Ransom Notes

[#1]

Books are my favorite good time.  Love'm more than movies, tv, jugglers, baseball, or Wheel of Fortune.  What can I say?  I'm a reader.  And my favorite reads are-no surprise, right?-thrillers.

I love being swept away into the dark, deadly world of a good crime novel.  Nothing is what it seems, my companions are mad, bad, and dangerous to know, and I get to vicariously experience the high-risk, close-call, adrenalized adventures of my favorite characters.  For me, mysteries are the very best form of escapist entertainment.  My #1 reason for this is simple:  Thrillers are fun.

If you read my work, I suspect you might agree, but do you?  My first dance with the genre occurred when I was a teenager thanks to a second-hand bookstore that sold only paperbacks.  My first date was Raymond Chandler, who cost nineteen cents, which, by any standard you measure, turned out to be a pretty good investment.  Chandler's exotic rendition of Los Angeles and the dry, cynical humor of his hero, Philip Marlowe, hooked me, and Travis McGee's houseboat in Ft. Lauderdale set the hook deeper.

As a reader, I love stories that grab me fast, and hard, and keep me turning the pages.  I love reading about the struggle of good versus evil, and interesting heroes who put themselves at risk against very bad people.  I love characters who believe in right and wrong, even in those gray places where right and wrong are tough to distinguish, and I love a character who refuses to quit trying to make that distinction.

The very best thing about this genre, I think, is its available diversity.  Any given thriller can be deadly serious and hilariously funny, as much about a plot that turns so fast it will break your back as it is about language so beautiful it will leave you breathless.  We don't have to be one thing; we can be all things!

So now it's your turn, and I will check back to read to your answers.  Do you remember when you fell in love with this genre?  C'mon, fess up!  When, where, and why?  Tell me!  What do you love about this genre?

Editor's Note: Robert Crais is the award winning author of both the Joe Pike and Elvis Cole books.

[#2]

I'm really not trying to kiss up, RC, I swear, but I fell in love late and it was THE MONKEY'S RAINCOAT that did it for me. I had read some other books that would fall into the crime fiction genre before, but nothing that grabbed me and sent me looking desperately for more.  Linda Fairstein also deserves credit. With both of your series, I read promos about books later in the series (THE WATCHMAN for you; ENTOMBED for Linda) but opted to start at the beginning. After finishing both complete series I discovered other folks who shared my love and they offered suggestions for other books. I found  Michael Koryta while on the Craisie Club. Met Koryta and he recommended Dennis Lehane. It's spiraled from there and now I'm hopelessly addicted.

What makes me love them? First and foremost character. Characters become my friends - people I care about and invest in, so if I can't connect with the characters, there isn't a plot that can compensate. I love the puzzles and the social issues and as you mentioned the "good versus evil." My favorite books are ones that are far more gray than black and white. I love to laugh, so the books that have intelligent humor grab me. I'm always stunned at books that can be so dark but still effectively make use of humor. It's amazing.

Right now I'm reading Brad Parks' FACES OF THE DEAD and I oscillate between laughing and then being awestruck by Brad's acute observation of humanity. Gregg Hurwitz has a knack with throwing in details that completely catch you off guard and then make you go, "wow!" Oh, I could go on forever. It's simply the most amazing genre and I'm so adore each chance I get to open a new adventure!

[#3]

That Brad Parks title is actually FACES OF THE GONE, and you can pre-order it here: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Faces-of-the-Gone/Brad-Parks/e/9780312574772/?itm=1&USRI=faces+of+t...

[#4]

Oh dear...thank you. I don't know why I keep wanting to call it the wrong title!

[#5]

Either title would be cool, and it sounds like a really good book!

[#6]

What I love aboit crime books are the twist and turns of the story, how characters who you think are good turn out to be evil or not totally evil but with their own agenda, the "who dunnit" mystery and hoe you end wantong more and more.

I´ve read a lot of authors, but the ones I can now remember are P.D. James, James Patterson (especially with the Womens Murder Club series) and Kathy Reichs. Usually I read at night, when my 2 sons are in bed and my husband is with his computer, so I can get transported to the place and time those books provide.

Thank you all mystery and crime authors!!!

[#7]

Desperately needing something new and different to read other than the classics for my course, Early one morning in 1989, I was browsing through the new book section of a local library. The mystery books caught my eye, and settling on an author who was new to me, I began reading the first few chapters of "Rules of Prey" by John Sandford. I was mesmerized by the hero, this new type of cop who was brazen and heroic at the same time. Only one copy of the new book, it was on hold for a patron who was to pick it up that afternoon. Well, I was not going to leave the library until he/she came to take the book from my hands, which she did in less than two hours. That following weekend, I traveled to the big city bookstore to purchase my first edition copy of Rules.  From that point, I became a crime-mystery fan, especially of Sandford's Lucas Davenport series, and each year, I anxiously awaiting the publication of a new one. 

I love the excitement, the thrills, the suspense, the humor, the chase scenes, the take down of the criminal or killer of the crime-mystery-police-detective genre.  It is by far my favorite, and currently, it is the only genre I make time for in my busy schedule. Over the past twenty years, I have added at least twenty authors to my list of have-to reads, including Connelly, Crais, and Lippman.  What a great world!!!

[#8]

Hi SalBeth,

Not sure if you saw John Sandford's post on Ransom Notes, so here it is:

http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Ransom-Notes/The-Best-Writers-Out-There-are-Writing-Thrillers...

P.

[#9]

I remember very well why and when I fell in love with crime fiction and his name is Michael Connelly or maybe I should say his name is Harry Bosch. After I finished Black Echo I was a gonner for sure. I love the Harry character how he is such an enigma, how he stands for justice and doesn't take prisoners and most of all what a sad and yet hopeful man. And then he led me to other crime writers who take a strong second third etc in my favorites column but the king of the hill is definitely Michael and Harry.

Deb

[#10]

Really, I fell in love with the genre back in my early teens (about 1990) reading Agatha Christie novels, in particular the Hercules Poirot series. Also, I have to give a nod to Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Watson characters and books.

After a long hiatus in reading mysteries and thrillers (other than Stephen King's work), my love for the thriller genre was reaffirmed around the early 2000's when I read John Grisham's A Time to Kill. I have since read many Grisham novels, except  for a few other early ones and his latest few, which I plan to get back to at some point after continually branching out to other authors and types of books.

Soon after Grisham, I happened upon a Jeffery Deaver book in a local public library--Praying for Sleep. I was mesmerized by his writing. The suspense. The sympathetic character development. The twists and turns. The resolutions. Needless to say, I have read everything Deaver has written since then (except his latest Roadside Crosses), and he remains one of my favorite authors, not just a favorite thriller author.

The first James Patterson novel I ever read was The Jester, which remains one of my favorites of his, though I have read several others.

Then there was Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane. A damn creepy book. That turned me on to his previous work, Mystic River. This was well before the books were brought to film.

These are some of the standouts that solidified my love and re-entry into the thriller genre. There will be no exit for me. I will remain happily occupied in this genre (along with others) for a lifetime. Along the way, I have and will discover so many other great authors/books. Phillip Margolin, Thomas H. Cook, James Siegel, Douglas Preston, Jeff Lindsay, Jack Ketchum, Michael Connelly--just to name a few. I anticipate each new book and each new author. And read this stuff almost obsessively. I have to remind myself to just really enjoy and savor each book instead of trying to worry about getting to the next book or author that has come out, or going back and reading an author's back work from the point at which I discovered them. Again, I've got plenty to keep my happily occupied in the reading department.