I still need to read book two and three. just read the first but Wow.

Odd Thomas series is more than awesome and thank you for the Sandman Slim recommendation. I am on te second book and I read the first one in 2 days. But nothing or no one will ever top the doctor and repairman jack ! Ever!

New here. But thought I would contribute.

Lee Child - Reacher series = Greatness
Dean Koontz - Frankenstien, Odd Thomas, anything else
J.A. Konrath - Jack Daniels series ( to complete the Jack trificta with a female Jack none the less)
Matt Hilton - Hunter series
Preston & Child - Pendergrast and Gideon series
Ian Rankin - Inspector Remis
James Rollins - Sigma Force

There are a few. Please excuse any misspellings. Thanx in advance.

New here. But thought I would contribute.

Lee Child - Reacher series = Greatness
Dean Koontz - Frankenstien, Odd Thomas, anything else
J.A. Konrath - Jack Daniels series ( to complete the Jack trificta with a female Jack none the less)
Matt Hilton - Hunter series
Preston & Child - Pendergrast and Gideon series
Ian Rankin - Inspector Remis
James Rollins - Sigma Force

There are a few. Please excuse any misspellings. Thanx in advance.

Hey Tony,

Welcome to the forum, glad to have you here. I will say, the Jack Daniels mysteries by Joe Konrath are among my favorites and the Odd books are some of Koontz's best work to date.

Good move asking for your grammar and typos to be forgiven, we are a tough crowd here.

Stick around and contribute often, glad to have you here.

Let's not forget Horatio Hornblower!

Starks Parker books are awesome, no supernatural, a vit colder than Jack, but just as ruthlessly efficient. Parker is a professional thief who always gets the job done, messily sometimes, but done. 20 something books in the series, unfortunately, Stark(Donald Westlake) passed away a few years ago.

MacDonalds Travis McGee books are also a great read, McGee is kind of a mercenary for hire, doesn't like to kill, more of a lover than a fighter really, but you don't want to be on hi shit list. No supernatural again, but again like Jack brutal efficiency. 21 books I think and again MacDonald died years ago.

I'd also 3rd the Dresden series, Harry is pretty much a badass and I haven't disliked one of the books yet.

The list of this genre goes way back, the times have of course varied the interpretations, but the field is rich with good characters

Richard Stark's Parker series is my second favorite behind FPW's Repairman Jack. Most of the books are out of print and I had to get them from the library. It gets a little iffy toward the end of the series, but the early books are very good. When you start to see Lexus replace Buick and Plymouth it may be time to call it quits.

Thank you all for the other suggestions, when I finish Cold City (I didn't know of was out yet) I will look into some of these.

I didn't hear anyone mention this so I'll just add James Lee Burke's David Robicheaux novels are some of the best I've ever read, not to slight FPW, of course. I've also enjoyed Jack Ketchum's Offseason novel and the sequels.

Richard Stark's Parker series is my second favorite behind FPW's Repairman Jack. Most of the books are out of print and I had to get them from the library. It gets a little iffy toward the end of the series, but the early books are very good. When you start to see Lexus replace Buick and Plymouth it may be time to call it quits.

Thank you all for the other suggestions, when I finish Cold City (I didn't know of was out yet) I will look into some of these.

Just a heads up and you may in fact know already, but 20 of the 24 Parker books have been reprinted by the University of Chicago Press. They go for about $10-$15 on Amazon, used would be cheaper probably.