Recommend me some good fiction / non fiction.......

Lynton

Lynton

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Lynton (yes really!)
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OK have £20 in amazon vouchers burning a hole in my pocket, and nothing at the moment I really want to buy........

I read lots and the type of books I read fall into the following:

1) Crime Thrillers - Peter James, Lee child etc -
2) Law Thrillers - John Grisham etc, though i think JG is losing it.
3) "Other Thrillers" - Late Archer, Gerald Seymour etc
4) Modern Autobiographical stuff of a military nature - Ed Macy, Soldier this etc , Rules of Engagement by Tim Collin's.

Stuff I hate

Sci fi
Horror

Need a new author, tried Mark Billingham, Mo Hayder, most of the general stuff you find in waterstones.

Need something a bit different but along the lines of my tastes........

Ideas welcomed.
 
Chickenhawk by Bob Mason - an excellent account of a Vietnam helicopter pilot from training to the end of his tour of duty. Fantastic book IMHO...

There is a follow-up book, but it's out of print so is a bit harder to track down.
 
Try Colin Forbes if you haven't read them, I'm a massive fan of Lee child myself and I think that Forbes is easily in the same league (look out for his books based on the character "Tweed")
 
Try the Inspector Banks books by Peter Robinson. Gallows View is the first book in the series.
 
Flash In The Pan said:
If you like Lee Child then try Robert Crais :thumbs:
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+1, listening to one of his books at the minute :thumbs:


have a look at michael connoly , couple of crackers from him especially the Lincoln lawyer

if i was going to recommend a single book though id get a copy of "the pillars of the earth" by Ken Follet, its about building a cathedral in medieval England, when somebody told me to read it i thought it woudn't be my cup of tea but i coudn't put it down (so to speak, i get a lot of audio books and listen to them when i'm out with the dog, fishing, hiking, doing my paperwork ), fantastic , i quickly went out and got the follow up to it "world without end"


the girl with the dragon tattoo trilogy are really good, dark and disturbing in places but you wont put them down...


so many books so little time to read them:'(
 
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jezgb said:
Chickenhawk by Bob Mason - an excellent account of a Vietnam helicopter pilot from training to the end of his tour of duty. Fantastic book IMHO...

There is a follow-up book, but it's out of print so is a bit harder to track down.
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Try 365 Days, if you enjoyed Chickenhawk. It's set in the same era and is pretty searing too.
 
Try Clive Cussler's books featuring Dirk Pitt - rollicking good reads :thumbs:
 
Matthew Reilly before the 7 ancient wonder, 6 ancient warrior one's, e.g. Contest, Area 7, Scarecrow, Ice station. Bit gung-ho and boys own writing but action packed all the way through.
More gung ho action - Andy Remic : Spiral, Quake and Warhead
Bernard Cornwell Sharpe series I like.
The CJ Sansom Shardlake series set in Henry VIII time are a bit different for a crime novel.

My Dad reads lots of crime thrillers and the authors he rates are Michael Connolly, Jeffrey Deaver, Stuart MacBride, Ian Rankin, David Baldacci. He personally didnt rate the Stieg Larrson ones so Ive never read them.

Oh and I recently finished Ken Follett- Eye of the Needle and that was excellent.
 
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bigave;3953355have a look at michael connoly said:
I totally agree with this. Reading another of Ken Follet's at the moment Fall of Giants.

Ian Rankin is also good.

Ken
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Ken Follett's historical novels (not the modern ones), Bernard Cornwell, CJ Sansom, Michael Connolly, Ian Rankin, Peter Robinson - they're all pretty reliable and good reads, although I tend to read more non-fiction (mainly history, military history, wildlife and conservation stuff).

Stieg Larsson (Girl With The Dragon Tattoo etc) bored me witless. Too drawn out, implausible and my interest in coffee making machines and the type of sandwiches people eat is limited.
 
If you haven't yet discovered Christopher Brookmyre your life is incomplete.
 
Also if you've yet to read Midnights Children by Salman Rushdie do so. I put it off for years expecting him to be too high-brow, but, God, I was wrong. He is utterly superb and that book deserves its title as Booker of Booker's.
 
Simon Kernick - Relentless is great, as are several others of his.

Also a fan of the Steig Larsson trilogy.
 
MWHCVT said:
I forgot to mention another favourite of mine :D Bernard Cornwall (Sharp) the books are so much better than the TV series :thumbs:
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Agreed, but Sharp was his first venture into historical fiction. Have you tried the Saxon and Arthur (my favourite) books? The later Sharp novels got a bit formulaic IMO and he's matured a lot, as an author.
 
i like henning mankell - wallander series and enjoy the isaac bell books by cliver cussler
 
Cheers guys - forgot to mention - already read all the McNab / Ryan / Deaver books.

SOme good suggestions there so far......
 
Conn Iggulden's Conqueror series is highly recommended by me!
I loved Bernard Cornwells Arthur series etc but thought this eclipsed by CI's work.
 
IanT74 said:
Conn Iggulden's Conqueror series is highly recommended by me!
I loved Bernard Cornwells Arthur series etc but thought this eclipsed by CI's work.
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Tried any Simon Scarrow? Any good?
 
I'm currently reading the Henning Mankell - Wallander series...excellent.
 
Just about finished reading 'Beyond Band of Brothers' written by Major Dick Winters who commanded Easy Company during WWII. An excellent read, recommended.

Alan
 
Have you tried Jo Nesbo for crime thrillers? Definitely gets a :thumbs: from me.
He doesn't write about your typical hero and it makes a change to read something set in Europe rather than the States or UK.

If you like Grisham I'd also recommend The Zero Game by Brad Meltzer. Quite old now, but still one of my favourites.
 
IanT74 said:
Conn Iggulden's Conqueror series is highly recommended by me!
I loved Bernard Cornwells Arthur series etc but thought this eclipsed by CI's work.
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his emperor series is also really good, also agree about bernard cornwell, try his harlequin series..fantastic if your into historical novels

i like dan brown aswell
 
eugh no, not into historical stuff.........

Crime / thrillers / biogs.
 
Lynton said:
eugh no, not into historical stuff.........

Crime / thrillers / biogs.
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Have a look at the Shardlake series by C J Sansom. Brilliant - couldn't put them down. It's a mix of crime and "historical stuff" in so far as it is set in Henry V111's time.

Ken
 
Stephen Leather's Spider Shepherd series might be up your street. I've been meaning to try one but not got round to it yet.
 
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:plusone: on stephen leather - and not just the spider shepherd series (hard landing, soft target, cold kill, hot blood, dead men, live fire, rough justice ) but his other 20 or so books too (i'd recomend the payback, longshot, double tap, tango one and the bomb maker)

Also if you like lee child check out matt hilton's Joe Hunter series ( dead mens dust, judgement and wrath, cut and run, slash and burn)

and Barry Eisler's John Rain series ( rainfall, blood from blood, choke point, one last kill, the last assassin, requiem for an assasin)

And lastly Vince Flynn - both the stand alone term limits, and the Mitch Rapp series (too many to list , but the most recent one is prequel American Assasin , so i'd read that first)
 
Tom clancy has a new book out in the "Ryan" saga.

Dead or Alive is the title.
 
I am into my crime and thriller books too, until about 2 years ago i never read a book out of school, unless it was a magazine with lots of pictures or camera stuff, and have now really got into the crime books.

My main authors are as follows.

Stuart Macbride - Based in and around Aberdeen so i know all the locations which adds even more to the book.

David Baldacci
Jo Nesbo
Steig Larrson
Michael Connelly
Peter James
Stephen King

Im following this thread too to find some more new authors. :thumbs:
 
Also Sean Black - Lock down and Deadlock (the second ones better than the first)

Noah Boyd - the Bricklayer

John Carbone - The last of the good guys

Lee Weeks - The trafficked

Richard Montinari - Rosary Girls, Skin Gods, Broken Angels, and Play dead

Boris Starling - Messiah (the book is a lot better than the woeful Tv series)

Kyle Mills - Rising Phoenex

Tim Willocks - Green river rising
 
big soft moose said:
:plusone: on stephen leather - and not just the spider shepherd series (hard landing, soft target, cold kill, hot blood, dead men, live fire, rough justice ) but his other 20 or so books too (i'd recomend the payback, longshot, double tap, tango one and the bomb maker)
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Agreed, but I prefer the earlier books. They seem a lot more imaginative, with more depth and characterisation than the Spider Shepherd ones. I couldn't get into this superhero and the rather formulaic writing.
 
Big +1 for Stuart MacBride...one of the best crime writers around at the moment IMO, great characters and full of black humour. (Don't get Half-Head though, it's crap, stick to the Logan Macrae series).

If you like true crime, try "The profession of violence" by John Pearson, fascinating biography of the Kray twins. Or "40 years of murder" by Prof. Keith Simpson, the govt's chief forensic pathologist from the 1940's to the 70's.
 
hmm some good ones to go for here............. many thanks guys........ some I have read and liked, tried Stuart MacBride and couldn't get into it.......... tried again and still couldn't........

Like the idea of the Kray's biog - thats on the list....... I just know the £20 voucher is going to end up with me spending £50.........
 
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