# Looking for thriller novels **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 5, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thriller-novels/492071 "2009-04-05T22:51:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Novalyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@Novalyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novalyne)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thriller-novels/492071/1 "2009-04-05T22:51:27Z")
I’ve recently been reading a lot more. I enjoy many genres, but I’ve noticed lately that I’m burnt out on many of my favorite thriller authors. So I’m looking for suggestions and recommendations on authors and/or titles I should try. I very rarely read straight mysteries (Sue Grafton is one of the only series I enjoy). I like medical thrillers, detective thrillers, and the occasional lawyer/law-centric thriller. One of my favorite TV shows is Criminal Minds - I like the profiling aspect of it, so books along the same vein would be great. Authors I enjoy: -Harlan Coben (both stand-alone and the Myron Bolitar series) -Thomas Harris (well, his earlier stuff…Red Dragon is an old favorite) -Greg Iles -Thomas Cook -Jason Pinter Authors I’ve enjoyed in the past but have gotten tired of: -Jonathan Kellerman -Stephen White -John Lescroart -John Grisham Ideas would be much appreciated! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thriller-novels/492071/2 "2009-04-05T23:25:23Z")
_The Day of the Jackal_ by Frederick Forsyth is a classic of the genre. Ken Follett’s written some good thrillers. Personally, I’d recommend his earlier works like _The Key to Rebecca_, _Eye of the Needle_, or _Triple_. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thriller-novels/492071/3 "2009-04-06T00:00:33Z")
You might try David Wiltes Also The Prey series but John Sandford. (Start with Rules of Prey. They did get redundant eventually though, and I stopped reading them.) There is one more author I want to recommend, but I’ll have to search my book shelf. Turns out I didn’t have to search long. Have a look at Cody McFadyen ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thriller-novels/492071/4 "2009-04-06T00:18:00Z")
A slightly different type would be **Last Call** , by Tim Powers. It’s a supernatural conspiracy thriller, only awesome. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thriller-novels/492071/5 "2009-04-06T00:24:53Z")
_Anything_ written by Frederick Forsyth is well worth your time- he’s one of my favourite authors. Robert Harris has written some excellent thrillers as well- check out _Pompeii_, _Archangel_, and _The Ghost_. John Le Carre’s _The Tailor of Panama_ was turned into a very good film starring Pierce Brosnan and Geoffrey Rush, and the film was- incredibly- every bit as good as the book. Some of the early Clive Cussler stuff (_Sahara, Raise The Titanic, Mayday!, Vixen 03, etc_) is also very good, but later on it got a bit… Not Very Good. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thriller-novels/492071/6 "2009-04-06T00:46:49Z")
Dick Francis is my favorite thriller writer. I also like Clinton McKinzie’s books. ---
**Author:** ![Novalyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@Novalyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novalyne)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thriller-novels/492071/7 "2009-04-06T01:47:10Z")
Some new names for me - I’m making my library list now. Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thriller-novels/492071/8 "2009-04-06T02:36:10Z")
Alistair MacLean lost it about the time of _The Way to Dusty Death_ but the novels prior to that are good. _Fear is the Key_ is my favorite. _Ice Station Zebra, Night Without End, The Dark Crusader (AKA The Black Shrike) and The Secret Ways_ are outstanding. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thriller-novels/492071/9 "2009-04-06T03:12:10Z")
_Point of Impact_ by Stephen Hunter is easily one of the best thrillers ever written. (Just forget that it was made into a lousy movie called _Shooter_ with Mark Wahlberg!) Also, _Child 44_ by Tom Rob Smith is just out in paperback. It’s an excellent serial-killer tale set in Stalinist Russia. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thriller-novels/492071/10 "2009-04-06T04:09:11Z")
Nelson DeMille has written some of my favorite thrillers, particularly: _Plum Island_, _The Lion’s Game_, _Night Fall,_ and _Wild Fire_. Great prose style and an excellent sense of humor. He just knows how to keep you glued to the page. Jeffery Deaver has written some very enjoyable thrillers, one I read recently was _The Sleeping Doll_. Good stuff. Michael Connelly is a master. _Void Moon_ is my favorite, but you can’t really go wrong with any of them. Robert Crais has written some awesome detective thrillers. Elvis Cole and Joe Pike are great recurring characters. _The Eight_ by Katherine Neville is one of my all-time favorite books: chess, history and mysticism all rolled up together in a thriller that never gets boring. I wish Dan Brown could have written a book one tenth as good. ---
**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:** [April 6, 2009, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thriller-novels/492071/11 "2009-04-06T04:52:07Z")
Another vote for early Clive Cussler, especially _Raise the Titanic!_ and _Vixen 03_, and for Ken Follett, especially for _The Eye of the Needle_, and for Robert Harris’s _Fatherland_. Len Deighton’s _SS-GB_, about Britain under Nazi occupation, is also very good. Jack Higgins’s _The Eagle Has Landed_, about a Nazi plot to kidnap Churchill, is terrific. His other stuff is, IMHO, teh suck. Want a good cloning thriller? I’ll give you two: _Joshua Son of None_ by Nancy Freedman is about cloning a murdered President who sounds an awful lot like (but is never actually named as) John F. Kennedy. Ira Levin’s _The Boys from Brazil_ is about Dr. Mengele’s just-crazy-enough-it-might-work plot to clone Hitler. Joe Haldeman has written two great sf thrillers. _All My Sins Remembered_ is about an interstellar spy in the distant future who begins to lose his mind because of personality overlays from far too many missions. _Tool of the Trade_ is about a Soviet mole deep under cover in American academia in the mid-1980s who discovers a practical means of mind control… and decides to use it for his own purposes. I re-read it every few years, it’s just that good! ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thriller-novels/492071/12 "2009-04-06T06:50:57Z")
[Robin Cook](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Cook_(american_novelist)) is the king of medical thrillers. He is great. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thriller-novels/492071/13 "2009-04-06T15:30:11Z")
James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux novels are outstanding. Lee Child - Reacher stories And Dick Francis, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thriller-novels/492071/14 "2009-04-06T15:39:59Z")
Maybe you would enjoy the books by Mary Higgins Clark. Also, another vote for Ira Levin. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thriller-novels/492071/15 "2009-04-06T15:43:23Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > _Anything_ written by Frederick Forsyth is well worth your time- he’s one of my favourite authors. I couldn’t recommend _The Phantom of Manhattan_ if you put a gun to my head. Another vote for Ira Levin. Andrew Vachss & Kinky Friedman are good, if different. And Ed McBain. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thriller-novels/492071/16 "2009-04-06T16:13:12Z")
> [@](#): > > Joe Haldeman has written two great sf thrillers. In addition to the two you mentioned, _Buying Time_ and _Worlds_ would also qualify as SF thrillers. ---
**Author:** ![RunSilent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@RunSilent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RunSilent)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thriller-novels/492071/17 "2009-04-06T16:16:01Z")
Vince Flynn and, they have been mentioned: Nelson Demille and Michael Connolly. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thriller-novels/492071/18 "2009-04-06T17:48:05Z")
I like Jefferson Bass, I think he only has 4 books so far. (Well, they, as Jefferson Bass is actually two people - William Bass & Jon Jefferson. Bass is a forensic anthropologist and the creator of Tennessee’s Body Farm and his lead character is based on himself.) ---
**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:** [April 6, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thriller-novels/492071/19 "2009-04-06T17:53:48Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > In addition to the two you mentioned, _Buying Time_ and _Worlds_ would also qualify as SF thrillers. I loved the premise and the characters of _Buying Time_, but thought he badly stumbled with the ending. (Sometimes Haldeman just has a problem with endings). _Worlds_ doesn’t really fit into the thriller mold, IMHO - it’s more of a coming-of-age story with a near-apocalyptic backdrop, I’d say. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thriller-novels/492071/20 "2009-04-06T19:36:30Z")
I’ll second Dick Francis and Lee Child. I’ll add Martin Cruz Smith’s Arkady Renko novels: _Gorky Park, Polar Star, Red Square, Havana Bay, \* and \* Wolves Eat Dogs_. They are very atmospheric about Soviet and post-Soviet Russia and are great crime thrillers. His recent \*December 6th/Tokyo Station \* about an American hustler in Japan at the eve of Pearl Harbor is also recommended. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thriller-novels/492071.md?page=2)