Choose me a book to take on holiday

The Martian.
Astronaut gets stranded on Mars. It's a survival story, written with a dry humour and terrific detail. I wasn't sure I'd like, couldn't put it down.

Ok, interesting to know. Never heard any fuss about the other two after all the hype over Tattoo so figured they weren't so good. Will check if I really do have the second one (Fire?)

I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes....radicalised Muslim planning an atrocity, Pilgrim of the title is CIA-type who has to find him...absolute top-notch stuff,and pretty topical

An Officer and a Spy - Robert Harris

Based on the true story of a French army officer sent to Devil's Island for a crime he didn't commit and where the phrase "J'accuse" comes from. Rather than admit to their mistake, the authorities do their best to cover it up including trying to have the investigator murdered who wants to put it all right. A marvelous thriller imo.

+1 for Terry Hayes' I am Pilgrim. Great holiday book.

Any of the Jack Reacher books by Lee Child are pretty good and will keep you going for a year or two if you read all 16 in the series. Don't be put off by Tom Cruise playing him in a film a couple of years back.

A bit more sinister, but the Harry Hole crime thrillers from Jo Nesbo are good too. Start with The Snowman.

The Martian was written by a scientist who gave away the book for free. In turn his audience critiqued his science and he changed the book. It was never intended as a best seller, more as a hobby for the author.

There's loads of free books on Amazon, pick one and read it imo.

I enjoyed Harvest of the Slaughter books, but could they got repetitive. Could never get into Child's Reacher, I'm surprised that someone who likes Nesbo could rate Child tbh.
Child 44 is a masterpiece, disappointed I didn't mention it myself.

The Unlikely Pilgramage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce.

Gerald Seymour, who of course wrote 'Harry's Game' has written 'The Journeyman Tailor, 'A Line In The Sand', 'Holding The Zero', A Deniable Death', worth checking out.

Andy Mcdermott - Start of with Genesis and work your way through all of them.

Not new ones but here goes

Dick Francis - Forfeit (his best book imo)

Augusten Burrough - Dry (really good but uncomfortable read, us gamblers will get it)

Helen Simonson - Major Pettigrew's last stand (old school Major gets dragged into 21st century by an occurrence)

Amongst others mentioned also agree with onthejim & Facts about theirs (The Library Policeman my favourite of King's)

Enjoy your hols

Sports : I mentioned to you a few months ago that 'Fire In Babylon' by Simon Lister is an informative and entertaining account of the Clive Lloyd West Indies super team of the late70s and onwards.

Crime Fiction :  "The Fifth Woman" by Henning Mankell is for my money the best of the Wallander Scandi-Crime stories (and miles better btw than any of the Stieg Larsson efforts)

Alternatively, try "Cul-de-Sac", possibly the very best of the many 'police procedurals' written by the late John Wainwright, for my money the finest of the UK's writers in that particular genre. He served 20 years or so in the West Yorkshire police and knew what he was writing about.

True Crime : a huge field to select from, so maybe subdivide it into a few recommendations :

US Drug Crime :  "American Desperado" by  Jon Roberts and Evan Wright.  Roberts was one of the infamous 'Cocaine Cowboys', a Colombian Cartel's very own 'Man in Miami' as it were. An entertaining read and some hilarious stories about O J Simpson thrown in for good measure. (The DVD 'Cocaine Cowboys' is also recommended btw).

UK Crime : the subject matter isn't pretty but two sober and measured books about the 'Yorkshire Ripper' case spring to mind, 'Somebody's Husband Somebody's Son' by Gordon Burn, and particularly 'Wicked Beyond Belief : The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper (Updated Edition) by Michael Bilton, which focuses very sharply on the flawed police investigation. The Burn book I recall reading by a pool in Barbados in 1991, so I also have previous experience of taking it on holiday.

UK Crime :  I very much enjoyed "Other People's Money" by Neil Forsyth and Elliot Castro, which tells of the latter's exploits with credit card companies, and the self-explanatory "White Gold : The Inside Story of the UK's Largest Ever Drug Haul" by Eugene Costello.  Both of these can usually be picked up for buttons in the usual online book selling places.

So, have fun in Thailand, unless you're already gone and find yourself unintentionally knee-deep in lady-boys. Easy mistake to make officer.

Another recommendation  for Terry Hayes' I am Pilgrim'.

Also really liked the Tim Rob Smith trilogy starting with Child 44.

A big shout out for a Northern Irish author not many will have heard of Adrian McKinty.  Love both his Michael Forsythe (Jack Reacher with bigger balls) book and his Sean Duffy books.  Gritty, atmospheric, crime drama, he writes like a dream.

Lee Ho Fooks

The Library Policeman by Stephen King, was a novella. And was part of the book entitled Four Before Midnight.

Any Robert Harris book imo.

Also any Bill Bryson, particularly if it's a travel one and covers the area you are going to. Aside from that my fav is probably "Made in America" which charts the growth of the US and has some amazing and interesting facts to boot.

Other than that a short classic would be Steinbeck's "Cannery Row" which has great warmth, some magical comic moments and great characters.

facts, the library policeman, scared me too death.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami

Dear Lupin: Letters to a Wayward Son - Roger Mortimer + Charlie Mortimer

Adios America by Ann Coulter.

Its the book of our age and something you need to read.

Ann Coulter is a top Trumpite.

And an excellent author and contributor.

"I say my favourite you say novella let's call the whole thing off"

The Shawshank Redemption the film chitchatters love & hate in equal measure was also a novella (Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption)