"You know what? The bastard blows me out of the water. This guy writes Maine like Ardai writes New York. If you're not reading him, you don't know what you're missing." --Chris F. Holm, author of "The Collector" series, The Killing Kind, and Red Right Hand.

"A refreshingly new voice in noir." --Ed Kurtz, author of Nothing You Can Do and The Rib From Which I Remake the World.

"A glorious boilermaker of noir and East Coast gothic. The action is taut as a sprung snare and Bagley tightens the screws with every page." -- Laird Barron, author of Swift to Chase and Blood Standard.




Saturday, January 1, 2011

The Obligatory Top Ten List

I actually got a request for this, which means at least one person is still following the blog. So, it's time to list my favorite down-and-dirty crime reads of 2010. Most of these were new releases, but a couple of the books came out in 2009. Hey, my list = my rules. Ya gotsa problem widdat?

These are in no particlar order, but I will say that Benjamin Whitmer's Pike was my absolute favorite novel of the year. To paraphrase the great Nigel Tufnel: "It's like how much more noir could it be? And the answer is none. None...more noir." If you haven't read Pike yet, do yourself a favor and snag a copy right away. Rural noir at its hardscrabble finest.

Okay, now for the rest of the list:
The Ghosts of Belfast (aka The Twelve) by Stuart Neville
Kings of the Earth by John Clinch
Young Junius by Seth Harwood
Criminal Volume 5: The Sinners by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
A Bad Day for Pretty by Sophie Littlefield
Thunder Beach by Michael Lister
The Deputy by Victor Gischler
The Devil by Ken Bruen (even though the supernatural aspect felt out of place)
Nobody's Angel by Jack Clark

Discuss...

7 comments:

Paul D Brazill said...

Good to see you around, mr b. The only one that I've read is The Twelve, which I loved. But I trust your judgement on the others. Take car and happy new year to you and yours.

Victor Gischler said...

Obligatory or not, it's still nice to be included. Thanks.

VG

Anonymous said...

LOVE stuart neville and sophie littlefield!

Charlieopera said...

Pike was my absolute favorite as well. Hands down.

Chris said...

Great choices there. I loved PIKE, loved Gischler (everything he does is worth reading), love Sophie's Stella books, and that NOBODY'S ANGEL is also a fantastic read. Oh, and the CRIMINAL comics? Brilliant. You and I would have a lot to talk about over beers, Patrick!

Seth Harwood said...

Hmmm... guess I'll have to give PIKE a look. Sounds good.
So happy to be on this list, Patrick! Cheers and thanks!!

Looking forward to meeting some day.

Seth

Cullen Gallagher said...

Glad to see you back!