Bestselling author, Lee Child lists his ten favourite all time thrillers in the glossy magazine, Live which is free with the Mail on Sunday - the author makes some interesting choices, some I've read, others I've not. In first place he places Ian Fleming's, Dr No which he credits with inventing the "Fantasy Thriller" sub-genre. This is closely followed by a more realistic style of espionage thriller with John Le Carre's The Spy who Came in From the Cold. Child states the book introduced the cynicism of Graham Greene into the genre.
Ken Follet's Eye of the Needle is at number three which Child calls the last of the great world war II thrillers. Then we have Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell which Child calls a superb thriller debut. Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household, which is the first book I've yet to read, is at number five. And Alistair Maclean's The Last Frontier is at number six.
Strangers on the Train by Patricia Highsmith is number 7 and at number 8 is the blockbuster The Hunt for Red October. Child makes the point that Red October is unusually paced for a thriller being expansive rather than lean.
Day of the Jackal in in at number 9 and the list ends with Graham Green's The Third Man at number 10.
1 comment:
The Third Man was a book, too? I didn't know that! How did it differ from the movie?
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