Anyone read Lee Childs?

[tm3]

i'll plead guilty to a derailment on a side track, but back to the OP my original point was that like anything else, tastes differ so i would recommend trying a single lee child book first rather than buying the 6 pack that was mentioned.

[lestatar]

^ Indeed! Good advice, but I am a sucker-completist so unless things go waaaaay off track [e.g. Reacher suddenly turns into a teenage hipster vampire who enjoys drinking O-Positive instead of black coffee], I think I'll be with Mr. Child for as long as he writes this stuff

[orlok]

Originally Posted by lestatar

Orlok. No kidding. You and I are becoming fast friends indeed.

Stephen Hunter is one of my fave thriller writers. Period. I have been with Hunter since he first broke out with, not with Point of Impact, but with Day Before Midnight from the late 80s as I recall.

Brilliant IMO.

The Swagger series/character is so memorable. Pity, the Marky Mark movie Sniper was just "meh".

FWIW, I highly recommend Hunter for all fans of quality thriller writing.
-les

Originally Posted by tm3

"point of impact" by hunter is my all time favorite book. i re-read it every few years or so.

realizing that any author can have a few duds, i have "killing floor" on my library wait list. hopefully i like it better than "61 hours" and "one shot."

As per lestatar, give it a go. I don't think you'll regret it.

Originally Posted by lestatar

^ Indeed, tm3! I have read PoI a number of times over the years. The opening Bob Lee hunting sequence is forever engrained in my memory - it is classic IMO.

More OT, but what did you think of the Marky Mark movie Sniper, which was loosely based on PoI?

I thought Marky M was a very poor choice. I don't mind him as an actor, but in my mind Swagger is reasonably tall, and tough in a sinewy way, not a short-*rse who is buff from the bench-press machine. The film itself was also disappointing.

Originally Posted by lestatar

He wrote a trilogy around a fantastic character named Hugo Fitzduane. I highly recommend the Hangman trilogy and the first one, Games of the Hangman remains one of my all-time fave thriller/military books.

Another damn series to add to the list. Will it ever end!

Originally Posted by lestatar

^ Indeed! Good advice, but I am a sucker-completist so unless things go waaaaay off track [e.g. Reacher suddenly turns into a teenage hipster vampire who enjoys drinking O-Positive instead of black coffee], I think I'll be with Mr. Child for as long as he writes this stuff

You know, even then I might find it hard to stop...as long as the O-Positive is still drunk from thin china mugs .

[John K]

Originally Posted by tm3

i read "61 hours" and thought it kind of OK, then started "one shot" and bailed about halfway through.

the reacher character is just too over the top for me, kind of like superman sans cape.

i think stephen hunter does a much better job in some of his books with the bob lee swagger character, who gets the bad guys but without the use of superpowers.

I don't see Reacher as having super powers. He's out at the far edge of the bell curve but not off the scale IMHO.

I read I, Sniper: A Bob Lee Swagger Novel and decided not to read any more. I wish I'd written a review so I could remember why. I'm thinking it had too much hokey emotional drama for my tastes. I'm wondering now if the others in the series might be better?

[John K]

Originally Posted by carpetmojo

Just realized - if Harry Bosch (excellent, on my rereads collection always) qualifies, then I cannot help myself - James Lee Burke !
The Robicheaux series - but really, anything by him. A truly great writer, IMHO, who happens to have chosen the genre to write wonderful stuff.
Not afraid to tackle "difficult" topics, plenty of action, superb characters, construction, storytelling, and, well, just fine writing.
And there's lots of them to read.

I know I'm a Brit, and have praised him before (I was so excited when I discovered him !) but, for example, "Tin Roof Blowdown" set in the events of Katrina, I found a pretty savage indictment of what happened - as well as being a good "detective" story.

Give him a try.

Well, since carpetmojo couldn't help him or her self, I'll third James Lee Burke as a truly great writer. Dave Robicheaux is a much more complicated character then Reacher but I can see the similarity to Harry Bosch. Reacher is described in terms that remind me of dessert. Dave Robicheaux is a full course meal. A heavy meal. Am I the only one who hears echos of Faukner in Burke's writing? Sometimes I wonder if the plot isn't just an excuse for Burke to explore Robicheaux's personal demons. Not that the plotting isn't excellent. Looking at the dust cover picture of Burke, he looks, to me, like a man who's had to deal with some personal demons himself.

I don't mean any of that as a put down of Lee Child. Simple can be interesting. Take haiku poetry for instance. As Stitchawl commented in regards to wish fulfillment, there is some appeal to stripping away the responsibilities of our hectic modern lives. I think it's interesting to see where that leads. I'd probably be just as interested if Reacher were a pacifist monk. Geez, I'm suddenly recalling that old TV show Kung Fu.

What do you suppose would happen if Reacher got off the bus in New Iberia, LA?

Speaking of old TV shows...

Hey JerseyBiker, if you like Reacher you might like that old TV show And then came Bronson. This link is to the movie pilot: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0039UU3KA?...NDCSNQ7FPM87K& A Harley Roadster, a bedroll, a lonely stretch of highway: Jim Bronson (Michael Parks) is traveling where the road and the day take him, trying to make sense of things after the suicide of his close friend.

Wonder what happened to JerseyBiker?

[tm3]

John i have not yet read I Sniper but heard that it is one of the better efforts of the series. i just finished 47th Samurai and it was weak overall but there were parts of it that i found interesting. i'm currently reading Days of Thunder and i think that I Sniper will be next.

s hunter definitely seems to be trying to work in more emotional drama in his later works than he did with the earlier stuff.

i'd recommend trying Point of Impact and if you don't like that one, you won't like any of the others!

[orlok]

Originally Posted by tm3

i just finished 47th Samurai and it was weak overall but there were parts of it that i found interesting.

I really enjoyed 47th Samurai myself, but them I'm a bit a of a Japanophile (is that a word???).

[Filark]

For female protagonists, how about Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon series? She's a tough loner using her wits and weapons against nature and the worst of mankind. When she's out in the field there is nothing more thrilling.

[Filark]

Originally Posted by John K

Wonder what happened to JerseyBiker?

He's off reading Reacher!

[John K]

Originally Posted by lestatar

^ I am easier - just give me ooodles and oodles of cash and I am perfectly content with being 5'10.5" tall. Then I could hire guys like Jack Reacher to make me look good.

And yes, the .5" counts

Reacher's ain't for hire

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

Agreed. Not lots of romance. An occasional requisite bedding, but not much romance! That said, I love them too. I'd love to have Reacher in my back pocket whenever I needed something tough done. And I'd enjoy just looking at him in between times!

Not sure how he feels about back pockets.

[John K]

Originally Posted by tm3

John i have not yet read I Sniper but heard that it is one of the better efforts of the series. i just finished 47th Samurai and it was weak overall but there were parts of it that i found interesting. i'm currently reading Days of Thunder and i think that I Sniper will be next.

s hunter definitely seems to be trying to work in more emotional drama in his later works than he did with the earlier stuff.

i'd recommend trying Point of Impact and if you don't like that one, you won't like any of the others!

With the all the thumbs up for Point of Impact, I'll give Hunter another try. Thanks.

Originally Posted by Filark

For female protagonists, how about Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon series? She's a tough loner using her wits and weapons against nature and the worst of mankind. When she's out in the field there is nothing more thrilling.

That's the first I've heard of her. I've been on the look out for female POV without a lot of romance. I'll give it a try, thanks. Would you recommend starting at the beginning (Track of the Cat)?

[Filark]

Track of the Cat, yes. It's a good one. Unfortunately, there is some romance, especially in the later books. However, Anna's a Park Ranger who enjoys(?) tracking bad guys into various kinds of wilderness, so much of her time is away from entanglements.

I'll be interested to know if you like the books.

[calail]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

It's a 'guy' thing. Reacher is definitely NOT 'chick-lit.'

well, this chick isn't much for chick-lit. i LOVE Lee Childs and his characters (including Reacher!).

[nikkers]

Originally Posted by lestatar

^ Indeed. Pretty much exactly how I felt. I was frankly horrified that Marky Mark was cast as Bob Lee - no offense to him but Bob Lee he ain't. The film was a huge fail for me as an "adaptation" of PoI, but as a standalone film was not complete trash.

Since this thread kinda went waaaaay OT [not my fault, I swear!], here is another guy who I think many of you will love:

Victor O'Reilly

He wrote a trilogy around a fantastic character named Hugo Fitzduane. I highly recommend the Hangman trilogy and the first one, Games of the Hangman remains one of my all-time fave thriller/military books.

I was trying to remember this trilogy recently. One of the very best LOL moments in a action series, when the Jap baddie wants to chop him up with the katana v toledo steel , dribbles dodges and shoots them all with a machine gun.
Im just rereading Reacher 1-5 are the best then they get patchy.

[lestatar]

^ lol...I vaguely remember that sequence...Been years since I read it. Yeah, a tad fantastical at times, but seriously good thriller writing IMO.

A shame O'Reilly has been pretty much inactive with Hugo Fitzduane and company...