Suggestions for my book group please - 'thrillers' have been requested and they aren't really my thing [hmm]

[TheHonEnid]

and 'page turners'

I think what they mean is that they have had enough gentle emotional drama (chesil beach, history of love, a spot of bother) and want something meaty.

Harlen Coben, or Val McDermid. Try The Mermaids Singing. Truly psychotic.

I bloody love thrillers. The best way to cope with parenting, I find, a bit of disturbing slaughter.

Me too MI.
Recommend Peter Robinson
Andrew Taylor
Laura Wilson
John Harvey.
Am just reading 'House of Lost Souls' by F.G Cottam. It is more horror than thriller but really good,especially about the decadence of 1920's society.

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Wilkie Collins - fab
Kate Atkinson - fab

What about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson. Swedish thriller, great reviews.

I'd put in another vote for Christopher Brookmyre - I love his books and I'm not usually a thriller reader either.

Probably a bit late to post on this thread but just noticed it and am halfway through Christine Falls by Benjamin Black (aka John Banville), which is great - really well-written and thoroughly engaging. Started it on the train this morning and am nearly halfway through already

I've been in a face to face and an online reading group discussing crime fiction and there's lots to talk about in a good discussion book. Some of the best discussions in our online group were ones which a lot of people hated. Mark Billingham's Sleepyhead and Brookmyre's Quite Ugly were both the subject of great discussions, and Indridason has been discussed though I haven't followed the discusions for a while, given problems at work followed by pregnancy and now a young baby.

How controversial do you want to be? What levels of sex, violence, political rants (lots of that in Quite Ugly for example) do you think the group would tolerate, or do you think that would help discussion flow?

Does John Fowles' The Collector count as a thriller? It certainly disturbed me. But many in your book group may already have read it.

I was going to say an Instance at the Fingerpost but I see Pruni has beaten me to it
fab book

Sleep With Me -Joanna Briscoe.
A real page turner and gripping plot.

Am reading a really gripping one at the moment - Gillian Flynn: Sharp Objects. Just out in paperback. A bit like Donna Tartt's The Little Friend but the community it examines is much darker/more messed up. I've nearly finished and only started it last night.

Buckets - how strange, i mentioned Phil Rickman on another thread this evening - I'm very fond of the Merrily Watkins series, and you're right, they are much better than they sound!

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If you want something to last you about a month I would recommend Tom Wolfe's "A Man in Full". It's a real page turner covering inequalities in modern America plus race, greed, egomania. You really cannot go wrong with this.
Alternatively try Anne Bronte's "The Tennant of Wildfell Hall". It's kind of a proto-feminist stary of a woman trappped in a loveless and abusive marriage and has a lot of very contempory souding themes. Personally I think this is the best book by the Bronte sisters, it doesn't have as much gothic darkness as Wuthering Heights or the romance of Jane Eyre but I think that it is a much more balanced book because of that.
For a non-fiction book try "Shah of Shahs" by Ryzard Kapucinski. It covers the Iranian revolution and has quite a lot of history of the Shia and Sunni faiths, plus its only 150 pages so if you don't like it you've only wasted a couple of hours of your life!

How about Dennis lehane, his kenzie/gennaro series is very good, maybe a drink before the war or darkness takes my hand.

Also Messiah by boris starling is a good stand alone thriller.

See littlelapin mentioned Mark billingham, I love his books too (We seem to have similar tastes lol)

The Shakespeare Secret - (cant remember who wrote it...sorry)

If you like crime, try some Joe R Lansdale - he's a crazily prolific writer from East Texas who writes fantastic, brutal and hilarious crime novels, among other things. Definitely recommended for something a bit different - he's got a very distinctive voice.