Here's a list of classic novels that are essential reads in the Crime and Suspense genres. The list is roughly chronological, ranging from the 1930s to the current time. Note that the list does not include traditional Mystery novels, which is a separate genre.
The Maltese Falcon - Dashiell Hammett. Where the terse, hardboiled style all began.
The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler
Double Indemnity - James M. Cain. The classic Noir doomed crime plan.
The Getaway - Jim Thompson. The crime novel as a descent into Hell.
The Manchurian Candidate - Richard Condon. The paranoid conspiracy thriller and a monstrous maternal figure.
Psycho - Robert Bloch.
The Deep Blue Goodbye - John D. MacDonald
The Friends of Eddie Coyle - George V. Higgins. Gritty crime story told in pitch perfect street dialogue. Elmore Leonard learned from this author.
Death Wish - Brian Garfield. Unban crime problems and the novel of revenge.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - John LeCarre. The perfect Cold War spy novel.
The Ipcress File - Len Deighton. The spy novel retold with working class cynicism.
Marathon Man - William Goldman. That shudder-grating torture scene in a dental chair.
Miami Blues - Charles Willeford. An under-appreciated gem of a crime author.
Killshot - Elmore Leonard.
The Black Dahlia - James Ellroy. Frantic, pitch black, and borderline insane, as only Ellroy can write.
Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris. The best serial killer novel ever written.
Heaven's Prisoners - James Lee Burke
Mystic River - Dennis Lehane.
No Country For Old Men - Cormac McCarthy. Noir fatalism in the new West.
City of Bones - Michael Connelly. The police procedural at its best.
The Leopard - Jo Nesbo. Obsession, Nordic style.
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Sunday, May 15, 2016
NIGHT MANAGER a Sleek Spy Drama
The Night Manager is a taut, sleekly produced mini-series airing on AMC Cable network. The series is based on a novel by John Le Carre.
With the end of the Cold War battle between the CIA, MI-6, and the Soviet KGB, spy novelists like Le Carre had to find new plot subjects such as terrorism, multi-national corporations, and international crime. The Night Manager deals with an undercover operation by a British intelligence agency to bring down a notorious arms smuggler. In the process, corruption and betrayal are uncovered at high levels within both MI-6 and the CIA.
Other Le Carre novels have pursued similar post-Cold War intrigue:
Our Kind of Traitor - A British couple on vacation become involved with a Russian crime oligarch who wishes to defect, which draws the involvement of British intelligence. The movie version of the novel will be released this August.
A Most Wanted Man - A grim, cynical drama set in Hamburg, Germany. A wanted Muslim terrorist pretending to be an ordinary immigrant is hunted by competing American, British, and German agencies. Unfortunately, Le Carre's ingrained anti-American streak is on its nastiest display here. The movie version is available on DVD.
With the end of the Cold War battle between the CIA, MI-6, and the Soviet KGB, spy novelists like Le Carre had to find new plot subjects such as terrorism, multi-national corporations, and international crime. The Night Manager deals with an undercover operation by a British intelligence agency to bring down a notorious arms smuggler. In the process, corruption and betrayal are uncovered at high levels within both MI-6 and the CIA.
Other Le Carre novels have pursued similar post-Cold War intrigue:
Our Kind of Traitor - A British couple on vacation become involved with a Russian crime oligarch who wishes to defect, which draws the involvement of British intelligence. The movie version of the novel will be released this August.
A Most Wanted Man - A grim, cynical drama set in Hamburg, Germany. A wanted Muslim terrorist pretending to be an ordinary immigrant is hunted by competing American, British, and German agencies. Unfortunately, Le Carre's ingrained anti-American streak is on its nastiest display here. The movie version is available on DVD.
Monday, May 2, 2016
EXTREME PREY a New Crime Thriller by John Sandford
Extreme Prey by John Sandford is the newest entry in the crime thriller series that features Minnesota State Police investigator Lucas Davenport.
The Iowa Presidential campaign trail is the background for the novel. A threat has been made against a candidate. Lucas is on indefinite leave from police work, but he agrees to look into the threat as a free lance consultant.
What Lucas finds increasingly worries him. Evidence develops that indicates the threat is not only real, but clearly dangerous. But the threat comes from an unlikely source: a bitter and resentful farm family following near-psychotic political motives. The race to stop an assassination plan crisscrosses the rustic Iowa landscape, hurtling toward a tense, explosive finish.
Extreme Prey has a crackerjack plot and is written in such a smooth, fast paced style that the novel practically reads itself. Once again, John Sandford shows why he is one of the best crime thriller authors working today.
An outstanding read. Highly recommended.
The Iowa Presidential campaign trail is the background for the novel. A threat has been made against a candidate. Lucas is on indefinite leave from police work, but he agrees to look into the threat as a free lance consultant.
What Lucas finds increasingly worries him. Evidence develops that indicates the threat is not only real, but clearly dangerous. But the threat comes from an unlikely source: a bitter and resentful farm family following near-psychotic political motives. The race to stop an assassination plan crisscrosses the rustic Iowa landscape, hurtling toward a tense, explosive finish.
Extreme Prey has a crackerjack plot and is written in such a smooth, fast paced style that the novel practically reads itself. Once again, John Sandford shows why he is one of the best crime thriller authors working today.
An outstanding read. Highly recommended.
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