As a near-obsessive Stephen King fan in high school, I of course read all of his brilliant 70's works: The Stand, The Bachman Books/Different Seasons, The Shining and the others. Like many artists, his early work was his best IMO. I think it was somewhere around 1982? that he signed a $40 million dollar deal with Random House, started writing for money, and lost me. Someone feel free to correct me if I've misremembered the specifics of that deal. I didn't really enjoy the whole Dark Tower series, Tommyknockers, or anything after that.

JB, ever since I heard about LeCarre's death, I have been wanting to read some of his spy thrillers, as I'm certain I would love them. The last time I got completely lost in a genre was with Golden Age science fiction of the 60's era. Some of those guys bent reality in such mind-blowing ways (Sturgeon, Phillip K. Dick, et al).