Robb T. White

Any book by Thomas Harris, including his first "Black Sunday." Next is my favorite David L. Lindsey, novel "Mercy." Then I would choose any three Arkady Renko books by Martin Cruz Smith--specifically, "Red Square," "Polar Star," and "Havana Bay," just to name three. The major reason for all is style; these writers make every sentence interesting. If you open any of their books and point your finger at a sentence, you'll "hear" something interesting and fine about language--not just plot detail. Compared to them, the same people who show up time after time on the New York Times best-selling lists are mediocre hacks. In all five novels named here, there is the bonus of a strong, complex, and fascinating protagonist who resists easy explanation.