Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion
note: This topic has been closed to new comments.
Monthly "Reads"
>
Post Your Top Reads of 2023 Here!!
date
newest »
newest »
Yay! Thanks Carol, we appreciate your doing this each year and I always look forward to seeing what makes the 'top cut' for others here. The posts often incentivize me to add more books to my own towering TBR virtual pile.
I always look forward to this one to see what I missed.
10 top M/TThe Boys from Biloxi: John Grisham
Burner: Mark Greaney
Storm Watch: CJ Box
Small Mercies: Dennis Lehane
Dark Angel: John Sanford
All The Sinners Bleed: SA Cosby
An Honest Man: Michael Koryta
After That Night: Karin Slaughter
Judgment Prey: John Sanford
Resurrection Walk: Michael Connelly
5 top authors
Michael Connelly
Mark Greaney
Dennis Lehane
SA Cosby
John Sanford
5 top books any genre
Red Alert: Peter Bryant
IWO, 26 Charlie: PT Deuterman
Island of the Sequined Love Nun: Christopher Moore
The Land of Lost Things” John Connolly
Flags on the Bayou: James Lee Burke
5 top series
Prey series (Davenport)
Flowers series
Grey Man
Bosch/Ballard
Lassiter (Levine)
1 new
Heaven and Earth Grocery Store: James McBride
5 bottom
Someone Else’s Life: Lyn Liao Butler
The Killing Game: Isabella Maldonado
These Still Black Waters: Christina McDonald
LOL I'm not quite ready yet, great to see yours Barry!Now where is Dan's list?
BarryP wrote: "...but only because Dan told me to."
I need to do some editing, I have too many books in the top 10(this is now fixed, all the original books are still there, but some had to be moved to "any genre")
Thanks for doing this again, carol. I have to figure out my top reads!
And here are mine:Top Ten M/T’s
1. The Friend of Madame Maigret
2. Midnight at Malabar House
3. The Violin Conspiracy
4. 'Trifles' and 'a Jury of Her Peers'
5. The Mother-in-Law
6. The Old Woman with the Knife
7. The Lioness
8. Norwegian by Night
9. The White Lady
10. Exiles
Top Authors
Ruth Ware
Brendan Slocumb
Sally Hepworth
Top Series
Malabar House
Thursday Murder Club
Top Books, Any Genre
1. All Your Children, Scattered -historical fiction, translated
2. One Hundred Twenty-One Days -historical fiction, translated
3. What Strange Paradise -fiction/magical realism
Top NTM Authors
1. Vaseem Khan: Midnight at Malabar House
2. Susan Glaspell: Trifles
3. Ovidia Yu: The Frangipani Tree Mystery
4. Brendan Slocumb: The Violin Conspiracy
5. Angie Kim: Happiness Falls
Bottom of the Barrel
1. Ghostwriter Anonymous
2. Dewey Decimated
Ann's 2023Top Mystery/Thriller Books (1-10)
All the Sinners Bleed S.A. Cosby
Those We Thought We Knew David Joy
I Have Some Questions for You Rebecca Makkai
Bright Young Women Jessica Knoll
My Darkest Prayer S.A. Cosby
Sleepless City(Nick Ryan, #1) Reed Farrel Coleman
The Old Woman with the Knife Gu Byeong-mo
Exiles (Aaron Falk, #3) Jane Harper
Small Mercies Dennis Lehane
Prom Mom Laura Lippman
Top Authors (1-5)
Karin Slaughter (After That Night)
S.A. Cosby (My Darkest Prayer and All the Sinners Bleed)
John Scalzi (NINE of his books this year)
Michael Connelly (Resurrection Walk)
Dennis Lehane (Small Mercies)
Top Books (1-5) any genre
Chemistry Weike Wang
Holly Stephen King
River Woman, River Demon Jennifer Givhan
Vampire Weekend Mike Chen
Head On (Lock In, #2) John Scalzi
Top Series (1-5)
After That Night series (Will Trent, #11) Karin Slaughter
Resurrection Walk (The Lincoln Lawyer, #7; Harry Bosch Universe, #37) Michael Connelly
The Kind Worth Saving(Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #2) Peter Swanson
Not the Ones Dead (Kate Shugak, #23) Dana Stabenow
The Running Grave (Cormoran Strike, #7) Robert Galbraith
Best "New to Me" Author (1)
Mike Chen with two books in my top 2023 consideration pool:
Vampire Weekend and Here and Now and Then, both were very good.
Bottom of the Barrel Books (up to 5)
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0) Suzanne Collins
I should have liked this one, but IMHO it didn't live up to the Hunger Games books
here are my top reads. i had a hard time whittling my list to 10 because I know carol would yell at me if I posted 13.Top Mystery/Thriller Books
The Mayors of New York- sj rozan
Everyone Is Watching- heather gudenkauf
Resurrection Walk- Michael Connelly
Darling Girl- sally hepworth
She's Not Sorry- mary kubica
Prom Mom- laura lipmann
After That Night- karin slaughter
What Remains- wendy walker
Last Night- luanne rice
The Fury- alex michaelidis
Top Authors
Sally Hepworth
Mary Kubica
Heather Gudenkauf
Michael Connelly
John Sandford (even though I had to cut one of his books from my list LOL)
Top Books
Fourth Wing- rebecca yarros
Iron Flame- rebecca yarros
The Women- kristin hannah
Lessons in Chemistry- bonnie garmus
The Summer of Songbirds- kristy woodson harvey
Top Series
Bill and Lydia- Rozan
Bosch, etc- Connelly
Prey- sandford
Flowers- sandford
Best "New to Me" Author
it's a tie (sorry carol)-
Heather Gudenkauf/ Mary Kubica
Bottom of the Barrel Books
If We're Being Honest- cat shook- this one got good reviews so I think it was a mood thing
Social Engagement-avery carpenter forey- again, a mood thing
Sherry wrote: "here are my top reads. i had a hard time whittling my list to 10 because I know carol would yell at me if I posted 13.n..."
So you understand why I went back and edited my list.
Culling mine to only a top ten was PAINFUL! But we appreciate Carol so much for compiling, we comply with the rules!
Top Mystery ThrillerThe Violin Conspiracy
This is my only A rated M/T this year.
Please realize that I read a total of 37 books in 2023 which is even less than last year.
Top Books
The Doctor and the Saint: The Ambedkar - Gandhi Debate by Arundhati Roy
When We Do Harm: A Doctor Confronts Medical Error by Danielle Ofri
Our Bodies, Their Battlefields: War Through the Lives of Women by Christina Lamb
Shomeret, it isn't the quantity, it is the quality. Thanks for sharing your list!
Dan’s ListM/T
1. A Cool Breeze in the Underground, Don Winslow
2. A Burning Obsession, Mike Omer
3. The bullet Garden, Stephen Hunter
4. The Chessmen, Peter May
5. Desert Storm, Michael Connelly
6. Exiles, Jane Harper
7. The Axeman, Ray Celestine
8. Black River, Mathew Spencer
9. Seven Days, Deon Meyer
10. Back Blast, Mark Greaney
Authors
Don Winslow
Ray Celestin
Mathew Spencer
Mark Greaney
John Sandford
Series
Neal Carey, Don Winslow
Gray Man, Mark Greaney
Prey, John Sandford
Blues Series, Ray Celestin
Robicheaux, James Lee Burke
NTM Author
Mathew Spencer
Bottom of the Barrel
None
I read 65 books this year, up from 57. Not as much as some, but I'm happy with it. Almost all of them audios; aiming to increase my print reads in 2024.Here's my list for 2023 (in no particular order):
TOP MYSTERY/THRILLERS (1-10)
The Kind Worth Saving. Peter Swanson.
My Darkest Prayer. S.A. Cosby. Read by Adam Lazar-White.
The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth.
All the Sinners Bleed. S.A. Cosby. Read by Adam Lazar-White.
The Viper. John Verdon. Read by Scott Brick.
The Running Grave. Robert Galbraith. Read by Robert Glenister.
Small Mercies. Dennis Lehane.
Arsenic and Adobo. Mia P. Manansala. Read by Danice Cabanela.
Dark Angel. John Sandford. Read by Robert Petkoff.
Drowning. TJ Newman. Read by Steven Weber and Laura Lavante.
Top Books (1-5) any genre
Finding Me. Viola Davis. Read by Viola Davis.
Yellowface. R.F. Kuang. Read by Helen Laser.
Bertie Plays the Blues. Alexander McCall Smith. Read by Robert Ian Mackenzie.
The Vanishing Half. Brit Bennet. Read by Shayna Small.
Fourth Wing. Rebecca Yarros. Read by Rebecca Soler, Teddy Hamilton.
Top Authors (1-5)
S.A Cosby
Robert Galbraith
John Sandford
Peter Swanson
Dennis Lehane
Top Series (1-5)
Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellicott (Robert Galbraith)
Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers (John Sandford)
Dave Guerney (John Verdon)
The Thursday Murder Club (Richard Osman)
Empyrean Series (Rebecca Yarros)
Best "New to Me" Author (1)
Rebecca Yarros
Bottom of the Barrel Books (up to 5)
Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum
The Sentinel by Lee Child
BarryP wrote: "Sherry wrote: "here are my top reads. i had a hard time whittling my list to 10 because I know carol would yell at me if I posted 13.n..."
So you understand why I went back and edited my list."
You both get A's for following directions!! Much appreciated. Although I wouldn't yell, just cut off anything after 10. ;-)
Thanks for compiling the best of lists again, Carol.I read or listened to 30 books in 2023, which is my lowest count in many years, but was able to read a number of the group reads, which were enjoyable. Also had no bottom of the barrel books this year.
Top M/Ts
Small Mercies - Dennis Lehane
The Last Devil to Die - Richard Osman
Real Tigers - Mick Herron
Top Series.
Thursday Murder Club - Richard Osman
Lucas/Virgil/Letty - John Sandford
Joe Demarco - Mike Lawson
SPQR - John Maddox Roberts
Last call, get your entries in! I'm starting to compile and will probably finish mid-week.
Oh, the author for my top M/T read, The Violin Conspiracy is Brendan Slocumb. Sorry for leaving him out.
This topic has been frozen by the moderator. No new comments can be posted.
Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends
Books mentioned in this topic
The Violin Conspiracy (other topics)Small Mercies (other topics)
The Last Devil to Die (other topics)
Real Tigers (other topics)
The Viper (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Richard Osman (other topics)Dennis Lehane (other topics)
Mick Herron (other topics)
Jessica Knoll (other topics)
David Joy (other topics)
More...
The Categories.
Top Mystery/Thriller Books (1-10)
Top Authors (1-5)
Top Books (1-5) any genre
Top Series (1-5)
Best "New to Me" Author (1)
Bottom of the Barrel Books (up to 5)
Instructions
Please put all your picks in one post, and please put them in this topic so I don't miss them. If you forget something you can edit your original post, just put EDITED before your addition so I know to go back and add it.
Please list the full name, be it book title, author name, or series character. This will save me time having to google names in order to match up everyone’s picks.
You don't have to list in all categories, and you don't have to post the maximum in each categories. Just please don't go over the max. Otherwise I will leave off the ones listed over the max indicated.
Final Thoughts
After Jan. 10 (or so) I will begin compiling everyone's lists and will aim to post the top picks in each category by the 16th.
If you want inspiration, you can see our Best of 2022 results here https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/....
I can't wait to see what everyone selects! Questions? You can post them here, and either Ann or I (or another longtime poster) will answer.
Let the posting begin!