Anne Rice

Can't help you with Rice, but for future reading I'd suggest Elmore Leonard. Can't go wrong with any of the following:
Cuba Libre
Get Shorty
Rum Punch
Out of Sight
Maximum Bob
Freaky Deaky

 

The entire vampire series she does starts off with "Interview with a Vampire." It's okay but I found it a little slow. The second, "The Vampire Lestat" was MUCH better.

Also "The Witching Hour" which begins her Mayfair witch chronicles is a very absorbing read.

Of course, if you're into the hardcore kink, you might enjoy her "Sleeping Beauty" trilogy...

 

John Sandford

His detective, Lucas Davenport, is one bad-ass cop. All his books are called the "Prey" series...Rules of Prey, Eyes of Prey, Winter Prey, etc.

Start from the beginning (Rules of Prey, I think...I'll look it up) and go from there...great reading.

Edit: Here's the list in order:

Rules of Prey
Shadow Prey
Eyes of Prey
Silent Prey
Winter Prey
Night Prey
Mind Prey
Sudden Prey
Secret Prey
Certain Prey
Easy Prey
Chosen Prey
Mortal Prey
Naked Prey

 

I am much like you except I tend to read EVERY book by every popular author. I get in reading moods and knock out a book every other day. Then I will go through a period of months and not read anything at all.

As for one particular Anne Rice book I would suggest The Witching Hour. It's a great book and by far my favorite piece she did.

Chance

 

I agree, John Sanford's books are excellent.

Three other suggestions:

Gerry Carroll -- close friend of Tom Clancy and a decorated search and rescue pilot. He wrote three excellent books, following a (fictional) SAR pilot during the Vietnam War. He actually died before the third went to print, and Clancy helped get it finished up. Style is a lot like Clancy, with very realistic and compelling characters. His best was his first -- "North S.A.R".

Stephen Coonts -- another with style similar to Clancy. His books follow the career of a Tomcat Pilot Jake Grafton. I really liked his early stuff, which was well written and believable. Drawback = with his latest few, he's kind of run into the same problem as Clancy, in that he's boxed his main character in. Once your protagonist gets to be a high ranking admiral and deputy chief of the DIA, there's only so far you can go with the plots and make them sound like they could happen. Assuming you've seen the movie of his #1 novel, "Flight of the Intruder," (which is excellent) you might read his second, "Intruders."

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child -- Excellent Sci-Fi authors. They've written a bunch of books together, including "The Relic," which was the basis for the movie. Their stories are almost believable, because they set them in the real world, and bring in a single fantastic element, which seems possible. My favorites were "Riptide" and "Mt. Dragon."

 

You may also want to try:

Prelude to being Prey
Prey Pray for Death....Prey
Puree your Prey
Spray Prey: A Painter's Guide
Prey On Your Preying Prey

 

Michael Cunningham and Richard Russo are my recent favorites.

Cunningham:

Flesh and Blood
The House at the End of the World
The Hours

Russo (absolutely hilarious; serious author, but with a terrific sense of humor)

Nobody's Fool (also a recent movie w/ Paul Newman)
Straight Man
Empire Falls

 

Hey, prey on this, RL.......

 

I second Buck's nomination of Elmore Leonard.

Also, Rick Riordan is great. He's a novelist from Texas who's released four books with the same character, a tai chai practicing P.I. named Tres Navarre who has an enchilada eating cat. The first book is <I>Big Red Tequila</I>.

 

The Witching Hour is a fantastic book!! really good!

i really liked Interview with the Vampire, too...

but Witching Hour is just amazing to me...very hard to put down.

 

Is that the sequel to The Praying Mantis Preys on Pralines ?

 

I have been reading Michael Connelley lately. He is the one that wrote "Blood Work" (the movie that is out now with Eastwood - it can't touch the book). I'm not normally into the "detective" novel genre, but his books are very enjoyable.

 

I would say Memnoch the Devil, as it is a stand alone book so you don't need to read a whole series.

 

Yes, but doesn't it draw on backround from the Vampire Chronicles novels? I think you would be better served by reading them first.

I just finished reading Up Country by Nelson Demille. Try reading one of his books in the future - well worth it. Of course Frederick Forsyth is the master.

 

davo, email me quick if you want to sit with Smeggy in his honeymoon suite for the Seattle game.

 

I'd agree with this selection. My favorite from her work.

It doesn't use that much background from the other books and what little it does it explains away.