Who's your favourite thriller writer?
Discussion
You are in an airport bookshop. You have a five hour flight to kill, plus two weeks by the beach.
Which thriller do you buy?
Gerald Seymour? [small] terse style, few words per page, lots of passive voice, hero always dies at the end [/small]
Wilbur Smith? [small] expansive, descriptive, lots of flowing adjectives and thundering african savannah landscapes [/small]
Jack Higgins? [small] simple, tight plotting, two dimensional characters, almost certainly a speedboat on the cover ;) [/small]
Dan Brown? [small] pseudo-non fiction fiction, and the person you think dunnit, surprisingly dunnit [/small]
Who do you go for?
Which thriller do you buy?
Gerald Seymour? [small] terse style, few words per page, lots of passive voice, hero always dies at the end [/small]
Wilbur Smith? [small] expansive, descriptive, lots of flowing adjectives and thundering african savannah landscapes [/small]
Jack Higgins? [small] simple, tight plotting, two dimensional characters, almost certainly a speedboat on the cover ;) [/small]
Dan Brown? [small] pseudo-non fiction fiction, and the person you think dunnit, surprisingly dunnit [/small]
Who do you go for?
Never read anything by any of those guys actually, but on descriptions I'd say either:
Gerald Seymour? terse style, few words per page, lots of passive voice, hero always dies at the end
Mainly for the fact that the hero dies at the end, I like something a little different and depressing, but only if I'm in the mood.
Jack Higgins? simple, tight plotting, two dimensional characters, almost certainly a speedboat on the cover
Well don't know if the speedboa would attract me, normally a car (not very common), gun (quite common) or aircraft (moderately common) is more my kind of lure. I tend to go something geopolitical/military crap like a Tom Clancy or Dale Brown or one of their clones
Gerald Seymour? terse style, few words per page, lots of passive voice, hero always dies at the end
Mainly for the fact that the hero dies at the end, I like something a little different and depressing, but only if I'm in the mood.
Jack Higgins? simple, tight plotting, two dimensional characters, almost certainly a speedboat on the cover
Well don't know if the speedboa would attract me, normally a car (not very common), gun (quite common) or aircraft (moderately common) is more my kind of lure. I tend to go something geopolitical/military crap like a Tom Clancy or Dale Brown or one of their clones
Wilbur Smith every time, I have read every single one and think he is superb.
Colin Forbes is pretty good as well with the Tweed books.
On a slightly different track you could try the Sharpe books (Bernard Cornwell(?)-much better than the TV sh1te)or Inspector Morse
There, you all think I'm clever now don't you? The frightening thing is that I only read on the sh1tter
Colin Forbes is pretty good as well with the Tweed books.
On a slightly different track you could try the Sharpe books (Bernard Cornwell(?)-much better than the TV sh1te)or Inspector Morse
There, you all think I'm clever now don't you? The frightening thing is that I only read on the sh1tter
Robert Ludlum's Bourne Trilogy was good (if a little long chapter/break wise) and I'm looking forward to two of his books I picked up the other day.
Wilbur Smith is good, but can be a little forgettable and doesn't grip me generally speaking.
Stephen Leather's Tango One was great, looking out for more of his books.
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six is good so far if a little jumpy in plot (but then I've only read the first 200 pages or so at the moment).
Dan Brown is a good writer if you look past the Da Vinci Code (Angels and Demons & Deception Point are good).
Wilbur Smith is good, but can be a little forgettable and doesn't grip me generally speaking.
Stephen Leather's Tango One was great, looking out for more of his books.
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six is good so far if a little jumpy in plot (but then I've only read the first 200 pages or so at the moment).
Dan Brown is a good writer if you look past the Da Vinci Code (Angels and Demons & Deception Point are good).
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Red Storm Rising is superb, as is Hunt for Red October.
I still like most of his other stuff, but I think the Jack Ryan series gets weaker with the more recent books.
The tech detail is great - I really like stuff like the several page description of the detonation of the atomic bomb in Sum of All Fears.
Tank Slapper said:
anonymous said:[redacted]
Red Storm Rising is superb, as is Hunt for Red October.
I still like most of his other stuff, but I think the Jack Ryan series gets weaker with the more recent books.
The tech detail is great - I really like stuff like the several page description of the detonation of the atomic bomb in Sum of All Fears.
I agree , he's dragged the Jack Ryan chacter on for far too long. I started reading another of his recently (could have been Red Rabbit) but I put it down when it became apparent the heroes were going to be Ryan's sons with Ryan still having a role. Talk about milking it!
Red October and Red Storm rising were much better, because at the time of their writing (pre-glasnost) they were wholly believable.
>> Edited by sparkythecat on Saturday 30th July 00:17
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