Looking for some reading material?

Question

My favorite author is Stephen King, but I'm trying to find someone new to read. I like mystery, suspense, thrillers, I can even do a romance once in a while if it's not tooo boring, really most anything except Sci-Fi. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Answer 1

I, too, love thrillers, especially intelligent reads that have a great protagonist and interesting plot development that keeps me hooked til the end. In addition, I want a writer that can put sentences together artfully and let me visualize the story. So here are my favorite mystery/thriller writers who weave a good story and leave me wanting more.
1. J.A. Jance both her Joanna Brady series set in Arizona and her P.D. Beaumont series set in Seattle
2. Earlene Fowler -- very folksy and great characters, set in CA
3. Michael McGarrity--terrific psychological development and a very human protagonist set in New Mexico usually
4. Tony Hillerman--they're all good set in the Southwest
5. Margaret Coel--set in Wyoming
6. PJ Box, set in Wyoming
7. Sue Grafton, set in CA
8. Michael Connelly, former crime reporter whose novels are almost too real
9. Tami Hoag-good writer, a little frightening to me
10. Nevada Barr--mysteries set in national parks
11. John Grisham
12. William Bernhardt, Silent Justice set in Tulsa
13. Thomas Harris (Silence of the Lambs and other books--very well written but very frightening)

Good writers but not of mysteries
1. Joann Mapson
2. Billie Jo Letts
3. Fannie Flagg
4. Michael Crichton

Each of these writers has multiple books so I know you will be busy reading for a while.

Answer 2

Some very good readings that I give each of my students a copy of is -- Blink - The Power of Thinking Without Thinking & The Tipping Point - The Littlest Things Can Make a Biggest Difference --- both are by Malcolm Gladwell. Also, I include a copy of Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. And a book to live by is the One Minute Manager - by Kenneth Blanchard, Ph.D. and Spencer Johnson, M.D. -- it is not just about business and teaches you a very important lesson (tool) in life that if you use you will be rewarded greatly. Anyone of those books can open your mind to a whole new world that has always been right there in front of you. I know they don't fall into the categories you listed, but they are very enjoyable to read again and again. Enjoy!

Answer 3

You've gotten a lot of good answers.
To them I would add that if you want to read some good non-fiction (that reads like a novel) you might try:

1. Into Thin Air .. Jon Krakauer
2. Devil in the White City (about a serial killer at the Chicago World's Fair)
3. A Civil Action

or some true crime from Ann Rule or Joe McGinnis.

Enjoy!

Answer 4

I cannot see what is wrong with sci-fi since 85% of our technology started out as something a sci-fi author wrote. However, be that it may, try Matthew Reilly, James Rollins, Stuart Woods, J.A. Jance, Caleb Carr, Jack duBrul or even Clive Cussler and you won't go wrong. Happy reading. P.S. You might even try fantasy because most of them are mysteries with a lot of romance added for spice.

Answer 5

Harlan Coben
John Passarella (J.G. Passarella)
Erica Spindler
Wendy Corsi Staub
Diane Chamberlain
Linda Howard
Catherine Coulter
Janet Evanovich
Nora Roberts
Fern Michaels

you could also join a reading group, yahoo has lots of them....

Answer 6

Sue Grafton. The problem with lots of authors these days is that they create a protagonist that I really don't like very much such as Patricia Cornwell. Ms. Grafton's protagonist has my value system, therefore I really identify with her.

Not to mention that she is a really good writer, very readable, with enough intrigue.

Answer 7

Harry Potter books get better and better. You may steer clear because they're for kids, but they really are good. Anita Shreve is okay, just read my first Nora Roberts (Montana Sky)-- that was pretty good...umm..The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold?) was good (depressing and lonely), The Dogs of Babel (Carolyn Parkhurst) was good too, have you read Mary Higgins Clark stuff? All her main characters are fashionable young women who wear their hair in chignons and have two suitors (one of whom is the killer), but they're fun. Have you read Dean Koontz stuff? It's been a long time for me.

Answer 8

Try Agatha Christy or Jude Devareux.

Answer 9

Why not look into a book by Donald S. Dow...'The three Lives of a Practitioner"
Interesting...a true out line of life a person went threw.

Answer 10

If you like Stephen King, you should love Dean Koontz.