Man Card Slipping Through My Fingers
Last night I stayed up late to finish a riveting novel. Intense suspense, with intriguing plot twists, shootouts, and cars plummeting over the edge of ravines. Oh, and the romance. By romance, I mean lots of romance. You see, this was Romantic suspense novel, written by a woman, with a target audience of women.
I experienced plenty of eye-rolling as I read the mushy parts. The endless does he feel the same about me and even if he does, can I ever trust a man again? introspection. The I have too much family baggage backstories. But I must confess, by the time the two heroes overcame all of that to defeat the bad guys and blossom their romance, I’d been hooked. I felt like cheering for the happy couple. And in case you’re wondering-no, I didn’t cry. So stop asking. I only blinked a little.
Anyway, this blog describes some of the greatest action-adventure stories I’ve ever read through the years. Hopefully you’ll see something you haven’t read and can find a great story to immerse yourself inside. And you can stop worrying about my man card.
Action-adventure Criteria
To me, action-adventure implies more than a great mystery or good-guy vs. bad-guy showdown. Those can be outstanding in their own right, especially if they include plot twists and strong characters. But an action-adventure should also transport you to another time, place, or world. A remote jungle, an icy landscape, the deep mountains, an ancient war, a fascinating mythical world. And the hero should have to deal with more than the antagonist. The weather, the terrain, the journey through the unknown.
All of these novels do that. They typically pit the hero against a nasty villain, all while struggling just to survive. Let me know how you like the list, and let me know what I’ve missed! I’d love to read your top stories.
Last of the Breed, by Louis L’Amour
Louis L’Amour is known as America’s Storyteller. For those who haven’t read his work, he might be discarded as simply a writer of westerns. True, he did write mostly westerns, but even these are sweeping tales, often with a touch of romance thrown in. But Last of the Breed is different. It takes place in modern-day Siberia, where an American pilot is shot down and interrogated inside a Russian prison camp.
Air Force Major Joe Mack, a native Sioux Indian, manages to escape the camp, and then embarks on an epic journey across Siberia and the Bering Strait, all while being pursued by a legendary tracker who knows the icy landscape intimately. Befriending natives and living off the land, Mack knows he’ll eventually be forced into a deadly showdown with the cunning Yakut Siberian.
I’ve read every word the late Louis L’Amour ever published, and patterned much of my writing style off his works. If you’ve never read him, give this novel a shot. You won’t be able to put it down.
Shōgun
James Clavell’s novel is the longest book I’ve ever read. I think I read it in high school, and I couldn’t put it down. It depicts how utterly divergent civilizations collide during a period of civil war and unrest in 17th century Japan. A barbarian (to the Japanese) English captain and his crew are shipwrecked in Japan, plunging him into confounding cultural customs, intense power struggles, and eventually a deep love interest. The action is non-stop, the political intrigue and danger come at you from every angle, and revelations of Japanese history and culture are expertly woven into this epic.
I haven’t watched any of the newly released miniseries, but I’m sure it can’t match the depth of the book. Of course, you must love reading to embark on such a journey as this massive book when you can just watch the movie. But if you do love the written word, it’s worth it.
The Auschwitz Escape, by Joel C. Rosenburg
A Jewish resistance fighter is captured while attempting to free fellow Jews from a train bound for a concentration camp. To avoid identification, Jacob takes the name of an elderly couple’s son who died in the raid, and is taken to Auschwitz. The horrors of the camp are moving, seen through the eyes of Jacob, who is lucky to avoid the worst assignments, and manages to survive with the help of an unlikely friend – a protestant priest who’d been imprisoned for helping the Jews.
Together, they plot to escape and get the word out to the world about this horrible place. They catch wind of a plan to send trainloads of Hungarian Jews to the camp, and are desperate to stop it.
Rosenburg is an excellent writer, but this is by far his best work.
Around the World in 80 Days
Jules Verne’s stories are packed with adventure and memorable characters. I could have chosen several of his works, but this stood out as a favorite book from my childhood, even though it was written in the 1870s.
The year is 1872. Planes, trains and automobiles? More like trains, ships, carriages, horses, elephants… Even so, Phileas Fogg, a boring London gentleman, wagers half his worth that he can travel around the world in 80 days. Taking the rest of his fortune to pay for the trip, he embarks on an epic journey around the world. The novel takes the reader through exotic locations in the orient and across the heart of America, with wild adventures along the way, battling bandits and saving a damsel in distress. And there’s even an unexpected twist at the end. Truly an engaging read.
Call of the Wild, and White Fang, by Jack London
Not gonna spend time on these since you’ve probably read them as a child or seen the movie, but I couldn’t avoid listing these classic adventure novels.
The Eagle Has Landed, by Jack Higgins
Another classic WWII novel that has been made into a movie – this is Higgins’ best work. He portrays a team of Germans, aided by an IRA gunman, who paratroop into Britain with the astounding goal of kidnapping Churchill.
Higgins humanizes the Germans assigned this daring mission, which has been criticized by some. They were Nazis, after all. So if that bothers you, don’t read it. But the story is full of intrigue and wonder, transporting you back in time and putting you in the shoes of the only people standing between the enemy and a turning point in the war – the local townsfolk of Studley Constable, who become the unlikely heroes.
And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie
No such list would be complete without an Agatha Christie novel. I chose this one because it hasn’t been made into a movie recently, and because it is a standalone. Christie’s novels meet my criteria for action-adventure because of her unique settings, and this is no exception. Today, it would be a cliché to feature a cast of dubious characters trapped together on a remote, inaccessible island with all communications cut off. But Agatha Christie invented this cliché, and I doubt it’s been done better since.
Slowly, the suspects are killed off. One at a time, the most likely killer meets their demise. What will happen when there are only two left? The final twist got me.
Colony, by Benjamin Cross
Throwing an unknown but talented author into the list, with Colony. Think Jurassic Park in the Arctic Circle, with creatures that would demolish any of Michael Crichton’s creations.
But the creatures aren’t the only obstacles. Forming the backdrop are freezing weather, a 24-hour sun, a debilitating mist that I can’t describe anywhere near as well as the author, and a beautiful but treacherous landscape. Worse than the environment are the actions of a greedy and powerful former KGB agent and an eco-terrorist; actions that strand them on the island, with only an undermanned but valiant military escort to defend them.
Read my full review here: https://danielpwarner.com/recommendation/colony/.
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