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What Crime/Mystery/Thriller book are you reading?

I just finished up reading Hammet's "The Glass Key." Might head onto "In the Name of the Rose"...or perhaps something by Ellroy...I have "Hollywood Nocturnes" and "Black Dahlia" on my shelf unread.

If you choose Ellroy, read The Black Dahlia before Hollywood Nocturnes.

The Name of the Rose is a good choice too, though.
 
I read all of Sue Grafton's books and all of Jonathan Kellerman's books. I like the characters of Kinsey Malone (Grafton's heroine) and Alex Delaware (Kellerman's hero) and whenever a new book comes out I feel like I'm visiting an old friend.

Right now I'm reading Kellerman's Obsession. It's pretty good so far.

I also read alot of David Morell's books - love his spy novels. Although I've not read one in several years. Gotta get on that!

I used to read Patricia Cornwell's books as well, but she starting putting too much of her own personal soapbox issues into her stories, and I got annoyed with that and quit reading her books. I won't read authors who use their fictional writing as a way to proselytize for their pet issues. I read for fun - not to be preached at.
You and I seem to have similar tastes - in fact I think you recommended Morell's stuff to me a couple of years ago. You might also enjoy Sara Paretsky's books.

I've also been reading a lot of Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child's books.
 
Not bad. It is my first time reading one of the CSI novels. I bought it because I was picking up Krad's book.

Cool. KRAD's book is very good, so I think you'll enjoy it. I need to read the Kaminsky CSI: NY novels--I haven't yet. KRAD's novel was actually the first one I'd read.

I thought Heartsick was reasonably good, but I thought that the relationship between the female serial killer and the cop was a mixture of the relationships between Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham and Clarice Starling. I didn't think she was quite as interesting or unique a character as the blurb promised.

I'll still probably read the sequel, though.

I felt the same way, especially when they went down the tired, old "she was abused as a kid" route. I was hoping for something far more original than what I found. I also thought Susan's character was just so-so--another cliche. I did like the twist at the end though, because I was starting to think it was all annoyingly coincidental.

But yeah, I'll read the sequel, too. Hopefully it will be better.
 
I've almost finished reading Erica Spindler's Bone Cold. Not my usual type of book, but an enjoyable read. A hollywood starlet's daughter is kidnapped and later escapes, the kidnapper is never caught. 23 years later she is a novelist living in New Orleans and her life comes crashing down around her. It's standard fair and the characters can be a little stereotypical, but it's a solid book. 6/10
 
I read (in alphabetical order) Lawrence Block, James Lee Burke, Raymond Chandler, Robert Crais, Jeffrey Deaver, James Ellroy, Dashiell Hammett, Elmore Leonard...

Oddly enough they all seem to be from the first half of the alphabet...
 
Christopher Fowler's Seventy-Seven Clocks. Which is odd, because in fact I generally don't read mystery thrillers, but I happened to pick this off one of my girlfriend's bookpiles and got sucked in. Part of a series, it's set in the 1970s but written from the point of view of the 2000s, so every so often the narration will note that such-and-such social phenomenon hadn't taken hold yet. The interaction between the two leads, a vaguely Dickensian older police detective and his younger, more modern partner is funny.
 
Christopher Fowler's Seventy-Seven Clocks. Which is odd, because in fact I generally don't read mystery thrillers, but I happened to pick this off one of my girlfriend's bookpiles and got sucked in. Part of a series, it's set in the 1970s but written from the point of view of the 2000s, so every so often the narration will note that such-and-such social phenomenon hadn't taken hold yet. The interaction between the two leads, a vaguely Dickensian older police detective and his younger, more modern partner is funny.

Got that series, but haven't read that one yet...
 
Just finished The Max by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr. It's the third book of a trilogy published by Hard Case Crime: the first two books were Bust and Slide. If you like hard-boiled prose, gratuitous Irishness, and dark, dark humour, then these are the crime-thrillers for you.
 
Where's a good place to start James Lee Burke's Dave Robichaeaux series? I can't figure out which one is the first one, and I wonder if I can dive into Tin Roof Blowdown without much trouble.
 
Thanks, I thought that might be the case but the book lists on the inside of the paperback covers were variable. I'll start with that one.
 
I'm waiting for Steven Saylor's Triumph of Caesar, latest instalment in his Roma Sub Rosa series of historical mysteries. I last read Janet Evanovich Fearless Fourteen. Before that, Thomas H. Cook's Master of the Delta. I catch every new Robert B. Parker, Sue Grafton, Stuart Woods that isn't Stone Barrington, Tony Hillerman novel I can find.
 
Just finished The Dead and the Dying, the third trade paperback in Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips's comic book series Criminal. Fantastic as usual.
 
I thought Heartsick was reasonably good, but I thought that the relationship between the female serial killer and the cop was a mixture of the relationships between Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham and Clarice Starling. I didn't think she was quite as interesting or unique a character as the blurb promised.

I'll still probably read the sequel, though.

I finished Sweetheart and found it much, much better than Heartsick, maybe because Gretchen plays a more immediate role in the book. It's still not as in depth as the best thrillers, but I think it's really a lot better than Heartsick, which was good but not gripping. I couldn't put this one down!
 
I have just finished reading "Voices" by Arnaldur Indridason.

Arnaldur is an Icelandic author who sets his murder mysteries in that country. "Voices" is the third book in the series that feature Inspector Erlundur Sveinsson.

I have read the other two books in this series "Jar City" (also known as "Tainted Blood") and "Silence of the Grave".

A fourth book, "The Draining Lake" is being released next month. I can't wait to get it, I already have it on order.

Somehow I don't think that Iceland actually has a high a murder rate as these books seem to suggest.

ooh, these sound fascinating - I shall have to try and get them. Have you read Henning Mankell? His novels are set in Sweden.

I used to read Patterson, Reichs and Cornwell, but to be honest I think that they have lost their edge, the novels just don't seem to hold my attention anymore.

I have the same problem - it always seems to me that once authors get famous, they must stop listening to their editors or something and the books drop in quality.

The only author who I think has kept up the same level of very high quality throughout his novels is Ian Rankin.
 
I think Jeffery Deaver does the same as he's always done, his books are always top notch

Really? Good. I'm behind on reading his books - I'll keep an eye out at the library for them.
Deaver researches for eight months or so and then writes the book. That's the way he started doing it, and that's the way he still does it. IMHO, the Lincoln Rhyme books are the best, and the only ones he writes these apart from the odd one or two. Start with The Bone Collector (which was made into a film with Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie, but the book is far more complex) and see what you think.
 
I recently read a book called Kill Me by Stephen White. Although White has written quite a few books, this was the first of his I'd read. It won't be the last! He's definitely on my 'find and read everything he's written' list after that one.

The plot is like something Stephen King might have written in his non-supernatural days. A man signs up to an exclusive organisation who promise to kill you, should you ever develop a fatal illness or suffer a deterioration in your quality of life. Trouble is, when he develops a brain tumour - he finds he's not ready to die ... but the contract is irrevocable. Superbly written and gripped like a vice (to deploy my cliche for the day).
 
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