How to find a good book

Nowadays, it is hard to find a good read. I struggle to find the rare hidden gems amongst the piles of trash. First of all, for fiction to be good, I need to be able to identify with the time, the setting. It is harder to come up with a compelling mystery in 2007, that is set in fifteenth century Europe, say, where the priorities are different, the tools are not even identifiable, and the mystery could have been solved if only the protagonist had a cell phone at hand. The author has to do an excellent job at mapping the era into the modern mind, and a rare few have succeeded at that. However, I would much rather read a mystery that could really have happened in the last week. I do not care so much for books which focus on branding either, such as trying to come up with catchy themes for all the books - say, like mystery books themed around cats or food or flowers or birds. Even though the content may be great, the purity of the work has to be compromised to some degree to wrap it around a totally baseless limitation of the forced theme. With that out of the way, we are left with a somewhat smaller set of books to choose from - books which could have happened in the current period, which are written purely around the characters and or/the story there is to tell. Assume that I have a library now with only such books in them. There are three further criteria that go towards picking a gem out of these - novelty, realism and the first paragraph test.

In simplest terms, a great book is one which touches the reader as deep down the mind/soul as possible. A book where the reader is taken into the character, the plot and the setting is far superior to one, where the reader feels like an external observer. That is why fantasy of all kinds is less appealing to me, unless done well enough to strike a deep chord.

I have been deeply impressed by the school of thought that the best writing is one that comes from deep within the writer's subconsciousness. In Janet Burroway's fantastic book on writing fiction, which I consider equally to be a book on how to filter good reads from bad, the example is quoted of Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison where she describes her own disturbing experiences from her childhood. By writing things that you are afraid to tell (even yourself), you connect with something deep within a reader.

To continue our elimination process to find a great mystery, I look at the synopsis of the book. Most synopses say nothing in many words, because they have nothing to say. It is a textbook book, based on an old oft repeated plot, but just packaged with minor changes to setting, character, etc. What sounds like an oft repeated plot may vary by reader -if you have never read a story of a retiring cop being pulled into a case on his last day, then it may seem like a new plot to you. If you have, then move right along.

Once I have synopses which seem different at least in some form, then I perform the sampling test - read the first paragraph, and glance at a random paragraph in the middle of the book. Does the style of the first paragraph seem calm, undramatic, and yet create the right tension to draw you further? Or does it sound cliched, or just dramatic for the sake of being dramatic? Again, the results may vary depending on your taste of what you may consider cliched or dramatic, so follow your judgment. While reading the inner paragraph, make sure that the style hasn't slid into sloppiness a few pages into the book. If the book passed these tests, then you are probably holding a potential great read in hand. To clinch the deal, I do look for recommendations - if the author seems interesting, and reminds you of a past favorite, then see (either in the book itself or on the web) what your favorite author has to say about this new author or book.

For example, I loved Dennis Lehane's Shutter Island, easily one of the best psychological thrillers out there.He is also the writer of Mystic River, which was later made into a wonderful award winning movie. That is the only book of Dennis Lehane that I have not read yet, partly because I saw the movie before I came across the book.

When I chanced upon Keith Ablow's mysteries in a random search, I found that Dennis Lehane had this to say: "Ablow is king of the psychological thriller...The pages will singe your hands." I was not disappointed. I went on a reading spree through Keith Ablow's fiction, and by far, the latest one, that I just finished today, Psychopath , is one of the best psychological thrillers ever. Frank Clevenger, the forensic psychologist in Keith Ablow's Frank Clevenger series, is as realistic and believable as any character I have ever read about. I have also picked up Harlan Coben's Tell No One, which also has a great review from Dennis Lehane. Yet to read it.

But this is still just scratching the surface. For many more complex insights on what makes good writing good, do check out Janet Burroway's book Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft. It is used in several courses on creative writing, one of which I was fortunate enough to take, but it is much more about creative reading than writing. Since I read this book, I have been able to find so many great books, that I had missed out on before. Margaret Maron's Bootlegger's Daughter, Dennis Lehane's Shutter Island, T Jefferson Parker's California Girl, Keith Ablow's Frank Clevenger series: Denial and Psychopath, to name a few. I have also some great new territories to explore. I found several people whose works Keith Ablow admires in his acknowledgements, whom I can now explore. And the chain will go on.