I'm in a rather unique situation where I have been reading 3-5 novels a week. This has been going on for about four months so I have exhausted a lot of titles.
Also, I need to read third-person narratives. So, first-person fiction is out.
I have read James Lee Burke, Daniel Silva, Vince Flynn and Brad Thor. I've read Preston and (Lincoln) Child and most of Lee Child's. I can't remember which Grishams I've read and which I haven't. Is there an author out there I am missing? I don't think I would like Patterson. I need more character development and poetic description. My favorites are Burke, Silva, Lee Child and Flynn.
I'm also not into graphic sex scenes or occult undertones.
Recommendations are most welcome. Thanks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand

Thanks, Savage, but I've read the Ayn Rands. In my youth I read Steinbeck, Dickens, Hemingway, Rand, and contemporary literary novelists like Woiwode, Updike, Irving, and Anne Tyler. And Cormac McCarthy. I'm looking now for a thriller/adventure writer who has the poetic power of James Lee Burke with a dash of Silva and Child thrown in. I prefer a male voice, though granted, a writer like Rand defies stereotypes. Burke's two Texas novels "Rain Gods" and "Feast Day of Fools" don't have the plots of a good Lee Child or the best of Dan Silva, but they contain wonderful characterizations and sentences that just knock your socks off.

And I've read most of the Baldaccis, some Conollys, all the Ludlums...

Steven Hunter?

That's an idea. I have one of his non-fiction books but have not read any of his novels. Thanks.

The joe pickett series as well as CJ Box's other books. Murder mysteries about a wyoming game warden. The author is from Wyoming. Craig Johnson is another author of mysteries from wyoming.

My M-I-L just got me the Game of Thrones series. It is supposed to be very good. HBO just started a series using the books.

Partagas, I've considered both of these. I have a close friend who is a game warden captain and he doesn't think too much of Box's books. But, I should look at both his and Johnson's. I am very particular and the thriller/mystery genre is not my usual forte. But, I first learned about Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels on this forum. Reacher, as a hero, is rather two-dimensional but his stories are compelling. I appreciate how he will set his stories in places like South Dakota, Indiana, and Nebraska and still get a feel for the people. Not bad for a British lad.

Has anyone read the South African novelist Deon Meyer?

Postscript 24 hours later: I picked up several Stephen Hunter novels at the library today. I am well into Point of Impact now and I hear certain writers mentioned for knowing their stuff when it comes to ballistics, shooting, etc... but, Hunter really does know his stuff. Also, a woman at the library mentioned a female writer, Zoe Sharp, and said she was as good as it gets. Our little library did not have any of Sharp's books. She is British but sometimes sets her novels in America. In fact, her next one takes place in Post-Katrina New Orleans.

John Sanford's Prey series. Larry McMurtry's western stuff: Lonesome Dove, Commanche Moon, Dead Man's Walk, Streets of Laredo.

I've never tried Sandford. Might check him out. I've been reading McMurtry for years and brought one home the other day that I haven't read. Read all the Lonesome Dove books years ago. McMurtry is an interesting case. IMO, half his books are brilliant and the other half are really bad. I just finished my first Stephen Hunter today and was really impressed. He is not the literary genius that James Lee Burke is, but his plots are good, his characterizations above average and he obviously knows the gun world.

John Connelly and Michael Connelly. They are not related, that I know of. The first is poetic, much like Burke. The second is drier. I've not read Michael's "Lincoln Lawyer" books, but his efforts featuring the character Detective Harry Bosch, are very good.

Not for everybody but Cormac McCarthy's novels are...

Ethan, thanks. I've read one John Connelly and liked it. I think I tend to confuse the two authors. I've read Cormac McCarthy for years but have grown weary of him. First of all, being old school, I like some punctuation in a book, but more importantly, his worldview is becoming increasingly dark. I think I liked "Blood Meridian" best of his work. Ralph Beer, who wrote the award-winning novel, "The Blind Corral," first introduced me to McCarthy's work. "Blind Corral" is a wonderful read if you've not discovered it.

I read one by Ralph Beer about rebuilding an old Dodge Power Wagon. It took him a while. Good read.

Patrick O'Brien, The Aubry/Maturin series.
Peter Matthiessen, "Shadow Country"

if you like Arthurian legands Jack Whyte's Camulod Chronicals are really good.....no magic, no dragons.....written like historical fiction starting in England about the time the Romans left it for the locals and incoming Saxons.....The Skystone is the first in the series....

Thanks, Rattler. I do like Arthurian legends when they don't include the silliness and that is a series I was not aware of.

Here is another vote for Patrick O'Brien.

i stumbled on The Skystone and couldnt put it down and quickly bought the other 7 books in the series and read them all in about 10 weeks.....

Another vote for this. Sanford's Virgil Flowers novels are good too, the prey ones get a little predictable sometimes. Read them in order, as they often reference past events. The McMurtry ones aren't as important to read in order.

Take a look at "Wilbur Smith", especially the Courtney Series

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilbur_Smith

I've only read the first few, but really enjoyed them. The others are on my list one of these days.

His title "Seventh Scroll" is one of my favorites, the others in that series are OK


The "Game of Thrones" books are different, really slow to read though as you really have to concentrate to know who's who.




Couple others that stick in my mind are "The Historian" (different take on Dracula, but a very good read)


"Cleopatra", usually not much on non-fiction, but worth the time.




Another nod towards the "Prey" series already mentioned, although I haven't cared too much for the later books.

"Dead before Dying" and "Horn of the Hunter" were both excellent reads...

try the aviation/thrillers by john nance...

and j.w. halls stuff is different, but pretty well written... try "mean high tide"...

I second C.J. Box.

Maybe someone said this but Robert Ruarks- The Old Man and The
Boy

Lee Child, you'll not want to put it down, baddest dude you'ed never want to meet Reacher is one bad dude, and 3ed;s on John Sandford....later

Have you been to John Ross' site? He is the author of "Unintended Consequences" and on his website he has a list of various authors and comments on their work. Pretty interesting. Here's the link:


http://john-ross.net/novel.php

Thanks, good link.