Written by Dan Malone

I wanted to start a monthly section here at Order of Books where on the first of every month, I talk about what books I read in the prior month, and talk a bit about them. That way maybe we can all learn about new authors, and other great books to read. I just ask that you keep spoilers to a minimal!

Feel free to write about what you read this month in the comments too.

In May, I had just finished reading the Mitch Rapp series for the 2nd time. It was time for me to find some new books! I’ve always been a fan of the series of books involving one character, like the Jack Reacher, Mitch Rapp and Alex Cross series.

I actually have two brand new books from James Patterson sitting here; the new Alex Cross book and the new Womens Murder Club book. Yet I just don’t have the motivation to read them. Pattersons really been phoning it in the last few years.

So I spent an hour researching on the internet, starting with the “If you like Mitch Rapp you’ll like _____” rule, coming up with a list of about 30 new authors to try. Then it was off to the library to try some out!

I ended up picking up books by Daniel Silva, Brad Thor and Andy McNab.

I read Brad Thor’s Lion of Lucerne first, as I’d heard a lot about his hero Scot Harvath. I thought it was a really slow book to start, with a lot of plot added in that really went nowhere – but it picked up around the halfway point, and the action writing was fantastic.

Next up was Daniel Silva’s The Mark of the Assassin, the first of two books in the Michael Osbourne series. Although Osbourne wasn’t a real bad-ass I still enjoyed it, especially when he wrote from the perspective of October. I ended up getting The Marching Season as well and read that, to complete the series.

However nothing could prepare me for the awesomeness that is Andy McNab. Oh man, I had heard about his Nick Stone books for awhile and even tried one – but I was turned off after the first chapter, where it introduced way too many characters and seemed to be extremely descriptive.

Well I decided to give Remote Control another try – and oh man am I ever glad I did. To say I loved this book would be an understatement – if you’ve read it, you know what happens about 5 chapters in. I read that and BOOM, hooked. Finished it that night, and I ended up going out and buying every one of his books that are currently out, which is 13 books.

I’ve finished four of the books thus far in June, which are Remote Control, Crisis Four, Firewall and Last Light. I expect I’ll be done the series in July. Nothing like sitting out at the cottage, relaxing and reading books all day!

So – busy month for me when it comes to reading, see ya next month!

What did you read?

Order of Books » Blog » What I Read: June 2011

Leave a Reply