[LS]

I loved the first of the "black/white/red" trilogy," but didn't like how he developed it. "Three" was ok. "Blink" is much better.

Don't worry about "Smoke Screen" being an anti-tobacco rant. I think he offers a way out of this whole mess. :)

[MississippiMan]

Mills has a knack for making what I call "fantasy solutions" to big problems seem feasible. RISING PHOENIX is a prime example. Talk about cutting back on drug use!

Will check out Caleb Carr; never read any of his.

Yeah, I like Nelson DeMille, too. One of my favorites, in fact, though his endings sometimes irk me pretty severely. I also love Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, both together and as solo authors. James Rollins spins enjoyable, fantastic tales. James Patterson's work is hit-or-miss for me. I like Grisham well enough to have read all of them. (I have a collection of his signed first editions that's about 80% complete.) I used to love Clancy but find his later stuff unreadable; it's obvious he's burnt out.

MM