Dean Koontz and/or John Grisham fans...

[ethiostar]

A year or so ago, a used bookstore in my area was having a sidewalk sale. All paperbacks were either a nickle or a dime. Needless to say, I came home with a few boxes of books. Among them are a lot of books by Koontz and Grisham. I have never read any books by these authors when i bought these books and I still haven't read any of them. I have about 8-10 of the better known books by each author. I've been meaning to read some of them, especially Koontz, but I have so many other books that i haven't gotten around to them. But now I really want to make the effort to read one or two here and there.

My question to you is, which of their books are your favorites or which one/s do you consider to be the best? Or perhaps, which one do you recommend to someone who is new to the authors?

Thank you in advance.

 

[lane]

i'm not a book reader at all...only read a few in my 44 years.

i need visual stimulation..

having said that...a painted house is a great, great read.


my wife is a book reader times 1000.

trust me ..she is one book reader who can give advice.

 

[Dallas]

Grisham is an excellent writer if you like court room and attorney battles. I read Grisham after my mom finished them.

Koontz is a good writer as well. You won't be dissapointed with either in my opinion.

Grish kinda peters off after 2003. He kinda lost me there and I started reading other writers. All of his books up until about 2004 are very good page turners.

A Time to Kill (1989)[18]
The Firm (1991)[18]
The Pelican Brief (1992)[18]
The Client (1993)[18]
The Chamber (1994)[18]
The Rainmaker (1995)[18]
The Runaway Jury (1996)[18]
The Partner (1997)[18]
The Street Lawyer (1998)[18]
The Testament (1999)[18]
The Brethren (2000)[18]
A Painted House† (2001)[18]
Skipping Christmas† (2001)[18]
The Summons (2002)[18]
The King of Torts (2003)[18]
Bleachers† (2003)[19]
The Last Juror (2004)[18]
The Broker (2005)[18]
Playing for Pizza† (2007)[20]
The Appeal (2008)[18]
The Associate (2009)[18]
Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer (2010)[21]
The Confession (2010)[21]
Theodore Boone: The Abduction (2011)[21]
The Litigators (2011)[22]
Calico Joe (2012) (release date April 10, 2012)[18]
Theodore Boone: The Accused (2012) (release date May 24, 2012)[18]
The Jailhouse Lawyer (2012) (release date October 24, 2012)

 

[YosemiteSam]

Grisham is awesome. That said. I've only read 1 Koontz book. (Intensity)

Before I became a "reader". I had tried several times to read books and I could never get into them. I had recently hooked up with this new GF. (somewhere between 1997 and 1999) She gave me the book Intensity by Koontz and said read it. I tried and did read it. It was great at the time. It had me hooked. Since then, I became a reader. (Koontz is a horror writer btw if you didn't know)

I tried to read one other Koontz book, but it was not my cup of tea. It got chainsaw graphic from the get go, and I couldn't finish it.

All of Grisham's books I have read with no problem at all. He is a really great writer.

On a side note. I tried to re-read Intensity again, and didn't get very far before I put it down. Can't remember why I didn't finish it the second time. The first time was great. Then again, it was the first novel I read from cover to cover.

 

[YosemiteSam]

These are the Grisham books I've read or seen the movie.

• A Time to Kill (book)
• The Firm (both movie and book)
• The Pelican Brief (just book)
• The Client (seen movie)
• The Rainmaker (book)
• The Brethren (book)
• The King of Torts (first book I read from him)
• The Broker (book)
• Playing for Pizza (great non-lawyer book!)

I would recommend all of them. Playing for Pizza as far as I know if the only non-lawyer book he has written. It's good too. I recommend it.

 

[SkinsandTerps]

Grisham is a better writer, but some of Koontz stuff is pretty good.

I will read a Koontz book while vacationing or whatever, but I really like to focus when I read a Grisham work because of the complexity at times he presents.

Depends on what you like. As some others have stated, Grisham has a strangle hold on courtroom novels and they have a hold on you once you start reading them. haha.

Have fun with it and switch them up. Congrats on the great deals.

 

[kimrose]

i'm not a book reader at all...only read a few in my 44 years.

i need visual stimulation..

having said that...a painted house is a great, great read.


my wife is a book reader times 1000.

trust me ..she is one book reader who can give advice.

Hi. Lane's wife here. : Can I say that I am a bit jealous of your treasure?? I am a devourer of books.

I LOVE Grisham and Koontz.

The best John Grisham book I have ever read is "The Testament". Second best is "A Painted House". I highly recommend these books. Hopefully they are in your amazing collection. "The Rainmaker" is a great one, too. Pretty much anything by him is gonna be good, at least it's gonna be worth a read.

Dean Koontz. So very, very different from Grisham. He is more of a Sci-Fi read. Awesome author. The best books I have read by him are firstly, "From the Corner of His Eye". One of my favorite books ever. If you are into 'the different', you will love this book. There is a hero; and if you have a soft side, you will love the little boy Bartholomew from the get-go. The second best book by Koontz I have read is "Door To December". Awesome book, though a bit disturbing, if you can get through it you will see that Koontz proves once again that revenge is sweet.

Don't know what else you have in your collection. If you like the Koontz books, if you like that sort of thing, I would recommend an old book called "The Homing" c. 1994, by John Saul. Omg, that is one good book. Twisted as bloody hell, but it is good. About 10 or so years ago, I read his book, "Midnight Voices" in one night, just couldn't put it down. Have read so many of his books. There is a part of me that likes John Saul even more than Dean Koontz. He is kind of darker, though~ more twisted. You probably need a darker-typed mind to read Koontz or Saul, though. They are both great authors if you like the darker side.

I meant to mention another Saul book, one even my oldest son loved. It's called "Black Creek Crossing". It has some witchcraft in it, if you can handle it. It's a great book. Dark and twisted and good.

 

[CliffnDallas]

A year or so ago, a used bookstore in my area was having a sidewalk sale. All paperbacks were either a nickle or a dime. Needless to say, I came home with a few boxes of books. Among them are a lot of books by Koontz and Grisham. I have never read any books by these authors when i bought these books and I still haven't read any of them. I have about 8-10 of the better known books by each author. I've been meaning to read some of them, especially Koontz, but I have so many other books that i haven't gotten around to them. But now I really want to make the effort to read one or two here and there.

My question to you is, which of their books are your favorites or which one/s do you consider to be the best? Or perhaps, which one do you recommend to someone who is new to the authors?

Thank you in advance.

I like Koontz. Im reading "Darkness under the Sun" now on my ipad.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Big Koontz fan

Dark Rivers of the Heart
Watchers
From the corner of his eye
The Odd Thomas series
By the light of the moon
Intensity
Sole Survivor
Strangers

As someone else mentioned, if you wind up liking Koontz you will like Saul.

I think most already covered Grisham. Painted house is a very good book and was a step away from his normal lawyer/court room type of book. However many of his earlier lawyer/court room books are very good as well.

 

[ethiostar]

Thanks folks and please keep the great suggestions coming.

I should say that I know the genre for each author. I can't think of any courtroom drama that I've ever read so Grisham will be a new genre for me.

Koontz's style might be more familiar to me as i read a lot of sci-fi/fantasy, some of which are pretty dark. I also recently started reading Stephen King, within the last year. I'm curious to know how the two compare.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

A Time To Kill

The Street Lawyer

The Partner

Playing for Pizza (As a football fan you'll love this one)

These are all great books by John and are definately ones you should read if you have them.

 

[ethiostar]

Hi. Lane's wife here. : Can I say that I am a bit jealous of your treasure?? I am a devourer of books.

Thank you for the suggestions. I will definitly look for John Saul books next time I go to the bookshop.

I read quite a bit too and I can't afford to buy new books or buy used books online and pay for S&H. I love this little used bookstore that is close to my house (there was another one by my work but is now closed down). Most paperbacks are $2.50-$3.50 and you can bring them back when you finish reading them and get store credit for half the value you paid for them. So, in reality, I spend about $1.50 on each book that I read and don't keep, and I keep very very few books.

 

[kimrose]

Thanks folks and please keep the great suggestions coming.

I should say that I know the genre for each author. I can't think of any courtroom drama that I've ever read so Grisham will be a new genre for me.

Koontz's style might be more familiar to me as i read a lot of sci-fi/fantasy, some of which are pretty dark. I also recently started reading Stephen King, within the last year. I'm curious to know how the two compare.

Well, it's kind of like the difference between Doritos and Pringles. They both taste great, but have their own flavor. Glad to know you are into the sci-fi style/horror style. You will have NO problem with Koontz. Seriously, check out John Saul. Personally, I think he's a tad bit better.

I would suggest Christine Feehan, also, but her books are more slanted toward females. But she, too, is a great author. Her "Dark" series is incredible. If you have any of her books in the box, you might give it a try. If you like vampire books. Not cheesy, like another now famous vampire author, Feehan's books are meat and potatoes. But a warning, her books are very adult.

 

[casmith07]

Anything by Grisham, especially A Painted House. A Time To Kill is also great, though very difficult to read. It's extremely hard to get through the first chapter.

The Brethren was one of my favorites. So was The Firm.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

Anything by Grisham, especially A Painted House. A Time To Kill is also great, though very difficult to read. It's extremely hard to get through the first chapter.

The Brethren was one of my favorites. So was The Firm.

Yes it is. I actually wound up having to skip the first chapter because I just couldn't do it. I'd seen the movie so I didn't need to read the first chapter to understand what was going on.

 

[ragman]

If you like legal thrillers, an author you should check out Mark Gimenez. He may be better than Grisham.

Here are his books:

The Color of Law

The Abduction aka Saving Grace

The Perk

The Common Lawyer

Accused-sequel to The Color of Law

The Governor's Wife-out in August 2012.

His books may be hard to find, because his books are published in Great Britain, not the US. Idk why.

 

[ethiostar]

If you like legal thrillers, an author you should check out Mark Gimenez. He may be better than Grisham.

Here are his books:

The Color of Law

The Abduction aka Saving Grace

The Perk

The Common Lawyer

Accused-sequel to The Color of Law

The Governor's Wife-out in August 2012.

His books may be hard to find, because his books are published in Great Britain, not the US. Idk why.

Like I said in an earlier post, I really haven't read much legal thrillers. The only ones I've ever read are by Michael Connelly, Brass Verdict and Lincoln Lawyer.

But, i will be sure to pickup one of those books by Gimenez if i come across them at the used bookstore.