I have been reading the Jack Reacher books for some years now (maybe 5 or 6) and I am maybe on book 15. I often enjoy them, but there's no denying that these books can be a bit formulaic at times, and I would like to start reading something else in between each book.
I recently tried breaking up the Jack Reacher books with the Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Cub books (the first and second ones). They were okay, I liked them enough but I am also craving something a bit different.
I think that I like books with problem-solving characters who aren't always perfect. I like some mystery and intrigue, but I don't want something that is so intense it will keep me up at night (no horror and no really heavy triggering scenes).
I'm not a huge fan of fantasy, I find that all the lengthy descriptions that go into world-building can be quite pain-staking to read. When I was reading George R.R. Martin I found myself skipping past lengthy descriptions to the dialogue because I couldn't care less about what colour Doublet a character was wearing when they entered a room that day.
Then again, I do like a good series – and this is something the fantasy genre seems to do well.
The problem I have at the moment is that nothing is jumping out to me when I go into the book shop. I'm not particularly tied to Crime/Thrillers as a genre. In fact, it would be nice to find some books that are not always about murder.
I am hoping you kind folks might be able to help me out. Many thanks to all – I think this is a lovely subreddit.
by FeelMoreHuman
5 Comments
David Baldacci – any from the Memory Man or John Puller series.
Harlan Coben. – any from the Myron Bolitar series
Cotton Malone series by Steve Berry is probably my favorite series right now. Yes, there is murder, but the books don’t revolve around the actual murder. In the historical parts of the books, there can be some gruesome depictions, but they are often very short (a single chapter, most often in the opening of the book).
The books are historical fiction and mystery wrapped into a nice package. Berry does a great job researching his books to provide an excellent mind-picture of the setting, even when you are moving across the globe or between countries.
You could try The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. It’s Urban Fantasy so avoids much of the Tolkien/Martin world building and fits (kind of) into the problem solving category. Lots of action as well.
These might be a bit “old school” but you might like Dick Francis or Ken Follett. They write suspense/thrillers that are not super dark. They’re relatively fast paced, have interesting, but not perfect characters and they both write/wrote mostly one-offs. There is a bit of formula to both their styles but you’re not stuck reading the exact same character over and over again. I would avoid Dick Francis’s later books he wrote with his son, Felix, but I always found his early stuff very readable. They’re almost always set around horse racing, but in each book he would always take a deep dive into something else (photography, painting, trains) and that gave “color” to the world.
I prefer Ken Follett’s WWII set thrillers (Key to Rebecca, Eye of the Needle Jackdaws, Hornet’s Flight) but a lot of people like his other historical settings. His “contemporaries” that were written quite some time ago (like Triple) may come off dated.
Gregg Hurwitz’s Orphan X series is good.