My favorite page turners
 

These are not necessarily my favorite books, but they are some of the novels I've read with the highest quotient of pure entertainment value (in no particular order):

L.A. Confidential
American Tabloid
The Black Dalia
The Three Musketeers
The Count of Monte Cristo
Twenty Years After
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Gorky Park
Presumed Innocent
Blood Meridian
The Rebel Angels
Fifth Business
The Name of the Rose
Lonesome Dove
The Call of the Wild
In Cold Blood
Shogun
Musashi

If Tom Clancy writes it, I read it.

Dan Brown - Angels and Demons, DaVinci Code, Deception Point
Early Grisham - Time to Kill, The Firm, Pelican Brief, Runaway Jury
Anything Robin Cook - Dude writes a good novel
Undaunted Courage - Ambrose

Seattle - Are we talking abridged or unabridged Count of Monte Cristo? I tried unabridged and couldn't do it. Agreed if you are referring to abridged.

Les Mis - see Count of Monte Cristo

You are cheating. That's a page turner, but it's not a novel.

Let me think for a minute and I will post my list.

Unabridged. I love tales of vengeance. Which is one reason I liked the Godfather and Ben-Hur movies so much.

If you want a page turner and you don't mind violence, try Stephen Hunter. The book Dirty White Boys is a classic. I'm honestly surprised they've never made it into a movie. You should be warned, though, that the first paragraph of the book is a bit shocking. But I guarantee you that it is one of the most memorable first paragraphs you will ever read.

Here's a link to the first couple of paragraphs of the book:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0679...0F#reader-link

Again, I warn you that if you are easily offended, do not read this!! You have been duly warned.

I already checked it out on Amazon. Looks good. Mike, post it on your book page and I'll get it.

non-sequitor, I bet the reason it's not been made into a movie is that as I've noted here, American movie makers have a hard time with disturbing material. Note, for example, great foreign films like "The Return of Martin Geure" and "The Vanishing" that have been made as crappy, watered down, feel good U.S. versions.

Hmmm.... Well, not always. I didn't have a warm fuzzy feeling at the end of "Seven".

Re: My favorite page turners
 

Dumas is a terrific writer. love his stuff, especially The Count of Monte Cristo. Like you, I love those stories of revenge.

A few others on my list would be:

Call It Courage
Heart of Darkness
The Bad Place
Tom Sawyer
The Sun Also Rises
To Kill A Mockingbird
The Onion Field
White Fang

Re: My favorite page turners
 

I haven't read Tom Sawyer but loved Huckleberry Finn. Of course that and Heart of Darkness and The Sun Also Rises are true classics, which I loved also. I'm not sure I'd put them on THIS list. I read the Onion Field as a teenager and loved it. I never forgot it. I think the Onion Field is non-fiction, by the way. Wambough did write a number of novels, some of them I read, about policemen.