#1: The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

Private eye Cormoran Strike goes looking for a wayward author, and stumbles onto gruesome murder, in The Silkworm, the second thriller penned by Robert Galbraith.

Despite appearances, I am keeping to my promise to read only women authors in 2015.  After the success of The Cuckoo's Calling J.K. Rowling was outed as the pseudonymous author, and she stays with the Galbraith name for the sequel; a good thing for the uninitiated, as the Strike stories are filled with sex, violence, profanity, and other adult situations.

In the first novel, Strike takes on the fashion world; in this one, Rowling turns her attention to publishing, with similarly interesting results.

Rowling is apparently hard at work at a third novel featuring this world-weary, one-legged protagonist, and I am eager to see it released.

I listened to a very good audiobook version of this on loan from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library in Richmond, Indiana.

2014 In Review

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

Total Chaos by Jean-Claude Izzo

The Son by Jo Nesbo

Mapuche by Caryl Ferey

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle

Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

Summertime, All the Cats Are Bored by Phillipe Georget

 The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

A Little Lumpen Novelita by Roberto Bolano

The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino


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

#44: Darth Maul Shadow Hunter by Michael Reaves

A fledgling Jedi and a smuggler with a heart of gold team up when they stumble upon a dangerous secret, only to have Darth Maul on their heels in Michael Reeves' Darth Maul Shadow Hunter.

I like Star Wars, but like a lot of fans around for the original 70s trilogy I have never taken to the second trilogy, which began with The Phantom Menace.  I feel like a trilogy of movies--plus all of the related materials with novels, comics, and games--which tells a long story about how evil triumphs at every turn to be a bit melancholy.

This novel takes place just before The Phantom Menace and, for fans of that storyline, leads directly into events in that tale.  As a novel, I would recommend it more for Star Wars completeists rather than casual readers, though it is solidly written.

I got this book for Christmas and read it quickly, finishing out 2014.

#43: The Wolfer by Loren Estleman

A bounty is put on the head of an uncanny, murderous wolf and his pack, who have been raiding ranches and terrorizing settlers; but when a legendary wolf hunter gets on his trail--followed by an Eastern dandy/writer--the wolfer find himself the target of a hunt as well.

Loren Estleman's The Wolfer is a top-shelf western, from a prolific and solid writer of both mysteries and westerns, as well as a smattering of other topics.  I am a steady reader of his Amos Walker mysteries and Page Murdock westerns.

Estleman is almost always pleasing to read, no matter the genre, and I found this one to be particularly enjoyable for readers of westerns or perhaps even adventure genres.

I seek out Estleman wherever I may find him; this paperback was a goodbye price at a flea market, and I read it quickly.

#42: The Devotion of Supsect X by Keigo Higashino

A single mother with an abusive ex-husband gets help from a reclusive neighbor, but all is not what it seems in Keigo Higashino's The Devotion of Suspect X.

This was a good mystery with an interesting Japanese setting that adds a lot of flavor to the storytelling.  The dynamics of the characters was also compelling, with a battle of wits forming between the gruff detective; his old friend who is a brilliant professor and amateur sleuth; and the professor's old classmate, an equally brilliant mathematician whose motives towards the single mother are gradually revealed.

A change of pace mystery, from an author I would like to read more from.  I believe the policeman and his friend return in other novels, so I hope to be able to find them translated into English.

I checked this out from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library in Richmond, Indiana.

#41: Buchanan's Revenge by Jonas Ward

Buchanan is a drifter and knockabout who doesn't look for trouble; but when an old friend's son is bushwhacked and murdered, Buchanan thirsts for payback in Jonas Ward's Buchanan's Revenge.

This was a long-running western series, and I enjoy the early ones, by William Ard (who died after a half dozen or so), the best.  They are almost hard-boiled westerns, with rich characterizations and laconic storytelling.

I always grab these when I find them; this one at a used bookstore in New Castle, Indiana.  A good series for western readers.

#40: The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun by Sébastien Japrisot

A secretary in an ad agency takes her boss's car for a joyride, on a whim; but as strange coincidences begin to pile up, and she tries to understand how a corpse got in the trunk, she wonders if she is going insane in Sebastian Japrisot's The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun.

Earlier in the year I read and enjoyed Japrisot's Trap for Cinderella, another Parisian thriller set in the swinging 60s, so when I saw this at a flea market for a shiny quarter I snatched it up.  I had never heard of Japrisot before this year, and now I find myself a fan.

Admittedly, both novels are similar in theme, and the latter doesn't hold together quite as tightly at the end; but is worth reading for those interested in psychological thrillers.

#39: The Drop by Dennis Lehane

A mild-mannered bartender rescues a pit bull puppy from a trash can, the beginning of a chain of events that lead to a murderous showdown in Dennis Lehane's The Drop.

Lehane is a solid writer in his own right, writing along the spectrum from contemporary literature to mysteries and thrillers; so I was fascinated to see that he seemed to be doing a straight-up homage to Elmore Leonard's Detroit novels.  As I think that is some of Leonard's best work, I found a lot to enjoy here.

The Drop has an interesting publishing history that is worth googling, but for casual readers I would recommend this as a dark-humored, energetic thriller.

I borrowed this from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library and read it quickly.

#38: A Little Lumpen Novelita by Roberto Bolano

A young woman and her brother, orphaned and at loose ends in Rome, slowly turn to a life of crime in Roberto Bolano's A Little Lumpen Novelita.

I have wanted to check out Bolano for a while, and this slender novel was a good way to start.  I was also intrigued by the Roman setting, having been to Italy several times.  A nice touch was that the target of their criminal enterprise is a blind former muscleman who played the Italian sword and sandal hero Maciste in a series of 60s movies.

Rather straightforward in its plotting, but vivid in its writing, this was an interesting novel that should lead readers to more of Bolano's more well-known works.

I borrowed this from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library in Richmond Indiana and read it quickly.

#37: The Last Taxi Ride by A.X. Ahmad

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

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

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

I borrowed this from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library and enjoyed it quite a bit.  Recommended for those who would like a change of pace in their characters and situations.

#36: A Most Wanted Man by John le Carré

An activist lawyer, a washed-up banker, and a mysterious young man cross paths in Hamburg, and circumstances find the whole of the espionage world watching them, in John le Carre's A Most Wanted Man.

In my opinion, le Carre's forte was the Cold War of the 60s and 70s, and he has fished around a bit since then for subject matter with mixed results.  But A Most Wanted Man is a solid thriller set in the paranoid world of pop-up terrorism. 

Complex and satisfying, shown from multiple points of view, marred just slightly by an abrupt ending; overall a worthwhile contemporary le Carre.

I listened to this on audiobook on loan from Morrisson-Reeves Public Library in Richmond Indiana.

#35: Last Winter, We Parted by Fuminori Nakamura

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

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

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

I checked this out from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library and found it to be a good read, but for darker tastes.

#34: Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle

A young man, his life transformed by an act of violence, lives out his life managing a play-by-mail adventure game in Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle.

Darnielle's novel reminds me a lot of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and Fortress of Solitude, both novels also infused with a life listening to genre music, watching b-movies, reading comics, and playing Dungeons and Dragons.  And, like these other novels, the cultural touchpoints are veined with melancholy and sometimes tragedy.

Darnielle is the front man for a band called The Mountain Goats, of which I am not familiar; although this will probably get this book more attention, Darnielle's writing can stand on its own merits.

Recommended, for like-minded readers.

#33: Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

Alien ships touch down on Earth and depart without making contact, but leave a swath of the planet bizarrely transformed, and littered with unusual objects; now adventurers knows as Stalkers root through this strange zone at their own peril in the Strugatsky Brothers' Roadside Picnic.

This definitive Russian sci-fi novel was later made into the classic Soviet film Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky, and both are rewarding in their own ways.  I was not as familiar with the Strugatsky Brothers as, say, Stanislaw Lem, and was glad a friend tipped me off to this novel.

Roadside Picnic is a very thought-provoking sci-fi outing for those who prefer more cerebral science fiction with no easy answers.

I bought this with an Amazon gift card from my birthday and read it quickly.

#32: The Second Deadly Sin by Asa Larsson

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

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

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

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

I checked this out from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library and read it quickly.

#31: Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

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

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

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

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

I listened to a very good audio book version on loan from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library in Richmond, Indiana.

#30: Pietr the Latvian by Georges Simenon

Stalwart Inspector Maigret of the Paris police doggedly hunts Pietr the Latvian, a well-known villain with a knack for slipping out of the grasp of the law, in Georges Simenon's Pietr the Latvian.

This is the first Maigret novel, from 1930, now in re-release from Penguin Books.

Simenon wrote tons of these Maigret novels, and I had never dipped a toe into them until now, thinking this might be a good place to start.  It is a good solid mystery, with load of colorful details about life on the shabby side of the Parisian world, and was interesting enough for me to seek out another one.

I borrowed this from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library and read it quickly.

#29: Really the Blues by Joseph Koenig

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

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

Now there's Really the Blues, where our reluctant protagonist would prefer to keep playing his music, but the Resistance, in various forms, keeps crossing his path, with the Nazis dead on their heels.  This is a very solid, engaging thriller that will have appeal to all kinds of readers.

Pegasus Books sent me this out of the blue, and I was glad they did.  I read it quickly and passed it on to another mystery fan.

#28: All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka

A lowly soldier is killed during a relentless alien invasion, on only his first day of combat; but somehow is forced to relive that day over and over until he gets better (with the help of a solider called "Full Metal Bitch") or keeps dying in Hiroshi Sakurazaka's All You Need is Kill.

This sci-fi novel is a whacked-out combo of Groundhog Day, Starship Troopers, and a dozen Japanese anime series, written in a terse, kinetic style that makes this a quick read.  The author is obviously a loving fan of all of the above and then some and doesn't take anything too seriously.

This novel later became the Tom Cruise movie Edge of Tomorrow, a much more vanilla version of the original novel.

I found this at a WalMart while waiting for a tire change and read half of it in one swoop.  A change of pace for sci-fi fans.

#27: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

A man returns to his childhood home, and suddenly begins to remember an amazing adventure he had with three magical women that lived next door in Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

After writing the definitive comic book series The Sandman Gaiman has become a popular fantasy writer in his own right.  This one definitely harkens back to childhood tales, to me especially influenced by A Wrinkle in Time.  I think it could be enjoyed by young adults, if certain scenes go over their heads.

But it is great for adults, especially those nostalgic for those stories, now infused with adult melancholy and regret.  There are equal measures of terror and whimsy that make it an interesting read.

I listened to this on audiobook, read by the author, an especially rewarding way to enjoy this book.  Recommended.

#26: The Son by Jo Nesbo

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

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

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

I got this from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library and read it quickly.  Recommended for thriller fans.

#25: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

A series of child murders strike a small town, and a troubled reporter--who fled the town years ago--returns to cover the story, and pick at old family wounds, in Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects.

With the runaway success of Gone Girl, Flynn's earlier novels are getting another look.  Although this shares some thematic similarities--unreliable journalism, small-town secrets, returning to a place you never wanted to see again, and so on--Sharp Objects is a much more gothic-flavored story, right down to the creepy old mansion and the weird siblings.

The storytelling is much more straightforward (whereas Gone Girl double-backed and triple-backed on itself) but is just about as unsettling as more truths about the reporter's childhood come to light, and how that childhood could be connected to what is happening now is revealed.

I listened to a good audiobook version on loan from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library in Richmond, Indiana and am eager to seek out the rest of Flynn's writing.

#24: World of Trouble by Ben H. Winters

As a meteor closes in on Earth, intent on bringing humanity to its end, a former policeman and quasi-private eye searches the pre-Apocalypse for his missing sister in World of Trouble, the third chapter of The Last Policeman trilogy by Ben H. Winters.

This is a great genre-bending series of novels, with satisfying mysteries threaded into a generally downbeat end-of-world scenario.  Overall this is a good series for fans of both apocalyptic stories as well as private eye tales, although this one relies pretty heavily on readers having completed the first two novels. 

Winters is handy with reference points from both sci-fi and mystery genres; sort of a Philip Marlowe, as protagonist in On the Beach.

Although the optimistic, such as myself, sees a narrow window for a fourth book--and I do mean a narrow window--this seems to be the end of a good storyline.  I am eager to see where Winters goes next with his writing.

I pre-ordered this on Amazon and read it quickly, eager to share with like-minded friends.

#23: Blaze of Glory by Ben Bridges

On his last day in office, an aging sheriff ends up with a handful of trouble in Ben Bridges' Blaze of Glory.  Soon there are old scores to settle as well, even as the townspeople believe their town has become too sleepy for a full-time sheriff.


I enjoy Bridges' writing as part of the "Piccadilly Cowboys," a group of British writers who write American-style westerns.  I have read several of Bridges' novels and have found them all to be sturdy, enjoyable outings.

His Piccadilly Publishing line of both classic reprints and contemporary writing is worthwhile to Western fans.

I got this cheaply for my beloved Kindle and read it quickly.

#22: Actors Anonymous by James Franco

A collection of maybe-autobiographical, semi-autobiographical, and probably-fictional short stories from actor/director James Franco has slices of L.A. life as well as insights into the world of acting, with various results.

I listened to this read by the author on audio book, and I would recommend that format if someone was interested in reading this as I believe it added value.  Still, the reader's mileage will vary, depending on your interest in Franco and his life.

Some of his writing and storytelling is quite interesting, but to me, some of it had the whiff of an insulated millionaire celebrity who an editor should have said no to sometimes.

Still worth reading for those interested in celebrity life.