Just finished the incredible Before I Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson. Wow that was a roller-coaster of the read. Highly recommended. heard about it through a interview Mark Strong did recently and said he has just finished filming the adaptation and raved about the book
I would like to ask if the Lee Child Jack Reacher book are all very similar. I read the first book in the series, Killing Floor and didn't really get into it. But if they improve as they progress or there are books in the series which are are far superior I may carry on reading.
Any suggestions would be most grateful.
I was recommended his books after reading Judge and Jury by James Patterson [which I thought was outstanding] but Killing Floor seemed a very by the numbers read.
Killing floor is not the best (not even close) but not the worst either. I liked it a lot myself.
As the stories go on, Reacher gradually becomes more and more like a vigilante superhero. He generates huge body-counts in some of the books. Whether you like them will depend on what you want to get out of them. They're mystery stories, but they're also definitely testosterone fueled hero fantasies as well.
And the books vary a lot. Some are very simple mystery novels, others delve into international intrigue, others read like noir fiction, others are basically simple revenge stories where Reacher goes in search of people who did something bad to one of his old army buddies.
There is very little continuity to worry about, so you can read them in almost any order. Three that I really loved (and they're all very different) are Echo Burning, Persuader, and Gone Tomorrow.
None of the books are super-serious. They're definitely pure escapist fiction. And some are absolutely terrible, but you can usually spot that pretty quick and stop before you get too far in.
