David Morrell - Thrillers: 100 Must-Reads

THRILLERS
ONE HUNDRED MUST-READS

David Morrell
and
Hank Wagner

Copyright 2010 by International Thriller Writers

FIRST EDITION

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

ISBN 978-1-933515-56-4

Published in the United States of America by Oceanview Publishing Longboat Key, Florida

Visit our Web site at www.oceanviewpub.com and the International Thriller Writers Web site at www.thrillerwriters.org.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

The editors are indebted to Stephen Jones and Kim Newman for the example of their influential 1988 volume Horror: 100 Best Books and its follow-up,Horror: Another 100 Best Books. Mr. Jones provided invaluable advice about how to organize this complex project.

Various thriller reviewers offered helpful suggestions, in particular Larry Gandle, Ali Karim, and David Montgomery. Agent Henry Morrison drew our attention to E. Phillips Oppenheims The Great Impersonation. Nonetheless, the editors of this volume are solely responsible for the final selections.

Hank Wagner thanks his wife, Nancy, along with his daughters, Leigh, Melissa, and Sarah, for making daily life a thrill, and to Theo and Ella for providing comic relief.

David Morrell thanks the many ITW members who contributed to this volume. Without a second thought, they generously donated their time and talent to this educational project. Their commitment to the community of authors and readers is inspiring.

by David Hewson

by David Morrell/Hank Wagner

Lee Child

William Bernhardt

Andrew Klavan

A. J. Hartley

David Liss

Gary Braver

Rick Wilber

Katherine Neville

Francine Mathews

Douglas Preston

D. P. Lyle

Norman L. Rubenstein

Sarah Langan

Michael Palmer

Carole Nelson Douglas

Steven M. Wilson

Tom Grace

Laura Benedict

H. Terrell Griffin

Christine Kling

Jim Fusilli

Lisa Black

W. Craig Reed

James A. Moore

Janet Berliner

Justin Scott

Katherine Ramsland

Melodie Johnson Howe

R.L. Stine

Kathleen Sharp

Mark T. Sullivan

Joe R. Lansdale

Allison Brennan

David Morrell

Ali Karim

David Morrell

Gayle Lynds

Thomas F. Monteleone

M. J. Rose

Lincoln Child

Rob Palmer

David Baldacci

Max Allan Collins

Scott Nicholson

Ward Larsen

James Rollins

Matt Lynn

Raymond Benson

Larry Gandle

Robert S. Levinson

Jeffery Deaver

James Grady

Milton C. Toby

Duane Swierczynski

Denise Hamilton

W. D. Gagliani

Sandra Brown

Josh Conviser

Terry Watkins

F. Paul Wilson

John Lescroart

Steve Berry

Lee Goldberg

Hank Wagner

P. J. Parrish

Hank Wagner

Mark Terry

Zo Sharp

James O. Born

Grant Blackwood

Daniel Kalla

CJ Lyons

Tess Gerritsen

David J. Montgomery

J. A. Konrath

Lawrence Light

Linda L. Richards

J. D. Rhoades

Bev Vincent

Blake Crouch

Robert Liparulo

Chris Kuzneski

Heather Graham

Barry Eisler

Chris Mooney

J. T. Ellison

Lee Thomas

Shirley Kennett

Hank Wagner

M. Diane Vogt

Jon Land

Mary SanGiovanni

Christopher Rice

Karna Small Bodman

Deborah LeBlanc

Rhodi Hawk

Hank Phillippi Ryan

Marcus Sakey

Jeffrey J. Mariotte

Steve Berry

David Hewson

Storytellers began thrilling their audiences before human beings learned to write. When a poet-singer called Homer entranced his listeners in the Mediterranean almost three thousand years ago, one of his staples was a tale that could fit on any airport shelf today: Odysseus fighting against extraordinary odds to return home from war to save his threatened wife and son.

Today, thrillers provide a rich literary feast embracing a wide variety of worldsthe law, espionage, action-adventure, medicine, police and crime, romance, history, politics, high-tech, religion, and many more. But old or newand this vibrant field never remains stillall thrillers share certain characteristics. Like Homer trying to keep his audience captive while telling his tale in ancient Greece, thriller authors are constantly aware that their readers want them to provide the sudden rush of emotions: the excitement, suspense, apprehension, and exhilaration that drive the narrative, sometimes subtly, with peaks and lulls, sometimes at a constant, breakneck pace. By definition, if a thriller does not thrill, it is not doing its job.

But thrillers are also intensely human stories, allegories that find truths in fiction in order to tell us more about the world we inhabit and the kind of people we are. Sometimes, the protagonist will be a classical hero, focused on the challenge ahead, and perhaps a little damaged by his or her destiny in facing it. Other times, the protagonist will simply be an ordinary man or woman on the street, finding a steely thread of heroism inside, one that provides the strength to confront the challenge ahead.

That challenge may be personal, like that of Odysseus. Or, in our modern world, it will often be global, such as averting a pandemic or war or act of terrorism. It may even be both, seeking to crystallize a broader story by focusing on how it impacts the individuals who matter most to the protagonist. Whatever the canvas chosen by a thriller author, it must feel real, often through scrupulous research into science, crime procedures, or history.

Its authenticity will be found, too, through richly rounded characters who rise to challenges in the fictional world that mirror those we face in the real one: how to meet our responsibilities as human beings, even when there is a cost; how to lead a good life in a world where the line between right and wrong can sometimes be hard to discern. Being real means being honest, too. The best thrillers pull no punches. Happy-ever-after endings are, as in life, never guaranteed.

Odysseus, a battle-damaged warrior desperate to save his family. Beowulf, a king determined to protect his people, even at the cost of confronting a creature from hell. Robinson Crusoe, a shipwreck victim alone on a remote island, struggling to find the means of survival, but one day finding something else: footprints. The thriller is the oldest kind of story rooted in our deepest hopes and fears, for ourselves, those we love, and the world around us.

David Hewsons books have been published in more than a dozen languages. The sixth novel in his Rome-based Nic Costa series,The Garden of Evi l, was voted best mystery of 2008 by the American Library Association. His first novel,Semana Santa, won the WHSmith First Choice Prize for debut book of the year and became a movie starring Mira Sorvino. David is now a regular speaker at writing schools around the world, including International Thriller Writers annual Craft-Fest and the Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference in Corte Madera, California. He left school at the age of seventeen to become a cub reporter on one of the smallest evening newspapers in England, in his native Yorkshire. Later he worked as a journalist for the