The Cardinal of the Kremlin

Since my last post about fiction novels, I completed Patriot Games, and just yesterday I completed the next-in-line Clancy, The Cardinal of the Kremlin. I didn't think it could get any better than what I've already read from him (especially since this book was not made into a movie), but man, was I wrong. I'm pretty sure Cardinal is my favorite so far. It deals more with "spy" type stuff rather than military. It has a hint of special-ops, which is cool because Clancy introduces some of the characters that were in Rainbow Six. Clancy is an absolute master at weaving characters that seem to have nothing in common together, and eventually having them meet in later books.

Overall, this book was awesome and I recommend it. But you know, I recommend all his Jack Ryan / John Clark books. While they're all intricately woven together, each one can easily stand on its own without any loss to the plot. Next in line for me is Clear and Present Danger. I'm hesitant to go get it from the library because they take a while to read, and my little "vacation" is just about up and it's business time again.

Another decent book...

I wrote a detailed list of my favorite authors a couple days ago, but I left out Raymond Khoury. He wrote The Last Templar, and I think he has another book out, but I'm not buying the hardcover. Anyway, Templar is similar to some of Dan Brown's work (historical thriller), and I recommend reading it also if you're looking for something to grab you.

The Hunt for Patriot Six

In case you were wondering, this will be a post about books I've read, and recommend.

If you're like me, you rarely read anything (including required high school literature) until Harry Potter came along. It even took me until after I saw the second movie to start reading them. That was good though, because the first two books were pretty juvenile (I read them after getting through 5). Anyway, for those of you out there who need constantly thrilling / intense plot to stick with a book, I thought I'd share my experiences with books / authors who easily grabbed my attention, in the order I discovered them, obviously.

1) Harry Potter series. These are easily some of the best books I've read. I'm sure the books I was supposed to read in high school can compare, but when I'm supposed to take notes in them and find the oh so obvious metaphors, it loses my interest (except for Crime and Punishment). Back to Harry, J.K. Rowling does an awesome job keeping you hooked through all 7 books (about 3000 pages). If you haven't read them, READ THEM NOW!!! I'd skip the first 2 if you've seen the movies.

2) Dan Brown. Granted I don't believe the conspiracies in his stories AT ALL, but all of his books make for great entertainment. I got hooked on him after stealing Bob's DaVinci Code on the ride home from Arizona / Las Vegas. I read them all quickly. Extreme mystery / thrillers.

3) John Grisham. I really have no idea how I got into Grisham's work. By chance I picked up The Broker, I think it was for a plane ride. I liked it's legal-thrilling plot so much that I decided to read The Firm, and The Street Lawyer. I recommend all of them, but The Firm is heads above the others, throwing some mafioso-ness into his usual lawyer themes. You know the books are good when just about all of them have been made into major motion pictures. The last time I was home I found out my mom has basically all of his books, so that's nice. I'll just "borrow" them from her. Too bad they're hardcover. I prefer the lighter, smaller cheap little paperbacks that always come out a year later.

4) Tom Clancy. Like Grisham, the major motion picture thing holds true for Clancy, plus a video game series. It's even a bonus because of Harrison Ford. For a guy, Tom Clancy books are the best. They are CIA/military thrillers. I started with Rainbow Six, another airport buy I think. As you can tell, the title of the post is a Clancy mash of the two I've read already, Six and The Hunt for Red October, and the one I'm currently reading, Patriot Games. Once I read Six, I looked up all the books he wrote. I decided to start at the beginning (by publish date) with Red October. I was going to stick to the publish date, but his second book was not a Jack Ryan novel, the protagonist in a handful of his novels. So I skipped one and went to Patriot Games. Unfortunately, it takes place before Red October, and I don't know if he meant to write them in that order, or it was an afterthought. Anyway, I'm sticking to the publish date. I plan to go through all of the Ryan novels in this manner. Ryan eventually works with John Clark, who is the main protagonist in Six, so I'll continue with those. Then maybe I'll read his other couple of fiction works without either character.

I would highly recommend all of the above. Be warned that you will get hooked quick.

If you have any suggestions on where I should look after Clancy, please let me know.