Topical

Thrillers

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My affair with books started when I was so high! It started with Marathi books. These books, called char ane mala, meaning 25 paise series, were stories for kids containing kings and queens, prince and princesses, demons, and vampires and of course magicians! They made fascinating reading for a kid like me. Slowly these were exchanged for Chandoba, kishore and other magazines.

I had a neighbour who was avid reader of books of all kinds. He had a huge stock of books and I slowly graduated into those books.

My tryst with thrillers started with Baburao Arnalkar, famous Marathi thriller writer. I was enchanted with his detective characters like Kalapahad and Zunzar. To me he really was the pioneer of Marathi thrillers. In fact, my grandmother was a great fan of his. Later on, Gurunath Naik and Suhas Shirvalkar also made good impression on me.

During my high school days, I started reading English books. I never was a fan of classic literature and have stuck to reading thrillers right through. Before we talk about thrillers, I must put in a word about inculcating reading habits. The younger generation is averse to any kind of reading and I feel very sad about this. They simply do not know what they are missing. More about this later.

Thrillers are simply books which have action, murder mysteries, espionage, conspiracies, and betrayals. These concoctions make a heady cocktail. You will be hooked on to a good book so much you will forget your surroundings. There are so many best sellers available these days, you are spoiled for choice.

Unfortunately, thrillers do not enjoy the same status in literature as the other so called classics. It is like western Hollywood movies. Everybody watches and enjoys them but the Oscar goes to someone else.

I have read so many thriller writers that I have lost count. But very few stand out. To me Alistair Maclean stands apart. Night without end, Where eagles dare and Ice station zebra are the most brilliant books I have ever read. Every day I wish this guy was still around to churn out thrillers after thrillers. His plots, his characters, his language, and his ability to paint a vivid picture of the surroundings is simply outstanding. The built in suspense in his novels has kept me awake many a night. I used to read his novels in a single siting. Had I used mere ten percent of that devotion in my studies, I would have been someone else. But then Maclean would have missed one of his great readers.

Next in line in my list of great writers is Earl Stanley Gardner. This is another writer who should have been immortal. His characters, Perry Mason, Della Street, Paul Drake and Lieutenant Tragg are so life like that you feel you will meet them somewhere anytime. He wrote more than hundred Perry Mason novels and each one is unique.

The books Maclean and Gardner wrote were relatively short compared to current books which go ओं and on for close to five hundred pages. But you get full satisfaction after reading a Maclean or a Perry Mason any day. You can read those books again and again without getting tired of them. James Hadley Chase was another writer who made an impression on my mind. His setups are typical and somewhat predictable. But he did come out with some great thrillers.

Louise Lamour was also a great writer. His western books were well written and engrossing.

The list cannot but include Agatha Christie, the queen of suspense. But not everybody will enjoy her books since they are long drawn out and heavy on build-up. You enjoy them if you like that kind of writing.

At some point of time, I liked Fredrick Forsyth. The day of the jackal was brilliant. But his later books were not as satisfying, though worth reading. Desmond Bagley was another good author. He always had very good plots and nice stories. But he wrote relatively few books.
Robin Cook started with a bang with Coma, which was outstanding medical mystery. He still churns out reasonably good thrillers.

Dan Brown, the da Vinci code Fame comes out with a book every year. But after great beginning - Angels and Demons was a masterpiece -he came out with few unfathomable books.

John Grisham, the writer of legal thrillers came out with some great ones with brilliant stories initially.

John le Carr is a brilliant spy book author. But his books are only for his avid fans as his style is not everyone's piece of cake.

Lee Child the Jack Reacher fame, David Baldacci, James Patterson are some of the other authors worth reading. Read Michael Connelly if you like serial killer mysteries. The list is never ending.

Though famous for his movies, 007 James Bond was created by Ian Fleming in his stories. Who will forgetthem? His books and James Bond are immortal. I have my own conceptions about what makes a book outstanding. To begin with it should not be too long. It should have a well-defined plot. The description of techniques used and places visited in the book should be authentic. I know that writers spend lot of time and effort on research of places and on the modern technology described in the book. But what matters is the style of writing, the authentic description of scenarios and a satisfying end which does not leave loose ends.

Why read books at all? This is the question many youngsters ask these days. They counter saying you can get the same feel by watching movies. Well, the answer is this. Movies show actions and emotions but only an author can describe the feelings of the characters involved. It requires great skill to paint a pen picture of a scene. I have seen many movies based on famous books and they do not do enough justice to the book.

Sitting in your living room curled up with a thriller has its own charm. The advent of modern gadgets, especially kindle, and audio books have modified the reading habits somewhat. I have switched to kindle and have more than couple of hundred books stored on it. Some people still prefer the old-fashioned books but it's individual choice.

You cannot talk about books without mentioning Jim Corbett. He was one of the best hunters of man-eating tigers and leopards. But he was an equally gifted writer. Some of his hunting stories are no less thrilling. I was scared to read those stories in the night.

Well, I have just finished reading a Robin Cook. I think I will get another one from library. May be a Dick Francis. Didn't I mention he is another great thriller writer, especially if you are interested in horses?

P.S. If you are interested in History, read the war stories of Cornelious Ryan. He covered the second world war and his books are great.