What do you admire most in the best books of the genre?

Andreya · Aug 20, 2008

Okay, 'bestselling books' too

Why are they the 'best' or 'bestselling'?

Let's compare & analyze, shall we?

I love the sense of adventure in some of 'the best of' Agatha Christie's books, & the 'cosy lives' of her protagonists in others... with all the colorful characters etc. She just seems like a chatty lady telling you all the gossip. & well, we all love a good bit of gossip, now and then, don't we?

As for James Patterson. I don't like his books as such, things I admire are: He does start interesting themes. For example 'gorgeous 'ideal' woman - who happens to kill all her men' (really gets a girl's self-esteem going lol)...
I like the use of 'shocking things' (kinda like the above

) & a lot of things that 'appeal to people' - use of food, recipes, tactile/NLP/all senses stuff (if I remember it rightly), I think he uses the 'looks like ______(movie actor/actress)' - so everyone can get a visual, & he ties in the thrill of 'mass media/celebrity buzz' - or maybe I mixed him up with someone else?

Anyway, what are things *you* like best, & why?
What are things that seem to 'work' (even if you hate the book/z)?

Captain Howdy · Aug 20, 2008

I read Kiss the Girls (long ago before the movie came along) at the recommendation of a friend and then one or two other Patterson books. KTG was thrilling, but the plots of the other two were silly and ridiculous, unless that's the same thing. Ditto with some Stuart Woods I tried reading. He certainly has changed over the years after writing Chiefs. I read one book by Brad Metzger, same thing: silly. Ain't got no other word for it.

I really admire John Grisham. His plots are bigger than life but he knows how to wring suspense out of everything.

Setting and tone is important to me as well. I like things set in the American South, so James Lee Burke is a natural, and probably why I like Grisham. I spent about ten years reading more traditional courtroom dramas (John LesCroat et al) before I went to Grisham. Any type of book that creates a gothic atmosphere also turns my crank. Carol O'Connel's series about Mallory is set in NYC, but I found both Winter House and Judas Child to both be quite gothic in tone. Dennis LeHane's Shutter Island (soon to be a major motion picture from Martin Scorsese) drips with gothic atmosphere. Jonathan Kellerman's early work, especially Blood Test, and James Ellroy's Because The Night create quite a gothic hollywood atmosphere.

But what I admire most in MTS novels is the level of character development. I'm kind of new to Jeffrey Deaver, but he is the best. I read Stone Monkey and was blown away by the depth and bredth of all the characters. James Lee Burke is a very spare writer. He tends to use (in my mind) stock characters over and over in his books, but in JLB even the most heinous criminal still has a shred of humanity and even the good guys, like Robicheaux himself, have an abundance of undesirable qualities. That's something I try to infuse into my own characters.

Sam Stephens · Aug 20, 2008

I'm a big fan of Grisham's earlier work, as well. The scenarios are original and fascinating - especially the illegal scams that certain characters are involved in. If he wasn't a writer, he'd make a good criminal

James Grippando does this REALLY well, and manages to keep your interest thumping along to wee hours of the morning, leading you to wake up the next morning cursing his name for lack of sleep.

Last To Die was one of my favourites of his work (I've only read 3 so far). It's about a lady who dies and leaves 60 million (?) dollars to her enemies, and the last one living receives it all.

Love it!

heyjude · Aug 22, 2008

Sam Stephens said:
Last To Die was one of my favourites of his work (I've only read 3 so far). It's about a lady who dies and leaves 60 million (?) dollars to her enemies, and the last one living receives it all.

Love it!

Oh, this sounds like fun.

One of my favorites is Michael Connelly. What I like best about him is that no matter how many Bosch books he writes, I always want more. That's gotta be a hallmark of a good writer.

Manderley · Aug 22, 2008

Sam Stephens said:
Last To Die was one of my favourites of his work (I've only read 3 so far). It's about a lady who dies and leaves 60 million (?) dollars to her enemies, and the last one living receives it all.
Love it!

What a great premise for a book!

Andreya · Aug 24, 2008

Interesting...

I must admit I've always been sorta 'not attracted' to Grisham's books... (he seemed too 'serious' for me lol!) - though a lawyer friend loves him!!

Captain Howdy, could you explain what you mean by 'plots are bigger than life'?
I'm intrigued by 'Hollywood & NYC gothic atmosphere' too!!

I so wanna check our Carol O'Connell's books now, lol!

/& a few others most probably too, lol/ I just browsed Judas Child a bit on amazon & it looks awesome!! (So thanks for the recommend!

)
I like it if good & bad guys are 'human' too... Part of what I liked about Henning Mankell's Inspector Wallander is that he's very human... & has some weird relatives! lol - & also, 'real life' issues were addressed in those books too... (changing of society, etc.)

The Last to Die book does sound interesting too, lol!

Yes, 'gripping' & 'page-turning' is a quality to strive after... I was kinda hoping for more elaborate thoughts on this

lol /& how to achieve it..

/

I must admit I like books you 'have to read' in one setting too.. but sometimes prefer books you can actually put down & then later on/next day continue reading...

I find very few such books - either they are 'must read' & gripping, or terribly boring & annoying & I never pick them up again lol
/So any recommendations for that too, lol? - though this is maybe stuff for another topic?

/

Back to topic: What I like lots is the strong sense of morality & 'values' in Mary Higgins Clark's books.. People there are human & basically there are good 'happy endings' (in the ones I read at least..)... Same with Agatha Christie...
I also like it if people seem just like everyday people you might run around in a park... Or if there are experiences one might have oneself... (like running in the park etc)
Learning new things, new settings... is interesting too... (like, living/staying/working in a spa, in a hotel...)
/Of course I'm interested in some of the 'outrageously rich' too, especially if done well, but if those people don't appear really human - eg have it all, no apparent flaws.. they just kinda seem boring..?)
Also, if endings seem 'too happy' (some of the romance books, especially Nora Roberts ones) can be 'guilty' of that... one just can get a bit suicidal lol, so I like some balance.. at least a few miserable characters at the end too, lol--- 'moderately happy' endings with some 'room for space'... (or continuation...)

What my Grandma likes about 'crime stories' (books or on TV) is 'restoration of justice', & she especially loves it if a 'high authority figure' is found out to be guilty lol.
I guess in a somewhat confusing world it's good to know at least in mystery stories the bad guys are caught.

Captain Howdy · Aug 24, 2008

Andreya said:
Interesting...

I must admit I've always been sorta 'not attracted' to Grisham's books... (he seemed too 'serious' for me lol!) - though a lawyer friend loves him!!

Captain Howdy, could you explain what you mean by 'plots are bigger than life'?
I'm intrigued by 'Hollywood & NYC gothic atmosphere' too!!

I don't know if I can explain what I mean or not. I read a number of of authors who write courtroom drama before I started on Grisham, mostly because I had seen all the movies based on his books. But out of any author of legal thrillers, his books tend to be the fastest reads and also the most fun. Half of Testament is about an alcoholic scumbag lawyer travelling to the heart of the Brazillian jungle in search of a missionary/heiress. I tell ya I can't remember the last time I turned pages so fast. My other favorites are The Brethren, The Runaway Jury, and The Street Lawyer. Things in his books don't happen to people in real life, these books are anything BUT stuffy courtroom dramas. The majority of them are escapism in a big way.

As far as Hollywood vs. NY gothic...hee hee...once I read an introduction written by Joyce Carol Oates to a collection of HP Lovecraft in which she said "gothic is about the furniture" (or maybe she used the word "furnishings". Just about anyplace, no matter how idyllic, can be turned into someplace sinister with the right descriptions and word choices. The Carol O'Connell books use old New York, Central Park, the country residences and everything is very grim and shadowy indeed. Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware and Milos Sturgis drive all over the LA freeways interviewing wealthy, successful people with very dark pasts, drug addicts, victims of child abuse, mental illness. Kellerman is a big fan of Ellroy's works. Ellroy is in a class of his own and is a master at exposing the dark underbelly of the glamourous hollywood of the mid 20th century.

Sam Stephens · Aug 24, 2008

I just dug out my copy of "Last To Die", by James Grippando. There's a LOT to the story, and I really admire the way he pulls it off.

For those interested, I'll type out the backcover:

A gorgeous young woman -- Sally Flemming -- has been shot dead in her Mercedes on a Miami street. Tatum Knight, a former contract killer, denies he had anything to do with it. But he confesses to Jack [Ed- he's the hero lawyer] tha he did meet with Sally in the bar ownede by his brother, Theo, and that she had tried to hire him.

Sally was worth forty-eight million dollars hwen she died. Money had never made her happy, so she left it all to her enemies -- left it for them to fight over, that is. She named six heirs in her will, but there's a catch: no one gets a penny until all but one of the heirs is dead. It's survival of the greediest.

Quickly the lawyers gear up for a bitter legal battle, but Jack braces himself for much worse. He alone knows that heir number six -- Tatum Knight -- is a professional hitman. As the heirs begin to fall, Jack and Theo are in a race against time to catch the killer. Could it be Tatum? Or is someone even more frightening and more dangerous the odds-on favourite to be the last to die?

It's definatly worth heading off to Borders right now to pick up a copy! Even if "lawyer" books aren't your thing, Grippando will still hold your interest.

As to the original question, what do I admire? It's the writers that come up with not just a REALLY interesting story line, but just when you're hooked, they give it another twist.

Fantastic!

cheers
Sam

Andreya · Sep 6, 2008

Captain Howdy, I get it now!!

Thanks!!

Yeah I agree the jungle thing/heiress couldn't happen to anyone & sounds interesting!!

Sam, lol.. The stuff about hitman just makes it more interesting!!

I like 'hookable' storylines & twists too!!

I agree I can totally enjoy 'outrageous' stories too.. though they have to be at least slightly believable, I guess.. I mean, at least to the point where you can wonder, 'Can this have happened, or couldn't it?'

I was asking myself the exact same questions to the 'Last to Die' will-scenario! lol 'Could this be real? Could such a will be legal?' lol!!

I would probably write a totally different book about a young millionaire & a hitman, lol, but that is why we love books, no?

variety

Sam Stephens · Sep 30, 2008

Hi Andreya,

Could such a will be legal?

That's a really good question - I was thinking the same thing. Apparently so was Grippando.

The lawyers involved in the story explore the legality of the will as well.

Such a fun book

cheers
Sam

speirbhean · Oct 3, 2008

I want characters as well as mystery. Sounds simple, but lots of the super sellers don't actually deliver on that one. I'd rather go for a pint with Tony Hill than Robert Langdon, and would rather share a pizza with Tess Monaghan than Kay Scarpetta - at least Scarpetta's latest incarnation, she was more fun in her early days...

RJK · Oct 3, 2008

I haven't read Last to Die, but the plot sounds like a take off of The Matarese Circle which was a great book.

fullbookjacket · Oct 3, 2008

What I like in the genre is a story with an exotic edge or something just a little outside the "real world."

There are psychotic serial killers in the real world. I get it. But I'm not particularly interested in the standard serial killer plot.

I grew up reading Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edgar Rice Burroughs...stuff that whisks you away. I graduated to science fiction and fantasy as a late teen, young man, all the way through college. Then it lost a lot of its appeal and I went searching for grown-up versions of what I read as a kid.

Give me a story like "Thunderhead" by Preston & Child. Something rooted in history and science, with perhaps a whiff of the unexplained. An intriguing, exotic backdrop. A little philosophy. Not exactly horror. Not exactly science fiction. Not exactly mystery. Not exactly techno-thriller rubbish. A little bit of each, told at a rapid-fire clip, with entertaining characters.

Kate Thornton · Oct 6, 2008

Love those Preston & Child books - intelligent, exotic, unusual, fascinating. But I'm a secret Lee Child/Jack Reacher fan, too - ordinary, superhero, violent revenge stories with pretty predictable plots and satisfying endings. Go figure - we all like something different!

Feidb · Oct 9, 2008

I like the book to move fast, make sense, and have a happy ending for the hero/heroes. I'm not crazy about books that prattle on page after page about the characters personal problems. I want to get to know the charactrer, but not to the point of slowing the story down to a crawl. I also like those little bits of info (trivia) thrown in that you would never hear about anywhere else.

I'm easy!

Feidb

What do you admire most in the best books of the genre?

Andreya

in denial

Captain Howdy

closer + prettier than ever

Sam Stephens

heyjude

Making my own sunshine

Manderley

Slowly does it.

Andreya

in denial

Captain Howdy

closer + prettier than ever

Sam Stephens

Andreya

in denial

Sam Stephens

speirbhean

wishing I was reading

RJK

Sheriff Bullwinkle the Poet says:

fullbookjacket

Kate Thornton

Still Happy to be Here. Or Anywhere

Feidb

Been Here A While