2010 Best and Worst M/T

[Cheryl]

Okay I'm ready:

List the 10 Best M/T books you read in 2010.

Here are mine:
TOPS:
THE REVERSAL - Michael Connelly
LIVE TO TELL - Lisa Gardner
THE HIDDEN MAN - David Ellis
THE SHANGHAI MOON - S. J. Rozan
SERPENT IN THE THORNS - Jeri Westerson
CHANGES -James Butcher
THE LOCK ARTIST - Steve Hamilton
DESERT WIVES - Betty Webb
FACES OF THE GONE - Brad Parks
INSIDE OUT - Barry Eisler


List the worst M/T books from 2010.

Here are mine: (Try to stay around or under 5)
BOTTOMS:
INTERNAL AFFAIRS - Connie Dial
TROUBLE MAKER - Janet & Alex Evanovich
BURY ME DEEP - Megan Abbott
A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO DIE - Malla Nunn
BUTTER SAFE THAN SORRY - Tamar Myers

[BarryP]

Tops of the M/T Pile

Rozan: On the Line
Connelly: The Reversal
Jance: Queen of the Night
Butcher: Changes
Kerley: Little Girls Lost
Tom Rob Smith: Child 44
Paretsky: Body Work
Larsson: Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Lehane: Moonlight Mile
Crais: First Rule

[Sherry]

top m/t's
little face- sophie hannah
undone- slaughter
moonlight mile- lehane
the reversal- connelly
on the line- rozan
i'd know you anywhere- lippman
broken- slaughter
fractured- slaughter
62 hours- child
girl who kicked the hornet's nest- larsson

[Dawn]

Top M/Ts:
The First Rule - Crais
Faithless - Slaughter
Undone - Slaughter
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Larsson
Never Look Away - Barclay
Scent of Rain and Lightning - Pickard
The Taking of Libbie SD - Housewright
Bad Blood - Sanford
Worth Dying For - Child

[Marcy]

Tops

Rosewood's Ashes - Aileen Schumacher
Paganini's Ghost - Paul Adam
Line of Vision - David Ellis
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Stieg Larsson
61 Hours - Lee Child
Innocent - Scott Turow
The Lion - Nelson DeMille
River of Darkness - Rennie Airth
The Spy - Clive Cussler
Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie - Alan Bradley

[BarryP]

Sherry wrote: "top m/t's
62 hours: Child..."

I must have missed this. Did it come after 61 Hours?

[Sherry]

Barry wrote: "Sherry wrote: "top m/t's
62 hours: Child..."

I must have missed this. Did it come after 61 Hours?"

it was the abridged sequel. you didn't read it?

[Marcy]

That last hour must have included Reacher's escape from doom!

[Sandi]

Top M/T reads

Voices- Arnaldur Indriðason

Moonlight Downs - Adrian Hyland

Don't Look Back - Karin Fossum

Heart of the Hunter: A Novel - Deon Meyer

The Hours Before Dawn - Celia Fremlin

Bad Traffic: A Novel - Simon Lewis

Exile - Denise Mina

Blacklands - Belinda Bauer

Starvation Lake - Bryan Gruley

The Score - Richard Stark


Worst M/T reads

Sworn to Silence - Linda Castillo

In the Shadow of Gotham - Stefanie Pintoff

[Merrilee in AZ]

Best M/T

61 Hours - Child
Worth Dying For - Child
The Scent of Rain & Lightening - Pickard
The First Rule - Crais
The Lock Artist - Hamilton
The Reversal - Connelly
Changes - Butcher

[Melodie]

Best M/T:
CHANGES - Jim Butcher
BODY WORK - Sara Paretsky
MOONLIGHT MILE - Dennis Lehane
THE HANGING TREE - Bryan Gruley
THE DIVA PAINTS THE TOWN - Krista Davis
SPRINKLE WITH MURDER - Jenn McKinlay
PLAY DEAD - David Rosenfelt
NEW TRICKS - David Rosenfelt
SCOOP TO KILL - Wendy Watson
ANGEL INTERRUPTED - Chaz McGee (Katy Munger)

Worst M/T:
WICKED APPETITE - Janet Evanovich
CHAPTER & HEARSE - Lorna Barrett
61 HOURS - Lee Child (but it is the only Reacher book I ever finished!)
APPLE TURNOVER MURDER - Joanne Fluke
ANGEL'S ADVOCATE - Mary Stanton

[Dan in AZ]

Best M/T's:
The Secret Servant, Daniel Silva
I, Sniper, Stephen Hunter
The Lock Artist, Steve Hamilton
Changes, Jim Butcher
Three Stations, Martin Cruz smith
Rough Country, John Sandford
A Night Too Dark, Dana Stabenow
Mr. Shivers, Robertr Bennett
The Bricklayer, Noah Boyd

Worst M/T's:
Critical, Robin Cook
Obedience, ? (DNF)

[BarryP]

The Bricklayer, Noah Boyd

I bought this after reading what you had said, now I just have to get to it.

[Susie]

Best M/T's:
Aunt Dimity Down Under - Nancy Atherton
The Scent of Rain and Lightning - Nancy Pickard
The Seventh Witch - Shirley Damsgaard
Sprinkle With Murder - Jenn McKinlay
Pretty In Ink - Karen E. Olson
The Diva Paints the Town - Krista Davis
One Grave Too Many - Beverly Connor
The Huckleberry Murders - Patrick F. McManus
Shoot to Thrill - P.J. Tracy
Getting Old is Tres Dangereux - Rita Lakin

Worst:
Blindman's Bluff - Faye Kellerman
Red Delicious Death - Sheila Connolly
Sucker Punch - Sammi Carter

[Melodie]

Susie in KS wrote: "Best M/T's:
Aunt Dimity Down Under - Nancy Atherton
The Scent of Rain and Lightning - Nancy Pickard
The Seventh Witch - Shirley Damsgaard
Sprinkle With Murder - Jenn McKinlay
Pretty In Ink - K..."

I really liked THE SEVENTH WITCH, too, Susie. I never cared much for that series, but she sure saved it for me with the last book!

[Dan in AZ]

Barry wrote: "The Bricklayer, Noah Boyd

I bought this after reading what you had said, now I just have to get to it."

Hope you like it. I thought some of the inter-office stuff was really well done.

[Snap]

TOPS:

Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear
Dissolution by C.J. Sansom
The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Coterill
Secret Sanction by Brian Haig

WORST:
Thai Die by Monica Ferris

[Melodie]

Snap wrote: "TOPS:

Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear
Dissolution by C.J. Sansom
The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Coterill
Secret Sanction by Brian Haig

WORST:
Thai Die by Monica Ferris"

I thought THAI DIE was just awful, too, Snap! Don't read the series anymore after that one!

[Lynne in PA/Lineepinee]

I only read 22 books this year--only 5 that could be classified M/T
HUNTERS MOON/Stabenow--chilling
A NIGHT TOO DARK/Stabenow--less blood than others
IN A GILDED CAGE/Bowen--local connection
A ROYAL PAIN/Bowen light series
Worst
PLAY IT AGAIN SPAM/Myers- throw across roomable

[Nancy]

The books after Thai Die are better, that was a stupid boring one. Just finished buttons and bones which was good.

[Meredith]

Top M/T
China Trade
Acqua Alta
Gallows View
The Girl Who Played With Fire
The Death of Faith
The Girl WhoKicked The Hornet's Nest

Worst M/T
Murder Uncorked
Murder is Binding
Murder By The Glass

Meredith

[Carol/Bonadie]

Barry wrote: "Sherry wrote: "top m/t's
62 hours: Child..."

I must have missed this. Did it come after 61 Hours?"

LOL

[Carol/Bonadie]

Top 10

In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming
The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley
The Calling by Inger Ash Wolfe
Stripped by Brian Freeman
The Glass Rainbow by James Lee Burke
The Pure in Heart by Susan Hill
Known to Evil by Walter Mosley
This Body of Death by Elizabeth George
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
The Cruellest Month by Louise Penny

Worst is harsh, how about Didn't Love:
The Hunting Wind by Steve Hamilton
Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman

[annodluvsbks]

Top 10 M/T's:

Snowbound~Blake Crouch
Broken~Karin Slaughter
The Likeness~Tana French
The Lock Artist~Steve Hamilton
The Scent of Rain and Lightning~Nancy Pickard
The Girl She Used to Be~David Christofano
The Reversal~Michael Connelly
The Murderer's Daughter~Randy Susan Meyers
The Burying Place~Brian Freeman
Heaven's Keep~William Kent Krueger

[Ann]

Ann's Top (er... 13) MT Books in 2010
Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest(and TGWPWF, book 2)
Dana Stabenow - A Night Too Dark: A Kate Shugak Novel
Jacqueline Winspear - The Mapping of Love and Death
Val McDermid - A Darker Domain
The Lovers - John Connolly
Karin Slaughter - Undone
Lisa Scottoline - Think Twice
Laurie R. King - The God of the Hive
P.J. Tracy - Shoot to Thrill
Sara Paretsky - Body Work
S.J. Rozan - On the Line: A Bill Smith/Lydia Chin Novel
Marcia Muller - Coming Back
Dennis Lehane - Moonlight Mile

I realize this list is my 13 Top MT books. It is killing me to leave any of them out, so I am listing them anyway and putting them in order if my list must be edited to ten. It is the best I can do Cheryl! ;)
Thanks for compiling!

[Brakedrum]

My best 2010 reads are:
1. Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King
2. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
3. New York by Edward Rutherfurd
5. The Lion by Nelson DeMille
6. Fever Dram by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
7. The Wrecker by Clive Cussler
8. 61 Hours by Lee Child
9. Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child
10. The Chase by Clive Cussler

My worst read: I Know this much is true by Wally Lamb. I read 300 pages of this BFB and it didn't seem to keep my interest. Returned this book to the library.

My complaint from some of my favorite authors: They all had the same theme of missing/murdered children. Hopefully, these authors will change direction in their plots, there were just too many of these this year. The authors are:
Moonlight Mile by Lehane
The Reveral by Connelly
Burn by Barr
Worth Dying For by Child
9 Dragons by Connelly
U is for Undertow by Grafton
I'm getting burnt out on these plots.


35 books total this year

[Ann]

Excellent point Lorraine. I concur. Sometimes it seems like they plan it that way.
Brakedrum wrote: "My complaint from some of my favorite authors: They all had the same theme of missing/murdered children. Hopefully, these authors will change direction in their plots, there were just too many of these this year."

[Donnajo]

I just didn't have alot of top raters in 2010. Hope to in 2011.
I'm doing a few challenges for my novel ladies group and I have a few mysteries in them.

1. Private by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro
2. Look Again by Lisa Scottoline
3. Lye in Wait by Cricket McRae
4. Worst Case by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

[Mary/Quite Contrary]

I'll have to work on this, but my best read was SHUTTER ISLAND. Read it in January and new it would make the top 10!

[Rebekkila]

Daniel wrote: "Best M/T's:
The Secret Servant, Daniel Silva
I, Sniper, Stephen Hunter
The Lock Artist, Steve Hamilton
Changes, Jim Butcher
Three Stations, Martin Cruz smith
Rough Country, John Sandford
A N..."

I finished Critical last week. I have to agree, it was terrible.

[Donna]

My top M/T reads for 2010 in no particular order

This Night's Foul Work
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
Darkness, Take My Hand
One for the Money
The Gentle Axe
The Girl Who Played with Fire
Bruno, Chief of Police
Wife of the Gods: A Novel
In the Shadow of Gotham
The Cobra

[Ann]

A good eclectic list, Donna! Have you made plans to read The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest yet? I envy you having it before you if you haven't read it yet!

Donna wrote: "My top M/T reads for 2010 in no particular order ...The Girl Who Played with Fire "

[Donna]

Oh yes, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is high on my list. I recently watched to first two movies in the series and they were terrific too. I'll probably go see the American version when it comes out but it's going to be hard to top the Swedish version.

[Marcy]

My thoughts exactly, Donna. I thought the Swedish films were excellent.

[Ann]

I want to watch both versions myself too!
Donna wrote: "Oh yes, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is high on my list. I recently watched to first two movies in the series and they were terrific too. I'll probably go see the American version when it ..."