2019 in Books

Well... It's been just over a year. But that's ok, it just means I can talk about what I read in that year.

So, here is 2019, in books I read.

In total I read 128 books; 96 Adult Fiction, 7 Non-Fiction, 2 Young Adult, 1 E-Book and 1 classic. On the whole it was a good reading year. Either I’ve developed a better eye for a good book, or my tastes have broadened. Probably a little of both, I suspect.

The most anticipated new books were the next Jack Reacher (Blue Moon), the second instalment of the Real Town Murder series (By The Pricking Of Her Thumb) by Adam Roberts, Brink Book 3 (an excellent Graphic Novel series) by Dan Abnett, The Baltimore Boys by Joel Dicker, The Lost Man the third book by the Australian based crime write Jane Harper and the third book in the truly brilliant Winternight fantasy series by Katherine Arden, The Winter Of The Witch.

All those delivered in spades, no disappointments. We shall see what the next Jack Reacher is like now Lee Child has enlisted the help of his younger brother. I read an Andrew Grant book (Child’s real name is Jim Grant) and it was pretty decent, so I am cautiously curious. The Real Town Murder series is set in the near-ish future and follows the cases of Alma, a struggling private detective, while she tends to her partner Marguerite who is bed bound and needs a life-saving injection every 4 hours. Inventive suspenseful and touching. Brink is a Science Fiction Graphic novel series starring police detective Bridget Curtis, this is the third and (sadly) last instalment. Curtis is investigating the strange goings-on of cults on closed-in spaceship worlds. It pulls no punches and the artwork and writing are fantastic. If you only read one Graphic Novel series this year… The Baltimore Boys is the second in the Marcus Goldman series by Swizz author Joel Dicker. Set in the USA and translated from the French, this book is just as brilliant as the first one, The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair. They are best described as General Fiction featuring crime and historical elements. Highly recommended. The Dry by Jane Harper is one of the best crime debuts of all time and while her following two books haven’t been quite as amazing, they are still very, very good. See my review of The Lost Man for thoughts on her latest. And then there are the Katherine Arden fantasy books, two of which were out in paperback (my preferred format) last year. Arden just might have created the best fantasy trilogy of all time. How on earth can she follow that? Set in medieval Russia the story centres on Vasya, a young girl who sees the magical creatures most people have forgotten about. But these secret guardians are vital in keeping the evil forces at bay, manmade and fantastical. Vasya is constantly drawn to the Winter King and becomes an unwilling participant in the war with the Bear, the Winter Kings brother. The latter is death and the former is the devil, if we must have Christian comparisons. Throw in a bitter possessed priest, Vasya’s family of misfits who infiltrate the power bases and the best talking horse this side of Mr Ed, and you’re got a potent mix of something you’ve never seen before. At least, it was that way for me. Arden’s trilogy convinced me there are good fantasy stories that don’t have to feature children growing up in a secret or magical order of assassins.

I started the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher which follows the exploits of Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only listed wizard, while he tangles with werewolf’s, vampires and faeries. Think that all sounds too familiar? It’s not I promise, this is pulp fantasy at its most irrelevant best. I also started the Broken Earth fantasy trilogy by N.K Jemisin (The first book is The Fifth Season), which drew me in slowly and then got me hooked with a cracking finale and reveals that I’m glad I didn’t see coming.

I joined a Crime & Thriller Book Club, even though I had been resisting joining a second book club. Too many books to read to also have books that must be read by a certain date! But Crime & Thrillers stories are my bread and butter, I’ve always read them. So I couldn’t resist. I discovered Ian Fleming as a teenager, I was hooked on James Patterson books and then grew out of them, I read about Jack Ryan before there were video games and a slick looking TV show on Amazon, started reading the Jack Reacher books because two of my friends were raving about them, then I got seriously into reading and discovered the genius of Michael Connolly (I will watch Bosch, the slick looking TV show on Amazon, one day), Peter May and James Lee Burke. 

The latter is grossly under read which is a damn shame as it is almost literary crime fiction. Set around New Orleans most of Burke’s books feature Dave Robicheaux an old-school ex detective who calls things as he’s sees them and tries to live a simple life, although it never works out that way. I’ve read books set in America, as mentioned above, but nothing like this. But different is good in my opinion. There are about 22 books in the Robicheaux series, plus other novels, so I’ll be reading Burke for a good while yet. He’s in his 80s but he’s already given us loads of good stories. Go and read one.

Other really good crime and thriller books I read this year; 

Mr Mercedes by Stephen King trying his hand at a proper Crime story for the first time. Very enjoyable with characters who are not typical to the genre. A retired detective, Bill Hodges, haunted by the case he didn’t solve, that of the Mercedes killer who ploughed into a crowd of job seekers waiting outside a job fair. The killer contacts Hodges and taunts him with videos of the massacre and also hacks into his TV and laptop. Our hero is helped by Jerome, the kid who cuts his grass and the sister of the lady who the Mercedes belonged to. It’s thrilling, if disturbing, stuff. I recently read the second book which was just as great as the first one and the TV series is really good too.

Hellbent by Greg Hurwitz, a writer whose work includes Batman comics and a series about a US Marshall. A couple of years ago Hurwitz set his sights on a slice of Lee Child’s market and is one of the superior pretenders to the throne out there. Hellbent is the third novel featuring Even Smoak an ex ‘Orphan’ who now helps ordinary people in need, for free. You only get his phone number if the last person he helped deems you worthy of the same support. Only the old Orphan network isn’t done with him yet and tries to hunt him down. He knows too much, of course. This series gets better with each book, they are a cut above your standard thrillers. This third story currently has a rating of 4.43 from 10,000 ratings on Goodreads. Which tells you all you need to know really.

IQ by Joe Ide deserves a mention too. If you’re writing a crime series you’ve got to work to find a new angle. Or you could just be a Japanese American author who grew up in the largely black South Central area of Los Angeles. So the hero is an intellectual black high school dropout, Isaiah, who is determined to solve the crimes the LAPD ignore. He is helped by a gang banging associate he tries to distance himself from and takes whatever payment the client can give. Unique with great characters it is not flawless but it’s a series I will definitely follow.

Spartan by Matthew Dunn got my attention because the author spent 5 years working in MI6 as a field operative. Read his bio for more details on the type of work he did, but I can tell you he is the real deal. Unfortunately, a lot of people have already covered this ground, in a crowded market, meaning he is not widely read. But I have read a lot of books like this and I’d like to think I can spot authenticity when I see it. It’s rich in the kind of details you don’t normally get in these stories. I enjoyed it immensely and shall read the rest of the series, which is up to 7 instalments now. This first book was released as Spycatcher in the US and my copy also had that title.

I also got around to starting the Archie Sheridan and Gretchen Lowell series by Chelsea Cain. I read one of her books a few years ago and really enjoyed it. The first one in this series is Heartsick and we pick the story up after Archie has been kidnapped and tortured by Gretchen, who now languishes in prison. But Archie is still drawn to her, as she drip-feeds locations of bodies. On top of that there’s another killer to catch, which is the main story. You may have read police procedurals before but not one with a set up like this. Different and fast-paced.

I used to read more Non-Fiction, before I got bitten by the Fiction bug. I shall try harder this year but they do seem to take me longer to get through, which is a worry. However, I read the excellent Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari who has published two more since that one. I have the second one and that is near the top of my Non-Fiction pile. As is the WW2 Bombing history book I started 3 years ago!

The E-Book was Holy Island by L.J. Ross. My friend loves this series and as I was going on holiday to Northumberland it seemed like the ideal time to read it. But hmmm, an e-book. Well it is convenient always having it on you, then you find even more opportunities to read. At the expense of you phone battery mind you. Good characters and whiffs of a cult steeped in history, all in a wonderful location. It was a good read and I will at some point read more.

I only managed one classic last year, Great Expectations which was fantastic. I know Dickens is supposed to be good but I wasn’t expecting it to be that good. I have some more of his books and I will also make a start on my E.M. Forster collection.

I bought 183 books last year so yeah, there’s kind of an imbalance, having read less than I purchased. I’m aiming to buy less than I read this year. I’m not exactly short of books as it stands at the moment.

Right, that’s a long enough blog post. Back to my book.