Christopher Rice?

[Spookster]

Well, for the first time in... ever, I had a DK book in hand, ready to purchase, and put it down for another book. (Darn this single income!) My eye caught a sharp cover. So, I picked it up, read the summary, and decided to give it a whirl. While waiting in line, I read the author bio and to my surprise he was the son of renouned author Anne Rice.

I've only read the first quarter or so of his novel, Garden of Snow, but I was wondering if anyone else has read his works. His writing style is similar to Anne's. The storyline, so far, is interesting enough, but he seems to focus more on the characters than the plot. Anybody else care to share?

[Kevin Yarbrough]

I read one of his books, his first one I think. He is alright, but not great. His story lines are good but he focuses a lot on the characters instead of the story. That isn't a bad thing, but I felt no connection with the characters and didn't care if they lived or died.

[maestrowork]

he focuses a lot on the characters instead of the story. That isn't a bad thing, but I felt no connection with the characters and didn't care if they lived or died.

That's not a good thing if he focuses on the characters and yet you still don't care about them... hmmmm...

I have The Snow Garden but I haven't finished reading it. I think he tends to overwrite. And after a while, it gets tiring.

[Spookster]

Well, I finished the book. It was okay, but I was somewhat disappointed. The synopsis is misleading, I think. I was expecting more of a horror story than a mystery/suspense.

The storyline was okay, not great. He is definately a character based writer. He does tend to overwrite, but so does his mother, so that wasn't a shock to me. He seemed to purposely set up misleading traps. As I got further into the story, I found myself annoyed at being mislead by character thoughts. A huge no-no to me.

It wasn't bad, but not great either. I think I'll wait until he's got more experience before I try reading his work again.

[MacAllister]

Have you read Jeffrey Deaver, Spook? Forensic thrillers--but VERY smart and well done.

The Vanished Man has some misdirection in one of the character's thoughts, but the whole book is about magician's tricks (as practiced by a serial killer) and the book itself is set up like a magic show, from start to finish--and upon rereading, Deaver tells the reader on the FIRST PAGE: I'm gonna fool you, the hand is quicker than the eye....then he freaking DOES it. <bg> So I got over my snit about being fooled, because he never quite lies to me....

Anyway. I highly recommend his books.

[Kevin Yarbrough]

Deaver is a good writer. I realy like his Lincoln Rhymes books. The man is a forensics genius.

[Spookster]

I'll put him on my to-read list. I love forensics!

I'm currently reading The Good, The Bad, and The Undead by Kim Harrison. Not a bad read so far. It's a mystic thriller (I guess that's the best way to describe it) about a witch, a vamp, and a fairy that run a bounty hunting service. She does use the (IMO) dreaded term "vamped out", though. Aside from that, it's an interesting combo of classic horror and mystery.

[Kevin Yarbrough]

Laurell K. Hamillton is another good writer, if you haven't read her yet that is. Her Anita Blake series is good, but the girl does tend to write a lot about sex. Not a bad thing, but just a little FYI.

[Spookster]

Okay, I'm looking for pee-my-pants-can't-sleep-for-a-week scary. Do any said authors fall into the category? If not, can somebody please recommend a really scary (recent-- not King or Koontz) book. Please, please, please!

The books I've read recently are good, they just fell more into the suspense category. Didn't scare me. I really need a scare fix. I'm dyin' here.

Signed,
Spook me!

[Uncarved]

I love him. I have his two novels and the one thats coming out on preorder. I simply.... love him. I'd want to marry him if I were a man ;)

[Wandering Sensei]

Laurell K. Hamillton is another good writer, if you haven't read her yet that is. Her Anita Blake series is good, but the girl does tend to write a lot about sex. Not a bad thing, but just a little FYI.

Laurell and I used to correspond back when we were both unknowns. I was thrilled when she hit it big, but frankly I'm not crazy about what I've read by her. Too much sex, too much fetishism, and the plot suffers for it, IMO. I got to the point of "I don't care what he's wearing. I don't care how many are in bed together or what genders they are. Get on with the story!"

But then, that's me. Not much of a voyeur, I guess.