You Couldn't wait.
Neither could we.
Best of the Year (2020)
THE OFFICE OF HISTORICAL CORRECTIONS - Danielle Evans
THE VANISHING HALF - Brit Bennett
THESE WOMEN - Ivy Pochoda
TRUE STORY - Kate Reed Petty
THE BOOK OF LAMPS AND BANNERS by Elizabeth Hand (sort of tied for number 1 for me too)
Elizabeth Hand is flawless as usual and writes beautiful crime novels that are dark and frightening but also sometimes incredibly uplifting and even healing, the morbid undercurrent only driving the importance of the book all the way through.
THE POISON GARDEN by Alex Marwood
One of the greatest books of all time, Marwood yet again proves she can write the books others can’t. The crime novel to send all crime novels.
REMAIN SILENT by Susie Steiner
Steiner delivers what may be an entry in the series even more stellar than the debut. This novel floored me and made me rethink so much about how to craft and execute fiction, and how much I truly, dearly love Susie Steiner in all her writing.
THE FAMILIAR DARK by Amy Engel
One of the most beautiful and riveting novels about the people you love and how much love can be a double-edged sword. Trust people, do not trust people, but either way they will let you down, and some much more than others. And some you will lose all together. Not to mention the titular darkness and how our nature can pull us in.
HE STARTED IT by Samantha Downing
I’m hungry for more of Samantha Downing and her writing. Even if the mystery wasn’t spectacular, which it is, read this for the voice and characters alone, all drawing you in and making you want and need more.
FINDERS KEEPERS by Sabine Durrant
I mean, can Durrant do any wrong?
THE BURN by Kathleen Kent
An impeccably written sequel that makes me wonder if maybe I love series as much as I do standalone novels.
THE KNOCKOUT QUEEN by Rufi Thorpo
Incredibly, unbearably real and beautiful, earnest and generous in scope and on a much more nearly flawless human scale.
DJINN PATROL ON THE PURPLE LINE - Deepa Anappara
What beauty in reckoning of tragedy, the way we lose the people closest to us whether to death or to their own selves, and the nearly animalistic needs that devour them.
MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF CARSON MCCULLERS by Jenn Shapland
Shapland writes a book that is at once a memoir and thoughtful recounting of her life as paralleled with McCullers, a book that I could not put down and which kept me glued from start to finish. I never wanted this book to end. I never wanted to admit how slim this book might be, and how I’d be yearning from more from Shapland immediately.
OPEN HOUSE by Katie Sise
An engrossing novel that had me hooked, latched onto the characters and plot and understand what twists might come next and, surprisingly, twists I did not see coming, and this is being stated by a twist master.
HIDDEN VALLEY ROAD by Bob Kolker
Am I the only person who waited this long for a new book by Kolker, who never fails to turn your stomach over with truth and facts and the ultimate level of humanity only he can create in real characters outside of his own actual control.
LITTLE CRUELTIES by Liz Nugent
Nugent is like no other. Bravo. This book is so much more than I expected, and I expect a lot from Nugent. I look forward to rereading this again. And again. And again.
UNSPEAKABLE THINGS by Jess Lourey
Jess is fascinating, a real throwback that combines STRANGER THINGS in the homage to a different time period, if only recent but out of touch, and also the way we cannot ever really and truly find peace in childhood, or ever live out the ideal childhood we all yearn for.
WINTER COUNTS by David Heska Wanbli Weiden
Oh what a promising new series. Oh, how I hope there will be more, and more, and more.
GODSHOT - Chelsea Bieker
THE SECRET LIVES OF CHURCH LADIES - Deesha Philyaw
A stunning collection dedicated to serving out the lives of those who need to be recognized in their own light, and by a write who authors books and stories magnificently.
ROAD OUT OF WINTER by Alison Stine
This speculative thriller blew my socks off. Is that the expression? Perhaps new expressions need to be invented for a book this innovative.
THE COLD MILLIONS by Jess Walter
I never regret reading a novel by Walter, and this book is no exception. What a wonderful book to speed through hungrily, and devour again until you can finally slow yourself and enjoy it all, with an epic scope and from so many wonderful viewpoints.
THE DISTANT DEAD by Heather Young
What a beautiful, twisty mystery and with so much more to it. A stellar standout for a year full of great mysteries and novels of all genres. This will likely keep you guessing, and ready for Youngs’ next novel.
THE LIGHTNESS by Emily Temple
Temple should be read for her sentences alone, not to mention the twist that blows your socks off so wholly, so completely, and feels refreshing and flooring all at once.
A GOOD MARRIAGE by Kimberly McCreight
I mean, I guess I see people say “I cannot put this book down” all the time, but with McCreight’s new book, the novel was incredibly and wonderfully stunning and really felt refreshing in a subgenre of mysteries and thrillers and it delivers. It delivers.
STRIKE ME DOWN by Mindy Mejia
What a marvelous novel that proves Mindy Mejia can take what many will view as the most boring of professions and create an intriguing mystery that won’t let you go, not even past the final pages.
HIDE AWAY by Jason Pinter
One of the most entertaining, nonstop thrills books of the year, and I cannot wait for the sequel, truly. Actually, kind of reading it now. Just you wait. Order this, and preorder the next. You won't be disappointed.
THE RED LOTUS by Chris Bojahlian
I read this before a root-canal. With never-ending beautiful poetry and spellbinding storytelling that leaves you yearning for more, it almost made the root-canal worth it, right?
PLAIN BAD HEROINES - Emily Danforth
THE BUTCHER’s BLESSING - Ruth Gilligan
A beautiful novel often compared with Obreht (THE TIGER’S WIFE) and Chabon (ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND CLAY) and rightfully so.
TWENTY AFTER MIDNIGHT - Daniel Galera
How talented Landragin must be to build such a multifaceted novel with different forms of telling the story and stories in so many ways, and how to create a narrative in more than one way, as can be reflected in real life.
OAK FLAT - Lauren Redniss
A truly magnificent return from one of the greatest writers in American literature, and one of the bravest, most talented voices of all time. She is a wondrous writer with immense talent, and I cannot wait to see the many stories and novels to come.
- deftly characterizes distinctly American oppositional forces of today in ways both humanizing & scathing to explore through some of the most human stories elements in the modern discourse that can be polarizing
- brilliant imaginative construction of settings & scenarios that allow free exploration of such topics
- Height of storytelling especially in short form - every single story could be taught as height of craft for readers & writers alike
THE VANISHING HALF - Brit Bennett
- unbearably beautiful, showing the ways in which broken needn’t stay, sweeping historical family saga, will stand as a beacon of literature for time to come
THESE WOMEN - Ivy Pochoda
- in a year where remembering those often overlooked in our communities (especially those overlooked in major cities - as seen in migration of folk out of cities when pandemic hit hardest - the people who can’t afford to leave / who were left behind, the “real” city), THESE WOMEN spoke these stories most true. Utterly unique structure mind blowingly original in the scope of crime fiction, an elegy to the women oft left behind in feminist movements, etc
TRUE STORY - Kate Reed Petty
- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
- compulsively readable, achingly prescient, stunningly lingering, absolute brilliance. Hard to articulate how incredible
- A book that manages to encompass so much of what being sexually assaulted means, real or imagined, conscious or not, remembered or forgotten—the haunted nature of the cruelty and the act that penetrates more deeply than the physical will outlast the book as well.
THE BOOK OF LAMPS AND BANNERS by Elizabeth Hand (sort of tied for number 1 for me too)
Elizabeth Hand is flawless as usual and writes beautiful crime novels that are dark and frightening but also sometimes incredibly uplifting and even healing, the morbid undercurrent only driving the importance of the book all the way through.
THE POISON GARDEN by Alex Marwood
One of the greatest books of all time, Marwood yet again proves she can write the books others can’t. The crime novel to send all crime novels.
REMAIN SILENT by Susie Steiner
Steiner delivers what may be an entry in the series even more stellar than the debut. This novel floored me and made me rethink so much about how to craft and execute fiction, and how much I truly, dearly love Susie Steiner in all her writing.
THE FAMILIAR DARK by Amy Engel
One of the most beautiful and riveting novels about the people you love and how much love can be a double-edged sword. Trust people, do not trust people, but either way they will let you down, and some much more than others. And some you will lose all together. Not to mention the titular darkness and how our nature can pull us in.
HE STARTED IT by Samantha Downing
I’m hungry for more of Samantha Downing and her writing. Even if the mystery wasn’t spectacular, which it is, read this for the voice and characters alone, all drawing you in and making you want and need more.
FINDERS KEEPERS by Sabine Durrant
I mean, can Durrant do any wrong?
THE BURN by Kathleen Kent
An impeccably written sequel that makes me wonder if maybe I love series as much as I do standalone novels.
THE KNOCKOUT QUEEN by Rufi Thorpo
Incredibly, unbearably real and beautiful, earnest and generous in scope and on a much more nearly flawless human scale.
DJINN PATROL ON THE PURPLE LINE - Deepa Anappara
- in the vein of THESE WOMEN, a humanizing & empathizing glimpse into the lives of folk often forgot, neglected, ignored or left behind. A gorgeous exploration of innocence & joy in the face of tragedy & suffering
What beauty in reckoning of tragedy, the way we lose the people closest to us whether to death or to their own selves, and the nearly animalistic needs that devour them.
MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF CARSON MCCULLERS by Jenn Shapland
Shapland writes a book that is at once a memoir and thoughtful recounting of her life as paralleled with McCullers, a book that I could not put down and which kept me glued from start to finish. I never wanted this book to end. I never wanted to admit how slim this book might be, and how I’d be yearning from more from Shapland immediately.
OPEN HOUSE by Katie Sise
An engrossing novel that had me hooked, latched onto the characters and plot and understand what twists might come next and, surprisingly, twists I did not see coming, and this is being stated by a twist master.
HIDDEN VALLEY ROAD by Bob Kolker
Am I the only person who waited this long for a new book by Kolker, who never fails to turn your stomach over with truth and facts and the ultimate level of humanity only he can create in real characters outside of his own actual control.
LITTLE CRUELTIES by Liz Nugent
Nugent is like no other. Bravo. This book is so much more than I expected, and I expect a lot from Nugent. I look forward to rereading this again. And again. And again.
UNSPEAKABLE THINGS by Jess Lourey
Jess is fascinating, a real throwback that combines STRANGER THINGS in the homage to a different time period, if only recent but out of touch, and also the way we cannot ever really and truly find peace in childhood, or ever live out the ideal childhood we all yearn for.
WINTER COUNTS by David Heska Wanbli Weiden
Oh what a promising new series. Oh, how I hope there will be more, and more, and more.
GODSHOT - Chelsea Bieker
- WEW
- deftly navigates complex narrative topics
- Beautiful writing cups emotion delicately in hand from page to page
- If GOLD FAME CITRUS and BARBED WIRE HEART had a beautiful baby
- Firmly cements itself in the camaraderie of other young women writers challenging the moment with speculative & apocalyptic fiction (think GOLD FAME CITRUS, SEVERANCE, STATION ELEVEN)
- puts PSU MFA firmly on the map
THE SECRET LIVES OF CHURCH LADIES - Deesha Philyaw
A stunning collection dedicated to serving out the lives of those who need to be recognized in their own light, and by a write who authors books and stories magnificently.
ROAD OUT OF WINTER by Alison Stine
This speculative thriller blew my socks off. Is that the expression? Perhaps new expressions need to be invented for a book this innovative.
THE COLD MILLIONS by Jess Walter
I never regret reading a novel by Walter, and this book is no exception. What a wonderful book to speed through hungrily, and devour again until you can finally slow yourself and enjoy it all, with an epic scope and from so many wonderful viewpoints.
THE DISTANT DEAD by Heather Young
What a beautiful, twisty mystery and with so much more to it. A stellar standout for a year full of great mysteries and novels of all genres. This will likely keep you guessing, and ready for Youngs’ next novel.
THE LIGHTNESS by Emily Temple
Temple should be read for her sentences alone, not to mention the twist that blows your socks off so wholly, so completely, and feels refreshing and flooring all at once.
A GOOD MARRIAGE by Kimberly McCreight
I mean, I guess I see people say “I cannot put this book down” all the time, but with McCreight’s new book, the novel was incredibly and wonderfully stunning and really felt refreshing in a subgenre of mysteries and thrillers and it delivers. It delivers.
STRIKE ME DOWN by Mindy Mejia
What a marvelous novel that proves Mindy Mejia can take what many will view as the most boring of professions and create an intriguing mystery that won’t let you go, not even past the final pages.
HIDE AWAY by Jason Pinter
One of the most entertaining, nonstop thrills books of the year, and I cannot wait for the sequel, truly. Actually, kind of reading it now. Just you wait. Order this, and preorder the next. You won't be disappointed.
THE RED LOTUS by Chris Bojahlian
I read this before a root-canal. With never-ending beautiful poetry and spellbinding storytelling that leaves you yearning for more, it almost made the root-canal worth it, right?
PLAIN BAD HEROINES - Emily Danforth
- fulfills all your sapphic spooky dreams
- Possible did for lit what t swift did for music this year in that SHOWED TF UP FOR THE GAYS & GIRLS
- perfect blend of scary, original, & fun - a delightful Halloween weekend read for a year where I had to stay inside all weekend!
THE BUTCHER’s BLESSING - Ruth Gilligan
A beautiful novel often compared with Obreht (THE TIGER’S WIFE) and Chabon (ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND CLAY) and rightfully so.
TWENTY AFTER MIDNIGHT - Daniel Galera
- honestly absolutely loved this
- Unique structure - left me with questions at the end but in a good way - questions to meet the world with moving forward & questions to encourage a life of purpose
- Delightful reflection on & for the generations caught in the flux of the internet age (basically if you knew basic HTML before 2003 but don’t know how to use TikTok)
- Flirts with apocalyptic but uniquely hopeful in spite of
- OMG WE ARE SO BLESSED
- Not one word wasted - the kind of book you pick up just to skim in a bookstore & end up taking a seat & reading 100 pages before buying you & everyone you know a copy & also telling everyone else you know to go read it ASAP
- thrilling release for those desperate for new great fantasy but have already run through the Jemisin catalogue
- excellent representation for characters that don’t fit the gender binary in fantasy - in inspiration from the people of the native Americas, reminded that the gender binary isn’t archaic it’s just a modern construct & it’s bullshit let’s all be gay as fuck like we was meant to be
How talented Landragin must be to build such a multifaceted novel with different forms of telling the story and stories in so many ways, and how to create a narrative in more than one way, as can be reflected in real life.
OAK FLAT - Lauren Redniss
- genre bending multi generic reporting
- Art meets poetry meets journalism woven into a narrative that just makes me gasp
- Read the whole thing in one sitting just in utter awe
- Family, land, & tradition, how these mean different things for different folk & how these different meanings conflict & who or what suffers as a result of that conflict
- distinctly American
- gorgeous elegy for family
- Writing evocative & compelling - I cried several times, found solace with regard to my own reflections on family
- 100000% better than ANOTHER APPALACHIAN FAMILY ELEGY AHEM AHEM
- more Daniel Woodrell than JD Vance and FUCK YES FOR THAT
- honestly love this in the camp of like FATES AND FURIES or ON CHESIL BEACH where it’s like ok yes let’s explore marriage in a way original and meaningful but I think it’s also pretty amazing in that it like lowkey takes polarizing shit from like 2016 election era America & inserts it quietly into a marriage & like sees what happens Forreal.
A truly magnificent return from one of the greatest writers in American literature, and one of the bravest, most talented voices of all time. She is a wondrous writer with immense talent, and I cannot wait to see the many stories and novels to come.
Megan Abbott, Wes Craven, and the Evolution of the Incredible Women of Crime Entertainment. |
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I fell in love with Megan Abbott the way I fell in love with Neve Campbell. The first time I watched Scream, I knew I wanted to be like Campbell’s Sidney Prescott, the ultimate final girl, the one who fought as hard as her attackers. This was around the time I realized I was gay, but didn’t know what being gay meant. This was also when I was first called “faggot,” with the word written on the spines of my books by classmates (and my books were precious to me) and a year before a group of boys would hold me down on a playground at school while one dug a long thumb nail into my right eyeball.
Watching Neve Campbell stab her boyfriend with an umbrella or taunt killers by turning tables in the astonishing first Scream film got me through. I was able to view things as black-and-white: Sidney was good. She did not have sex until just before she discovered her boyfriend was one of the killers involved in the series of gruesome murders, including her own mother’s death. Her boyfriend, Billy Loomis, gave little room for walking any sort of binary and understanding the films in a morally ambiguous way, mostly because the crimes are so violent and committed against victims viewed as innocent bystanders who just happen to be put in harm’s way.
But who is the victim in Megan Abbott’s novels, especially her break-out incredibly well-known and exception noir masterpieces, Dare Me and The Fever? In 2010, I met Megan through Lynn Kostoff, another phenomenal noir author who invited Megan to speak at a local university. I bought Die a Little, and later dove deep into her entire oeuvre, and later she helped the crime community embrace me, expanding my knowledge of the genre. Megan is something like a walking encyclopedia, especially of all sorts of media, enabling her to look at everything from Double Endimnity to Mulholland Driveand depict teenage girls not as innocent fleeing victims, but instead young women to fear and be afraid of, and yes, Beth, Addy, and all of her characters terrify me.
There’s a connection between these two types of girls—the black-and-white final girl and the vicious teenagers in Dare Me andThe Fever. Abbott’s as much a horror writer as she is noir, considering the strong connection between noir the two genres and the way they both concern women in entirely different ways. The femme fatale and the finale girl couldn’t be more different, until Abbott makes them the same. It’s important to discuss the evolution of the complex and often unlikable woman, how she has developed in film and novels since Sidney Prescott’s heyday, along with Nancy and Laurie too, a turn from perfection to perfectly destructive and destroying. In Scream 4, Sidney is the “grim reaper,” just as Beth is not to be messed with in the first season of Dare Me, with Addy warning Coach to be careful around her best friend.
Screamwas, in many ways, the revival and destruction of slasher films, twisting the tropes and allowing Sidney to give up her virginity and still live. Like the women in Megan Abbott’s novels, Sidney learns through the films she can trust no one, just like her doppelganger Jill in the final film in the masterful quartet. Carol J. Clover writes in Men, Women, and Chain Saws that “The women’s movement has given many things to popular culture, some more savory than others. One of its main donations to horror, I think, is the image of an angry woman.” And so we shift from the tired and weary Sidney to Addy, Coach, Beth, all angry in their own right and more dangerous than anyone imagines. We see girls kick each other in the stomach to support their eating disorders, claw into their legs during stunts, and test each other in ice water challenges that lead to hypothermia and disastrous revelations. Imagine Arthur Miller’s paranoia mixed with the relentless, vengeful Angel Dare (see Money Shot, Choke Hold by Christa Faust) and Megan’s characters bloom into marvelous creatures, all thorny roses and Venus fly traps.
You are the fly.
Whereas we see the patriarchal desire for perfection in slasher films (think of Jill inScream 4, played expertly by Emma Roberts, “I don’t need friends, I need fans”), Abbott likes to break mirrors to destroy the possibility of perfection, never considering seven years of bad luck, only concerning herself with characters who are good and bad, dark and light, destruction and redemptive. In Dare Me, one of the first signs of something being not quite right involving Sergeant Will’s suicide are the teeth missing from his mouth (also pictured in the television show), and then there’s the damage done to the first victim’s face in The Fever, a shattered reminder of mistaken identity and how image can be everything to girls in patriarchal rape culture, and how image can also destroy these young women in the same way.
But they fight back. Megan Abbott doesn’t let her cheerleaders simply walk away from conflict. Addy is tested, lost and unsure of who to trust, while Beth yearns for Addy’s approval. We see Neve Campbell fighting for her life, needing to know she isn’t a harbinger of doom, while that’s all Beth wants: to have the power—and just like every woman Megan Abbott examines, Beth will stop at nothing until she gets what she wants.
Not what she needs.
What she wants.
Even if Beth doesn’t believe she is valuable, that doesn’t mean she won’t stop until she finds her value, if only she didn’t measure herself worth through Addy. And Addy, Coach’s sycophant and potential prodigy is forsakes everything to win.
It’s possible we sometimes forget winning is about coming out on top, whether that means staying alive or finding validation. Not everyone wins, and that’s what noir’s about. The body count rises in slasher films as hearts are broken in Abbott’s noir novels, proving that Raymond Chandler is wrong: broken hearts are far heavier than dead bodies. If only we could bury our desires, we might survive for the sequel, we might get to state, we might finally understand how everyone loses, and love is a type of killing, as Coach puts it in Dare Me. The complex characters Abbott creates, so vulnerable and fierce all at once, force us to look past the final girl and understand that real women can be troubled and reach some level of perfection all at the same time. If only Addy could see past what she wanted most, and Beth, and Coach. If only they might look past themselves, they might save their hearts for a later death and save their claws for the championships.
If you remove the complex nature of Abbott’s women, we get the final girl, the one who has to stay alive because she is perfect. But Abbott’s women are different. Why do Addy, Beth, and Coach fight to get what they want, even if they end up with a smoking gun and a handful of teeth? Because they are real women, and they don’t need explanations. They want, and perhaps past the final pages of Abbott’s novels, or in future seasons of the show, they will get what they want, even if it costs them everything.
Watching Neve Campbell stab her boyfriend with an umbrella or taunt killers by turning tables in the astonishing first Scream film got me through. I was able to view things as black-and-white: Sidney was good. She did not have sex until just before she discovered her boyfriend was one of the killers involved in the series of gruesome murders, including her own mother’s death. Her boyfriend, Billy Loomis, gave little room for walking any sort of binary and understanding the films in a morally ambiguous way, mostly because the crimes are so violent and committed against victims viewed as innocent bystanders who just happen to be put in harm’s way.
But who is the victim in Megan Abbott’s novels, especially her break-out incredibly well-known and exception noir masterpieces, Dare Me and The Fever? In 2010, I met Megan through Lynn Kostoff, another phenomenal noir author who invited Megan to speak at a local university. I bought Die a Little, and later dove deep into her entire oeuvre, and later she helped the crime community embrace me, expanding my knowledge of the genre. Megan is something like a walking encyclopedia, especially of all sorts of media, enabling her to look at everything from Double Endimnity to Mulholland Driveand depict teenage girls not as innocent fleeing victims, but instead young women to fear and be afraid of, and yes, Beth, Addy, and all of her characters terrify me.
There’s a connection between these two types of girls—the black-and-white final girl and the vicious teenagers in Dare Me andThe Fever. Abbott’s as much a horror writer as she is noir, considering the strong connection between noir the two genres and the way they both concern women in entirely different ways. The femme fatale and the finale girl couldn’t be more different, until Abbott makes them the same. It’s important to discuss the evolution of the complex and often unlikable woman, how she has developed in film and novels since Sidney Prescott’s heyday, along with Nancy and Laurie too, a turn from perfection to perfectly destructive and destroying. In Scream 4, Sidney is the “grim reaper,” just as Beth is not to be messed with in the first season of Dare Me, with Addy warning Coach to be careful around her best friend.
Screamwas, in many ways, the revival and destruction of slasher films, twisting the tropes and allowing Sidney to give up her virginity and still live. Like the women in Megan Abbott’s novels, Sidney learns through the films she can trust no one, just like her doppelganger Jill in the final film in the masterful quartet. Carol J. Clover writes in Men, Women, and Chain Saws that “The women’s movement has given many things to popular culture, some more savory than others. One of its main donations to horror, I think, is the image of an angry woman.” And so we shift from the tired and weary Sidney to Addy, Coach, Beth, all angry in their own right and more dangerous than anyone imagines. We see girls kick each other in the stomach to support their eating disorders, claw into their legs during stunts, and test each other in ice water challenges that lead to hypothermia and disastrous revelations. Imagine Arthur Miller’s paranoia mixed with the relentless, vengeful Angel Dare (see Money Shot, Choke Hold by Christa Faust) and Megan’s characters bloom into marvelous creatures, all thorny roses and Venus fly traps.
You are the fly.
Whereas we see the patriarchal desire for perfection in slasher films (think of Jill inScream 4, played expertly by Emma Roberts, “I don’t need friends, I need fans”), Abbott likes to break mirrors to destroy the possibility of perfection, never considering seven years of bad luck, only concerning herself with characters who are good and bad, dark and light, destruction and redemptive. In Dare Me, one of the first signs of something being not quite right involving Sergeant Will’s suicide are the teeth missing from his mouth (also pictured in the television show), and then there’s the damage done to the first victim’s face in The Fever, a shattered reminder of mistaken identity and how image can be everything to girls in patriarchal rape culture, and how image can also destroy these young women in the same way.
But they fight back. Megan Abbott doesn’t let her cheerleaders simply walk away from conflict. Addy is tested, lost and unsure of who to trust, while Beth yearns for Addy’s approval. We see Neve Campbell fighting for her life, needing to know she isn’t a harbinger of doom, while that’s all Beth wants: to have the power—and just like every woman Megan Abbott examines, Beth will stop at nothing until she gets what she wants.
Not what she needs.
What she wants.
Even if Beth doesn’t believe she is valuable, that doesn’t mean she won’t stop until she finds her value, if only she didn’t measure herself worth through Addy. And Addy, Coach’s sycophant and potential prodigy is forsakes everything to win.
It’s possible we sometimes forget winning is about coming out on top, whether that means staying alive or finding validation. Not everyone wins, and that’s what noir’s about. The body count rises in slasher films as hearts are broken in Abbott’s noir novels, proving that Raymond Chandler is wrong: broken hearts are far heavier than dead bodies. If only we could bury our desires, we might survive for the sequel, we might get to state, we might finally understand how everyone loses, and love is a type of killing, as Coach puts it in Dare Me. The complex characters Abbott creates, so vulnerable and fierce all at once, force us to look past the final girl and understand that real women can be troubled and reach some level of perfection all at the same time. If only Addy could see past what she wanted most, and Beth, and Coach. If only they might look past themselves, they might save their hearts for a later death and save their claws for the championships.
If you remove the complex nature of Abbott’s women, we get the final girl, the one who has to stay alive because she is perfect. But Abbott’s women are different. Why do Addy, Beth, and Coach fight to get what they want, even if they end up with a smoking gun and a handful of teeth? Because they are real women, and they don’t need explanations. They want, and perhaps past the final pages of Abbott’s novels, or in future seasons of the show, they will get what they want, even if it costs them everything.
Best Books of 2019
Below, I list some of my favorite books of 2019. If you haven't read these books, I highly recommend you get on it. Go to your nearest indie, or use indie bound, and find the books immediately!
I've provided links to Amazon, but you may want to buy from and support Indies like Poisoned Pen, Murder By The Book, and Tombolo Books
THE POISON GARDEN by Alex Marwood
While this book is not technically published in the United States (coming January 2020, mark your calendars), the book is a stunner, the cult book to end all cult books. Masterfully crafted, delicately handled, and beautifully written, this will chill you, a body-encompassing brain freeze, and you'll never forget the first read--or second, or third, or tenth. It's a marvelous book that will haunt you for years, and likely will top my 2020 list too.
LAST WOMAN STANDING by Amy Gentry
There are very few sophomore novels this great, and it's even more surprising that Amy, author of the spectacular GOOD AS GONE, is not able to write a novel as brilliant as her debut, but follow it up with something jaw-dropping, intense, and unputdownable (I may use this word a lot, but it's 100% accurate for Gentry's writing). The book destroys the #metoo era books with big promises and little fulfillment, providing a feminist book without solid answers--as it is intended to do, and as someone as wise as Gentry knows to provide for her readers--but raising so many important questions.
LADY IN THE LAKE by Laura Lippman
I cannot express what this book means to me, or what Laura's friendship and mentorship means to me. She is the only person I know able to capture this many points-of-view and make a story so complex and so incredibly necessary. She deserves every accolade and love she has thrown her way. Congratulations on the year of LL!
GRETCHEN by Shannon Kirk
This creepy and twisted tale definitely deserves a place on the list--a brilliant book I can't share too much about, other than a mother and daughter on the run and how everything changes when they may stop in the wrong place for them at the wrong time.
NO EXIT by Taylor Adams
This books, a thriller with a female protagonist who isn't sexually assaulted and who fights her ass off to survive in a special sort of locked-room mystery, is a brilliant example of how much a writer can do with so little space, characters, and time, and Adams does so spectacularly.
YOUR HOUSE WILL PAY by Steph Cha
A book which deals delicately and sensitively but with strength and absolute command about race, class, and forms of justice (whether right or wrong) and manages to entice readers all at once is a feat few authors accomplish. I feel like Steph is still at the beginning of her career, so young and yet so incredibly talented, with four books behind her and so many great works to come. Get ready for her to keep raising the bar, people.
THE REIGN OF THE KINGFISHER by TJ Martinson
A thriller, a novel about a hero present or gone, a brilliant character study of so many players so excellently crafted, and a book which will rip you apart and never attempt to put you back together--and a banned book, to boot! I know of few great novels in history which haven't been banned--the game changers, the books we love for life--and TJ Martinson is already getting a head start on everyone else, creating a work of genius and now, hopefully, thank u nexting the community which has shunned him (a very limited community, I might add) and moving on to another great work.
GOD LAND by Lyz Lenz
Perhaps my favorite nonfiction book, tied with IN THE DREAM HOUSE, the book studies what it means to be a woman in America, to be Christian in our modern world, to accept things in a binary and dialectic way, and never to compromise writing or one's life--although Lenz always manages to understand the tough world we live in, how unfair it is, and what this means for women and other minorities.
MY DARKEST PRAYER by SA Cosby
I began this novel shocked at something which felt new--not just the voice of the narrator, but the idea of a mortician solving crimes, a former police officer forced to work in funeral homes, and what this means for crime fiction. Sure, this is not the first instance of a story like this, but it is the first time anyone has done this type of story this well. Cosby is a breath of fresh air, rolling down your car window and letting the autumn chill sweep all around you. Here's hoping for more, and soon.
THE HIDDEN THINGS by Jamie Mason
No one can think up a plot as genius as Mason, with a stolen piece of artwork, a girl attacked on video camera, and the crimes which follow, the twists and turns we can't see coming and are shocked to uncover, and a brilliant climax and then denouement worthy of all the praise and awards you can think of. Mason is a writer full of life and vision, a brilliant artist who creates the most original novels, the most brilliant reads, and with some of the best twists and turns and conclusions in today's market.
STRANGERS AT THE GATE by Catriona McPherson
Catriona McPherson is a fairly prolific author who never fails to surprise. This book, about a couple filled with hope and a sense of promise, immediately turns into a drastic novel of murder and destruction as the couple struggles to cover up and recover the life they wanted, and the lives they feel they deserved. Will the couple turn against themselves, and what are the crimes at play? Read this delicious book for all the answers, and so many more questions you'll still be wondering when the novel is done.
THE GONE DEAD by Chanelle Benz
Benz creates a disturbing psychological thriller (with so many other brilliant genres added in) which doesn't stop with the present, the fear for today, but sliding back into the days of slavery, the racism and marginalization which persists, and the ultimate horrors both real and disturbing within the fictional portrayal of the book we still reckon with today. Benz is a writer who knows how to drive a brilliant book home.
SEARCHING FOR SYLVIE LEE by Jean Kwok
Kwok drives this novel about a missing sister and daughter home. We see through multiple perspectives the lives of a family split up by continents, by generations, by ideas and ideals, by lives and values, and we try to understand just as the characters attempt to understand one another how this family might work, and how this mystery might be resolved. Kwok destroys any roadblocks in her way to crafting brilliant voices and an awe-inspiring mystery.
TELL ME A STORY by Cassandra King Conroy
I have loved the novels of Cassandra King and her husband, the late master of fiction Pat Conroy, for so very long. I was devastated when he passed away, but elated to see Cassandra King Conroy releasing a book about their romance. The novel is delightful, filled with whimsical stories about their love, the way they were so great for each other and how they worked as a couple and writers, and the memoir will leave you in tears while also filled with joy at the thought of true love seeping through the pages of the book into your own heart.
THE SHADOW KING by Maaza Mangiste
Mangiste explores what it means, in this epic historical novel, to be a leader, to be a king, to be strong and determined and also how this can or cannot be balanced with remaining true too oneself. Who are the people really in power, and who are those acting and working to better the world? And how does this all play out in a brilliant novel that's as thought-provoking as it is engrossing and entertaining?
HUNTER'S MOON by Philip Caputo
It's hard to elaborate on this novel without getting away, but imagine Jennifer Egan's A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD, this brilliant novel in stories like OLIVE KITTERIDGE, but both with much more crime and grit.
BILOXI by Mary Miller
Miller is a favorite of mine. Her ability to craft a voice--any voice--is insane, and here she doesn't fail, with an old man and his newly adopted dog, a story so simple and yet so beautiful, enchanting, and real. Miller is never overly sentimental, but she treats everyone--including the dog at the center of the book--with such grace and empathy, we can't help but wish the novel would be a sprawling epic. However, Miller works best in shorter forms, finding herself able to accomplish more with less, unlike so many other of her contemporaries.
PATSY by Nicole Dennis-Benn
PATSY is the story of a young woman who comes to New York, hoping to find home in the arms of the woman she loves but instead finding an entirely different, darker, and more frightening reality which is all too relevant to issues in today's world. The book is monumental in size and scope, the lovely Dennis-Benn taking control of her characters and the narrative to show us what it's like to be an outsider in New York, and what it's like to fight like hell and be a survivor.
FAMOUS IN CEDARVILLE by Erica Wright
What do you get when Wright sets out to author her first published standalone novel? There's a murder mystery, a former celebrity, a labyrinth of intrigue and deception, and a surprising conclusion leaving us with a novel that's an intersection between SUNSET BOULEVARD and MULHOLLAND DR. Brilliant.
THE HEAVENS by Sandra Newman
This brilliant novel about a woman who lives in two times, each perhaps a dream to the other, examines love, life, and the consequences of our actions on the future. We see through the protagonist and the people in her life, including her lover, how the different actions we take and the ways we treat others and the world affect the future, and the book is devastating, and brilliant, and all too honest and beautiful.
MAGGIE BROWN & OTHERS by Peter Orner
A brilliant book of stories, almost vignettes, which depict the beauty and horrors of life, and the way we all live in it. Like Miller, mentioned above, Orner does so much more with so much less room and writing.
SHE LIES IN WAIT by Gytha Lodge
Lodge writes expertly, a debut which feels like a seventh book, so masterful, suspenseful, and stomach-churning, while tackling issues like rape and the bonds we form--those positive and negative bonds necessary in life--in order to survive.
THE PARAGON HOTEL by Lyndsay Faye
This epic about a woman fleeing to the west coast, the KKK, transgendered people and queer relationships, crime solving and love, devastating loss and mystifying conclusions will leave you lost in the
THE STORIES YOU TELL by Kristen Lepionka
THE STORIES YOU TELL is a brilliant addition to Kristen's Roxane series, the brilliant bisexual and female version of Raymond Chandler, battling as much for understanding and truth as she is for justice and what Roxane may believe is right. Roxane is a complicated character, and the reader is glued to her voice and story in a way only Kristen Lepionka can manage. And I do mean that sincerely. Lepionka is a brilliant talent who cannot be matched.
GONE TOO LONG by Lori Roy
Roy sets of a series of massive hits in yet another crime tour de force as one of the masters of crime fiction, a two time Edgar winner with novels that are out of this world. Roy writes with confidence, navigating first person voices with ease and creating suspense and dread with another story about the KKK, womanhood, and the meaning of family. Roy writes a book which is all too relevant and necessary today, and we're so thankful for her work.
IN THE DREAM HOUSE by Carmen Maria Machado
This book gripped me from the beginning, with the small sections--again, almost vignettes, portraying a real-life story all too close to home. At times I'd feel desperate to escape, but never could I tear myself away from the page with Machado as she writes about an abusive relationship and how she's survived and flourished. Perhaps every horrible thing in our life isn't meant to bring about something good, but Machado has found a way to survive, and she has found a way to become a superstar too.
THIS TENDER LAND by William Kent Krueger
I live for William Kent Krueger's work, and I die inside the pages of his standalone novels, this brilliant standalone like his perfect ORDINARY GRACE showing us a different time, different people, and a journey and heart inside the novel beating all on its own. We travel through the story but don't understand how to stop moving once the last sentence ends.
CURIOUS TOYS by Elizabeth Hand
Hand creates a world so unique--dark and twisted, almost fantastical in a way, a book so many other writers have attempted but only Hand can write and accomplish with a perfect hand and eye for story and character. The book, revolving around murders in the early 20th century and several unusual, sometimes desperate, often determined, always genuine and dark people who will not stop until they get what they want--whether that's justice or another dead body along the way.
MY LOVELY WIFE by Samantha Downing
A spectacular thriller which proved me wrong--I was initially unsure of whether I'd like the book, but my grandmother and I love it so much we keep a copy on my kitchen table and hers, just in case we want to read it again.
NEVER LOOK BACK by Alison Gaylin
Gaylin ignores and pushes past so many conventions of the genre, instead enhancing the genre and making something already riveting feel even more new and necessary. Her book about podcasts, past lives, and the destruction of the present never feels like other books, but instead is inventive and brilliantly written, thrilling to the last page.
GIRL IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR by Kelsey Rae Dimberg
A lovely novel so necessary in our political climate, about just how far people will go to get power and keep any sense of authority, and what we will take and what we will give up in an effort to stay true to ourselves. Dimberg is a writer to watch.
THE WOLF WANTS IN by Laura McHugh
Laura McHugh is a favorite writer of mine, and it's so hard to believe this is only her third book--but then again, I've read her freshman and sophomore novel so many times I lose track. McHugh proves herself still at the top of her game, if not climbing higher than before with a brilliant story of what a family will and won't do for the truth, and yet again the way we do and do not understand the people around us, or even ourselves.
A FRIEND IS A GIFT YOU GIVE YOURSELF by William Boyle
Bill Boyle send this book off less like a firecracker, more like a gunshot crackling out through the night. He writes of women who are desperate, in need of many things and determined to get what they want, and rightfully so. This book, the feminist novel so many other male crime writers need to look to, is a brilliant development for Boyle's career and a promise for the future of his career and the great novels to come.
THE UGLY TRUTH by Jill Orr
Jill Orr returns with her irresistible protagonist and dynamite series, combining humor with suspense in a way only Orr can manage, raising the stakes, letting us know we don't know what to expect and by the novel's conclusion begging for more from Orr, as quickly as she can write.
THREE DARK CROWNS quartet by Kendare Blake
FIVE DARK FATES completed Kendare Blake's brilliant quartet, heart wrenching, violent, disturbing, beautiful, and the series to make you heart swell and then be destroyed so expertly by Blake, a brilliant writer who is just as prolific as she is talented. Don't miss this book about several queens, including those who do not know their destinies, and the feminism we need right now.
THE SWALLOWS by Lisa Lutz
This novel--god this novel--the humor, the suspense, the depth of all of the characters and the way we cannot predict anything, and how we want to stay glued to the page as much as we want to escape the surely devastating conclusion coming our way. The novel combines all of Lisa's great novels from the past in one grand work, her best novel yet. The main narrating characters will drag you in, and you'll stay for the beauty in the truth Lutz provides.
THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS by Lisa Jewell
Friend Serena Mackesy suggested Lisa Jewell to me, and I've since read the prolific author's many, many books, none of which falter in Jewell's ability to transform books, lives, stories, and readers. She is as thrilling and enthralling as she is deceptive and cunning, and I doubt I'm the first who has told you about her abilities, and I also know I won't be the last. I cannot wait for her next novel. No, really Lisa, I cannot wait.
COLD WOODS by Karen Katchur
Katchur gives a new meaning to cold case with this brilliant novel, a follow up to RIVER BODIES, and a brilliant addition to the crime genre in general. You'll need to preorder her next book, due in 2020, and eagerly await more from Katchur and her brilliant crafted characters and complex, puzzling (in the best way) stories, and twisted mysteries.
THREE-FIFTHS by John Vercher
A novel of violence, a novel of race, a novel of crime. Vercher is an amazing writer, brilliant with his prose, his characters, and his ability to handle subjects most readers cannot stomach, and yet Vercher is able to cartwheel around with issues like race and violence, showing how common these issues are, how complicated solutions might be (if any), and the lasting and destructive impact so many things can have on a black man's life.
DRY COUNTY by Jake Hickson
Hickson writes from the points of view of so many small town voices, all colliding toward one epic, bloody, and disastrous conclusion. Want to run away? Want to have an affair with a respected townie? Want to try and destroy the respected townie? Want to try to get away with it all? You want, and in so many ways you will have hell to pay. This novel is a brilliant noir (perhaps described as "rural noir") which doesn't stop, even when you can't take the excitement and tension any longer. Hickson's novel is black as noir and golden as anything worthwhile.
CONVICTION by Denise Mina
She write a brilliant mystery as usual, and also mentions DRAG ME TO HELL quite a bit. Selected as a Reese Witherspoon book club pick, and one of my absolute favorite novels ever. Denise Mina is out to take over the fiction community, and this incredibly new and brilliant book feels innovative and absorbing all at once.
HER SECRET SON by Hannah Mary McKinnon
A tragic death leads to so many discoveries a partner may need to know, even if he doesn't want to. McKinnon is sending out great books, one after another, and it's a crime not to read her work, even if it's not as much a crime as her characters commit. Crimes you will read again and again.
NAAMAH by Sarah Blake
I am in love with this story of Naamah, the wife of Noah (and his ark), a woman who doesn't agree with biblical representation or what men think she should be. She has a female lover she's lost, she has a grand ocean all around her with the corpses of animals and bodies of people all in it, and yet she swims. NAAMAH is a story of perseverance, truth, and the way we shape our own worlds as others try and shape our lives for us.
DEAR WIFE by Kimberly Belle
A story of a woman named Beth, who's planned to run for some time, and a woman named Sabine, so mysterious and elusive and who has disappeared from her house leaving a trail of clues that seem to lead nowhere. Where will the story lead us, and what dramatic and devastating conclusion does the author have in store for us? A novel only a writer of Belle's talents could craft, this is a book to be savored.
HEAVEN, MY HOME by Attica Locke
Locke stuns again with another novel from her brilliant protagonist first featured in the award winning BLUEBIRD BLUEBIRD. Locke writes with the brilliant prose we have learned to expect and the anxiety, tension, and destruction we love and anticipate. She never fails, and this is no exception. HEAVEN, MY HOME is a true winner.
THE SECOND SLEEP by Robert Harris
You think you know what to expect, and then you think you know again, and you think you know again, but the ending will shock you, and the entire book will delight you.
YOU WHO ENTER HERE by Erika T Wurth
Erika T Wurth is a writer to watch, to read (already so prolific!), and so necessary. An indigenous writer (who is so well-read, and can recommend you a book by anything) shows the necessity of having a diverse community writing about all sorts of issues, in all genres and age levels. Sherman Alexie and Louise Erdrich are not the only indigenous writers to read, although reading Wurth's novels, I'm sure they'd feel jealous.
MIAMI MIDNIGHT by Alex Segura
The epic saga of Pete, private eye, crime fighter, a hero akin to Sara Gran's Claire DeWitt comes to an end here. And while it's so tragic to see Pete go, we get to see this finale over and over again, going back to page one as soon as we finish the novel. We are thankful to Alex for Pete, and we are so grateful for his talent and excited to see what comes.
TEMPER by Layne Fargo
Fargo proves herself to be a great talent in the crime community, writing with beauty like the glint of a knife, exposing everything as she drives the weapon and story home. This is not a novel to be missed, and Fargo is another novelist to be watched.
THE TENTH MUSE by Catherine Chung
I cannot get over this book I read what feels like years ago (this has been a very long year) and have read five times sense. A saga, a brilliant character study, and an irresistible story to match. Chung does not spare any of her talents in an effort to show the reader the best fiction has to offer.
THE NINJA DAUGHTER by Tori Eldridge
Eldridge comes out swinging on a new crime imprint built for diversity and inclusivity in the crime fiction community, Agorta books. Here, Eldridge is determined to provide us a lovable, vicious, and determined heroine who will entertain us throughout the book, and possibly for books to come. And she succeeds marvelously.
LIVES LAID AWAY by Stephen Mack Jones
This brilliant follow up to the series' debut AUGUST SNOW is a winner, losing nothing the first novel established and instead building on the story, the world, the setting, and the character so much so we cannot wait for more from Stephen Mack Jones in the future.
THE FIVE by Hallie Rubenhold
Like in Robert Kolker's LOST GIRLS, Hallie Rubenhold has presented the five women killed by Jack the Ripper. Instead of glorying in their demise, focusing solely on gore and violence against women, Rubenhold wants to paint a full portrait of these women for our entertainment and understanding, a way to empathize with women who might otherwise be cautionary tales, or simply forgotten..
THE BETTER SISTER by Alafair Burke
A woman marries her sister's ex-husband. I know, this seems like the plot of an episode of Jerry Springer, and yet this book is complicated and nuanced by master Alafair Burke, whose previous book THE WIFE stole my heart, my mind, and my wallet. This novel is no exception, as both sisters struggle to learn the truths about a husband they've shared and about each other.
THE VAN APFEL GIRLS ARE GONE by Felicity McLean
The title says it all--or does it? Our protagonist returns home, still haunted by the disappearance of these girls, and determined to learn the truth about what has happened to the people who occupy her memories and her nightmares. McLean is an expert at spinning mysteries, suspense, and nostalgia all at once, letting us see the past through murky beer goggles and then removing them, the shocking light and the truth blinding us with the truth behind every mystery.
MIRACLE CREEK by Angie Kim
I sometimes read this book when I'm sad. Or anxious. Depressed, nervous, happy, thrilled, whatever. This book is ultimately delicious, and it needs no explanation or presentation from me, but note that I love it.
DAWSON'S FALL by Roxana Robinson
A man opposed to violence falls victim to it. The South is revealed in all of its racist past, turning the Civil War and Reconstruction era into the truth: this is not Scarlett O'Hara's struggle, eating an onion or whatever from her garden, but a real depiction of the darkness of men who try to be something opposite of what they ultimately fall victim to. A story of violence, rage, deception, and despair, this book will hook you from the beginning, with its roots in the truth and its exploration of history, race, slavery, and the horrors which still impact the people of the South today.
THE OTHER AMERICANS by Laila Lalami
A brilliant book from Pulitzer finalist Lalami about how difficult it is to be new to the country, to fight xenophobia and racism, and for people to be in conflict with each other. Acts of violence connect people in all places of American society, and we see a brilliant novel play out under Lalami's control.
THE KILL CLUB by Wendy Heard
The idea fo committing an act of violence in order to save someone or something we love seems to have been played out by now until you read Heard's brilliant novel, showing an author at the top of her game. Don't miss this brilliant crime novel and wonderful holiday treat.
STONE MOTHERS by Erin Kelly
Erin Kelly is amazing in her ability to write book after book, both incredibly different and also building on the novel before. Here she doesn't disappoint, delivering another blockbuster which will please fans for years to come. Kelly is an author I love so intensely and was so lucky to interview prior to the release of this book. She's an amazing talent.
OUTSIDE LOOKING IN by TC Boyle
TC Boyle is no stranger to writing about history, about sometimes strange and often controversial topics, but he does so in such an amazing way we are absorbed in his story, his characters, and it's amazing to see Boyle work, including with a book like this about drugs and the elaborate and vast world built around the hallucinations and characters in the novel.
Other great novels from 2019: Stephen King, THE INSTITUTE. Jacqueline Woodson, RED AT THE BONE. Joe Hill, FULL THROTTLE. Kevin Wilson, NOTHING TO SEE HERE. James Sallis, SARAH JANE. Ann Patchett, THE DUTCH HOUSE. Olaf Olafsson, THE SACRAMENT. Lisa Scottoline, SOMEONE KNOWS.
I've provided links to Amazon, but you may want to buy from and support Indies like Poisoned Pen, Murder By The Book, and Tombolo Books
THE POISON GARDEN by Alex Marwood
While this book is not technically published in the United States (coming January 2020, mark your calendars), the book is a stunner, the cult book to end all cult books. Masterfully crafted, delicately handled, and beautifully written, this will chill you, a body-encompassing brain freeze, and you'll never forget the first read--or second, or third, or tenth. It's a marvelous book that will haunt you for years, and likely will top my 2020 list too.
LAST WOMAN STANDING by Amy Gentry
There are very few sophomore novels this great, and it's even more surprising that Amy, author of the spectacular GOOD AS GONE, is not able to write a novel as brilliant as her debut, but follow it up with something jaw-dropping, intense, and unputdownable (I may use this word a lot, but it's 100% accurate for Gentry's writing). The book destroys the #metoo era books with big promises and little fulfillment, providing a feminist book without solid answers--as it is intended to do, and as someone as wise as Gentry knows to provide for her readers--but raising so many important questions.
LADY IN THE LAKE by Laura Lippman
I cannot express what this book means to me, or what Laura's friendship and mentorship means to me. She is the only person I know able to capture this many points-of-view and make a story so complex and so incredibly necessary. She deserves every accolade and love she has thrown her way. Congratulations on the year of LL!
GRETCHEN by Shannon Kirk
This creepy and twisted tale definitely deserves a place on the list--a brilliant book I can't share too much about, other than a mother and daughter on the run and how everything changes when they may stop in the wrong place for them at the wrong time.
NO EXIT by Taylor Adams
This books, a thriller with a female protagonist who isn't sexually assaulted and who fights her ass off to survive in a special sort of locked-room mystery, is a brilliant example of how much a writer can do with so little space, characters, and time, and Adams does so spectacularly.
YOUR HOUSE WILL PAY by Steph Cha
A book which deals delicately and sensitively but with strength and absolute command about race, class, and forms of justice (whether right or wrong) and manages to entice readers all at once is a feat few authors accomplish. I feel like Steph is still at the beginning of her career, so young and yet so incredibly talented, with four books behind her and so many great works to come. Get ready for her to keep raising the bar, people.
THE REIGN OF THE KINGFISHER by TJ Martinson
A thriller, a novel about a hero present or gone, a brilliant character study of so many players so excellently crafted, and a book which will rip you apart and never attempt to put you back together--and a banned book, to boot! I know of few great novels in history which haven't been banned--the game changers, the books we love for life--and TJ Martinson is already getting a head start on everyone else, creating a work of genius and now, hopefully, thank u nexting the community which has shunned him (a very limited community, I might add) and moving on to another great work.
GOD LAND by Lyz Lenz
Perhaps my favorite nonfiction book, tied with IN THE DREAM HOUSE, the book studies what it means to be a woman in America, to be Christian in our modern world, to accept things in a binary and dialectic way, and never to compromise writing or one's life--although Lenz always manages to understand the tough world we live in, how unfair it is, and what this means for women and other minorities.
MY DARKEST PRAYER by SA Cosby
I began this novel shocked at something which felt new--not just the voice of the narrator, but the idea of a mortician solving crimes, a former police officer forced to work in funeral homes, and what this means for crime fiction. Sure, this is not the first instance of a story like this, but it is the first time anyone has done this type of story this well. Cosby is a breath of fresh air, rolling down your car window and letting the autumn chill sweep all around you. Here's hoping for more, and soon.
THE HIDDEN THINGS by Jamie Mason
No one can think up a plot as genius as Mason, with a stolen piece of artwork, a girl attacked on video camera, and the crimes which follow, the twists and turns we can't see coming and are shocked to uncover, and a brilliant climax and then denouement worthy of all the praise and awards you can think of. Mason is a writer full of life and vision, a brilliant artist who creates the most original novels, the most brilliant reads, and with some of the best twists and turns and conclusions in today's market.
STRANGERS AT THE GATE by Catriona McPherson
Catriona McPherson is a fairly prolific author who never fails to surprise. This book, about a couple filled with hope and a sense of promise, immediately turns into a drastic novel of murder and destruction as the couple struggles to cover up and recover the life they wanted, and the lives they feel they deserved. Will the couple turn against themselves, and what are the crimes at play? Read this delicious book for all the answers, and so many more questions you'll still be wondering when the novel is done.
THE GONE DEAD by Chanelle Benz
Benz creates a disturbing psychological thriller (with so many other brilliant genres added in) which doesn't stop with the present, the fear for today, but sliding back into the days of slavery, the racism and marginalization which persists, and the ultimate horrors both real and disturbing within the fictional portrayal of the book we still reckon with today. Benz is a writer who knows how to drive a brilliant book home.
SEARCHING FOR SYLVIE LEE by Jean Kwok
Kwok drives this novel about a missing sister and daughter home. We see through multiple perspectives the lives of a family split up by continents, by generations, by ideas and ideals, by lives and values, and we try to understand just as the characters attempt to understand one another how this family might work, and how this mystery might be resolved. Kwok destroys any roadblocks in her way to crafting brilliant voices and an awe-inspiring mystery.
TELL ME A STORY by Cassandra King Conroy
I have loved the novels of Cassandra King and her husband, the late master of fiction Pat Conroy, for so very long. I was devastated when he passed away, but elated to see Cassandra King Conroy releasing a book about their romance. The novel is delightful, filled with whimsical stories about their love, the way they were so great for each other and how they worked as a couple and writers, and the memoir will leave you in tears while also filled with joy at the thought of true love seeping through the pages of the book into your own heart.
THE SHADOW KING by Maaza Mangiste
Mangiste explores what it means, in this epic historical novel, to be a leader, to be a king, to be strong and determined and also how this can or cannot be balanced with remaining true too oneself. Who are the people really in power, and who are those acting and working to better the world? And how does this all play out in a brilliant novel that's as thought-provoking as it is engrossing and entertaining?
HUNTER'S MOON by Philip Caputo
It's hard to elaborate on this novel without getting away, but imagine Jennifer Egan's A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD, this brilliant novel in stories like OLIVE KITTERIDGE, but both with much more crime and grit.
BILOXI by Mary Miller
Miller is a favorite of mine. Her ability to craft a voice--any voice--is insane, and here she doesn't fail, with an old man and his newly adopted dog, a story so simple and yet so beautiful, enchanting, and real. Miller is never overly sentimental, but she treats everyone--including the dog at the center of the book--with such grace and empathy, we can't help but wish the novel would be a sprawling epic. However, Miller works best in shorter forms, finding herself able to accomplish more with less, unlike so many other of her contemporaries.
PATSY by Nicole Dennis-Benn
PATSY is the story of a young woman who comes to New York, hoping to find home in the arms of the woman she loves but instead finding an entirely different, darker, and more frightening reality which is all too relevant to issues in today's world. The book is monumental in size and scope, the lovely Dennis-Benn taking control of her characters and the narrative to show us what it's like to be an outsider in New York, and what it's like to fight like hell and be a survivor.
FAMOUS IN CEDARVILLE by Erica Wright
What do you get when Wright sets out to author her first published standalone novel? There's a murder mystery, a former celebrity, a labyrinth of intrigue and deception, and a surprising conclusion leaving us with a novel that's an intersection between SUNSET BOULEVARD and MULHOLLAND DR. Brilliant.
THE HEAVENS by Sandra Newman
This brilliant novel about a woman who lives in two times, each perhaps a dream to the other, examines love, life, and the consequences of our actions on the future. We see through the protagonist and the people in her life, including her lover, how the different actions we take and the ways we treat others and the world affect the future, and the book is devastating, and brilliant, and all too honest and beautiful.
MAGGIE BROWN & OTHERS by Peter Orner
A brilliant book of stories, almost vignettes, which depict the beauty and horrors of life, and the way we all live in it. Like Miller, mentioned above, Orner does so much more with so much less room and writing.
SHE LIES IN WAIT by Gytha Lodge
Lodge writes expertly, a debut which feels like a seventh book, so masterful, suspenseful, and stomach-churning, while tackling issues like rape and the bonds we form--those positive and negative bonds necessary in life--in order to survive.
THE PARAGON HOTEL by Lyndsay Faye
This epic about a woman fleeing to the west coast, the KKK, transgendered people and queer relationships, crime solving and love, devastating loss and mystifying conclusions will leave you lost in the
THE STORIES YOU TELL by Kristen Lepionka
THE STORIES YOU TELL is a brilliant addition to Kristen's Roxane series, the brilliant bisexual and female version of Raymond Chandler, battling as much for understanding and truth as she is for justice and what Roxane may believe is right. Roxane is a complicated character, and the reader is glued to her voice and story in a way only Kristen Lepionka can manage. And I do mean that sincerely. Lepionka is a brilliant talent who cannot be matched.
GONE TOO LONG by Lori Roy
Roy sets of a series of massive hits in yet another crime tour de force as one of the masters of crime fiction, a two time Edgar winner with novels that are out of this world. Roy writes with confidence, navigating first person voices with ease and creating suspense and dread with another story about the KKK, womanhood, and the meaning of family. Roy writes a book which is all too relevant and necessary today, and we're so thankful for her work.
IN THE DREAM HOUSE by Carmen Maria Machado
This book gripped me from the beginning, with the small sections--again, almost vignettes, portraying a real-life story all too close to home. At times I'd feel desperate to escape, but never could I tear myself away from the page with Machado as she writes about an abusive relationship and how she's survived and flourished. Perhaps every horrible thing in our life isn't meant to bring about something good, but Machado has found a way to survive, and she has found a way to become a superstar too.
THIS TENDER LAND by William Kent Krueger
I live for William Kent Krueger's work, and I die inside the pages of his standalone novels, this brilliant standalone like his perfect ORDINARY GRACE showing us a different time, different people, and a journey and heart inside the novel beating all on its own. We travel through the story but don't understand how to stop moving once the last sentence ends.
CURIOUS TOYS by Elizabeth Hand
Hand creates a world so unique--dark and twisted, almost fantastical in a way, a book so many other writers have attempted but only Hand can write and accomplish with a perfect hand and eye for story and character. The book, revolving around murders in the early 20th century and several unusual, sometimes desperate, often determined, always genuine and dark people who will not stop until they get what they want--whether that's justice or another dead body along the way.
MY LOVELY WIFE by Samantha Downing
A spectacular thriller which proved me wrong--I was initially unsure of whether I'd like the book, but my grandmother and I love it so much we keep a copy on my kitchen table and hers, just in case we want to read it again.
NEVER LOOK BACK by Alison Gaylin
Gaylin ignores and pushes past so many conventions of the genre, instead enhancing the genre and making something already riveting feel even more new and necessary. Her book about podcasts, past lives, and the destruction of the present never feels like other books, but instead is inventive and brilliantly written, thrilling to the last page.
GIRL IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR by Kelsey Rae Dimberg
A lovely novel so necessary in our political climate, about just how far people will go to get power and keep any sense of authority, and what we will take and what we will give up in an effort to stay true to ourselves. Dimberg is a writer to watch.
THE WOLF WANTS IN by Laura McHugh
Laura McHugh is a favorite writer of mine, and it's so hard to believe this is only her third book--but then again, I've read her freshman and sophomore novel so many times I lose track. McHugh proves herself still at the top of her game, if not climbing higher than before with a brilliant story of what a family will and won't do for the truth, and yet again the way we do and do not understand the people around us, or even ourselves.
A FRIEND IS A GIFT YOU GIVE YOURSELF by William Boyle
Bill Boyle send this book off less like a firecracker, more like a gunshot crackling out through the night. He writes of women who are desperate, in need of many things and determined to get what they want, and rightfully so. This book, the feminist novel so many other male crime writers need to look to, is a brilliant development for Boyle's career and a promise for the future of his career and the great novels to come.
THE UGLY TRUTH by Jill Orr
Jill Orr returns with her irresistible protagonist and dynamite series, combining humor with suspense in a way only Orr can manage, raising the stakes, letting us know we don't know what to expect and by the novel's conclusion begging for more from Orr, as quickly as she can write.
THREE DARK CROWNS quartet by Kendare Blake
FIVE DARK FATES completed Kendare Blake's brilliant quartet, heart wrenching, violent, disturbing, beautiful, and the series to make you heart swell and then be destroyed so expertly by Blake, a brilliant writer who is just as prolific as she is talented. Don't miss this book about several queens, including those who do not know their destinies, and the feminism we need right now.
THE SWALLOWS by Lisa Lutz
This novel--god this novel--the humor, the suspense, the depth of all of the characters and the way we cannot predict anything, and how we want to stay glued to the page as much as we want to escape the surely devastating conclusion coming our way. The novel combines all of Lisa's great novels from the past in one grand work, her best novel yet. The main narrating characters will drag you in, and you'll stay for the beauty in the truth Lutz provides.
THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS by Lisa Jewell
Friend Serena Mackesy suggested Lisa Jewell to me, and I've since read the prolific author's many, many books, none of which falter in Jewell's ability to transform books, lives, stories, and readers. She is as thrilling and enthralling as she is deceptive and cunning, and I doubt I'm the first who has told you about her abilities, and I also know I won't be the last. I cannot wait for her next novel. No, really Lisa, I cannot wait.
COLD WOODS by Karen Katchur
Katchur gives a new meaning to cold case with this brilliant novel, a follow up to RIVER BODIES, and a brilliant addition to the crime genre in general. You'll need to preorder her next book, due in 2020, and eagerly await more from Katchur and her brilliant crafted characters and complex, puzzling (in the best way) stories, and twisted mysteries.
THREE-FIFTHS by John Vercher
A novel of violence, a novel of race, a novel of crime. Vercher is an amazing writer, brilliant with his prose, his characters, and his ability to handle subjects most readers cannot stomach, and yet Vercher is able to cartwheel around with issues like race and violence, showing how common these issues are, how complicated solutions might be (if any), and the lasting and destructive impact so many things can have on a black man's life.
DRY COUNTY by Jake Hickson
Hickson writes from the points of view of so many small town voices, all colliding toward one epic, bloody, and disastrous conclusion. Want to run away? Want to have an affair with a respected townie? Want to try and destroy the respected townie? Want to try to get away with it all? You want, and in so many ways you will have hell to pay. This novel is a brilliant noir (perhaps described as "rural noir") which doesn't stop, even when you can't take the excitement and tension any longer. Hickson's novel is black as noir and golden as anything worthwhile.
CONVICTION by Denise Mina
She write a brilliant mystery as usual, and also mentions DRAG ME TO HELL quite a bit. Selected as a Reese Witherspoon book club pick, and one of my absolute favorite novels ever. Denise Mina is out to take over the fiction community, and this incredibly new and brilliant book feels innovative and absorbing all at once.
HER SECRET SON by Hannah Mary McKinnon
A tragic death leads to so many discoveries a partner may need to know, even if he doesn't want to. McKinnon is sending out great books, one after another, and it's a crime not to read her work, even if it's not as much a crime as her characters commit. Crimes you will read again and again.
NAAMAH by Sarah Blake
I am in love with this story of Naamah, the wife of Noah (and his ark), a woman who doesn't agree with biblical representation or what men think she should be. She has a female lover she's lost, she has a grand ocean all around her with the corpses of animals and bodies of people all in it, and yet she swims. NAAMAH is a story of perseverance, truth, and the way we shape our own worlds as others try and shape our lives for us.
DEAR WIFE by Kimberly Belle
A story of a woman named Beth, who's planned to run for some time, and a woman named Sabine, so mysterious and elusive and who has disappeared from her house leaving a trail of clues that seem to lead nowhere. Where will the story lead us, and what dramatic and devastating conclusion does the author have in store for us? A novel only a writer of Belle's talents could craft, this is a book to be savored.
HEAVEN, MY HOME by Attica Locke
Locke stuns again with another novel from her brilliant protagonist first featured in the award winning BLUEBIRD BLUEBIRD. Locke writes with the brilliant prose we have learned to expect and the anxiety, tension, and destruction we love and anticipate. She never fails, and this is no exception. HEAVEN, MY HOME is a true winner.
THE SECOND SLEEP by Robert Harris
You think you know what to expect, and then you think you know again, and you think you know again, but the ending will shock you, and the entire book will delight you.
YOU WHO ENTER HERE by Erika T Wurth
Erika T Wurth is a writer to watch, to read (already so prolific!), and so necessary. An indigenous writer (who is so well-read, and can recommend you a book by anything) shows the necessity of having a diverse community writing about all sorts of issues, in all genres and age levels. Sherman Alexie and Louise Erdrich are not the only indigenous writers to read, although reading Wurth's novels, I'm sure they'd feel jealous.
MIAMI MIDNIGHT by Alex Segura
The epic saga of Pete, private eye, crime fighter, a hero akin to Sara Gran's Claire DeWitt comes to an end here. And while it's so tragic to see Pete go, we get to see this finale over and over again, going back to page one as soon as we finish the novel. We are thankful to Alex for Pete, and we are so grateful for his talent and excited to see what comes.
TEMPER by Layne Fargo
Fargo proves herself to be a great talent in the crime community, writing with beauty like the glint of a knife, exposing everything as she drives the weapon and story home. This is not a novel to be missed, and Fargo is another novelist to be watched.
THE TENTH MUSE by Catherine Chung
I cannot get over this book I read what feels like years ago (this has been a very long year) and have read five times sense. A saga, a brilliant character study, and an irresistible story to match. Chung does not spare any of her talents in an effort to show the reader the best fiction has to offer.
THE NINJA DAUGHTER by Tori Eldridge
Eldridge comes out swinging on a new crime imprint built for diversity and inclusivity in the crime fiction community, Agorta books. Here, Eldridge is determined to provide us a lovable, vicious, and determined heroine who will entertain us throughout the book, and possibly for books to come. And she succeeds marvelously.
LIVES LAID AWAY by Stephen Mack Jones
This brilliant follow up to the series' debut AUGUST SNOW is a winner, losing nothing the first novel established and instead building on the story, the world, the setting, and the character so much so we cannot wait for more from Stephen Mack Jones in the future.
THE FIVE by Hallie Rubenhold
Like in Robert Kolker's LOST GIRLS, Hallie Rubenhold has presented the five women killed by Jack the Ripper. Instead of glorying in their demise, focusing solely on gore and violence against women, Rubenhold wants to paint a full portrait of these women for our entertainment and understanding, a way to empathize with women who might otherwise be cautionary tales, or simply forgotten..
THE BETTER SISTER by Alafair Burke
A woman marries her sister's ex-husband. I know, this seems like the plot of an episode of Jerry Springer, and yet this book is complicated and nuanced by master Alafair Burke, whose previous book THE WIFE stole my heart, my mind, and my wallet. This novel is no exception, as both sisters struggle to learn the truths about a husband they've shared and about each other.
THE VAN APFEL GIRLS ARE GONE by Felicity McLean
The title says it all--or does it? Our protagonist returns home, still haunted by the disappearance of these girls, and determined to learn the truth about what has happened to the people who occupy her memories and her nightmares. McLean is an expert at spinning mysteries, suspense, and nostalgia all at once, letting us see the past through murky beer goggles and then removing them, the shocking light and the truth blinding us with the truth behind every mystery.
MIRACLE CREEK by Angie Kim
I sometimes read this book when I'm sad. Or anxious. Depressed, nervous, happy, thrilled, whatever. This book is ultimately delicious, and it needs no explanation or presentation from me, but note that I love it.
DAWSON'S FALL by Roxana Robinson
A man opposed to violence falls victim to it. The South is revealed in all of its racist past, turning the Civil War and Reconstruction era into the truth: this is not Scarlett O'Hara's struggle, eating an onion or whatever from her garden, but a real depiction of the darkness of men who try to be something opposite of what they ultimately fall victim to. A story of violence, rage, deception, and despair, this book will hook you from the beginning, with its roots in the truth and its exploration of history, race, slavery, and the horrors which still impact the people of the South today.
THE OTHER AMERICANS by Laila Lalami
A brilliant book from Pulitzer finalist Lalami about how difficult it is to be new to the country, to fight xenophobia and racism, and for people to be in conflict with each other. Acts of violence connect people in all places of American society, and we see a brilliant novel play out under Lalami's control.
THE KILL CLUB by Wendy Heard
The idea fo committing an act of violence in order to save someone or something we love seems to have been played out by now until you read Heard's brilliant novel, showing an author at the top of her game. Don't miss this brilliant crime novel and wonderful holiday treat.
STONE MOTHERS by Erin Kelly
Erin Kelly is amazing in her ability to write book after book, both incredibly different and also building on the novel before. Here she doesn't disappoint, delivering another blockbuster which will please fans for years to come. Kelly is an author I love so intensely and was so lucky to interview prior to the release of this book. She's an amazing talent.
OUTSIDE LOOKING IN by TC Boyle
TC Boyle is no stranger to writing about history, about sometimes strange and often controversial topics, but he does so in such an amazing way we are absorbed in his story, his characters, and it's amazing to see Boyle work, including with a book like this about drugs and the elaborate and vast world built around the hallucinations and characters in the novel.
Other great novels from 2019: Stephen King, THE INSTITUTE. Jacqueline Woodson, RED AT THE BONE. Joe Hill, FULL THROTTLE. Kevin Wilson, NOTHING TO SEE HERE. James Sallis, SARAH JANE. Ann Patchett, THE DUTCH HOUSE. Olaf Olafsson, THE SACRAMENT. Lisa Scottoline, SOMEONE KNOWS.
Best Books of the Decade, Year by Year, according to Meredith and Matthew
We love books, and this is our gift to you--Best Books of the '10s
Never say we don't know our books. Editors Matthew and Meredith love books, and we also love sharing our favorites with you. These are the best--and our favorite--books year by year for the past decade. See if your favorite book made the cut, and see if you have read some of the best books of all time (take notes, people).
Matthew's list:
2010 Walter Mosley, THE LAST DAYS OF PTOLEMY GREY; Jennifer Egan, A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD
2011 Justin Torres, WE THE ANIMALS
2012 Megan Abbott, DARE ME
2013 William Kent Krueger, ORDINARY GRACE
2014 Laura Lippman, AFTER IM GONE
2015 Lisa Lutz, HOW TO START A FIRE
2016 Alison Gaylin, WHAT REMAINS IF ME
2017 Attica Locke; BLUEBIRD BLUEBIRD
2018 Alafair Burke, THE WIFE
2019 Steph Cha, YOUR HOUSE WILL PAY
+ Alex Marwood and THE POISON GARDEN for next decade
Meredith's List
2010 - A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD (Jennifer Egan)
2011 - SALVAGE THE BONES (Jesmyn Ward)
2012 - THE ROUND HOUSE (Louise Erdrich) or BRING UP THE BODIES (Hilary Mantel) or GONE GIRL (Gillian Flynn)
2013 - THE LOWLAND (Jhumpa Lahiri) or THE LUMINARIES (Eleanor Catton) or AMERICANAH (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie) or LIFE AFTER LIFE (Kate Atkinson)
2014 - ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE (Anthony Doerr) or THE BONE CLOCKS (David Mitchell) or STATION ELEVEN (Emily St John Mandel) or ANNIHILATION (Jeff Vandermeer)
2015 - A LITTLE LIFE (Hanya Yanagihara) or THE BURIED GIANT (Kazuo Ishiguro) or SLADE HOUSE (David Mitchell) or THE SELLOUT (Paul Beatty) or FATES & FURIES (Lauren Groff)
2016 - HOMEGOING (Yaa Gyasi) or THE OBELISK GATE (NK Jemisin) or YOU WILL KNOW ME (Megan Abbott)
2017 - PRIESTDADDY (Patricia Lockwood) or LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE (Celeste Ng)
2018 - CIRCE (Madeline Miller) or AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE (Tayari Jones) or THE GREAT BELIEVERS (Rebecca Makkai) or ASSYMETRY (Lisa Halliday) or EDUCATED (Tara Westover)
2019 - TRICK MIRROR (Jia Tolentino) or THREE WOMEN (Lisa Taddeo)
Never say we don't know our books. Editors Matthew and Meredith love books, and we also love sharing our favorites with you. These are the best--and our favorite--books year by year for the past decade. See if your favorite book made the cut, and see if you have read some of the best books of all time (take notes, people).
Matthew's list:
2010 Walter Mosley, THE LAST DAYS OF PTOLEMY GREY; Jennifer Egan, A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD
2011 Justin Torres, WE THE ANIMALS
2012 Megan Abbott, DARE ME
2013 William Kent Krueger, ORDINARY GRACE
2014 Laura Lippman, AFTER IM GONE
2015 Lisa Lutz, HOW TO START A FIRE
2016 Alison Gaylin, WHAT REMAINS IF ME
2017 Attica Locke; BLUEBIRD BLUEBIRD
2018 Alafair Burke, THE WIFE
2019 Steph Cha, YOUR HOUSE WILL PAY
+ Alex Marwood and THE POISON GARDEN for next decade
Meredith's List
2010 - A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD (Jennifer Egan)
2011 - SALVAGE THE BONES (Jesmyn Ward)
2012 - THE ROUND HOUSE (Louise Erdrich) or BRING UP THE BODIES (Hilary Mantel) or GONE GIRL (Gillian Flynn)
2013 - THE LOWLAND (Jhumpa Lahiri) or THE LUMINARIES (Eleanor Catton) or AMERICANAH (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie) or LIFE AFTER LIFE (Kate Atkinson)
2014 - ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE (Anthony Doerr) or THE BONE CLOCKS (David Mitchell) or STATION ELEVEN (Emily St John Mandel) or ANNIHILATION (Jeff Vandermeer)
2015 - A LITTLE LIFE (Hanya Yanagihara) or THE BURIED GIANT (Kazuo Ishiguro) or SLADE HOUSE (David Mitchell) or THE SELLOUT (Paul Beatty) or FATES & FURIES (Lauren Groff)
2016 - HOMEGOING (Yaa Gyasi) or THE OBELISK GATE (NK Jemisin) or YOU WILL KNOW ME (Megan Abbott)
2017 - PRIESTDADDY (Patricia Lockwood) or LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE (Celeste Ng)
2018 - CIRCE (Madeline Miller) or AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE (Tayari Jones) or THE GREAT BELIEVERS (Rebecca Makkai) or ASSYMETRY (Lisa Halliday) or EDUCATED (Tara Westover)
2019 - TRICK MIRROR (Jia Tolentino) or THREE WOMEN (Lisa Taddeo)
Wrong Turn: The Books By Your Favorite Author You May Be Neglecting
BEYOND THIS POINT ARE MONSTERS
The 100 Best Crime and Mystery Novels of the 21th Century (in process)
As Attica Locke pointed out somewhat recently, there may be no novel or story that isn't about crime. In discovering this, we not only see how essential the crime and mystery genre is, but how is permeates every novel in every genre ever. But sticking most strictly to straight-forward crime and mystery novels, we must decide what are the best books of the century so far? This is so incredibly hard--much harder than you would imagine, if you haven't been reading the greatest crime novels of the century this whole time. So here is a bit of a primer for you, the best of the best, and a wonderful advantage at finding the best books first, and branching off from there.
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73. Concrete Angel by Patricia Abbott
Abbott comes in with a thunderous, brilliant novel that is in parts Carrie and Terms of Endearment. I am reminded of the quote by Alice Munro when reading this book, about love being a messy house, and you'll know when you've had enough mess. The book is phenomenal and address a very crooked, terrifying relationship between mother and daughter. This novel, and the author herself, is a winner.
72. Wonder Valley by Ivy Pochoda
Little needs to be said about Pochoda's book about the connections we all share with each other. She was a fan favorite, and converted many new fans through this book which seemed to take the country by storm. A marvelous book so brilliantly crafted and excellently written, we can't wait to see more and more come from this wonderful person and phenomenal writer.
71. Under the Harrow by Flynn Berry
I was, and still am, a bit of fanatic of Berry's first novel, which I think everyone knows and loves by now. I remain addicted to Berry and everything about her. With writing as slick as anyone three times her age, she is a genius who has created a propulsive and slim thriller which explodes, devastates, and astonished, proving that the best stories aren't the length of tomes.
70. Murder in the Rue Dauphine by Greg Herren
Greg Herren is a masterful storyteller, and incredibly diverse, an incredibly well-read novelist who isn't afraid to embrace his love for crime fiction, gay men, and good writing. It's hard to pick a favorite book by Herren, and so therefore I choose his first, Murder in the Rue Dauphine, which launched one of his series with an unforgettable protagonist, Chanse MacLeod. He has another series (and some might argue an even better protagonist, and tackles all sorts of genres, often combining them with crime, much like with Timothy and Sorceress. It's lucky for us he's so prolific, and how there are so many books to go around.
69. What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell
What a wonderful and compact novel about queer love, and the dangers of being queer but also of romance, sex, desire, in other countries but also the world in general. Greenwell provides a glowing example of how dangerous it is to be different, the way queer people hide, the dangers they face, but still the emerging glory of being exactly who you are. These thoughts on this incredibly short but powerful book don't begin to describe Greenwell's powers as a queer writer.
68. In the Blood by Lisa Unger
People have always praised Lisa Unger and her ability to weave tales again and again, receiving the highest praise, people shouting about her books from the rooftops, etc. But it's hard to understand until you read one of Unger's books. In In the Blood, I was as shocked by the ending as Lisa admitted in our interview, where she talks about how she writes these amazing stories people love and read and reread and if you're Alafair Burke, talk about a bit in books of your own.
67. The Blinds by Adam Sternbergh
This book took me by surprise. I want to avoid spoilers as much as possible with this twisting, escaping, delicious novel, but I can say whatever you expect going into the book, anything you think you know in the book,I guarantee you know nothing. And that's perhaps the best part of this mega-crime story.
66. The Craftsman by Sharon Bolton
In this thriller that is almost historical (it depends whether you count the sixties as historical fiction), and a totally amazing novel. The book is stunning, but this is not unusual with Sharon Bolton, an author who continues to astound with book after book. You'll be sucked in by the idea of the protagonist attempting to save children buried with other dead people, these alive children desperate to escape. Bolton is able to make even the most mundane parts of crime-fighting intriguing, and this is no different. An amazing book and an author to watch.
65. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
The book which showed me that Sarah Waters doesn't just write beautiful and luxurious prose about lesbian relationships. Here, she complicates the matter, stabs at your heart with the pin needles my grandmother always kept in her red pin needle ball, never afraid to pull any strings as long as you understand that you--and all of the characters present--are not safe in the novel.
64. If She Wakes by Michael Koryta
This was actually my first Koryta novel, and it was a wonderful thrill-ride. I loved every bump, turn, and scare in this book, a thrilling novel which never sacrifices character for plot, nor plot for character. Koryta seems entirely comfortable writing about women, an aspect not familiar with many male writers. He neither tries to make women delicate or incredible superheroes--they are people, just people, who have to be heroic in common circumstances--and more than that sometimes, too, and rarely fail to follow through.
63. How to Survive a Summer by Nick White
Here's something I have just (today) shared with friends. When I was in high school, before I was even out as gay, "hiding in the glass closet" as a friend had said, a doctor identified me as gay and said she could cure me. I drove 3 hours a day to have toxins removed from my feet, hot rocks on my back, and some more harmful things I don't like to think about. There was a very extreme and scary diet, mostly of pita bread. I don't know if my parents would have sent me to one of these camps. I like to think my mother and father loved me enough to know how unhealthy the environment would be, but as this book shows--along with a few other very significant books about the idea of "curing gay" in the South--you can never actually know or trust anyone or anything. White is great at so many things--he somehow manages to remain unbiased. At least for the most part. He a great writer who brings in so many different ideas and genres--at once, he can have horror and satire combined in a way that will leave you confused as to how you feel and what you think is right and true. Read this book. It may change your life.
62. Marlena by Julie Buntin
This novel is a treasure of a book. During a very difficult time in my life, I read the novel so many times. I bought so many copies, for others and for myself. I have never not loved this book. Buntin, a kind and generous young woman, has created a masterful tell of you (female) friendship, a book which explodes in so many ways when we realize the truth, that of everything all at once. It's hard to imagine my life now without this novel about death, grief, guilt, and loss, something I will forever be thankful to Buntin for.
61. Long Black Veil by Jennifer Finney Boylan
Jennifer Finney Boylan is a prolific author and activist for many things, including human rights. In this phenomenal novel why an amazing author, Boylan manages to bring queer issues to the forefront, with an issue greater than murder can be hidden fearfully--instead of just a case of murder or death, we see the hidden queer identity, an issue so many Americans share and an issue which should be brought to life. This is a gift to so many of us, and will hopefully bring so many social justice issues too light.
60. Harriet Wolf's Seventh Book of Wonders (now titled Seventh Book of Wonders) by Julianna Baggott
This book deserves a higher position on this list-- the novel being phenomenal, devastating, elating, loving. This novel will burn you and heal you, and it is simply one of the greatest feats in recent literature, and I can say this with confidence, being one of the most voracious readers out there. This is a book you shouldn't overlook. It may change you, and only, and always, in the best way. It's a family epic, a story of love lost and found, a healing peace that celebrates women without falling too far into politic and instead is a tribute to the resilience of women, families, and their ghosts.
59. The Fighter by Michael Farris Smith
Such a brilliant and compact novel of love, loss, and survival. The book follows a man used to fighting--a man who approaches life like a battle, and yet now he's trying to get home to his foster mother who is dying, with dementia taking over. The novel blooms from there, but in the most rock-hard, tight ways, with the reader being dragged into the dark Southern underworld, and most exciting of all with a character named Big Momma Sweet, a woman with a lot of power preventing the protagonist from getting what he wants, and what he needs. Bravo to Michael Farris Smith on this downright astonishing achievement.
58. Blacklands by Belinda Bauer
This minor miracle about a young man searching for the truth about a missing relative, along with a serial killer breaking free from prison and ready to hunt the boy down, potentially taking not only his life but others, is a novel that needs little introduction but much praise. Bauer is a miracle worker, as succinct as James M. Cain and as beautiful and charming as Laura Lippman's Sunburn. If you haven't read this already, go ahead. Run.
57. Canary by Duane Swierczynski
This phenomenal book by Swierczynski is breathtaking, elevating, heart-breaking, thrilling, and beautiful all at once. At times, when reading the novel, it's hard to imagine a novel better written, more enticing and definitely nothing more beautiful. A young woman who gets pulled into a world where she doesn't belong can't seem to keep her head above water, nut soon will thrash, kick, and do everything necessary in order to survive.
56. Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner
The way Steiner is able to seemingly adapt to the book's needs, weaving a mystery around the reader and the characters in the novel too, is something which is a specialty of the author. She isn't afraid to release jaw-dropping twist, one after the other. In many ways, her books unravel like a phenomenal Greek tragedy only she can write, know, and own wholly. . This is the first in a series and I highly recommend the books published so far.
55. Dry Bones in the Valley by Tom Bouman
This award-winning novel, beginning a series about the lives, deaths and murders, and need for justice in the rural areas of America. Warning: The peak of this novel, which is brilliant and so beautifully crafted, nearly destroyed me. Have some tissues ready but also be prepared for gritty noir that will make you feel dirty as you dig into the very depths of the human psyche.
54. My Sunshine Away by M.O. Walsh
A bildungsroman, a novel about the heart (however black it may be) of neighborhoods in the Deep South, an honest portrayal of young men and their desires--this seems like a novel that might not be so different from To Kill a Mockingbird. But it is. This is one of the few novels I've had to shower after reading, a book I didn't want to touch because while beautiful and true, the truth of it all is so unsettling it will shake you. And trust me, the shaking is worth it.
53. The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey
I found this book, or rather it found me, during a dark time in my life. The story of the protagonist of the novel, a woman wanting justice for herself and others, helped me heal in so many ways. Massey herself is one of the kindest individuals I've ever met, and this book, while an incredible mystery which stays true to the genre, able to heal, to transform, and remind you to love, always love, even if you're primarily loving yourself.
52. Dodging and Burning by John Copenhaver
What a wonderful book. Copenhaver, a man I've had the chance to interview and from there befriend, is a conscious writer: he pays attention to every aspect of his writing, learning when he can and cannot do something, how he can be innovative, when to slow down his writing, when to put it aside and return to the novel again. This novel is ingenious, the crime equivalent of Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad, with experimentation in form but never neglecting the character, Dodging and Burning is a miraculous introduction to the new queer voices in crime fiction (note that Kristen Lepionka has even started a twitter handle based around this). Copenhaver is at once a hero and a genius.
51. The Force by Don Winslow
Don is the type of writer to always give back. Despite being a major superstar himself with so many great books in his CV, he is constantly promoting the new and rising authors he loves. On top of this, he writes relevant books, trying to humanize everyone and everything in his novels, including one of his latest standalones, The Force. The tragedy is inevitable. The characters from the novel are doomed. The crooked cop. (The other crooked cops.) His black mistress, who doesn't want to just be a black mistress, or anything that's a label, a word to define her. So many other characters reaching outside themselves, trying to redefine themselves, and Don Winslow acknowledges this struggle even as doom looms over his head. You may want to check out his Border trilogy, as well as his many other books, some adapted into films, like Savages. Don is an author you can return to again and again as someone who may not write every character outside his own boundaries well, but he'll be damned if he doesn't try. No humans are disposable to Don, in real life or in his novels.
50. The Other Americans by Laila Lalami
Oh, this book. Laila is yet another master, one who might consider herself more literary than crime, but as Attica Locke pointed out, crime novels and the presence of crime permeates everything. This novel involves the hit-and-run of a man, the clash and eruption of cultures, feelings of so many Americans, and even if the book hadn't been mesmerizing throughout (and it is), the final pages remind you of Laila Lalami's passion and potential to be one of the greatest writers of this century.
49. Hollywood Homicide by Kellye Garrett
I want Kellye to speak up and write as many novels as possible about Dayna, her private investigator protagonist. Dayna and her world is so delightful to be lost in, a miracle and a wondrous reminder of the ways true geniuses like Garrett herself doesn't need to go over the top with violence and gore to establish tension, fear, dread, and war for any character--Dayna included--who must find the truth, and protect her friends, her romantic interest, and herself. There is something so fresh and new about Dayna, and a reminder that true genius does not always bloom from violence and gore. Sometimes, the genius can be Kellye Garrett, a woman and author who can seemingly do anything.
48. Edinburgh by Alexander Chee
Everyone already knows Chee is a genius. I could shout it from the rooftops, drive a car with paint detail saying he's a genius, and all I would get back is "We know and we love him!" This list is for the twenty-first century, and Edinburgh luckily squeezes in just enough to fit into this century, and how luckily are we to have it. In this case, we see a topic rarely talked about when dealing with crime fiction: rape. Rape and molestation are crimes, dangerous, hurtful, sometimes fatal crimes, and they must be acknowledged. Chee uses his gift for unveiling a perfectly executed story just when we need it, and he isn't afraid to show the world exactly how brilliant he can be, and how necessary his writing is. This is a groundbreaking book, famous and addressing this area of crime, a book which, now reissued, will hopefully bring this area of crime into the mainstream, something we can have a dialog about.
47. Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta
To continue a discourse about books which do not necessarily fall into the traditional murder-mystery frame of crime fiction, we see in this novel a depiction of what it means to not only be a woman in this government, under this rule, but also to be a lesbian, someone who wants to be and become the person she desires to be, and to love the women she wants. The novel is brilliant, beautifully written, devastating and heart-warming, and always true. Truth in books--in all of these books--is so rare in so much literature. We are lucky to have these books and authors.
46. Late Rain by Lynn Kostoff
This novel, set near my home but on the coast of South Carolina, in Myrtle Beach, is brilliant. Find any of Kostoff's books and inhale them, the fluid motions of his sentences, the way he crafts novels and characters and sentences so well and so effortlessly. Plus, in this novel we have a Lady Macbeth type character, and who doesn't want that? The novel is sparkling, as are all of his other books, and it's great how someone like Kostoff has found a way to use Myrtle Beach, a creepy, desperate, filthy, shining crime filled area of South Carolina--he finds it and uses it to the best of its possibility, never abusing the area.
45. The Little Friend by Donna Tartt
We have been blessed to have two novels by Tartt released in this century, given her ten year minimum wait for any novel by her. While the book can be conflicting for readers, including myself, what with a young girl's search for her brother's killer, a plunge into the drug culture of the South, and a strange ending that will leave you fearful and unsure forever: this is Donna Tartt at her best and her worst, and she is not to be missed in either form.
44. The Blue Kingfisher by Erica Wright
Erica has already written three books concerning her own private investigator, Kat, who is a force formidable and dangerous in Wright's excellent writing, a character and series not to be missed. I did not have time to write about Erica's new standalone novel (I'm sure there will be more about that later), but for now embrace the brilliant private investigator in her latest novel, and perhaps her best, and buy her poetry and eagerly await her new book, coming soon. Wright is a writer to watch constantly.
43. A Friend is a Gift You Give Yourself by William Boyle
Boyle got a lot of acclaim and popularity for his last novel, The Lonely Witness, and just as he explores how crime truly affects all, and how loneliness can destroy characters, here Boyle creates a unique crime novel which is at once a genius union of older and younger women who are all so different, and have so much to learn from each other, and to give to each other. Boyle comes back hard with a crime novel which shows is talent, versatility, and the promise that one day soon he will be an author we remember decades, and perhaps centuries, from now.
42. Under a Dark Sky by Lori Rader-Day
The very idea of some sort of location where you can stay and watch dark skies unnerves me for reasons I can't really understand. But please don't assume Lori Rader-Day is going to simply terrify you with your fear of the dark. She's much more frightening than this. Lori is a phenomenal writer, and thanks to my urgent persistence (or perhaps it isn't because of me, but I like to think it is), her books available in print, e-book, and audiobook--so now anyone can have access to her genius novels. This novel in particular got me--it still haunts me, any time I think of it, the way Lori plays with you and makes you think the solution to a mysterious death, the making of a hero, the acknowledgement of truth may save you. And then, of course, she drops a bomb that ruins everything and tears you apart. I can't reveal so many details, but know that if you read Lori's books, you will fall madly in love with them--but if you read her books, you will always think you know everything, but Lori like that you think you know everything, just so exactly when she wants she can make you see the truth--and it hurts.
41. The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel
I love this book. In a very dark place in my life, I found this book in all its darkness, and somehow the pain in me was reflected in the book, or the books just showed me the truth about things--the world, the people I know or think I know. Engel's amazing crime novel involves a woman traveling to her mother's family after her mother commits suicide. The book is disturbing, the twists leaving you messy and unsure if you'll be turned in a different direction yet again and soon. Engel writes a book that is dynamite, but every word Engel writes is filled with love. Like any good writer, Amy cares so much about the novel it shines through in its brilliance, and in Amy's devotion to the language, the characters, the truth.
40. A Separation by Katie Kitamura
There's the usual question which almost feels generic, too common, too easy: How do we know anyone, anyone at all, all of their secrets--especially the ones which belong to people we share a bed with. The most frightening thing is often never knowing. In this book, a woman agrees to have a separation from her husband who simply just cannot be faithful to her--and yet, when he's gone missing, the protagonist has to search for him, find him, and what she finds is definitely not what she wants. She is pushed by others and her ownself to find the truth, tell the truth, and it may not be the best thing. A brilliant book you really shouldn't miss out on.
39. Sunset City by Melissa Ginsberg
We drift away from people. As my therapist has said, "Sometimes, most times, if you just let life happen, people will meander, even if that's a strange word. They will meander in and out of your life. If you let this happen, you will never lose them." We have to wonder how the protagonist of this book tries to deal with the death of a friend, and the subsequent request that she find out who was responsible for her friend's death. This book is riveting, and also asks a question why so many great poets are the best crime writers. Perhaps this needs to be examined more fully. This book, however, is a love poem to danger, fear, death, and truth. And the truth can be the most frightening bit of all.
38. Invisible City by Julia Dahl
Unlike with Erica Wright's private investigator, I ask readers start immediately with Julia Dahl's first novel featuring Rebekah Roberts instead of my favorite of the Rebekah Roberts novels. The mystery itself is captivating, but Dahl has a gift. Her voice--the voice she gives Rebekah, breathing life into her--this is the thing that pulls you in, and the characters, the mystery, the truth is all a bonus. Dahl has a divine gift and we can only hope for more novels from her soon.
37. The Cry by Helen Fitzgerald
In this remarkable book, a brilliant rendering of a marriage, and of one of the toughest topics tackled in any genre: the death of an infant, we see Helen Fitzgeerald's mighty powers over her characters, her story, bringing the reader into this world and letting them hold on for dear life as everything crumbles. Fitzgerald is a genius, and I advise everyone read her, enjoy her, know her, love her, and fear her. Like so many great writers, she is able to control the story and your emotions, and that is dangerous, and amazing.
36. She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper
How lucky we are to have Harper in the writing community and in our lives, a writer who can construct a novel like this, a young girl and her father, involved in crime. The book is beautiful, joyous, disturbing, haunting, tragic. We root for the protagonists and we want so much for them, but we will never be able to change their fates, just as we can't change our own pasts, our own missteps, our own disasters.
35. My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing
I will admit, upon hearing the premise, I was discouraged--this idea of yet another "I don't trust my husband" or "I don't trust my wife," but instead we have a miracle of a book brought to you by the genius writer, Sarah Downing. The book is at both a slow burn and filled with dynamite, and the ending will wreck you, even as you try to be unattached to the characters in the book. People who do bad things must be bad, right? And yet, we have this brilliant book that will break your heart, and asking yourself if you have time to reread and break your heart again.
34. My Sister, My Love by Joyce Carol Oates
It took me a very long time to realize Oates is primarily, and unabashedly, a crime writer. There aren't any books by Oates (or stories, etc) that can be viewed as entirely non-crime related. In this book-- a book which helped me through so much, through mental illness and loss, through understanding who I am and how I become outside of a specific person, thing, reality, this book has been one of the most moving and riveting pieces of literature I've ever read. A giant book with so many different points-of-view and styles, an entire crash course on how to be young and not know who you are in America. Oates is one to make any book readable, and any character, no matter how despicable, a phenomenal narrator, protagonist, and so on. One of my all time favorites, and a book I hope to continue to read time and time again.
33. The Dart-League King by Keith Lee Morris
There are books which, despite their utter genius and beauty, are not celebrated in book clubs, featured on the best books section in a bookstore, or read by people who claim to be experts on genres, and experts in literature in general. Keith Lee Morris writes of the way we can be trapped in a hometown, the way we cannot escape--not just the landscape, but our histories and also our futures. There is certainly Keith's fair share of crime in the novel, but never, not even for a minute, believe you know everything or anything. Keith dives so deep into the characters, their emotions, letting us see through their eyes, hear the pulse in their brains, and know everything--and nothing. We know everything and nothing all at once.
32. You (book series, television series, phenomenon) by Caroline Kepnes
I'm not best friends with Caroline Kepnes. I do wish I was. She's a genius, not afraid to dive so deep into the darkness, a woman who is moving so fast and with such expertise through the crime world, through fiction and literature, even on television now (if you haven't seen the first season of this brilliant undeniably expertly constructed show). Caroline doesn't have limits, and she writes books that people She is astonishing, and her gift for writing in any genre, inhabiting any characters, and even writing for television is to be admired. (By the way, Caroline, can we be best friends?)
31. In a Dark Dark Wood by Ruth Ware
I think it is safe to say that Ruth Ware is a genius, putting out brilliant book after brilliant book with the ease and confidence of a goddess. Here, I choose her first novel, so well written and constructed, a beautiful and terrifying and shocking novel which will sweep you off your feet. Ruth doesn't require much explanation or convincing--I doubt anyone reading this list hasn't read at least one of Ruth's expertly written and very popular novels. But if you have not, you really should get on that.
30. The Last Place You Look by Kristen Lepionka
Kristen is a genius. I mean this. I was approached to review her novels some time ago,and often I find I'm so disappointed with the novels, struggling to read through them, get to anything great and often there's nothing. I can think of only two books that really pushed me, did not let me put the book down. In fact, it was the opposite. I felt dragged through the novel, unable to stop--and then a sequel (and a third novel coming out this year) featuring Roxane, Kristen's brilliant private investigator who comes alive in the pages and in our minds. She is stunning, just as Kristen is stunning too. A side note: If you ever really want a great book recommendation, tweet Kristen. She has read everything. Not to mention, even international best-selling author Sophie Hannah loves Kristen's writing. That's a win.
29. Our Kind of Cruelty by Araminta Hall
This story is not a tale just anyone could dream up. Araminta Hall (on top of being just incredibly kind and a good person) has the ability to create a creepy lover a man who would die--or, perhaps, kill--for love And what makes this book so essential and something to relate to is the fact that, whether you will realize this through a confession or not, everyone has felt this way. Everyone has thought about it--killing for something, killing for love. The book is a tale of high stakes, desperation, a thriller and a quiet suspense book, all setting you up for the devastation and heartbreak of the protagonist. This is proof that even when you play dirty and do everything for someone, sometimes it's not enough. Sometimes you're not enough. And it hurts. Pay mind to Hall, a fantastic talent who will likely produce many more books to be printed in the U.S. in the future. I look forward to enjoying her books myself.
28. The Three Beths by Jeff Abbott
I'm very aware Jeff has been around for some time, has published a copious amount of novels, and is a master of suspense, mystery, dread, fiction. But I want to point out the genius in his most recent novel, an epic that has the ability to keep you glued to the pages and moving through the novel as well as examine the characters, their reality, your reality, and really look at yourself. Jeff is an amazing author, plotting extremely complex but delicious novels you will want to devour so quickly. This novel in particular is an excellent place to start with Jeff's work, eventually moving backwards and forward, seeing how he has evolved, the diverse subjects he has covered, and everything else about his phenomenal writing.
27. Temper by Layne Fargo
It's easy to notice when most people talk about books concerning acting, they mention masks. We all wear masks. By now, it's overdone, and with actors, their ambition and drive, their need to occupy over spaces, other people, and really have the power to be so many at once--who is bringing a sword to the party? In Layne Fargo's debut novel, beautifully and succinctly written, a welcome addition (and possibly a book that excels past these books) to the books by young women writing about real issues, real women, and oftentimes women who will stop at nothing to get what they want. And you know what? That's O.K. Men have stopped at nothing for so many years, and now it's fair that the women in the acting community dive into this darkness. Although, in reality, I might avoid murder. That tends to complicate things, right, Layne?
26.No Exit by Taylor Adams
It's very rare I speak so highly of white men--I don't mean to sound prejudiced, but I do believe people often have a preference with their reading. I've never been a fan of men, John Updike or Ernest Hemingway with his stories about camping and fishing. There are exceptions, like my fascination with Gravity's Rainbow, a book I've read more times than I can count. And here is No Exit, a novel about a young woman traveling through snowy mountains to see her dying mother. Trapped by a blizzard at a rest stop with several strangers, the protagonist acts and decides to rescue the girl and get her to safety, no matter what.What follows is one of the most epic and thrilling novels I've ever read. Sick in bed with a fever, not even the call for sleep or drooping eyes could keep me from plowing through this book, watching a young woman fight men, a book that does not sexually exploit a young woman but instead thrusts her through the wilderness, back to the rest station, to a highway, everywhere. She will stop at nothing to survive, and to help the young girl live too. In ways, this book is reminiscent of another masterwork, NOS4A2 by Joe Hill. Taylor Adam's snowy and dangerous novel is a book you need to read immediately--again and again.
25. He Said/She Said by Erin Kelly
While Erin has just released a phenomenal new book Stone Mothers. I decided to highlight her most popular novel to date. However, it should be noted that Erin creates the best books out there, and really, if I could, I would list all of her books and describe all their unique qualities, characters, twists, and how every book is so very different. But you don't have seven hours to read a dissertation on the great books of Erin Kelly. Know that any book of Erin's is astonishingly good, and I advise you go out and purchase them immediately. Tell your friends all about Erin as a writer, with her many books, all so different, excellent, stunning, dark, violent--her works know no bounds, and that's one of the best qualities about those who write crime novels. Erin creates characters who will stop at nothing to get what they want, and it's thrilling to see characters being active, seeking out the change they want in their life, no matter how sinister it is--the active need for change is so essential for times like these.
24. Girl in the Rearview Mirror by Kelsey Rae Dimberg
Here she goes. Kelsey Rae Dimberg, blasting into the crime fiction family with a fury and talent unmatched by nearly any author her age or older. I wasn't prepared for all the emotions I would feel with this book, and where the book. I think people mistake the mystery, the twists, the things you can predict with the true gold in Dimberg's novel: the motives, all of the motives, for everyone around her. Personally I was shocked by some of the characters Dimberg's protagonist doesn't express concern or doubt in. I propelled through the book, finding the wonders and delights in the way Kelsey tells her stories. She is not entirely something new (after all, the general saying in the writing community is not what is new, but how you tell it) and Kelsey tells the story like an oracle, someone who lives forever, a young woman with the mind of the most knowledgeable crime writers. Alas, here she is, showing the stakes set for advancing in a political arena, the idea of whether a child is made for love or for business, the devastation of being outside the group of people who can mourn someone. This is the worst: loving someone so dearly, but not being deemed acceptable to grieve like those related to the person. And the ever unrolling mystery, things you see and things you don't, but the interest, the desire, the energy Dimberg puts into her novel makes everything worth it.
23. If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio
What a wonderful book: what appears to be another attempt at Donna Tartt's The Secret History becomes something so much more. There's Shakespeare, there's sex, there's murder, but ultimately the connections between the students at a prestigious school, these students all so different and from all over, are what really make the book move forward, and the reader both so willing to read and again and again but also to keep turning the page at record pace. The book offers brilliantly gorgeous language as much as it does unrelenting suspense. Hold on to this one.
22. Conviction by Denise Mina
This is a beauty of a book, tight and compact but sprawling and generous, a book to really bask in and contemplate. Mina delivers with a book that moves mast the annoying parts of social media (although these are referenced, and we know the age we are listening in) and makes better use of the podcast form (like in Sadie by Courtney Summers) to create an intricate mystery told breathtakingly, in a way that few others can do. Mina commands your attention from beginning to end, even if you as a reader do not know what the hell is going on.
21. The Dime by Kathleen Kent
Kathleen Kent is a notable writer, a celebrated writer, and a writer who has now transitioned from other genres to crime fiction. And she does so magnificently. Her novel, The Dime, is the first in a series featuring a detective named Betty, a woman who used to work in New York and is positioned in Dallas, a woman whose sexuality is as defined as she likes, and isn't a traditional hetero-WASPy cis-female. She knows who she is, and she struggles to fight crime and keep her home life intact. The most amazing thing, as mentioned with so many other private investigators, detectives, and the like is how Kathleen, like so many great authors of series books, is able to push through and write some of the most brilliant and dazzling prose--a nice bonus to the exciting plots, dangerous and frightening, and we just have to believe Betty will kick ass and survive.
20. Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
William Kent Krueger, with my fanatic obsession over his work basically reaching my love for the great Larry McMurtry. He has a long-lasting mystery series, which is spectacular although, as a preface, there are a lot of books in this series. The series is worth it, but makes sure you have the energy and stamina to keep going. On the other hand, there is one of his standalones, and one of the most brilliant novels of all time: Ordinary Grace. What could be a simple tale, something covered quickly with little to no attachment to the book for the reader, William Kent Krueger manages to spin a web around the community, the preacher father, the murdered child, the curious and young protagonist and narrator, and the desperate search for the truth and understanding. Being gay, and not truly identifying as anything specific on the gender spectrum, always shifting, always deciding, I never thought I would love a book so grounded in religion. And yet, this is the good side of Christianity, the acknowledgement that men are often born somewhere on the queer spectrum, and that is fine in this world here. The mystery unravels, the killer's identity exposed in a terrifying way,and yet I always found myself involved in the town, the people, the preacher, the narrator, the dead. This book still lingers, and I fear rereading the book, tainting this specific experience, losing the love I have for it. The book is beautiful and undeniably exceptional, and a novel which will, I hope, stand the test of time.
19. Leave No Trace by Mindy Mejia
It's so hard, with an author as talented and spectacular as Mindy, to pick one of her books. The book that I would consider rocketing up to fame, to stardom in the crime writing community, Everything You Want Me to Be, is a magnificent novel that's hard to put down, a book that is almost necessary to consume in one sitting. Then she announced she was releasing a new book. The question was if her new book could, essentially, out-Mindy herself. In the end, we have the magnificent tour-de-force Leave No Trace. A father and son disappear in the wilderness, with search teams looking everywhere for the pair. And the narrator, of course, has a secret (or possible secrets) of her own. The book is at once a slow burn, a brilliant as any eighties song you would slow dance to at prom, but also an explosion, not dynamite but a pipe leaking gas, a shock to your system you don't see coming, and it's wonderful. Mindy will be a voice heard and revered for decades, as I've said of other writers on this list. Be prepared for her next book, and possibly terrified at how amazing it is, setting the stage for so many books to follow.
18 . Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman
Is it weird for me to compare Robin Wasserman to Marcel Proust? Before you call me crazy, bask in it. This sense of time, the circular and continual nature of it, the way we can be trapped in things, the way these young women are trapped in a small town, never escaping, dark and twisted. This book is hard to read if you can't handle anxiety or fear well, so this is possibly the time to buy a copy for your friend in case. The book details the lives of two young women, their voices so finally shaped and brought to perfection, and this excellent tale of friendship, betrayal, love, and darkness. There are moments you feel sick, clinging to the arms or material of whatever you're sitting on. The book is beyond brilliant. It's a masterpiece. Something that should be taught in college, explained so thoroughly, but the thought of this novel being dissected is frightening. This is more of a crime story than mystery, although mysteries are involved in the plot's construction, but the path of these who girls, their personalities, their nature--perhaps it's so disturbing because we have to see these young women as actual humans, something many readers are not used to do doing in fiction, crime fiction or nay other genre. Robin Wasserman has given her masterpiece, so what's next? I hope she tells me. I am kind of obsessed.
17 . The Long and Faraway Gone by Lou Berney
OK, I get that November Road is likely his more perfect book, so lyrical and beautiful, creating a crime masterpiece that is already being made into a major motion picture and being drilled into the crime canon. But I also think about what Larry McMurtry said about film adaptations, where The Last Picture Show may be the more perfect movie, but Terms of Endearment took more risks, chose to be different, and in many ways it paid off. In many ways, I feel this is the same with The Long and Faraway Gone, an epic undertaking, the story of two people searching for answers, searching for truth, barely crossing paths but each finding the answers they wanted, whether they like the answers or not. This book is phenomenal, as is November Road, and you should run out and read them both as soon as possible, but I choose the book that was unsure, desperate, and meeting in places like two seismic plates rubbing against one another, ready to create an earthquake. Read them both, and get to know Lou, a great man and an even better writer.
16. Dear Daughter by Elizabeth Little
Little delivers a novel we didn't know could exist, and it's phenomenal. This book, tracking a young woman's history with her mother, a woman she supposedly murdered, as she travels to find out the truth about her mother and herself, and hopefully find the person who killed her. Mixed with the young woman's narrative, so energetic and electric, and news stories from various media outlets, the book truly delivers, making Elizabeth Little a mega-force in the literary world. For those who suggest this story has been done before, perhaps the reason Dear Daughter is so brilliant is because it takes a traditional tale and corrects everything written by those who came before--those who couldn't get the story, the rhythm, the layout as perfect as Elizabeth does.
15. Last Woman Standing by Amy Gentry
Gentry has proven in her first novel, Good as Gone, that she's a writer to be reckoned with. In addition to this, she somehow flips like a coin, becoming a completely different writer with her second novel, Last Woman Standing. The book is described as a female based, feminist Stangers on a Train (the original already struggling with subtle notes of homosexuality and toxic masculinity). The comparison isn't incorrect, but Gentry, as usual, does not stop there: she goes above and beyond. There are people she needs to protect, mysteries she must solve after getting in over her head with a woman who might be a vigilante seeking vengeance or someone who is simply insane. Gentry is brilliant enough not to provide simple answers, or really any answers at all. Here, Gentry wants you to piece together who this woman is, at times the protagonist's friend, other times a woman the protagonist fears. Gentry embraces rape as a crime, an issue just getting attention. As a victim myself, I know of the importance in facing the issue in a state or even the country and world in general about rape, how it's viewed, how it's dealt with, and if victims can ever really truly recover from this experience at all. Gentry offers vengeance up on a pleasure, but she seems to warn you: this may not be enough, and if it isn't, what will you do then? The novel is brilliant, critics and readers praising it, and an enigmatic ending that offers even more questions. Somehow Gentry delivers one of the strongest and more daring novels in decades, and of course leave it to Amy to set this all up in a comedy club, with no one know who the joke is actually on, but there are no laughs.Not tonight.
14. The Wife by Alafair Burke
I believe it was mentioned recently---perhaps by Alafair, maybe someone else--about how she is the daughter of another famous author. Here is the truth: I was so impressed with the first several books I read by Alafair, before I got to conduct interviews with her, before I got to know her, and when I found out she was the daughter of a famous writer, I just thought, "He's lucky to have a daughter as talented as Alafair." I've never viewed her in comparison with any other authors, but I've always viewed Alafair as one of the absolute very best. Her last book, The Better Sister, was a major winner and a brilliant commentary on rape culture and the #metoo movement, both the positive and negative aspects and outcomes related to the activism. For me, though, The Wife was, and still is, the book to beat. A beautiful book, stunning and vibrant and violent and dizzying, the novel examines how far we will go to protect the people in our lives, and also how we choose to protect ourselves, even in the most violent of ways. I read the novel again and again, so complex and interesting I became obsessed with trying to figure everything out, every twist, every easter egg. The book is being adapted into a film with the script written by Alafair Burke herself. If you don't know her yet--if you're new to crime, if you are looking for some amazing books, google her. You'll be shocked how she balances so many things, and also writes novels that will make your jaw drop and lead you to search for more.
13. The Wolf Wants In by Laura McHugh
OK, so perhaps Laura isn't actually located in the Deep South but draws from her love of the atmosphere and the lore of the area. Her newest novel is brilliant, emotional, frightening, thrilling, and so rewarding. It feels like we have waited too long for a new book from the Laura McHugh. And here she is, with a stunning title and cover, and an even more enchanting novel inside. If you haven't read Laura's work yet, consider reading her award winning novels, all stunning tributes to the violence perpetrated against women, both in an attempt to understand how to stop it, and also a message to readers of how grave and serious this issue actually is McHugh's novels are breathtaking and stunning, but behind the entertaining exterior, there's the reminder: not everyone gets away, not everyone has a happy ending, so what are you going to do about this?
12. Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye
This novel, slightly influenced by Jane Eyre, could be called a historical mystery, sure. But then again, it's hard to define Faye's brilliance In her latest novel, The Paragon Hotel, she tackles so many issues at once, the great author who uses her skill to write astonishing novels that remind people that even if the characters are facing issues in a certain time period, that doesn't mean these problems don't exist now, and aren't as dangerous as ever. Faye corrects people's ideas of history, provides a safe place for so many marginalized people, and is never afraid to tell the truth. Never. I could choose every one of her novels for this list, but Jane Steele was the first book I read of hers, one of her finest books to ever be written, nominated for an Edgar and establishing Lyndsay Faye as someone to change the world, with a serial killing/crime fighting Jane Eyre type character, and so many more tricks and truths up her sleeves.
11. Bent Road by Lori Roy
The first novel I read by Lori Roy was Let Me Die in His Footsteps, a magical sort of Southern Gothic tale which examined the society we live in, societies that have persisted insisting the most important aspect of every woman's life is who she should marry. In Let Me Die in His Footsteps we see how this can be twisted, and as in one of Lori Roy's favorite books, East of Eden, we see a young girl insist that her future is not decided. Timshel. In Lori Roy's first novel, Bent Road, a quieter novel that is still more terrifying, intense and disturbing, and ultimately satisfying for the reader, even as lives are destroyed, people losing not necessarily their lives but their pasts. The book shows so many people trying to escape a supposed murder from years before, and when the truth erupts--and oh, boy, does it erupt--we see so many truths, so many fears, and danger aimed at so many different people. This is a book I love to return to so often, a quiet but beautiful novel, something Lori Roy has spun so intricately and quietly, the reader is able to revisit the novel again and again, learning new things about the plot, the characters, the style, but also how to write like a master, which Lori Roy clearly shows with this novel.
9. (tie) Blackout by Alex Segura
I think there is a celebration this year, in seeing the famous Pete, private investigator, complicated man, devoted lover, finding himself in the final novel in Pete's journey, Miami Midnight. I have fortunately read it, and twww.amazon.com/Miami-Midnight-Pete-Fernandez-Segura/dp/1947993593/ref=bseries_primary_0_1947993593he ending is brilliant, such a perfect way of ending the best sagas, from Breaking Bad to aforementioned Don Winslow's Border trilogy. The conclusion is brilliant. And yet, I turn to Blackout as the book I think is so magnificently crafted, so well executed, so brilliantly planned that it will find its way into the crime canon. There is no doubt of Pete's influence on the modern private detective, and his whole story is important in its entirety, but I still get chills at the thought of the hurricane, the fight for life, the way Alex used Miami, often seen as the kryptonite to Pete, in a way to mirror all of Pete's fears and flaws. The book is superb from beginning to end, but the way it builds like a crescendo until everything that must happens does--that's what makes Blackout one of the absolute best books for me.
9. (tie) The Infinite Blacktop by Sara Gran
When I think back on this, I very well could have chosen any of the Claire Dewitt novels (comparable to Alex Segura's Pete series, with a slightly different design and a majorly different tone, but still the Harry Potter of noir). They were all published in the twenty-first century. They could all be the best books. And, in many ways, they all are. Each book has had such a lasting effect on me, but The Infinite Blacktop, the book that sadly discards Claire's name from the title, is so incredibly complex. We see all of these different timelines, these different stories, cases, and while some seem related--and some don't--we hang on because Sara Gran is just that good, a writer who can keep your attention,remind you of what is at stake, let you know that there is something coming, something bigger than you could ever expect. And when you get to the third act, and everything falls in place, and finally you understand, the breath caught in your throat and the tears stinging your eyes will remind you of this: Sara Gran is one of the very best crime and noir writers alive, and of all time.
8. Money Shot and Choke Hold (Angel Dare series) by Christa Faust
Faust is an expert at pretty much everything. No one can fit two novels so epic, with such a riveting cast, a profound and determined heroine, a story with as many twists and turns as you could expect from the biggest authors today (in my mind, even more so). Money Shot is an excellent introduction to Angel Dare. Choke Hold is a pure tour de forced, Faust's way of pushing you forward through all of the remarkable chapters and passages, funny and heartbreaking and ultimately unforgettable.
7. The Passenger by Lisa Lutz
Known for the Spellman novels, Lisa Lutz has written pretty much everything, including co-writing and screenwriting. The Spellman novels are a hysterical look at the private investigator business and dysfunctional families, both hilarious and poignant, a series that will outlive all of us. Whenever I am having a really bad day, I have the Spellman audiobooks and I just go through them and laugh. And then there's this, The Passenger, one of the greatest novels of all time which, at least for me, came out of nowhere (much like the book and release date for Lisa's new book!). The book focuses on a woman who must go on the run when she finds her husband dead. Through a series of adventures we often learn more about the world than the woman constantly running, changing her name, changing everything. And then there's the third act, where we learn everything just as the protagonist does, and our hearts are broken as we find out truth after truth, leaving the reader to wonder if sometimes it's better to not know. The conclusion is thunderous, and the entire book, compact and as moving as it is thrilling manages to capture the attention of every reader. It is my most gifted book, and very few people I gift this novel to take more than a day to devour it. Warning: It will ruin your plans, it will take your day away.
But Lisa Lutz is worth it, trust me.
6. What Remains of Me by Alison Gaylin
You never forget your first Gaylin. For me, it was What Remains of Me, which still haunts me, reminds me of how writing can be mastered, it can be controlled, and it can be made--if not perfect--near perfect. Gaylin has constructed such a brilliant novel, nominated for an Edgar, but more importantly my second most gifted book, a book so many people love and read regularly. Gaylin has written about a world in which, essentially, no one knows what is true, even about themselves. We see a woman accused of killing her father-in-law, and then we see her past, the other murder she supposedly committed (you'll receive no spoilers from me), and so many more dynamite conclusions that rock the book, the characters, and ultimately destroy and wreck the characters, as any true noir novel should. Gaylin has obviously read the authors who came before her, written and rewritten, and then offered the world this. What Remains of Me is a feat of epic proportions, and it is not to be forgotten. But a copy, find yourself in it, then find you know nothing at all.
5. Bluebird, Bluebird ; Heaven, My Home (Highway 59 series) by Attica Locke
It is difficult to choose a favorite Attica Locke book. There are no other authors who write like Attica, who can shape worlds like Attica, write so clearly but also help us understand some worlds are alien to us, some worlds are dangerous, some worlds we should avoid. She can fit what others take pages to write in a single sentence. The series, following a black Texas Ranger, has already won an Edgar for Best Novel, and now the second book is already selling books in preorder. Attica does not hesitate to write about race or any other social justice issue, standing for all marginalized people while still giving her readers a beautifully rendered story. Once, I asked her what her main goal was in writing, and she replied simply "To tell a story." But I imagine for her, a story is rooted into the goodness of her, as we see every character in her various novel struggle to get through hard times, usually targeted by race. Each of her books is special, glimmering in the way only Attica Locke can manage. You would be a fool not to read all of her books immediately.
Here's the thing. Choosing just one of the crime novels as the best of the century is a crime too. So, here we go. The four remaining best books of the century so far, and it's up to you to decide for yourself.
The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood
Named by Stephen King as one of his favorites, if not his absolute favorite book of the century so far. A party where mistresses are now wives, mistresses are waiting for their turn to become the lady of the house, a place where the reader can trust no one, especially when a child disappears from the vacation house. Marwood delivers again, always molding and changing her style, her stories, her characters, and delivering something entirely new with each book. Marwood creates a book without a single likable character, and it's beautiful. This is not some simple take on a true crime story, and this is not a book written by an amateur. I can just imagine Ms. Marwood developing the novel herself, crafting it, and I'm sure she doesn't have a second hesitation in crafting this masterwork. One of the greatest writers alive today, she is fascinating and, of course, we must wonder what acutally comes next. For the mysterious Marwood, no one knows, although she has a novel coming out in early 2020 in the United States.
Does anyone know of how I can get in touch with Alex Marwood?
Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman (July 2019)
I think it was an unspoken challenge, or maybe it was all on my end. Could Laura Lippman rip my heart away from my favorite of her books, the book even Sunburn could not sway me from. After I'm Gone broke my heart so completely I had to add Laura on all social media and send her questions begging for understanding of this novel that had ripped my heart from my chest. And now we have her newest book, a feat I don't think anyone else could ever do--no one. She really does use so many points of view (and so expertly) in this story about a white housewife in Baltimore who leaves her husband in the mid '60s, begins an affair with a black police officer, and begins climbing toward being the person she wants to be: a reporter, someone who matters. For, as much as Maddie claims she wants to bring justice to those who aren't seen, find the story for those who have been lost to time and the hands of another, is Maddie not searching for some meaning for herself? And, as she's warned by a clairvoyant in the novel, if she doesn't stop, people will be hurt. Some might view my and Laura's relationship as chaotic, but I say it's fruitful: she gives me the tragedy, and I make use of it.Usually with ice cream, pajamas, lots of tears and rereading so many sections of her books, and learning what Laura has taught me best. Just like Maddie, readers may come for the murder, but we all stay to see if we can be broken again, not if we can make sense of murders with our heartbreak, but if we can make sense of our heartbreak with murder. You have to decide if you're the killing type, or the victim--and in many ways, they're often the same thing.
Also, yes, the title is the same as one of Raymond Chandler's novels, and one of his most interesting film adaptations. But here's the thing: if you walk a dialectic, you can see Chandler who is (problematically) a genius. But you can also understand that by now, it's time to admit Laura Lippman is just as great as Chandler.As Hammett.As James M. Cain. Laura Lippman is one of the toughest forces to rock the literary industry, and her arms are strong enough to carry dead men and broken hearts. Remember to preorder Laura's newest book now.
Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha (October 2019)
Here is Steph Cha's first standalone. She is in her thirties, her early thirties, and this is her first standalone, and it's one of the most genius, stunning, complex, beautifully written, executed with empathy and love and open ears, a novel divided to reflect the state of our country, the horrors going on in every state, in every part of the country--this is a book that should be a swan song (or should I say, Song? sorry, Steph, i had to) but is actually the blossoming of the most talented writer since--well, since Megan Abbott's entrance into the mainstream crime world. Steph likely owes a lot of her writing to the biggest writers today, but do not confuse this for a young woman imitating an author she admires, or struggling to find her identity. Cha knows who she is. She may not be able to make sense of the horrors of the world around her, but she can speak with the clearest voice, she can assert her power over all of her characters, she can dream up the most beautiful and complex plots, she can orchestrate a novel that is nearly flawless and just as dangerous, and most of all her empathy allows her to access the psyche of so many people, traveling back and forth between two communities in the LA area, crimes and loss culminating in a thunderstorm Steph has finally let out of her head. The Juniper Song novels are brilliant and will be read and reread by loyal fans for years, but know that this trilogy is also a siren, the warning for every writer, and every critic: this is not an ingenue who will just fit in your bookcase. Steph Cha does not fit between Updike and Franzen. She would eat them alive. Remember to preorder her standalone novel now.
Dare Me by Megan Abbott
I really didn't know you could love a novel this way, not until Megan released Dare Me years ago, her first truly modern book (as the 1980s The End of Everything didn't count as modern, even then). The book, like reaching for honeysuckle only to be stung by a bee, changed everything about me, the direction I was heading in life, who I wanted to be and how I would get there. It got me through love with the poetry of every line recalling Chandler's language, the succinct and tight storytelling all Dorothy B. Hughes, and the book itself something only Abbott was able to create, and something no one else will ever be able to make again. Megan has earned her place in the literary world, and now the world of screenwriting, television, possibly movies soon. The heartbreak of the novel, the dreamlike stumbling along as if we're in a Juan Rulfo novella, the novel's conclusion as intimate and violent as a coldclock in a kiss--this book has been one of my absolute favorite things for so long. Only Megan can have lines like "Love is a type of killing" sprinkled around the violent nature of vicious cheerleaders. And I think no one can ever make cheerleaders so frightening.
So there you go. Your four choices. Which is number one for you?
A Note: I want to comment on the crime novels written by racial minorities, or, rather, those books which exist in limited quantities. I will speak more about this later, but I will hopefully be working with Agora, a division of Polis Books and the brainchild of Chantelle Aimee Osman and Jason Pinter. My hope is to find the authors, authors of all minorities, who will help advance various minorities forward in the crime fiction universe. Chantelle Aimee Osman and Jason Pinter have both been incredibly nice and wonderful about helping us spread the news about this new age of diverse crime writers, and we really hope to bring some quality material, influenced by different lives, different upbringings, different experiences, and different fears and triumphs in an effort to truly push forward and make the crime community a welcome environment for all.
Agora shows a lot of promise, and I hope you will tune in as more news around the publisher and published books becomes available.
THE BEST BOOKS (AND MAYBE OTHER MEDIA) OF 2018. OR, AT LEAST, A LOT OF THEM.
50. THE DISAPPEARING by Lori Roy
49.. ALICE ISN'T DEAD by Joseph Fink
48. IF I DIE TONIGHT by Alison Gaylin
47. THE FIGHTER by Michael Farris Smith
46. THE WIDOWS OF MALABAR HILL by Sujata Massey (best series debut)
45. THE PERFECT MOTHER by Aimee Malloy
43. (tie) THE PERFECT NANNY by Leila Slimani
43. (tie) UNDER A DARK SKY by Lori Rader-Day
42. HAZARDS OF TIME TRAVEL by Joyce Carol Oates
41. WHITE HOUSES by Amy Bloom
40. BRASS by Xhenet Aliu
39. ETERNAL LIFE by Dara Horn
38. UNDER MY SKIN by Lisa Unger
37. THE GIRL IN THE TOWER, book 2 of the WINTERNIGHT trilogy (preceded by THE BEAR AND THE NIGHTINGALE) by Katherine Arden
36. LYING IN WAIT by Liz Nugent
35. SWEET LITTLE LIES by Caz Frear
34. HOLLYWOOD ENDING by Kellye Garrett
33. A FALSE REPORT by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong
32. OUR KIND OF CRUELTY by Araminta Hall
31. DODGING AND BURNING by John Copenhaver
30. SABRINA by Nick Dranso
29. THE HAZEL WOOD by Melisa Albert
28. NOVEMBER ROAD by Lou Berney
27. LEAVE NO TRACE by Mindy Mejia
26. THE THREE BETHS by Jeff Abbott
25. THE CADAVERKING AND THE COUNTRY DENTIST by Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington
24. PRIDE AND PROMETHEIUS by John Kessel
23. (tie) CLEAN by Soccer Mommy
23. (tie) LUSH by Snail Mail
22. NORMAL PEOPLE by Sally Rooney
21. GRIST MILL ROAD by Christopher J. Yates
20. TO THE BRIDGE by Nancy Rommelmann
19. WHAT YOU WANT TO SEE by Kristen Lepionka
18. CIRCE by Madeline Miller
17. THE WILDLANDS by Abbi Geni
16. GUN LOVE by Jennifer Clement
15. AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE by Tayari Jones
14. I’LL BE GONE IN THE DARK by Michellle McNamara
12. (tie) SUBURN by Laura Lippman
12. (tie) GIVE ME YOUR HAND by Megan Abbott
11. THE WIFE by Alafair Burke
10. DREAD NATION by Justina Ireland
9. BLACKOUT by Alex Segura (Tie for best series book)
8. THE INFINITE BLACKTOP by Sara Gran (Tie for best series book)
7. THE GREAT BELIEVERS by Rebecca Makkai
6. SADIE by Courtney Summers
5. THE GOOD DEMON by by Jimmy Cajoles
4. BARBED WIRE HEART by Tess Sharpe
1. (tie) SEVERANCE by Ling Ma
1. (tie) A LADDER TO THE SKY by John Boyne
1. (tie) UNREAL (created by Marti Noxon, Sarah Gertrude Shapiro; starring Shiri Appleby, Constance Zimmer)
God, where do I begin the ode to this show? My friend forced me to watch UNREAL at the height of my emotional woes and it was both an escape and a thundering, empowering, fearful reminder of everything in my life. We follow this brilliant love story between Rachel and Quinn, with Quinn trying to decide what she will settle for and what she won't, and Rachel looking for romantic love endlessly. The actors, Shiri Appleby and Constance Zimmer, seem too real for any television, and this is the one show where everything does come together as brilliantly as it can. The relationships between the characters, especially between Rachel (Appleby) and Quinn (Zimmer) are unbelievably well related to the viewer, painted as well by the writing as the actors, not to mention we get to see Appleby be a director in an effortless, brilliant way. All four of the women I've listed beside the title are brilliant here and at the top of their game. While UNREAL ends perfectly, we do have to wonder where these four women will head now, and if we'll ever get to see Quinn and Rachel at play again. For now, this was a wonderful ode to sisterhood, mothers and daughters, and also a beyond brilliant examination of BPD and order disorders and mental illness, and let's not forget rape culture. The one show that really can address everything and anything realistically, and the one show you pull for the characters even after, personally, they may have jumped the shark. But for these four women, the characters can be pushed much further than what you think their breaking points might be. I really can't express the love for this show, the way it wraps up, its final fourth season (available only on Hulu so get your ass over there) and everything else, so much more than I could hope to dream of.
49.. ALICE ISN'T DEAD by Joseph Fink
48. IF I DIE TONIGHT by Alison Gaylin
47. THE FIGHTER by Michael Farris Smith
46. THE WIDOWS OF MALABAR HILL by Sujata Massey (best series debut)
45. THE PERFECT MOTHER by Aimee Malloy
43. (tie) THE PERFECT NANNY by Leila Slimani
43. (tie) UNDER A DARK SKY by Lori Rader-Day
42. HAZARDS OF TIME TRAVEL by Joyce Carol Oates
41. WHITE HOUSES by Amy Bloom
40. BRASS by Xhenet Aliu
39. ETERNAL LIFE by Dara Horn
38. UNDER MY SKIN by Lisa Unger
37. THE GIRL IN THE TOWER, book 2 of the WINTERNIGHT trilogy (preceded by THE BEAR AND THE NIGHTINGALE) by Katherine Arden
36. LYING IN WAIT by Liz Nugent
35. SWEET LITTLE LIES by Caz Frear
34. HOLLYWOOD ENDING by Kellye Garrett
33. A FALSE REPORT by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong
32. OUR KIND OF CRUELTY by Araminta Hall
31. DODGING AND BURNING by John Copenhaver
30. SABRINA by Nick Dranso
29. THE HAZEL WOOD by Melisa Albert
28. NOVEMBER ROAD by Lou Berney
27. LEAVE NO TRACE by Mindy Mejia
26. THE THREE BETHS by Jeff Abbott
25. THE CADAVERKING AND THE COUNTRY DENTIST by Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington
24. PRIDE AND PROMETHEIUS by John Kessel
23. (tie) CLEAN by Soccer Mommy
23. (tie) LUSH by Snail Mail
22. NORMAL PEOPLE by Sally Rooney
21. GRIST MILL ROAD by Christopher J. Yates
20. TO THE BRIDGE by Nancy Rommelmann
19. WHAT YOU WANT TO SEE by Kristen Lepionka
18. CIRCE by Madeline Miller
17. THE WILDLANDS by Abbi Geni
16. GUN LOVE by Jennifer Clement
15. AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE by Tayari Jones
14. I’LL BE GONE IN THE DARK by Michellle McNamara
12. (tie) SUBURN by Laura Lippman
12. (tie) GIVE ME YOUR HAND by Megan Abbott
11. THE WIFE by Alafair Burke
10. DREAD NATION by Justina Ireland
9. BLACKOUT by Alex Segura (Tie for best series book)
8. THE INFINITE BLACKTOP by Sara Gran (Tie for best series book)
7. THE GREAT BELIEVERS by Rebecca Makkai
6. SADIE by Courtney Summers
5. THE GOOD DEMON by by Jimmy Cajoles
4. BARBED WIRE HEART by Tess Sharpe
1. (tie) SEVERANCE by Ling Ma
1. (tie) A LADDER TO THE SKY by John Boyne
1. (tie) UNREAL (created by Marti Noxon, Sarah Gertrude Shapiro; starring Shiri Appleby, Constance Zimmer)
God, where do I begin the ode to this show? My friend forced me to watch UNREAL at the height of my emotional woes and it was both an escape and a thundering, empowering, fearful reminder of everything in my life. We follow this brilliant love story between Rachel and Quinn, with Quinn trying to decide what she will settle for and what she won't, and Rachel looking for romantic love endlessly. The actors, Shiri Appleby and Constance Zimmer, seem too real for any television, and this is the one show where everything does come together as brilliantly as it can. The relationships between the characters, especially between Rachel (Appleby) and Quinn (Zimmer) are unbelievably well related to the viewer, painted as well by the writing as the actors, not to mention we get to see Appleby be a director in an effortless, brilliant way. All four of the women I've listed beside the title are brilliant here and at the top of their game. While UNREAL ends perfectly, we do have to wonder where these four women will head now, and if we'll ever get to see Quinn and Rachel at play again. For now, this was a wonderful ode to sisterhood, mothers and daughters, and also a beyond brilliant examination of BPD and order disorders and mental illness, and let's not forget rape culture. The one show that really can address everything and anything realistically, and the one show you pull for the characters even after, personally, they may have jumped the shark. But for these four women, the characters can be pushed much further than what you think their breaking points might be. I really can't express the love for this show, the way it wraps up, its final fourth season (available only on Hulu so get your ass over there) and everything else, so much more than I could hope to dream of.
