#54: The Only Ones by Carola Dibbell

In a broken, pandemic-ridden near-future New York, a hard-luck young woman volunteers for a cloning experiment, then ends up raising the results in Carola Dibbell's The Only Ones.

Dibbell's debut novel is a knockout chunk of sci-fi, what might happen if Brave New World had been narrated by an uneducated single mother.  And Dibbell's Inez is a vivid character with a unique voice, carrying the first-person narrative through an epic narrative that includes both world-breaking events as well as nuanced family relationships.

I found this to be a very rewarding read and was glad to finish my year of reading women with this novel.  Recommended for fans of both science fiction and literary fiction.

I purchased this at the Women and Children First bookstore in Chicago.  It is published by Ohio-based Two Dollar Radio, whose output I have enjoyed.

#53:The Unfinished Crime by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding

An uptight young man, upon learning that a woman he is courting is separated and not divorced, reacts in a surprising fit of violence; then has an increasingly difficult time covering up his actions as well as controlling his new-found desires in Elisabeth Sanxay Holding's The Unfinished Crime.

A classic unreliable narrator in a noir that ratchets tighter and tighter, The Unfinished Crime is a tidy little thriller from an author whose work has been out of print for a long while.

This novel was part of an old-fashioned style mystery double, the other half of which I also read very quickly (and is reviewed below).  I consumed this in two days over Christmas break.

I have enjoyed what I have seen from Stark House Press and will recommend Holding's work to others.

#52: The Girl Who Had To Die by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding

A fatalistic young woman brings a troubled young man to a weekend away visiting an affluent, debauched family with plenty of secrets in Elizabeth Sanxay Holding's The Girl Who Had To Die.

Holding writes with an especially feverish intensity and ratchets the suspense up almost from the first page. Although cloaked in the trappings of a family drama, this is a pretty tough noir featuring an unreliable narrator and an enigmatic ending.

This is my second novel by Holding after Lady Killer earlier this year and I feel she most reminds me of the great Cornell Woolrich, although Holding has, sadly, largely been out of print for a long time.  Stark House Press is trying to change that by bringing a lot of her work back, including this one I bought from them (a double with The Unfinished Crime).

Recommended for fans of classic noir.

#51: Dark Disciple by Christie Golden

An unconventional Jedi and a fallen Sith team up to try to end the Clone Wars in Christie Golden's Dark Disciple, a novel spun out of the Clone Wars animated series.

To me, as a person who saw the original Star Wars in theaters, there is something off-putting about the newer trilogy, which ends with evil triumphant at every turn, curiously downbeat storytelling that constantly leaving a bitter taste in my mouth.

But Golden does a nice job whipping up a rollicking adventure that includes appearances by popular characters, including Yoda and a young Obi-Wan Kenobi and Boba Fett.  Fans of the Clone Wars series will probably find this most rewarding, as I am only somewhat familiar with this storyline.

I listened to this on audiobook, on loan from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library in Richmond Indiana, and consumed most of it on a long drive back and forth to Chicago.

I was pleasantly surprised that this was more than just a reading of the novel, but a fully-produced audio program that included sound effects and music.  Most importantly, an incredibly good narration by Marc Thompson, doing a lot of spot-on voice impressions, makes it recommended as an audiobook for Star Wars fans.

#50: I Smile Back by Amy Koppelman

A young wife and mother struggles with her identity, masking her problems with drugs and risky sex, in Amy Koppelman's downbeat portrayal of suburban life I Smile Back.

Koppelman creates a fully-realized central character, and finely-tuned but bleak sketch of the American Dream, for an overall rewarding literary fiction outing.

I became interested in this novel when I learned that it would be made into a film with Sarah Silverman, who to me seems to be a good choice for the self-destructive Laney.  I Smile Back was published by Two Dollar Radio, a small publishing house in nearby Columbus, Ohio, whose output I have enjoyed.

I purchased this novel from Two Dollar Radio and read it quickly, passing it on to other like-minded readers afterwards.

This was a great novel to enjoy in reaching my goal of reading fifty books by women in 2015.  I wanted to seek out new voices and stories told from different perspectives, and Koppelman's work was a good example of that goal.

#49: Wonders of the Invisible World by Patricia A McKillip

Wonders of the Invisible World is an imaginative collection of science fiction and fantasy from Patricia A. McKillip, largely dealing with the roles of women in interesting ways.

McKillip is a well-established fantasy author, though I had never explored her work until a friend recommended this collection of short stories.  I purchased for my beloved Kindle and dipped a toe into over a long period of time this year. 

Though similarly themed, the stories are all very finely wrought and thought-provoking throughout, and I enjoyed savoring them over time.

I have enjoyed reading only women authors this year as I am not sure I would have taken a chance on McKillip before.  I have already salted away a few of her paperbacks I have found here and there for future enjoyment.

Recommended for fans of fantasy.

#48: Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

In the far-flung future, a vast empire--reminiscent of the Roman Empire--is in decline.  When a massive, thousand-year-old sentient ship learns why, her consciousness is downloaded into a single fragile human body, leading her on a methodical path of vengeance in Ann Leckie's sci-fi epic Ancillary Justice.

This novel garnered all the top sci-fi writing awards in one fell swoop, but came on my radar when a friend recommended it.  Despite what I think is a poor title--I've since recommended it to others, and they never remember what it's called--this is a fantastic bit of world-building as well as a cracking good adventure.

I have described this book as what might have happened if Samuel R. Delany wrote The Ship Who Sang or Anne McCaffrey wrote The Left Hand of Darkness.  If these name-checks strike a chord, Ancillary Justice is for you.

This is the first of a trilogy, and I am eager to read the rest.  I checked this out from the Morrisson-Reeves Library in Richmond, Indiana and read it quickly.

#47: X by Sue Grafton

P.I. Kinsey Milhone reluctantly looks into the affairs of a murdered colleague, finding a coded list of women's names that leads to art thievery and murder in Sue Grafton's latest alphabet mystery X.

Grafton has written a long, admirable private eye series, and the latest is a very solid entry.

Longtime fans will see continued character growth (although I could have done without a lengthy subplot about Milhone's landlord's interest in water conservation) and several ties back to the last novel in the series.  New fans will find an interesting mystery that takes place in the pre-internet late 80s, when being a private eye meant typewriters, index cards, phone books, and a lot more old-fashioned legwork.

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

#46: White Crocodile by K.T. Medina

A young woman finds out that her ex-husband was killed clearing mines in the killing fields of Cambodia, and feels compelled to travel there to learn the truth, in K.T. Medina's absolutely crackling debut thriller White Crocodile.

Medina comes from a military background, including a stint in the Royal Engineers, and it is obvious she knows what she's talking about in the hair-raising scenes in the minefields.  But she can also write a riveting thriller, as the "White Crocodile" of the title--a killer stalking local women, but also what the locals call the minefield, named after a mythic beast--makes himself known.

White Crocodile is one of the best page-turners I've read in a while, and I found myself consuming the last hundred pages or so in a single fell swoop.  Recommended for thriller fans.

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

#45: A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Four Londons stand in the same place in parallel worlds; Red London, filled with good magic; White London, filled with dark magic; the everyday world of Gray London; and the lost world of Black London.  When an emissary from Red London crosses into White London on a royal errand, he inadvertently gets involved in an intricate plot in V.E. Schwab's A Darker Shade of Magic.

I thought the title was kind of poor, but the storytelling rollicking and cinematic, as our protagonist teams up with an impish young thief against a variety of magical and non-magical foes. 

A really solid high fantasy, with lots of adventure, and apparently the start of a new series (which I was happy to learn).  I checked this out from the Morrisson-Reeves Library in Richmond Indiana and read it quickly. 

Recommended for fans of fantasy and adventure stories.

#44: The King's Dragon by Una McCormack

The Doctor and companions Amy and Rory decide to visit a medieval-era utopian town for a rest; instead, naturally, they find the town in the thrall of a despotic king and under threat by an alien armada in Una McCormack's The King's Dragon, a contemporary Doctor Who story.

Fans of the current series, especially the Matt Smith era, will find a lot to enjoy in this breezy, but action-packed adventure which adds to the Doctor Who lore.  It has the right pacing and tone for a current episode in the series, with social and political overtones, fun interplay between characters, and of course a large, robotic dragon.

I enjoyed McCormack's take on Doctor Who and would look for more of her writing.

I bought this at a goodbye price at the BBC America booth at GenCon this summer and read it over a weekend.

#43: You Are Never Weird On The Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day

Felicia Day writes about her rocky road from her chaotic, homeschooled upbringing to becoming an actress and "contextually famous" internet personality in You Are Never Weird On The Internet (Almost).

Day's book is bright and funny, but there are darker undertones to her writing, especially when she talks about her towering insecurities and crippling self-doubt.  But those struggling in trying to make it in the performing arts in any fashion will find a lot of takeaways in her story.

I listened to this on audiobook, and that might be the best way to hear her story, as her delivery really helps engage the reader.

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

#42: Innocence by Heda Margolius Kovály

In 1950s Prague, the death of a young boy at a movie theater reveals a series of shocking truths about the women who work there, resulting in more death and destruction, in Innocence by Heda Margolius Kovaly.

As well as being a fascinatingly bleak mystery, the story of the novel--lost to Communist oppression for a long while--is equally interesting.  Kovaly was inspired after translating the work of Raymond Chandler into Czech, and it shows.  Innocence is a tough, unrelenting noir with a shockingly downbeat ending.

But it paints a portrait, in grays and blacks, of a world few of us have been made privy to, and thus is rewarding on many levels.

I checked this out from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library in Richmond, Indiana and read it quickly.  Recommended.

#41: The Sunshine Crust Baking Factory by Stacy Wakefield

In the early 90s, a young woman comes to New York and finds drama and adventure in the squatting scene in Stacy Wakefield's The Sunshine Crust Baking Factory.

Wakefield was a squatter herself, previously writing a non-fiction account of that time period, and I would guess she based a lot of this novel on those experiences. 

At the foreground of this story is her relationship with two men, one who she gradually finds out is wrong for her and one she gradually finds out might be right for her, set against a background of zines, punk shows, and underground culture.

Although the storytelling is pretty straightforward, the setting is offbeat, so I would recommend this read to those of like-minded interests.

I checked this out from Morrisson-Reeves Public Library in Richmond, Indiana and read it quickly.

#40: EarthWorld by Jacqueline Rayner

The Doctor and his companions Fitz and Anji visit a future colony which has built an amusement park called EarthWorld, a Disney-like attraction that has a humorously skewed version of Earth history;  but when a murderous trio take over behind the scenes it becomes anything but funny in Jacqueline Rayner's Doctor Who novel EarthWorld.

This adventure features the Eighth Doctor, an unusual figure in the lengthy history of the original television series as he appeared in just one television adventure at the end of the original Doctor Who series and bridged the long gap before the start of the contemporary series, the lead character in countless novels, comics, and audio plays during that time.  Even at that, the casual Doctor Who fan probably doesn't know a lot about him.

This novel, re-released as part of the 50th Anniversary of the program, is some thirty-odd novels (!) into his adventures, and sent me to the internet to learn more about his companions and some of the backstory talked about.  Enjoyable, but probably mostly for hardcore Doctor Who fans.

I bought this at GenCon in Indianapolis and enjoyed learning more about this character.

#39: Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll

A hip young New Yorker, on the verge of marrying into an affluent family, is drawn back to a terrible incident during high school by the appearance of a documentary film crew in Jessica Knoll's Luckiest Girl Alive.

Knoll seems to be another author taking a page from Gillian Flynn, penning a cold-blooded thriller whose protagonist seems to be pretty scheming and manipulative.  But as the story unpacks, the reader learns more about a horrific event that has never release its hold on the present.

A very solid read that perhaps wraps up a bit too neatly, but hits a lot of hard beats throughout.

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

#38: The Accidental by Ali Smith

A blended family, with cracks running through it, goes through tremendous changes when an uninvited houseguest appears during their summer holiday in British author Ali Smith's The Accidental.

Smith alternates several points of view in this interesting novel; the husband thinks the young woman who appears is his wife's friend, the wife thinks she is her husband's latest conquest, the son sees a potential girlfriend, and the daughter sees a dangerous confidant.  Who she really is remains enigmatic, but resonates through the family's summer and beyond.

I enjoyed Smith's voice and her shading of the different characters, overall finding this striking novel about tangled family lives interesting.  I think my enjoyment of this novel was magnified by listening to a very fine audiobook adaptation, read by multiple voices. 

I borrowed this from the Farmland Public Library in Farmland, Indiana and enjoyed it immensely.

#37: Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer

A young British man on the autism spectrum decides to take a medical course in order to understand death, after his father's passing; instead, he stumbles onto a murder that everyone else believes was natural causes in Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer.

Rubbernecker is a crackling good thriller which owes a debt to both The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time as well as CSI.  Admittedly some of the plot's wheels creak a little bit as coincidences and happenstances fall into place, but as problems mount up for our flawed protagonist--including getting on the killer's radar--the book becomes a real page-turner towards the end.

I really enjoyed this thriller and will look for more of Bauer's books.

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

#36: The Hades Factor by Gayle Lynds and Robert Ludlum

Current scientist and former badass John Smith grows suspicious when his girlfriend dies suddenly of a mysterious ailment; and when he looks into it more closely, he (naturally) unearths a global conspiracy in The Hades Factor, the first in the Covert One series.

Robert Ludlum apparently sketched in this series of novels before his death, and the details were handed over to a handful of writers; this first one fell to Gayle Lynds, who has been a pretty solid thriller writer in her own right.

This is a fun but entirely undemanding read, one of those novels where the characters never stop at a Taco Bell to eat but have time to train a mountain lion as a pet.  Interestingly, it was written just before 9/11, in what seems to be a rosier time when a diabolical corporate businessman could be the villain in an international thriller.

The Covert One series has numbered quite a few adventures to date and has its appeal to the technothriller/medical thriller crowd, and would be recommended to those readers.

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

#35: Zoo City by Lauren Beukes

A private eye reluctantly goes looking for a missing pair of teenage pop stars in an alternate-future Johannesburg in Lauren Beukes' Zoo City.

Beukes' genre-bender is sort of a whacked-out Chinatown, with telepathy and arcane magic, what might happen if William Gibson wrote The Little Sister.  But it has a very hip, contemporary vibe (as I saw in Beukes' Broken Monsters, the first novel I read from her) and an admirable, believable bit of world-building.

I will be grateful that I spent a year reading only women authors if for no other reason than I discovered South African author Lauren Beukes.  I will continue to look for her work.

I checked this out from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library in Richmond, Indiana and read it quickly.  Recommended for fans of hard-boiled noir, near-future sci-fi, or some combination of both.

#34: Code 1013: Assassin by Leslie Trevor

A rising political star is assassinated at an airport, and then those around her begin dying one by one; thus it's up to policewoman Pepper Anderson to get to the bottom of it in Leslie Trevor's Code 1013: Assassin, a novel based on the Police Woman television show from the 1970s.

I saw this paperback for a shiny quarter at a flea market and was compelled to pick it up.  I spent an inordinate amount of time figuring out if gender neutral-sounding Leslie Trevor was a man or a woman, as I am only reading women authors this year, and was happy to learn Trevor is actually a pseudonym for a female author.  It turned out to be a rare find as only three of these were written.

No matter what the author's gender this book is still a product of a less politically correct time, where a "feminist" politician is made note of, as well as some other broadly portrayed characters.  Plenty of ironic nostalgia as well, depicting an era when a TV reporter could actually be politically powerful and cops didn't have to worry about pesky Miranda Rights.

Any reader who picks this up more or less knows what they are getting; definitely for fans.

#33: Girl at War by Sara Novic

A college student in New York begins to come to grips with her childhood in Croatia, eventually returning to confront a tragic moment in her past in Girl at War by Sara Novic.

The story runs in parallel lines; in the past, the young woman tries to understand the growing conflict in the context of her families' problems; and in the present, her older self finds she is struggling more and more to hide aspects of her childhood from her boyfriend and adopted family.

Novic grew up in Croatia during wartime and now lives in the United States, so I am sure she drew a lot on her own history for this striking, sometimes harrowing, debut novel.  It is an important story in that it reveals sides to this conflict that hasn't always been portrayed in American storytelling.

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

#32: Disclaimer by Renee Knight

A British woman is shocked to find that a new novel, inexplicably, reveals what she thought was a deeply-held secret from her past in Renee Knight’s Disclaimer.

Despite what I think is a poor title, Knight’s novel is a pretty solid thriller (with dashes of domestic drama) that follows two protagonists; one, the woman whose personal life has been made fictional, and is being read by family and friends; and the second a troubled elderly man whose son died saving a child’s life.  How their lives intersect in the past and present, as they tell conflicting stories about the same events, creates interest.

Knight is deft at peeling back the onion to a rather shocking event that even an experienced thriller reader like myself did not see coming.  Nicely done overall.

I borrowed this from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library in Richmond Indiana.

#31: A Touch of Stardust by Kate Alcott

Clark Gable and Carole Lombard's blossoming relationship plays out in the foreground as the making of "Gone with the Wind" goes on in the background, all quietly observed by Carole's (fictitious) assistant in Kate Alcott's A Touch of Stardust.

Alcott is actually Patricia O'Brien and is married into the Mankiewicz family, whose members include Hollywood legends Herman and Joseph.  It seems reasonable to assume that she had some inside track in the writing of this rather light, charming read.  And if hearing those names excites you, this is definitely a recommended read.

But fans of Golden Age Hollywood stories in general, and all its players, will find plenty to like in this novel.

I listened to a very good audiobook version on loan from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library.

#30: Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes

In bad old Detroit, an outsider artist turns to serial killing to improve his art in Lauren Beukes creepy, genre-bending thriller Broken Monsters.

Broken Monsters features a dedicated police detective who is also a single mom, her teen daughter (caught up in a dangerous online game with a child predator), a washed-up journalist trying to make a second career as a blogger, and a troubled homeless man, whose paths cross and re-cross with the killer.  Beukes almost makes Detroit into another character in the novel, which adds interest.

The chilling denouement slides--almost oozes--into a horror story in the last quarter of the novel, which caught me by surprise as I thought the book was more of a straight thriller.  But the storytelling had me turning pages quickly to the end, and Beukes' writing is hip and kinetic.

Unsettling but rewarding for readers who are interested in something more offbeat.

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