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Mary Higgins Clark writes stand-alone mystery/thrillers. I have to admit, though, that I like her EARLY books much more than her later ones (haven't read her in several years now) ... in many of the later ones I could tell who the villain was basically as soon as he was introduced. That was disappointing as I LIKE to be surprised. In her later books her heroines always seemed too perfect as well (IMHO).
I agree. Clarks books are way too predictable. I was thinking about this the other day, were her earlier books better, or was I so much younger and hadn't read as many "whodunits?" I don't know.
I don't read any mysteries, except by accident, but here are a couple that I stumbled across that I really liked a lot:
Jim Fusilli, "Hard, Hard City"
Peter Temple. "The Broken Shore
Temple is an Australian writer who has won a number of Australian awards for general fiction. Fusilli, a music critic, has only published a couple of novels, and doesn't even have a Wikipedia article.
You might also try books by James Church, such as "A Corpse in the Koryo", murder mysteries which take place in North Korea but without political overtones. Church is a pen name for an unknown writer who is thought to be a seasoned foreign service expert highly knowledgeable about North Korea.
Hmm, my library doesn't have that one. I saw a couple of titles by a David Bishop, it said they were science fiction? Wonder if it's the same guy or not.
I think David Bishop writes several genres, so I would not be surprised if he does write science fiction. The Woman is definitely a mystery/thriller and the more that I read of the book, the more I liked it. It is not a series. Bishop does have a Matt Kile series that is pretty good. If you have an e-reader, The Woman is free. Good way to start.
I just read Ghostman by Roger Hobbs, a tight thriller about a casino heist gone wrong and another criminal named Jack who is asked to find the money and fix things up any way he can. My description can't even come close to how crazy and convoluted this book gets...it's a great summer read, highly recommended.
If you enjoy techno-thrillers try Kill Decision by Daniel Suarez, a wonderfully demented ride into autonomous and drone warfare. It's great stuff.
If you want some demented fun along with a great mystery try Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen, nobody captures the craziness of Florida better.
If you like medical thrillers, look for Robin Cook or Michael Palmer. For legal thrillers, some of my favorites are Nancy Taylor Rosenberg or John Grisham.
For supernatural thrillers, try the Repairman Jack books by F. Paul Wilson, or the Odd Thomas books by Dean Koontz. Yes, they are series, but well worth it. Brian Keene also does some good thrillers, not series based.
For some really creepy techno-thrillers, try the Joe Ledger books by Jonathan Maberry.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LauraC
I can recommend a nonfiction one:
Invisible Darkness: The Strange Case Of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka by Stephen Williams
I remember when that case broke. It was big news in Montreal and the details of the case are positively vile. The fact that Karla's sister was one of the victims made it even more chilling, as if it wasn't already disgusting enough. *shiver* Evil, evil people. Pure evil.
I think it was last year I read The Murder Room by Michael Capuzzo. It's non fiction and it was really a great read. It's about the Vidoc society which is a real group of detectives- the best of the best - who get together once a year and try to solve "cold cases". It covers quite a few cases, some of which we all remember, and a few that were new to me but incredibly haunting. One in particular has stayed with me and it remains unsolved. Anyway, it is non fiction and may not be what you had in mind, but I thought it was worth suggesting.
Last edited by Mayvenne; 07-10-2013 at 08:15 PM..
Reason: went too fast
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