leng Pendergast.
The only ones I’ve read are Angels & Demons, and Da Vinci Code. I enjoyed those well enough.
I’d say his novel Without Remorse is probably closer overall to action adventure than most of the Ryan-verse novels. But full agree, lots of hit and miss.
I cant turn my brain off enough to enjoy his stuff.
One word:
Murderbot.
Well, it’s Sci-Fi, but it’s full of Fun Action… as much as you can have when your cyborg assassin protagonist has PTSD and some autistic/anti-social aspects. Plenty of humor, relationships and adventure ensues.
(First book of The Murderbot Diaries: All Systems Red, by Martha Wells. Being developed as a Netflix series, and there are great full-cast audiobooks for all seven books.)
Some personal favorites:
The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
The Eiger Sanction by Trevanian
Kahawa by Donald Westlake
Man on Fire by A.J. Quinnell
Triple by Ken Follett
if you dont mind westerns louis l’amour has over 700 books a lot of them are a bit tongue in cheek …he also has books in other genres also