Books like To the Hilt — picked by fans

Known for his Lincoln Lawyer and Harry Bosch crime/mystery series, this novel is the first one about Connelly’s investigative reporter Jack McAvoy.

I really enjoyed the immersion of the protagonist into the journalism newsroom world as he tries to link his brother’s unexpected murder to a series of nationwide murders.

With all odds against him, I liked the way Jack kept fighting the upstream battle to arrive at an astonishing conclusion to the case.

From the author of the successful Gabriel Allon series, I feel that this thrilling novel about the exciting, action-filled life of an Israeli spy is one of his best.

I believe this fast-paced plot, with its unique character descriptions, is one of the best examples of the thriller genre, mixing the worlds of international art restoration with the global forces of criminal power.

This book by Tom Clancy has the distinction of being the author’s only book focusing on the origin story of a “secondary” (or recurring) character throughout his Jack Ryan series of novels. That secondary character, who becomes John Clark, is former Navy Seal John Kelly.

While this novel isn’t as integrally plotted as the Jack Ryan “techno-thrillers,” it is more character-driven than Clancy’s previous works. In light of the character’s stoic history (or, with this being a “prequel” of sorts, the character’s future), I think it was probably a bit difficult to write in terms of balancing the character’s emotions. 

I found this to be a fascinating study. The emotive aspects of a character who is typical of a “John Wayne,” black or white, good or bad temperament, are not easily understood or conveyed to readers unfamiliar with historically traditional roles of masculinity. Or, to put it another way, the… show more.

While many of John Grisham’s novels are legal-based courtroom thrillers, this is not. As a result, I personally think this is one of his most interesting thrillers.

With a cadre of selfish family members circling the waters after the suicide death of their eccentric patriarch billionaire, the plot shifts to the wilds of the primitive Amazon rainforest as a recovering alcoholic attorney tries to track down the real heir to the vast family fortune.

I loved the vivid description of the water-filled jungle that made you feel right in the middle of the journey. His intense description of the protagonist fighting to overcome his lurking addiction while on his mission to make things right made you want to keep turning the pages until you reached the startling ending.

No artist fascinates me more than Vincent van Gogh, and this classic from the '80s holds up.

I fell in love with Vincent (again) and saw him in all his (human) glory. His story is a great reminder of the link between brilliant creativity and hardship.

Martha Grimes is one of my favorite authors. I love both her style and her penchant for pairing the twists and turns of murder investigations with hijinks to create a three-dimensional world. The twelfth book in Grimes’ Richard Jury series brings the Scotland Yard detective to America, where he’s confronted with killings in a Pennsylvania cabin and on the streets of Baltimore.

This book is named for a real-life saloon in Baltimore’s Fells Point neighborhood. I moved to the Baltimore suburbs not long after reading this book. When I first saw the establishment, its front windows were filled with copies of Grimes’ novel.

Local to me, I’ve been familiar with the gorgeous poster and mural art of Greg Newbold. More recently he has teamed up with his wife Amy to create a series of picture books showcasing the styles of renowned artists. This first book takes snowmen and imagines what they would look like if painted by artists such as Van Gogh, Dali, Picasso, O’Keefe, and others. An excellent introduction to the painting styles of famous artists, with informative text to reinforce the idea that “not all artists paint the same.” 

I was hungry for a great piece of comic writing when a friend handed me this book, and it delivered so much more than laughter.

Once I’d tuned in to the language, I ended up shambling through 30s London alongside impecunious painter Gulley Jimson. A humble man, driven by a holy need to make the sort of art which, it turns out, nobody wants, he encounters a world of squalor and beauty, both physical and moral.

I grew to love him and his daily observations on the play of weather and light on the Thames, which form a sort of sketchbook. As Jimson’s physical health declines, he grips beauty wherever he finds it. Theroux, Lessing, and Updike all rated this author.

The brand of possession is fairly standard: a Drakhaoul possesses a man, enabling him to transform into a dragon—but the man must replenish his strength vampirically.

I like the interplay of personal responsibility and victimization, the use of supernatural powers to protect one’s friends at the cost of innocent suffering.

The Drakhaoul has a name and personality; it’s definitely a discrete being, but it’s also a part of the hero. But then the hero successfully exorcises his demon. But the demon’s memories are left behind, and the hero starts to wonder if he’s going mad.

The demon’s absence, not its presence, drives the hero to madness and despair (even though he hates the demon). The hero simultaneously hates and longs for a dark power, which is and is not uniquely his.

When I first saw the previews of this book, I had to read it the first day it was published.

Though friends had highly recommended Kostova’s more popular book, The Historian, this book spoke to me.

With the point of view shifting from current time to 19th century France, it checked all my boxes: painting, art museum, impressionists - all tied together into a fabulous mystery bow.

While reading, I wanted to peacefully wander an art museum and dabble with a paintbrush on canvas.

To me, the best books evoke a unique artistic mist or glow that I can still feel years later.