New Books/Consistent Authors

I understand that last month I suggested that I wouldn’t review new books from established authors and I still stand by that.  However I’m going to adjust the policy JUST a BIT.

Two Authors I particularly enjoy reading:
–Lee Child
–Carl Hiaasen

have new books out  recently.

Lee Child
Image from:
Wikimedia

Lee Child has a recurring character, Jack Reacher has no permanent home, carries only a toothbrush from place to place, who and steps into the fray when he sees an injustice.  Some may call him a vigilante.  Reacher is someone who metes out his own form of justice.  He is a one man fighting machine.  He takes no guff from anyone.  I’ve read every book Lee Child has written and he has a formula that works well.  I look forward to each new adventure he puts Reacher through.

The only faux pas I consider Mr Child has made for Reacher, was permitting Tom Cruise to take on the role in film.  Why you ask?

Reacher in print, is described as over six feet tall, menacing.  Cruise is neither of these.  I refuse to watch Cruise playing Reacher.  I THINK I understand Child’s motivation for choosing Tom Cruise:
In order to bring a new wave of readers to the Reacher Universe, Lee Child needed to reach out to visual America.  What better way to find a new audience then with an “A” list actor playing the part of Jack Reacher?

To give new readers a choice of books to start with, my favorite Reacher books follow:
–Persuader
–Bad Luck and Trouble
–The Affair

One of the things I like about Lee Child’s books is the fact that you can pretty much pick up any book in any order as there is very little blowback from previous books.

His new book:
Never Look Back is typical Jack Reacher in many ways.
A cross country trip to clear his name, Reacher may have a curve thrown at him, making him reconsider everything he has done and everything he will do in the future.

This may just become my favorite.  I read Never Look Back in about a day and a half.

I know!
I know!
I said I wasn’t going to review new books by established authors.

Rules are made to be broken though, right?

Carl Hiaasen
Image from:
OKState

Carl Hiaasen is as different from Lee Child as light is from dark.  A light, humorous author, Hiaasen uses Florida as HIS recurring character.  He is a strong environmentalist and he uses that as the backdrop for his novels.  Hiaasen has one character that intermittently makes an appearance in his books:
Skink. aka Clinton Tyree, former governor of Florida.  If you want more info on him. Click the orange link above.

Hiaasen is one of the few writers that create such belly laughs in me that I sometimes find it hard to breathe.  To give you a few places to start, check out:
–Stormy Weather
–Skin Tight
–Sick Puppy.

Now as I said above I understand from a previous column I suggested that I wasn’t going to review new books from consistent authors.  As you see I followed that policy.  One of the reasons I said that is for the most part once you’ve read several books by established writers you pretty much get a feel for the style and the type of book they write.

Which is not to say these writers don’t deserve to be recognized  They do.  The six books I’ve chosen to recommend by these two authors are my favorites.  Everything they’ve written is well worth investigating.  You can’t go wrong reading them.

Until next time…
…Turn the page.
–
Chris

Feel free to comment here on Patch or jump on over to my blog:
New Books Consistent Authors