Even the most diligent reader has this happen: through some oversight or quirk of fate or willful neglect, you don’t hook up with an author’s books until late in his or her career. Then you feel compelled to make a mad dash through the complete works (which is often not the best way to read them, since you’re bound to notice the repetitions) until you’re caught up and are forced to sit and wait impatiently for the next book.

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This happened to me most recently with the suspense novels of author Lee Child. Child’s books have been getting great reviews ever since Killing Floor was published in 1997, but the reviews made them sound so violent that I avoided them. I even remember beginning one, not being able to get into it, and wondering, after I returned it to the library, what all the good press was about.

Then, a few months ago, in a moment of desperation that all reading addicts are familiar with (“Oh no, I have nothing good to read!”), I picked up Persuader, and from page 1, I was hooked by Child’s tight writing and terrific suspense-filled plots. So hooked, in fact, that when I was about a quarter of the way in, I pulled myself away from the book and placed all of his earlier books on reserve at the library. When I was three-quarters done, I started to get nervous that I wouldn’t have another one on hand as soon as I finished this one, so I started making the rounds of the various bookstores in Seattle, both used and new, to buy all of his books that I could find.

And just as quickly, I read them. Now, having read all eight of Child’s suspense novels, I’m still a bit breathless, but eagerly awaiting his next.

Child’s main character is a former Army military policeman named Jack Reacher. Reacher is squarely in the mold of Travis McGee (hero of John D. MacDonald’s well-known novels, all with a color in the title): a loner, incredibly tough yet with a heart of gold, who always stumbles onto or into trouble, mostly because he can’t resist helping a lady (or, less often, a gentleman) in distress. Be forewarned: the books do indeed contain some intensely violent scenes (some I had to read with my eyes closed, really). I didn’t feel that the violence was gratuitous, but I can certainly see how some readers might.

I recommend starting with The Enemy, then proceeding to Killing Floor, and finishing up with Persuader. If you’re going to read the remaining five, the order in which you do so doesn’t really matter.

The Enemy
Killing Floor
Die Trying
Echo Burning
Running Blind
Tripwire
Without Fail
Persuader

[Excerpted from More Book Lust]