It’s that time of year when I realize I need to do a better job of keeping track of what I read in any given year. I can’t give you a specific number, but I read well over 100 books this year. Here are some favorites:
WHAT ABOUT THE BODIES - Ken Jaworowski
Probably my book of the year. Definitely the one that I knew almost nothing about and sat in awe as it blew me away with every page. I immediately went out and bought Jaworowski’s previous debut novel, Small Town Sins. This book is everything I love about crime fiction.
YOU WILL NEVER SEE ME - Jake Hinkson
I love Jake Hinkson’s writing like few other authors. This one took a few left turns I had no idea were coming. It’s dark, doesn’t care if you like the characters or not, and will surprise you at every turn. Trust me, you have no idea what this book really is.
THE PRICE OF EVERYTHING - Jon McGoran
Few writers create believable near-future worlds like Jon McGoran. In The Price Of Everything he wraps a breakneck thriller plot in just enough sci-fi and cyberpunk ornaments that you get something completely new. And none of it feels forced or like he has to do “world-building” because he’s writing about our world here and now, but with a few tiny augmentations to add to the thrills.
THE LENGTH OF DAYS - Lynn Kostoff
Like WHAT ABOUT THE BODIES, this novel balances multiple storylines that intersect in interesting ways. Any great book is all about characters, and this one has some great ones. Seeing how it all intertwines is a fascinating process and kept me glued to the pages. A stellar crime novel.
SAINT OF THE NARROWS STREET - William Boyle
Boyle is one of contemporary Noir’s best practitioners and his new novel is his epic. Again, character takes center stage along with location, as in all of Boyle’s work. Epic is code for long and it is a slow burn, but something about Boyle’s prose just goes down so easy for me. He makes you ache and long with the characters. He makes you smell and hear the Brooklyn on the page. When someone talks of “literary crime novels” this is what they mean.
It was a great for Westerns. I read some really great ones like:
LUCKY RED - Claudia Cravens
A revisionist western that is sumptuously written and features a main character I loved maybe more than any other this year. It’s forward and progressive, pushing the women to the front of an old west story, but doesn’t skimp on action, grit and the things that make us love westerns. Superb!
HIRED GUNS & NO HALLOWED GROUND - Steve Hockensmith
Hockensmith already earned his western bona fides with his Holmes On The Range series, and his launch of a new series kicks off in rollicking fashion with these two tales. His trademark wit is there in spades and the action comes fast and furious. A great entry into the western genre.
A SHORT ROPE FOR A TALL MAN & DEAD MAN’S TRAIL - Nate Morgan
Nate Morgan is a pen name for Victor Gischler, who has long been one of my favorite crime writers. These two novels are stellar western tales written with wit, pace and never skimping on a good plot turn. For some reason, the publisher mixed up the order of the two novels so I read book 2 first, but it didn’t make much difference. They’re both great in any order.
In other off-genre reading for me, I devoured five books from humorist Simon Rich, all on audio. Rich reads most of his own work, but John Mulaney read Glory Days and brought an extra something to it. Rich is so damn funny, but also an endlessly creative and inventive writer that these short stories (and one novel, Miracle Workers) are like candy filled with crack cocaine. I think there is no finer humor writer working today.
If you are new to his work, start with Glory Days or Man Seeking Woman.
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