Alternative to John Grisham style courtroom/legal thrillers?

BenEadir

Hi all,

I'm a very haphazard reader. Mostly on planes and during holidays. I tend to like either biographical fare (Long Walk to Freedom being my favourite) or John Grisham style courtroom thrillers.

I'm off travelling for a few weeks and am looking for recommendations that will keep me glued to the pages (or Kindle). I have a relatively short attention span so whatever I'm reading needs to be moving along or I just lose interest. (My problem I know)

I'd appreciate it therefore if anyone can recommend suitable books which I can read (hard copy or Kindle) or even listen to via Audiobook whilst I'm on the move.

Thanks in advance.

Ben

Aenaes

Michael Connolly isn't as good as Grisham but his books are enjoyable. He writes mostly crime fiction but he has legal thrillers with a recurring character, Mickey Haller, a criminal defence lawyer.
The first book with Mickey Haller is "The Lincoln Lawyer" which was made into a film. From what I've heard, the film sounds pretty bad but the book was alright.

Mr E

I'm a fan of Mark Gimenez. Check that link for a list of his books, and read the synopses. Entertaining reads.

eviltwin

Mr E wrote: »

I'm a fan of Mark Gimenez. Check that link for a list of his books, and read the synopses. Entertaining reads.

Would second that. I recently read "The Abduction" , really good book. Looking forward to reading more of his work.

darklighter

eviltwin wrote: »

Would second that. I recently read "The Abduction" , really good book. Looking forward to reading more of his work.

Ill third that

BenEadir

Sounds like a winner winner chicken dinner there lads, much appreciated

Ben

x_Ellie_x

Defending Jacob by William Landay. This is very similar to a Grisham novel and one of the best novels I've read so far this year.

Mr E

I just looked that up. Sounds excellent, cheers!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Defending-Jacob-William-Landay/dp/1780222181/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361574115&sr=8-1

Scott Turow is a writer in the same arena as Grisham, you could give him a go. I enjoyed one of his called Presumed Innocent a few years back.

Light enough holiday reading I'd say.

BenEadir

Thanks for all the great recommendations everyone, much appreciated.

Ben

MagicMarker

I'm almost finished Defending Jacob, it's very very good, a real page turner.

LiamMc

I grew up with Earl Stanley Gardner's, Perry Mason books. Mason is the Lawyer, Della Street secretary and a P.I. works for the firm.
I learnt words like 'Perjury', 'Affadavit' and 'Grand-Jury' from the books. The series of books may be considered formulaic (maybe not) but this is post-Arthur Conan Doyle and when every book title starts with "The Case of the...." a small sense that author and publisher respected the reader aswell.

David Gutherson's "Snow Falling on Cedars", Pacific coast fishing community with small USA history and social politics.

Eoin

BenThere, there's an author called Steve Martini who has a good few legal thriller type books. Pretty run of the mill stuff, but it might pass the time.

Aenaes wrote: »

Michael Connolly isn't as good as Grisham but his books are enjoyable. He writes mostly crime fiction but he has legal thrillers with a recurring character, Mickey Haller, a criminal defence lawyer.
The first book with Mickey Haller is "The Lincoln Lawyer" which was made into a film. From what I've heard, the film sounds pretty bad but the book was alright.

I think he is miles better than Grisham, but I do prefer his Bosch books to his Haller ones.

allprops

Alafair Burke's Samantha Kincaid series are really well-written legal thrillers. Her Father is the legendary crime writer James Lee Burke.

ThirdMan

Are there any 'literary' crime/legal writers? I know I'm gonna sound like a snob, but I've read Grisham and Connolly before, and while the stories were interesting the style of writing wasn't that impressive.

sheesh

Patricia Cornwell's Scarpetta series nicely paced crime investigation books don't read 2 in a row though or you start to see the formula.

My sister does describe Scarpetta as being 'a bit up her own arse' I found her quiet likeable.

I would recommend

Ludo

Quite like Brian Haig myself...nice light reads and similarish to Grisham. Humourous in places also.

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/12545.Brian_Haig

mewe

Not like Grisham or Connolly but definitely in the page turner category would be the Odd Thomas books by Dean Koontz