Please recommend some great contemporary literary thrillers!

[pandora9]

This is a genre I haven't explored much, but I want to see what's out there. Looking to buy a bunch to take with me on holiday next week. Any suggestions on the writers I should look out for/books that you loved ...

[blacbird]

Not exactly "contemporary", but still fresh and compulsively readable, dating from around 1950: "Rogue Male" and "Watcher in the Shadows", by British writer Geoffrey Household.

Any of the Travis McGee novels by John D. MacDonald.

bird

[paprikapink]

My husband usually goes through paperbacks like potato chips. Only slower.

But he recently read "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and mentioned numerous times while reading it that he liked it. And when he finished it, he actually wanted to talk about it and reflect on what he'd read. I haven't read it yet -- I'm not thrilled with thrillers, personally -- but I was impressed by the impression it made on the paperback gobbler.

[rich]

I got one. Takes place in the NY subway. I figure I'll finish it in 2037, though. Hope you're young.

[pandora9]

LOL - If it's good enough, I'll come back from the dead for it ... Hey, good luck with it

[pandora9]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'm off to Amazon right now to track them down.

[aadams73]

Any of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's books. They're a fantastic writing team and their solo work is excellent too.

[TLHines]

I think James Lee Burke's stuff is all quite good--his recent "In the Moon of Red Ponies" is wonderful Montana-based thriller. You might also try "Church of the Dead Girls" by Stephen Dobyns, which is probably a better literary novel than it is a classic thriller/mystery. Although I've not read it, I've also heard great things about Cormac McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men." McCarthy's writing can be a bit impenetrable at times, but hey, you asked for literary. :)

[Torgo]

George P. Pelecanos is terrific; Michael Dibdin's Aurelio Zen books; "The Athenian Murders" by Somoza; Daniel Pennac's Belleville books.

[MarkPettus]

Steve Berry is very good. The Amber Room, The Romanov Prophesy, The Third Secret. Nice guy too.

[Linda Adams]

International Thriller Writers has a must read list of Thrillers: http://www.thrillerwriters.org/mustread.html

[pdr]

Thank you, Linda. That's a great resource.

[Steve 211]

Another thanks for the link. In fact, I clicked on the thread to recommend Morrell. His Brotherhood of the Rose is a great one.

[aruna]

The Secret History - by Donna Tartt

[hoyateach]

I don't know that this qualifies as "literary" but I highly recommend the John Rain series by Barry Eisler, starting with Rain Fall. It's about a Japanese-American hitman struggling to deal with who he is and what he's become while still doing his job.

[gomideast]

i like this writer kem nunn, who is contemporary and literary - i suggest either dogs of winter (a surfing/native american book) or tijuana straights (about the san diego/tijuana border region)...good stuff and overlooked

[pandora9]

Thanks all for these great suggestions - I'm building a great reading list