Read on Twitter
Top 10 Books of 2020.
2020 was stinky in a lot of ways, but what a year for reading! I was able to finish 78 books (waaaay up from the 20-25 I normally read). Below is a collection of the tweets I wrote for each of my faves, all of which are worthy of your time. Enjoy!
2020 was stinky in a lot of ways, but what a year for reading! I was able to finish 78 books (waaaay up from the 20-25 I normally read). Below is a collection of the tweets I wrote for each of my faves, all of which are worthy of your time. Enjoy!
The Hours After Midnight by #JosephHayes is a 120-page live-wire of a story, detailing a two-hour window in which a girl accepts a ride from the wrong guy. I’ll sound cliched, but the tension truly starts on the first page and doesn’t let up until the finale. Highly recommended.
Boy oh boy, The Money Trap by #LionelWhite is one helluva read. While it doesn’t break new ground in “good cops breaking bad,” White puts forth a tight, gritty 125-page tale that positively hums in the final half. Recommended.
It’s been about twenty years since I read @RobertMcCammon’s brilliant Boy’s Life. Revisiting it this week via the unabridged audiobook. I’m only a couple chapters in, but already swept up in the story, thanks in no small part to the smooooth voice of narrator @georgenewbern.
I’ve reviewed hundreds of books, but never used the word “ripsnorter” to describe one until tonight. Death’s Sweet Song by #CliftonAdams is a damn-near perfect piece of gritty noir, as ripsnorting as they come.
The Humans by @matthaig1 is one of the best novels I’ve read in ages. I didn’t stop smiling throughout this charming, humorous, heart-warming tale of what it means to be human. Tears may have been shed as well. Highly recommended.
I did a two-tweet review for #EdMcBain’s Tricks — one of my favorite 87th Precinct books to this point — so I’m including that review as a picture:
The Killing by #LionelWhite is heist fiction at its very best, spending one half of the book detailing the planned robbery and finishing with tension-filled pages as the crew tries to pull off the audacious crime. Highly recommended.
When I plucked it off the pile a few days ago, I was unprepared for how absolutely, positively fucking *amazing* #DanJMarlowe’s The Name of the Game Is Death would be. I’ve read some fantastic noir in my time, but this is as hard-boiled as it gets. How do I follow this up?!
@joelansdale has crafted a noir masterpiece with More Better Deals, a story that would have been right at home in the glory days of 50’s and 60’s crime fiction. Think Clifton Adams’ Death’s Sweet Song, with a little more dark humor and desperation. Highly recommended.
And last, Double Indemnity by James M. Cain. I must not have written a review of it at the time, but I blew through this short novel in one day. Worthy of its classic status, and obviously a blueprint for many stories that came after it.
