http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,2016...244426,00.html

Koontz, Dubus, Ketchum and a few I have never before heard of.

I have only read 1 of 10 (currently reading The Good Guy), you?

The Good Guy? Really?

I've read 3 of the 10:

The Good Guy
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Sweetheart/Heartsick

I doubt I'll ever read Koontz again, but I'm intrigued by GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO and HEARTSICK/SWEETHEART. I'd like to hear others' thoughts on those...

Hated Dragon Tattoo. Despised Heartsick.

The Good Guy was pretty good, though. About average for Koontz' recent domestic thrillers.

All righty then!

I like how he can talk about Koontz without being snobby. "Koontz, the poor man's me..."

He sure does love to pimp Koontz and Ketchum.

Never particularly cared for Koontz; Ketchum has written some pretty awesome stuff (Girl Next Door, in particular), but "Old Flames" fell flat for me... the other half of that book, "Right to Life," was a much better, though previously published several years ago, story.

Been meaning to read "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."

Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Hollywood Crows, Tenderness of Wolves are all very good books. I have just read my first Robert Goddard(Sight Unseen) and loved it. Never thought Jack Ketchum was a very good writer. Same goes for Dean Koontz. Didn't like The Garden of Last Days. Thought The Chelsea Cains were poorly written.

Hollywood Crows is decent if you like Wambaugh -- and I do -- but it's definitely inferior to Hollywood Station, a much better book.

Looks like he really loved The Garden of Last Days. Sounds interesting.

The only one I've read is The Good Guy. Koontz is Koontz.

Some of the others look interesting enough for me to try.

Don't. It's a tremendous bore. It's not poorly written, but the story goes nowhere. What most authors could tell in a few chapters (or a short story), Dubus spends a whole book on. I picked it up because of King's recommendation earlier this year in EW, and now I take all his book reviews with a grain of salt (I think he was just doing a favor for Dubus by plugging his book - I find it hard to believe he thinks it's really as good as he says).

have to agree with you on dragon tattoo..put it down after th efurst hundred pages or so..what a snooze fest