Just as Stephen Jones and Kim Newman’s HORROR: THE 100 BEST BOOKS was essential as a survey of that genre, so is David Morrell and Hank Wagner’s THRILLERS: 100 MUST-READS. A project of the International Thriller Writers organization, the book works as a checklist for newcomers, a reminder for heavy readers, and a history lesson for all.
Organized chronologically, the hardcover gives each participating essayist — all noted authors themselves — to write a few pages about the book or, in some cases, short story of their choosing. Whether you agree or disagree, the end result is something akin to joy.
Lee Child goes first, choosing a bit of mythology with “Theseus and the Minotaur,” arguing how many of its elements laid the groundwork for the thrillers of today. Andrew Klavan praises BEOWULF, but decries Bob Zemeckis’ 3-D film for mucking up the details. Douglas Preston recalls how he literally chanced upon Wilkie Collins’ THE WOMAN IN WHITE, and wound up being heavily influenced by it.
Morrell himself delivers one of the most entertaining entries with an examination of Agatha Christie’s brilliant, groundbreaking AND THEN THERE WERE NONE. One of the more touching is Max Allan Collins’ tribute to his friend Mickey Spillane, and that author’s ONE LONELY NIGHT, the fourth Mike Hammer novel. Duane Swierczynski alternates between reporter and fanboy — that’s a good thing — in bowing to Richard Stark’s THE HUNTER.
Most bittersweet is Josh Conviser’s look at THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN and its gone-to-soon writer, Michael Crichton. It’s interesting, as Lee Goldberg points out, how misunderstood Trevanian’s THE EIGER SANCTION was; intended as parody, a spy-hungry populace embraced it as the real deal. P.J. Parrish remembers how critically panned Peter Benchley’s JAWS was, but history has been far kinder. James O. Born does a terrific job in nailing why Joseph Wambaugh’s cop drama THE CHOIRBOYS was so revolutionary.
Not every book highlighted is a pure thriller. Some skirt the genres of science fiction and horror, if they aren’t rooted in them to begin with. A few titles chosen may make you raise a dubious eyebrow — William Shakespeare’s MACBETH; Edgar Wallace’s KING KONG, which is essentially a film novelization; Clive Cussler’s RAISE THE TITANIC!; R.L. Stine’s SILENT NIGHT, which is a FEAR STREET SUPER CHILLER book for kids, y’all; and James Patterson’s ALONG CAME A SPIDER among them — but damned if the writers don’t establish their cases for inclusion. (Exception: Patterson. I just can’t get onboard with that hack, no matter how many of his books my mom swears by.)
But really, if we all came to a consensus, THRILLERS: 100 MUST-READS would be boring and, therefore, needless.
The above merely scratches the surface of the collection’s contents, and undeniably, it’s a who’s who of popfic: Daniel Defoe, Mary Shelley, James Fenimore Cooper, Alexandre Dumas, Jules Verne, H. Rider Haggard, Robert Louis Stevenson, Bram Stoker, H.G. Wells, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Joseph Conrad, Jack London, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Lester Dent, James M. Cain, Cornell Woolrich, Patricia Highsmith, Jim Thompson, Jack Finney, Ian Fleming, Len Deighton, John le Carré, James Dickey, Frederick Forsyth, Ira Levin, Robin Cook, Ken Follett, John D. MacDonald, Robert Ludlum, Thomas Harris, Tom Clancy, F. Paul Wilson, Stephen King, Nelson DeMille, Dean Koontz, Peter Straub, John Grisham, Jeffery Deaver and Dan Brown, to name a mere fraction. And the authors writing about those authors aren’t anything to sneeze at, either.
It’s amazing how many works on this list went on to be adapted for the screen by Alfred Hitchcock. The man obviously had exquisite taste. So will you, should you use this book as your guide for your next lit-based spending spree. —Rod Lott
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF DAVID MORRELL:
• CREEPERS by David Morrell
• FIRST BLOOD by David Morrell
• SCAVENGER by David Morrell
• THE SHIMMER by David Morrell
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF HANK WAGNER:
• PRINCE OF STORIES: THE MANY WORLDS OF NEIL GAIMAN by Hank Wagner, Christopher Golden and Stephen R. Bissette
Related posts:
- Thrillers 2
- Cover for THRILLER anthology revealed
- Agents of Treachery
- Suspense greats line up for THRILLER anthology
- HWA announces ’05 Stoker nominees
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hitch had more than exquisite taste, he had nearly a con artist’s nose for business and made sure when buying the rights to said books/stories, the authors’ agents *never knew* it was Hitch who was buying. He got rights dirt-cheap.
Also: I have to read this essay on Benchley’s JAWS to see just how kind history has been to it; I reread it just last month and it’s as lame as ever!
Have to agree with Will. Jaws was a much better film than book. Also too many book included on this list that are popular but poorly written:Da Vinci Code, Along Came a Spider for example.
Jaws is the perfect example of the old saying “the book is better than the movie” not always being true.