I am just trying to find some names that I may not have heard before. I'll just give a list of some of the authors I enjoy reading.

Stephen King
George Orwell
Dean Koontz
Dennis Lehane
Ed McBain
John Grisham
Dan Brown
Neil Gaiman

If you like Stephen King, I would suggest picking up Dan Simmons' "Summer of Night." Best Stephen King book he never wrote. Also "Song of Kali" by Simmons as well. Both are excellent horror novels. And maybe check out Clive Barker's earlier horror stuff like "Books of Blood" and "Damnation Game." "Ghost Story" by Peter Straub.

Likewise, if you enjoyed "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown, pick up "Foucault's Pendulum" by Umberto Eco.

Neil Gaiman -- if you're into his brand of urban fantasy, you can't go too wrong with Charles de Lint.

"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley and "Slaughterhouse Five" by Kurt Vonnegut, if you like George Orwell.

Richard Laymon, King and Koontz both loved the guy and their blurbs appear on his books.

Robert McCammon - Boy's Life, a somewhat more magical coming of age tale that most King fans enjoy.

Iain Banks - The Wasp Factory

Scott Turow - the thinking man's John Grisham.

A word of warning on Eco's Foucault's Pendulum. While it also involves religious conspiracies a la The Da Vinci Code, it's a much more erudite and literary novel and is by no means a light, easy read. I loved it, but I wouldn't recommend it to the millions who have read The Da Vinci Code and are looking for something similar.

If you want something as fast paced and thrilling as Dan Brown, try Joseph Garber's Vertical Run.

And in the same vein as Vonnegut, Orwell and Huxley, try Yevgeny Zamyatin's We.

For me, Vonnegut's Player Piano comes a lot closer to capturing the Orwell/Huxley vibe than Slaughterhouse Five. But you really can't go wrong with any Vonnegut. I like Cat's Cradle and Breakfast of Champions, personally.

John Saul is a great writer in the Stephen King/Dean Koontz genre.

For horror try Clive Barker (Books of Blood) or Poppy Z. Brite.

If you like horror/crime/mystery:
Read Michael Slade!!!

Slade is a pen name for a handful of authors who have been writing under that name for years. The books are fantastic.

The main characters are a recurring group of modern day Royal Canadian Mounties (aka Canadian detectives). The stories dabble in the occult, have plenty of gruesome deaths, have detailed back stories and interconnecting subplots and generally a startling payoff.


Start with Headhunter, and if you like that one, read the rest in sequence. The stories are standalone, but some of the characters overlap from time to time.

In the King/Koontz vein, I recommend Robert McCammon's Swan Song.

In the area of legal thrillers like John Grisham, I recommend:

J.F. Freedman's Against the Wind
Steve Martini

I read mostly fantasy and the authors I really like are:

George R.R. Martin (start with Game of Thrones)

Tad Williams ( start with The Dragonbone Chair)

Terry Goodkind (start with Wizards First Rule)

All excellent series if you like the genre.