Asian Saga - James Clovell - Would start with Tai-Pan
The Void Series - James F Hamilton
Empire Series - Conn Iggulden
All great, gripping reads!
Enjoy!
I do the drive, every day from Brighton to Hilsea.
I leave at around 06:30 every morning, and provided you get past Arundel and that sodding interchange by about 07.00, you should get to Pompey for about 07:30.
Any later than that, and you are likely to get held up for about 10 or 15 mins...