Booking Through Thursday

You should have seen this one coming . . . Who is your favorite Male lead character? And why?

It occurs to me that I've focused on series characters for these last two questions. I think that is because through a series you have a chance to get to know many facets of a character in a way that a single book could not accomplish. Not that I've never developed a huge crush after only a few hundred pages. . . :-)

Without my reading lists in front of me, I just know I'm missing someone. . . But while Lou Boldt (Ridley Pearson), Mitch Rapp (Vince Flynn), Serge Storms (Tim Dorsey), Matthew Shardlake (C.J. Sansom) and, of course, the Vampires Lestat, Armand and Marius (Anne Rice) all deserve acknowledgement at a minimum, I'm torn as to whether to cast my vote for Brother Cadfael (Ellis Peters) or Joe Pike (Robert Crais).

I'm guessing Medieval monk detective Brother Cadfael needs no introduction to most readers, and his appeal lies in his Crusader-turned-to-God-but-still-a-bad-boy-at-heart character. He has sworn off his sword, but certainly not his ability to fight the enemies of justice.

And what can anyone say about Joe Pike? Dangerous, mysterious, honest . . . And in all honesty, I was dissappointed in his starring debut last year (The Watchman by Robert Crais). A guy like Joe falling for a Paris Hilton-like Hollywood moron just didn't sit right with me. But while I like Elvis Cole a lot, it was Joe that kept me glued to the series.

Lezlie

PS Oh! And Jean-Claude from the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series!! The later books may have lost their appeal, but he never did. Unless something changed in the books I never got to, Jean-Claude remained a class act and far too good for the trampy version of Anita.

PPS And I just remembered: Pierre, Count Bezukhov, from War & Peace was also a fabulous character. Watching his transformation, especially while he was a prisoner of war, is what still remains the most vivid to me about that book.


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