salem’s lot by stephen king, 1975. i was 12 years old the 1st time i read this. even then i was an atheist. but i took my dad’s rosary beads to bed every night & no creepy kid vampire floatedly knocked at my window. i lost the rosary beads. won’t read book again. ’nuff said. *94

the liars’ gospel by naomi alderman, 2012. a bit of a moody jesus pops in and out of the four stories. his mum, judas, self-congratulating murderer barabas and high priest caiaphas tell their tales. great insight of how it was to live in bleak, dangerous judea. *73

the complete sherlock holmes by sir arthur conan doyle, 1887-1927. near perfection. not sure how it could be any better. so maybe this is perfection. if you haven’t read these, no excuses, they are free to download. *98 (gotta leave a bit of wiggle room.)

the witch elm by tana french, 2018. like toby, i have cruised thru life, oblivious to everything around me yet positive that i was a “good guy”. gonna try to be less oblivious from now on. best book i have read in the thriller/wake-up-call genre. *84

the eyes of the dragon by stephen king, 1984. set in the middle-agey kingdom of delain, a young prince and his trusted friends try to take down the evil regime. flagg is here being his usual prick self. i read this to my 8 year old son. he wants a doll house. success! *82

the name of the rose by umberto eco, 1980. holmes would have given up coke to crack this case. reading this book is like being on coke. after the high high of the mystery being solved the come down is hell. in the end this was just a lonely old man’s love story. brilliant. *95

the tommyknockers by stephen king, 1987. my hemorrhoids are so bad. they have started to bleed. i borrowed my wife’s pads. that reminded me of this book. criminally underrated. read it 30 years ago, the little boy’s magic trick still haunts me. *88

there’s a wocket in my pocket by dr. seuss, 1974. my wife and i had a child so we had someone to read this to. as a kid all i ever wanted was a wocket. i was very upset to find out they didn’t exist. this summer i got a whippet which is nearly a wocket. he’s a good boy. *80

in the woods by tana french, 2007. not as bleak and dark as most modern mystery novels and with a different pace and taste. author nails the patheticness of poor-me, holier-than-thou grown men. s’like she has been watching me for the past 43 years. *79

the likeness by tana french, 2008. another enjoyable and breezy paced crime novel in the series. the dad sharing memories of his daughter is so heartbreakingly sad and beautiful it is worth the price of admission alone. the rest of the book is just a bonus. *82

the darkest secret by alex marwood, 2016. is it possible to hate everyone in the book and yet still enjoy the book? yes. yes it is. alex marwood is always fun to read. only way this could have been any better is if everyone died and it really, really hurt. oh well. *77

faithful place by tana french, 2010. families, eh? book 3 in dublin murder series. i think smaller families are the way to go. less people to kill you. frank mackey could have his own spin-off, poor bastard has a lot going on. these books keep getting better. *89

broken harbour by tana french, 2012. dublin murder series book 4. i didn’t like detective scorcher from the previous book, so it was a great feat from the author to at least have me sympathising with him by the end. (don’t go swimming with your mum.) *83

the secret place by tana french, 2014. dublin murder book 5. girl’s schools are horrifying in ways even stephen king couldn’t imagine. i would have been a useless girl. i know this. good to have frank mackey back, at least for a bit. these books are a pleasure. *86

the first fifteen lives of harry august by claire north, 2014 living through the same timeline over and over again? for us that would mean infinite trump presidencies. no, thanks. harry doesn’t have that hellish problem but he has many of his own. a fresh, wonderful story. *89

the accidental time machine by joe haldeman, 2007. matt and his time machine travel into the future, each jump 12 times further than the last. matt, socially naive regardless of the year, manages to navigate his way through bizarre futures. a light read but lots of fun. *75

doomsday book by connie willis, 1992. oxford historians of the near future travel to the past. a plague of plagues causes disasters at both ends of the timeline. 14th century england is a miserable place even without the plague. long, beautiful book. *84

the cold cold ground by adrian mckinty, 2012. we meet detective sean duffy in nthn ireland in the early 80’s. he has the best taste in music of all fictional crime solvers. worth reading for song suggestions alone. oh yeah, great story beautifully written. *84