Here are a few author responses. And, I've added a link to Amazon on the right to allow for quick purchase because, as Michael Keaton(as Dogberry), said in Much Ado About Nothing, "I am an ass".
Jason Starr
DEADFOLK, Charlie Williams
THE KILLING OF THE TINKERS, Ken Bruen
TWO-Way SPLIT, Allan Guthrie
WALKING MONEY, James O. Born
THE CRIME TRADE, Simon Kernick
The Voice of the Violin: An Inspector Montalbano Mystery, (think that's the title) Andrea Camilleri
The Lone Gunman, Jean-Paul Manchette
Berlin Noir (a trilogy), Phillip Kerr
The Detective Inspector Huss, Helene Tursten
Gone Tomorrow: A Bill Slider Mystery by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
The Book of Salt, Monique Truong
Balshebars Daughter, Barbara Nadel
The Terra Cotta Dog, Andrea Camilleri
Maigret in Montmartre, Georges Simenon
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseni
The Lover, Marguerite Duras
Bunny Alice (Telling Lies to Alice in the States), Laura Wilson
Nana, Emile Zola
David Corbett
COTTONWOOD, Scott Phillips
THE GUARDS, Ken Bruen
BAG MEN, Mark Costello
DIRTY TRICKS, Michael Dibdin
LIE IN THE DARK, Dan Fesperman
BANGKOK 8, John Burdett
THE 25TH HOUR, David Benioff
THE PLAGUE, Albert Camus
BRINGING OUT THE DEAD, Joe Connelly
THE COMPANY OF STRANGERS, Robert Wilson
FLASH HOUSE, Aimee Liu
Non-Fiction:
Best Words, Best Order, Stephen Dobyns
DEATH SQUADS IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE, Bruce B. Campbell & Arthur D. Brenner
OUR OWN BACKYARD: THE UNITED STATES IN CENTRAL AMERICA 1977-1992, William M. Leo Grande
WHEN THINGS FALL APART, Pema Chodron
THE GREAT UNRAVELING, Paul Krugman
Victor Gischler
COTTONWOOD by Scott Phillips
All the HARRY POTTER books (I crammed them all in this year after my wife nagged me to read them -- and I liked them!)
CHARLIE OPERA by Charlie Stella
ALTERNATE CARBON by Richard K. Morgan (as well as the sequel BROKEN ANGELS)
REDEMPTION STREET by Reed Coleman.
THE NARROWS, Michael Connelly
WHILE I DISAPPEAR, Edward Wright
PLAYING WITH FIRE, Peter Robinson
A QUESTION OF BLOOD, Ian Rankin
FLESH AND BLOOD, John Harvey
LAZY BONES, Mark Billingham
MIDNIGHT PASS, Stuart Kaminsky
RESTORATION, John Ed Bradley
LOADED DICE, James Swain
THE GUARDS, Ken Bruen
BANGKOK 8, John Burdett
CALIFORNIA GIRL, Jeff Parker
RAIN FALL, Barry Eisler
THE DEVIL'S FINGER, William Ungerman
BEYOND BELIEF, V.S. Naipul
PEOPLE DIE, Kevin Wignall
MIAMI BLUES, Charles Willeford (I read it every year to stay humble)
Underground, Haruki Murakami
THE FORENSIC CASEBOOK, N.E. Genge
UNCLE SCROOGE (COLLECTED STORIES), Carl Barks
Steven Torres
Some Danger Involved, Will Thomas
The Con Man's Daughter, Ed Dee
The Shape of Water, Andrea Camilieri
Diamond Dust, Peter Lovesey
A Place of Execution, Val McDermid
The Well of Lost Plots, Jasper Fforde
Bitter Sugar, Carolina Garcia Aguilera
Benjamin Franklin, Edmund Morgan
Emerson, Lawrence Buell
Gettysburg, Stephen Sears
Gregg Hurwitz
The Constant Gardener, John le Carre
Manhattan Nocturne, Colin Harrison
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Mark Haddon
The Magus, John Fowles
Newjack, Ted Conover
Man and Wife, Drew Klavan
California Girl, T Jeff Parker
Life of Pi, what's his head? (Yann Martel)
The Alienist, Caleb Carr
Hell's Angels, Hunter S. Thompson
Jim Fusilli
Train, Pete Dexter
The Plot against America, Philip Roth
Ravelstein, Saul Bellow
The Marble Faun, Nathaniel Hawthorne
Short Sicilian Novels, Giovanni Vega
The Path to the Nest of Spiders, Italo Calvino
Southwesterly Wind, Luis-Alfredo Garcia-Roza
Stone Cribs, Kris Nelscott
The Prince of Providence, Mike Stanton
Chronicles Vol. 1, Bob Dylan
Sound and Sense, Laurence Perrine
Absent Friends, S.J. Rozan
Bangkok 8, John Burdett
The Summing Up, W. Somerset Maugham
Morality Play, Barry Unsworth
Every Secret Thing, Laura Lippman
Manuel Ramos
I can't give you ten. However, the one book I recommend to anyone who will listen is The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea (2004). The book is about desperation, courage and tragedy, and it is one of the most important books I've read in any year. I think everyone should read it, especially those in positions of political influence or who have political ambitions.
Jim Winter
THE GUARDS, Ken Bruen
DIA DE LOS MUERTOS, Kent Harrington
THE BLACK DAHLIA, James Ellroy
PORTNOY’S COMPLAINT, Phillip Roth
FAREWELL, MY LOVELY, Raymond Chandler
BY A SPIDER'S THREAD, Laura Lippman
FOR THE DOGS, Kevin Wignall
CALIFORNIA GIRL, T. Jefferson Parker
TONIGHT I SAID GOODBYE, Michael Koryta
Honorable mentions: SMALL CRIMES, by Dave Zeltserman (manuscript), THE BIG BLIND, by Ray Banks, COLD DAY IN PARADISE, by Steve Hamilton, and THE WAY SOME PEOPLE DIE, by Ross MacDonald.
Kevin Wignall
Mea culpa - I haven't read enough books this year to produce a top ten! And most of what I have read is non-fiction. However, I thoroughly enjoyed The Bridge of Sighs by Olen Steinhauer, loved Starter for Ten by David Nicholls, and there's a whole load of books that I'm part way through or on my tbr pile that I know will be favourites if I could only find the time....
Can I talk about the books I detested? "GB84" by David Peace, "Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell, "Notes on a Scandal" by Zoë Heller, "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" by Mark Haddon - all of them simply awful.
Sorry.
Simon Kernick
EVERY SECRET THING, Laura Lippman
JUST ONE LOOK, Harlen Coben
JUDAS PIG, Horace Silver
TWISTED CITY, Jason Starr
THE GUARDS, Ken Bruen
DYNAMITE ROAD, Andrew Klavan
THE NARROWS, Michael Connelly
WHITE WOLF, David Gemmel
TOKYO, Mo Hayder
DEATH BY HOLLYWOOD, Steven Bocho
FLESH AND BLOOD, John Harvey
TOKYO, Mo Hayder
HARD REVOLUTION, George Pelecanos
INDELIBLE, Karin Slaughter
DEADFOLK, Charlie Williams
DINO, Nick Tosches
THE WHITE ROOM, Martyn Waites
NOCTURNES, John Connolly
JOHNNY CASH - THE LIFE OF AN AMERICAN ICON, Stephen Miller
TEMPERANCE TOWN, John Williams
BY A SPIDER'S THREAD, Laura Lippman
John Connolly
Hard Revolution, George Pelecanos
Head and shoulders above anything else published in the genre this year, and as good as anything he's ever done.
Brilliance of the Moon, Lian Hearn
The final part of the Chronicles of the Otori trilogy set in a version of feudal Japan. The best work of its kind since Pullman's His Dark Materials...
Rubicon, Tom Holland
A crash course in Roman history, complete with blood, battles and some very imaginative deaths.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, John le Carre,
An old book, I know, but I only got around to reading it this year
A Fortune Teller Told Me, Tiziano Terzani
Another older book, but topical as Terzini died this year. Wonderful, and very moving
The Cheese Monkeys, Chip Kidd
A college novel, concerned in part about the nature of design, and very funny
Down and Dirty Pictures, Peter Biskind
Not quite in the same league as his Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, but still good value for the movie nerd
The Devil's Highway, Luis Urrea
The Burning Girl, Mark Billingham
Rick Mofina
FIFTH SON, Barbara Fradkin
THE DEVIL'S IN THE DETAILS, Mary Jane Maffini
DEATH'S GOLDEN WHISPER, RJ Harlick
SOME REASON IN MADNESS, Cathy Vasas-Brown
CUBA STRAIT, Carsten Stroud
LEAVE ME BY DYING, Rosemary Aubert
MR. DOYLE & DR. BELL, Howard Engel
THE MAGYAR VENUS, Lyn Hamilton
WISDOM OF THE BONES, Christopher Hyde
BE MINE, Rick Mofina (What the heck, I’m biased but I liked the book!)
Laura Lippman’s pick for what she’s looking forward to in 2005
1) Drama City, George Pelecanos. George does a woman -- wait, let me rephrase that. Drama City will be Pelecanos's first book built around a female protagonist and I can't wait.
2) Simon Kernick's follow-up to The Business of Dying, called A Good Day to Die according to the website.
3) Mark Billingham's next book, Lifeless.
4) Bloodlines, Jan Burke. (Okay, a bit of a cheat, as I do have this one and it's brilliant.)
5) Case Histories, Kate Atkinson, because I won't get to it until 2005.
6) The last installment in Madison Smartt Bell's Haitian trilogy, ditto.
7) Something really funny and unexpected preferably set in New York, among people with expensive sheets and grooming products. This the book I always hope to read when I got suckered into buying some alleged zeitgeist novel. But I never quite find it. I want a literary Jacqueline Susann. Is that so wrong?
8) American Girl, by Susan Choi. (I bought it in hardcover, too, but I buy books like wine. Which is to say, I store them until I'm ready to read them, a determination that has nothing to do with their quality.)
9) Short story submissions for "Baltimore Noir."
10) Thomas Kelly's "Empire Rising."
LAZY BONES, Mark Billingham
THE NARROWS, Michael Connelly
CHRONICLES VOLUME ONE, Bob Dylan
THE MURDER EXCHANGE, Simon Kernick
UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN, Jon Krakauer
CARELESS LOVE: THE UNMAKING OF ELVIS PRESLEY, Peter Guralnick
HARD REVOLUTION, George Pelecanos
FLESHMARKET CLOSE, Ian Rankin
DOCTOR WHO: THE LEGEND, Justin Richards
DISORDERED MINDS, Minette Walters
2 comments:
No, Jenn, you misheard me, I said some of my fish were slightly "stoned" during the making of my list.
Ah, blowing THC bubbles into the tank again! Better than the image I had of you with a small paddle slapping the poor buggers down every time they went to feed.
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