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The Sacred Art of Stealing is what got our eldest teenager to actually take an interest in reading, so yes, Brookmyre(at least his earlier stuff) is a good shout. Our youngest is currently devouring Jasper Fforde.
Young adult fantasy nonsense all seems to be paint-by-numbers slop, but Angie Sage gets a pass for the thoroughly entertaining Magik series.
Fever Beach leads us, in pure Hiaasen-style, into the depths of Florida at its most Floridian: a sun-soaked bastion of right-wing extremism, white power, greed, and corruption.
A lot funnier than the preview suggests.
Slow horses already been recommended, but the Reacher series is non brain taxing easy reads too that have enough to keep you turning the page.
Currently getting through the Jeffery Archer, Clifton Chronicles. Not a massice fan of Archer as a person but he tells a great story and the series is such an epic tale spread across decades.
Great shout on Carl Hiaasen, I loved his books when I was younger, and keep meaning to go back to them. Mick Herron also solid stuff, recommended.
The Sacred Art of Stealing is what got our eldest teenager to actually take an interest in reading, so yes, Brookmyre(at least his earlier stuff) is a good shout.
Brookmyre is a naturally funny man so that just pisses out through his prose. See also, China Meiville, innately charismatic. They're writing serious fiction but they just can't help themselves. (I can relate to this hard.)
Compare and contrast, Joe Abercrombie is a hilarious entertainer but I found his Blade trilogy to be a dour slog, I gave up in the end. Quite how the humour doesn't transfer to the page I don't know. Not his style? I'd climb over bodies if he were try something Pratchetty but I suppose that's been done to death by a hundred imitators by now.
Complicity by Iain Banks.
The Murder Bag (and the accompanying Max Wolfe series) by Tony Parsons - a more realistic, British version of Reacher.
Another vote for Rivers of London.
And if you're really into light reading with guilt-free dropping it if it's crap, Kindle Unlimited isn't bad VFM. There's a lot of self-published dross but there is also some decent stuff, most of it closer to novella than novel format. And if you hate a book, just return it and get another.
I've just finished The Business by Iain Banks - found it in one of those free library things. Decent, bringing some of his Iain M Banks humour and characterisation to his Iain Banks non-scifi stuff. Definitely recommend for easy reading.
Oh, and of course Iain M Banks stuff is generally great - fun, interesting, rollicking. Use of Weapons is a little disturbing at the end, but still good.
I normally avoid book clubby type books, but I just read Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver and am recommending to everyone that’s interested.
I also remember quite enjoying some Colin Bateman books in my early 20's, stuff like "cycle of violence", similar in vein to the early Elmor Leonard books, but anglo/irish rather than American.
And also blot on the landscape by Tom Sharpe.
Seriously light reading? Then try the Peter May trilogy based in the Outer Hebrides:
I enjoyed the Lewis trilogy (Black Loch was basically just a rehash of the same idea) but grisly murder and child abuse is a strange definition of "seriously light" 😀
Ouch, but fair point.
Michelle Pavers ghost stories are good, especially Dark matter, If that's not fun enough then Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers
And also blot on the landscape by Tom Sharpe.
I was toying with the idea of suggesting Tom Sharpe.
Sharpe suffers a bit from Koontzitis, he's written some great stuff but he's written some absolute dross. I really enjoyed the Wilt series and I thought The Throwback was ace, but I read them when Victoria was still on the throne so YMMV, my memory may be untrustworthy.
Very funny of Thols to rec The Wasp Factory.
Some other books by Banks are good easy reads though: Whit, The Business, Crow Road are all great and not too taxing (or desolating, like The Wasp Factory).
I like some of Larry Niven's SF books, I find they quickly become intriguing so I want to keep reading: The Mote in God's Eye, Ringworld, Oath of Fealty.
The Godfather is one of the most underrated books I have read. Overshadowed by the excellent films, but the book has lots of detail and explanation that the film doesn't have time for.
The War at Troy by Lyndsay Clarke is the best book I have read about the Trojan War (apart form The Illiad of course). It covers all the reasons for the war going back generations as well as the war itself. it's a really easy, fun read, and very informative at the same time.