What were the best books of 2015? Keep reading, and feel free to mention any you think I might’ve forgotten…
Honorable Mentions: The Explorer’s Guild…I wouldn’t call it a particularly great book (I only gave it a “B” grade) but it is one of the most unusual and oddly old-fashioned books of last year, and occasionally has beautiful illustrations. Still, older men will like it more than younger men will…probably. The Man Who Spoke Snakish…This book was only released as the American translation in 2015 (of an Estonian work) so not technically eligible, yet it’s more than worth a read.
Runner-Up: Slade House…A fully imagined world that just might scare the hell out of you. At the very least, it’s one of the most intriguing and engaging horror books you’ll read in a while (or until number 9 or 6 on this list anyway). Ultimately, it’s because two other books last year either scared me more (9) or involved me just a little bit more (6) that this missed the top ten by a hair.
10. The Daylight Marriage/The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson…Two very different domestic thrillers that take roads both heartbreakingly realistic (“Daylight Marriage”) and enjoyably stylish (“Worth Killing”).
9. Her by Harriet Lane…A book I reviewed a year ago, and it still leaves me chills thinking about the ending. Two women have a chance encounter that isn’t really chance at all, the sophisticated older appears to know the less polished younger one but doesn’t mention that to her. What is she up to? You won’t figure it out until the book’s eerie, unsettling final chapter.
8. Marauders by Tom Cooper…The BP oil spill traps various characters in its web as treasure hunters, fishermen, two criminal brothers, and a grudging BP executive all try for various schemes. Accurate tone of voice and characterizations are king here, but the homegrown, resentful BP exec (whose whole mission is to trick people into signing away their right to sue in a hometown he hates) is such a memorable character it almost single-handedly drives the plot.
7. Badlands/Vanishing Games by C.J. Box and Roger Hobbs…Two thrillers that are undervalued due to their genre. “Badlands” (about crime and a botched drug delivery in a North Dakota oil town) creates a vivid, humanistic portrayal of a once-depressed region experiencing boom times that might just as quickly turn right back into lean times. And “Vanishing Games” is more of a “pure entertainment” novel (involving a botched sapphire heist, Macau street chases, a surprisingly valuable piece of cargo, and a pissed-off mercenary willing to behead anyone who stops him from getting it back) that may be even better, perhaps the most enjoyable novel I read last year with the pages moving faster than a flipbook.
6. Day Four by Sarah Lotz…A cruise ship starts experiencing strange phenomenon while seemingly stranded in the ocean with no other vessels in sight. Is the ship’s phony psychic really channelling otherworldly spirits? Why are there reports of a ship pulling into harbor with nobody on it? What’s really going on? The answers are satisfying and suspenseful until you get there, and the book is so astute about cruising culture (like the hierarchy of nationalities on those boats) that you’ll even laugh several times along the way.
The Final Five
There’s no longer a distinction in ranking because really they’re all great books worthy of a look.
Two Years, Eight Months, Twenty Eight Nights by Salman Rushdie…A clever and timely allegory that substitutes wrathful, “otherworldly,” out-of-nowhere Jinn violence as a metaphor for Islamic terrorism. A return to form for Rushdie that brilliantly skewers our dehumanizing love of the fantastical that threatens to swallow this age (forty years ago the highest grossing movie was The Godfather, now it’s all films with superheroes or star wars) into one that no longer cares about real people, while also winking just enough to acknowledge the lure real wonder. [Starts slow but builds to a great conclusion.]
Under Tiberius by Nick Tosches…Was Jesus just part of a swindle orchestrated by an exiled Roman speechwriter to Tiberius to get superstitious Jew’s money? Such is the baseline of this thrilling historical novel that is really saying something about the overlap between politicians and prophets, and how either may use your desire to believe against you.
Golden Son by Pierce Brown…If you don’t know about the “Red Rising” trilogy yet, do yourself a favor and look it up. These books are amazing, more adult than “The Hunger Games” but more humanistic than “Game of Thrones.” Brown is able to balance so many impressive things at once–Encyclopedic-level mythology, thunderous space battles, diplomatic strategy, political ideals, and characters you actually care about–that it’s a miracle these books (about a Gold-ruled space society of the future where a low-born Red Mars slave infiltrates in order to lead an uprising) work at all. That they are the very best book series I’ve ever read should tell you how well they do. This is the second book in the series, and I dinged its grade a little last year because of the twist ending, although I can say now that the final book in the trilogy (which I just finished) wipes away any doubts, and actually makes me like this book more now.
The Cartel by Don Winslow…Winslow is not just writing a crime novel about the Mexican drug war, he’s writing the novel about the Drug War. This could serve as an accurate historical account for future generations, and as much I hate to quibble with some things (the last 15 pages, the overly simple DEA hero, the death of an intriguing female character after a big deal) the book isn’t perfect. Yet it’s as close to perfect as you can possibly get over a drug war that has now claimed as many lives as a real war, spreading through Mexico to create a whirlpool of violence and corruption that threatens to sink everything in its path. It ensnares everyone from low-level hitmen to journalists to honest cops to mayors to even an elderly gentleman defending his land from Los Zetas (in a five page section that is perfect). It’s a painting of Mexico so vivid that it’s why I’m particularly mad about the hero not growing an inch in the ending: because the novel is so convincing in its ideas for a more morally gray (yet peaceful) compromise, and the ending feels like a direct repudiation of everything it’s been saying for 600 pages.
The Winter Family by Clifford Jackman…A band of cruel Union Army officers (at least some of them psychotic, all of them dangerous) are kicked out of the army only to spend the next thirty years where the action is by being hired to kill: Indians, klansmen, Chicago Democrats on the eve of a crucial mayoral election, outlaws in Arizona territory, and even some of the people who’ve hired them (sometimes for more money, sometimes for sport). This is a brutal, scorched-Earth representation of the West, a picture of nihilistic violence that is inexplicably readable and definitely memorable. It may be the single best book I’ve read about America’s war with itself–literal (Civil War), silent (Indian genocide), and metaphorically (civilization versus outlaws).
THis list will be my must read list.
I can’t wait to get started.
I’ve only read “Golden Son” and “Vanishing Games” but both were great. I’ll have to check out the rest.
C.J. Box is one of the best! I’vve loved his joe pickett series for a long time and these other books are good too
I’ve never heard of half of these books, but I’ll check them out.
Great reviews AL. I can’t wait to read the entire list.
Next stop B&N.
I need to get started on reading these books.
I don’t really enjoy reading but all these books seem very good. Nice review.
I think I might read one of these books
I might end up reading one of these books they look interesting…
I have never heard of any of these books.
I haven’t ever read any of these, but I’ll be sure to check them out.
I hate reading, but these look alright.
In my opinion the fill in boyfriend and this is what happy looks are great books.
I would like to read one of these books, they sound very interesting.
I think the Percy Jackson series should definitely be on this list
its very good
Don’t like reading but I’ve heard some of these books they seem good. Good review.
Hate reading but people say these books are good.
Don’t like to read but these books sound good
Really liked your review on The Final Five.
Really enjoyed your review on The Final Five.
Haven’t read any of these books, but they look like they could be good books
I don’t prefer to read but these look alright!
im good but i dont like books cuz im good nah mean but i guess books good
I have never heard of half of these books but I look forward into reading some.
I really enjoyed your review on two years, eight months, and twenty-eight days.
I have never read any of these books, but they all seem pretty interesting.
I barely read, but these books seem interesting.
I would like to read some of these books.
I have not read any of these books.
I have yet to read any of these, but your review was good.
These books look really interesting. I might end up reading these books someday.
I’m not a big fan of reading but I’ll take a look at these books when I get the chance.
Some of these books look interesting to read.
Reading is boring but I would like to read one of these.They look interesting.
I love reading these are good books!
I love reading these are good books!
This list of books has to be my reading list!
These books sound amazing.
Wow, this seems like a cool book.