The six best novels of 2007

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Mmmkay. That’s headline’s not entirely true. It should read, “The six best novels I read between January and June in 2007.”

But let’s face facts here: that one was too damn long, and it’s really not very good.

I’m hoping the list is. And, by the way, these are in a particular order.

THE LAST ASSASSIN, by Barry Eisler

Just when I thought the action in a John Rain thriller couldn’t get any better… it does! Times a thousand.

As if the stakes for Rain weren’t always high, Eisler’s gone and propelled them to the stratosphere with THE LAST ASSASSIN. Rain’s lost love Midori and their newborn son are threatened by Rain’s old nemesis, Yamaoto, the yakuza boss turned politician with a major axe to grind with Rain.

Now, Rain must protect his family by removing the threat, but doing just that introduces a brand new one: ending all contact with Midori and his baby boy… maybe forever.

The third act of this book was an absolute freaking roller coaster, but with bullets and knives. I simply could not put this book down.

(As a side note, if you want a great place to discuss all things John Rain and Barry Eisler, head over to Barry’s Place. The man behind Rain posts often, so drop by to say “hello.” Pull up a chair… there’s plenty of room!)

THE BLADE ITSELF, by Marcus Sakey

I’d been reading about this book since sometime last fall after I happened upon The Outfit Collective, a blog for a group of Chicago crime writers. Marcus Sakey had the honor of writing the group’s first post, despite being the noob in the bunch.

THE BLADE ITSELF is Sakey’s first published novel. My words for him? Thank you.

Thank you so very much for raising the bar so very high for the rest of us.

This book rocked.

GOLDILOCKS, by Andrew Coburn

Thank you, Leisure Books, for reissuing this Edgar nominated thriller! This book had it all: the Mafia, corrupt cops, a wicked Viet Nam vet who terrorized a widow. Good stuff!

I was telling my mom about this book the other day and I commented how often I was surprised by the way Coburn interconnected the characters—it was like the feathers in a down pillow. And surprising at every turn. He’s a great storyteller.

The sad thing about my reading of this book was that it took me so long (about three weeks). It wasn’t a difficult read… I’ve just been busy or sick. Or both busy AND sick.

I’ve added Coburn’s name to the list of authors I’ll be reading again.

PRETTY GIRL GONE, by David Housewright

David Housewright, where have you been all my life?

Seriously, this book was awesome from start to finish. I’m not a great big fan of the PI novel, but what Housewright has done with the character of Mac McKenzie is top notch.

There’s humor and humility. Emotion and realism. Mac isn’t particularly tough, but he holds his own because he operates by the code that self-survival is of the utmost… he fights when he has to but he’ll avoid a scrape if it’s not necessary. In some ways, this character reminded me of Columbo.

Just a side note… I had an e-mail conversation with my mom today. She said she just read something that made her want to read everything by the author. I had the same experience with this one.

Look out Housewright. I coming after your catalog.

THE OVERLOOK, by Michael Connelly

When Ed McBain died a couple of years ago it meant that everyone else on the list of awesomely great living police procedural writers moved up one spot.

For my money, there was wide gap between McBain’s spot atop the list and the number two… which isn’t saying that that number two was a slouch. No, Michael Connelly isn’t a slouch by any stretch of the imagination.

In this roundabout way I’m trying to say that Connelly now holds the spot sadly vacated by McBain on July 6, 2005. Big shoes to fill and he did it again with aplomb.

THE OVERLOOK is fantastic!

BLOOD MEMORY, by Greg Iles

This is the third book from Greg Iles I’ve read and I have to say he’s 3–for–3 in crafting awesome standalone thrillers.

However, if I had to complain about this book I’d knock it for its length: 764 pages. This doesn’t mean that an any point I found what I was reading to be unnecessary… it was well–crafted throughout, actually. And the book never sagged at any point, either. It’s just it could have been pared to about 500 pages and nothing would have been lost at all.

At the heart of it, though, is a harrowing and, at times, sad story about a woman’s search for the truth about her past, revealed in memories slowly uncovered by a string of serial murders in New Orleans.

Fair warning: this book’s theme, child sexual abuse, is inescapable over the course of the book. While all of the abuse occurs “off camera” and in the past, I found the subject matter to be difficult to take sometimes.

Great read… I look forward to reading more from Iles.

Tags: Andrew-Coburn, Barry-Eisler, David-Housewright, Greg-Iles, Marcus-Sakey, Michael-Connelly, On books, On reading, Reviews, Six on the brain

Tagged as: Andrew-Coburn, Barry-Eisler, David-Housewright, Greg-Iles, Marcus-Sakey, Michael-Connelly, On books, On reading, Reviews, Six on the brain