Top Ten Reads of 2021

In another bad year, I had a good reading year, with a lot of great choices below.  Here are my Top Ten books, in a year where I passed by goal of 50 and hit 64.   Enjoy!

RAZORBLADE TEARS by SA Cosby

STILL LIVES by Maria Hummel

ZERO ZONE by Scott O'Connor

UNDER THE HARROW by Flynn Berry

THE RESISTERS by Gish Jen

HARLEM SHUFFLE by Colson Whitehead

THE KILLING HILLS by Chris Offutt

THE GUIDE by Peter Heller

THE BODY SCOUT by Lincoln Michel

THE MISSING AMERICAN by Kwei Quartey

Feed Your Head, 2019 Edition

I read 63 books this year; I struggled a bit to pick a top ten, but my top five all blew my mind in different ways, and could be recommended to anyone wanting a fresh read.  Enjoy!

Destroy All Monsters by Jeff Jackson

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Easy Motion Tourist by Leye Adenle

The Ready-Made Thief by Augustus Rose

The Wolf and the Watchman by Niklas Natt och Dag

 Transcription by Kate Atkinson

Big Sister by Gunnar Staalesen

My Sister is a Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Pictures at a Revolution by Mark Harris

Orson Welles's Last Movie by Josh Karp

Top Reads of 2018, and Reads of the Decade

I read 58 books in my annual quest of reading 50 books a year.  Another good year, on the world landscape, to hunker down and read.  Might have helped if I hadn't read so many dystopian novels.

This year my Top Ten favorite reads were:

Severance by Ling Ma

Bearskin by James A. McLaughlin

The Feral Detective by Jonathan Lethem

All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai

Every Anxious Wave by Mo Daviau

Tangerine by Christine Mangan

November Road by Lou Berney

Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller

The Third Hotel by Laura Van Den Berg

The Italian Party by Christina Lynch


I first undertook this internet challenge with some friends way back in 2008, and since then I have read 598 books, or an average of 54 a year.  I didn't make it in 2013 and 2014, being a span of time when both my kids got married and a grandson was born, and I read an astounding 81 books last year, because obviously it was 2017.

I grabbed the top from every year, and some others I didn't rank as highly but have stayed with me over time; that initial list was 20, and here are the Top Ten.

I'm too close to this year's batch, but I think Severance might be there somewhere in the long haul.

The first two I have recommended to everyone, and in fact when I shot my debut feature film The Girl in the Crawlspace earlier this year, they were two of the books I gave to my lead actors as a thak you for their roles.  The next two were also a heavy influence on my movie, as a character reads them during the action.

I had to include The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as it started my now ten-year love of Scandinavian crime fiction (as well, I suspect, as quite a few other people).

The others I would just say were mindblowers in some way that sent my thinking in different directions. 

Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel

 Night Film by Marisha Pessl

Stars In My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R. Delany

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin

The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin 

Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

 The City and The City by China Mieville

 Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle

 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson


Here are the next five that I had to think hard about before excluding:

Lunar Park by Brett Easton Ellis

Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

The Transmigration of Bodies by Yuri Herrera

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

Embassytown by China Mieville

Maybe this list would be slightly different if I did it again tomorrow, but maybe not.

A couple of times I have picked goals for the year; once I read a year of all women writers and once I did a year of people of color or people in translation.  If I have a goal for this coming year, I think it will be read harder and smarter; we shall see.  I hope you see something here you'd like to read!

Favorite Reads of 2017

I read an astounding number of books this year, more than I ever have since keeping this blog, close to ten years ago.  But in a lot of ways it was a year like no other, on the national scene, local scene, and in my own extended family, and like a lot of people I burrowed down and read a lot.

Since I read a bit more, I turned this Top Ten list to 11.  Here are my favorite reads of 2017.  Enjoy!

Glaxo by Hernan Ronsino

Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama

Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Transmigration of Bodies by Yuri Herrera

Silver Screen Fiend by Patton Oswalt

The Night Ocean by Paul La Farge

Autonomous by Annalee Newitz

The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson

The Last Cowboys of San Geronimo by Ian Stansel

The Girls by Emma Cline

Tender Wings of Desire by Catherine Kovach

On the Book Beat

I have been reading a lot this winter, so my latest Book Beat column (for the Pomp and Circumstantial Evidence magazine, from the Magna Cum Murder Mystery Conference) has plenty to chose from.

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith

Somebody sent London P.I. Cormoran Strike a severed leg, and he has several suspects to choose from in the latest thriller from J.K. Rowling (writing under the Robert Galbraith pseudonym) Career of Evil.

Rowling was outed as Galbraith some time ago, but it's a good thing that she is still using the name, so an unsuspecting young muggle doesn't inadvertently wander into this story.  It is chock full of adult elements, including gruesome murders and dismemberment, spousal and child abuse, and plenty of fighting and gunplay.

But it is Rowling's characters and situations that go beyond the genre trappings; Strike's troubled childhood with a rock star father, his loyal assistant Robin on the verge of making a bad-luck marriage, and various family members and friends are well drawn and interesting.

This is the third in the series, and all are recommended to mystery fans.

The Girls by Emma Cline

At the end of the 60s, at the end of her parents' marriage, a teenage girl gradually disconnects from suburbia and falls in with a growingly dangerous cult in Emma Cline's debut The Girls.

The Girls has elements of literary fiction and elements of thriller, with the obvious parallel being to the Manson murders.  But at its center Cline's novel is really about a young girl's awakening sexuality, and her attraction to a magnetic young woman in the cult.

How this relationship slowly, and then quickly, destroys lives around them is the spine of the story.

This is a solid read for those with any type of fiction interests and is recommended. 

The House Husband by James Patterson and Duane Swierczynski

A cop just a day back from maternity leave stalks a serial killer who targets families in The House Husband, from James Patterson's Bookshots line.

Bookshots are thrillers and romances in the beach read style, but at about one-fifth the size.  All are overseen by Patterson with a co-author, in this instance Duane Swierczynski, whose books and comics I have been interested in on their own merits.

This story, told in alternating chapters by the cop and the killer (who seems to lead the mild life of the house husband of the title) hits all the expected beats, but a twisty ending and a Philadelphia setting add value.

I enjoyed reading this quickly, as intended.

The Widow by Fiona Barton

A woman gradually begins to suspect that her husband is responsible for a child's disappearance in The Widow by Fiona Barton.

Barton's novel is at both times a portrait of a marriage and a psychological thriller, and the story ratchets up the tension by peeling back the onion through one revelation after the next.  Although I saw the ending coming, it was sufficiently suspenseful throughout.

The Widow benefits from having various chapters told from alternating points of view, mostly from an ambitious reporter and a dogged police detective, but also including the mother and the husband.

The Widow tries to land in the same range as The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl, with pretty good results.  For fans of thrillers.

Desperado: A Mile High Noir by Manuel Ramos

A down-on-his-luck guy reluctantly helps an old high school friend who is getting blackmailed--but when the old friend turns up dead, things quickly go from bad to worse in Desperado:  A Mile High Noir by Manuel Ramos.

Ramos hits all of the right genre beats, including a can't-win-for-losing protagonist, but adds interest by setting the story in the center of Latino culture in a gentrifying Denver.

I would recommend this novel to any noir fans, especially readers who want to hear from a different voice in the genre.

The Bastards of Pizzofalcone by Maurizio de Giovanni

A group of unwanted cops are sent to staff a precinct on the verge of closing; but when an affluent woman is murdered, they have a chance to redeem themselves both personally and professionally in The Bastards of Pizzofalcone.

This is the first novel in a new Italian crime series from Maurizio de Giovanni, bringing the lead cop over from his solid thriller The Crocodile.  Lojacono, called "The Chinaman," teams up with a handful of tarnished heroes on this and several other cases that thread throughout, as they try to hold various aspects of their personal lives together.

de Giovanni acknowledges Ed McBain and his "87th Precinct" books in the writing of this novel, and his nods to the source material show throughout.  Fans of McBain will enjoy this outing, a story that would fit right into that series but seen through a different cultural lens.

I thought the mystery was somewhat slight, but the characters and situations highly interesting, making it a fast read.

Silenced by Kristina Ohlsson

An immigrant killed in a hit and run, a vicar and his wife in a murder-suicide, and a young woman being terrorized in Bangkok are all tied together, and it's up to a special squad of Stockholm detectives to figure out how in Kristina Ohlsson's Silenced.

Ohlsson weaves a tangled plot, even more knotty with the complex backstories of the team of detectives trying to solve the various cases.  One is pregnant by a married lover, another senses trouble at home, a third is going through a volcanic divorce which is impacting his work.

Characters you can invest in, and sharp storytelling, make Silenced a satisfying read, especially for fans of Scandinavian crime stories.

The Believer by Joakim Zander

A woman in New York is a trendspotter for hip companies; back in Sweden, her younger brother Fadi becomes radicalized and heads to Syria; and in London, another woman has a laptop stolen after a night of drinking.

How these three storylines connect, and are connected to shadowy government agencies, is at the center of Swedish thriller The Believer by Joakim Zander.

This is a big, globe-trotting book ready-made for a movie adaptation starring Emily Blunt.  In the writing world, I would most closely equate Zander with late-era John LeCarre.

Slices of immigrant life in Sweden adds value to one of those big conspiracy storylines it never pays to think too hard about.

The Oslo Conspiracy by Asle Skredderberget

A young woman is murdered in Rome, and her younger brother killed in a schoolyard in Oslo; it is up to an Oslo cop with a Norwegian father and an Italian mother to stitch the two cases together in The Oslo Conspiracy from Asle Skredderberget.

I enjoy a lot of Scandinavian mysteries, but I'm not sure I've ever read one with a protagonist quite like this; typically the main characters are quite morose with myriad emotional problems, but Milo Cavalli--from a moneyed family, with plenty of girlfriends  and a penchant for globe-trotting and other fine things--is positively breezy by comparison.

The plotting is a breezier as well, reading a bit more like a beach thriller with action scenes with backdrops in various cities and a storyline featuring international business,, crime gangs, and the mysterious sinking of an Italian ship years ago.

Much lighter than the average Scandinavian thriller, for better or worse depending on one's tastes; either way quite readable.

2015 Reading Challenge

After doing the 50 books a year reading challenge for a number of years now, I thought I would change it up this time and read only books by women authors.  This challenge initially came from my wife, who felt--rightfully so--that I wasn't reading enough women.

This turned out to be a great thing, as not only did it energize my reading--I exceeded 50 books this year, which I had not been able to do for a while--but it also forced me to find authors I might have passed over before, several of whom I enjoyed immensely and will look for more from.

I think it made me a better reader, and I hope a better writer.  It was such a good thing that in 2016 I am going to take on another challenge a friend put before me, which was to read only authors of color for one year.  I think I will expand this challenge a bit and also include authors in translation.  I'm curious to see what I will find in 2016.

But before that, here is a look back to 2015, and my favorite reads.  Instead of doing a Top Ten, as this was a special challenge I decided to make it an even dozen.  Curiously, there are three dystopian novels and three Eastern European stories.  I would consider five science fiction, two thrillers, and one lone western.  An interesting mix:

1.  Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel

2.  Zoo City by Lauren Beukes

3.  The Ghost Network by Catie Disabato

4.  The Only Ones by Carola Dibbell

5.  Epitaph by Mary Doria Russell

6.  Innocence by Heda Margolius Kovaly

7.  Girl at War by Sara Novic

8.  When the Doves Disappeared by Sofi Oksanen

9.  Find Me by Laura Van Den Berg

10.  White Crocodile by KT Medina

11.  Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

12.  The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Happy Reading!

On the Book Beat

I sort of knew going into 2014 I probably would not make it to 50 books this year; with both my kids getting married, and my grandson born on the first day of 2014, it was going to be a busy year.  But I have read 348 books in seven years, and that is nothing to sneeze at.  But per usual I will list my top reads of the year:

Total Chaos by Jean-Claude Izzo

The Son by Jo Nesbo

Mapuche by Caryl Ferey

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle

Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

Summertime, All the Cats Are Bored by Phillipe Georget

 The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

A Little Lumpen Novelita by Roberto Bolano

The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino


I am changing it up this year, committing to reading only women writers in 2015 to see if I can become a better writer myself.  Check back in here to see how I'm doing.

On the Book Beat

My latest column for Pomp and Circumstantial Evidence, the magazine of the Magna Cum Murder Mystery Conference:

BOOK BEAT by John Oak Dalton

 

MR. MERCEDES by Stephen King
A disturbed young man plows into a line of people waiting on a job fair, and a dogged detective never catches him before heading into retirement; but when the young man begins to intrude in the retiree's life, he gets a second chance in Stephen King's Mr. Mercedes.

King has been dipping a toe into the mystery world lately, and I have been enjoying his new direction.  Unlike some of his other recent thriller attempts, like Joyland, this one contains no supernatural elements at all (perceived or real) and is probably closer styled to a summer blockbuster.

Although I thought some of the characterizations ran hot and cold, the story rockets on a relentless pace, with plenty of suspense and a nerve-racking conclusion that would play well on the big screen.

I think King's fans will enjoy this change of pace, as well as general mystery readers.

 

REALLY THE BLUES by Joseph Koenig
A jazz musician flees New Orleans under mysterious circumstances, and makes the mistake of landing in Paris during the Nazi Occupation in Joseph Koenig's wartime thriller Really the Blues.

Koenig has been an elusive figure in publishing, having written several different kinds of novels before seemingly disappearing for almost twenty years, emerging in 2012 with a very good hard-boiled noir, False Negative, which first got me interested in the author.

Now there's Really the Blues, where our reluctant protagonist would prefer to keep playing his music, but the Resistance, in various forms, keeps crossing his path, with the Nazis dead on their heels. 

This is a very engaging thriller that will have appeal to all kinds of readers.

 

THE SECOND DEADLY SIN by Asa Larsson

A young boy is the sole survivor of what turns out to be a long, connected series of murders, and it's up to the dogged prosecutors and police (including one clever police dog) of the Uppsala law enforcement community to figure out what's going on in Asa Larsson's The Second Deadly Sin.

I am a big fan of Larsson's novels, set in rural Sweden and featuring lawyer Rebecka Martinsson, whose psyche is a little fragile after all that has transpired in her previous adventures.

Larsson writes rich, interesting characters, and depicts vibrant slices of life from her own homeland.  This sometimes stands in stark contrast to the violence and terror that bursts from the pages at unexpected intervals.

These are very solid mysteries, and recommended for those who want a change of venue in their stories.

 

THE SON by Jo Nesbo
The son of a rogue cop ends up in prison, strung out on heroin supplied through a mysterious source; but when he figures out his dad might have been framed, the machinery of revenge begins to run in Jo Nesbo's superior crime novel The Son.

For those in a post-Dragon Tattoo malaise,  I can't recommend anyone more than Jo Nesbo.  His Harry Hole novels, about a flawed police detective in Oslo, are all top-flight thrillers accessible to audiences foreign and domestic.

This is a stand-alone story but the equal of his other work, told at a breakneck pace and featuring nothing but flawed characters, on both sides of the law, throughout.

 

MAPUCHE by Caryl Ferey

In Argentina, a private eye and an artist (the Mapuche of the title, an indigenous person of Argentina) begin to look into the murder of a transvestite prostitute, but quickly find themselves immersed in the dark history of Argentinian politics in Caryl Ferey's grisly thriller from the World Noir line.

Mapuche is a rocketing thriller, with additional intrigue for anyone interested in the history and politics of Argentina and South America, or in political thrillers in general.  I found out to be a good read and a window into a culture I was not familiar with.

However, Mapuche comes with a warning for readers with a gentle constitution; there is a lot of gruesome torture, murder, and rape throughout, and thus can only be recommended to more mature readers.  Worthwhile to those of a receptive mindset.

 

THE LAST TAXI RIDE by A.X. Ahmad

An Indian taxi driver gets an unexpected fare when he picks up a fading Bollywood actress; and when she turns up dead the next day, the cab driver tries to solve the crime to prove his own innocence in A.X. Ahmad's The Last Taxi Ride.

Even though the reader might see the ending before our protagonist, the story hits all the right beats as well as being an interesting look at Indian culture, both in India as well as New York City, where the story largely takes place.

Along with some emotional baggage that plays out, our hero fortunately has a military background that helps him out of numerous scrapes involving unsympathetic police, remorseless gangsters, and backstabbing friends.

Recommended for those who would like a change of pace in their characters and situations.

 

LAST WINTER, WE PARTED by Fuminori Nakamura

A journalist with a hidden agenda intends to write a book about why a popular photographer burned two women to death, but gets more than he bargained for in Last Winter, We Parted by Fuminori Nakamura.

This skin-crawling noir is written in an interesting, fragmentary style which includes pieces of the journalist's novel as well as other accounts of the story told from various angles.  But it is loaded with creepy characters, where every man has a secret fetish and every woman is an evil temptress.

Nakamura's novel The Thief, which I earlier read and enjoyed, also showed the sweating, seeping underbelly of Tokyo, but the author turns it up a notch in this one.  A greasy palette of tastes from sex dolls to S&M to implied incest is on display.

I found it to be a good read, but for darker tastes.

 

SUMMERTIME, ALL THE CATS ARE BORED by Philippe Georget

A cop, out of steam in his career and in his marriage, finds himself galvanized to find an abducted tourist as the disturbed kidnapper continues a cat-and-mouse game in Philippe Georget's Summertime, All The Cats Are Bored.

Georget's first novel comes from the World Noir line, quickly becoming one of my favorite imprints with (mostly) hardboiled noir from around the world.

This novel takes place in the French Mediterranean town of Perpignan, and in addition to a solid mystery interested me in someday visiting this area.

For mystery readers looking for a change of pace, this novel has a decidedly European flavor, both in its dealings with police life as well as marriage.

I continue to be very satisfied with the World Noir line and will also look for Georget's next book.

 

THE MASTER OF KNOTS by Massimo Carlotto

The Alligator, an Italian sort-of criminal turned sort-of detective, and his knockaround pals try to help a client who is  involved in murderous games with an S&M group in Massimo Carlotto's The Master of Knots.

The author has had a colorful life of his own, and some of it has obviously seeped into his writing.  In this, the second novel I have read in this series, he and his old-school pals find themselves shocked at the world they uncover, including the sinister criminal of the title.  The reader too may be shocked by some of the plot developments, not for all tastes.

But center to the story is the relationships between the three detective friends.  My favorite character is Rossini, an aging, genteel strongarm with his own curious code of honor.  I could very easily see Rossini based on the Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni (as see in Big Deal on Madonna Street).  Their scenes are veined with humor.

Carlotto's world is full of dishonorable lawyers, crooked cops, and gangsters with hearts of gold.  I enjoy visiting this world, through the World Noir line.

 

BLACK SKIES by Arnaldur Indridason

Dogged but unremarkable Icelandic cop Sigurdur Óli reluctantly tries to help a friend being blackmailed with explicit photos, but quickly gets involved in a complex, murderous scheme in Arnaldur Indridason's Black Skies.

I am a huge fan of Indridason's police procedurals featuring flawed but insightful detective Erlendur (the first translated into English was Jar City) but this novel features a supporting character from the earlier novels, one of Erlendur's colleagues.  It is a change of pace in tone (including some lighter subplots), but still features much of Indridason's very solid storytelling.

I am always on the lookout for more of Indridason's writing.

Bookworms

So somehow I have read at least 50 books a year for the last five years and not burned the eyes out of my head.  Every year I pick a Top 10 favorite reads.  Below are the Top 10 for each year 2008-2012, reordered as a list of favorites from #1 to #50.  I might reorder them slightly if I were to do this again tomorrow but my top ten there are solid faves that either mean a lot to me or introduced me to new ideas or have stuck with me.  It's winter, read something!

Stars In My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R. Delany

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Lunar Park by Brett Easton Ellis

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

The City and The City by China Mieville

The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo

Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin

Clans of the Alphane Moon by Philip K. Dick

The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon


 The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno

The Keep by Jennifer Egan

He Died With His Eyes Open by Derek Raymond

Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson

Nobody's Angel by Jack Clark

Robbie's Wife by Russell Hill

Rule of the Bone by Russell Banks

Nineteen Seventy-Four by David Peace

The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie


The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

The Painter of Battles by Arturo Perez-Reverte

Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks
 
The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer



Up in the Air by Walter Kirn

Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby

 Embassytown by China Mieville

Easy Money by Jens Lapidus

The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jessi Adler-Olsen

The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline






The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King

The Murderer Vine by Shepard Rifkin

Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill

An Evil Guest by Gene Wolfe

Babylon Babies by Maurice G. Dantec

Missing by Karen Alvtegen


 Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon
 
The Wandering Ghost by Martin Limon

The Wheat Field by Steve Thayer

 Real World by Natsuo Kirino

The Devil's Star by Jo Nesbo

Hypothermia by Arnaldur Indridason

 Amnesia Moon by Jonathan Lethem

 Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey

 Citizen Vince by Jess Walter

 Bossypants by Tina Fey
 
Blackmailer by George Alexrod

His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

Resolution by Robert B. Parker

Favorites Reads of 2012

I narrowly skated into keeping my promise of reading 50 books in 2012, but made it at the end thanks to a couple of snowbound days right after Christmas.  I had vowed to try to read a little smarter, and thus maybe a little slower, but I think I have a good top ten list favorite reads to show for it.  And here they are:

Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt


The Dog Stars by Peter Heller


The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters


He Died With His Eyes Open by Derek Raymond

Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson


Easy Money by Jens Lapidus

The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jessi Adler-Olsen

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Happy Reading and I am off to 2013 and hopefully 50 more.

Back on the Book Beat

The latest installment of "Book Beat," my long-running column for the magazine Pomp and Circumstantial Evidence, a part of the Magna Cum Murder Mystery Conference at Ball State University:

STARTED EARLY, TOOK MY DOG BY KATE ATKINSON

A retired British policeman impulsively buys a child from a drug addict; a sometime private eye rescues a dog from an abusive man at a park; and an elderly actress struggles with dementia while co-starring on a hit detective show; how these stories cross, loop back, and fold in on each other forms the heart of Started Early, Took My Dog.

I picked this up on a whim based on the title alone, having never heard of Kate Atkinson.  I found a rewarding, complex mystery that may be one of my favorites of the year.

The story picks up threads of the notorious Manchester Ripper case of the 70s and reaches all the way to contemporary times, following the life arcs of many complicated, fully-realized characters, including tarnished cops and well-meaning criminals.  The diverse storylines, which include a humorous running background thread about a cheesy cop show, are very nicely tied up at the end.

Atkinson is a fine literary writer with all of the requisite beats for mystery fans.  Recommended. 

1222 BY ANNE HOLT

A terrible accident derails a train in a snowy Norwegian mountain pass, and the survivors--including a paralyzed former policewoman, a troubled teenager, a magnetic religious leader, and at least one killer--manage to make it to a ski lodge--where their real problems begin--in Anne Holt's thriller 1222.

Even though the novel has the locked-room trappings of an Agatha Christie novel 1222 is quite a crackling thriller, despite featuring an unusually dour protagonist (even by the high standards of the typically gloomy Scandinavian mystery) in the paralyzed, retired detective.

The storytelling is exceptional, ratcheting up the suspense as the reader learns about a mysterious passenger sequestered behind armed bodyguards, various political ramifications involving high levels in the Norwegian government, and an increasing body count.

Holt is apparently quite popular in her native Norway, and although this is one of the later novels in her series featuring the reluctant police detective I believe it is the first translated into English.  I hope to see more of this series.

WOLF TICKETS BY RAY BANKS

Two old friends--who bonded over shared sociopathic tendencies and various addiction problems-- find themselves chasing an old girlfriend who ran off with another man, a cache of drugs, and a prize leather jacket; soon things get worse, then worse again, in Ray Banks' Wolf Tickets.

I thoroughly enjoyed an early outing from Edinburgh noir author Banks, Dead Money, another very tough crime novel, so I was eager to pick this one up.  Once again this novel features two knockaround protagonists--although in this case with chapters in alternating voices--and a storyline that veers from sardonic humor to chilling spatters of violence.

The main drawback to Wolf Tickets is that at times I had a hard time delineating between the two voices; but this one also comes with a warning for the casual reader who is unprepared for various scenes of violence, torture, and abuse (of substances, other people, and The King's English).

This came to me from Blasted Heath, a highly admirable ebook publisher from across the pond who are putting out some crackling contemporary noir.  Recommended for fans of the hard-boiled.

RAYLAN BY ELMORE LEONARD

Federal marshal Raylan Givens takes on a variety of Kentucky criminals, from organ traffickers to corporate thieves to cold-blooded killers, in Elmore Leonard's Raylan.

Leonard's laconic, trigger-eager lawman has appeared in several earlier crime novels but has become more prominent since the FX television show Justified featured the character, in a solid portrayal by Timothy Olyphant.

Unfortunately I found the storytelling in this one more television-sized, picking up characters and situations from the show and sometimes riffing on them in different ways; but I felt Raylan never really creating a large enough stage for the characters, as one might hope for when freed from the constrictions of TV production.

That being said, it is a quick, enjoyable read and pretty solid for a late entry in Leonard's bibliography, which has run hot and cold in recent years.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Bigfoot

Fellow Hoosier Brandon tweeted to me, Tried to fall asleep earlier this morning to a copy of Among Us I found the other day. Too much fun for the sleeping.  Brandon isn't the first one that has tried to fall asleep watching my work.  But what is fascinating to me is that it seems like interest in "Among Us," which came out in 2004, has never really waned.

For instance, earlier this month these dudes spent more time analyzing "Among Us" than I have.

I'm glad this movie has had some legs.  Although it was not the first screenplay I sold, it was the first one that got made into a movie, and I think it probably has the most of my own voice in it--for better or worse--than anything I have written since.  I am pretty proud of how it turned out, and you can also catch my audio commentary on the DVD.

Plus, you get to see me in the Bigfoot suit in the startling denouement of the film.

I said something last month about offering up a Book of the Month from my attempt to read 50 books a year.  For February I am offering up a double-header:  for the old school, the melancholy metafiction Breakfast of Champions; but if you've read it, anyone who reads this blog regularly will love Ready Player One.

Until later I am at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

On The Book Beat

I have written "Book Beat" for Pomp and Circumstantial Evidence, the magazine of the Magna Cum Murder Mystery Conference, for a number of years.  Here's my latest entry:

The Drop by Michael Connelly

Harry Bosch works two crimes at once in Michael Connelly's The Drop; first, a cold case about the long-ago murder of a young woman and second, a politically-charged case featuring the death of the son of one of Bosch's old foes.

The Drop refers to the possible murder or suicide of the young man, who went out the window of a hotel; but it also refers to a slang term about Bosch, Connelly's world-weary and only slightly tarnished L.A. cop, nearing retirement.

After a bit of a lull, I think Connelly's books have been consistently strong over the last few years.  He is a former reporter, evident in his clipped prose and hard-nosed style, which I enjoy.

I think the Harry Bosch novels will stand as one of the great contemporary mystery series when Michael Connelly finally closes the last chapter.  Recommended for mystery fans.

The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen

A Copenhagen cop is wounded in a shootout, while another partner is wounded and a third killed; in the aftermath, the burned-out cop is content to be assigned to the cold case files deep in a windowless basement.  However, he meets a janitor/driver named Assad (with mysterious skills far above his station in life) and is gradually coaxed back to life in The Keeper of Lost Causes.

This is the first of Jussi Adler-Olsen's crime novels translated into English, and it is quite a tale.  Our cop and his assistant become interested in a female politician who went missing five years before and is presumed dead.  They rather quickly find out there may be more to the disappearance and take off on a winding mystery, leavened by surprising bits of humor in the relationship between the two lead characters, somewhat rare in the typically gloomy Scandinavian mystery.

Meanwhile, a parallel story is a particularly gruesome one as the missing woman deals with being imprisoned and tortured in a small chamber for years on end, a grim counterpart to the main plot and more in line with the typically downbeat offerings from these authors.  The burned-out cop's intent to keep his feet up and drink coffee often acts as an agonizing contrast to these scenes.

I found this to be one of my favorite reads in the Scandinavian mystery genre and would recommend this to fans of Stieg Larsson and others.

 

Dead Money by Ray Banks

A pair of British salesmen spend their evenings drinking and gambling and get in trouble slowly, then quickly, in Ray Banks' noir Dead Money.

Banks gives his protagonist that Jim Thompson spin that I always appreciate, where his actions make sense to him even as the repercussions for those actions grown in intensity; a classic "unreliable narrator" story often favored in crime novels.

Banks writes in a clean style, looped with inky black humor, and the plot goes at a lightning pace, heaping dread upon dread.  My only complaint is that I felt that the novel probably needed one or two more chapters to fully realize all of the plotlines set forth.

I was pleasantly surprised when I was emailed a copy of this novel for my beloved Kindle from Blasted Heath, an e-publishing outfit.  I have become a fan of these U.K. crime writers, quietly supplanting their Scandinavian brethren who have gotten a toehold on U.S. shores in recent years.

I will definitely look for more from Ray Banks and would recommend this to fans of the genre.

Carte Blanche by Jeffrey Deaver

James Bond is back in action against a recycling magnate with a death fetish in Jeffrey Deaver's low-stakes initial outing with 007, Carte Blanche.

Despite some globe-trotting through Eastern Europe, England, and South Africa, overall this is a bit of a banal spy story, whether the name of James Bond is attached or not.  And yet it is hard to identify this retooled Bond, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan who still likes fast cars but has more politely contemporary views on drinking and women.  The main character really could have been any protagonist of this type of story.

Although I have enjoyed Deaver's crime fiction from time to time, I was a bit put out by a mechanic in this story that kept cheating the reader by holding back key plot elements until later reveals, almost as one might see in a screenplay.  That being said, if Deaver does another Bond novel I will probably check it out to see where he goes with it next.

It might be unfair to critique Deaver's take on Bond so quickly on the heels of Sebastian Faulks' superior Bond novel Devil May Care, which fits directly into Fleming's original series where he left off in the 60s.  I would have loved to see Faulks do another one that fit directly into the canon.

 

Plugged by Eoin Colfer

An ex-soldier leaves Ireland for what he thinks is the relative peace and solitude of suburban New Jersey, only to get wrapped up in a few riotous days of kidnapping and murder in Eoin Colfer's Plugged.

Colfer is probably best know as the author of the Artemis Fowl young adult novels, and seems to have made a concerted effort to reach the other end of the spectrum with this foul-mouthed, raunchy action-oriented comedy.  The "Plugged" of the title refers to not only the euphemism for killing but also two characters' obsession with hair transplants done by a shady doctor (whose ghost speaks to the protagonist throughout).

Although I felt the humor seemed strained at times, I enjoyed the action and plotting of this brisk little story and would look for more of Colfer's adult work.  It is definitely not for young adults, however, and woe be to the parent that buys it for a young person.

The Long Midnight of Barney Thomson by Douglas Lindsay

A dour barber with delusions of grandeur working in a second-tier shop dreams of murder and retribution; meanwhile, a squad of bored, weary, bickering cops hunt a serial killer terrorizing Glasgow.  Where these two storylines intersect, in a maelstrom of violence, is at the heart of Douglas Lindsay's The Long Midnight of Barney Thomson.

The description makes it sound like pretty grim fare, but Lindsay's novel is full of surprising humor, and is almost surreal in spots.  If Thomas Harris and Nick Hornby opened a barber shop, and Douglas Adams was the first customer, the three of them together might brainstorm up something like this.

I was caught unawares at first, but once I got into the rhythm of the storytelling I found myself wrapped up in Barney Thomson's misfortunes. Lindsay writes in more of a cinematic style and probably owes more to post-modern directors like Quentin Tarantino than the noir traditions of authors like Cornell Woolrich.

The downside of having an unlikable schlub as a protagonist is offset by some humorous writing and interesting ideas.  There has apparently been enough interest that Barney Thomson returns at least twice more, and I'm sure I will look for these as well.