Books Recommendations: 2021 Edition
It’s that time of year again, where the current year winds down and we look forward to what’s coming up in 2022. I personally love the limbo that is the week between Christmas and New Years. It’s a great time to catch up on some projects, both personal and professional, as well as reflect back on the year that was. I’ve spent a lot of time writing this year, whether it was editing my debut novel, Tears of the Dragon, writing the sequel, The Osiris Initiative, or working on my new crime thriller, La Canicula. Even with all that writing, I still find time to read. Actually one of the great fringe benefits of marketing my own book is that I constantly have to research new releases, trying to find books that match up the best with mine. This leads me to some great books, both from Indie Authors, as well as Traditional Authors. I decided I would put together a list of some of my favorite reads from the past year. Keep in mind, this isn’t everything I’ve read, just ones that stuck with me. Also they aren’t in any particular order.
Please note that the reviews below contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Constance
by Matthew FitzSimmons
What makes you, you? Is it your thoughts and perceptions? Your body? These are all questions that swirl around in this thought provoking thriller from Matthew FitzSimmons. This is one of the books I found while doing research for my own books and it fascinated me from the get go. It’s set in a future where human cloning has been perfected so, of course, the super rich have the ability to be cloned. They go in once a week and have their consciousness uploaded into a computer for storage. Upon their death, the consciousness is downloaded into a host. When an ordinary girl, who happens to be the grand daughter of the inventor or human cloning, gets a clone of her own, she accepts the gift and occasionally goes in to upload her consciousness. Then one day she goes in and the next thing she knows it’s 18 months later and she isn’t her, she’s a clone of her. To boot she has an 18 month lag in her memories, meaning she doesn’t know anything that’s happened in the past 18 months. She finds herself on the run, trying to piece together what happened in the past year and a half, and convinced that she was murdered.
This is a wonderful who-dunnit with some absolutely huge twist. The biggest twist knocked me for a loop and I loved it. Questions of identity, as well as imposter syndrome pop up frequently and add to the layers. Of course, it’s only safe to be a clone in certain states, because a number of states have refused to recognize clones as living human beings. That particular plot point adds realism to the book because I could definitely see that happening based on real life issues we face on a daily basis. If you like your thriller with a side of philosophy, this is definitely the book for you. I loved it and it may be my favorite thing I’ve read all year.
The Girl Beneath the Sea
Black Coral
by Andrew Mayne
The Girl Beneath the Sea was actually referred to me by my lovely wife, who is probably a more voracious reader than I am. I’m glad she did. Andrew Mayne’s first book in the “Underwater Investigation Unit” series is a fun, fast read. It’s main character, Sloan McPherson, comes from a long line of scavengers and drug smugglers, which causes her plenty of problems since she does freelance diving for the police department. She struggles hard with how others see her and it causes her to carry a large chip on her shoulder, as well as make a lot of questionable decisions. Overall she is a likeable character that you want to root for, despite some of her more bone-headed decisions. This one took me a minute to get into but by the time I was done, it became a really fun read. Sloan finds hersself on the run from both an assassin, and a cartel looking for a lost fortune. She eventually finds herself having to ally with the man who put her uncle behind bars, which makes for some tedious moments as Sloan isn’t sure she can trust him. Their relationship makes the read worth it. He’s the grizzled veteran and she’s the plucky underdog out to save her reputation. What really got me at first was what a good job the author did with ending each chapter on a hook. That is, he ending each of the early chapters on a cliffhanger, forcing you subconsciously to move forward to the next chapter so you could find out what happened. It’s a great technique! Also he does a good job of raising the stakes as the book goes through all of its crazy twists and turns. Enough so that I immediately read the sequel, Black Coral.
Black Coral picks up with Sloan and her former nemesis, now ally investigating crimes as the Underwater Investigations Unit. The discovery of a van underwater with four bodies that have been missing for 30 years in it is blown off by the police as a sad tragedy, but Sloan disagrees. When fresh kills start showing up, she fears their underwater discovery may have reawakened a monster. When no one believes her, she sets out to find the killer herself and ends up in a deadly game of cat and mouse. I like this one alot. The fact that no one believes Sloan for a majority of the book is a lot of fun. The book also doesn’t give you enough clues that you’re sure you believe her either. Once we reach the climax it caps a really fun thrill ride that left me curious to see what the next adventure will be.
The Asset
The Russian
by Saul Herzog
This is a series that I discovered while researching Thrillers on Amazon. Just from reading the premise I knew I wanted to read this book. The Asset starts out establishing it’s main character, Lance Spector, a deadly CIA asset who has sworn off the agency for good due to reasons that are revealed later. When a package containing a deadly contagion shows up at the CIA’s door it contains a note that simply reads “I will only talk to Lance Spector”. Thus begins a wild web full of espionage, double crosses, fire fights, kidnappings and more. This book is really fun and moves along at an insane pace. I had a lot of fun reading it and enjoyed it alot. My one complaint would be that I don’t really like how the women are portrayed more as sex objects in the book. But, other than that, I really enjoyed it. If you’re a fan of Jack Reacher, or other male action stars then you will dig these books. Also I have to point out that I had to read the second book because the first book, really doesn’t reach an ending. Not to spoil anything but it cliff hangs straight into the second book, The Russian.
In The Russian we get the continuation of the story that began in The Asset. Of course, the stakes get higher when a high level official is compromised and helps conspire to frame Lance Spector. I’m a sucker for that kind of stuff and by the end of the book I was almost frothing at the mouth for the traitorist party to get their comeuppance. I won’t spoil whether they do, but the tension in sections of this book is absolutely insane. Several times Lance found himself in situations where I had no idea how he was going to get out and that’s a good thing. It all spirals out of control as it races towards a crazy, white knuckle climax. This one ends on a little more of an ending but leaves several storyline threads that need to be pursued in the sequels. There is an entire series, but I haven’t had time to pick up any of the others, yet…
I did want to mention for my writing friends, the first book is a great study in evolving your cover as you go. I’ve found at least two earlier variations of the cover online and it’s really interesting to see how they adapted to incorporate more modern styles, and subsequently, sell more books. There are lessons to be learned there. 🙂
The Scorpion’s Tail
by Preston Douglas & Lincoln Child
I’ve been following Nora Kelly and rookie FBI Agent Corrie Swanson ever since they first appeared in Preston & Child’s wildly successful Pendergast series. This is the second book to feature the duo of Kelly & Swanson. They first teamed up in Old Bones, which is also a good thriller. The first book involved the infamous Donner Pass incident and an archealogical dig of the historic campsite. I felt like the first book took the easy way out by having legendary detective A.X.L. Pendergast show up during the climax. The second book takes the characters further into their own world, this time without any help from Pendergast and it’s a better story for it. I think Kelly and Swanson make an interesting team, precisely because they aren’t a team at all. Kelly seems to be really annoyed by Swanson, and I get it. I’ve read a lot of “flawed heroine” type books where you have a lead female whose life is a hot mess and who is constantly making the wrong decision, even though the right decision is obvious to the reader, and honestly, it gets tedious. I will say Swanson isn’t the most annoying of this type trope, in fact, I read several this year that weren’t included on this list for that very reason. They spent the entire first book pointing out what a rookie Swanson was, and I was fine with it. After all, she got her FBI post because of legendary Agent Pendergast so she struggles mightily with imposter syndrome. However, by the second book she should be showing progress, and yet they beat us over the head with the fact she’s a rookie for most of the book. Eventually she and Kelly get on the same page and I really like the climax. I love when author’s come up with a situation where I can’t see how the characters are going to get out of it and this climax is one of them. I don’t know where they go from here but my hope is that they continue what I like about them, which is the well put together mystery and the wild climaxes, but finally allow Corrie to mature into the good FBI agent that we all know she is.
An Obvious Fact
by Craig Johnson
I was a bit late to the dance with Longmire, the first time I caught it was when the show ran for several seasons on A&E before moving to Netflix. Ever since then I’ve been hooked on the exploits of Walt Longmire and the cast of characters that surround him. If you’ve never read Longmire before you should probably start with the first book, although it isn’t absolutely necessary, but it will help you get a sense of the relationships between the characters. Unlike most of the other books on this list, I would absolutely not say this was a thriller. It is also not a high speed adrenaline ride. However, if you like mysteries that take their time being unwound with a great cast of characters and some of the best dialog I’ve ever read, then this one is probably for you. In this particular story, Walt and his lifelong friend Henry Standing Bear have been asked to look into a hit and run near Devil’s Tower during the famous Sturgis Motorcycle rally. Soon, Walt and Henry find themselves knee deep in motorcycle gangs, the ATF, a military grade vehicle that was donated to the local police by a wealthy entrepreneur, and Lola, who happens to be the femme fatale that Henry named his ’59 Thunderbird after. From the start of the book, it seems obvious what happened in regards to the hit and run, but there in lies the hook. Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle once stated that “There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.” and that is true here too. If you like a mystery that takes its time unwinding, give this one a go. Just be sure to enjoy the journey on your way to an unexpected destination.
Well, there you have it. Those are the standouts from the books I read this year. I’m sure I’ll have more book recommedations as I go, because an important part of being an author is reading. What did you think of the list? Feel free to comment, or even email me and let me know. I always reply to emails so be sure to send me any recommendations or let me know what you thought about any of the books on my list. I hope you have a happy and safe New Years! I have plenty of new stuff coming up in the next year and I can’t wait to tell you about it! We’ll talk soon!
Take care,
Ryan
