I enjoy Longmire (Craig Johnson) and Joe Pickett (CJ Box), both good writers, the Spenser model out west.
I second the motions below on Pelecanos’ DC books and Slow Horses.
If you haven’t read Robicheaux/ James Lee Burke, that’s an all-timer.
Rebus/ Ian Rankin is an all-timer, as well.
For more Reacher-y badassery, but the politics are Joe Rogan/Jocko Willink — the Jack Carr books are pretty good. I would say the first are very good then it became too much of a “franchise” for his writing chops to keep up with.
An interesting four or five book series is Robert Wilson’s Medway series in Africa. He has a better known series set in Portugal but the Medway ones are a little leaner and meaner.
Don Winslow’s earlier stuff is super: Savages, Kings of Cool.
Jean-Claude Izzy’s Marseille Trilogy is awesome too.
TJ Newman has a few page-turners out that aren't in a series, the first one is called _Falling_. They are all about problems/adventures/people dying on airplanes though so this may not actually be a good recommendation...she was a flight attendant though and gets the details right.
FWIW, the first adaptation was reasonably faithful but season two took liberties. I'll be interested in how they handle season three. Also FWIW, the two film adaptations starring Tom Cruise (really weird casting there). I thought the first one was quite watchable, but the second one felt gratuitous. I've read the whole canon and, other than a mild feeling of "back to the well again" I've enjoyed them all. Reacher is a breath of fresh air compared to most action heroes today.
As I understand it, one goal Lee Child had with Reacher was to present a highly capable "Lone Ranger" type. A wandering Samauri utterly lacking the angst-filled soul searching of so many modern-day heroes. Robert B. Parker's Spenser series is somewhat along those lines. There is also a lot to be said for the stories of Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett, which predate the angst-y era. These are all PI stories rather than spy stories, though. There is some value in the older stuff, Ian Flemming, for instance, in escaping modern politics. I've been enjoying old TV series (like Banacek or Ironside) as a way to escape the miasma.
There's a decent recent series on Hulu, The Old Man, starring Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow. I just finished the series Nikita (on Prime), which stars Maggie Q. High BS level but engaging. Good action scenes, and a very twisty plot.
I read several of the Spenser books back in the day, but Parker seems to have been a good example of an author who got big enough that he stopped being edited. As I recall (it's been a decade or so) the Awesomeness dial for Spenser got cranked way up, and there started to be weirdly lengthy asides about various Issues. I wouldn't say Chandler ISN'T angst-y-- if you read carefully, Marlowe's pretty damaged-- but the language hides it better.
I watched a few episodes of The Old Man, which is good but maybe more atmospheric than ideal for bike-to-nowhere watching. I see there's a second season of THE NIGHT AGENT, which was pretty okay (though I thought it was Prime rather than Netflix?).
The later Spenser books do get long and meandering. Parker was so sparse with his earlier writing that I always wondered if it was his publishers that demanded the padding. The trend to fatter and fatter books over time. And I think for authors revisiting the same well over and over, things can get a bit stretched. I commend the Lee brothers for keeping the Reacher books generally interesting and different. (Brother Andrew has taken over fully by now and Lee has moved on to other writing.)
True, Marlowe is damaged, but he doesn’t dwell on it; it doesn’t form the core of his identity.
Brad Thor usually has a little dollop of the right-wing stuff (though mostly in the geopolitical hawk sense) but then plenty of jacked dude killing bad guys and landing hot (but smart and strong) girls with some entertaining side characters. Perfect for a flight.
It really depends on what you are looking for and what streaming services you have:
Science Fiction/Fantasy
Silo (Apple+)- pretty faithful to the source books (which were naturally better)
Fallout (Amazon)- based on the video game
Lucifer (Netflix)- a little older but if you haven't seen it I thought it was great
The Last of Us (Max)- season 2 about to come out
Severance (Apple+)- I'm just starting it but so far so good
Politcal/spy dramas
Lioness (Paramount+)- The cast is a lot of heavy hitters but they seem to balance well IMO
The Diplomat (Netflix)- amazing performances
The Recruit (Netflix)- season 2 dropped today. Not as good as The Diplomat but I liked it
There's a new show on Hulu "Paradise". I can't tell from what I've read but it looks like a cross of political/spy and science fiction but it looks intriguing.
Well I quite enjoyed 'Sugar' on Apple TV which was more detective noir than anything else. And if you haven't seen it, A Vast of Night (on Amazon Prime) was good (come for the amazing tracking shot at the beginning, stay for the acting and the script).
David McCloskey had three great contemporary Spy thrillers: Damascus Station, Moscow X, The Seventh Floor.
George Pelacanos' DC Quartet are pretty great older books that are loosely tied together.
McCloskey's trilogy is fantastic!
I second the suggestion of Mick Herron's "Slow Horses" series. The Apple TV series is great too, Gary Oldham is fabulous.
I enjoy Longmire (Craig Johnson) and Joe Pickett (CJ Box), both good writers, the Spenser model out west.
I second the motions below on Pelecanos’ DC books and Slow Horses.
If you haven’t read Robicheaux/ James Lee Burke, that’s an all-timer.
Rebus/ Ian Rankin is an all-timer, as well.
For more Reacher-y badassery, but the politics are Joe Rogan/Jocko Willink — the Jack Carr books are pretty good. I would say the first are very good then it became too much of a “franchise” for his writing chops to keep up with.
An interesting four or five book series is Robert Wilson’s Medway series in Africa. He has a better known series set in Portugal but the Medway ones are a little leaner and meaner.
Don Winslow’s earlier stuff is super: Savages, Kings of Cool.
Jean-Claude Izzy’s Marseille Trilogy is awesome too.
I could go on indefinitely, I guess.
TJ Newman has a few page-turners out that aren't in a series, the first one is called _Falling_. They are all about problems/adventures/people dying on airplanes though so this may not actually be a good recommendation...she was a flight attendant though and gets the details right.
FWIW, the first adaptation was reasonably faithful but season two took liberties. I'll be interested in how they handle season three. Also FWIW, the two film adaptations starring Tom Cruise (really weird casting there). I thought the first one was quite watchable, but the second one felt gratuitous. I've read the whole canon and, other than a mild feeling of "back to the well again" I've enjoyed them all. Reacher is a breath of fresh air compared to most action heroes today.
As I understand it, one goal Lee Child had with Reacher was to present a highly capable "Lone Ranger" type. A wandering Samauri utterly lacking the angst-filled soul searching of so many modern-day heroes. Robert B. Parker's Spenser series is somewhat along those lines. There is also a lot to be said for the stories of Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett, which predate the angst-y era. These are all PI stories rather than spy stories, though. There is some value in the older stuff, Ian Flemming, for instance, in escaping modern politics. I've been enjoying old TV series (like Banacek or Ironside) as a way to escape the miasma.
There's a decent recent series on Hulu, The Old Man, starring Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow. I just finished the series Nikita (on Prime), which stars Maggie Q. High BS level but engaging. Good action scenes, and a very twisty plot.
I read several of the Spenser books back in the day, but Parker seems to have been a good example of an author who got big enough that he stopped being edited. As I recall (it's been a decade or so) the Awesomeness dial for Spenser got cranked way up, and there started to be weirdly lengthy asides about various Issues. I wouldn't say Chandler ISN'T angst-y-- if you read carefully, Marlowe's pretty damaged-- but the language hides it better.
I watched a few episodes of The Old Man, which is good but maybe more atmospheric than ideal for bike-to-nowhere watching. I see there's a second season of THE NIGHT AGENT, which was pretty okay (though I thought it was Prime rather than Netflix?).
The later Spenser books do get long and meandering. Parker was so sparse with his earlier writing that I always wondered if it was his publishers that demanded the padding. The trend to fatter and fatter books over time. And I think for authors revisiting the same well over and over, things can get a bit stretched. I commend the Lee brothers for keeping the Reacher books generally interesting and different. (Brother Andrew has taken over fully by now and Lee has moved on to other writing.)
True, Marlowe is damaged, but he doesn’t dwell on it; it doesn’t form the core of his identity.
Brad Thor usually has a little dollop of the right-wing stuff (though mostly in the geopolitical hawk sense) but then plenty of jacked dude killing bad guys and landing hot (but smart and strong) girls with some entertaining side characters. Perfect for a flight.
Slow Horses, both the Apple+ series and Mick Herron's book series.
It really depends on what you are looking for and what streaming services you have:
Science Fiction/Fantasy
Silo (Apple+)- pretty faithful to the source books (which were naturally better)
Fallout (Amazon)- based on the video game
Lucifer (Netflix)- a little older but if you haven't seen it I thought it was great
The Last of Us (Max)- season 2 about to come out
Severance (Apple+)- I'm just starting it but so far so good
Politcal/spy dramas
Lioness (Paramount+)- The cast is a lot of heavy hitters but they seem to balance well IMO
The Diplomat (Netflix)- amazing performances
The Recruit (Netflix)- season 2 dropped today. Not as good as The Diplomat but I liked it
There's a new show on Hulu "Paradise". I can't tell from what I've read but it looks like a cross of political/spy and science fiction but it looks intriguing.
Well I quite enjoyed 'Sugar' on Apple TV which was more detective noir than anything else. And if you haven't seen it, A Vast of Night (on Amazon Prime) was good (come for the amazing tracking shot at the beginning, stay for the acting and the script).
Yeah, VAST OF NIGHT was pretty great.