Here are brief reviews for the books I read in 2023 that I either didn’t have time to review or that didn’t merit 250 words…
Two Kinds of Truth***
First new read of 2023! I continue to plow through the Bosch series. I enjoyed most of what I read recently but this was just blah. Boring, predictable dueling plots, though one is resolved with an interesting twist. Read better, read worse in this series. Looking forward to getting to some of the Renee Ballard books.
Queen of Thieves****
Contrasting this with “Shrines of Gaiety” may seem silly. Yes, they’re both London-based female oriented crime tales but the coincidences should end there, seeing as how Kate Atkinson’s writing style is far richer than Beezy Marsh’s…well…breezy prose. But at the heart, both stories are about how women navigate war torn worlds that aren’t for them, building Queendoms under the thumb of Kingdoms. I was a little disappointed to find this is the first of a series. I think it took all the air out of the last 30%. But it was fun for what it was. Don’t know if I’ll grab book two right away but I did enjoy this one.
Anxious People****
Mixed feelings on this one. I loved it large parts of it; Backman certainly has a good understanding of key aspects of humanity and the inability to communicate emotions. But I don’t really like charm offensives; The Gentleman from Moscow springs to mind. At times, this book tries way too hard to charm me. But overall, it worked, probably because it wasn’t too long.
The Dead Season***
The mystery in Death of the Family, the first book in Tessa Wegert’s Shana Merchant series, was a lot of fun. The serial killer aspect less so. I know Wegert wanted to set things up for future books with this Shana-vs-Bram rivalry and it clashes in book two as Shana goes back to her roots. I like watching Shana work but I still don’t find the serial killer story that interesting or plausible, even with an interesting resolution here. Nevertheless, I’ll keep on with the series.
A Diet of Treacle****
I hadn’t expected much from this month’s Hard Case Crime, as early period Lawrence Block can be hit-or-miss. But there’s something interesting going on in this nifty little noir work that examines the drug scene in early-60s bohemian Lower Manhattan. I was fascinated with the three characters, though Block got a little too invested in Alberta’s body descriptions. But it’s a well-told story with a noir-as-hell ending.
The Club: How the English Premier League Became the Wildest, Richest, Most Disruptive Force in Sports*****
One of the best sports books I’ve read in quite a while. A readable, thorough examination of the rise of the English Premier League to the behemoth it is today (and is still growing to be).
