I just finished reading Jeffery Deaver's Garden of Beasts which I liked quite a bit. I was hoping someone might recommend some other Deaver books and/or some similar author's books I might like.

I know he writes a series which includes The Bone Collector. How is the writing in this series? I guess I'm not sure, from the description, that this series is what I'm looking for.

Thanks for any suggestions.

I've read most of Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme novels - that's his recurring quadriplegic detective character - and they're generally decent thriller stories.

Haven't read Garden of Beasts, though from the description I've seen it looks like a conceptual departure for Deaver. I can't really recommend similar books, but I did enjoy his other novels.

A Maiden's Grave is a standalone non-Lincoln Rhymes thriller about a busload of schoolchildren kidnapped by some crazies. I read it years ago (my first Deaver book, as a matter of fact), and recall it being darn good.

I've only read Twisted -- a collection of his short stories and liked it quite a bit.

I enjoyed Garden of Beasts a lot. It differs in subject from Deaver’s typical work, although I think the writing is similar. His series featuring quadriplegic forensics expert Lincoln Rhyme is his best known work and most of them are quite good. The Bone Collector is the first in the series.

If you enjoyed the historical aspects of Garden, you might try Joseph Kanon, Alan Furst or Olen Steinhauer.

If you are looking for contemporary international thrillers, I highly recommend Barry Eisler, Daniel Silva and Gayle Lynds. Raelynn Hillhouse had a terrific debut last year set in Berlin during the last days of the Cold War that I especially enjoyed.

The classic writers in the genre, like Robert Ludlum, Frederick Forsyth, Adam Hall and John LeCarre, are always good to turn, too, as well.

The best thriller I’ve read recently is Joseph Finder’s Company Man. Pure edge-of-your-seat enjoyment. I’m currently reading Dean Koontz’ new one, Velocity, and it’s excellent.

If you have some more specific thoughts on the kind of book you’d like to read, I’ll be happy to try to think of some more suggestions.

Thanks gang,

I wish I could be more specific as to what I'm looking for, but at this point I'm not exactly sure. I am a history oriented person so works set in a historical setting appeal, but I wouldn't limit myself to that. I've never been super huge into Mystery/Thriller stuff, but have grown more interested in the genre in the past year. I've read some stuff in the past (Grisham, Forsyth, etc), but not a lot.

I needed two more books to finish my latest bookclub membership & have ordered...
Company Man - by Joseph Finder

The Perry Mason Casebook - by Erle Stanley Gardner
contains (The Case of the Sulky Girl [1933], The Case of the Careless Kitten [1942], The Case of the Fiery Fingers [1951])


Also this title sounded interesting & for .01 plus $3.49 shipping used on Amazon I figured I'd check it out too.
Walking Money - James O. Born


My biggest problem with a lot of the stuff I look into is some of the series are 8 to 10 books in and I sometimes have trouble figuring out which book starts the series (some authors sites suck or if that particular work is a stand alone. I like fantasy stuff & I know with those it's real tough to start with anything but book 1. I'm not sure if this genre is the same way or if it's not necessarily the case.

I have the following hardcovers that I picked up for a buck each, but haven't figured out the whole "series thing" with them yet...
Prometheus Deception - Robert Ludlum

Hot Springs, Time to Hunt & Black Light - Stephen Hunter

Big Bad Wolf & Four Blind Mice - James Patterson

Daniel Silva's series with Gabriel Allon sounds interesting. Can anyone comment on that particular series?

The Gabriel Allon series is terrific. First book is The Kill Artist.

Jim Born's Walking Money is a great read and the sequel (Shockwave, out soon) is even better.

I'm a firm believer in reading series in order myself, and it can be tough sometimes to figure out which comes first. I hate picking up a series in the middle, though.

Ludlum's Prometheus Deception is not part of a series. As his work goes, it's definitely not his best, but it's certainly readable.

The order for James Patterson's Alex Cross series is:

Along Came a Spider (1993), Kiss the Girls (1995), Jack and Jill (1996), Cat and Mouse (1997), Pop! Goes the Weasel (1999), Roses Are Red (2000) , Violets Are Blue (2001), Four Blind Mice (2002), The Big Bad Wolf (2003), London Bridges (2004)

The series has gone down in quality over the years, although they're still enjoyable enough, if your expectations aren't too high.

Yeah, that's how I am too.


Thanks for the order on this one. That's the main problem with a lot of series it seems. They'll start off pretty strong & by the time you're 5 or 6 books in it seems they're just pumping stuff out for a buck instead of maintaining the standard they set earlier. Certainly isn't always the case though.

Finished Walking Money and liked it quite a bit. Looks like I'll have to pick up Shockwave. Are you reviewing it for your site?

Looks like Shockwave will be in my next Chicago Sun-Times column. It'll show up on Mystery Ink sometime after that. Good book.