Saturday, April 7, 2007

Stuart Woods

Why can I recommend Stuart Woods? His books are fast-paced and easy to read. His characters are likable and competent. His stories have just the right balance of suspense, drama, dialogue and humour.

Stuart Woods' novels are everything escapist fiction should be. In his popular Stone Barrington series, we the readers live vicariously through the main character. Stone eats in famous restaurants, sleeps with beautiful women, drives luxury cars, wears expensive clothes, travels frequently and generally enjoys the finer things in life.

His other series' follow the lives of Will Lee, a man of Southern wealth and privilege with political aspirations, Holly Barker, a Florida police officer and her intelligent doberman, Daisy, and Ed Eagle, a legendary Santa Fe defense lawyer.

His standalone novels are mostly straight suspense fiction, all of them excellent and worth reading. His first novel, "Chiefs" is one of my favorite books. If you've never read Stuart Woods, start with "Chiefs", you won't be disappointed.

From Amazon: "In the bitter winter of 1920, the first body is found in Delano, Georgia—the naked corpse of an unidentified teenager. There is no direct evidence of murder, but the body bears marks of what seems to be a ritual beating. The investigation falls to Will Henry Lee, a failed cotton farmer newly appointed as Delano's first chief of police.Lee's obsession with the crime begins a story that weaves through the decades, following the life of a small southern town and the role of three police chiefs in unraveling the crime. Chiefs is the best kind of thriller, where the investigation plays out against the drama beneath the surface of a seemingly placid community, seething with the pressures of race, love, hate, and—always—political power, extending from the town fathers all the way to Washington, DC."

Another notable Stuart Woods novel is "Under the Lake", about which Stephen King said, "Part detective story, part ghost story, part Southern Gothic... it scared the hell out of me!" "Under the Lake" is a terrific novel that you will want to finish in one sitting. I won't spoil the story by explaining what it's about, you'll just have to find out for yourself.

Stuart's new Stone Barrington novel, "Fresh Disasters", will be published on April 10, 2007, and another Stone book, "Shoot Him if he Runs", will be published in October.

You can visit Stuart Woods' Official Website for more information and a list of all his books.

Stuart Woods gets my wholehearted recommendation.

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