TOP TWENTY-FIVE CRIME NOVELS OF THE LAST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS (20-25)
- wildremuda
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
The first part of this century was basically when I got a front row seat to a new generation that pushed the genre in new and exciting directions. It's been so long now, another is coming up. In this year's 25 0f 25' tradition, I made this five part list, starting with number 25. These five show authors who were not afraid to play with the form.
THE DEVIL TAKES YOU HOME by Gabino Iglesias- Possibly the darkest book on this list (which is saying something). A man pushed to the limits takes on a suicide job of robbing a cartel on the border where he crosses into a literal hell. You don't only worry about the protagonist's life, but his soul.
THE DAMAGE DONE by Hilary Davidson- This book announced a fresh voice with Hilary Davidson's troubled travel writer, Lily Moore. The first book in the trilogy opens with her returning to New York to identify the body of her drug addict sister, only to discover it is someone else at the morgue. Her search for her sister and the truth put her in deep danger and facing her past in this thriller dripping with noir attitude.
THE LAST DEATH OF JACK HARBIN by Terry Shames - In this second book featuring a small-town Texas police chief Samuel Craddock, Shames gives us a heartbreaker as he investigates the murder of a Gulf War veteran, revealing the criminal nature of how we treat our returning service members.
THE LONG AND FARAWAY GONE by Lou Berney- Lou Berney uses three mysteries to deliver one haunting novel. A private detective takes a job that brings him back to his Oklahoma City hometown where he was one of the survivors in a movie theater robbery where several employees were murdered. His look into the past brushes up against a woman looking into the disappearance of her sister that happened a month after the robbery. He creates a literary tapestry that meditates on the forms of loss.
THE NIGHT OF BABA YAGA by Akari Otani- A female street fighter is forced to become the driver and bodyguard of a yakuza princess and both develop a complex relationship as they plot an escape from their situation. A great examination of gender and love with brutal, kick ass fight passages.
Comments