Try Chinaman's Chance.
I'm not sure I could relate the plots of any of his books. But I know his characters as vividly as anything in Dickens or Ibsen.
When people like Ross MacDonald, Elmore Leonard and Ed McBain listed their favorite authors, Ross was always on the list. Also wrote under Oliver Bleek. Google him.
>I read The Prometheus Deception and its one of the worst thing I've ever read (yes I did read it all the way through) there was a very small plot and the whole plot hinged on a ludicrous invention/plot device at the end. I'll try Ross Thomas but I will blame you if its bad (hope you don't mind)
>
>>A good example of a good story-teller ( or plotter ) who was a bad writer. My personal preference is for writing over plot which is my personal taste in thrillers runs a lot more to Ross Thomas than Ludlum or Clancy.
>>
>>>>>>Today I was at Target for some provisions and on a whim bought a DVD trilogy of the Bourne movies. They are selling it for about $22. I am taking a brief intermission from the first one. It is probably not an overstatement to say it is among the best thrillers in recent years. Very tightly written (based on a schlock novel), a couple dozen classic scenes. The second and third installments were directed by Paul Greengrass in a visual style every other action director has been trying to emulate since. Terrific flicks, as good and entertaining as the early Bond movies.
>>>>>
>>>>>I loved the books until the author died and they were written by other authors under his name. I enjoyed every movie, but to be frank, the visual style after the first drove me nuts. I hate all the camera movement. Too jerky and difficult to focus. Headache!
>>>>
>>>>True, although I don't think we are really talking about that many scenes. The influence on other directors is undeniable.
>>>>
>>>>As far as Robert Ludlum, see my reply to John B. I give him credit for plotting but did not like his writing style at all. "Hammer them over the head." I like a little nuance, a little grace.
>>>
>>>The Bourne films are that rare thing. Better than the book. I read a couple of Ludlum books after people here where recommending them and I thought they where c___p
Charles Hankey
Though a good deal is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened.
- Thomas Hardy
Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm-- but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.
-- T. S. Eliot
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Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.
- Ben Franklin
Pardon him, Theodotus. He is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.
