Thrillers: 100 Must-Reads (original 2010; edition 2010)

Read it - short blurb and accolade for all 100 of the choices.
Oh, no . . . 98 more books to go on my to-read list.
Great selection of choices and reviews - some unknowns that are now high on my list.
Read in 2010. ( )

"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."

Whether you are an aspiring author, a seasoned veteran of the New York Times Best Seller lists, whether your books have been turned into multi 100 million dollar movies or you are just an avid reader, creative writing major, history student or just want to know more about what makes a thriller popular and good, this book is indispensible and should set on your bookshelf next to the dictionary, thesaurus and book of quotations. If you occupy any of the above categories, or many more, then this book is a Must Have not just a must read. There are few "writers books" that stand the test of time but "Thrillers: 100 Must Reads" not only will stand the test, it is the test as it spans the history of the Thriller from "Beowulf to The Bourne Identity, Dracula to Deliverance and The Heart of Darkness to The Hunt for Red October".

Writing a review on this wonderful book is akin to writing a book report on a book report. It's a daunting task as the authors who wrote these essays are amongst the best in the world in any genre and the giants and grand masters of the Thriller. When the publishers, Oceanview Publishing first provided me with an ARC of this book I almost took a pass. These guys are an impossible act to follow. And if I think it is daunting for me, the authors of the essays found it daunting as well. Any "Best of..." list is hard for one person to agree on, let alone a large number of people. David Morrell states in the preface, the authors collectively had a hard time deciding how far back in history to go in compiling the list. And these esteemed authors didn't just draw titles out of a hat and write quick little blurbs. It quickly becomes apparent that not only did they struggle with the selections and nominations, but each and everyone of them wrote what amounts to a synopsis for a thesis in a masters class in creative writing.

And the stories, ah the stories. You could just print out the table of contents, use it as a shopping list and go to the bookstore. Stack these titles on your coffee table, arrange them nicely on your office book case or devote a few shelves in your library to them and anybody In the world would think you are a serious reader and book lover. ( )

I only read parts of this, for reasons I will explain. I picked out the books I had already read, and in most cases found the short (about 3 pages) discussions to be well-written and interesting. The problem is that most of them would also spoil the book for a reader who hasn't read the book yet. For that reason, I didn't read a lot of the other short pieces, with the exception of the one on The DaVinci Code. Having suffered through the first three chapters of that book a few years ago and with no desire to pick it up again, I was interested in what another writer might say about it. Unfortunately, in that piece, the writer spends 99% of the time talking about how Dan Brown's book re-opened the market for that type of international thriller and doesn't really offer any assessment of the literary or story-telling value of The DaVinci Code at all.

The value of this volume, then, unless you are extraordinarily well-read, is mostly in the table of contents as a guide to books you may want to read. As such, it takes a very wide view of what constitutes a thriller--but that is undoubtedly a good thing. A book should be allowed to exist in its own space. And any list of 100 that includes both The Iliad and The Odyssey (unfairly counted a single entry) and Eric Ambler's A Coffin for Dimitrios certainly deserves a look. ( )

A book about books. I've read a number of them on this list but now my To-Be-Read list is even longer. ( )