In the last two months I’ve read four thrillers. One of them I reviewed here on February 3rd, if you want to look back (The Paris Vendetta by Steve Berry). Another one I mentioned — not very favorably — on my “What I’m Reading Now” page of this site (The Genesis Secret by Tom Knox).

The other two I read were James Rollins’ The Altar of Eden and Douglas Preston’s Impact.

All of these have something in common: there is a scientific, historic, or religious (a la Dan Brown) element that is central to the plot and the thrills. I have a particular fondness for thrillers like these because they send me to the Internet to find out more  about things presented as fact and if there is any reality behind theories presented in the plots. I love learning new things.

But these authors are all very different as well. With James Rollins, I find the truth in his novels far more frightening than the plot devices he invents. Seriously. I still cringe every time I think about the very real radioactive lake in one of his other books that’s located right over earthquake fault lines: one good shake and those waters could wind up in the North Sea, making a lot of Northern Europe unlivable. Just another terrifying tidbit from one of Rollin’s thrillers. Conveniently for your nightmares, he identifies all the facts in his novels at the end.

In his newest book, Rollins gives his usual saviors-of-the-world, Gray Pierce and the Sigma Force, a rest. Personally, I enjoyed the change of characters; but I’m not by any means tired of his usual cast. I do wonder if he or his publisher felt this change was a risk, though.

On the other hand, Douglas Preston delivers the most unpredictable thrillers — and I mean that as a compliment. His newest thriller has mysterious meteor-type-thingies making holes right through the earth. The book before that centered on a machine built to talk to God and a crazed religious zealot determined to stop it at all costs. There is one central character in common, but that’s it. You just never know where Preston will find your thrills next.

Of course, Preston also writes with Lincoln Child, producing (among others) seven straight books featuring the fascinating Special Agent Pendergast, easily the most peculiar mystery solver this side of Sherlock Holmes. So you could say he has the best of both worlds — and so do his readers.

Like Rollins, Steve Berry centers most of his books around a regular cast of characters, starring Cotton Malone, a former Justice Department Operative who theoretically runs a bookshop in Copenhagen but is glad to take time out to save the world repeatedly. Berry likes to build his plots around some long-lost thing or secret, sometimes giving it some sort of super power that appeals to evil types.

One Berry trait I find amusing: He always manages to have a gun battle in a church or cathedral. He claims there is no subtext to this, there just happen to be more really old religious buildings than other structures. Well, he has a point there.

Who is my favorite? Of the current new releases, I lean just a bit more towards Preston. But I won’t miss a new release by any of them and squeeze in the older ones I haven’t read  whenever I find time.

That’s how I like to get my thrills. And at the same time pick up a lot of interesting information. What could be better than that?