Please give a writer harder to put down than Dan Brown

[brad72la]

Hi yanfeng, I read Jin Yong's novels in Chinese. I have never heard of any translation of his books. I agree with you that it will be hard to translate them, since many of the stories are just too Chinese to be translated. I think he is the most talented Chinese writers in the history. I know some people that will read his books like Bible. They will read at least few pages a day! Do you know that he wrote most of his book while he was busy building his newspaper empire?!!! He wrote most of the story late at night after he has finished most of his work as the newspaper editor!

Yes, frui, I agree with you totally.

Ok, sorry for chatting away from the main topics.

[Alan P.]

This is an easy one. Dan Simmons (The Terror, A Winter Haunting, Drood being my favorites), Thomas Harris (Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal).
After reading Drood and the Hannibal Lechter Trilogy, I went back and listened to some Dean Koontz books on tape... my god, the man's characters, literary situations and environments have the complexity of an episode of the A-Team.

[roger the rabbit]

Originally Posted by yanfeng

I've just finished "The Lost Symbol". It took me almost a month. That's something I've not anticipated. All Brown's other books I devoured in 2 or 3 days. Does Brown miss it this time, or simply I have grown up?

No! Brown has not

[yanfeng]

Yes, Dan Simmons is my all time favourite. I've read almost all his works.
Hyperion is classic. Olympus is pleasant read. The Terror is extremely facinating. I havn't finished Drood yet.
Dan Simmons is a very mature writer. He never turns out rabbish as other big names often do. I admire him very much.

Originally Posted by Alan P.

This is an easy one. Dan Simmons (The Terror, A Winter Haunting, Drood being my favorites), Thomas Harris (Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal).
After reading Drood and the Hannibal Lechter Trilogy, I went back and listened to some Dean Koontz books on tape... my god, the man's characters, literary situations and environments have the complexity of an episode of the A-Team.

[kevinofengland]

Originally Posted by frui

I know, I know, he is crap, everybody with a taste says.
His characters are flat. His language is bland. His world view is shallow. His plot is absurd. He is greatly flawed.

But he has an absolute power to absorb you from the very beginning to the very end, even in his weakest opus like "Deception Point".

I read all genres of thrillers, from Tom Clancy, through Kathy Reichs, to John Grisham. Every one of them has some shining points, but you will feel bored most of the time. No one has the talent of Dan Brown to catch you tight in every page.

So I believe there are two factions of writers. One faction includes Dan Brown alone. The other faction has all the other writers.

I am not paranoid. I am not a die hard fan of Dan Brown. I just want some books I cannot put down. I just find this humble request harder and harder to fulfil.

Now, my learned fellow readers, educate me, correct me, please! Add someone I don't know to the Dan Brown faction I mentioned above. I'd be overjoyed if I knew he was not alone.

Thank you.

As long as YOU enjoy Brown thats all that matters. I have read all of his books so far and was also griped by them. However, I was really disappointed with the last 100 pages of The Lost Symbol.

I recently started reading The Dome by King on my Sony Reader. I read nearly 700 pages and couldn't be bothered to read the rest. I know King is a better writer for some reason he did not draw me in like Brown did with his books. I read most of Kings stuff in the 80's and 90's and loved them but do think Brown draws you quicker than King does. I am reading 2001 at the moment and love it and also Haven by Justin Kemppainen, which is very good so far. The next on the list is to read all of Gemmels stuff again.

Kev

[nesagwa]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

As someone who is half way through 'The Turn of the Screw'; I would just like to say that Dan Brown is a better writer than Henry James (imho).

This is HJ in full flow:
"It produced in me, this figure, in the clear twilight, I remember, two
distinct gasps of emotion, which were, sharply, the shock of my first
and that of my second surprise. My second was a violent perception of
the mistake of my first: the man who met my eyes was not the person
I had precipitately supposed."

It was written at a time when James wasn't able to type and was largely dictated as evident in the odd starts and stops in the grammar. You get used to it and doesn't really make him a bad writer.

[maxbookworm]

Well for pure entertainment (think typical action movie with explosions and car chases only in book form), I had a ton of fun with Matthew Reilly (Seven Deadly Wonders, Six Sacred Stones, and I am just realizing he has another sequel out: Five Greatest Warriors). If you are a literature snob, don't even think about reading these books! But if you are looking for sheer, unadulterated, suspension-of-disbelief, roller-coaster-ride reading, then I think he's perfect!

[J. Strnad]

I couldn't make it through every page of this thread, but if I were to recommend a writer to someone who is, by admission, tone-deaf to the English language but liked lots of stuff happening, I'd recommend Tim Dorsey. He's not really a suspense writer, though, and his most sympathetic character is a serial killer, but a lot of stuff happens. Crazy stuff. Like when our hero ties a guy we hate to opposite sides of a drawbridge, or the thing with the stuffed alligator, or...oh, never mind. You probably wouldn't like it. Dorsey is no Dan Brown. No one is.

[dougf4]

For me, it's C.J. Box.

Fans of great mystery tales where the same characters are woven throughout the stories will love his work.

[TimMason]

Jin Yong's novels have been translated into English. In fact, 'The Book and the Sword' is available on the web, in what I take to be an unauthorized translation. You can find some of his books on Amazon (including 'the Book and the Sword'), although he seems to go by the name of Lois Cha.

[boran]

I recommend John Twelve Hawks who has written an exciting trilogy about an evil brotherhood who wants to control the world in a Big Brother-like fashion using present-time technology and organizations, a small group fighting them and two clueless brothers in between. It's a good read and it makes you think twice about anonymity.

Jan Guillou is a Swedish author who has written a series of books starring a more or less Swedish James Bond (but with a bad conscience) and a trilogy about a man going to Jerusalem as a crusader and his life returning home.
I think Mr Guillou gives too much room for his own political opinions in his books, but like Dan Brown, he makes it really hard to put down the book.

[HamsterRage]

For me Lee Child's "Jack Reacher" novels all fit the criteria of being impossible to put down. And there's about a dozen of them now, so that's lots of not putting down.

[FlorenceArt]

In my case, that's almost any writer. Even Somerset Maugham lasted longer. I put down The DaVinci Code after a few pages, and if I put it down, it was only because I couldn't hurl it at the wall, because (a) the neighbors would have objected and (b) I wanted to return the book to Amazon

[Hitch]

Scott Turow's Presumed Innocent. You won't be able to put it down, period. His other books, not so much.

If you like urban fantasy, and you've tried Jim Butcher's Dresden series (and like it), try Simon Green's Nightside Series, very good.

Others have mentioned Barry Eisler's Rain series. Excellent.

I am also a huge fan of Herbert's Dune series--all of them, up to and through Chapterhouse. Can't abide the drivel his son writes.

"Page-turners" are bloody hard to find. I like Raymond Chandler, but as you say, they're set quite a ways in the past.

Trevanian's Shibumi and The Eiger Sanction. James Clavell's books, particularly Noble House, Tai-Pan and King Rat. Shogun is also fantastic. (Not page-turners like Dan Brown, but I couldn't put down Noble House). Others have mentioned Follett--when he's good, he's very very good.

Thomas Perry's books, particularly his Jane Whitebread books. Fantastic. The Butcher's Boy is also a must-read.

I'm actually fond of Spider Robinson's Callahan series, but they're not page-turners like Dan Brown. You might see if you can download a sample to see if they interest you; more light humor and quasi-adventure than page-turning, save-the-world kind of stuff.

Timothy Hallinan's Poke Rafferty series. Brilliant, twisty, humorous, heart-wrenching--all set in Thailand. Great stuff.

If you like Dan Brown, you'll probably like Clive Cussler--stick to starting with his earlier books; some of his later stuff developed "I'm a Great Writer-itis," and should be ignored, but the first 5-6 are pretty good fun. The original Robert Ludlums--great also. With regard to Alistair MacLean, his earlier books are far better than his later works, as alcoholism tore down his brilliance in his later years. All three of these guys (Cussler, Ludlum, MacLean) write cliff-hanger style, which is Brown's M.O.

You said you read Christie--do you like detective novels? For simple, quick but enjoyable reading, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe series is pretty damned great. His POV character, Archie Goodwin, has great voice.

James Lee Burke, also should be read.

Oh, holy s**t, I can't believe I almost forgot Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels. You'll like these. Start with The Godwulf Manuscript and work your way to the end...there's dozens, so you have plenty to read.

Crap...it's hard to make a short list...but if you only want "cliff-hanger" type books, I think you'll like most of these.

OH...Dick Francis, FWIW, didn't just research "unusual" jobs and write books; he was the HRH Queen Elizabeth's jockey for Steeplechasing in Great Britain, several-time Champion Jockey. Francis knew whereof he wrote.

HTH,

Hitch

[tim0124]

Try Stuart Woods.
Start with the books with Stone Barrington as the main character.
They are a very easy read and entertaining.