I really enjoyed the Scarecrow series by Matthew Reilly, and the Jack West series too!

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have put out a long series of thrillers/mysteries with just a touch of the supernatural (like Repairman Jack).

Lots of books. Start with the Pendergast Series (which are my favorites - especially The Cabinet of Curiosities), then the Gideon Series and finally they both have a number of individual books. All have that same touch of "unusualness"... (One of their first books - "Relic" was made into a movie - a not-very-good-movie, sometimes pictures are NOT worth a thousand words. The movie lost a lot of the back story and details of the book. Anyway, it's on Netflix if you are interested...) I think they are a good back up for Repairman Jack in style, etc.

Also, Koontz also has a number of books that can be reasonable reads in a semi-fantastical way...particularly the "Odd Thomas" series. Heck, even Patterson has a "fantastic/thriller" series in the "Max" books. (But whatever you do, avoid his "Daniel X alien hunter" books - they suck big time... LOL!

I tried reading Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden novels but I hated them. For those who aren't familiar, Harry Dresden is a PI working in Chicago who is secretly a wizard. Except that it's not so secret since he actually puts "Wizard" on his business card and phone book listing! And this despite the fact that there is this "White Council" which is constantly thundering at Harry that he mustn't let the mundane world know that magic is real -- on pain of death, no less.


So here's someone who hangs out a *public* shingle as a wizard but who can't do any *public* magic or he'll be killed. Does that make *any* sense?


And he wonders why no one will hire him as a PI?

You are completely, 100% wrong. There is no rule in the Dresden universe about not letting people know about magic. None. Nope. Zilch. Nada. There are seven, and only seven, Laws of Magic:

1. It's unlawful to kill humans using magic, except in self-defense.
2. It's unlawful to shape shift other beings.
3. It's unlawful to forcibly violate someone's mind.
4. It's unlawful to magically dominate another's mind. (Subtly different from the third law.)
5. Necromancy, the summoning, binding, and exploitation of the unwilling dead, is forbidden.
6. Messing around with the flow of time is prohibited.
7. Wizards are prohibited from researching or interacting with the Outsiders, beings from beyond the boundaries of the known universe.

That's it.

Edit: Re: Murphy: She becomes Harry's close friend eventually, but during the first several books they don't really know or trust each other. She's just a cop who has hired him as a consultant a few times. She went off on him when he deliberately withheld information that may have resulted in someone's murder - hard to see that as over reacting. Their relationship changes over time - it's called "character development."

Your cute little rant was completely unfounded. Don't read them if you don't like them, but don't lie about them to others.

Spenser by Parker
Burglar books by Block

You may want to try the Vigilante series by Claude Bouchard. I found his books very stimulating with a Jack-like feel. Hope you enjoy as much as I have.

I've never even heard of those. I'll have to check.

Spenser by Parker
Burglar books by Block

I love Robert Parker, and Lawrence Block's Burglar series is my favorite current character series.

What got me started on Spenser MANY years ago was the references made in the Burglar books.

After starting this thread a couple of years ago I found a book series that has become my 2nd favorite series (after Repairman Jack, of course) it's the Alex Verus series by Benedict Jacka. It's urban fantasy so it's not exactly the same but, for my money, it's the best take on the whole "mages living among us" thing. The world of Jacka's novels is much more believable than most series of its type and the characters are fantastic. There are some very good audio versions on Audible.

My ability to suspend disbelief has real problems with mages and wards and spells, etc.