Of the more recent releases, the most popular offering this Father's Day is likely to be the latest Jack Reacher book, Make Me (Bantam, $32.99), by Lee Child.

The nomadic Reacher arrives in the small prairie town of Mother's Rest expecting a boring stopover looking at pioneer tombstones.  Instead, he finds a town where strangers are treated with suspicion and those in charge are hiding a dark secret that will draw Reacher into another violent confrontation.

Make Me sticks firmly to the successful recipe developed by Child, with Reacher as a sort of modern-day western hero moseying into town, righting wrongs and moving on.  The formula works well because of Child's easy-flowing style and the universal appeal of Reacher.  The story is interesting, with Child taking his time to reveal the town's secret, and the action is frequent and violent.  Good fun.

Of the Australian novels on offer the stand-out is Tony Cavanaugh's​ Kingdom Of The Strong (Hachette, $29.99).

Set in Melbourne, it features former homicide detective Darian Richards who is asked by the retiring Police Commissioner to re-investigate an old case in order to clear the Commissioner's chosen successor of any wrongdoing.  Unwelcomed by former colleagues, Richards is soon caught up in a web of corruption and old secrets.  Dark and powerful, this is Cavanaugh's best novel to date.

A lighter tone is provided by Fast And Loose (Simon & Schuster, $29.99), by award-winning Australian comic Nicholas J. Johnson.  Set in the morally murky world of scams and tabloid television, it is a lively and entertaining tale about a successful con artist who is coerced into exposing Australia's biggest swindlers for television.

Also on offer is an impressive array of gritty, police novels from around the world.  The pick of them is I'm Travelling Alone (Doubleday, $32.99), by Samuel Bjork.

This tough, debut Nordic tale gives Jo Nesbo​ a good run for his money, as a quirky collection of police detectives try to track down a cold-hearted serial killer targeting six-year-old girls.  Although a bulky 474 pages, the book keeps a good grip on the reader's attention through its rich characters, evocative locales, clever plotting and a strong sense of humanity.

The most authentic of the police novels on offer is Post Mortem (Corvus, $24.99), by former British homicide detective Kate London.

When a long-serving Metropolitan beat cop and a teenage girl fall to their deaths from a tower block in London's East End it is up to detective Sarah Collins from the Professional Standards team to work out what happened.  A task which comes more complicated when the rookie police officer who witnessed the fall goes missing.

This is a realistic crime novel that evokes the complexity of modern policing.  The suspense lapses at times, but overall this a solid police drama with convincing detail and credible characters.

Also worth considering are V.M. Giambanco's Blood And Bone (Quercus, $29.99), about Seattle detective Alice Madison and the latest instalment in Peter James' popular Brighton-based series about Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, You Are Dead (Macmillan, $29.99), which further reinforces James' credentials as one of the leading writers of detective fiction in Britain today.

For those who prefer high energy, concept thrillers, with a touch of the supernatural, there is Simon Toyne's Solomon Creed (Harper Collins, $29.99).

A plane crashes in the Arizona desert near the small town of Redemption.  The only apparent survivor is a man who cannot remember his name or his past.  All he knows is that he was supposed to save a man who is already dead.  Meanwhile, the drug cartel boss who hired the plane sets out to extract revenge for the crash.

This is an intriguing, action-filled thriller that keeps the reader guessing for a long time.   The pacing is good and the interweaving of the strange history of the town into the narrative adds to the appeal.

Brisk pacing and frenetic action are also features of Chris Holm's The Killing Kind (Hachette, $29.99). Michael Hendricks is a hitman who kills other hitters.  When he hears that a contract has been taken out he contacts the intended victim and offers his services to keep them alive by hitting the hired assassin.  Now both the FBI and the Mafia are after him in an exciting fight to the finish.

Finally, more intellectual thrills are provided by Jason Matthews's Palace of Treason (Penguin, $29.99).

Matthews has followed up his acclaimed debut thriller, Red Sparrows, with another clever, modern spy story featuring Dominika Egorova​ of the Russian Intelligence Service.   Now secretly working for the CIA, Dominika must try and keep one step ahead of efforts by Russian counter intelligence to find the traitor in their midst, while also helping to rescue a compromised American agent.  Sophisticated and thrilling, this is one of the year's best spy stories.

In all, plenty of good choices to keep your father entertained way past the grand finals.