airport novelist

an author whose books are most commonly, and probably only, sold well in an airport venue.

these books are all paperback, with lame, intriguing titles like "death before sunrise" or "the english assassin", contain extremely predictable/cliche plots, and feature faux-intense scary and mysterious cover art.
these books are meant to be read on an airplane when there is absolutely nothing better to do.

Dan Silva is such an airport novelist.

Dan Brown could be considered an airport novelist, almost.