Having Lee Child withdrawal symptoms - help!

[DottyDot]

So I discovered Lee Child (Jack Reacher novels) by accident a couple of months ago and love them - have now read them all and am desperately looking for a replacement!

I know they're trashy but alongside my more worthy reading (obviously...) I do like a good pacey thriller - can anyone recommend anything Lee Child-ish? In the meantime I'm sadly counting down for his next one due out in September...

Michael Connelly (the harry Bosch novels)

Harry Bosch novels - right will have a look - thank you!

Sigh. Can't believe how sad I am that I'm missing my Jack Reacher fix already (took the last one back to the library yesterday ).

I've got out a couple by Peter Robinson, but haven't started them yet - do you know if he's any good?

I'm a book whore and need at least a few in the house on the go at any one time so get distressed if there aren't any I know are going to be brilliant

Jonathan Kellerman, Faye Kellerman, James Patterson, Karin Slaughter (cracking name!), Tess Gerritson, Kathy Reichs, Karen Rose, Harlen Coben.

All good thrillers.

Peter Robinson ok

Patrick Robinson - excellent but very Naval orientated if uyou like that sort of thing!

Clive Cussler - worth starting with the beginning of the Dirk Pitt series

hope thatis ok - have read all of these authors full collections (book addict) and very few duff books in there

I love Lee Child thrillers too - my guilty reading pleasure. I have to have the newest one as soon as it comes out. Needless to say September can't come quickly enough.

I've struggled to find anything similar.

I like Peter Robinson but tried to read one straight after the last Reacher book and found it incredibly slow although I have enjoyed others.

I was given a PJ Tracy thriller at Christmas and it was ok - similar fast pace to Lee Child but not as good IMHO. There are 3 or 4 of those so they might help fill the gap.

Robert Crais - Elvis Cole series (Joe Pike is very Reacheresque)
Dennis Lehane - Kenzie/Gennaro series - start with A Drink Before the War
John Connolly
Michael Connelly
John Sandford - Prey series and new Virgil Flowers series

I second Rober Crais.

thanks all! Yes, I think I need something very Reacher-esque to keep me going, so will definitely try Robert Crais.

I had a look on Amazon and remembered I tried the first Harry Bosch (Michael Connelly) but couldn't get on with it - can't remember why now though. I recently joined our library and with ds's just about being at the age where I can grab 20 mins reading every now and then, I need a book to grab me right at the beginning and if it doesn't, then back to the library it goes...

The first Lee Child book I read was Gone Tomorrow - bought it for a train journey to London and it was finished before I got home again. Fab.

Marvellous - have ordered The Monkey's Raincoat to come to our library and wonderful on-line system is showing I've got 3 Douglas Coupland books to pick up (my other obsession ) so I'll be OK for a few days...!

Can I add Jeffrey Deaver on the list too- just finished a really good one called The Bodies Left Behind.

Also David Baldacci- 1/2 price in WH Smith book of the week.

Going to the library later to pick up 2 I've ordered just out in hardback and I can't remember which ones- looking forward to the surprise!

Dottydot Looks like we have similar taste. I really like Douglas Coupland too.

I liked Eleanor Rigby, Girlfriend in a Coma, Miss Wyoming and All Families are Psychotic.

Dottydot Looks like we have similar taste. I really like Douglas Coupland too.

I liked Eleanor Rigby, Girlfriend in a Coma, Miss Wyoming and All Families are Psychotic.

Enjoy your reading!

Hi Dotty, I?m a massive Lee Child fan too, so FWIW the only author I find consistently on a par with Child is Harlen Coben.

Otherwise I mostly agree what what others have said:

Do give Michael Connelly another go

John Connelly is excellent but usually has a slightly supernatural element to his thrillers

James Patterson?s Alex Cross books are great; some of his others less so (much less so!)

Have a look too at Chelsea Cain (very gruesome), Tom Cain (no relation), Martyn Waites and Linwood Barclay.

I love Lee Child as well. I started to work my way through them all but I have now rationed myself to reading one or two a year. I've nearly caught up though.

I've never found anything really similar, I do read a lot of crime fiction and although I quite enjoy Peter Robinson , pacy it's not.
Matt Hilton is promoted as being like Lee Child. I read "Dead Men's Dust" and found it a little too gory.
I've enjoyed some of the more recent Harlen Coben such as "No Second Chance".

You might also like Patrick Lennon, Alex Gray, Michael Ridpath, Duncan Falconer

The latest Janet Evanovich is just out:

www.amazon.co.uk/Finger-Lickin-Fifteen-Stephanie-Plum/dp/0755352750/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1 279300508&sr=1-2

Completely different from Lee Childs, but very readable!

The 16th Stephanie Plum isa out in hardback, I've just finished it, she's fabulous.

New Lee Child Out on 30th August btw. Nelson De Mille is well worth a look too.

opps you knew that...

Definitely John Lescroart. The Dismas Hardy novels are fab.
I am also a Lee Child fan.

Just reporting in - I've just finished the first Robert Crais novel - The Monkey's Raincoat and I really liked the style of it - it's not Reacher (sigh!) but I like Cole, it's fairly pacey and I'll definitely be reading the rest in that series - am intrigued by the Pike character!

will try John Lescroart as well - thank you!

Dotty - stick with Robert Crais, the relationship between Elvis and Joe is developed very nicely. LA Requiem is one of my favourite books ever.

His latest book "The First Rule" is a Joe Pike novel, and it's very Reacher-like.

I bought the last Lee Child two months before our holiday - and had to exercise immense self-control not to read it beforehand. And then it ended on a cliff-hanger!

Will have to try Robert Crais - although no one will ever match Reacher. I read the first one in a fit of boredom, certain that it was airport novel crap, and then couldn't put it down. Now I've even got DH reading them all for the second time, which he never does.

I love the Jack Reacher novels too. I second the Harry Bosch books but also struggled with the first I read.

There are two of them that go together that have him in but are really starring another character called Mickey Haller and they're brilliant - they go together - the first is called The Lincoln Lawyer and the second is The Brass Verdict. I think if you like Reacher you'll really enjoy these. Easier to get into than the other Bosch novels which I found a bit odd / depressing to start with.

OK - thanks Monkeytoo - will try those two then 'cos I struggled with the first one - couldn't get into it at all and gave up eventually.

Have just picked up the 2nd and 4th (annoyingly they don't have the 3rd in the whole of Stockport...) Robert Crais books! Can't wait the put ds's to bed and get started

I love Lee Child too, I can't help but fancy Reacher.

Some of the authors others have recommended I have found a bit too gorey. John Connelly is gripping but gorey and Karin Slaughter is gorey and has very down-beat endings.

I love Harlan Coben, especially the Myron Bolitar books. I also like Alex Kava, particularly the Maggie O'Dell series.