Book Reviews

The reviews below are listed chronologically.  I also have lists of reviews alphabetically by author, by Irish authors, books set between 1930 and 1960, and by country of setting.

2019 Reviews
2018 Reviews
2017 Reviews
2016 Reviews
2015 Reviews
2014 Reviews
2013 Reviews
2012 Reviews
2011 Reviews
2010 Reviews
2009 Reviews


2020 Reviews

The Killing Bay by Chris Ould ****
The Scholar by Dervla McTiernan ***
Forgotten Ally: China's World War II, 1937-1945 by Rana Mitter ****.5
The Merry Misogynist by Colin Cotterill ***
The Dead House by Harry Bingham ****.5
The Plotters by Un-su Kim ****
Deep as Death by Katja Ivar ***
Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch ***.5
The Frangipani Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu ****
Sicily ‘43 by James Holland ***.5
Crimson Lake by Candice Fox ****.5
Eureka Street by Robert McLiam Wilson *****
Land of Shadows by Rachel Howzell Hall ***.5
A Game of Ghosts by John Connolly ****.5
Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha ****.5
Neuromancer by William Gibson *****
East of Hounslow by Khurrum Rahman ****
Austral by Paul McAuley ****.5
A Capital Crime by Laura Wilson *****
Silent City by Alex Segura **.5
The Lost Man by Jane Harper *****
A Philosophical Investigation by Philip Kerr ***
Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke ****
Infinite Detail by Tim Maughan *****
One For The Money by Janet Evanovich ****
Joe Country by Mick Herron ***.5
Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II by John Dower ****.5
Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller *****
Catching Teller Crow by Ambelin and Ezekiel Kwaymullina ****.5
Autonomous by Annalee Newitz ***
Red Square by Edward Topol and Fridrikh Neznansky ****
A Game of Birds and Wolves by Simon Parkin ***
The Portable Door by Tom Holt ***
The Godmother by Hannelore Cayre ****.5
Garden of Beasts by Jeffery Deaver **.5
The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly *****
Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey ****
Leaving Berlin by Joseph Kanon ***.5
Fires of London by Janice Law ****
The Abominable Man by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö ***
Zen Attitude by Sujata Massey ***
Our Friends in Berlin by Anthony Quinn ****
Rock, Paper, Tiger by Lisa Brackman ***
Black Cross by Greg Iles ***
Black Betty by Walter Mosley *****
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman *****
Arabesk by Barbara Nadel ****
Finnegan’s Week by Joseph Wambaugh ****
Trick of the Dark by Val McDermid ***.5
On Leaving a Prague Window by David Brierley ***
Spook Country by William Gibson ****
Money to Burn by Katy Munger ****.5
Holy Orders by Benjamin Black ***
The Eye of the Cricket by James Sallis *****
The Bomber by Liza Marklund ***.5
Dead Meat by Philip Kerr ****
Birth Marks by Sarah Dunant ***
Legion of the Damned by Sven Hassel ****.5
The City in Flames by Michael Russell ***.5
Dixie City Jam by James Lee Burke ***
Freeze My Margarita by Lauren Henderson ****
Auslander by Paul Dowswell ***
After the Reich by Giles MacDonogh ***.5
Friends and Traitors by John Lawton ****
Seventy Seven Clocks by Christopher Fowler ***.5
Mucho Mojo by Joe Lansdale *****
A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson ****
The Quaker by Liam McIlvanney ****

2019 Reviews


A Treachery of Spies by Manda Scott *****
Growing Up Dead in Texas by Stephen Graham Jones ****
The Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr ***
Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway by Sara Gran *****
Landmarks by Robert MacFarlane ****.5
The First Wave by James R Benn ***
The Winter of Her Discontent by Kathryn Miller Haines ***
The Honorable Schoolboy by John Le Carre ****
Incensed by Ed Lin **.5
The Borrowed by Chan Ho-Kei *****
Only Thieves and Killers by Paul Howarth *****
Hiroshima Boy by Naomi Hirahara ***
Tokyo Year Zero by David Peace ***.5
Brothers in Blood by Amer Anwar ****
The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott ****
The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves ****
The Devil in the Marshalsea by Antonio Hodgson *****
The Elegant Lie by Sam Eastland **.5 
The Abrupt Physics of Dying by Paul Hardisty ****
Don’t Look Back by Karin Fossum ****.5
Tightrope by Simon Mawer *****

The Three Evangelists by Fred Vargas ***.5
Gravesend by William Boyle ****

The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey ***.5
The Smoke by Tony Broadbent *** 

Assembly of the Dead by Saeida Rouass ****
Black Hornet by James Sallis ****
Hitler in Los Angeles by Steven J Ross ****.5
The Horseman’s Song by Ben Pastor ****
Murder at the Savoy by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo  **** 

An Empty Death by Laura Wilson ****.5
The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean ***.5
The Missing Ones by Patricia Gibney ***
The Last Goodnight by Howard Blum ***
The Blood Spilt by Asa Larsson ****
Metropolis by Philip Kerr ****
Last Call by Paula Matter **.5
The Night Watch by Terry Pratchett ****.5
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson *****
Dead Man’s Land by Robert Ryan **** 
The Liberator by Alex Kershaw ***.5
Last Orders by Caimh McDonnell ***
Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris *****
The Blinds by Adam Sternbergh *****
Code Breaker by Marc McMenamin ***
London Rules by Mick Herron ****
The Shape of the Ruins by Juan Gabriel Vasquez ****
Bolivar: American Liberator by Marie Arana *****
The Lightning Men by Thomas Mullen ****
The Secret Listeners by Sinclair McKay **.5
The Last Time We Spoke by Fiona Sussman ***.5
The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk *****
August Snow by Stephen Mack Jones ****
Detective Inspector Huss by Helene Tursten ****
The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre ****.5
Design for Dying by Renee Patrick ****.5
The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier ***
Evil Things by Katja Ivar ****
IQ by Joe Ide ****.5
Overkill by Vanda Symon ***.5
Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama ***.5
The Girl Without Skin by Mads Peder Nordbo ***.5
Sweetpea by C.J. Skuse ***
Kaddish in Dublin by John Brady ****.5
Bloody January by Alan Parks ****
Winston’s War by Michael Dobbs ****
The Shadow District by Arnaldur Indridason ****.5
Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukherjee ***.5
Clinch by Martin Holmen ****.5
Snap by Belinda Bauer ****
City Without Stars by Tim Baker ***
Loitering With Intent by Muriel Spark ***.5
The Defence by Steve Cavanagh ****
Black Water by Cormac O’Keeffe ****
The Attention Merchants by Tim Wu ****
Moskva by Jack Grimwood ****
Corpus by Rory Clements ***
From Doon With Death by Ruth Rendell ***
The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino *****
Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell ***.5
Dead To Me by Cath Staincliffe *****
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak ***
Let The Dead Speak by Jane Casey ****.5
Cemetery Lake by Paul Cleave ***.5
All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr ****
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly ****.5
Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter ****.5


2018 Reviews

The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan ****
The Death Season by Kate Ellis ***
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje ****
The Treacherous Strand by Andrea Carter ***.5
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut ***
Cop Hater by Ed McBain ***.5
Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs ***
Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway ****
City of the Dead by Sara Gran ***.5
Red Plenty by Francis Spufford *****
African Sky by Tony Park ***
The Force by Don Winslow *****
Taroko Gorge by Jacob Ritari ***.5
Ghost Month by Ed Lin **
Exit Berlin by Tim Sebastian ***.5
The Last Days of Jack Sparks by Jason Arnopp ***
Early One Morning by Robert Ryan ****
Sirens by Joseph Knox *****
A House of Ghosts by W.C. Ryan ****
Rain Falls on Everyone by Clár Ni Chonghaile *****
The Age of Treachery by Gavin Scott ***
The Falcon and the Snowman by Robert Lindsey ****
Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier ****.5
Under the Frangipani by Mia Couto ***
The Innocent by Ian McEwan ****
Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey ***.5
Code Girls by Liza Mundy ****.5
She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper *****
The Cypher Bureau by Eilidh McGinness ***
Basin and Range by John McPhee ****
The Rise of the Rocket Girls by Nathalia Holt ***
The One Man by Andrew Gross ****.5
The Atrocity Archive by Charles Stross ***.5
Who Killed Palomino Molero? by Mario Vargas Llosa ***
The Alibi Man by Tami Hoag ***
Defectors by Joseph Kanon ***
Fletch by Gregory McDonald ***
The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore ****
The City in Darkness by Michael Russell ****
This Thing of Darkness by Harry Bingham *****
Easy Motion Tourist by Leye Adenle ***.5 
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes ****
Maximum Bob by Elmore Leonard ***
The Real-Town Murders by Adam Roberts ****.5
Kolymsky Heights by Lionel Davidson ****
The Big Kiss-Off of 1944 by Andrew Bergman ****.5
Watch Her Disappear by Eva Dolan *****
Echobeat by Joe Joyce ****.5
Lamentation by Joe Clifford ***.5
The Beautiful Dead by Belinda Bauer ****.5
A Little White Death by John Lawton ****
Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell ****.5
A Necessary Evil by Abir Mukherjee *****
The Confession by Jo Spain ***.5
A Book of Scars by William Shaw ****.5
Straight Man by Richard Russo ***
Spook Street by Mick Herron ****.5
Fever of the Bone by Val McDermid ****.5
Between Giants: The Battle for the Baltics in World War II by Prit Buttar ***.5 
Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz ****
The Rúin by Dervla McTiernan ****
Rather Be The Devil by Ian Rankin ****.5
Bone Island Mambo by Tom Corcoran ****
Traitors by Josh Ireland ****
Greeks Bearing Gifts by Philip Kerr ****.5
Without the Moon by Cathi Unsworth **.5
Night Life by David C Taylor ****.5
The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter ***
Angels in the Moonlight by Caimh McDonnell ****
Paris Trout by Pete Dexter ***.5
The Bombers and The Bombed by Richard Overy ***.5
The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan ***
White Butterfly by Walter Mosley ****.5
A Negro and an Ofay by Danny Gardner ***.5
Dark Town by Thomas Mullen ****.5
The Twilight Warriors by Robert Gandt ***.5
Slumberland by Paul Beatty ****
The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944 by Ian W. Toll ****
Capture by Roger Smith ***.5
The Demon Under the Microscope by Thomas Hager *** 
The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths by Harry Bingham *****
Tokyo Station by Martin Cruz Smith ****
Jade Dragon Mountain by Elsa Hart ****.5
The Way Back to Florence by Glenn Haybittle *****
The Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanat Khan ***
The Curse of the Pogo Stick by Colin Coterill ***
Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal by James D. Hornfischer ***
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson ***
The Sentinel by Mark Oldfield ***
The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson ***
Lying in Wait by Liz Nugent ***.5
The Deep Dark Sleep by Craig Russell ***.5
The End of the World in Breslau by Marek Krajewski **
Thumbprint by Friedrich Glauser ****  
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent *****
Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch ****
The Bird Tribunal by Agnes Ravatn ***
Blood Curse by Maurizio de Giovanni ***
Death on Demand by Paul Thomas ****
Deep Waters by Barbara Nadel ****.5
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles *****
The Sugar House by Laura Lippman ***.5 


2017 Reviews

A Red Death by Walter Mosley ****
A Thousand Falling Crows by Larry Sweazy ****.5
Solo Hand by Bill Moody ***.5
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman ****.5
Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic **** 
Sleeping Dogs by Mark O’Sullivan ****.5
A Cold Red Sunrise by Stuart Kaminsky ****.5
Don’t Mess With Mrs In-Between by Liz Evans **.5
Bryant and May – The Burning Man by Christopher Fowler ****
Death of a Doxy by Rex Stout ****
The Man With the Poison Gun by Serhii Plokhy ****.5
The Sellout by Paul Beatty *****
Codebreakers by James Wyllie and Michael McKinley ***.5
Ten Dead Comedians by Fred Van Lente ***
Real Tigers by Mick Herron *****
Birds in a Cage by Derek Niemann ****
A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee ****
Map of the Nation: A Biography of the Ordnance Survey by Rachel Hewitt ***
Flashman’s Lady by George MacDonald Fraser ***.5
A Dangerous Man by Charlie Huston ****
Moth by James Sallis ****.5
Whisky in Small Glasses by Denzil Meyrich**.5

Prussian Blue by Philip Kerr ****
After You Die by Eva Dolan *****
Love Story, With Murders by Harry Bingham ****.5
Hanns and Rudolf by Thomas Harding ***.5
Snow Blind by Ragnar Jónasson ***.5
Riptide by John Lawton *****
Present Darkness by Malla Nunn ****
The Dust of Death by Paul Charles **.5
The Road to Ithaca by Ben Pastor ****.5
Death in Shanghai by MJ Lee **.5
Rusty Puppy by Joe R. Lansdale ***.5
The Burning Gates by Parker Bilal ****.5
The Dry by Jane Harper ****.5
City of Lies by Michael Russell ****
Razor Girl by Carl Hiaasen ***
Dead Water by Ann Cleeves ****
The Good Assassin by Paul Vidich ***.5
Midnight in Berlin by James MacManus **
The Trespasser by Tana French *****
Pilgrim Soul by Gordon Ferris ****
The Billion Dollar Spy by David E. Hoffman ****
Out of Bounds by Val McDermid ****
Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany by Norman Ohler ***.5
A Savage Hunger by Claire McGowan ***
Babylon Berlin by Volker Kutscher ***
Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch *****
After the Fire by Jane Casey ****
The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor ***.5
The Dead of Winter by Rennie Airth ***
The Dying Detective by Leif G.W. Persson ****
Thirty-Three Teeth by Colin Coterill ****.5
Silence by Anthony Quinn ****
One or The Other by John McFetridge ***.5
A Deadly Thaw by Sarah Ward ***.5
The Divided City by Luke McCallin ****.5
Dietrich and Riefenstahl by Karin Wieland ***
Whiskey River by Loren Estleman ****.5
The Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith ***
The Long Firm by Jake Arnott ****
Mortal Stakes by Robert B. Parker ****
Bulldog Drummond by Sapper **
There’s Police at the Station and They Don’t Look Friendly by Adrian McKinty *****
Dead Skip by Joe Gores ****
Redemption Road by John Hart *****
The Day That Never Comes by Caimh McDonnell *****
The Last Winter of Dani Lancing by P.D. Viner ****
Koko Takes a Holiday by Kieran Shea ***
His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet ***
The Detour by Andromeda Romano-Lax ****
Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith ***.5
The Intrusions by Shav Sherez ****.5
Flight from Berlin by David John ***
Kill the Next One by Federico Axat ***.5
Stasi Wolf by David Young **.5
Where the Iron Crosses Grow: The Crimea 1941–44 by Robert Forczyk ***
The Rules of Backyard Cricket by Jock Serong *****
The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko ****
The Malice of Waves by Mark Douglas-Home ****
The Harbour Master by Daniel Pembrey ***
Talking to the Dead by Harry Bingham ****.5
Deep Down Dead by Steph Broadribb***
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen ****
Invasion Rabaul by Bruce Gamble ***.5


2016 Reviews

The Choirboys by Joseph Wambaugh *****
Holding by Graham Norton ***
Crimea by Orlando Figes ***.5
Devastation Road by Jason Hewitt ****
City of Thieves by David Benioff ****.5
The Darkest Summer by Bill Sloan ***
Exposure by Helen Dunmore *****
Black Roses by Jayne Thynne ***
Pavel and I by Dan Vyleta ****
1812: Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow by Adam Zamoyski ****
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch ***5
The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes ***.5
The Methods of Sergeant Cluff by Gil North ****.5
Cobra by Deon Meyer ****
The Piccadilly Murder by Anthony Berkeley ***.5
The Nuremberg Enigma by Yves Bonavero **.5
A Gentle Axe by R.N. Morris ****
Polar Star by Martin Cruz Smith ****
The Life We Bury by Allen Eskins ****.5
Season of Darkness by Maureen Jennings **.5
The Human Flies by Hans Olav Lahlum ***.5
Journey to Munich by Jacqueline Winspear **.5
Oblivion by Arnaldur Indridason ***.5
Slicky Boys by Martin Limon **.5
Journey into Fear by Eric Ambler ***
Willnot by James Sallis ***.5
A Man With One of Those Faces by Caimh McDonnell ****
A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute ****.5
The Constant Soldier by William Ryan ****.5
The Silent Dead by Claire McGowan ****.5
Dark As My Heart by Antti Tuomainen ***
Original Skin by David Mark ***
Even Dogs in the Wild by Ian Rankin ****
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan *****
Pleasantville by Attica Locke ****
The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown *****
Rough Treatment by John Harvey ***.5
Hurt by Brian McGilloway ***
The Long Glasgow Kiss by Craig Russell ****.5
The Defenceless by Kati Hiekkapelto ***.5
The Dirtiest Race in History by Richard Moore ****
Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian ***.5
Masaryk Station by David Downing ****
Dog Day by Alicia Giménez Bartlett ***
Chasing Venus by Andrea Wulf ***.5
Sergeant Cluff Stands Firm by Gil North ***
Epiphany Jones by Michael Grothaus ***.5
Streets of Darkness by AA Dhand ****
Darkside by Belinda Bauer  ****
A Killing Frost by R.D. Wingfield *****
Fool by Christopher Moore ***.5
Operation Paperclip by Annie Jacobsen *****
The Other Side of Silence by Philip Kerr ****
The Man From Beijing by Henning Mankell **
Mr Midshipman Hornblower by C.S. Forester ***.5
Black Ice by Hans Werner Kettenbach ***
My Kind of Justice by Col Bury ***.5
The Buenos Aires Quintet by Manuel Vazquez Montalban ***.5
Elegy for April by Benjamin Black ****
The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey **
Stalin’s Gold by Mark Ellis ***
A Killing Winter by Tom Callaghan ****
The Blood Strand by Chris Ould ****.5
Murder in the Marais by Cara Black ***
Billy Boyle by James Benn ***
Murderer in the Ruins by Cay Rademacher ***
A House of Knives by William Shaw ****
Nazi Hunter: The Wiesenthal File by Alan Levy ****
The Battle of Midway by Craig L Symonds *****
The Whites by Richard Price ***.5 
Japan 1941 by Eri Hotta ****
A Drink Before the War by Dennis Lehane ***.5
The Game Must Go On by John Klima ***
The Whisperers by John Connolly *****
Worst Enemies by Dana King ****.5
Blessed are the Dead by Malla Nunn *****
Night Passage by Robert Parker ***
A Little More Free by John McFetridge ****
Journey to Death by Leigh Russell **.5
Tin Sky by Ben Pastor ***
Honky Tonk Samurai by Joe Lansdale ***
The Fire Engine That Disappeared by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo ***
A Life In Secrets by Sarah Helm ****
Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty ****.5
The Whitehall Mandarin by Edward Wilson ***
Canary by Duane Swierczynski ***
The Kill by Jane Casey ***
When the Doves Disappeared by Sofi Oksanen *****
Tell No Tales by Eva Dolan ****
Dark Star by Alan Furst ****.5
Eleven Days by Stav Sherez *****
World of Trouble by Ben H Winters ****
Snapshots by Michael O'Higgins ****
Slow Horses by Mick Herron ****
Dregs by Jorn Lier Horst ***.5
The Ghost Runner by Parker Bilal ****
Peepshow by Leigh Redhead ***.5
Galveston by Nic Pizzolatto ****.5
Parade by Shuichi Yoshida ***
7Days by Deon Meyer *****
A Small Town in Germany by John Le Carre ****.5
Entanglement by Zygmunt Miloszewski ***
To Steal Her Love by Matti Joensuu ****.5
The Informers by Juan Gabriel Vásquez ***


2015 Reviews

The Getaway by Jim Thompson ***.5
Reykjavik Nights by Arnaldur Indridason ****
The Music Lovers by Jonathan Valin ***
Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith ***.5
Rough Riders by Charlie Stella ****.5
Strange Loyalties by William McIlvanney *****
A Song from Dead Lips by William Shaw ****
The Killing of Polly Carter by Robert Thorogood ***
Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich ****.5
Lennox by Craig Russell ****
Future Crimes by Marc Goodman ***.5
The Instant Enemy by Ross Macdonald ****.5
Concrete Angel by Patricia Abbott ****
T-Force by Sean Longden ***.5
Winter War by William Trotter ****.5
The Long-Legged Fly by James Sallis *****
The Last Four Days of Paddy Buckley by Jeremy Massey ***
Stasi Child by David Young ****
The Monuments Men by Robert Edsel ***
Sign of the Cross by Anne Emery ***
Lunenburg by Keith Baker **.5
The Pale House by Luke McCallin *****
Blizzard of Glass by Sally M Walker ***
The Girl in Berlin by Elizabeth Wilson ***
Dragnet Nation by Julia Angwin ****
Natural Causes by James Oswald ****
Rome ’44: The Battle for the Eternal City by Raleigh Trevelyan ***.5
The Peripheral by William Gibson *****
Black Bear by Aly Monroe ***.5
Mangrove Squeeze by Laurence Shames ****
Unholy Ground by John Brady ****.5
The Exterminators by Bill Fitzhugh ****
Lehrter Station by David Downing ***.5
Royal Flash by George Fraser Macdonald ***.5
Deadlock by Sara Paretsky ***
Princes Gate by Mark Ellis ***.5
In Bitter Chill by Sarah Ward ***.5
Secret Warriors: Key Scientists, Code-Breakers and Propagandists of the Great War by Taylor Downing ***
Border Angels by Anthony Quinn ***.5
Target London: Under Attack From V-Weapons During WWII by Christy Campbell *** 
The Godwulf Manuscript by Robert B Parker ****.5
Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy Sayers ***
The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo *****
Little Girl Lost by Brian McGilloway ****
Werewolf by Matthew Pritchard ***.5
In The Wind by Barbara Fister ****.5
Easy Streets by Bill James ***
The Detective Branch by Andrew Pepper ****
Dogstar Rising by Parker Bilal ****
Nazis in the Metro by Didier Daeninckx **.5
The Dunbar Case by Peter Corris ***
Hotel Brasil by Frei Betto ****.5
The Long Home by William Gay ***
The Interrogator by Andrew Williams ***
The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie ***.5
The Alchemy of Air by Thomas Hager ****
Stone Cold by CJ Box ***
A Fine Dark Line by Joe Lansdale *****
Blue Lightning by Ann Cleeves ****
Land of Dreams by Vidar Sundstol ****
Bound by Secrecy by Vamba Sherif ***
The Lady from Zagreb by Philip Kerr ****
The Hanging Valley by Peter Robinson ***.5
Rosa by Jonathan Rabb ****.5
Vinnie Got Blown Away by Jeremy Cameron ****
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson ****.5
The Woman That Died A Lot by Jasper Fforde ****
Fool Moon by Jim Butcher ***
The Spy Who Came in From The Co-op by David Burke ***
Pandaemonium by Christopher Brookmyre ****
Blacklands by Belinda Bauer ***.5
The Circle by Dave Eggers ***.5
California Thriller by Max Byrd ***
Gun Street Girl by Adrian McKinty ****
Calling Out For You by Karin Fossum ****
Five Little Rich Girls by Lawrence Block ***
A Dark Redemption by Stav Sherez ****
Angels Passing by Graham Hurley ****.5
Mort by Terry Pratchett ****.5
The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L Sayers *****
The Few by Nadia Dalbuono ***
Brighton Rock by Graham Greene ****
The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin ***
Red Joan by Jennie Rooney *****
The Yard by Alex Grecian ***
The Informant by Andrew Rosenheim ****
The Dead Ground by Claire McGowan ****.5
The Day the Music Died by Ed Gorman ***
The Dutch Shoe Mystery by Ellery Queen ***
Runaway by Peter May ***.5
The Vanished by Bill Pronzini ****.5
The General Danced at Dawn by George Macdonald Fraser ***
The Korean War by Max Hastings ***.5
My Soul to Take by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir ***.5
A Dark Song of Blood by Ben Pastor ***.5
Enter a Murderer by Ngaio Marsh ***.5
Red Bones by Ann Cleeves ***.5
Buffalo Jump by Howard Shrier ***.5
Let the Dead Lie by Malla Nunn ****


2014 Reviews

The Boy in the Snow by MJ McGrath **.5
The Stranger You Know by Jane Casey *****
The Hidden Child by Camilla Lackberg ****.5
The Zig Zag Girl by Elly Griffiths **
The Formula by Luke Dormehl ***.5
Unravelling Oliver by Liz Nugent ****.5
Southsiders by Nigel Bird ***
A Willing Victim by Laura Wilson ****.5
Keystone by Peter Lovesey ***
Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett ***
The Hot Country by Robert Olen Butler ***
Bite Harder by Anonymous-9 ****
Dataclysm by Christian Rudder **
Potsdam Station by David Downing ****
The Midnight Swimmer by Edward Wilson ****
The Spring of Kasper Meier by Ben Fergusson ***
The Forgotten 500 by Gregory A Freeman ***
The Fires by Joe Flood *****
Flashman by George Macdonald Fraser ****
Night Soldiers by Alan Furst ****
Geek Sublime by Vikram Chandra ***.5
The Bellini Card by Jason Goodwin ***
The Spy Who Changed the World by Mike Rossiter ****.5
Villain by Shuichi Yoshida *****
The Man From Berlin by Luke McCallin ****
All God's Children by Arthur Lyons ***
Because the Night by James Ellroy ***
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald ***
Black Rock by John McFetridge ****.5
Pest Control by Bill Fitzhugh *****
The Blood Dimmed Tide by Anthony Quinn ***.5
The Late Greats by Nick Quantrill ***.5
A Spy Among Friends by Ben Macintrye ***
Salty by Mark Haskell Smith ***
Automate This by Christopher Steiner ***.5
Bad Penny Blues by Cathi Unsworth ****
The Sun is God by Adrian McKinty ***.5
I Married a Dead Man by Cornell Woodrich *****
Tatiana by Martin Cruz Smith ***
The Steam Pig by James McClure ****
The Red Right Hand by Joel Townsley Rogers ***
The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler *****
Little Caesar by W.R. Burnett ***.5
All Fun and Games Until Someone Loses an Eye by Christopher Brookmyre ****
The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz ****
Hard Bounce by Todd Robinson  ****.5
Grind Joint by Dana King *****
Crossword Ends in Violence (5) by James Cary ***.5
Casual Rex by Eric Garcia ***.5
Cross of Iron by Willi Heinrich *****
Summertime, All the Cats are Bored by Philippe Georget ***
Washington Shadow by Aly Monroe ***.5
The Carrier by Preston Lang ***.5
Long Way Home by Eva Dolan *****
Dog On It by Spencer Quinn ****
Nice Try by Shane Maloney ***.5
The Gigolo Murder by Mehmet Murat Somer ****
Gently Floating by Alan Hunter ***
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye by Horace McCoy ***.5
To Die in Beverly Hills by Gerald Petievich ****
The Rise and Fall of Ireland’s Celtic Tiger by Sean O’Riain *****
Raylan by Elmore Leonard ***.5
Istanbul Puzzle by Laurence O'Bryan ***
Heartbreak and Vine by Woody Haut ****.5
Briarpatch by Ross Thomas ***.5
Behind the Night Bazaar by Angela Savage ***.5
The Secrets of Rue St Roch by Janet Morgan ****.5
In The Morning I'll Be Gone by Adrian McKinty *****
A Decline in Prophets by Sulari Gentill ****
Another Case in Cowtown by Mel Healy ***
Keep Away From Those Ferraris by Pat Fitzpatrick *****
Salt River by James Sallis *****
Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis ****
A Private Venus by Giorgio Scerbanenco ****
Closed for Winter by Jorn Lier Horst ****.5
A Night of Long Knives by Rebecca Cantrell ***
Bird Dog by Philip Reed ****.5
The Panda Theory by Paschal Garnier ***.5
To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway ***
The Numbers Game of Alan Schwarz ****
Night Moves by Randy Wayne White ***
Tropical Freeze by James W. Hall ***.5
Margin of Error by Edna Buchanan ***
Hurricane Punch by Tim Dorsey ***.5
Tropical Heat by John Lutz ***
Live by Night by Dennis Lehane ****.5
The Big Goodbye by Michael Lister ***
Prime Cut by Alan Carter ***
Software Takes Command by Lev Manovich ****.5
The Secrets in Their Eyes by Eduardo Sacheri ****.5
Disappeared by Anthony Quinn ****.5
Corridors of Death by Ruth Dudley Edwards ****
The Safe Word by Karen Long ***
Total Chaos by Jean-Claude Izzo ***.5
Pietr the Latvian by Georges Simenon ***
The Wrath of Angels by John Connolly ****
The End: Germany 1944-1945 by Ian Kershaw ***.5
The Papers of Tony Veitch by William McIlvanney *****
Dark Winter by David Mark ***.5
All the Dead Voices by Declan Hughes ****
The Holiday Murders by Robert Gott ****
Darkhouse by Alex Barclay *****
I Will Have Vengeance by Maurizio De Giovanni ****
Bitter Water by Gordon Ferris ***
The Silver Swan by Benjamin Black ***.5
Entry Island by Peter May ***
Broken Harbour by Tana French ***
Visitation Street by Ivy Pochoda *****
Dead Lions by Mick Herron ****.5


2013 Reviews

Frank Sinatra in a Blender by Matthew McBride ***
The Guts by Roddy Doyle ***.5
Home Invasion by Patti Abbott *****
Down Among the Dead Men by Ed Chatterton ****
The Dark Angel by Dominique Sylvain ***
Landscape and Society in Contemporary Ireland by Brendan McGrath ***.5
A Loyal Character Dancer by Qui Xiaolong ***
Snuff by Terry Pratchett ****
The Eye of Jade by Diane Wei Liang ***
The City of Strangers by Michael Russell *****
The Thicket by Joe Lansdale *****
The Low Road by Chris Womersley ****
Hunting Eichmann by Neal Bascomb ****
The Master Switch by Tim Wu ****
Outerborough Blues by Andrew Cotto ****.5
Severance Package by Duane Swiercynski ****.5
The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter by Malcom Mackay ***
Then We Take Berlin by John Lawton ***.5
Jade Lady Burning by Martin Limon ****
Hour of the Cat by Peter Quinn ****
The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye ****
A Private Business by Barbara Nadel ****
Black Wattle Creek by Geoffrey McGeachin ***.5
Pale Horses by Nate Southard *****
The Riot by Laura Wilson ***.5
Strange Shores by Arnaldur Indridason ***
Dresden by Frederick Taylor ****
Ostland by David Thomas *****
All the Lonely People by Martin Edwards ***.5
Tretjak by Max Landorff ***.5
The Darkling Spy by Edward Wilson ****.5
The Good German by Joseph Kanon ****
Stettin Station by David Downing  ***.5
Echoland by Joe Joyce ***
Love Songs from a Shallow Grave by Colin Cotterill *****
The Third Rail by Michael Harvey **.5
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt ****
The Signal in the Noise by Nate Silver ****
Waiting for Sunrise by William Boyd ***
The Reckoning by Jane Casey ***.5
A Nail Through the Heart by Tim Hallinan ***
Ishmael Toffee by Roger Smith *****
The Barber Surgeon's Hairshirt by Douglas Lindsay ***
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline *****
The Lost by Claire McGowan ***.5
Black Seconds by Karin Fossum ****
Cripple Creek by James Sallis ***.5
The Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse by Victor Gischler ***
The Maze of Cadiz by Aly Monroe ***.5
Laidlaw by William McIlvanney *****
Graveland by Alan Glynn *****
Dead Man's Time by Peter James ***
Irregulars by Kevin McCarthy ****.5
The Deal by Michael Clifford ***
Zugzwang by Ronan Bennett ***
Little Criminals by Gene Kerrigan *****
Exposed by Liza Marklund ****
Countdown City by Ben Winters ***.5
Season of the Witch by Arni Thorarinsson **.5
Where the Shadows Lie by Michael Ridpath ***
Penance by Dan O'Shea ****
Roll With It by Nick Place ***.5
Screwed by Eoin Colfer ***.5
Crocodile Tears by Mark O'Sullivan ****.5
Once in Another World Brendan John Sweeney *****
Behind the Battle by Ralph Bennett **
Death of a Nationalist by Rachel Pawel ***
The Woman Who Walked into the Sea by Mark Douglas-Home ***
The Third Pig Detective Agency by Bob Burke ***
Black Irish by Stephan Talty ***.5
The Dance of the Seagull by Andrea Camilleri ***.5
Bogmail by Patrick McGinley ***.5
The Murder Farm by Andrea Maria Schenkel ***
The Spy Who Loved by Clare Mulley ****.5
Big Data by Viktor Mayer-Schonberger and Kenneth Cukier **.5
The Polka Dot Girl by Darragh McManus ****
The Perfect Crime by Les Edgerton ***.5
The Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley ***.5
Die a Little by Megan Abbott ****
The Devil Doesn't Want Me by Eric Beetner ****.5
Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer *****
Missing in Rangoon by Christopher G. Moore ***.5
Blood from a Stone by Donna Leon ***
A Man Without Breath by Philip Kerr ***
Norwegian by Night by Derek B Miller ****
Beautiful, Naked and Dead by Josh Stallings ****
The Twelfth Department by William Ryan ****
The Big Gold Dream by Chester Himes ***
Last Rights by Barbara Nadel ***
Thirteen Hours by Deon Meyer ****.5
A Death in Bordeaux by Allan Massie ***
White Dog by Peter Temple *****
Six Bad Things by Charlie Huston ****
Too Big to Know by David Weinberger ***.5
In Search of Klingsor by Jorgi Volpi ****
Information: A Very Short Introduction by Luciano Floridi ****
The Sea Detective by Mark Douglas-Home *****
Piggyback by Tom Pitts ****.5
Ratlines by Stuart Neville *****
Hard Bite by Anonymous-9 *****
Bed of Nails by Antonin Varenne ****
City of Heretics by Heath Lowrance ***.5
Diggers Rest Hotel by Geoffrey McGeachin ****.5
Liar Moon by Ben Pastor ****
Icelight by Aly Monroe ****.5
Go With Me by Castle Freeman ****.5
The Devil I know by Claire Kilroy ****
Broken Dreams by Nick Quantrill ***
The Silver Stain by Paul Johnston ****
I Hear Sirens in the Street by Adrian McKinty ****


2012 Reviews

Dig Two Graves by Eric Beetner ****.5
The Hitman’s Guide to Housecleaning by Hallgrimur Helgason ***.5
The Nameless Dead by Brian McGilloway *****
Crime at Christmas by C.H.B. Kitchin ***
Red Ribbons by Louise Phillips ***.5
The City of Shadows by Michael Russell *****
The Black Box by Michael Connelly ***
Standing in Another Man's Grave by Ian Rankin ****.5
The Information by James Gleick ***
Wake Up Dead by Roger Smith *****
The Vanishing Point by Val McDermid **.5
A Few Right Thinking Men by Sulari Gentill ***.5
A Killing in the Hills by Julia Keller **.5
Cypress Grove by James Sallis ****
The Great Crash 1929 by JK Galbraith ***
The Victory Lab by Sasha Issenberg ****.5
A Dark Place to Die by Ed Chatterton ****
Cadaver Blues by J.E. Fishman ***.5
Money Shot by Christa Faust ****
Slaughter's Hound by Declan Burke ***.5
Even Flow by Darragh McManus****
HHhH by Laurent Binet ***
The Untouchables by Shane Ross and Nick Ross ***
Dust Devils by James Reasoner ***
A Death in Tuscany by Michele Giuttari ***
Restless by William Boyd ****
Istanbul Passage by Joseph Kanon ******
The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin ****
Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie ***.5
The Killing of Emma Gross by Damien Seaman ****.5
The Golden Scales by Parker Bilal ***.5
Spies in the Sky by Taylor Downing ***.5
Brenner and God by Wolf Haas **.5
A Death in Vienna by Frank Tallis ****
Last Seen Wearing by Colin Dexter ****
Homicide by David Simon *****
No Sale by Patrick Conrad ****
Goshawk Squadron by Derek Robinson ****
The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollack ****
We Are the Hanged Man by Douglas Lindsay *****
Ghost Money by Andrew Nette ***.5
The Last Sunrise by Robert Ryan ***
The Last Policeman by Ben Winters ****
The Science of Paul by Aaron Philip Clark ****
The Sleepwalkers by Paul Grossman ***
The Man on the Balcony by Majs Sowall and Pers Wahloo ****
A June of Ordinary Murders by Conor Brady ***.5
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith ***
Day After Day by Carlo Lucarelli ***.5
Disgrace by Jussi Adler-Olsen *** 
Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig ***.5
A Long Silence by Nicolas Freeling **
Blood Tears by Michael J Malone *****
Bad Traffic by Simon Lewis ****
The Rocksburg Railroad Murders by K.C. Constantine ****.5
The Barbed-Wire University by Midge Gillies ***
Shaman Pass by Stan Jones ***.5
The Envoy by Edward Wilson *****
Black Skies by Arnaldur Indridason ***
Silesian Station by David Downing ****.5
The Trinity Six by Charles Cumming ***.5
Midnight Fugue by Reginald Hill ****.5
Only a Game? by Eamon Dunphy ****
A Lily of the Field by John Lawton ****.5
The Black House by Peter May ***
The Pistol Poets by Victor Gischler ****.5
The Last Detective by Peter Lovesey ***
Resistance by Matthew Cobb *****
Kingdom of Shadows by Alan Furst ****
Ghost Town by Michael Clifford ****.5
The Shark Infested Custard by Charles Willeford ***
Edge of Dark Water by Joe R Lansdale *****
Buried Strangers by Leighton Gage ***
Killed at the Whim of a Hat by Colin Cotterill **
Snapshots by Paul Brazill ****.5
Lumen by Ben Pastor ***.5
The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson ****
Dead Harvest by Chris F Holm ****
Where the Devil Can't Go by Anya Lipska ***.5
Old School by Dan O'Shea ****
Johnny Porno by Charlie Stella *****
Hill Country by R. Thomas Brown ****
Death in the City of Light by David King ***
A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore *****
White Heat by M.J. McGrath *****
Death on the Marias by Adrian Magson ***.5
The Long Midnight of Barney Thomson by Douglas Lindsay ****.5
The Imitation of Patsy Burke by John J Gaynard ****
Kiss Me Quick by Danny Miller ***
Choke on Your Lies by Anthony Neil Smith ****
Manchester 6 by Col Bury ***.5
Star Island by Carl Hiassen ***
The Point by Gerard Brennan *****
Tollesbury Times Forever by Stuart Aylis ***.5
The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths ***
Incompetence by Rob Grant ***
Prague Fatale by Philip Kerr ***.5
Or The Bull Kills You by Jason Webster ***
When Money Dies by Adam Fergusson ****
Nobody's Perfect by Donald Westlake ***.5
Head Games by Craig McDonald ***
The Cold, Cold Ground by Adrian McKinty *****
The Eighty Five Billion Euro Man by Donal Conaty ***
The Dead Detective by William Heffernan ***
Black Sheep by Arlene Hunt ***.5
Storm Front by Jim Butcher *****
Devil's Peak by Deon Meyer ****.5
In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B Hughes ****
White Nights by Ann Cleeves **** 



2011 Reviews 

Crimes in Southern Indiana by Frank Bill ****.5
Taken by Niamh O'Connor ***
Zoo City by Lauren Beukes ***.5
Kursk by Lloyd Clark ***
Anglo Republic
by Simon Carswell ****
The Killer is Dying by James Sallis ***
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin *****
Mixed Blood by Roger Smith *****
The Cleansing Flames by R.N. Morris ***
Ashes by Sergios Gakas ****.5
Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov ***
LA Requiem by Robert Crais ****
Outrage by Arnaldur Indridson ****
Call for the Dead by John Le Carre ****
The Red Coffin by Sam Eastland **.5
The Hanging Shed by Gordon Ferris ****
The Somme Stations by Andrew Martin ***.5
The Day Aberystwyth Stood Still by Malcolm Pryce ****
Greenwich Killing Time by Kinky Friedman ****
The Savage Altar by Asa Larsson ****
The Bloody Meadow by William Ryan ***.5
Nazi on the Run by Gerald Steinacher **.5
Garnethill by Denise Mina ***
The Holy Thief by William Ryan *****
Open Season by CJ Box ***.5
Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan *****
Death Toll by Jim Kelly ***.5
The City, The City by China Mieville ***.5
Every Shallow Cut by Tom Piccirilli ***
Frozen Out by Quentin Bates **.5
Bloodland by Alan Glynn ****
The Quarry by Johan Theorin ***.5
The Cleanup by Sean Doolittle ***.5
White Sky, Black Ice by Nathan Jones ****.5
The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths ****
Winterland by Alan Glynn *****
Down Among the Dead Men by Michelle Williams **.5
City of Bohane by Kevin Barry **.5
The Big Mango by Jake Needham***.5
Absolute Zero Cool by Declan Burke *****
Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott ****.5
Sweet Money by Ernesto Mallo *****
The Whispers of Nemesis by Anne Zouroudi ***
The Dramatist by Ken Bruen ****.5
Pariah by Dave Zeltserman ****
Anarchy and Old Dogs by Colin Cotterill ***
Headbanger by Hugo Hamilton ***
Crime Always Pays by Declan Burke ****.5
Borkmann's Point by Hakan Nesser ***
Fun and Games by Duane Swierczynski ****
1974 by David Peace ****.5
From Aberystwyth With Love by Malcolm Pryce ****
White Death by Tobias Jones ***.5
The Fatal Touch by Conor Fitzgerald ***.5
Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly **.5
The Rage by Gene Kerrigan *****
The Deputy by Victor Gischler *****
The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam by Chris Ewan ****
Plugged by Eoin Colfer ****
Mercy by Jussi Adler-Olsen ****.5
The Serbian Dane by Leif Davidsen ***
The Saints of New York by RJ Ellory ***.5
The Brush Off by Shane Maloney ****.5
Officer Down by Theresa Schwegel ****
One of Our Thursday's is Missing by Jasper Fforde ***.5
A Stone of the Heart by John Brady ****.5
Stratton's War by Laura Wilson ***
The Man Who Went Up in Smoke by Maj Sjowall and Pers Wahloo ****
Agent X by Noah Boyd **
The Big Short by Michael Lewis ***.5
Still Life by Louise Penny ***.5
The Swiss, The Dead and The Gold by Jean Ziegler ***
The Cutting Crew by Steve Mosby ****
Devil Red by Joe Lansdale ****.5
Slow Burn by G.M. Ford ***
30 For a Harry by Richard Hoyt ***.5
The Rainy City by Earl Emerson ***.5
Caught Stealing by Charlie Huston *****
Ghost Mountain Boys by James Campbell *****
Beyond Hitler's Grasp by Michael Bar-Zohar ***
Secret Dead Men by Duane Swierczynski *****
People Who Walk in Darkness by Stuart Kaminsky **.5
The Main by Trevanian ****.5
A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn ****.5
The Burning Girl by Mark Billingham ***
He Died With His Eyes Open by Derek Raymond ****
Berlin at War by Roger Moorhouse ***.5
Spitting on a Soldier's Grave by Robert Widders **.5
Miami Blues by Charles Willeford ***
Falling Glass by Adrian McKinty ***.5
The Vienna Assignment by Olen Steinhauer ****
Dirty Old Town by Nigel Bird ****
Field Grey by Philip Kerr *****
The Ice Harvest Scott Phillips ****
The Wild Blue by Stephen Ambrose **
The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett ****
Black Diamond by Martin Walker **.5
Tilt-a-Whirl by Chris Grabenstein ****
The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson ****.5
Gun Monkeys
by Victor Gischler ***
Orchid Blue by Eoin McNamee ***
Case Histories by Kate Atkinson ***.5
Peeler by Kevin McCarthy ****


2010 Reviews

London Boulevard by Ken Bruen ****
Collusion by Stuart Neville ****.5
A Brief History of Neoliberalism by David Harvey ****
Raven Black by Ann Cleeves ****.5
Blood of the Wicked by Leighton Gage ****.5
And Then You Die by Michael Dibdin **.5
Ten Days to D-Day by David Stafford ****
We Die Alone by David Howarth *****
The Mask of Dimitrios by Eric Ambler ****
Breakfast with Anglo by Simon Kelly ***.5
The Samaritan's Secret by Matt Beynon Rees ***.5
Vanilla Ride by Joe Lansdale *****
I, The Jury by Mickey Spillane***.5
Killer Country by Mike Nicols ***.5
Enough is Enough by Fintan O'Toole ****
Small Crimes by Dave Zeltserman *****
Operation Napoleon by Arnaldur Indridason ***
Halo in Blood by John Evans/Howard Browne ****
Wasters by Shane Ross and Nick Webb ***
Needle in a Haystack by Ernesto Mallo ****
Gunshot Road by Adrian Hyland *****
The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill ****.5
Love, Sex and War by John Cosgrove ****.5
South of no North by Charles Bukowski ****
Smoked by Patrick Quinlan ***.5
The Green Ripper by John D. Macdonald ***.5
The Arms Maker of Berlin by Dan Fesperman ***
Saturday's Child by Ray Banks****
Bangkok Tattoo by John Burdett ***
The Case of the Missing Books by Ian Samson ***
The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett ****
Tomato Red by Daniel Woodrell ****
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett****.5
Hypothermia by Arnaldur Indridason *****
Dead I May Well Be by Adrian McKinty *****
Client by Parnell Hall**.5
The Information Officer by Mark Mills **.5
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy ****.5
Point Blank by Richard Stark****
The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly ***.5
Instruments of Darkness by Robert Wlison ***.5
The Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst ***
The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza by Lawrence Block ***
Tonight I Said Goodbye by Michael Koryta ****
Damnation Street by Andrew Klavan ****
Gallows Lane by Brian McGilloway ***.5
Almost Blue by Carlo Lucarelli ***.5
Vodka Doesn't Freeze by Liah Giarrantano ****
Brodeck's Report by Phillipe Claudel *****
Cogan's Trade by George V Higgins ***
Water-Blue Eyes by Domingo Villar ***
Badfellas by Tonino Benacquista ***
GUBU Nation by Damian Corless ***
Bad Things Happen by Harry Dolan ***
Then Came The Evening by Brian Hart ****
Blood Moon by Gary Disher **
Fury by G.M. Ford ***
The Big O by Declan Burke ****
Hand in the Fire by Hugo Hamilton ***
Killer by Dave Zeltserman *****
The Day of the Jack Russell by Colin Bateman ****
A Deadly Trade by Michael Stanley ***
The Goodbye Kiss by Massimo Carlotto ****
Leather Maiden by Joe Lansdale ****
Roseanna by Maj Sjowall and Pers Wahloo ****
The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston *****
The People's Manifesto by Mark Thomas ****
The Devil's Garden by Ace Atkins ***
Chickenhawk by Robert Mason ****
Trail of Blood by S.J. Rozan ***
The American Envoy by Garbhan Downey ***
The Grave in Gaza by Matt Beynon Rees *****
Old Dogs by Donna Moore ****
Motor City Blue by Loren Estleman ***
Truth by Peter Temple ****
Paying For It by Tony Black ***
Criminal Summer by Luigi Guicciardi ***
A Firing Offense by George Pelecanos ****
Have Mercy on Us All by Fred Vargas ***
Expiration Date by Duane Swierczynski *****
The Silence of the Rain by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza ****
The Good Thief's Guide to Paris by Chris Ewan ****
Devil's Food by Anthony Bruno ****
Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintyre ****
The Complaints by Ian Rankin ****
Pies and Prejudice by Stuart Maconie **
The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M Cain *****
The Song is You by Megan Abbott ****
Kamikazi by Raymond Lamont-Brown ***
Grift Sense by James Swain ****
Havana Fever by Leonardo Padura ***
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett *****
The Ones You Do by Daniel Woodrell *****
Old Flames by John Lawton ***
Dead Set by Kel Robertson ****
Up in Honey's Room by Elmore Leonard **
The Fugitive Pigeon by Donald Westlake ***
Via Delle Oche by Carlo Lucarelli ****
Shinjuku Shark by Arimasa Osawa **
Isle of Joy by Don Winslow ****
The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley ****


2009 Reviews

Diamond Dove by Adrian Hyland *****
Banksters by David Murphy and Martina Devlin ***
The Build Up by Philip Gwynne ***
The Wheelman by Duane Swierczynski *****
Calumet City by Charlie Newton ****
Ship of Fools by Fintan O'Toole ****
Stiff by Shane Maloney ***
The Herring Seller's Apprentice by L.C. Tyler **
Frost at Christmas by R.D. Wingfield ****
If the Dead Rise Not by Philip Kerr ****
Rubble by Jeff Byles **
Death of a Red Heroine by Qui Xiaolong ***
The Builders by Frank McDonald and Kathy Sheridan ***
Dirty Sweet by John McFetridge ****
Walking the Perfect Square by Reed Farrel Coleman *****
The Lime Pit by Jonathan Valin ****
Satan's Lambs by Lynn Hightower ***
The Killing of Strangers by Jerry Holt **
Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett ****
The Irish Sports Pages by Les Roberts ***
Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell *****
The Devil Met a Lady by Stuart Kaminsky ****
The Rabbit Factory by Marshall Karp ****
Mrs D'Silva Detective Instincts and the Shaitan of Calcutta by Glen Peters ***
The Small Back Room by Nigel Balchin ****
The Collaborator of Bethlehem by Matt Benyon Rees *****
Zoo Station by David Downing ***
The Reapers by John Connolly ***
Go to Helena Handbasket by Donna Moore *****
The Damned Season by Carlo Lucarelli ***
The Price of Darkness by Graham Hurley ****
A Trace of Smoke by Rebecca Cantrell ***
'Rommel?' 'Gunner Who?' by Spike Milligan ****
The Foreign Correspondence by Alan Furst *****
Queenpin by Megan Abbott ****
Disco for the Departed by Colin Cotterill ****
All the Colours of the Town by Liam McIlvanney ***
Black Delta Night by Jessica Speart ***
The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke **
Fifty Grand by Adrian McKinty *****
Last Rituals by Yrsa Sigurdardottir ***
Inspector Mallon by Donal McCracken ***
Winter Frost by R.D. Wingfield ****
Stop Me by Richard Jay Parker ***
Black Out by John Lawton ****
Bombs over Dublin by Sean McMahon ***
Harold Shipman: Prescription for Murder by Brian Whittle and Jean Ritchie *****
The Last Llanelli Train by Robert Lewis ***
Death in Breslau by Marek Krajewski ***
The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri ****
The Unbearable Lightness of Being in Aberystwyth by Malcolm Pryce ****
Before the Deluge by Otto Friedrich ****
Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada *****
Carte Blanche by Carlo Lucarelli ****
M*A*S*H by Richard Hooker ****
August Heat by Andrea Camilleri ***
The Devil's Star by Jo Nesbo ***
Dark Times in the City by Gene Kerrigan ***
The Twelve by Stuart Neville ****