Five Favorite Suspense/Thriller Books by Morgan St. James

Five Favorite Books is a special feature at the LA Books Examiner in which our favorite authors share and discuss their five favorite books within a category. In this edition, author Morgan St. James shares her 5 favorite Suspense/Thriller books. One of the busiest writers I know, Morgan has two examiner.com columns and is co-author of award-winning Silver Sisters Mysteries series with her sister Phyllice Bradner. Her latest books, written as Arliss Adams, the Twist of Fate series includes Devil’s Dance and The Devil’s Due. To learn more about this phenomenal writer, visit her website. Also, check out LA Books Examiner’s interview with Morgan earlier this year.

Five Favorite Suspense/Thriller Books by Morgan St. James

While I read books in many genres, and my favorites are subject to change, I must say they usually are suspense or thrillers with a tad of humor. Another compelling thing for me in choosing favorites is the excellent description of locations, neighborhoods, etc. as well as fully rounded characters. Just enough detail to make you feel the author knows the locations in the book and characters who feel real. The books below all have some or all of these elements and I enjoyed them thoroughly. I used the criteria of whether I would read the book more than once. For the books listed, yes I have or would.

1. The Monkey’s Raincoat, Robert Crais (First Release March, 1992)
This is the first Elvis Cole book, and I have no idea why I’d never seen it before. I’ve read many Robert Crais novels. The audio book jumped off a library shelf as I passed by. Well, not really, but as a Robert Crais fan the title intrigued me. I had no idea it was the first in the series nor that he’d been writing the series so long.

When Ellen Lang’s best friend Janet Simon brings her to Elvis for help she is a beaten-down, timid person. Her husband, who spent years breaking her spirit, and her young son have disappeared and she’s frightened to death. As Janet helps Ellen through talking about the problem, intimidating her as well, a Jiminy Cricket clock ticks away in Cole’s office. This sets the tone for the tale and we are gradually introduced to the Elvis Cole brand of humor, sarcasm and action.

As his investigation takes him through a sleazier part of the Hollywood dream, Elvis discovers Ellen’s husband wasn’t going to win a badge of honor anytime soon—in fact, never, if he turns up dead. The cast of characters is fully drawn and the story moves along at a comfortable pace making it a page turner from the get-go, unless you’re listening to the audio book. Then you drive around the block so you can hear more.

2. The Last Detective, Robert Crais (March 30, 2004)
This Robert Crais novel was released twelve years later, and Cole is still a wisecracking delight rivaling old timers like Sam Spade while he keeps you on the edge of your chair anticipating the next moves. This time he is babysitting ten year old Ben, while his girlfriend lawyer Lucy Chenier is on a case. Cole lives up in a Hollywood Hills canyon that I happen to be quite familiar with. One moment Ben is on his deck, the next he is gone and Cole and his partner Joe Pike have to find him.

Ben has been kidnapped and Cole receives a call saying it’s payback for what he did. He has no idea what the kidnapper is talking about but the clock is ticking and Ben’s time could run out. Crais skillfully mixes points of view and also uses flashbacks to Cole’s Vietnam days to craft a rounded story that you can’t put down. The eyelids began to droop, but that didn’t stop me from reading right through the night.

3. A Prisoner of Birth, Jeffrey Archer (March 4, 2008)
A modern day spin on the premise of The Count of Monte Cristo. Two men share a jail cell--one from the wrong part of London, convicted for a murder he didn't commit and the other an aristocrat jailed for a dereliction of duty in the military. Ironically, they look enough alike to be brothers. During confinement, they become close friends. The aristocrat takes it upon himself to teach Danny, an uneducated laborer, to read and schools him in the manners of a gentleman. When something unprecedented happens, Danny takes over his friend Nicholas’ identity, assets and freedom via a parole Nicholas had earned. What happens from that time on is a tapestry of events, challenges, joys and much more, woven so expertly by Sir Jeffrey Archer. The intrigue is great, the twists present the unexpected, and it is a book I could read again several times, each time discovering another nuance.

4. The Race, Richard North Patterson (October 30, 2007)
What happens when a top presidential contender falls in love with a black movie star? Plenty in this thriller from another writer I very much like and respect. In some ways the story of Corey Grace may seem eerily familiar--sort of a composite of John McCain with Barack Obama's demeanor. Patterson’s war hero Grace is both haunted and driven by the fact that he let his friend die in the war because he made a foolish decision. No one knows about it until he falls for Lexie Hart, a beautiful black movie star. The political race for POTUS will be a nasty one (oops, does that sound familiar, too?) with lots of mud-slinging, and false accusations, the opposition is poised to tear him apart.

When Corey is about to declare that he is indeed running for president, he must weigh what his love affair will mean to the public. Will it impact his chances, and, if so, which one will he choose? Lexie also is faced with decisions, because the opposition is sure to dig up the skeletons in her closet. The Race is a page turner, particularly in view of how nasty the last race for the presidency became in real life. If you like action, romance, political antics and treachery all wrapped up in a neat package, you'll love The Race.

5. The Butterfly Garden, Chip St. Clair (January 18, 2008)
This last book is not a thriller or suspense novel in the true meaning of the genre, but I loved it so much that it’s appropriately included as a favorite book. The subtitle of Chip St. Clair’s true memoir will give you the clue: “Surviving Childhood on the Run with One of America's Most Wanted.”

In this page turner, you keep asking yourself how he survived the horror that was his life. As you read, it’s hard to hold back tears. His determination that the abuse he endured would count for something drove him to open the raw wound that was his heart in order to help others. St. Clair says he found his heroes in art and literature and, as an adult, is committed to overcoming his life of adversity by helping others.

“Butterflies represent the possibility of change, of something once self-serving becoming free and enhancing the world with beauty and purpose.” His objective in writing the book was to show he didn’t have to walk the same path as his father and hoped people who read it would be inspired to change as well. When his father, Michael Dean Grant, was to be released from prison on April 1, 2005. St. Clair and a volunteer from Justice for Children worked together to prevent that from happening. Instead, on that same day the Michigan Chapter of Justice for Children was born, with Chip St. Clair as their new regional director. This book is a must read.

Learn more about Morgan St. James.

Read Frank Mundo's, LA Books Examiner's, interview with Morgan St. James.

Frank Mundo is the author of The Brubury Tales (foreword by bestselling author Carolyn See).
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