My Ten Favourite Reads of 2023
It does not feel like twelve months since I last sat down to select my favourite reads of the year, yet here we are.
It hasn’t been the best of years in terms of getting reviews onto the blog. I’ve still been reading but I started the year on an extremely busy contract (the day job) and it was draining – at the end of a long day the last thing I could do was open up another laptop screen. Then in the summer my crazy busy contract finished – I flew home early from my summer holiday to begin the second crazy busy contract of the year (day job part the second) – again lots of reading but, again, not so many reviews added to the blog.
This has made me even more determined to share my ten favourite reads of the year. There have been many cracking books which I shouted about as I read them but I want to showcase my favourites (particularly as there are still a couple of weeks to go until Christmas and I hope you may consider gifting some of these suggestions).
So without further ado (and in no particular order) I present the ten books which gave me the most pleaure in 2023
Paris Requiem – Chris Lloyd
I start with Paris Requiem. I read this back in February, had the pleasure of hearing Chris Lloyd speak about this book at September’s Bloody Scotland Festival and I have been recommending this particular title for 11 of the 12 months in 2023. It’s a crime thriller set in 1940s Paris. The lead character is a French cop and he is trying do do his job while the German army is occupying the city and putting their own leaders in positions of power in the city.
For Eddie Giral there’s just one question…why has a man he recently put in prison just turned up (very, very dead) in the office of a Parisian night club?
https://www.waterstones.com/book/paris-requiem/chris-lloyd/9781409190325
The Last Line – Stephen Ronson
It’s another book set during the Second World War but this time the action takes place in the South East of England and the hero of the tale is a former soldier who finds himself accused of a particularly nasty murder and has to prove his innocence. Along the way he will become embroiled in a mystery surrounding a missing refugee and also find himself facing off against some particulary dangerous “businessmen”.
A terrific debut novel from Stephen Ronson who delivers a perfectly paced, gripping thriller which I knew was a certain inclusion in this list as I rushed through the last few chapters. I was dying to see how this story ended but at the same time I really didn’t want it to end.
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-last-line/stephen-ronson/9781399721233
The Darkest Sin – D V Bishop
It’s another historical crime thriller but this story takes place in Florence, Italy in the year 1537. The second of three Cesare Aldo books by D.V. Bishop that I read this year. I could honestly have selected any one of the three (City of Vengeance, The Darkest Sin and Ritual of Fire) to make this list as I virtually devoured each story back to back..it got to the point I was beginning to develop an Italian accent!
The Darkest Sin got the nod due to the sinister nuns, the sublimely clever twist of getting a very different story for those that had read City of Venegance than those that had not read CoV and also Aldo being a terrific character I want to read about again and again.
If you haven’t read D.V. Bishop yet I implore you to get that put to right immediately.
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-darkest-sin/d-v-bishop/9781529038842
The Sun Down Motel – Simone St James
Here is the best ghost story I read this year. A haunted motel? A small town with secrets? A dangerous predator? Yes please!
In 1982 Viv took a job as the night receptionist at the Sun Down Motel. But Viv vanishes one night and is never found again. In 2017 Viv’s neice, Carly, comes to the Sun Down Motel to try and discover what happened to her aunt – she discovers more than she could ever have expected.
This is a terrifically creepy tale and a damned good mystery too. If you don’t do supernatural then it’s not for you but miss out at your peril.
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-sun-down-motel/simone-st-james/9781405962315
The Institution – Helen Fields
This book is not for the faint of heart. I do like my crime thrillers to be on the darker side but Helen Fields has delivered a particularly grim situation and (excuse the prison pun) but it’s shackles off on the dark and gritty narrative.
In the world’s most secure prison hospital a nurse is murdered, her child abducted and the clock is ticking to recover the infant and catch a killer. It’s a locked room mystery but with everything ramped up to the absolute maximum.
I’ve always enjoyed books by Helen Fields but this really raised the bar.
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-institution/helen-fields/9780008533519
The Devil You Know – Neil Lancaster
Regular visitors will know that I generally favour reading about recurring characters than I enjoy stand-alone novels. The Devil You Know is the newest title in the terrific Max Craigie series (book 5). Having devoured each of the previous Craigie novels I feel this series is only going from strength to strength with The Devil You Know simply blowing me away with page after page of thrills and action.
At the risk of incurring your temporary wrath – I got to read an early copy of The Devil You Know and it’s not on general release until March 2024. But let me assure you…it is well worth the wait. Why not pre-order your copy so you don’t miss out. Really….don’t miss out.
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-devil-you-know/neil-lancaster/9780008551322
The Hotel – Louise Mumford
If The Sun Down Motel was the best horror novel I read this year, The Hotel is the best chiller. Not a full horror novel but suitably chilling and with a plot that had me thinking “Blair Witch” when the protagonists take video footage of their nocternal visit to an old, abandoned hotel high on the Welsh coastal clifftops.
Great characters, a clever mystery story and a hugely enjoyable read which just flowed from first page to last. Hunt this down and check out The Hotel
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-hotel/louise-mumford/9780008589943
Murdle – G T Karber
I love puzzle books. I love logic puzzles and I love murder mysteries. That’s Murdle in a nutshell. A collection of fun mystery puzzles which challenge the reader/player to solve the clues and discover the murderers. Grab a pen, Grab This Book and enjoy something charmingly different.
https://www.waterstones.com/book/murdle/g-t-karber/9781800818026
The Silent Man – David Fennell
Another dark crime thriller and another absolutely cracking read. This thriller has a serial killer, a gangster with a vendetta against a cop and her family and it packs tension and twists into every chapter.
I hadn’t read David Fennell’s earlier books and I am correcting that oversight already – this story just hit the ground running and I just kept turning the pages. This is the kind of book I love to find – a story which immediately makes me feel I need to read all the other books by the same author.
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-silent-man/david-fennell/9781804181737
The Stranger Times – C.K McDonnell
This was an audiobook listen and it made me laugh out loud so many times that I just could not leave it off this list. Falling firmly into the fantasy realms I loved the manic chaos of The Stranger Times (a weekly newspaper of odd, unexplained and the totally bonkers aspects of life). The boss is a sweary, drunk, the new reporter is making it up as she goes along, the tech support is a young teenager and the office manager tolerates them all (just).
Elsewhere a dark magician is breaking the rules and has a brutal monster under his control which he will unleash onto Manchester (and the World) if he can overcome those that would oppose him.
I’d bought book 2 of this series long before I heard the last chapters of book one. So Much Fun.
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-stranger-times/c-k-mcdonnell/9780552177344
That’s my ten. I left out some really good books by authors I love to read and I wish I could have included more than ten books in my “Ten Favourite Reads” list but I work with numbers all day and to have a list of ten with more than ten books would make me positively antsy.
I shout about books every day of every week over on social media – I am @grabthisbook and if you follow me on Twitter/X I will endeavour to continue to flag up terrific reads through 2024 and beyond.
Enjoy what you read and share the booklove.