Top Ten Thrillers of All-Time

Here are my Top Ten Thrillers.  In my opinion these were the best of the best and if you haven't read them then you definitely should if you're a fan of the thriller genre.

10.  The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker (2010).  This was an excellent read with great characters, disturbing plot, and startling twists.  Great make-up of a top thriller.  I also have to admit that since I recently finished reading this one it's still fresh in my mind and made the list.   

9.  Along Came a Spider by James Patterson (1993).  All thriller lists will usually have at least one title of the hundreds that Patterson has written.  He is certainly one of the best writers of the thriller genre in modern times.  This was adapted into to film starring Morgan Freeman.

8.  The Hound of Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1902).  Great Sherlock Holmes book that I read as a kid.  One of the books responsible for making me a fan of thrillers.

7.  State of Fear by Michael Crichton (2004).  Chrichton created a niche for scientific thrillers.  Here he didn't disappoint as he delved into the world of environmentalism.  As a result of this book he once appeared before Congress to testify on the possibilities and consequences of conducting policy on what he viewed was "junk" science. 

6.  The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon (1959).  What's there not to like?  Political thriller where a corporation brain washes a former Soldier to be an unwitting assassin.  Adapted to film twice, first starring Frank Sinatra, and then again starring Denzel Washington.

5.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (2005).  Great characters and a disturbing plot helped this thriller make the list. 

4.  The Charm School by Nelson DeMille (1988).  DeMille has written so many great books.  This one in my opinion topped them all.  Russian spies trained to infiltrate the United States.  I couldn't put this one down.

3.  Term Limits by Vince Flynn (1999).  This was Flynn's debut novel that he originally self-published that went on to make the NY Times Bestseller List.  Fed up with your Senators/Congressmen?  So were the characters in this book and they made the "Distinguished Gentlemen" pay.

2.  The Pelican Brief by John Grisham (1992).  The king of legal suspense hit a home run with this thriller.  Assassinated Supreme Court Justices, and a grad student's thesis stirs up a great book with a lot of twists and turns.  The book was definitely better than the movie that starred Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington.

1.  The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris (1988).  How can this not be considered the greatest thriller of all-time?  A sadistic serial killer, a locked up cannibal, and a trainee FBI Agent combine to set the standard that all thrillers can only hope to live up to.  The movie with Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins was great, but it still didn't come close to the chills you get from reading the novel. 

In my opinion those are the Top Ten Thrillers of all-time.  Let me know how your list would differ.  Did I miss any good thrillers that make your top ten? 

Is Political Correctness Killing Free Speech?

After reading the Washington Post this morning I learned that National Public Radio fired Juan Williams for the comments he had made on the Fox News Channel.  Are we at the point where political-correctness is killing free speech?

I can understand collecting a paycheck from a private company and being terminated for remarks that I may publically make that would reflect poorly on that company.  The 1st Amendment guarantees government cannot infringe upon our free speech, but NPR is partially funded through our tax dollars.  Also NPR, is a radio station that greatly enjoys its 1st Amendment Rights.

The comment that Williams made as a guest on The O'Reilly Factor was, “I mean, look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. You know the kind of books I’ve written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I've got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.”

Are they right to terminate an employee who is voicing their opinion?  I'm interested in knowing what you think.  Read the Washington Post article for yourself and let me know.  Should Juan Williams have been terminated?  Should NPR, which is partially funded by tax-dollars, be able to terminate one of their employees who were expressing their 1st Amendment Rights?

The Washinton Post Article: NPR Fires Juan Williams over anti-Muslim remarks

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Being the fan of thrillers that I am, I don’t know why I kept putting off reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.  It has spent week after week on the New York Times Bestseller List, mostly at number one. Last week I finished reading it and I’m glad that I did.

PLOT SUMMARY: (http://www.stieglarsson.com/The-Girl-With-The-Dragon-Tattoo)

Disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist is hired by Henrik Vanger to investigate the disappearance of Vanger’s great-niece Harriet. Henrik suspects that someone in his family, the powerful Vanger clan, murdered Harriet over forty years ago.

Starting his investigation, Mikael realizes that Harriet’s disappearance is not a single event, but rather linked to a series of gruesome murders in the past. He now crosses paths with Lisbeth Salander, a young computer hacker, an asocial punk and most importantly, a young woman driven by her vindictiveness.

Together they form an unlikely couple as they dive deeper into the violent past of the secretive Vanger family.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo turned out to be a phenomenal thriller that really did keep me glued to the pages.  Larsson’s characters are amazing and force you to sympathize with them almost from the opening pages.  Lisbeth Salander will probably go down as one of the greatest fictional characters conceived as you find yourself almost wanting to protect her but learn that she doesn’t really need help nor would she ask for it. 

The plot and its stunning conclusion didn’t disappoint as well.  The twists, turns, and discoveries will have you dropping your jaw and turning the page at a breakneck pace. 

The largest drawback I’d say the novel has is its length.  It takes about 100 pages of back story and superfluous details before you really get into the heart of the story.  The other negative is trying to follow the family members of the Vanger family.  At times you feel like you need their family tree charted to keep up. 

A word of caution; there are some very graphic and disturbing scenes in this book so it is not for the faint of heart.  However, if you’re like me and tend to gravitate towards the graphic and disturbing in stories, then I highly recommend The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.