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Here are a few of my favourite Authors. Check them out, I think you will be pleased with what you find.

I have to admit, I really love Clive Cussler's books. I have all of then in a nice big pile on top of my bookshelves, the shelves themselves being full. I don't think I have been disappointed by a single one, and there are more than twenty odd on offer, and I get stupidly excited ever time I see a new one pop up on Amazon.

So, what is it that makes me not only enjoy these books so much but put them at the top of my list of recommendations? Well ok, lets start with a little background. For those of you who don't know Clive Cussler's books centre around the exploits of a bunch of people who work for the National Underwater and Marine Agency, or NUMA for short. Now NUMA's employees seldom seem content with simply carrying out scientific research on the worlds oceans and so to relieve the boredom they set out and save the world on an alarmingly regular basis.

Cussler's longest running character is the enigmatic Dirk Pitt, a man whose part James Bond, part Indiana Jones with more than a sprinkling of superhero thrown in for good measure. Pitt has been saving the world from nefarious schemes for so long now that Cussler has been forced in his recent books to promote the guy to head of NUMA and bring in a whole heap of new characters just to give the poor, and increasingly elderly, chap a rest. But I get ahead of myself. Dirk Pitt, as well as the more recent incarnations Dirk Pitt Jr and Kirt Austin, is the ultimate action hero. He's cool, kind, caring and as hard as the entire England Rugby teams front line. Nothing is too much of a challenge for him and he meets each deadly encounter with a ready wit and shed loads of ingenuity. Whether he is discovering sunken treasure, exchanging blows with the latest thug or shooting across the desert on a land yacht built from an old aeroplane Cussler's hero(es) is always on top form and the writing keeps you hanging on with clenched fists, never sure what is going to happen next.

One of the coolest things about Cussler's books in my opinion is that the NUMA organisation actually exists. Formed by Cussler himself in 1979 the real life NUMA have had almost as many adventures and found almost as much lost treasure as their fictional counter parts. My only disappointment is that they don't have regular employees like in the books as otherwise I would be sending them my CV right now.

As I said at the beginning I love Clive Cussler and if you like pacey, well-written action then I think you will too. One of my favourite Dirk Pitt adventures, Sahara, has recently been turned into a blockbuster action movie starting Matthew McConaughey as Pitt and I for one, though I am not convinced about the casting, am really looking forward to seeing how the mental pictures Cussler's words formed in my head translate to the big screen when it comes out in the next few weeks.

For more info on the Sahara movie or the Real NUMA then check out the websites.

If you want to get hold of any of Cussler's books, and once again I recommend you do, then they are available from:

Sahara Movie Review - 12/04/05

After what seemed to me far too long a wait I finally got to see the Sahara movie last night and so thought I would let you know what I, a die hard Clive Cussler fan, thought of it. Looking at the films message boards there seems to be a wide range of opinions on this movie...but hey you didn't come here to get other people opinions, what did I think?

Well I loved it. Yeah ok so some of the casting was a bit off. Matthew McConaughey's southern accent didn't jell with the Californian Pitt of the books, Steve Zahn's Giordino was neither particularly stocky or Italian looking and William H. Macy's Sandecker didn't have red hair. But on the whole these are just petty complaints about an otherwise spot on cast.

I do have real complaints however and feel it best to get these out of the way first before moving onto what I liked about the movie. Having watched it now I can see why Clive Cussler had some issues with the final script. For a start the books main plot about the Red Death threatening the worlds oceans was relegated to basically a single scene and wrapped up in a single sentence at the end of the film. The main part of the story therefore was devoted to the search for the civil war ironclad and though finding lost treasures has always been a big part of Cussler's books its not NUMA's main calling in life. NUMA's main mission, saving the world aside, has always been a scientific one and yes if occasionally they find a ship wreck or two this is secondary to their mandate to protect the worlds oceans.

This brings me on nicely to the fact that NUMA is portrayed as a tin pot organisation run from a single, non-turquoise ship and not the massive government organisation it is in the books (though there is a hint at this future towards the end of the film). Where was NUMA's mighty fleet, where was its sky scraping corporate office? Another niggle was the fact that the filmed scene with Dayna Cussler, Clive Cussler's daughter, as intrepid pilot Kitty Mannock was completely missing from the finished film. Now while not a big gap in the story it would have been nice to see this if only to explain why there happened to be a crashed plane in the middle of the desert. Other things missing included the cannibalistic tribesmen, Yves Massarde death mine and of course the Abraham Lincoln sub plot. Again while none of these things are absolutely necessary to the overall story they would have been nice to see.

But as I said at the beginning of this review I actually loved the film. Despite its numerous faults, at least from the point of view of a Cussler fanatic, it was a pretty darn good action movie. It was funny, exciting and actually made me jump on more than one occasion. Plus a good number of things got blown up. McConaughey's Pitt and Zahn's Giordino worked well together and were a great double act, even if in places Giordino did seem to be relegated to the roll of comic relief and the absences of the death mine robbed him of his big fight scene. The action set pieces were well done and nicely blended suspense and humour so that you were laughing at the same time as gasping at the dare devil antics.

There were some great fight scenes too that, even if the editing was a bit over the top in places, came across probably as violent and edgy as you can get and still maintain a PG-13 certificate. The bad guys were suitably over the top and nefarious, though Massarde did developed an unexpected conscious for a while at one point, and what violent death there was, and there was suprisingly little for something that is both an action movie and a Clive Cussler story, was well handled and produced the right emotional response from the audience.

All in all I had a really good evening, yes I admit to spending most of the trailers praying it wouldn't suck and it seems the Big Man was listening as it held up under the pressure exceedingly well. Yes it would have been nice to see a few of the things that were missing. I for one would have loved to have seen Hiram Yaeger and his sexy female 3D computer character Max, or have paid a visit to St. Julien Perlmutter and his massive collection of maritime literature. It would also have been nice to see the weapons on the Calliope or its high tech labs or a brief hint at Pitt's classic car collection. But alas a movie can only show so much and I guess I shouldn't complain that these, in the end, unimportant things were missing. Could have done with more turquoise though!!!

Legal wranglings aside there are plans to make two more Dirk Pitt movies based on the books Inca Gold and Night Probe and I for one am already getting excited about them. I've listed below a number of Clive Cussler/Dirk Pitt related websites which between them should answer any questions you have about the NUMA world. Personally I'm off to buy myself a NUMA baseball cap from their website as I seem to have lost mine!!!

NUMA Website    Sahara movie Website    The Society of the Cusslermen

In my opinion David Gemmell is the finest living writer of heroic fantasy in the world. And apparently I am not alone in this opinion as those very words are written on the back of all his books. However I would also go as far as to say that in his character Druss he has created the finest heroic fantasy character in the world. These days when you talk about fantasy novels you can't say more than a few words before you have to mention Lord of the Rings, and so as not to break with that tradition I will get the Tolkien comparison out of the way now. GEMMELL IS BETTER!! Well now that's said maybe I should explain why.

Gemmell's fantasy world is just as rich and detailed as Tolkien's, it has a vibrant history that both vastly differs from and reflects that of our own planet, it is inhabited by powerful magics and deadly creatures and its heroes are just damn heroic. The major difference is in the writing style. While Tolkien writes almost in the language of the natives of his middle earth Gemmell's style is much more open and accessible to those of us who don't speak Elvish. His stories, though highly fantastic, come across as believable, almost as if they have been past down over the generations rather than invented in the head of a bloke from East Sussex. And of course he has Druss!!

As I mentioned above Druss is a truly great character, and while he only actually features in a handful of Gemmell's novels he is the guy that sticks in your head. Druss is a warrior through and through. He's not a great thinker, not all that skilled with his hands, but give him an axe and a large number of bad guys and you just know whose going to come out on top. Druss is written with such skill that you can almost hear him talking and see him as he stands alone against an army just to protect someone he's just met. Oh yes, did I mention he has more than his fair share of honour too.

But even Druss couldn't do it alone and this is where Gemmell really excels. Every single character in his books comes across as a living breathing person. They all have back-stories and a damn good reason for being like they are. There are no halfhearted characters here, no cut and paste women with names that all sound the same. These people just seem real, as though if you were to just dig deep enough in your garden you might just come across Waylander's crossbow or Skilgannon the Damned's mystical swords.

These books have heart which is something that I find is lacking from a number of fantasy novels I have read. They are also very easy to get into. Gemmell is the guy you should read if you enjoyed the Lord of the Rings movies but found the books a bit hard going. I said it once; I'll say it again. GEMMELL IS BETTER.

David Gemmell's books are available from:

If Harry Potter was fifteen years older, lived in America, ran a detective agency and was as hard as nails then he still wouldn't be half the man that his namesake is. Jim Butcher's character Harry Dresden is Chicago's only professional wizard. He even advertises in the phonebook and works part time for the Police Department. He wears a leather trench coat, a fedora hat and has an uncanny ability to piss everyone off. Which isn't exactly a good thing when the kind of people he runs into tend to be mobsters, vampires, werewolves, faeries, demons and er well porn stars. But hey when you've got a dry sense of humour, a sex obsessed skull as a best friend and a blasting rod that can immolate your enemies then who needs to worry.

At heart the Dresden stories are good old-fashioned detective novels. Someone commits a crime and its up to our hero to track down the bad guy and probably save the girl along the way. The difference is that the crimes usually involve the supernatural, the bad guy is from a mystic reality and the girl, well the girl just ain't human. The plots have so many twists that they keep you're brain racing the whole time. Butcher's books are clever, witty, scary, exciting, action packed and just really really damn good.

The seventh book in the series is due out soon and I already have my copy reserved. If you read Harry Potter and were left wanting then check out Jim Butcher. If you like programs like Buffy and Angel then these books are definitely for you. Speaking of the Buffyverse Angel and Buffy star James Master (Spike to you) is in the running to play Harry Dresden in the up coming TV series.

Go check out Jim Butchers Website and you can read a couple of his short stories as well as the first few chapters of each of the seven Harry Dresden novels. And remember, "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face."

Jim Butcher's brilliant books are available from:

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have written numerous one off adventure stories together as well as several great novels each as individuals. However the books that really catch my attention are their series of novels about one very special FBI agent named Pendergast. Pendergast investigates what you could very well call X-files, but he possesses more charm, sass and charisma than a dozen Fox Mulders. Hailing from the Deep South he's a wealth gentleman, a master of disguise and an expert on, well pretty much everything. He comes across as a bit of a snob at times but has a natural coolness that makes this more than bearable.

In his latest outing Pendergast found himself pity against a case where the murderer appeared to be the Devil himself. But as with all the books in the series nothing is exactly as it seems, or is it. A few years back the first book in the series, The Relic, was turned into a fairly good horror movie. However for some strange reason the writers of the movie decided to change the plot a fair bit and worse still leave Pendergast out completely. Still the film worked and I even have it in my video collection, which just goes to show the strength of Preston and Child's writing if a story can work without its main character.

If you can track it down, which is actually fairly difficult these days, then I advise you start with the Relic, and its equally good sequel the Reliquary, and work your way through the series in order. You won't be disappointed. For more info have a look at the Preston-Child Website. There are a couple of good short stories on there that will give you an idea of the kind of thing they come up with. Hey also check this link out for info on the Relic Movie. Oh yes and as usual you can get these books from:

I remember quite clearly switching my TV on one night back in 1993 to see a blond haired man dressed as a British rifleman run up a hill and set about knocking seven shades of hell out of some poor frenchy. I had no idea what I was watching but I was well and truly hooked. I remember telling all my friends about it the next day at school, heck was I really that young, and looking forwards with baited breath for the next episode. However it wasn't until some time later that I discovered that this devil may care rogue so admirably played by Sean Bean was in fact based on a character from a book. Now at the time I wasn't a big reader but I still recall the excitement I felt when I unwrapped my birthday presents to find that my parents had got me the Sharpe's Rifles and Sharpe's Eagle omnibus. This was the coolest present ever.

That said it still took me another few years to actually get around to reading one of them, in which time my mother had gone out and purchased the rest of the series for herself, spurred on by her own enjoyment of the books and her love of a certain Mr Bean. Looking back I think my reluctance to read the books was two fold. Firstly I thought the TV series was, and still is, the greatest program ever filmed. There was simply no way in my mind that the books could ever compare. Secondly the omnibus just looked so damn big and as I mentioned I wasn't a big reader at the time. Thank god I out grew that.

So it wasn't until Bernard Cornwell brought out the first prequel to his series of novels (Sharpe's Tiger) that I picked one up and risked the disappointment that it just wouldn't live up to what I had seen on the idiot box. Tiger seemed a great place to start as I couldn't directly compare it to the television series and it was also chronologically Sharpe's very first outing. Within about ten minutes I was berating myself for having waiting this long to delve into Cornwell's written world. I finished the book in record time and immediately jumped upon Sharpe's Triumph, the next book in the series, and finished this with equal speed.

Much to my surprise the books surpassed the television series, even if the dark haired London born Sharpe in the books would always be a blond Yorkshire man in my head, but the speed with which I was devouring the novels left me with a problem. At the end of Triumph Cornwell had made it clear that another new Sharpe novel was forth coming. By now I was fully immersed in the written world of Sharpe and I had that huge great omnibus sitting on my shelve just looking at me and the rest of the series downstairs. Did I jump ahead in time to Sharpe's adventures in the Napoleonic war or wait and see what happened to him next in India. With great restraint I forced myself to wait and in doing so presented myself with a new problem.

You see because of that decision I still haven't read the entire series. Bernard Cornwell is still, and oh how I love him for it, filling in the gaps between the existing Sharpe novels with yet more new adventures. Now this is brilliant but for someone reading them in date order it does make things a bit tricky. Every time I finish a book I am tempted to jump straight to the next one but have to look and see if there is space to fit another story in between, and in most cases there is. Now yes I know this isn't really a big deal, if I read ahead in time and then have to go back and fill in the blank at a later date it will not be the end of the world, but hey I have worked through this far in order and I'm not going to change now damn it!!!

Anyway enough about my problems. If you've seen the TV series but haven't read the books for what ever reason then rush out now and get them, start with Tiger is my advice, and I promise you won't be disappointed. If you have never even heard of Bernard Cornwell and can't understand what I am making all this fuss about then pop down your nearest HMV or Virgin and purchase yourself the Sharpe DVD box set. Clear yourself a whole day and sit down and watch the whole lot and if you are not rushing out to get the books, or thinking of invading Paris, by the end of it then I will be greatly surprised.

The Bernard Cornwell Website is a great place to find out more info about him, Sharpe and his other novels, which are equally great. Also the Sharpe Appreciation Society have a great site and info on events and behind the scenes gossip that will put you right in the thick of the adventure. Both the DVD's and books are available from:

Ok I feel I am on a bit of a roll right now so I will jump straight to another of my favourite authors, the brilliant Lee Child. Now Lee Child is another one of these authors who, like Clive Cussler and Bernard Cornwell, has created a character who is both so much larger than life and written with such skill as to be completely believable. Child's character is Jack Reacher (no middle name!!) who is an ex-military policeman turned drifter and quite possibly the hardest man of the entire planet. Yes I know I said something very similar about Dirk Pitt and Harry Dresden but Reacher could kick both of their arses with one hand tied behind his back and a bad hangover. Reacher is 6'5" in his socks, weighs 200-250lb and has a 50" chest. The man is the dictionary definition of a brick shit house. But before you start to worry he's just another Arnie clone I must point out that it is clear from page one that the most dangerous thing about Reacher is his mind.

Child's novels are incredibly well written thrillers that deal with subjects like money laundering, political assassination, rape, murder and everything in between. Reacher ends up involved in all this by all manner of different ways. Generally he is simply in the wrong place at the right time, called in by the FBI or more often than not arrested for the crime in question. The adventures that follow are always intense, action packed and have you well and truly on the edge of your seat. Reacher's detection style can be broken down into three categories, amazing observation skills, first-rate analytical ability and hitting people until they tell you what you want to know. And it is this last point that causes a difference in opinion between my dad and myself.

You see my Dad has given up on reading the series because he thinks Reacher is a thug (which is the same reason he gave up watching the Shield). Now I love the books for this very reason. I get fed up with reading books where the hero worries about hurting someone's feelings or constantly finds himself running away. Reacher's approach is very much like that that of America's current military policy. If someone messes with you then you mess with them back, and then their friends, their neighbours and even their dog. Don't get me wrong, the guy doesn't go looking for trouble, well at least not at first, it just kind of finds him and he has to deal with it. And in that he is a true master.

Probably my favourite moment in any of the Reacher books came about six chapters into the very first novel (Killing Floor). Having been arrested for a murder he didn't commit Reacher is sent to spend the weekend in jail and thanks to the intervention of the books real villain in placed in the lifer's wing. He quickly finds himself cornered in the bathroom by three massive hells angels. Now at this point I was expecting a fight but was unsure how Reacher would handle himself. Would he get beaten half to death, would he find some way to escape or somehow convince the hell angels to leave him be. Nah, none of those are Reacher's style. Instead he struck first and within a paragraph had broken one guys arm, popped out another's eye and left the third rolling on the ground clutching his nuts. Reacher is Hard with a capital 'oh my god please stop hitting me'.

Since that point I have read each of the remaining eight Reacher novels in a single sitting. I just can't put the things down. The combination of intelligent plotting, first class detection and over the top extreme violence is just addictive and like Clive Cussler's books I get very excited every time I see a new Reacher novel appear on Amazon. Once again the Lee Child Website features all the information you could possibly want about the books and the character of Reacher himself, plus info on the various other short stories that Child has written.

Apparently there is talk of making a Reacher Movie but this isn't set for release until a good way through 2006. Now if they get it right it will be huge but in the mean time go out and get your hands on the books.

And so here we are at the second of my historical fiction recommendations. A vastly different in time period to Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe novels here but some how very much the same kind of adventures. Simon Scarrow writes his books about the 42AD invasion of Britain by the vast and powerful Roman army. The action centres around two soldiers in this army, the battle hardened Centurion Macro and his fresh faced wet behind the ears Optio (second in command) Cato. The first book starts by following Cato's very first day as a soldier and his assignment, due to political pressure, to the honoured position of Optio. Now this of course makes him very unpopular with his men and so he decides to prove himself, and he quickly gets the opportunity when the Romans go head to head with the local Germanic tribes.

After this the action quickly moves on to Britain itself where Cato is presented with plenty of chances to gain the respect of his men as he and Macro are plunged into some of the most brutal fighting in the whole war. In the five books that follow Macro and Cato find themselves up to their necks in all kinds of adventures from quests for buried treasure, kidnap plots, political wrangling and training a rag tag mob of Brits to fight on their side. Oh yes and plenty of battles. The action cracks along at a fair old pace and the two main characters are both thoroughly likeable and work well together, each one strengthening the others weaknesses. Macro is grumpy, rough, tough and mean, a brilliant soldier but somewhat lacking in the book smarts department. Cato on the other hand is a friendly young chap who seems to excel and reading and writing and picks up languages with ease. Oh he's also a fairly good soldier by the end of the first book.

A lot of people I know are reluctant to pick up books about the Romans due to all the long winded names, political speak and strange cultures and while Scarrow doesn't shy away from any of these issues that just don't seem a problem in his books. He somehow manages to break the complex names down into manageable mouthfuls (Cato's full name is Quintus Licinius Cato) without loosing any of the significance and the language and culture are described with broad strokes and clever insights that allow you to see these characters as people rather than historical figures. In fact his clever use of everyday conversation makes these ancient warriors come across just as fresh and real as modern day squadies.

If you want to get into Roman historical fiction, and believe me there is loads out there, then Simon Scarrow's books are a great place to start. They are fun, clever and full of rough and ready action, and with a sixth and seventh book due out soon you will have more than enough to keep you entertained for some time to come. Simon Scarrow's Website provides a run down of all the books plus lots of useful information on the Roman military machine itself. There is also a nice little interview with Simon himself and his advice for those of you, like me, who want to try your hand at writing a novel yourself.

You can sum up Matthew Reilly's books in one word - Relentless. Actually to be fair I think that should be Seriously Relentless. A lot of books out there have the words 'Action Packed' or 'Non Stop Thrill Ride" written on the front and to give them their dues a lot of them do have a fair bit of pace, in fact you may find yourself reading them and thinking 'Yup I think that deserves the phrase "Roller coaster Ride"'. However all that will change after you have read the first page of any of Matthew Reilly's books. There is more action in a single chapter of his novels that there is in most Bruce Willis films. Hell even Arnie back in his hay day would be hard pressed to keep up. Reilly goes all out from page one and only gets faster. Most action novels finish with some kind of world changing, daredevil, life or death struggle. Reilly starts with this level of action and cranks it way up past eleven until you can practically feel the book over heating in your hands.

Don't believe me! Ok then let me give you an example. With in the first few pages of his book Scarecrow, the third outing for his die hard hero Shane 'Scarecrow' Schofield, you have an assault on an former soviet submarine pen, half a dozen gun battles, a flood, a fight with a helicopter and at least one massive explosion. And once that's all over before you even have a chance to draw breath the action switches to Afghanistan where the army is knee deep in a pitched battle with Al-Qaeda terrorist which gets complicated when elite assassins turn up set on killing everyone.

I know I have said this about other books but I have read every single Matthew Reilly novel in a single sitting, and thats because A) there is no place to pause and B) if you did stop you would probably pass out from exhaustion. I remember sitting up at 4am one morning hammering through the last "ACTION PACKED" pages of Scarecrow, having started it around midday the previous day, and just knowing that even after I finished the last page there would be no way I was gonna get any sleep. There is so much going on that your own heart starts beating faster and your breath starts coming out in gasps.

Now there are probably those of you reading this who are thinking 'doesn't all this action get a bit repetitive and what about the story'. Well it is here that Reilly really shows he is a master of his trade. When I write action I often find it difficult to keep it fresh and interesting, Reilly however apparently doesn't have this problem. Ever action scene is unique and somehow the gun battles in chapter twenty seem as fresh and original and the gun battles in chapter one. And regarding the story, well these tend to be just as complex as those found in more stayed thrillers but instead of sitting down and discussing the cause of all their woes over a nice cup of tea the heroes in Reilly's novels do the same thing while dodging missiles, shooting guns and racing cars, sometimes all at once.

I love Matthew Reilly's books and so do those of my friends who have read them. My best friend James is not a big reader but he can devour a Scarecrow novel almost as quickly as I can. Reading back through this recommendation I can see I have tried to get over just how fast a Reilly novel reads and I must apologise for I feel I have failed completely. These books are so fast you could paint spots on them and call them a Cheeter, so fast that Michael Shumaker could probably drive one round Brands Hatch. Still don't believe me then check out Matthew Reilly's Website and read some of the short stories that he has posted there. But be warned, you may pull a muscle.

You can get these super charged books from:

Ok so first off I have only actually read two of Robert Crais's books, both of which have been stand alone stories rather than part of his Elvis Cole series of detective novels, of which my mum is a huge fan. But that said I feel that the shear quality of these two books more than justifies his admittance into this list of my favourite authors.

The two books in question are Demolition Angel, a story of LA's finest female bomb disposal expert, and Hostage, a tale of a man trying to save his own family at the risk of killing another, recently turned into a brilliant movie staring Bruce Willis. Both books are gripping, fast paced adventures that start off heading in a predictable direction before throwing so many intelligent twists at you that your head is left spinning.

The characters are written with such detail that you really feel for them as you follow them through the worst day of their lives. Admittedly Jeff Talley, the character played by Bruce Willis in the Hostage movie, comes across a good deal more likeable than Demolition Angel's Carol Starkey, but both are so finely drawn that they feel like real live human beings with all their faults and glories.

I have to be honest with you; it's been a few years since I read either of these books and so I apologies if this recommendation is a bit weak in places. Please don't take this as a slight against the books themselves as what I do remember clearly is that both novels had me well and truly hooked and they are still two of the first books I recommend to friends looking for something good to read.

So with that in mind I am going to go off on a bit of a tangent to my other recommendations and mention a bit about the Hostage movie which I saw only recently and that, as far as I can remember, was very faithful to its source material. For a start this is not your typical Bruce Willis action movie and the complex plot requires a lot more of its star than just looking good running round in a vest. The story goes that Brucey baby bought himself a copy of Crais's novel when it first came out and it proceeded to sit on his shelve for a quite a while, he's a busy man is Bruce, before he picked it up, read it in a single sitting and immediately got on the phone to his agent to find out who owned the movie rights. Now that should give you a good idea of how good the book is as one thing our Mr Willis knows is his action.

The movie, and by relation the book, follows the story of Jeff Talley, a retired hostage negotiator now working as a sheriff in a small but well off town. When three youths take a family hostage in their expensive house Talley is called in to help bring things to a peaceful conclusion. But of course things don't go as planned and, not giving too much away, when the houses real owners take Talley's own family captive he finds himself having to choose between the fate of his loved ones and that of the people trapped inside the house.

Though it had been a while since I had read the book I could still remember enough to recall most of the story. Therefore I was impressed that the film still managed to throw surprises at me and keep me well and truly on the edge of my sit until the very end, just as the book had done when I read it. Apparently the movie rights to Demolition Angel have also been sold but sadly it is languishing in development hell for the time being and it could be a good long while before we get to see this book up on the silver screen.

As you would expect the Robert Crais Website offers all the information you could want on all his books, plus it gives you the chance to read exerts from the majority of his novels. Also check out the Hostage Movie Website for details about the film. I will leave you with this, if you don't feel inclined to follow mine and Bruce's recommendations for these books then it might interest you to know that Amazon.com rated Hostage as 2001's number one Mystery/Thriller and the number ten best book overall!!!

Now I am pretty sure that when ever Tess Gerritsen comes to write a new novel that she sits down and tries to think of the most terrible, disturbing and down right icky think that could happen to a person, mainly women in the case of the majority of her stories. Be it exploding from parasitic spores, having your sexual organs removed while still alive or, in the case of her latest book Body Double, being buried alive so that your unborn child can be harvested by a psycho.

Now don't get me wrong, these are not blood filled splatter movie style novels but intelligent well written who dunnit thrillers. They just happen to contain enough wince inducing moments and graphic detail to put even Hannibal Lecter off of his Chianti and Fava beans. It won't surprise you then to learn that Tess Gerritsen is a doctor and she brings all the medical knowledge she aquired while doing this job to her new occupation.

But once again I think I am getting off the point. As I said these are who dunnit thrillers of the first order. In fact in most of the books the killers name isn't even mentioned until the final chapters. These aren't like your usual murder mystries where it is just a case of elliminating the suspects until you get your man, here you know no more that the detectives themselves and are made to work for every new nugget of information. Because of this I personally find I get through these book far quick than ones were I know who did it and am just waiting for the lead character to catch up with me.

All that said probably my favourite of her novels is the one that goes completely away from her usual detective stories, in fact so far away its in orbit. Gravity is set on a NASA space station and follows the characters efforts to combat a deadly microorganism that is slowly killing them off one by one. Now though this isn't the most original of plots, can you say B movie, the story proceeds with such pace and the deaths are sutibly agonizing that it more than keeps you entertained right to the final page. Her attention to detail is clear in everything and you often find yourself wondering if she didn't spend time as an astronaut before taking up medicine.

If you like your thrillers to have a bit of edge then you could do a lot worse than picking up one of Tess Gerritsen's books. For some reason they seem to be rereleasing a lot of her old books and calling them new ones at present...which isn't exactly a bad thing as it gives you the chance to pick things up from the beginning, though it can be a bit confusing. My advice is to start with Gravity before delving into the bloody world of the Surgeon and his fanatical followers. Say it with me "Mwwhaaaahahaha". Why not check out the details yourself at Tess Gerritsen's Website, its suitably sinister.

It took me a long while to decide whether to write this recommendation about Andy McNab or Chris Ryan. Both men served with distinction in the same SAS regiment, both men have gone on to have very successful book careers and both write about pretty much exactly the same thing. But in the end it came down to the simple issue of which books did I enjoy more and while Chris Ryan is one of my personal heroes Andy McNab just pips him in the writing department. I'm sure there are those who would argue that its the other way round but once you understand that I have every book both of these men has written you can get the idea of how close the decision was.

So with that decided lets get on with the recommendation. One of the main differences to Chris Ryan's books is that all of McNab's novels concentrate on the same character, former SAS soldier turned British Intelligence deniable operative (known as a K) Nick Stone. Judging from the messes he ends up in Stone must be the unluckiest guy in the world. Almost every job he is given goes wrong or has some hidden agenda to it...but then what do you expect when you get the mission impossible "the agency will disavow all knowledge" speech every time you turn up to get your pay check. And its not as though he really wants the jobs in the first place but the good old British Government, and in later books the American one too, are not above blackmailing him to get their own way.

And what exactly do these jobs involve? Well a hell of a lot of illegal stuff for a start. Kidnappings, bombings, assassination are just the start of the list of things the intelligence services get their K to do for them. Generally anything deemed too dirty to be carried out through normal channels gets sent his way, usually with big holes in the information needed to keep him alive. What follows are intense first person adventures written with such an eye for detail that by the end of each novel you could probably nip out and carry out a political assassination yourself without too much trouble. But then that's what you would expect from someone who has been trained to, and for all we know has, carried out most of the things he writes about first hand. These books are gritty and realistic to such a level that you often find yourself wondering if McNab isn't simply fleshing out events found in his diary.

But what really adds depth to these books is the human side of a character struggling to do the right thing in a world that only wants him to do wrong. After book one in the series Nick Stone finds himself looking after a young girl, Kelly, and from that point everything he does is to try and make a better life for this already traumatised child. He risks his life just to be able to afford to send her to get the psychological help she needs but despite this all he ever gets is grief about the fact he is never around when he's needed. Stone is probably one of the hardest, most capable people you could ever meet but you still tend to feel sorry for him and his inability to deal competently with problems the rest of us face everyday.

In the end its this mix of vulnerability mixed with super tough spy that makes these books such a good read, and the edge that McNab puts on his words make entire chapters about climbing the stairs must read riveting stuff. They are currently re-releasing all the books in the series with flash new covers so now is a great time to pick them up. And of course once you have read them all you can pop out and pick up Chris Ryan's book for a little more of the same.

I couldn't find an official Andy McNab website but there is a nice blurb about him on the Complete Sean Bean site (Sean Bean played McNab in the Bravo Two Zero movie). There is also some interesting info on both Andy McNab and Chris Ryan on the Fantastic Fiction website and I found a nice little flash game called Chris Ryan Sniper School. Enjoy.

First off let me just say that due to the order in which I have written these recommendations I seem to have ended up with three authors of historical novels left to do at the same time. And so if I repeat myself or the recommendations are shorter than others I apologise for the fact my brain couldn't come up with completely unique things to say about all of them.

That out of the way lets talk about Conn Iggulden's Emperor series of books that follow the dramatic life of one Julius Caesar. Starting as just a young boy these books tell of his difficult rise to power and of the enemies, obstacles and battles he faced along the way. Reading kind of like a who's who of the ancient world, names like Spartacus, Vercingetorx, Alexander the Great and Cleopatra pop up frequently, Iggulden tells the true story of the greatest of Rome's Emperors in a fresh and entertaining way.

Now you may think you already know a fair amount about Julius Caesar and that as a result these books will not appeal to you, but I say give them a try even if you have read every other novel out there on the subject. Iggulden's books a fast paced and enjoyable and give a real insight into the character of their lead as well as building up an understandable psychology for the future events of his life. Now I like to think I know a fair bit about history for a layman but it became apparent that my knowledge of Caesar was based solely on his adult life when, having reached the last few pages of The Gates of Rome, the first book in the series, I was actually surprised to find out who I had been reading about all this time as Iggulden calls him Gaius throughout the book and I was unaware of the Roman tradition for changing names upon reaching adulthood. Now this is probably more a short coming on my part than an intention of the author but it does speak volumes to his ability to weave a story if I was hooked in the adventures of, what I thought to be at first, a purely fictional character.

The last book in the series, The Gods of War, is due out early next year and will lead the intrepid Caesar to his ultimate end. After that Conn Iggulden plans to turn his attention to the life of Genghis Khan which, having just watched the BBC documentary on the guy, should be riveting stuff. For more info on the author check out the Conn Iggulden Website and for a background on Julius Caesar himself have a look at Julius Caesar: The Last Dictator and Julius Caesar: An Historical Background.

The creature in Steve Alten's Meg series of novels makes Peter Benchley's Jaws look like a tadpole. The sharks, or to give them their correct title Carcharodon Megalodon, in these books are the size of submarines with mouths big enough to swallow a car whole. To give you an idea of the sheer power of these creatures, that actually did once exist, Alten starts his first novel with one of them chomping down a poor helpless T-Rex in a matter of seconds. Shift the action forwards a few billion years and swap the T-Rex for even more helpless human beings and you have one hell of a story on your hands.

But if the idea of a giant shark seems a little far fetched to you then you will be glad to hear that Alten handles the subject with one foot firmly grounded in reality and backs up every word with over ten years worth of oceanographic knowledge and study of Megalodon's. This realism is very apparent in his descriptions of all things water related and means that even when on occasion he goes a little too far, the books climax for example had me searching the internet for pictures of sharks to see if it was possible, it still reads incredibly well and has you longing for more...which is a good things seeing there are now three books in the series.

Before I move on with the rest of this recommendation I thought it might be interesting to give you a tiny bit of information on the Megalodon itself. To the right you will see a picture of a real Megalodon tooth which will give you an idea of just how large these fish were, unless of course the guy holding its a midget that is!!! Growing up to between 10-16m, depending on which website you look at, this shark is viewed as one of the greatest predators of all time, rivalling anything alive today and making its prehistoric land based competitors look like light weights. Driven by a hunger even larger than it was these creatures terrorised the oceans of our planet for thousands of years. To get an idea of what it must have been like to see one of these creatures imagine for a moment what a humpback whale looks like. You've all seen pictures of these massive gentle giants on TV, dwarfing the daring cameraman filming them and making David Attenborough's words seem insignificant. Well now imagine this whale has a mouthful of teeth the size of your hand and is bearing down on the cameraman at the speed of a locomotive and you will get the idea of what a fearsome beast the Megalodon was.

For more information here are a few websites you might want to check out. The Enhanced Learning Website gives a nice over view of the Megalodon, though the site is a bit childish, but for more details have a looks at The ReefQuest Centre's Website that has an in-depth section on these creatures. I also found a nice little article on The Strange Magazine Website that talks about the evidence for the Megalodons still being around today, just like in Alten's books.

Speaking of which its about time I got back to talking about them. As well as the Meg books Alten also has a couple of other series on the go, two that are water based and one that its...well out of this world. The first two are the Goliath series, about a powerful submarine controlled by a malevolent computerised brain (which features some of the best written sea battles I have ever read), and the Loch series, about, surprise surprise, Loch Ness and the worlds favourite sea monster. The third, the Domain series, is about the end of the world, ancient Incan legends and the ultimate fight between good and evil...oh and aliens.

I think it is worth noting that both the Goliath and the Domain series are written in a way that some readers may find a bit off putting, I know I did until I got used to it. In these books Alten writes in the present tense. Not a big deal I hear you say, aren't all books written like this? Well no, most books you read are written in the past tense, "Bob picked up the gun and shot Dave" and I personally found that reading in the present tense, "Bob picks up the gun and shoots Dave" a little hard going. Please don't let it put you off however as these books are still cracking reads, its just that I think its something you should be aware of as it can be a bit daunting at first. That said Alten handles it a lot better than some authors who have used this style and who have taken it to the extreme of removing dialogue and replacing it with descriptions of people talking.

Steve Alten's Website is very cool and has obviously had a lot work put into it. He is also one of the few authors out there who actively promotes contacting him directly and promises to reply to any questions you may have. Again Steve Alten appears to be one of those authors whose books are really only avalible from America, so thank God for the internet I say. Go check him out.

After spending her younger years stuck on The Tube with a certain Jules Holland, Murial Gray was clearly inspired by the terrifying collection of hair cuts that appeared on the show to go on to have a fairly successful career as an author of horror novels. Though her name probably won't pop out of a horror fans mouth as often as say Steven King's or Anne Rice's I personally think that her books are some of the best the genre has to offer.

Gray is a master of building a sense of real darkness and horror. Her creatures are always way too powerful for her characters to deal with and the heroes often only survive to the last pages by sheer dumb luck. She also delights in the simple 'nowhere to run' concept of horror with the helpless victims always trapped at the mercy of said beastie in one-way or another. That said only on one occasion does this actually involve the old hat approach of completely isolating the victims and creature from the rest of the world (The Ancient takes place on a boat) and generally Gray comes up with a far smarter method of promoting a sense of isolation and inability to escape. For example in Furnace, my personal favourite of her books, the monster is question is actually inside the hero for much of the story and he has to find a way to kill the unkillable before it bursts out of him.

In fact the only bad thing I can think to say about her books is that there are only three of them and at present there don't look to be anymore on the horizon. Apparently one of her three children was involved in an accident which has resulted in Muriel becoming a full time mother and only rarely picking up a pen now.

The lack of new books is a real blow to the horror market, even if as I said above not all that many people will have noticed. Gray is an excellent author and if you like horror then I advise you stop reading this recommendation right now, click on the links below and order all three titles immediately. If you're not a horror fan these are also a great place to jump into the genre as they mix enough elements of traditional thrillers in to the story to keep first timers entertained. I couldn't find an official website but check out the Muriel Gray page on the Fantastic Fiction Website. Oh and Muriel, if you're reading this please send another few books our way.

I get the feeling reading his books that James Rollins wishes he invented Indiana Jones...but then who among us writers doesn't. All his stories revolve around lost cities or treasures of some kind and his heroes tend to be archaeologists, scientist, museum curators and other kinds of people who should really know better than get involved in this sort of shenanigans. However there is also a strong fantastical theme to his stories that neatly contrasts the Jonesian aspects and lost tribes of albino marsupial pigmies, shape-shifting villains, carnivorous creatures frozen in ice and man eating trees than can make your severed limbs grow back also play an important part.

I discovered Rollins' books completely by accident, hidden away almost as well as the treasures he writes about. I was on holiday in Florida with family and friends and we had decided to do a bit of shopping at the local strip mall. While browsing around I came across a small second hand bookshop at the back of which, half covered by a stack of trashy romantic novels I came across a copy of James Rollins' Amazonia. The cover, all jungle leaves with a sinister eyes staring from between the foliage, immediately drew my attention and I decided that, at less than a dollar, it was worth taking a risk on an author I had never even heard of.

My only regret now is that I didn't read the book until I had returned to the UK, as had I read it before hand I would have shot straight back to the mall in an attempt to locate the rest of his books at a similar discount price. (As a side note I also discovered the brilliant band Stroke 9 at a music shop in the same mall and they are just as worth checking out.) Rollins' books are rip roaring adventures that push the limits of your disbelief right to the edge but no further. The writing is done with such an eye for detail and so much conviction that you find yourself wondering if, just below our feet or in some lost corner of the jungle, there might not be these strange mutant creatures just waiting to be discovered. His heroes, and heroines, are larger than life, plucky dare doers they may be but as with everything else grounded in enough reality to make you feel you could actually meet someone like this.

For some reason I have always wanted to draw comparisons between Rollins and Matthew Reilly, but where as Reilly turns everything up to eleven and be dammed with the consequences Rollin's delivers a similar brand of seat of your pants adventure but keeps things just on the right side of reality. Maybe its the fact that both authors like to take you to the sort of places you would never go in real life that makes one name always follow the other when ever I am recommending books to my friends. But hey who knows.

His latest book, Map of Bones, is due out soon and I have my copy well and truly reserved. Luckily for us in the UK Britain seems to be slowly coming round to the brilliance on Rollin's works as when I first discovered him it was only possible to get hold of his books off American websites and then only after a good deal of searching. That said I have still yet to see one of his books on the shelves here in old Blighty, but hey maybe I'm not looking hard enough. However this does mean that this review will have less links at the bottom of it than normal as at present the only place you can be guaranteed to get hold of these books, UK wise anyway, is off Amazon. You can read samples of his work at James Rollins Website, where there are some nice reviews of his books by some of my other favourite authors.

In the end Rollins may not have been able to invent Indiana Jones but he has more than made up for that fact and if the fabled forth movie is even made then Mr Spielberg could do a lot worse than getting James in to help with the script.

I think that when he was younger Valerio Massimo Manfredi, who you may have guessed isn't a local boy, liked to play with Lego. His books seem to delight in the same sort of things us Lego enthusiasts, and I count myself among them, do. Build something up, knock it down and build it up again. A large number of his novels seem to involve the rise and fall of great empires, nations and personalities. Spartan deals with the most heroic events of the cities grand history (see the Steven Pressfield recommendation for more info) and its subsequent destruction. The Talisman of Troy handles the victorious return of the Greeks from Troy and the disasters that befall them because of it and The Last Legion documents the fall of Rome and the rise of a new power else where in the world.

All his books contain a tremendous amount of detail and paint a beautiful picture of the ancient world, however I will say they have more in common with the likes of Simon Scarrow's books than the afore mentioned Steven Pressfield's in that they are written in a distinctly modern style and flow like any adventure set in the here and now. There is one slight problem with his books however, and this is of no fault of Fredi's, in that they are all written initially in Italian and translated into English and sometimes the translator makes a bit of a mess of it. Every so often you come across sentences with words missing or that just don't make sense, but don't worry as this is most definitely the exception rather than the rule.

My favourite Fredi novel so far has to be The Last Legion as the characters are all larger that life heroic and despite the purely historic setting have a real sense of fantasy about them. You've got Rufius, a season warrior of countless battles, Batiatus, a giant Ethiopian with incredible strength, Livia, a beautiful warrior woman, and lastly their leader the enigmatic, brave and handsome Aurelius. Throw into all this a twist that, while I spotted it coming half way through the book, left me grinning like an idiot and you have one hell of an adventure on your hands.

Fredi has also written a trilogy based on the life of Alexander the Great and is a heck of a good read and oh so much better than the recent Alexander Movie staring Colin Farrell. If he has an official website then its probably in Italian so here is a link to the Valerio Massimo Manfredi page on the Fantastic Fiction Website.

Dean Koontz's books are...well they're different. For a start they don't seem to stick to any one genre but jump around between them, generally without warning and when you least expect it. You start out reading a horror that half way through becomes a comedy and then a science fiction novel. But yet somehow it works, these vastly different styles gel together as if it's completely natural for a psychological thriller to suddenly have superheroes in it.

A prime example of this is Tick Tock, one of Koontz's older books that I recently picked up at a second hand shop. It tells the story of Tommy Phan, a journalist who comes home one day to find a rag doll on his doorstep. Picking it up he dumps it in his living room and promptly forgets all about it. But the doll doesn't forget about him and very soon Tommy is being hunted around his house by an entity that makes Chucky look like slightly troubled toddler.

As the story goes on the demonic creature inside the doll grows bigger and bigger and tracks the terrified Tommy all over the city, killing indiscriminately and promising that come dawn time will run out for Tommy. Ok so far so scary. Though the setup may sound slightly bizarre it works and the story hurtles along with a real sense of darkness and foreboding about it. But then Tommy meets Del, a beautify hippy who at first appears to simply fulfil the role of the love interested but who it soon becomes clear is the only chance that Tommy has of staying alive. For Del knows things that normal people don't, things happen around her that are downright weird and the demon following them actually appears scared of her dog.

The book goes on to have one of the most off the wall and unexpected finales ever that is at once brilliant and also just completely, totally strange. Now I know this might put some of you off but once again let me assure you that it works. One moment it has you jumping at shadows and the next laughing your head off and if a book can do that then it's doing something right.

I recently read Odd Thomas, which for me is really Koontz at his best and if you are looking for somewhere to start (Dean Koontz has written over 40 books) then this is a probably your best bet. This is the story of a short order cook named Odd who lives in a sleepy little town where very little ever happens. Oh did I mention that he could see dead people and sometimes the future too!!! The story has the flow of a standard murder mystery only the crime hasn't happened yet and the hero only has an uneasy feeling to go on. Trust me it's brilliant. If you can handle the fact it reads in places like an X-files episode then you will love it.

A surprisingly large number of Dean Koontz's books have been turned into movies (Demon Seed, Phantoms, Sole Survivor to name but a few) all of which are worth checking out. And as you would expect Dean Koontz's Website is also worth a look. In his latest book Koontz has taken on the subject of Frankenstein and has brought the action into the present day with both creator and monster involved in a female Detective's murder investigation. This has also been turned into a TV movie and is a nice twist on an old tale.

Steven Pressfield's Greece based historical novels are probably the closest any of us will ever get to actually experiencing the great events that took place all those hundreds of years ago. There is something about this guys writing that makes it seem so real that you honestly wouldn't be surprised if he were to reveal he has a time travelling Delorean in his garage.

The first, and probably most famous, of his historical novels, Gates of Fire, tells the story of the Spartan's heroic stand at the battle of Thermopylae. For those of you who don't know the history of this event I'll quickly sum it up for you. In the year 480BC King Xerxes of Persia invaded Greece with an army of around a million strong. Needing time to muster their own forces the Greeks sent a force of three hundred Spartan warriors to a place called Thermopylae, a natural bottle neck bordering their country, with these simple instructions: Delay the enemy as long as possible.

And this they did. Together with their allies, they held out for six whole days until, with broken shields, shattered swords and spears, they were forced to fight with their bare hands and teeth before being overwhelmed and massacred to a man. Despite the defeat they had done their duty and inflicted such damage upon Xerxes forces that the main Greek army was eventually able to defeat him. Because of this even today the word Spartan is synonymous with extraordinary courage, heroism and self-sacrifice.

Pressfield's book makes you feel as if you are right there in the front lines, without the awkward dying part to worry about. The characters are all incredibly well drawn and come across as just the kind of guys you would want by your side if facing an army of this size. At one point in the story the warrior Dienekes is informed that the Persian archers were so numerous that when they fired a volley the mass of arrows would block out the sun. "Good" exclaimed Dienekes with a laugh, "Then we'll have our battle in the shade."

This book is probably as heroic as they come and is so well written that Steven Pressfield was recently made an honorary citizen of the city of Sparta because of it. His books manage the trick of seeming to focus on a single event but at the same time covering every single aspect of life faced by those involved in it with such detail that you can picture it in your mind as though it were happening before you.

It might interest you to know that before he turned his attention to historical novels Pressfield wrote the book 'The Legend of Bagger Vance' the film version of which star Will Smith, Matt Damon and Charlize Theron. Anyway if you would like to know more about the battle of Thermopylae then here are a couple of websites that will give you the basics, The Hoplite at Thermopylae and The Battle of Thermopylae, and of course there is always Steven Pressfield's Website to check out.

I can think of few things that would excite me more than to see the words "Peter Jackson" in the same sentence as "to direct This Present Darkness". However unless a miracle happens, and with this book I wouldn't be completely surprised, then this is very unlikely ever to happen, at least not in the foreseeable future.

So with that in mind I can at least recommend the book(s), and of course the author, to you instead. Firstly though I must say that sadly this recommendation is likely to divide people not, as it should be, on the merits of the writing but on the fact that Peretti writes his novels with a distinct religious slant. Frank Peretti is a Christian and he writes stories with a Christian bent. The power of prayer can over come evil, believing in Jesus can protect you from dragons and God generally comes out on the winning side. These themes run through all of his books to a lesser of greater extent and as I said this unfortunately will stop some people reading them.

Which is a very sad thing as Frank Peretti's books rock. His most famous book 'This Present Darkness' is a perfect mix of small town drama and massive spiritual epic. On the one hand its the tale of the small, unimportant town of Ashton facing a take over from the sinister Omni Corporation, and on the other the story of a war fought on different planes of existence against an overwhelming tide of evil and deception whose forces number in the hundreds of thousands.

All that stands in the way of this darkness are three very different characters. Marshall Hogan is an ex-big city newspaperman who plays the detective role in the story, Hank Busche a young pastor struggling to hold his church together in the face of a powerful new age movement and lastly Tal...who's an angel!!! In fact he's the captain of a band of angelic warriors assigned to protect the town from the approaching demonic hordes. But don't worry these angel's aren't the silly cupid kind you see on valentines day cards. No these are big powerful guys, the sort who'd make the Rock look like a weed, with wings like a Boeing 747, who wield massive fiery swords and can travel at the speed of thought. And trust me that's just a cool as it sounds.

Ever since I first read This Present Darkness, and to a lesser extent the sequel Piercing the Darkness, I have longed to see the story up there on the big screen. But it wasn't until I saw the final Lord of the Rings film (Return of the King) that I got an idea of just how amazing it would look. Peter Jackson's image of the battle at Minas Tirith had the kind of scale and grandeur to it that I had always imagined for the final chapters of Peretti's book. Huge armies of darkness, creatures of almost infinite power and evil, throwing themselves against the last thin line held by a few good men...and kick arse angels.

As this final battle rages in the skies over Ashton we find the human characters trying to escape gun-wielding villains while Tal faces off against the devastating Rafar, think the Balrog's less pleasant big brother and you're halfway there. This last fight takes place all over town with the combatants able to pass through buildings, spiral high into the air and delve deep into the earth. Trust me its gripping stuff.

But as I said right at the beginning some of you will be put off by the simple fact that these books make Christian's the good guys. My advice to you then is to get your hands on a copy of The Oath, hey I'll lend you mine if you ask nicely, and judge it on the merits of the story alone. This is probably the lease overtly Christian of Peretti's books and, despite all I have just said above, my personal favourite. It's a great monster in the woods book that's just as edgy and gory as you would expect from the likes of Steven King or Wes Craven. Yes the end does involve the hero having to admit he's a sinner to defeat the monster but hey it's not the first book I've read where some kind of cleansing is required to over come the bad guy and I am sure it won't be the last.

Peretti has just brought out a new book called, appropriately enough, Monster that seems to return to this format of something big and nasty hunting people in the woods and I can't wait to start reading it as soon as I finish the book I'm on. If the spiritual side of his books would be a problem for you then you should probably look else where, however if you are able to put your religious opinions on hold or happen to be a Christian yourself then you could do a hell...sorry a heaven a lost worse than checking out these excellent thrillers.