Can't pick just one but here are my favourites, by genre:
Sci-fi/Fantasy:
David Gemmell
Simon R. Green
William King
Dan Abnett
Action-Adventure/Thriller:
Stephen Leather
Stephen Hunter
Chris Ryan
Nelson DeMille
William Diehl
Alistair Maclean
James Clavell
John Grisham
Mario Puzo
Horror:
Richard Laymon
Dean Koontz
John Connolly
Stephen Laws
Graham Masterton
Originally posted by Dreampanther
You should try AJ Quinnell and Lee Childs as well...
I remember picking up a Quinnell book once but I never read it.. it must have been discarded. I know I haven't read any of Childs' books but I've definitely heard of him.
Sometimes I'm a bit hesitant to try other authors when a book from one of my favourites is available!.
Here's some thoughts on some new writers who have come to my attention this year, I do tend to stay with familiar authors but my selections have been quite diverse recently, with some new additions to talk about.
Kristen Britain
Really evocative fantasy writing with her book 'Green Rider' starting it off. I found her work so refreshing with her central character Karigan being strong and resillient, but also caring. The premise of the Green Riders was really interesting, and I thought, quite original in some ways. She writes good action and really leaves you racing towards the ending without losing the thread of the story.
Ingrid Black
Starting with 'The Dead' she introduces her main character Saxon who is a former FBI Agent living in Dublin who gets involved in murder investigations. I absolutely love this character because she (Saxon) is very cynical and has a twisted humour which comes across a lot of the time. Black - even though I've never been to Ireland - describes an evocative, even alive, City with memorable characters that feel very feel and aren't that hard to imagine.
Mark Jones
I'm a big fan of spy stories either set in Russia or to do with Russia so 'Black Lightning' fit the bill for me with the story of an American spy having to foil a top secret Russian weapon that would tip the balance in any confrontation with the west. I found the story exciting and intricate, with many surprises and deviations, but also a gentle humour and care running throughout.
Chelsea Cain
Her book 'Heartsick' really brought a very memorable serial killer character to me that just infects every page, even if she's not even in the scene. The protagonist is Archie Sheridan, a cop who has suffered at the hands of her and has to deal with the memories of that. The writing and subjects are brutal and hard-hitting, but what I liked also was how Cain also introduces funny moments and very eccentric characters and situations to alleviate that; but even so the serial killer in question is always the elephant in the room so to speak.
Simon Kernick
If anyone's interested in London gangster/cops type of stories, then this is the man to go for. His stories are really adrenaline-packed and had me reading several one after the other I was so hooked. His writing is so sense driven and in the moment that it's hard to put one down. They are very violent and are not for the faint hearted and not without a little bit of insane weirdness too. But very enjoyable.
Christopher Fowler
It's safe to say I'm hooked on his Bryant & May crime novels which are some of the most fun I've had in a while. They are very detailed, intricate and feature some very interesting characters and situations. The general premise is that Bryant & May are two elderly detectives that head up the Peculiar Crimes Unit; a London-based unit that deals with strange and eccentric crimes that the Met can't solve. As mentioned, they are fun to to read and I've literally been laughing out loud with some of the things that have happened but underneath all that there is this dark underbelly or current that can stop all that dead and it gets serious very quickly indeed. The one thing that is interesting about all of the one's I've read is the information about London and the way Fowler threads all of this history and cultural aspects about the City which makes these all both informative and entertaining novels.
Jim Butcher, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Gabriel Garcia-Marquez are some of my faves. Wouldn't say I have a favorite though. Jim Butcher comes the closest, but then it's unfair to compare him to the other two since the reasons why I appreciate them are different, Sartre for his philosophical depth, Marquez for his wit and his talent in making you suspend disbelief to the point you forget you're reading about magic and the supernatural, and Butcher because he's just really damn entertaining and great at crafting a coherent, robust overarching plot across multiple novels.