Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Coming Out on Top

2013 has produced scores of excellent crime, mystery, and thriller novels--everything from George Pelecanos’ The Double and Louise Penny’s How the Light Gets In to Charles McCarry’s The Shanghai Factor, Jassy MacKenzie’s Pale Horses, J. Robert Janes’ Tapestry, Lyndsay Faye’s Seven for a Secret, Richard Helms’ The Mojito Coast, and Robert B. Parker’s Wonderland, by Ace Atkins. So when I sat down to assemble a list of my 10 favorites for Kirkus Reviews, it was no easy exercise. My final selections--posted this morning on the Kirkus Web site--are sure to delight some readers and disappoint others. Feel free to express your opinions in the Comments section below, or on the Kirkus page featuring this week’s column.

2 comments:

Kelly Robinson said...

Good list. I don't read nearly enough new stuff.

Anonymous said...

The only book on your list, which I read was Norwegian by Night. I agree with your assessment.

Also, having grown up with a family of Jewish immigrants from Russia/Poland, I will say that Derek Miller hits the humor exactly right.

I laughed so hard in the first 26 or so pages, I almost fell down. I wish that Sheldon Horowitz was starring in a sequal, but may that's pushing it too far: he is 82, after all.