82 Books Like Moonraker

As I indicated earlier, I am a Lee Child superfan. I’ve read all his original books. A thick (and expensive) biography. A long essay he wrote on heroism. All his short stories. You get the idea. So it was fun to re-read this book, his first.

It wasn’t what I remembered, that’s for sure! Yes, the action scenes are vivid and instructive (Child writes about the utility of a headbutt versus the risk of breaking your hand with a punch), and the action is what I remember most. But there’s more to this book than fights: there’s a major romance, which the author writes with gusto and in detail, heavy on feelings, not on private parts; the prose is better than solid, with imagery that really makes it come alive; and the story is plausible and tightly woven, with plenty of surprises. 

After reading all the original Lee Child books, I thought I would never admire another writer more. Even Clive Cussler, whose works were my initiation into the world of adult action fiction, had come in second place. Then, I picked up my first Baldacci. This is one of the best of his popular series, and this, the first in the series, deserves to be ranked as one of the top novels in the genre.

Baldacci spins tightly plotted yarns. Everything is realistic: the physical conflict, the romance, the psychology, and the technical details especially. His vocabulary and grammar are professional. But what really gets me is his command of the rhythmic, lyrical aspects of the language. So, as I read about a former assassin named “Oliver Stone” and the other three members of this club, all of whom are fascinating characters in their own right, I was pulled into the… show more.

This is the spy thriller that started it all! I was a huge fan of the Matt Damon trilogy and had always been an avid reader, so naturally, I gravitated toward the original novel, which was far better than the film.

Popular action thrillers tend to suffer from one of two diseases: “soldier syndrome,”—meaning the author knows what he or she is writing about but isn’t a master of the language—or from “poser-itis,” which is when the writer is good with a pen but would be too scared to use it to gauge out an eye if he or she had to.

So it’s a rare wordsmith who can understand the deepest, most primal parts of the human psyche and then put it into a literary form that delights the eyes and ears. Ludlum is one such writer.

As I did with the first twenty-four books by Lee Child, I have read all of Cussler’s original works, not those that were supposedly “co-written.” I loved them, and I remember this as being the one that I loved best. I always enjoyed how these grand action thrillers began with a prologue that seemed to have nothing to do with the plot until later, when the reader would think, “Oh wow. That was a brilliant connection!”

I recall Dirk Pitt as a tall and strong hero with no extra weight on his body, a resourceful, likable man who couldn’t do without his tough and loyal sidekick, Al Giordino. After one of these international adventures, Pitt would always stagger back to his car museum, have a tequila on ice, a roll in the hay with his lady friend, sleep for 24 hours, and then it was back to the battlefield. And… show more.

Sometimes, I just fall instantly in love with the voice of a book, and ‘Little Badman and the Invasion of the Killer Aunties’ was one of those books for me. I spent ten years in the Middle East surrounded by brilliant kids with big voices and even bigger dreams, and I miss them! You don’t see these kids often enough in stories. So, how could I resist Humza Khan, a.k.a. Little Badman, who’s determined to become “the greatest 11-year-old rapper Eggington has ever known”?

The only things standing in the way of his plans for fame and glory are the sinister food-obsessed “aunties” who’ve taken over his school and insist on feeding everyone delicious snacks. Furiously funny, with an ending that is simultaneously truly bonkers and genuinely satisfying, this book is pure joy!

“Me and my best friends Umer and Wendy are going to hunt for the truth. Cos something… show more.

This one’s my go-to fantasy world when I feel middle-aged. Bett runs a mysterious team whose skills include hacking, guns, gadgets, and flying helicopters. When scientist Ross Fleming disappears from his arms research job, Bett calls in the person he knows will do anything to save Ross: his mother, bored housewife Jane Fleming who dreams of adventure. Leaving a trail of broken laws behind her, she gets herself illegally into France to join Bett, where her dreams start coming true: a sports car, a transmitter disguised as an earring, a casino, and a gun she now knows how to fire...  and it’s all narrated with Brookmyre’s trademark humour.

Sometimes, when I talk about this book when I’m teaching writing students, I like to joke: “Luckily, I’m Jewish, so I can say this: Fleming was sexist, racist, and anti-Semitic, but boy, could he write!”

It always gets a laugh. And indeed, I don’t think it’s true. He was a writer in his time. I take pride in my writing being clean, clear, and simple. My inspirations were writers such as Chandler, Hammett, Hemingway, and Fitzgerald. Fleming took the lessons he’d learned from them and created a whole new genre. Pick up any of his novels and see how they are far more complex, compelling, and, as you’ll see, beautifully written. 

Dr. No was the sixth James Bond novel Fleming wrote but it was the first one I was finally able to read in paperback when I was about twelve years old.

It transfixed me. I had never read anything quite like it, transporting a boy trapped in small-town Ontario into a wider world of sophistication, sex, and violence.

I devoured the other Bond adventures as fast as I could get my hands on them. If any books made me hunger for faraway glamorous places, it was the Bond novels.

If you can’t imagine the influence Fleming’s worldly writing had on me, you have only to read one of the Priscilla Tempest mysteries.

I found this book to be like a mix between Gallagher Girls and Alex Rider, with maybe a bit of Mean Girls in the mix—all in a good way!

One thing that sets this book apart from other teen spy books is that all the characters are damaged and yet they use that to fight back and to show the world what they’re made of. I felt like I was watching a movie while reading the book, and the scenes felt like I was in a James Bond movie! I can’t wait to crack open book 2.

The first section of this book feels so accurate in its depiction of the Smersh (death to spies) training camp that I hardly missed 007 at all, who appears on page 95 in part two of the book. I first came across James Bond when my sister, who was three years my senior, got me to see the 1963 film. I was twelve at the time. I wonder what today’s politically correct regime would have to say about that? My sister was probably underage as well but looked older, so she passed muster.

This book is my favorite of Fleming’s Bond books. I have read it many times, yet when I pick it up to start again, there is that air of excitement; I can almost smell the exotic location of Istanbul, Bond being pitched against a dangerous adversary, and, to top it all, the remarkable character, Colonel Rosa Klebb,… show more.