The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion

A neighbor of mine has never read a book to completion. He dropped this bomb on me during a dinner at my house. At that point I was confronted with two choices, kick him to the street, or throw some titles his way and take on the task of converting him.

Seeing how I have to live next to the guy, I decided to suit up and take on mission convert an idiot.

What titles would you reccomend if this happened to you? Mysteries of course.

I gave him a couple easy reads:
Charlie Huston- Caught Stealing
Robert Crais - LA Requiem

And a classic
James Crumley - The Last Good Kiss

Take a deep Zen breath Chris *in...out...*

Are you calm now? ;-)

I'm no good at this kind of recommendation, but I'm sure someone out there can help. Welcome, and thanks for joining the group, Chris.

The Last Good Kiss is a good one. My husband is a picky reader and he really likes the series by Tim Dorsey. They're pretty funny -- sort of like Dexter but way beyond.

I have read one Tim Dorsey and didn't care for it as much as Carl Hiaasen books. Have you tried Hiassen?

I recently was turned on to some of the G. M. Ford books, too - some of them are kind of funny, and as they are set in Seattle, like me, it's fun to recognize the locations.

Harlan Coben has some basketball/sports-related themes, if you think sports might appeal to him.

Jeffrey Deaver's last two have been toying with the technical - RFID tracking & databases and cloud computing.

This house loves Sandford, both Kellermans, Deaver, Pearson, Finder, Gerritsen, Reichs, older Cornwells and Stephen Kings, Evanovich.....

The reason we like Tim Dorsey is because he's not formulaic at all -- probably appeals to people (like myself) who tend not to flow much in the mainstream. It all depends on what your friend likes. You absolutely never know what's going to happen in these books. I have to laugh because when I finished Last Good Kiss, I felt like I had to go wash my hands -- I loved that book!

Nancy wrote: "The Last Good Kiss is a good one. My husband is a picky reader and he really likes the series by Tim Dorsey. They're pretty funny -- sort of like Dexter but way beyond."

Ha, when I saw the title of this post I immediately thought, Tim Dorsey. Even though it's a series, you can pretty much pick up any of the books and it'll be fine. If you think your neighbor is really almost totally unredeemable, Alan Moore. Because it's a graphic novel, but with great underlying thematic elements. But, still a comic book with the occassional boobies.

Besides all the others mentioned, my husband is not a big reader and one of his favorite mysteries are the Tony Hillerman ones.

Hey Nancy - I'd be interested in hearing what you think of Hiassen if you like Dorsey....I love Hiassen, but I don't know if Hiassen spoiled Dorsey for me or not...They seem alike to me, kinda quirky, but I just couldn't get as far into the one Dorsey I picked up as I usually do with Hiassen.

(Sorry to step on your thread, Chris!)

I have a co-worker who isn't really much of a reader (outside of the research he might have to do for work) but he read that first Stieg Larsson book and really got hooked on him.

I work with lawyers and there is so much reading to do at work most of them aren't big readers, although a couple are.

But if Robert Crais can't hook someone on reading, that's a problem.

I second the Charlie Huston recommendation, and would add Michael Connelly. If that doesn't convince him, time to kick him to the curb.

I'll second the nomination of Harlan Coben, especially the non-series stuff as they are real page turners. Sherlock Holmes really hooked me as a kid; someone gave me a collection of the shorter stories, which geared me up for the longer works. If your neighbor likes movies, maybe he'd like the books they were based on, or books by the same authors. Of course, you may be dealing with some form of ADD and need more professional help. Good luck!

I have to give a shout out to local boy made good Robert B. Parker and his Spenser series, especiallly the earlier ones. They have an engaging and funny main character (and several charismatic sidekicks), plots that start fast and keep moving, and lots of local (Boston/New England) flavor. Also, the chapters are short.

If he takes to Spenser then I'd graduate him to Dennis Lehane's Patrick Kensie/Angie Genarro series.

I'm not liking newer James Patterson, but the early ones were great mysteries ... Kiss the Girls, Along Came a Spider. Chapters are really short, too.

Love the Lehanes! I didn't think I'd get into the baseball-related one, but I did enjoy it, much to my surprise....

The most engaging book I've read lately is The Reincarnationist. I started it last night, planning to read the first chapter, and ended up reading the first 100 pages before I finally had to stop because my eyes wouldn't stay open any longer. I can't wait to get back to it tonight.

Chris wrote: "A neighbor of mine has never read a book to completion. He dropped this bomb on me during a dinner at my house. At that point I was confronted with two choices, kick him to the street, or throw som..."

Let us know if any of this helps.

Thanks everyone.
This helps greatly

The Parker novels, those are cool books and short.

I face the same problem. I read a lot and my boyfriend would rather play online games. :/