Four years ago, I read Along Came a Spider by James Patterson. A few weeks prior, I read Patterson’s memoir and that piqued my interest into the world of Alex Cross. Of course, I devoured all the books and continued on to Michael Bennett and the Women’s Murder Club, both by James Patterson.
Next up was Jesse Stone, Spenser, and Sunny Randall books from Robert B. Parker (and other authors after he died). One thing I really liked about all these books is they take place in the same realm so there are quite a few characters floating amongst all of the books.
John Sandford, an author was recommended in one of the Facebook Groups I belong to. After I did some research, it looked like a Mark book! I also liked the fact it takes place in Minnesota and we were moving there. So, I read all the Lucas Davenport, Virgil Flowers, and Letty Davenport books by Sandford.
I googled authors similar to John Sandford, and that lead me to Robert Crais’s Elvis Cole and Joe Pike books.
After Sandford and Crais, I wanted to read more crime thrillers that take place in Minnesota. Mainly, because the weather is a great character. I found Allen Eskens and read all of the Joe Talbot, Max Rupert, and Boady Sanden books.
My wife recommended David Housewright and William Kent Krueger, two more Minnesota crime thriller authors, and I read all the Mac McKenzie books by Housewright and I am currently reading William Kent Krueger’s Cork O’Connor books.
In my want to read list, I have PJ Tracy’s books, yet another MN crime thriller author. Are there any others I need to check-out?
Police Officers
Alex Cross
Michael Bennett
Lindsey Boxer (from Women’s Murder Club) (Claire Washburn is a medical examiner, Yuki Castellano is an attorney, and Cindy Thomas is a journalist)
Jesse Stone
Lucas Davenport
Virgil Flowers
Max Rupert
Private Investigators
Spenser (former police officer)
Sunny Randall (former police officer)
Mac McKenzie (former police officer)
Cork O’Connor (former police officer)
Elvis Cole
So, which is my favorite? Well, I am a bit biased toward the Minnesota based ones, so I would have to say in no particular order: Lucas, Virgil, and McKenzie. Cork will probably join them, but I am still reading his books, For non-Minnesota, without a doubt, it’s got to be Spenser.
Who would I like to have lunch with? No brainer as that would be Virgil Flowers as we can talk music and life. Plus, he is also a writer and photographer, like me!
Who would I want to have cook me a meal? Throughout one particular series, food is heavily featured as the main character is a really good chef, and the details of the preparation and cooking is perfect. I can often taste and smell it. Oh, it’s Spenser!
Who is the funniest? Toss-up for me between Spenser and Mac McKenzie.
Who has the best side-kick? Toss-up again for me between Spenser who has Hawk and Elvis Cole who has Joe Pike.
What non main character would I like to see as a new series of books? Oh, easy, give me all those strong ladies behind the men. From the Women’s Murder Club, I will go with Spike and Martha the dog and from the Lucas and Virgil books, I will go with Shrake and Jenkins.
Who am I most scared of? Definitely, Lucas Davenport as he is strong, good with his hands and feet, good with his gun, and has a very good sense of awareness.
Normally, this type of genre was something I never envisioned myself enjoying so much. It was either a memoir, a humor, or a sports books, and that made me happy in my reading endeavors. Thanks a lot, Alex Cross!
Of course, in all these books I have read and am reading, there are so many more fictional characters. Some, I have to stop and think of who they are.
Of course, the plots are similar (somebody is dead and this is how it went down and I am going to solve it), but how they get from point a to point b is different as stuff and things happen. I know, that I am not the only one who reads these books and gets sucked in immediately to the story, and wants to keep on reading to see what happens. Oh, only two minutes in this chapter, let me continue. Wait, they caught the bad guy. Oh, only three minutes in this chapter, let me continue. At some point, I do have to stop and get on with life itself and that being to take care of the son, take care of the wife, take care of the cat, take care of the house, and then take care of myself. The book will be waiting for me the next day. It’s OK, I tell myself!
So much research goes into the books as they get the smallest details of a crime written perfectly. It’s like, they have done this before!
Sometimes, a popular character is killed. Like, the book I just finished, one of the main characters was killed. I kept thinking no, she must survive somehow. Nope, she died. At the end of the book, there was a Q & A with the author about this:
“I thought it would have a different ending, an ending with the question of what really became of that character unanswered. I thought it would be interesting to have that characters fate remain in doubt going forward in the series. But I decided that would be too unsatisfying for the readers. So I wrote the initial draft with that character miraculously surviving the ordeal, though greatly damaged. I didn’t like this ending and I felt the story itself resisting it. So I rewrote the final chapters as they now stand, and although I knew that it would be a heartbreaking ending and I would probably get a lot of response from unhappy readers, I believed-and still do-that it was absolutely the right thing to do.”
Yeah, I was sad, but the authors got to do what is best for the future of the series.
For my epilogue, I want to say thanks to you for reading this as I am glad I have a place for my book reviews. My wife and son will listen to me but they don’t care (unless it’s the Carl books by Matt Dinniman as my wife is devouring them or Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney that my son has on repeat on his iPad).
Oh my gosh, my acknowledgments go to all the authors mentioned.
