My reviews of 2009

2009 was a great year of reading. I read a number of books by favourite authors and discovered the work of many others. Here are links to all my reviews since starting the blog on July 12th. Overall I'm happy with the balance of the review ratings - ten 5*, twenty two 4*, twenty four 3*, four 2*. There were two or three 3*s that were probably on the balance of things 2*s, but otherwise I think the ratings are a fair reflection of the books and my tastes. There is a good chance that I'll read other works of any author scoring 3* or above, though I'll undoubtedly tend towards the 4* and 5* authors. For my best crime reads of 2009 see here.

Five star
Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada
Diamond Dove by Adrian Hyland
Fifty Grand by Adrian McKinty
Go to Helena Handbasket by Donna Moore
Harold Shipman: Prescription for Murder by Brian Whittle and Jean Ritchie
The Foreign Correspondence by Alan Furst
The Collaborator of Bethlehem by Matt Beynon Rees
The Wheelman by Duane Swierczynski
Walking the Perfect Square by Reed Farrel Coleman
Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell

Four star
The Twelve by Stuart Neville
The Unbearable Lightness of Being in Aberystwyth by Malcolm Pryce
Before the Deluge by Otto Friedrich
Carte Blanche by Carlo Lucarelli
M*A*S*H by Richard Hooker
Winter Frost by R.D. Wingfield
Black Out by John Lawton
The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri
The Price of Darkness by Graham Hurley
'Rommel?' 'Gunner Who?' by Spike Milligan
Queenpin by Megan Abbott
Disco for the Departed by Colin Cotterill
The Lime Pit by Jonathan Valin
Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett
The Devil Met a Lady by Stuart Kaminsky
The Rabbit Factory by Marshall Karp
The Small Back Room by Nigel Balchin
If the Dead Rise Not by Philip Kerr
Dirty Sweet by John McFetridge
Calumet City by Charlie Newton
Ship of Fools by Fintan O'Toole
Frost at Christmas by R.D. Wingfield

Three star
The Devil's Star by Jo Nesbo
Dark Times in the City by Gene Kerrigan
August Heat by Andrea Camilleri
Black Delta Night by Jessica Speart
Last Rituals by Yrsa Sigurdardottir
Inspector Mallon by Donal McCracken
Stop Me by Richard Jay Parker
Bombs over Dublin by Sean McMahon
The Last Llanelli Train by Robert Lewis
Death in Breslau by Marek Krajewski
Zoo Station by David Downing
The Reapers by John Connolly
The Damned Season by Carlo Lucarelli
A Trace of Smoke by Rebecca Cantrell
All the Colours of the Town by Liam McIlvanney
Satan's Lambs by Lynn Hightower
The Irish Sports Pages by Les Roberts
Mrs D'Silva Detective Instincts and the Shaitan of Calcutta by Glen Peters
Death of a Red Heroine by Qui Xiaolong
The Builders by Frank McDonald and Kathy Sheridan
Banksters by David Murphy and Martina Devlin
The Build Up by Philip Gwynne
Stiff by Shane Maloney
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

Two star
The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke
The Killing of Strangers by Jerry Holt
Rubble by Jeff Byles
The Herring Seller's Apprentice by L.C. Tyler