LISA SCOTTOLINE On What Makes a Good Thriller

New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline walks viewers through the mystery & thriller section, sharing favorites, offering writing tips, and the offering a thoughtful history of the genre. A veritable classroom of information for readers and aspiring writers.

[@robschneider8310]

I like this woman. Very articulate, clear, concise and enthusiastic.

[@manniesreactionchannel3808]

Arnaud Drouin you took the words, right out of my mouth.

[@jeffreyc.mcandrew8911]

Strolling through the library. A lot there!

[@lennarthagen3638]

She is very neat

[@donreadsalot4932]

Excellent video, very off-the-cuff, unrehearsed, and shows off Ms. Scottoline's awesome honesty and personality. Great job!

[@MegaFount]

I would have to add Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment as a brilliant thriller. It introduces a captivating protagonist and detective in a cat and mouse game against great themes. That seminal novel had unquestionable impact on thrillers.

[@paula65writer]

Not only is Lisa a great writer, she's a great teacher. Great video, Lisa. Thank you.

[@blessOTMA]

Terrific over view and a trip down memory lane too. Rosemont Borders! I remember you well!!

[@jjkhawaiian]

What great walk-around. Thank you and thank her. Thriller is my writing, book/novel and movie genre.

[@keithevans2722]

Frederick Forsyth,good researcher and Master of espionage thriller......from England

[@cathymcivor7457]

I just went to a local used book store and bought 6 of her books!! Thanks for this video, Lisa.

[@hectorvalle1031]

I'm doing the same. Buying her books.

[@manniesreactionchannel3808]

Im in the process of writing 4 books.... I am about half way done with it.

[@manniesreactionchannel3808]

@D Frazier not yet … but I’m almost done

[@manniesreactionchannel3808]

@D Frazier well thank you ! I will greatly appreciate it .. I’ll keep you post

[@MindiRamseyMarketing]

Lisa - thanks so much for posting this video. Ingenious to take us walking through the bookstore thriller section. :)

[@manniesreactionchannel3808]

I definitely agree, i encourage people to write. Because it's definitely like a muscle, the more you use it. The stronger it gets.

[@the16thGemini]

Inspiration at 7:30 !!!!! Point well made 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾

[@jadakowers4727]

Enjoyable and informative video. I wish she had mentioned Dame Agatha Christie and Walter Mosley.

[@trickyplays240]

Agatha Christie is more “cozy mystery”

[@Sophiek2221]

This was great! I really like this person. I want to get into more Poe and Patterson. Love the thoughts, this was very interesting and eloquent.

[@andrewhallahan2758]

I noticed she walked right past John Sandford and Lee Child and also James Lee Burke all of whom write circles around her favorites. Janet Evanovich? Fluff. Dan Brown? Living off the “Davinci Code”. Nelson Demille? Like a sedative.

[@andrewhallahan2758]

And James Patterson is the king of one page chapters and second string writers who ghost his books.

[@aaronying4989]

I think she probably had to do that to appeal to the commercialism of those people and the popularity, yea I was surprised she passed by the others.

[@seanc9507]

This presentation reminds me about what my favorite bookstore owner once said about authors recommending other authors: many of them are in each other's pockets; they're more likely to build up whom they like personally rather than based on merit. Now I've read several of Ms. Scottoline's novels and think she's a top-notch thriller writer, but I'm willing to wager that she has relationships with several of these authors that involve promoting each other.

[@joefpsunset]

Watching this is 2020 and having flashbacks of going to Borders. Miss this store so much. They always had a great selection of titles and even hard to find books as well, not like crappy B&N. PLEASE BRING BACK BORDERS!!!!

[@stefanmarkov6775]

Books-A-Million is far better!!!!

[@joefpsunset]

@@stefanmarkov6775 Books-A-Million is ok but I still think Borders is better. At least the one that was in my neighborhood. Both are still way better then Barnes & Nobel.

[@trickyplays240]

Agree Books-A-Million is better! Great for manga

[@aaronying4989]

Sadly I don’t think Borders is coming back but I agree it was much better than BN.

[@wagstaffe7]

Wow.....thanks a lot! Do some more.

[@mazumathefirst]

Very good. Thanks.

[@JEDIAL9]

In my opinion, "The Eye of the Needle," by Ken Follett is by far one of the best thriller authors from Britain! Although I've enjoyed, "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold," La Carre's "Smiley" was too slow, and I had to force myself to finish it. It thereby became my last read from La Carre.

[@waxeye6488]

Great talk.

[@Mickey853]

Are there any other videos like this one? Like with another author doing a book store tour?

[@davidenglish4628]

hey...lisa is the best...if you look on my website....davids book talk...you will hear an HOUR interview with her....she is so wonderful

[@leafm1181]

you're the best

[@jasonturno4823]

She didn't even give Sandford a glance. And it seems as if she doesn't even know coben and Lippman But she redeemed herself by mentioning Connelly and Baldacci

[@piegirlie]

Connelly's Bosch, a former Nam tunnel rat mother -amurdered hooked, then, in later life...a reluctant PI...and Mickey Haller!!

[@greg1483]

Harlan Coben for me.

[@rudylabsilica2286]

OMG BORDERS! I miss that bookstore. :_(

[@cathymcivor7457]

Rudy, remember the piano they used to have in Borders? I spent many hours in there just browsing at books and music.

[@despot666]

I miss Borders...

[@atiashah4538]

The more she talks about great authors the more I think I will never match up to them with my writing.

[@EmpyreanLightASMR]

I haven't watched this video yet, but judging on the comments here, I'd say you most likely write better than Dan Brown already. (Not saying his books aren't fun, but they're definitely the lowest form of literature I've got on my reading history.)

[@quentonupshaw4549]

@@EmpyreanLightASMR Book snobs

[@BarrocoTarot]

Arturo Perez Reverte in Spain is seen more like an attention seeker than a good writer, sometimes he uses twitter to say something scandalous and he is trendic topic but not his books, that's sad...

[@Matthew_Coton]

You missed one of my favorites John Sandford.

[@LawrenceCaldwellAuthor]

Dan Brown? Right stuff? BAHAHAAA!

[@Nope-ec5yv]

I miss Borders....

[@maroloan3429]

ALLAH bertindak menelamatkan kita hikmat ALLAH Hikmat manusia kenikmatan cinta tetapi tidak masuk kedalam sesuatu yang najis atau dusta berkali-kali hanya mereka yang masuk ke dalam kitab kehidupan anak domba

[@harrybombardi7289]

Leaving out Daniel Silva and Brad Thor in the thriller genre? Silva may well be the finest novelist of our time while a Lee Child is barely readable and John Grisham, like Child IMO, is just not a good writer. But the movie "The Firm" made his career. De gustabus non est disbutandum, I guess.

[@paulnewman4624]

I totally agree with everything you wrote here. Silva is a great writer though I am tiring of Allon now. I was the same with Patricia Cornwall. First 6 books were great then she changed her style and she lost it for me. I've tried and failed like yourself with Lee Child. I'm also not impressed with Dan Brown as a writer or James Patterson. For me I need more than just a good story teller. I need it to be well written as well! But who am I to criticise two guys who prob earn 20 mill a year each.

[@MickeyGreenEyes213]

Gasp! How dare you pass up Tana French!

[@coreyoz]

BORDERS? this IS from 200 years ago... lol

[@josh2472010]

Interesting A to Z on thrillers. Never read any of this writer's books or any of the ones she recommends. But after her enthusiastic summary, I may dip my toes in this pond. However, the whole video was ruined at the end when her integrity, basic integrity is shot to smithereens by her foul and regrettable comment about not giving a toss about ebola. This is the wrong thing to say when so many African lives have been lost to this disease.....and this is the problem I guess, rich people living in rich countries do not give a flying FCUK essentially. Yet if this virus had taken hold in the good ol USA, then just maybe she would not be so wrapped up in her thriller fiction that she misses the woods for the trees........ she makes this comment when discussing the book: The Hot Zone.

[@trickyplays240]

You skip Mary Higgins Clark (RIP) … c’mon the queen of suspense and a well deserved title. Instead u suck up to Dan Brown.

[@barbaradempsey7065]

Good video, but please pronounce Gloucester correctly.

[@Slattstudio]

Did you really say wikipedia is "wrong stuff" and Dan Brown is "right stuff"? Congrats on writing 16 books and all I did stop watching after that.

[@IonxZone]

God, me too. Dan Brown can't even get his street layouts right, never mind anything else.

[@patcummings7533]

I gave up on evanovitch after they all seemed to be the same, with the same love triangle over and over and over...

[@Bhaleri]

Congrats on writing so many books. I like your books. But so disappointed to find that you're a big fan of Dan Brown. He's a bad writer, a good plotter, and an outrageousness manipulator of research which is not accurate and self-serving.

[@roger8654]

Bhaleri bad writer? Dan Brown is one of the most successful writers of all time.

[@Bhaleri]

Roger. It goes to show how standards have dropped. He is a biased writer, not objective, and manipulates truth. Sure, it's fiction he writes, but he appeals to the ignorant.

[@stefanmarkov6775]

Dan Brown wasted an entire library on his books...talk about self-serving/selfish

[@classicalperformances8777]

she lost me at " you have to read the DaVinci code"

[@autofocus4556]

But why do they all have the worst covers?

[@wesleyrodgers886]

Dan Brown!?. (stopped the video). Ugh!.

[@barryispuzzled]

You sound like someone who needs a boyfriend! No marriage ring. :)

[@stefanmarkov6775]

Lov Lisa Scottoline but liking Dan Brown?!?!?! He has an entire library of his books....self-serving and waste of space

[@susanbettis4928]

Well, her taste fits in with commercial interests - good work Borders!! Her choices are obvious and boring, and Dan Brown? Really? He's a hack, and most of the others are hardly top writers. yikes.

[@familycorvette]

You lost me at Dan Brown. Brown is a dense miasma of historical error and conspiracy nonsense.

[@AnimeEmpress1]

Wow what an embarrassing video. Talk about dumbing down women. The female lead character works because she's clutzy but so endearing. Oh and look how good looking David Baldacci is! Oh this author is brilliant cos she includes romantic relationships.... Bleugh...